ReMix: Gunstar Heroes 'Deep Mine'
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- Game: Gunstar Heroes (Treasure, 1993, GEN)
- ReMixer(s): Malcos
- Composer(s): Kazuo Hanzawa
- Song(s):
- Posted: 2002-05-13, evaluated by the judges
YEAH. Okay people, listen up - if you ain't played Gunstar Heroes, you're missing out on one of the single best 2d action games of all time, not to mention one hell of a fun blast-fest. It's by Treasure, who can virtually do no harm (Radiant Silvergun, anyone? Guardian Heroes?). Back when Gamefan magazine was still alive - what I like to call "the good ole days" - they did a lot to make sure this sleeper hit got recognized and played by all the right people. Bottom line - play it at least once in your life, or you'll die unfulfilled :) But enough hype for the game, let's talk about the ReMix. The capable Malcos aka Stephen Malcolm gives us our first coverage and sets a high benchmark for would-be GH mixers to come, with some stylized techno. Beginning with a train sound effect from an intro for a well-known sound company (I'll say no more), Malcos wastes no time in bringin' in a cool, syncopated synth line, then gradually bringing in the other components: very slick hi-low drums with excellent, varied programming, a massive bassline that's phased and filtered and panned so that it's basically a monster, some additional low-end synthage with a rapid-fire belchy analog synth pattern, and even more synth fun later on. There's just a lot going on here, with synths trading grooves and bits and pieces being removed and recombined in fun ways. Sound quality is fantastic and as previously mentioned, programming is 1. Present and accounted for, 2. Very good and 3. Not just window-dressing, but integral to the mix. Gunstar Heroes needed some coverage, and while some of its music is a little challenging in that the melody is circuitous or nominal, Malcos handles that aspect well, going for the groove and not attempting to stretch things too far from the original to compensate. I liked it quite a bit - could have used one single, biting, kickass synth solo that just rips your ears a new one, so to speak, but I have a well-documented addiction to solos, so that might just be my inner demon interjecting. Recommended.
Discussion: Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the ..this is totally awesome (not the amiga game 'awesome')
i mean totally rad (no wait not 'totally rad')
this remix is friggin tubular
those who do not appreciate this can turn their ears elsewhere because i will rock out to this until i am mortally gone
- uagrenadier on January 7, 2009
Anyways, the mix itself? Eh. It's not my cup of tea, to be honest. I agree with orkybash, it felt like "oh man this is so building up to something awesome", but it never really did. It's perfectly good, but it's just doesn't appeal to me. Still, props on being the only Treasure mix on the site in it's entire 8 year run. </whine>
- Jaybell on August 4, 2007
Really cool synth sounds throughout, and though It never get's kicked up a notch BAM, it's pretty good.
- OA on May 4, 2007
- HoopyFrood on April 29, 2006
- DarkWolf on November 15, 2005
- jordex on May 3, 2005
- Txai on January 4, 2005
I probably would have picked a different track, because I always thought this was one of the weakest tunes from Gunstar, but you've done wonders with it, man. :) Please, please, PLEASE do more in the future! I'd love to see what you could do with the music from the jungle stage or the airship stage...
As for you guys up there who haven't played the game yet, unless your comp is incompatible with the current build of GENS, you have no excuse for not playing it. Look, if you're into video game music in the first place, you've probably played some version of Contra, right? Okay, picture contra, same guns, same basic controls, except you have a couple mellee attacks for use if you're surrounded by guys at point-blank range. Oh, and you have a life meter.
The reason you need that life meter is because of the enemies you'll be facing. You know how in the first level of that SNES Contra game, you'd be walking through the first level, and an alien soldier would run along the ground towards you and occasionally fire a shot?
In gunstar, [i]eight[/i] of those guys would jump you at once. And as soon as you kill one, he explodes in a cloud of fire and a new one appears at the edge of the screen to take his place. And forget about just moving back and forth along the ground and releasing a bullet that travels in a straight line towards you. These guys swarm onto the scene and all but [i]flank[/i] you.
First guy on the scene stops and pulls out a blaster, while his buddies run, jump, and slide at you. If there's ledges in the background you can jump on, one or two of them will hop up there to come at you from above, and if you climb onto the scaffolding, they all follow you. Meanwhile, that guy with the blaster out is taking shots at you. Fortunately, the beam travels slowly cuz you've got a lot to keep track of.
You blew up two of the soldiers like so much [i]high-yeild explosive tissue paper,[/i] but one of them grabs you from behind, and his buddies close in and start [i]kicking you.[/i] You mash the buttons to escape... and discover you can [i]throw[/i] them like in a fighting game. More soldiers appear, and also a couple helicopter robot thingies. One of the soldiers pauses near the edge of the screen and actually [i]recieves orders from the communicator on his wrist.[/i] And if you're playing on a hard enough difficulty level, right about now, someone lobs a grenade, sending you [i]and a few of his buddies[/i] flying in all directions.
But, see, [i]this is only the first five seconds of gameplay![/i] The game goes on like this for almost half an hour assuming no deaths, punctuated by insane bosses, the occasional jumping puzzle, and even one [i]shooter[/i] level.
..........
Um, anyway, great song, Malcos. :)
Sorry. :) I love this game.
- WarpZone on April 12, 2003
- Burnov on December 14, 2002
- DeryckAK on July 11, 2002
Anyways, yes, this song is all suspense, no climax. I don't see that as a problem. What this song does, it does damn well. Whether or not you like what it does is up to you. As for me, I'll chalk up another one for Malcos.
- bartkusa on June 9, 2002
This remix is technically very good, but something's not quite right about it. It sounds like it's either trying to build excitement or suspense, but it really doesn't pull off either. Regardless, it's a *very* enjoyable listen, it's just too bad Malcos didn't go the extra mile to make it really bring out emotion in the listener.
- orkybash on June 5, 2002
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