MegamanDrWily Haunts Flashman – This is a remix of Flashman’s stage, from Megaman 2. It gets extra props for being a remix of a remix… it’s a remix of a track I don’t much care for though (if my memory serves), so it’s not on this list. However, even giving it’s long convoluted path of existence, it still manages to be recognizable as Flashman’s stage. High adrenaline rock is what this is, according to OCR, and I’m inclined to agree. Very good.
Heatman Rapid Fire – That name, if taken the wrong way, is very wrong. God, I need to get my mind out of the gutter. Maybe I should go outside or something. Anyways, this is another Megaman 2 remix, this time of Heatman’s stage. It’s nice… it slowly and continuously builds itself, without being obvious at all. It’s a dance techno type thing.
Cossack Hot Stepping – Awesome remix of… actually, I don’t know what exactly it’s remixing. Something from Megaman 4. It has an extremely deep bassline throughout the whole thing. Play this too loud and everything in a mile radius will be literally vibrating. Believe me, I know. Heh. It’s a rather slow techno, I suppose. The focus is that bass drum.
Let There be Light – Out of all my Triforce marked pieces, I’ve had this one the longest. In all honesty, it’s gone down in my esteem since then, but not enough. Oh yes, I still love this. It’s a remix of the Dustman theme, from Megaman 4. I’ve seen it described as twiste,d slow, dark, and industrial… I don’t know. I just know that it is very, very good. Know what? Ailsean, the remixer of this, is god. He did Terra in Black, this, Death on the Snowfield… everything he touches is gold. Kinda like Kaijin, or Darangen, only better.
Airbased –A remix of Eagle’s theme, from Megaman X. The original was fantastic, and this is too. A heavy guitar/drum/bass rock type of music, here. Very good. In fact, in general, the Megaman games probably have the best remixes.
The Zero Sacrifice – Despite the name, this is not a remix of Zero’s theme (that piece of music REALLY needs something), but rather from the first stage of Sigma’s Fortress. I loved that music. This remix, despite being pretty good, doesn’t quite do it justice. It’s another electric guitar, techno piece.
Dreamsabre Beat ZERO – Ah, speak of the devil. This is a remix of one of Zero’s several themes, this time from Megaman X2. Not as good as X1’s Zero theme, but good enough. This is another techno dance type thing, with voice clips of Zero and Dr Wily from the Japanese Megaman games in there a few times. I love this song. (Over 20 pages of stuff. Whoo!)
CutMetal – A remix of Cutman’s theme, from Megaman 1. Pretty awesome remix, really. It’s more rock, with guitars and all the usual stuff.
Deep Space Dance – A very… strange trance remix of Uranus and Starman, from Megaman 5. Apparently he stays within the technical boundaries of the famicom disk system… an add-on for the Japanese NES that was never released over here. So it has the oldschool bleeps and bloops, which is what makes this so unusual. I like it, but it’s not the best.
Dr. Wily is an Alien! – Heh. This one makes me laugh. And it’s incredibly weird. At the beginning, it has Dr. Wily’s voice saying “Now why would anyone bar the outside of the bathroom door? Oh no!” Now. If that’s not odd, I don’t know what is. And I don’t know where they got the perfect Dr. Wily voice either. Probably from some obscure Megaman anime. Aside from that, the rest of this is a pretty short hard trance remix, of the boss battle theme from Megaman1.
Introduction to Heaven – It’s a remix of the intro stage of Megaman 7. Another trance, and an extremely good one too. Helps that the original was good too. Not much else to say on it.
Silver Setting Sun – A sort of old western style remix, with some Spanish thrown in, of Tomahawk man’s stage, from Megaman six. A bit of a chorus, too. Guitar and drums, for the most part.
The Road to Wily’s Castle – It’s a remix of the two Wily’s Castle stages, and Quickman’s stage, from Megaman 2. I love this piece. It’s some sort of techno/hard rock thing. Little voice clips from Megaman something or other, most of Dr Wily yelling in muted frustration, play every once in awhile.
When you see a Flashman, Duck and Cover – Flashman’s stage, from Megaman 2, remixed again. And it’s yet another awesome Megaman mix, one which flows well and maintains itself throughout all four minutes. No idea what to call this.
Wily’s Ambition – We have another hard rock piece, with heavy guitars and weird screeching sounds and everything else. It’s a remix of something from Megaman 3, and one of my all-time favorite remixes to boot.
The Last Challenge – An amazing trance piece, a remix of one of the Wily Stages from Megaman 2. This one, like all the trance pieces from this remixers (Sir nuts) is not your typical trance… it’s quality is so high that you’d almost think it is something else entirely. A must have.
SigMatic – A remix of numerous different tracks from Megaman X2. And that series, Megaman X, has some truly great music, wouldn’t you say? This remix is pretty good too. I don’t know what to classify it as, really. It sounds similar to the casino levels from the Sonic games, to me.
Tickle my Wily – Another remix of a Dr. Wily stage from Megaman 2. This one is quite cool. It’s a sort of electric orchestra piano piece. I absolutely love it.
MetroidBrinstar: Dreams in Red – An awesome remix of the Brinstar theme, from Super Metroid. It’s a sorta claustrophobic, techno, ambient piece. Utterly fantastic.
Four Little Metroids – It’s AmIEvil, the mixer responsible for Terra in Black, Death on the Snowfield, and several other masterpieces again. It’s a medley of four different Super Metroid tracks, and exceptionally well done two. A bunch of styles here, or rather a strange mixture of several. I don’t really know what to call it, other then very good.
The Theme – A Metroid one remix, this one is purely heavy rock. Pretty good, but not the best, especially not when compared to the other Metroid mixes.
On Top of Jacob’s Ladder – A remix of Brinstar, from Super Metroid. This was actually written in memory of a deceased friend of the remixer, and it’s good enough to be worthy of that. It’s a fantastic ambient… dance… thing. Trance, maybe? Whatever. Extremely good.
Tunnel Vision – A remix from Metroid 2, not sure of the exact song. It’s very cool, a sort of techno thing. Upbeat at times, ambient at others, it remains very good all the way through.
Kraid’s Destruction – A remix of Kraid’s theme, of course. Another electric guitar drum theme. I never did play through the game, but I can recognize Kraid’s theme any day, and this is definitely it.
Relix of the Chozo – Just like the Kong in Concert project, this is an album of remixed Super Metroid music, by a group of remixers from OCR. As far as I know, they’ve got every single major track from the game in there, 18 in all. They share a similar style, most of them, though there is of course a lot of variations. It’s all ambient, electronica stuff. Pretty good.
Seikan Densetsu (Secret of Mana)Distorted Star – A very cool remix from Secret of Mana 1. It’s a sort of strange orchestra/rock thing, though it’s not your usual style for either. I wanted to call it trance, but one further thought, that would be incredibly… incorrect.
Drifting Towards the Stars – One of the remixers who collaborated on the above track decided to go ahead and make a variation of it. This variation is very soft, and calm, even a bit ambient, yet it is noticeably the same source song. It uses harp, piano, a bunch of bells, and all sorts of nice stuff.
Return to Elysian Lands – A sweeping orchestrated remix of the Secret of Mana theme, and a quite enjoyable listen. There isn’t much else to say, really.
Secret of Spram – It’s a remix of “Eight Ringing Bells”, from Secret of Mana. It really, really sounds like a Christmas song to me, something I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe the source song was itself Christmas themed. Like all the Christmas-ey mixes here, I love this. It uses some piano, acoustic guitar, and normal guitar.
The End of Loneliness – A very enjoyable piece, here. It starts out slow, with a sweeping orchestral style, and then it lauches into a faster, more electronic part, though it manages to keep the orchestrated sound all throughout. I don’t know how to describe it. The remixer called it a combination of classical and “DnB”, whatever that means.
This Heart – A remix of Delicate Affection (quite the song in of itself) from Seikan Densetsu 3. This is another one of Destiny’s pieces, so it features her usual voice/chorus/huming/whatever it is stuff, which is always good. As with all her tracks, there’s a strong celtic feel here. I love this remix. Very close to giving it the Triforce
Sea Breeze Strings – I don’t know what this is a remix of, aside from it being from Seikan Densetsu 3. It’s extremely awesome. If I had a picture to give tracks that were just barely under the Triforce, this would get it. It has a sort of dreamy, wistful feel to it, with it’s beautifully done strings, cello, piano. Highly recommended.
Sonic the HedgehogA New Ray of Light – A remix from Sonic Triple Trouble, of all things. A game I’d never heard of? Insane
Now… I absolutely love this mix. It’s a fantastic techno trance piece, with some nice… drums, I suppose, and some synths, and who knows what else.
Dark Caverns Mystified – A remix of the Mystic Cave Zone, from Sonic 2. That level had some seriously catchy music, and if I’m the only one who thought so, I’ll eat my computer. As the remixer said, it, and this remix, have an almost Inspector Gadget vibe, which, in this case at least, is definitely a good thing.
Ice Age – A remix of the snowy levels, from Sonic 3. An extremely cool, claming, yet at the same time upbeat eletronica tempo. Very good.
Iced Out – Another remix of the snow levels from Sonic 3 (popular track for remixers). This one is very different, however. Kinda… rappish, but not in the usually terrible way. Pretty good, though not one of the best.
Machine Gun Hedgehog – One of my absolute favorites. I’ve got this one on TWO different CDs, heh. It’s a remix of the Act 2 boss music, from Sonic and Knuckles. It’s a fastpaced, DnB (figured out it means Drum’n’Bass, heh), electronica thing. I love it.
Madman Across the Marble Garden – A laidback, jazz(do I really need to mention both? Heh) remix, complete with saxophone, of something from Sonic 3. Pretty good, though I’ve only had it for a few days, so I can’t review it all that objectively.
Marble Cake – As the name suggests, this is a remix of the Marble zone, from the original Sonic. Man, that was an awesome level, with awesome music to boot. Anyways, this is a pretty upbeat dance-based remix, with very nice synths and guitar work. It manages to convey the catchiness of the original track very well.
Theory of the Deathegg – A remix of one of the Death Egg stages, from Sonic and Knuckles. It was the remixers’ (the same guy responsible for Machine Gun Hedgehog and a few other Sonic pieces) first release, it could be described as fast industrial rock… and was by one of the reviewers at Vgmix, whom I am copying. Am I great or what? Anyways, this is pretty good, but not spectacular.
Star OceanFrozen Dreams – Another one of Destiny’s wonderful remixes, this time from Star Ocean 2. An arrangement of “We Form in Crystals”, apparently. She actually sings in this one, a little bit here and there, which is definitely a first. And maybe I’m biased, but I’d say she has a very good voice. Anyways, this is a pretty smooth, calm piece, complete with equally smooth and calm piano, not to mention her humming. As I said earlier, she uses her voice like another instrument rather then the focus, and I very much enjoy that.
Killer Dokko – A sort of electronic/rock remix of the battle music from Star Ocean: Blue Sphere, a fairly obscure GBC game. Sounds very similar to something from Star Ocean 3, which I’ve actually been taking a break from to write this, heh. Pretty good.
Rena Landford of Arlia Village – An amazingly beautiful sweeping orchestra remix of Rena’s Theme and Arlia Village, from Star Ocean 2. This right here is the standard that all sweeping, dramatic orchestra tracks should be compared too. There is a real feel of emotion, here. It is perfect.
Space Travel – A very cool, new age(for awhile I didn’t really know what that meant, but it’s been continually used for songs like this one. A ton of song son this list are new age, I suppose) remix of something – involving space travel, presumably – from Star Ocean 1. It has a sort of apprehensive feel to it, a foreboding atmosphere. Which seems strange, considering what this is.
Watching the Sunset in Arlia Village – Another remix of Arlia village, from Star Ocean 2(I need to pick that game up). This one is kinda mellow, featuring two guitars and, s far as I can tell, nothing else. One of the guitars leads, and the other is a heck of a lot quieter, doing the background sound.
TalesEmotions Lost in Time – A very beautiful, sad yet epic remix of the ruined town theme, from Tales of Phantasia. Featuring the sounds of rain in the background, classical instruments… until about two minutes in, when it goes into some extremely well-done trance, while retaining all the quality (except the slowness) of the first part. I love this mix.
Journey to Thor – Another dramatic track from Tales of Phantasia, though this one is pretty fast paced from the beginning. Another one that manages to feel a bit forboding and sinister… and another one that changes, and really starts to get going, somewhere in the second minute. Highly recommended.
Merriment in Morlia – Starts out sounding like a techno remix, but it isnt’ really one at heart. Rather cheerful, actually. I don’t much care for it really, but it’s worth the occasional listen. It’s a remix of the Moria/Morlia caves in ToP.
Fighting of the Spirit – Fighting of the Spirit, present in all the Tales games, is one of if not the very best battle/boss tracks I have ever heard. A hard song for a remix to live up to. This one does an iffy job, but it’s worth listening to just for the source material. The link leads to a Japanese site, and you need to click on MP3 and then it’ll be half way down the page, with an English title. It’s a fast paced, electronica/rock remix.
XenogearsBonds of Sea and Fire – Now, I’ll say it now: Pretty much every single one of these Xenogears mixes are awesome. And I am very glad I did this, since I discovered 3 or 4 awesome new tracks tonight, while writing this. This particular one is a remix of, of all things, “Bonds of Sea and Fire”. I’m not sure what it is, really. Not trance, not techno or electronica, not orchestrated, none of the usual stuff. Some celtic influence there, I think.
7 Years Broken – Now, here, we have a first, an amazing thing. How many of you remember “Small Two of Pieces”, the amazing vocal track from the end of Xenogears? Well, this is a remix of that… However, the music wasn’t the only thing that got remixed, the lyrics did as well. Oh, they’re the same, for the most part, but changed enough to fit the
male singer and the changed music. Before about 10 minute ago, when I first found this song, I had never heard of a vocal track being remixed like this, not even in professional remixed video game CDs, like Xenogears Creid. Djpretzel has a surprisingly good voice, though maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at the webmaster of the largest video game music site on the internet. This is a rather fast paced new age piano type piece, I suppose you could say.
Broken Mirror Reflection – What’s this? Another remix of Small Two of Pieces? What in the hell? Another remix with changed music and changed lyrics to go with it? I found THIS one about five minutes ago, heh. Now, this one isn’t quite as impressive, really. The remixer took the original track, with the original singing, and edited and applied a bunch of effects to it. The result is extremely cool, but it’s still the original song. This is a rather broken, distorted version of the original.
Child of the Stars – Ah, good old Kaijin, with his insanely high-quality midis and angelic music. I think this is another mix of Small Two of Pieces, without the singing, but I’ve been listening to so much music for so long these past few days that it’s becoming hard to remember. Like all of Kaijin’s music, very good.
Dale of the Wind – A pretty quiet, dreamy, windy feeling orchestrated remix of the Village of Lahan. Compared to most of the tracks here, it’s very good, but compared to most of the other Xenogears remixes, it’s… pretty good.
Gathering Stars – Another remix of Small Two of Pieces, minus the vocals. It seems designed for a slow dance, really. Very nice.
Heartfelt Recollections – Extremely well done mix, here, which pratically oozes a sense of… nostalgia, almost. Goes right along with it’s name. It starts out slow, eventually introducing a perfect electric guitar lead, with constant percussive sound in the background. I’ve always loved this one, unconditionally.
Indie Rock Dajil – A remix of Dajil, the City of Burning Sands, music. It’s a sort of techno mix, with all sorts of ethnic instruments – like a sitar – thrown in. I like it quite a bit.
A Momentary Emotion – Another Kaijin mix. By this point, that should be description enough
As usual, it flows smoothly, its nice and calm. Piano, strings, and a fantastic wind lead, this is probably his best one yet. And one of my absolute favorites. I give it the Triforce.
Pillar of Salt – Whoa, two Triforce pieces in a row? That’s a first. This is a remix of the Omen and Dajil themes, both awesome, yet… totally and completely different. Or so I thought. They’re melded together very, very well, here. It features electronic sounding stuff, Indian instruments, some orchestrated stuff, and, to top it off… both Arabic and Hebrew lyrics. I’ve gotten a few strange looks while playing this too loudly as I drive around, that’s for sure
I cannot stress how awesome this is, though I suppose some of the fanatical middle-east haters might take off dislike it for superficial, irrelevant reasons.
Soaring Skyward – A remix of “Wings”, which if my memory serves is playing whenever you fly around in the Yggdrasill. The original track was quite awesome, and, quite frankly, I am shocked that there aren’t more remixes of it. Anyways, this is a sort of light rock type thing… maybe with a bit of trance thrown in. Nice guitars, drums, etc., etc. The remixer was Thumper, and this song lives up to his name, with a constant and very noticeable beat throughout the entire thing.
Taming of the Skies - Right after I mention the lack of Wings remixes, here’s another one. This one is a sweeping, dramatic, windy feeling orchestrated version of said song. Very good, though a bit short.
The Lost City of Shevat – Shevat. I loved that place. Do you know why? Because it was Zeal. If you took Zeal from Chrono Trigger and stuck it in Xenogears, and made it a bit less cool in the process, you’d get Shevat. Same style of music, same scenery, same feel to it. Anyways, this remix is kinda like that. GrayLightening has one or two Zeal remixes, and this is like them, only a bit less good in every dimension. Still worth a download though, with his calm, breathy, ethereal style.
Xenogears Creid – Alright, this is it: The absolute best collection of music in existence. Creid was a 10-track album, featuring remixes of Xenogears. These remixes were done by Yasunori Mitsuda himself, and then this album was released in Japan. There are remixes of “Omen”, “Emotions”, “Bonds of Sea and Fire”, “We, The Wounded, Shall Advance Into the Light”, “Dazil, City of Burning Sands”, “The Sky, the Clouds, and You”, “June Mermaid”, “Flight”, “My Village is Number One”, and finally, “Small Two of Pieces”. With the exception of Bonds of Sea and Fire, Dazil, and June Mermaid, Japanese lyrics were added to every remixed track. Actually, Small Two of Pieces and Emotions weren’t remixed at all, they just changed the English singing to Japanese singing.
There is an extremely strong Celtic influence throughout this entire CD. The best fiddle playing you’ll ever find is here, as is some extraordinarily great singing, from singers like Eimear Quinn. My favorite is “Creid”, the remix of “We, the Wounded, Shall Advance Into the Light”.
Unfotunately, seeing as it’s a legitimately sold cd, I’m not going to link to it here. My advice is to get a hold of it in any way you can, as quickly as you can – every last song on the CD is better then anything else on this list.
Other GamesA Man by the Shore(Chrono Cross, Ninja Gaiden – Very good, here. Extremely ambient remix of the title themes of Chrono Cross and Ninja Gaiden. Led by a very well done string instruments(guitar, I suppose). It almost sounds like Diablo music in a few places, only about a million times better. It’s quite the interesting piece – powerful, emotional, despite it’s minimalistic and almost spartan feel. You couldn’t really listen to it in the car or while doing something else, not and fully appreciate it.
A Song for the Ladies(Street Fighter II: The New Challenges) – A heavy rock remix of Chun Li and Cammy’s themes. Starts out very cool, with some very nice synth stuff. Tries to trick you into thinking it’s not rock. Then the rock starts. That’s not as good, unfortunately, but it’s still a nice remix.
A Weekend Down under(Crash Bandicoot 3) – A kinda laidback guitar piece. Meh. This is one of those tracks I can’t describe at all. Pretty good, but nothing great.
A Whisper and a Shadow(Secret of Evermore – How many of you have played Secret of Evermore? The first Halls of Collosia music was fantastic, SNES limitations and all. This… to be honest, I prefer the original, but that’s not due to any lack of quality here. This is a… eh. I don’t know what to call it, really. The name is apt though, because it does have a whispery feeling to it, as if it might float away.
Above the Rising Falls(Kingdom Hearts – A remix of Hollow Bastion, from Kingdom Hearts. I like this piece; it’s feels kinda dark, and apparently there’s a Pirates of the Caribbean influence there.
Alien Invasion!(UFO: Enemy Unknown) – This is a cool, kinda techno dancey thing. You know? It’s not techno or dance, at all. I was completely wrong. But I don’t know what it is, either. It’s very catchy though.
Armageddon(Shining Force) – This is a remix of Dark Sol’s theme. It’s in an epic cinematic style, with a touch of military feeling. More than a touch, I’d say this is military themed song, with the chanting of groups of soldiers thrown in. Orchestrated, of course. I love it. Unlike most tracks, this manages to include extremely complex stuff without making it obvious.
Ashtar’s Desires(Ninja Gaiden II – This is really, really good. A trance, with flutes, pianos, strings, good old synth, and one of the best trance mixes I have ever heard. Very highly recommended. The remixer was Sir Nuts again… his mixes are always fantastic trances.
Behave Irrationally(Valkyrie Profile) – A kinda quiet orchestrated piece, with an almost Christmasy, winter night feeling to it. Pretty good, for an orchestrated piece.
Cat and mouse(Chu Chu Rocket – Heh. The remixer remixed the Puzzle Edit and the battle themes from Chu Chu Rocket, because they annoyed the hell out of him. I don’t understand the reasoning, but hey, when the result is something like this, I’m not going to complain. It’s like some sort of really, really hyper electronica heavy bass thing. With a crazy voice saying something crazy at the crazy end of this crazy song. I like it… probably because I can relate
(I’m writing this thing, after all)
Crossfire(Contra) – A rock remix of the first stage of Contra. Pretty good… it’s from goat, the Castlevania guy, so it’s similar to all of those.
Deliverance(Gem’X) – A beautiful, sweeping orchestral piece. Starts out very quiet, and ends up pretty louds, so there’s a bit of variety there, heh. But it goes up gradually, or with enough warning to keep from getting your ears blasted off. I love this mix.
Dezoris Winter(Phantasy Star II) – A sort of new age, ethnic sounding mix, with some orchestra stuff, an electric bass, choir, and some old rock elements. I like this one, though don’t leave it on too long, or it’ll scrap your brain raw.
Dr Stuard ‘Jeff’n’Toa(F-Zero GX) – A remix of Dr Stuart’s theme, from F-Zero GX. I don’t know about you people, but I loved that piece of music. My favorite from that game. This does it full justice. A sort of action-packed, electronica trancey thing. I guess. You can hear F-Zero engines revving, hear the sounds of something speeding by really fast… extremely well done. One of my favorites.
Dragons of Paradise(Bahamut Lagoon – Ah. I’ve had this remix on my harddrive longer than most, and it’s worth it. It has a sort of watery, calming, laidback feel to it. Once it really starts up, at about 1:15, it manages to keep the echoing watery feeling. I love this remix. It’s a remix of Jojo and the God Dragons, a piece which I’ve always loved, so that’s another point in this mix’s favor.
Dream Razor(Actraiser) – A remix of the Fillmore theme from Actraiser (awesome game), this is another which defies being stuck in a genre, at least by me. The remixer described it as “Smooth Dark Lustrous”, which fits very nice. It’s very smooth, and it DOES have a rather dark ring to it.
Dreaming on Distant Shores(Earthbound) – A very cool, sort of ominous orchestrated/ambient piece from Earthbound. Until 1:45 or so, at least, then it speeds up into a really cool piece.
Stranger in a Strange Land(Ultima V, VI, VII) – Another orchestrated piece. There tends to be a lot of those, almost as many as there are trance pieces. This one is pretty good.
Etude for Piano in F Minor( Fire Emblem: Dragon of Darkness and Sword of Light) – A piano solo, and a Fire Emblem remix. Piano solos aren’t too rare, but this is the only FE remix I have ever seen. Surprising, that series has great music. Anyways, for a piano solo, this isn’t too special, really. But wait… once it reaches 2:14, it IS very good.
Fear not(Morrowind – A bouncy, synthy, techno piece. Jazz electronica? Something like that. It’s a remix of Morrowind’s main theme, and manages to keep to the original pretty well. It’s pretty good, but nothing spectacular… until about halfway in, at 3:07. It’s the very best from 5:00 or so until the end, IMHO. It’s that section that makes makes this piece great.
Flames of Valor(Breath of Fire) – Now, I don’t have a clue what to call this. It’s kinda a sweeping orchestral, I suppose, but it jumps around so much that that description is shaky, at best. There’s this one point, a bit over two minutes in, that sounds like Golden Sun to me. From that point onward, it takes on an even more dramatic tone. This is very cool.
Flight 47(Gradius – An electronica piece. The remixer describes it as “gusto”, though it doesn’t seem like the most apt term, to me. Pretty good. You can definitely feel like the flying part in there. I could imagine this in Ikaruga very easily.
Brett’s Requiem ~ Flight of a Dragon(Double Dragon II) – It starts with a minute of quiet, stringy, emotional… something. About a minute and fifteen seconds in, it goes into a hard rock piece. This is a remix of Stage 1-2 USA, for those of you familiar with the game. The intro, which is utterly fantastic, is the best par tof this piece.
Flying Hachi-Roku(F-Zero) – A remix of Big Blue, this upbeat rock piece is awesome simply by virtue of the fantastic original piece. Actually, the original piece sounds like crap, with that bad sound hardware, but it’s concept was good
Forgotten Daze(Suikoden) – I love this song. It starts out with birds chirruping, a slow, melodic bit of music playing… eventually it launches into one of, if not the very best trance pieces I have ever heard. It has a sort of droning, hynoptic sound to it. There’s something about this… Get it.
Heh. I listened to this piece(along with another… Going Commando, I’ll mention it in a sec) for about two hours straight, the night I discovered Hyung Tae-kim’s artwork… ever since, I’ve associated both with that art.
Geheimnis der Erde: I Der Anfang und ein Gebet(Illusion of Gaia, Soul Blazer, Terranigma) – This is a sweeping, dramatic orchestra piece. Extremely good, too, though it’s a bit on the long side (7+ minutes). I honestly don’t remember the music from any of those three games very well, but if this is any indication, they had some good stuff
Going Commando(Bionic Commando) – I really, really love this piece. It’s a sort of military-themed orchestrated techno thing, and one of my favorites.
Icon(ICO) – A purely trance piece, this one, or that’s how I could have described it. One of the reviewers at VGmix calls it a mixture of electronica, triphop, and breakdance, of all things.
Infectious Oldskool(Streets of Rage) – A sort of upbeat, techno piece. Infectious is the right name for it.
Into the Deep(Submarine Attack) – w00t. Destiny is back with her extremely well done… voice. As usual, there is an celtic influence here. This features an electric violin, of all things, and it sounds great. One of my absolute favorites. The game is very obscure, but perhaps I should check out it’s music… heh.
Journey to Remlia(Astyanax) – This one is a sort of orchestral new age thing, a remix of the Remlia theme from Astyanax. A bit different from the run-of-the-mill orchestra, but that in now way detracts. Quite the opposite.
Labyrinth of Mirrors(Ys I & II: Eternal Story) – Fantastic remix of “Dreaming”, from Ys I & II: Eternal Story. I’ve never heard the original, but I love this piece. There’s some nice clean guitar with a big reverb, strings, choir, flute. I suppose it’s like a light rock type thing.
Kizukaseru(Last Blade 2) – A very, very cool watery sounding ambient new age jazz piece. I love it. It’s from the guy responsible for Zeal Love, and has a similar sound to it.
LiquidX(X-Out) – A cool trance mix, here. Starts out with floaty, spacey synths, which… uh, it keeps the entire time, basically. I’ve always liked this one quite a bit.
Turrican 2 Main Title – An awesome techno/dance remix of the main theme of Turrican 2. I never heard the source song, so I can’t comment on that, but I can on the rest of this… and it’s fantastic. I’m beginning to run out of things to say, as you may have noticed…
Mutaclone’s Theme(Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future) – It’s a sort of trippy dance hop thing with an extremely cool organ. I loved the music for this game, and this does it justice, though not quite the style I would have chosen.
Not Alone in the World(Wild Arms 2) – I love this mix. It’s a laidback jazz (there’s that repetition again
) mix. There’s an orchestrated feel to it, too. Regardless of what style it really is, there’s some definite emotion behind this song. One of the very best.
Nozomi’s Heart(Shemue) – A beautiful, calming orchestrated remix from Shenmue. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Shenmue mix before. Probably because the game’s music was altogether average. If my memory serves. This isn’t a sweeping, dramatic thing… it’s peaceful background music, basically.
Pr0n Terra(Ragnarok Online) – Heh. Despite the name, this is NOT a prono piece
It’s a play on the name of the town, Prontera, that this is a remix of. It’s a nice mellow piano and guitar piece.
Purple Heart(Rush’n Attack) – I love this piece. It’s another heavy rock piece from goat, the Castlevania guy. According to his description, Rush’n Attack was a one-man-against-the-world, aggressive, nonstop-fight-for-ground type game, complete with bazooka. I’d say this captures the feel of that. description pretty well, heh.
Rocket Lounger(Metal Slug) – It feels like some sort of rock mix, with a heap of military stuff thrown in. And a touch of jazz, too. Pretty good.
Ruined Desert(Halo) – A cool, military (march, I suppose) type slow remix from Halo. It gives you the feeling of patrolling the walls of a military fortress looking out of the water from that island level in Halo… or at least it does for me, heh.
Sakura no Kakutei Hanketsu(DDR) – A fantastic, haunting remix of Sakura from DDR. And it really is kinda haunting. Not in a frightening way, but in it’s ethereal atmosphere, and the weird voices. I can’t always tell what they’re saying, but it sounds like some strange whispers, saying “Save us”, and occasionally a deeper voice, saying “save yourself”. I really, really love this remix. It’s trance, for the record. Very moody.
Save me(ICO) – Another techno trance remix from ICO, this time remixing the menu screen (“Heal”). I like this one a lot, even better than the other above-average ICO mix I have here. And let me mention… this is nine minutes long. A nine minute long trance, and the length doesn’t bother me at all. Strange. Yet cool.
Sonic Blade Ultimate Medley(Chrono Trigger, FF7, FF8, Star Ocean 2) – Classical orchestrated rock is the perfect description for this. It IS orchestra, and it is also most definitely rock. This one is pretty long and involves quite a few different tracks, so it has it’s ups and downs, but overall I’d say it’s very good.
Tactile Freefall(Life Force – Another rock mix. This time it’s a remix of the last boss and stage 6 themes, from Life Force, which have been welded together to create a pretty cool rock remix. The rock’s a bit on the heavier side, but I hesitate to call it hard/heavy rock, since it’s not. Oh, and Life Force is also known as Salamander, if that tells any of you anything.
Terra Cresta(Terra Cresta) – Very strange remix, here. Starts out with some repetitive strings, and ends up a slow electric piece. At one point I could swear it’s taking a turn towards ethnic snake charmer style music.
Tetrix-X(Tetris) – A trance remix of some Tetris tune. Pretty good, but aside from the fact that it’s Tetris, there is really nothing to differentiate it.
The Dark Side of the Moon(Driller – A dark, rainy, industrial style remix. It reminds me of People of the Ruined World from way back near the top, only better in every conceivable way. It even has similar voices and murmurings in the background, only they’re less obviously looped. Once it reaches a certain point though, it speeds up, adds a few instruments, and a march/military style bit. All without losing the original feeling of paranoiac industrial claustrophobia. Highly recommended.
The Eternal Struggle(Eternal Champions) – Awesome. This is a heavy guitar rock piece, pretty short. Short, yet sweet, oh so sweet. One of my very favorites, and I was quite close to Triforce-izing it.
Evil Trolls from the Dark Forest(Trolls) – A very cool, upbeat electronica/rock piece. It even manages to add a few oldschool sounding noises that somehow manage to be high quality at the same time.
The Games We Played(A Boy and His Blob, Deus Ex, Kirby’s Dreamland, Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario Bros, Tetrix, Final Fantasy 4, Final Fantasy 6, Bubble Bobble, Dragon Warrior, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, Megaman 2) – Beautiful. A
17 minute long piano piece, remixing a bunch of old tunes from ancient and awesome NES/SNES games. The sheer quantity of this, coupled with the amazing variety and quality, makes this an awesome mix. I recommend downloading and listening through once. And probably once will be more then enough
And, what makes this even more insane, is that I think it was a live performance, rather than sequenced on the comp. The only real problem is that the transition between the different songs is often poorly done.
Return to the Palace(Last Ninja) – A rather deep, low-key mix, with drums, heavy bass, and violins. Somehow the violins don’t really sound high-pitched, and I don’t have a clue how that is possible. It has a pretty dark feel, overall.
Train to the Vertical Horizon(Terranigma) – Terranigma. I really, really need to get around to finishing that game. Anyways, this is a remix of the “Crysta” theme, form Terranigma, done in a light electronica trance style. As I said, it has a light feeling to it. As if it might blow away or something.
Triumphant Tides(Ecco: The Tides of Time) - I really recognize this music. I think I had it stuck in my head quite often a few years back. The source song, I mean. This remix seems to be an epic, orchestrated piece, with a muted, ambient sound to it. It’s extremely good.
Typhoon (Libya Strickfighter mix)(Typhoon) – An upbeat, techno dance sort of remix. Strangely, it has what sounds like clips from the radios of fighter pilots or something playing in the background.
Venus’ Lullaby(Golden Sun) – A cool, laidback remix of the Venus Lighthouse, from Golden Sun. It’s soft rock with a vague sense of jazz. Very dramatic piece, not quite epic.
Warrior King(Shadowgate) – A heavy rock remix, with a bit of electronica thrown in. I honestly forgot about it completely, until I opened it a few moments ago. It’s pretty good, but nothing amazing.
Zenobia’s Grave(Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen) – Ogre Battle was one of the greatest games of all time, yet it receives such a small amount of notice among the gaming community. I’ve never understood that. People always talk about Tactics Ogre: Knight of the Lodis, for instance, but that never even began to compare to the original. Aaaanyways… I love this remix. It’s a sort of dramatic, sweeping orchestrated epic, complete with gothic choir and trumpets. Any fan of Ogre battle should pick it up, all two of you. The rest… well, you might like it, I don’t know.
w00t. Done at last. That took me forever, and with 37 pages of stuff (according to Word at least), I can see why. Anyways, an explanation for the sticky portion of this. The point of this whole exercise was not to get you all to download my complete remix collection (of which this is only about 75% anyways), but to share with all of you the type of music I like, and to offer a sort of reference to some o the better remixes out there.
Heh. You’ll note that about half this stuff is trance, the other half orchestrated, and the rest manages to fit a few pieces in here and there. That’s not necessarily my own taste, it’s merely the things most common in the remixing community. Myself, I check vgmix every day, and download everything that the reviewers there rate highly.
Now, here’s the explanation for the pinning of this topic
: I want to create a little mini remix database here. Anyone who wants can post their own list here(no need ot be as insane as me, a list will do, heh), mark the ones they think are best, and I’ll edit them into this first post. For fun, to kill time, to increase the closeness of the community, and to hopefully net me some more cool remixes in the process.
And if any of you even read all that, let alone download everything, I will be very shocked
