ReMix: Mega Man: The Wily Wars 'BreakTheBeatInHalf, Dr. Wily (extrapiemix)'

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Mega Man: The Wily Wars

Shael continues his disturbing trend of NOT singing about his groin (JK) with this exceedingly schizophrenic ReMix from the ubiquitous Mega Man series, this time taking inspiration from the music in the last stage in Wily's tower from MegaMan: The Wily Wars compilation on Sega Genesis. This ReMix is the epitome of sonic deconstruction, with more stops, starts, breaks, totally non-sequitur introductions of different styles, and unexpected twists, turns, slides, and slaloms than you can shake a tiny blue fist at. Sort of like a musical roller-coaster, in other words. The overall style probably comes closest to breakbeat techno, but there's certainly a lot of variety. My one concern is that this flip-flops so often and pulls off so many tricks that at times it's hard to get into its groove and stay there for very long. For my purposes, though, I enjoyed it and found myself double-guessing what breakpoints Shael would put it in where. Sounds used are all quality, and game sound fx and various external voice samples add some definite flavor. I definitely dug the all-the-sudden laid back guitar digs at 2'26", against the windy backdrop - a moment of calm in a sea of chaos. It's definitely a mix you need to sit and actually listen to, as it's a little unpredictable to serve as background of any kind, but major props to Shael to throwing this many nuances into a single mix and retaining musicality. Recommended.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
The production feels free to color the vibe how it wants, when it wants, creating one show-stopping number after another. Sometimes it tweaks the arrangement by pitch bending notes on the leads (0:42, 0:54) or by adding rubbery countermelodies ( 0:14, 0:22, 1:08 ). Panning consciously distinctifies each player during the mainstream sections and polarizes the timely percussion hits. In-game sound effects work best when they segue into new sections (it occurred to me that the [i]Mega Man 2[/i] boss intro bears a passing resemblance to the start of the source tune. Maybe that's why the mix starts out that way and then detracts going "Wait, wrong source!"). While a few sound effects have a dose of reverb or are briefly chopped up, most of the cartoon voice clips are manipulated more liberally (splicing "Oh my" and "Boy, that's gratitude for you" is welcoming at 2:53). And the trigger-happy gating effectively bottles, builds, and bursts with energy as it silences one or more channels at a time.
Some of my favorite moments:
1:24 - The explosion sound epitomizes the aforementioned release of tension like a cork popping off a champagne bottle.
2:01 - A spotlight on the drumwork is an easeful break like the wind+guitar section later.
2:10 - Viciously sped up "Proto Man" = LOL
2:44-2:48 - The vocal pitches in the unchopped " 'You're welcome!' 'Boy, that's gratitude for you' " echo the mood of the notes played, amusingly.
Overall, it's malleable while it maintains a cohesive flow. "Works for me." :P

- Polo on May 30, 2009
Man, a lot of haters on this one. :-(
I'm inclined to disagree, this is some pretty cool stuff, and though in the vocal breakdown there are a few seemingly dropped beats, the rest is solid and very creative. Maybe ahead of it's time? It's super catchy and the breaks make it really interesting. They pretty much demand your attention, so as a way to encourage (ok require) active listening, it's really ingenious.
I could live without the vocals, but it makes the mix pretty funny, so no worries.
This mix is all about taking one idea so far (silent stops) that it actually becomes the focal point of the song itself. Imagine the song without the breaks, and it's a lofi synth version of the theme, but with them, it's way more than that. It's very experimental, but unlike some other "out there" tracks, this one works.
Are you a bad enough dude to appreciate this inspired mix?

- OA on February 21, 2008
Man, did this song ever rock. It was fun to listen to, what with all the breaks and stutters everywhere. Plus, it makes good headbanging music. I almmost forgot the voice samples. Those really elevated the song.

- MooMan1 on March 20, 2006
If you would call this remix different, that wouldn't be enough. This is one of a kind. This is one of the weirdest thing mankind might ever heard of. This is an endangered specie that's the only in its kind that killed itself by driving themselves crazy by using many diffent kinds of voice and game samples together with gaps all over the place.
But I did strangely like most of it. Got a little confused by the opening line, but the introducing synh was actually darn good. The occasional monkey sounds and random places of vacuum actually help this remix to create a weird and freaky atmosphere. The latter continued with it's baffling and unexplainable rhytm with an another interesting synth. So as the music in question I think it was good. Unfortunately all those Megaman voices in the middle of the arrangement destroyed my will of downloading it, the line ”Protoman to the rescue” got reallt disturbing after some listens. Shael has created a monster, but it was one funky remix.

- Bummerdude on January 7, 2006
Man, that is some weird shizzle. A big part of the section full of voice clips from was lame (1:52-2:19). But the mix itself was pretty interesting/catchy. Cool older stuff.

- Liontamer on November 22, 2005
This is a perfect example of what Strong Bad was talking about in his E-Mail about Techno Music. I found the Vocals to be worth a couple of chuckles myself.

- Slime Master on February 19, 2005
I dont know what it is with me and vocals in techno, but their inclusion often ruins the piece for me. I love this mix, but the vocal stuff just bothers me enough to warrant it a backseat ride.
Great arrangement, but the voices did it in for me.

- Red Shadow on February 10, 2005
I enjoy this mix alot. I do not find it to be schitzophrenic... or suffering from any other mental ilness. My favorite element of this song is the sudden cut-aways to silence... or near silence. This has the effect of turning everything happening in the moment into a single instrument.... like a perverted orchestra hit. It makes what ever rhythym patterns that take place in these spots have 10 times the impact that they would normally have. Definitely one of my favorites on the site.

- Sam Ascher-Weiss on July 27, 2004
At first, the clips from the cartoon sort of bothered me. Then came all the Protoman clips--especially "Give me that! You robotwit...". Suddenly, it was all worth it. Makes me want to break out my tapes. :lol: The actual music pops in and out quite a bit, so if you don't like interruptions, you may not like this. I personally like the song that was remixed, though, so even with all the jumping around, I still like this.

- CJ_Sparx on July 1, 2004
you know...the first thing that got me when i listened to the this track was not the amazing skill put into it oh no, it was at how many kbites it ran per second, get this 256k, which is more than some computers can do.
But other than that this is one of the best mixes ive ever heard

- Icct Hedrix on December 29, 2003
I liked the usage of sound effects in this remix. Pretty good overall. Thumbs up, Shael. Now go and take Music of my Groin off of OCR, please? :mrgreen:

- Bruk on November 1, 2003
After hearing The Atomizer and Music of My Groin, this is tame by comparison. Extremely good music, but not quite up to the insanity of those other two...pieces...I hesitate to even refer to them as music. Their in a class of their own.

- The King of All Kupos on November 1, 2003
To be completely honest, I'm surprised to see something this "normal" after hearing the Groin Incident. I use the word normal very, [i]very[/i] loosely.
As for the song itself, I definitely agree with djpretzel's use of the word schitzophrenic. It does have more awkward twists, turns, and cd-skip-like halts (more like crashes) than anything else I've ever heard anywhere.
The use of voice samples was... shall we say... unique. I never imagined that the MegaMan cartoon would find its way onto OCR. And the way that the voices are mixed can only be described as dizzying. But one thing is for sure, they set the mood perfectly. I knew what I was in for the second I heard "Now [i]I've[/i] got your power!"
This is a very entertaining mix. That's really all there is to say about it. I look forward to hearing more from Mr. Riley on my quest through the site.
And I doubt that there's anything of Shael's that won't get this award...
:? =Stamp of General Weirdity= :?

- rebirth9283 on April 18, 2003
That voiceclip of Mega Man made me realize his voice actor also did Goku in the first season of Dragon Ball Z. ^_^ Couldn't help but notice.

- Heero123 on July 4, 2002
I like the clip from the Mega Man cartoon....but it about ends there..:?
Just not really to my liking, just going a little too far maybe? :?

- skawttieboy on July 4, 2002

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