Fairfax, VA — OverClocked ReMix today released for free download its official soundtrack to Capcom’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game consoles. While video game companies have worked with fans in the past, HD Remix is the first major video game with a completely fan-made soundtrack. More than twenty gamers from around the world contributed remixes of the original Street Fighter games’ music for inclusion in the updated game, in styles including jazz, hip-hop, reggaeton, spaghetti western, garage rock, big beat and electronica.
Over 2 million visitors a year download OverClocked ReMix’s free, fan-made arrangements of music from both classic and modern video games, but HD Remix marks the community’s first contribution to an official commercial title. Both the game and its soundtrack have received critical acclaim, with IGN’s Ryan Clements describing the music as “a great tribute to the original soundtrack” and Tyler Nagata of GamesRadar writing that “Unlike so many remakes of classic fighters, Turbo HD has soul… You can hear it in the new remixed soundtrack, developed with the help of fans from OverClocked ReMix.”
OverClocked ReMix was approached by Capcom in June of 2007 to provide HD Remix’s score after the company discovered the OC ReMix Street Fighter II remix album, Blood on the Asphalt. Rey Jimenez, Associate Producer for Capcom, worked directly with the fan community to communicate requirements and feedback.”Working with the OC ReMix crew has been one of the most rewarding aspects of working on SF HD Remix, truly making the game a community effort. These guys are part of the meat and potatoes of what makes the Street Fighter fanbase such a lasting part of the gaming industry,” said Jimenez. “They worked above and beyond our expectations and I’m hoping that we’ll be able to work together in the future.”
About OverClocked ReMix
Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring hundreds of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans.
I’m actually mailing because today, July 25th, is the birthday of OC ReMix founder David Lloyd, better known around these parts as djpretzel!!! He also recently got engaged to the lovely Anna, which was revealed on OCR just a couple of days ago!
To help celebrate, I’m asking you to take a few moments out of your day to wish djp a happy birthday! You can make his B-day a good one by doing any or all of the following things:
***Buy a copy of this month’s issue of Game Informer magazine (with Wolfenstein on the cover), which features an interview with djp about OC ReMix and spotlights the video game arrangement community: http://www.gameinformer.com/Magazine/
***Buy a T-shirt, hoodie or stickers from the OCR store and fly the colors: http://www.ocremix.org/store/
***Purchase ANYTHING at Amazon through OCR and have (a much-appreciated) 6% of the sale donated to help pay for our sizeable bandwidth at no extra cost: http://www.ocremix.org/amazon/
***Leave a Review for any OC ReMix on the site. Comments don’t have to be essays, but let djp, or any OC ReMixer, know how you felt about a ReMix you enjoyed. Any ReMix is fair game, and it’ll make their day: http://www.ocremix.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14
***Complete your OCR collection by downloading the ReMixes you don’t have. The only mistake I ever made when I first found OCR in 2002 was to only download about 30 mixes just from games I knew. If that’s like you, you’re missing out on free GOLD: http://www.ocremix.org/torrents/
***Last, but not least, just encourage 10 friends to check out OC ReMix. OCR is what it is today, because people like you have been kind enough to spread the word on the site, the 100% free music we offer (1500+ tracks and counting), and the amazing creativity of the ReMixers who take time out to honor video game music. Anyone who likes games, game music or just awesome free music should swing by and see what we’re about, so tell everyone you can!
THANK YOU as always for supporting OverClocked ReMix, downloading the music, and being a part of the OCR community. We appreciate it! And happy birthday, Pretz!
*** We need your help spreading the word by digging the above article/interview!! ***
For those of you who haven’t heard, OC ReMix is providing the remixed soundtrack to Capcom’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, a high definition remake of the classic fighter! The Digg above links to an article/interview over at Ars Technica - we need your help in getting the word out about this game and our involvement in it, since the game (currently in beta) is about to release in a few months on Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) and and PlayStation Network (PSN).
We’ve got more interviews coming up, but we need your help! Digg them, Slashdot them, blog them, LiveJournal them, Facebook them, MySpace them! Whatever you can do to spread the word on OC ReMix doing the Street Fighter HD Remix soundtrack, we’d be grateful for!
You can also stop by Capcom’s official forums and let them know YOU LOVE OC REMIX doing this soundtrack:
And if you know of any web, print, television or radio media that would be willing to talk with OC ReMix about Street Fighter HD Remix or our free video game music ReMixes, please let us know with an email. We’ll send you free OCR bumper stickers! We believe this soundtrack is going to open the OC ReMix community’s music up to a much broader audience, in a good way, and we’re looking forward to sharing it with everyone when the game is released!
Thanks,
David Lloyd (djpretzel) & Larry Oji (Liontamer) www.ocremix.org
Well everyone…..it’s a very sad time, I have to tell you all that I’ve resigned from Rare. This Friday (18th) will be my last day at the company. Recording the stuff in Prague with Robin for Banjo has been my last task before I leave.
Needless to say my time at Rare has been the most amazing and rewarding experience imaginable and I’m going to miss not being there.
Nearly 13 years ago now, Rare gave a long haired metal fan a chance that no-one else would and I am forever in their debt.
I’ve worked with some fantastically talented people and it’s their creativity that has spurred me on to write and create the stuff I have………I really can’t put it into words.
I wish the company and people there all the luck in the world!
Grant.
I actually just left him a MySpace message a few days ago for his birthday; one thing I mentioned was how excellent the first Viva Piñata soundtrack was. I’d express sadness at these current events, but the circumstances haven’t been publicized. And as far as I’m aware, Kirkhope can write his own ticket as far as his career is concerned, which is great. So, following the initial rough patch of feelings after leaving a long-time employer like Rare, I’m excited at what he has the potential to do now.
Of course, I’m looking forward to the eventual release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts on the Xbox 360 to hear his final work with Rare. Best of luck to Grant as we see what the future holds for him!
“Whether I’m writing an original or remixing something from a video game, my inspirations never change. My music listening history is one big collage, and I try to pull on all of that.”
- Dain Olsen, OC ReMix Interview
June 21, 2008
Fairfax, VA — OverClocked ReMix today published an interview with OC ReMixer & Dance Dance Revolution musician Dain “Beatdrop” Olsen, in addition to posting a brand new ReMix of his from the soundtrack to Capcom’s Mega Man X3 for the SNES. Dain talks about the creation of his latest mix, his approach to mixing game music, and his involvement with Konami’s DDR competition, which landed him a spot on the soundtrack to Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2.
Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring hundreds of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans.
“A good tune is a good tune. That’s basically it! If a melody can stand the test of time when it’s being played with a one channel sine wave, then it can stand being a fully orchestrated piece of music. I guess really it’s substance over style.”
- Tim Wright, OC ReMix Interview
June 5, 2008
Fairfax, VA — OverClocked ReMix today published its first video game composer interview, with pioneering British VGM composer Tim “CoLD SToRAGE” Wright. Wright helped usher electronica into professional game scores with his work on the landmark racing title Wipeout, released in 1995 by Psygnosis for the then-emerging Sony PlayStation. The interview touches on other career highlights such as Wright’s days composing for the Commodore Amiga, his development of popular music creation programs eJay and MUSIC (a.k.a. MTV Music Generator), and his upcoming original album, CoLD SToRAGE HD, which functions as an unofficial soundtrack to Sony’s latest title in the Wipeout franchise, Wipeout HD for the PlayStation 3.
Conducted by site staff, OC ReMix interviews cover major aspects of a composer’s career, featuring targeted questions unique to each subject, as well a standard list of questions that specifically delve into a musician’s formative years, creative inspirations, and views on the current state of the game music industry. This unique format presents both a contemporary look at a composer’s recent activities as well as more comprehensive questions about the nature of video game music composition.
About OverClocked ReMix
Founded in 1999, OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring hundreds of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans.
Eleven years ago, Akihiko Mori passed away from cancer. Even though his last work was in 1996, he to this day stands as one of my favorite VGM composers of all time.
Mori worked at a company called Mint, which did sound development for video games. Thus, in addition to composing for some games, he also adapted music for the SNES sound driver developed by Mint. Two such games, Bounty Sword and Lennus II: Fuuin no Shito (Lennus II: Apostles of the Seals, Japan-only sequel to Paladin’s Quest), were composed by veteran game and anime composer Kouhei Tanaka, and actually have rather decent orchestral soundtracks. The over fourteen minute staff roll from Lennus II is particularly impressive.
But I guess maybe I should go on with Mori’s own compositions?
“Land Exploration”
Kidou Senshi Z Gundam: Away to the Newtype (SNES)
“bon voyage! ~ Come On! To the Skies! Medley”
arranged from Wonder Project J2: Josette of Corlo Forest (N64)
“Mountain”
Gokinjo Bouken Tai (SNES)
I could devote an entire post just to Gokinjo Bouken Tai’s soundtrack, one of the very best the SNES has to offer, but I’ll limit myself to one more track. Mori’s battle themes stand out to me as some of the best done by any composer, with the normal battle theme from GBT leading them all with its jazz stylings and madcap energy.
“Battle”
Gokinjo Bouken Tai (SNES)
“Bad Dream”
Shien’s Revenge (SNES)
co-composed with Tsukushi Sasaki
Overall, Mori’s battle theme work shines brightest in Mystic Ark, the Japan-only sequel to The 7th Saga. Mystic Ark is one of three games Mori composed to receive a soundtrack release, but unfortunately the album is marred by a defect, a hiss in the left channel audio.
“Hey! Don’t Attack Me!”
Mystic Ark (SNES)
“Your Fighting Eyes Are Always Beautiful”
Mystic Ark (SNES)
“Are You the True Form of Darkness?”
Mystic Ark (SNES)
I suppose it’s rather cliché to leave the ending themes for last, but this is a post in memory of one of my all-time favorites, so I’m going to get as sappy as I want to.
“Ending”
Shien’s Revenge (SNES)
co-composed with Tsukushi Sasaki
“Ending”
Wonder Project J: Mechanical Boy Pino (SNES)
We think you need to. For the past two years, we’ve been attending this event called MAGFest (that is, the Music and Gaming Festival). Short of knocking on djpretzel’s, zircon’s or my (Liontamer’s) door, this will be one of the best chances to not only meet us, the crew behind OC ReMix, but also to meet a whole ton of OC ReMixers. Not only that, but you’ll get to spend New Year’s weekend with us and party it up. This will be the seventh time they’ve thrown this shindig!
If you’re at all into video games and music, this will be the place to be this upcoming year. There’s so many fun things to do, you’ll wonder where your weekend went! Video game composers like Howard Drossin (with several Sonic titles to his credit) and Jake “virt” Kaufman (Contra 4 and TMNT on the DS) will be around. And Friday and Saturday nights are filled with concerts from video game bands! The Advantage, Minibosses, and NESkimos have all performed there in the past. This year’s lineup of bands will be out soon, including some familiar names from OCR.
The best part is that even after all of that, you haven’t even experienced half of the event! You can hit the video room and watch game movies and cartoons, buy stuff from the people in the marketplace, go to video game panels and discussions (including our own OC ReMix bash), or just play games the whole time. There’s over 10,000 square feet of just console, PC, and even arcade games, and it doesn’t close AT ALL during the entire duration of the event. If you want to play Rock Band on a stage for hours on end with José the Bronx Rican, you can! Or if you wanna challenge James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, go ahead and call him OUT!
Here’s what me and some other folks had to say about last year’s MAGFest:
* http://www.vgfrequency.com/magfest-6-from-alexandria-va-13-day-1-report/
* http://www.destructoid.com/magfest-vi-highlights-65679.phtml
* http://revver.com/video/625357/magfest-vi/
* http://www.megatonik.com/2007/12/18/we-rock-hard-we-play-hard-magfest-cometh/
* http://gamemusic4all.blogspot.com/2008/01/magfest-vi-wrapup.html
Now that you want to go, lemme mention the important stuff:
- It’s in Alexandria, VA, in a 5-star Hilton, which is a quick ride from DC (Reagan National Airport).
- It’s Thursday-Sunday, Jan 1-4, 2009. If you’re not free on New Year’s Day, you can come Friday and not miss too much.
- Like many good things, it costs money. But $40 isn’t too bad for all weekend!
And here are a few links for you:
* Their site: http://magfest.org/
* The info on the hotel and directions: http://magfest.org/info/
* The preregistration page: http://courtwright.org/magfest/preregistration
Preregister for MAGFest soon to make sure you’re there! Their hotel is already accepting room reservations, and they even got the rates down for us that aren’t so lucky in the money department. It’s only $99 a night to stay at the hotel MAGFest is in, and come on, it looks like the Citadel! Split it with a few friends and that price goes down VERY fast. If you’re already sold on it, call them up and reserve a room at 703-845-1010 any time of day (they’re a hotel, ya know).
Let them know MAGFest and OC ReMix sent you (and make sure to be at the OC ReMix panel), and we’ll see you there!
Larry “Liontamer” Oji
Head Submissions Evaluator, OverClocked ReMix
Creator, VG Frequency
http://www.ocremix.org
http://www.vgfrequency.com
Composers Christian Marcussen, Cris Velasco and Sascha Dikiciyan were joined by audio lead Graeme Norgate for an all-encompassing look at the creative process behind the game’s soundtrack. Norgate mentioned that if you’d like to see a soundtrack release, you can help by beating down Ubisoft’s door, so be sure to let the company know if you like what you hear!
Rockstar Games and Future Green Entertainment have announced the release of an original production album from The Evil Genius DJ Green Lantern featuring music from and inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV.
Containing eight brand new tracks crafted exclusively for DJ Green Lantern’s “Liberty City Invasion” radio show on the in-game radio station “The Beat,” as well as eight new songs directly inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV, The Evil Genius DJ Green Lantern has created an epic urban soundtrack. This special album release features an incredible lineup of hip-hop, reggae and R&B superstars including heavyweights Busta Rhymes, Wyclef, Fat Joe, Styles P and Fabolous as well as up-and-coming artists Mavado, Uncle Murder and Future Green Entertainment’s own Johnny Polygon, Qadir and more.
Singles include “Where’s My Money” from Busta Rhymes and “Nickname” from the brand new artist Qadir. The perfect summer anthem “I’m So Fly,” featuring Fat Joe and Fabolous is inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV and while included on the album is not in the game.
“The Grand Theft Auto games have always featured stunning soundtracks and the amount of eclectic music in Grand Theft Auto IV goes above and beyond anything we have been able to do before” said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games, “DJ Green Lantern’s contributions give the soundtrack a true New York flavor and we’re excited to be releasing his full album to fans.”
“From making mixtapes, to being on the radio, to touring with the biggest artists on the planet, and then for the biggest video game title to solicit me to create exclusive music is something most people could only dream about, it’s like a graduation,” said Green. “Rockstar Games understood what I bring to the table as far as not just presenting music, but creating music.”
Green Lantern originally came to prominence in the mixtape scene by consistently featuring exclusive self-produced music with hip-hop superstars like Eminem, Jay-Z, The Beastie Boys, Mike Shinoda’s Fort Minor, D-Block, Busta Rhymes, Mobb Deep and many more. This led to an acclaimed career as a proper music producer in his own right which has yielded such Billboard hits as “Number One Spot” by Ludacris and “In The Ghetto” by Busta Rhymes featuring Rick James as well as the street hits Akon “Ghetto” feat. Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac, Uncle Murda’s “Bullet, Bullet,” and many more. Green Lantern can be heard every week nationally on his Sirius Satellite Radio show.
The Evil Genius Green Lantern makes his official production album debut with the release of Liberty City Invasion: Music From and Inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV. It will be available at all major digital retailers on May 20th with a physical release coming soon.
Grand Theft Auto IV is currently available for the Xbox 360 and the PLAYSTATION 3.
THE BAD DUDES ANNOUNCE NO BALLS, NO GLORY, A REMIX PROJECT BASED ON TECHNOS’ SUPER DODGE BALL Album Used In Promotion With Aksys Games’ Upcoming Nintendo DS Title Super Dodgeball Brawlers
The Bad Dudes, a group of the internet’s best video game music remixers, announces the upcoming release of their latest project: No Balls, No Glory. This internet EP, based on Kazuo Sawa’s music from the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System video game Super Dodge Ball, contains sixteen unique arrangements spanning various musical styles, with a focus on ethnic arrangements from each dodge ball team’s country of origin.
This collection of music will be used by video game software developer Aksys Games in promotion of Super Dodgeball Brawlers, a Nintendo DS title based on the classic Super Dodge Ball Nintendo game. This upcoming release takes the classic game play of the original and adds new attacks, multiplayer gaming, and a host of other upgrades, and will be released on May 27th, 2008 for a MSRP of $29.99.
No Balls, No Glory project producer Mustin said, “I’m excited about releasing this project in conjunction with Aksys games and their Brawlers release. I hope the music pays suitable tribute to the Super Dodge Ball video game we all played as kids.”
About No Balls, No Glory
This is the third internet-release EP by The Bad Dudes, a multinational group of musicians that releases covers of video game music. This album was produced by Mustin of MustinProductions.com. No Balls, No Glory is available for download at NoBallsNoGlory.net.
About Aksys Games
Based in Torrance, California, Aksys Games is a third party licensee of Nintendo of America. More information on Aksys Games can be found online at aksysgames.com.
Done in the always excellent style of Zero Punctuation’s Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, I was already laughing at the visuals a mere 30 seconds in. Once we got into the meat of things, Floyd then went into his observations on why well-done storytelling in games is so rare compared to the motion picture industry, hitting on some pretty salient points. It’s excellent fodder for debate.
While Dan has seen some great criticisms on what could be improved thanks to the OCR community, the video presentation is nonetheless very solid and entertaining.
So, you may or may not have heard of this game called Contra 4 that came out relatively recently. The music was composed by one Jake Kaufman, who also occasionally remixes video game music under the name virt. It flew a bit under the radar, but it’s always good to hear about remixers getting their foot into the composition business.
Okay, so in actuality, everyone knows about Contra 4, and everyone knows how intensely badass the soundtrack is. virt absolutely nailed the classic Konami sound, and the music kicks your ass just as much as the game does. Which is a lot.
Contra 4 was actually released in the United States first, and has yet to be released in Japan. This might seem a little surprising, especially for a Konami game, although it was developed by the Valencia, CA based WayForward Technologies. The game is scheduled to be released on March 13, 2008, across the Pacific, and is available for pre-order on Konami’s Konamistyle web store for 4704 Yen, or about 44 USD or so with the current exchange rate.
Wait a minute, what’s that bit of text underneath the summary section in the product description?
Well, my Japanese isn’t the best, and by that I mean I’ve never taken a single lesson, but let’s see if we can’t make some sense out of that. The first part of that red text, “コナミスタイル,” that says “Konamistyle,” and the end means something like “first arrival special favor,” so it’s probably talking about some sort of bonus given to the first people who order, and…
Okay, the hell with it.
Konamistyle Early Order Bonus “Contra Dual Spirits” original soundtrack CD
It is a soundtrack CD. Please wait for further details.
Wait, are you still reading this? You should be figuring out how get an order in on this thing as soon as humanly possible. Go! This post will still be here when you get back.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released today in Japan, although final copies made it out before the release date. Advance screenshots have been making their way like wildfire across the internet, as have gameplay videos on YouTube.
One enterprising fellow by the name of ShadowHero1991 is one of those chaps who has been supplying YouTube with videos of the game in action, but he has also uploaded eight videos solely featuring music from the game. As stated in a recent interview between Nintendo Co., Ltd. president Satoru Iwata and SSBB director Masahiro Sakurai, Brawl has “thirty games worth of music.” On the 29th, Sakurai revealed a list of every single song available from the beginning, a list that contains a staggering 101 tracks. And who knows how many more tracks remain to be unlocked.
So, ShadowHero1991’s measly eight videos don’t even begin to scratch the surface of the music contained in SSBB, but they’re our first glimpse at whole tracks from the game, as opposed to the samples Sakurai has posted. In addition, only three of the videos contain full versions of samples from the site; the other five are completely new. Here’s my personal favorite and links to the other seven:
“Meta Knight’s Revenge”
Original pieces: “Revenge of Meta-Knight: Stage” and “Taking Over the Halberd” from Kirby Super Star (SNES)
Composed by Jun Ishikawa and Dan Miyakawa
Arranged by Noriyuki Iwadare
“Boss Theme Medley” (from Kirby’s Adventure [NES], Kirby’s Dream Land 2 [GB], and Kirby Super Star [SNES], composed by Jun Ishikawa, Hirokazu Ando, and Dan Miyakawa and arranged by Kentaro Ishizaka)
“Butter Building” (from Kirby’s Adventure [NES], composed by Jun Ishikawa and Hirokazu Ando and arranged by Jun Fukuda)
“The Dark World” (from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES], composed by Koji Kondo and arranged by Arata Iiyoshi)
“Gourmet Race” (from Kirby Super Star [SNES], composed by Jun Ishikawa and Dan Miyakawa and arranged by Motoi Sakuraba)
“Hyrule Field Theme” (from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [N64], composed by Koji Kondo and arranged by Yutaka Iraha)
“Ocarina of Time Medley” (from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [N64], composed by Koji Kondo and arranged by Michiko Naruke)
“Fire Emblem Theme” (from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragons and the Blade of Light [NES], composed by Hirokazu Tanaka and Yuka Tsujioko, arranged by Shogo Sakai, and performed by Oriko Takahashi and Ken Nishikiori)
Petroglyph Games recently handed out a free digital release of Frank Klepacki’s Universe at War OST. The soundtrack is definitely a welcome treat this time of year, with 3 discs worth of material clocking in at over 2 hours. At the risk of selling Klepacki short, which I hope I’m not, his work here is full of the militaristic rock and electronic themes you’re familiar with if you’re a fan, so be sure to check it out.
Jared Hudson and I just finished our Half Life 2 Portal video. This video demonstrates what is possible when the portal gun is thrown into the Half Life universe. There were a few other similar videos out there, but nothing quite like this one.
Consequentially I’ll be starting a website http://halflifemovie.org. More to come on that later.
Clearly the next Spielbergs here. If and when things develop with HalfLifeMovie.org, we’ll definitely let you know. Keep an eye out for more from this universe gone slightly wrong.
Well, that’s what they claim, anyway, although the list is actually not about specific songs, but rather the entire game the song is from. But anyway, let’s check out what they picked:
Super Mario Bros.
Halo
Ms. Pac-Man
The Legend of Zelda
Final Fantasy 7
Some odd choices, to be sure. I had a knee-jerk reaction against Halo, but the chanting opening of the main theme is actually a pretty memorable part of video game music, despite being so recent. Maybe not top 5 material, but it definitely ranks up there.
Audio is also excellent, thanks largely to the top-notch soundtrack. Much of the music is made up of classic Mario tunes from a wide variety of different games, and it’s all modernized and orchestrated. These are some of the best renditions of these tracks since the originals, and you’re sure to be humming along as you play. - Alex Navarro, GameSpot
We’d be totally remiss if we didn’t gush about the amazing soundtrack too. Along with the cutesy classic Mario sound effects, the game features an amazing orchestrated original soundtrack that will surely go down in history as Nintendo’s best first-party effort to date. We found ourselves purposely hanging around on certain levels just to enjoy the fine new renditions of old-school tunes. - Bryn Williams, GameSpy
For what seems like forever Nintendo has been reluctant to use orchestrated music in its games. Super Mario Galaxy may seem like an unlikely candidate to get the aural upgrade, but once you hear the incredible music you’ll be thankful the developers went the extra mile. With over 26 orchestrated pieces, the music in Galaxy is the best ever in any Mario game. Not only does it sound epic, it is epic. The tracks are wonderfully composed and match the levels perfectly. Throw in a few remixes from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mario 64 and fans will be soaking up the music in no time. - Craig Majaski, Gaming Age
And so on. The reviews for Super Mario Galaxy are almost universally positive, praising the game’s level design and gameplay, visuals, and, most importantly as far as VG Frequency is concerned, the soundtrack. There are several different things that can be referred to by “Club Nintendo,” but the one we most care about here is the Japanese Club Nintendo, a rewards club for Japanese consumers only. Points can be received from purchasing Nintendo products and be redeemed for nifty goodies. The latest batch of rewards are out:
The choices are a Wii Classic Controller shaped like an SNES controller, a Mario desk calendar, and a two disc soundtrack to Super Mario Galaxy. The soundtrack has 81 tracks: the 28 orchestrated ones that I’ve mentioned twicepreviously and 53 other synthesized tracks. The soundtrack says “Platinum Version” on the cover; no idea yet whether this means that another version of the soundtrack will be offered later, perhaps more generally to people other than Club Nintendo members. Those lucky stiffs.
My boy TYKUN is back with another one of his composerchronology videos. Well, technically, he was back with this video in August, but I just checked up on his videos again now.
Note that all the formations are upside down because the band performed facing the opposite side of the field.
The formations and songs are, as best as I can identify:
0:03-0:35 - Pong: two paddles moving up and down with the ball bouncing between them (no music)
0:39-1:30 - Tetris (Game Boy): descending blocks, set to “Korobeiniki”
1:32-1:55 - Mortal Kombat: an “MK” in a box, set to “Techno Syndrome”
1:55-2:21 - Mortal Kombat: the signature dragon logo (same music)
2:21-3:10 - Pokémon: two Poké Balls and a Pokémon battle, set to “Opening”
3:10-3:55 - The Legend of Zelda: the Triforce and Master Sword, set to “Overworld”
3:57-4:17 - Super Mario Bros.: two pipes and five blocks, set to “Overworld BGM”
4:17-4:44 - Super Mario Bros.: Mario entering from the top pipe, jumping and hitting the third and fifth blocks, and exiting through the bottom pipe, set to “Underworld BGM”
4:44-5:10 - Super Mario World: Mario exiting a pipe and running in front of some configuration I can’t identify, set to “Athletic BGM”
5:10-5:36 - Super Mario Bros.: a largely random configuration possibly intended to resemble an underwater stage, set to “Swimming BGM”
5:36-5:38 - Super Mario Bros.: same formation, set to “Time Up Warning Sound”
5:38-5:55 - Super Mario Bros.: castle and flag at the end of a level and Mario jumping at the flag, set to a sped up version of “Overworld BGM”
5:58-6:07 - Super Mario Bros.: flag descending, set to “Course Clear Fanfare”
On October 28, François Bezeau, better known as Rimo, finally launched VGM Rush, a site dedicated to Western VGM; that’s “Western” as in American, European, etc. as opposed to Asian, not “Western” as in Wild West cowboys and outlaws. The site features composer credits for a bunch of different games, associated soundtrack, arrangement, and original albums, and composer biographies and full works lists. VGM Rush is still less than a month old and obviously still growing, but it’s got some very good content for something so new and is definitely worth checking out.
One example of the burgeoning content is an interview posted on November 7 with Alexander Brandon, who composed for such games as Tyrian, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, and Deus Ex. The interview is excellent, covering Brandon’s game compositions, original work (including his latest original album, Era’s End), thoughts on the industry, and a whole slew of other good stuff. Brandon himself stated that the interview is “the most in depth interview [he’s] ever done.”
VGM Rush: Were you ever limited by a director when composing for a certain project or did you always write with complete freedom?
Alexander Brandon: I felt Deus Ex: Invisible War was more sparse than it should have been. The design lead really pushed “Thief” as a reference. Don’t get me wrong, I love that game series and all the audio in it, however DX I think has more depth to its gameplay choices and the music should have reflected that.
For just about all my other projects I provided solid reasoning into my decisions for either my writing or composers I would hire, and sometimes I’d get the usual “that sounds like a synthesizer” argument, to which I have a very powerful arsenal of responses now, but for the most part its complete freedom these days.
I mentioned last month that Super Mario Galaxy’s soundtrack was going to feature some live orchestrated tracks. On November 8, Jayson Napolitano of Music 4 Games scored an interview with the two composers of SMG, Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota.
M4G: Video footage has been released showing an orchestra recording session for Super Mario Galaxy. How much of the score is being orchestrated? The music itself sounds like it’s from a Zelda game given its epic approach. Was this your aim with the score for Super Mario Galaxy?
Mahito Yokota: 28 tunes have been orchestrated, including the ones performed by smaller sized orchestras. We were not especially conscious of Zelda, but we were making music in order to make them match well with game tempo of Mario Galaxy and image that people explore the magnificent universe. I think you will notice when you play the game that tempo is very much constant, although rhythm of the music may be epic, because we prepared orchestrated tunes that will well suit tempo of the game play. On the other hand, when we create synthesizer music, we were looking toward melodious music for the orchestrated score, while we were putting emphasis on the atmosphere.
Koji Kondo: We created an orchestra score this time, because we wanted to express magnificence of the universe and cool ambiance. We created game music that matches with the game universe, which brought about totally different taste compared with the tropical image of previous Mario music.
Early reports on the music are that it’s quite good. Read the full interview.
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