MLLTT Weekly Discussion #17: Video Game Music Part II: Electric Scootaloo - Remixes
If there's one thing that will always be a contant in the life of video game music, it's remixes. Remixes have had such a large impact on game music, turning beloved classics into new genre styles, sounds, medleys, mash ups, and more. Buckle up, and hang tight, because we're jumping into this straight away. Enough chit chat, time is music!
So let's start at possibly the most obvious forefront of music remixing: OCRemix. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it, but if, not, there's a whole community dedicated to the sole purpose of remixing game music. They've released quite a number of albums as well, so let's start with that. And remember, all of them are free to download, including the ones you see here!
Sonic fans will love the Sonic 3 and Knuckles remix album, Project Chaos. Spanning a whopping 35 songs, Project Chaos has all of the bases in the music of Sonic 3 and Knuckles covered. Here are a few of my favorites:
Daniel Baranowsky - Knuckleduster (Remix of Marble Garden Zone) - Now you might look at that name and go "wait, that sounds familiar..." Well, Danny B did compose the music for both Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy, so this is a pretty good one to check out.
SnappleMan - Dead Batteries (Remix of the Flying Battery Zone)
BrainCells - Live at Sandopolis - (Remix of Sandopolis) - a good rock mix
housethegrate - Walk on Water (Remix of Hydrocity Zone) - A groovy, funky rock mix
SnappleMan - Malicious Fingers (Remix of the Final Boss) - One of my all time favorite remixes, a hardcore song that has been described as 'Progressive Techno Thrash'. It's really something else and gets me pumped.
Now another favorite OCR album of mine is Harmony of a Hunter, a Metroid inspired remix album, with songs covering the music from the first Metroid game all the way through Other M. A few favorites:
Kraid's Campfire Ballad - A nice acoustic piece and a remix of the boss battle with Kraid, but some of you Smash Bros. fans might know this better as "Brinstar Depths".
Path of Ruin - A very nice smooth jazz remix of the Chozo Ruins in Metroid Prime. Such a mysterious and yet chill remix, very much unlike other remixes.
Metroid Medley - Another one of my favorite remixes, clocking in at ten minutes long, this is an excellent chiptune and electronic based medley of the big Metroid songs, smoothely flowing into one another.
Omega Cannon - Straight out of the end of Metroid Prime Hunters (a game I absolutely loved despite it's carpal tunnel inducing control scheme), this is a really well done guitar remix.
My third and final example of an OCRemix album (because there are plenty of other remix examples I'd like to get to,
depsite the numerous albums they have to offer) is The Missingno Tracks, a Pokemon series album.
The Mighty Mighty Pokemon - 90's kids will recognize this! /s, but seriously, the classic Pokemon RBY opening theme, right here.
Battle for the Badge - A great rock remix for the song used during gym battles.
Super Effective! - A remix of the GSC trainer battles, every time I hear it I just want to go crazy and play some Pokemon Silver.
Other good OCremixes...
Insurrection - An orchestrated and ethnic remix of the Halo theme, it always
felt, to me, perfect for a closing scene and into credits for either a Halo game or movie, if there ever is one.
One Winged Angel - 8-bit and Orchestra combined into a devilishly poppy remix.
Bloody Tears Inspired - From Castlevania II comes Bloody Tears, and this is a great remix of it
BrainSick Metal - A remix of the Mega Man X opening stage.
And that's just a few. There are thousands of remixes on OCRemix, so I couldnt even begin to share all of my favorites.
Now for some non-OCRemix remixes...
As someone mentioned last week, H8_Seed made a remix of 'Dire Dire Docks', and it's fantastic. The first time I heard this it gave me chills and sent me on a trip back to when I first jumped through the painting and into that stage.
Icarus (Justa Armada Remix) (from Deus Ex) - I love this. Pure frisson when Adam says "If you want to make enemies, try and change something... try change something."
Triforce of BASS - A new three piece EP released on bandcamp just a few days ago, this is an excellent EP and must have for Zelda fans and chiptune/dubstep/moombahstep/complextro fans. Just check out the remix for the Overworld.
Pokemon Reorchestrated is a project set on perfectly remixing most Pokemon songs from almost every Pokemon game from Red and Blue to Black and White into orchestrated form. Currently they are working on a full album for 'Kanto Symphony', which will be (hopefully!) coming soon. You can hear a preview of that album here, and it's quite beautiful. A few of my favorites from what they have so far include Through Time and Space (Dialga vs Palkia) and Champion Battle vs Lance and Red.
Speaking of Zelda and Reorchestrated, have you heard of Zelda Recorchestrated? There is music here from nearly every Zelda game in orchestra form, including an entire complete album, being Ocarina of Time. Most of Majoras Mask and Windwaker are there as well.
Game series Touhou has more than it's fair share of music remixes and original songs. You may have seen me share this piece before, a remix of U.N. Owen was her?, and one of my favorites. Another good one is by Unlucky Morpheus, a metal opera with some harpsichord. Also Alice In World's End, a hard rock/metal vocal piece... with some screaming...
How about a little rap? Something interesting, too. Duane and BrandO have disbanded, but their music lives on. The duo did something very unique with game music remixes in that they took the melodies to different songs and added singing that flowed with them, with appropriate lyrics to the given scenarios. Keep in mind, almost all of their remixes have NSFW lyrics. A few of their best stuff: Zelda, and in my opinion, their best, MEGA MAN 2. Oh, and Sonic.
Alright, alright. I'll stop there... so how about it MLLTT? Let's talk game remixes.
Posted Aug 13, 2012, 4:41 AM UTC · edited