ReMix: Mega Man X 'The Zero Sacrifice'
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- Game: Mega Man X (Capcom, 1993, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Vigilante
- Composer(s): Makoto Tomozawa, Setsuo Yamamoto, Toshihiko Horiyama, Yuki Iwai, Yuko Takehara
- Song(s): 'Opening', 'Sigma Stage 1'
- Posted: 2003-02-22, evaluated by the judges
There's really no denying it - the electric guitar, initially panned hard right, that enters at around the minute mark is definitely the high mark, some might say saving grace, of this Mega Man X arrangement from Vigilante. The rest of the instruments aren't bad, and the ReMixer does an especially good job of muxing with the theme and even bringing in some other earlier Mega melody, but the guitar's on a higher level. I do appreciate the very brave use of the solo trumpet, even if it's not the best patch in the world. The drums are rockin' but do sound, as one judge noted, a little GM-ish (General MIDI) - not the highlight. To round things out, I take some issue with panning decisions and mixing - some elements are cut above or below where it seems like they should be, and panning - while discrete and obviously at play - is sometimes overly polarized. BUT, but, but, there's some mean classic rock electric guitar noodling that blends in really well that truly compensates and turns the ReMix into an overall success, with portions being downright great. In essence, the arrangement is (more than) there, the guitar is definitely there, and while some of the other players may be catching up to varying degrees, this is enough. Also dig the very enigmatic, moody ending quite a bit. As our newest judge Beatdrop summarizes: "Well, about 50% of this song sounds very General MIDI-ish (especially the drums), but the guitar work more than makes up for that. The arrangement also happens to be top-notch, which helps cover up for the samples used." - my sentiments exactly. Mega Man nuts ( . . . as in "fans", yo) need ask no questions, and lovers of rock in general should find this some satisfying, crunchy, driving stuff. Kudos to Vigilante, with the constructive suggestion that improving his sampleset somewhat could yield devastating, downright scary results. Cool.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the OA;623539 wrote: eep, attack of the GM. Nice guitar though, but the hard panning of midi and guitar was more than a little distracting.
The guitar playing is nice, but the rest of this was pretty weak. SOrry dude. :-(
No offense taken. This was the first thing I ever produced/recorded/whatever. I didn't know jack shit about...well pretty much anything. But why bother writing a review about it? :-P
- Vig on February 10, 2010
- Crulex on February 10, 2010
The guitar playing is nice, but the rest of this was pretty weak. SOrry dude. :-(
- OA on December 15, 2009
The Zero Sacrifice is faithful to the original, with lots of synth and atmospheric soundscapes, and an almost identical structure.
Now don't get me wrong: this is a good thing, since the source was really great to begin with.
The remix is fairly even in terms of material and arrangement, and adds some interesting elements as well as a straight rock twist that is very fitting.
I was really pleased at how the Megaman 2 intro/end theme was incorporated seamlessly into the mix.
I also loved how the sounds (appart from the guitar of course) were subtly refined to make the remix sound almost like an update of the orignal song, keeping the spirit of the game intact.
Somehow, I couldn't help but notice the sudden change in gain at 3:26 when the end part with the reversed notes rolls in. Sounds a bit like a clip-crop gone bad, but this isn't a big deal.
Overall, it's a satisfying song to hear as a Megaman fan, and all in all, a very cool remix.
- Dj Mokram on November 12, 2009
I am unfamiliar with MMX except for Star Salzman's take on it but I keep coming back to this mix for the amazing guitar. It sounds like Mark Knopfler's grittier soloing and that ranks pretty high in my book. Fantastic!
- glasfen on October 27, 2008
Ok, some constructive thoughts then. The opening was nice, sounds like a trumpet of some sort, and over the time more instruments are pasted on top of it. I liked the samples of what that sounds like a female choir, gave it a very beautiful touch. And then the guitars came, nothing that i really can complain on. The drums are okay, maybe isn't sounding real, but that was also the problem with it. :wink:.
The tunes from MM2 was a nice add since that game also has some real good music. Overall I thought that this was a good remix, but considering this was your first then it's great. Awesome Vig.
- Bummerdude on January 7, 2006
Not being a remixer myself, and not knowing the names of instruments and such, my comments will sound generic at best.
This is a good example of a remix which takes a good song, adds something to it, but doesn't take away from the original. It sets a somber mood that befits it's title, and the part of the game from which it was taken. I really liked the ending with the original megaman theme excerpt thrown in. A VERY nice and "old school" touch, one I won't soon forget.
If your looking to relive how you felt sieging the first Sigma Fortress stage...and seeing "zero's sacrifice" for the first time...then this is the song for you.
Remix on my friend....
- DKnight2066 on August 26, 2005
- HumpteeFree on August 26, 2005
What it needs: It suffers from fancy synth syndrome: with hundreds of factory patches, you gotta use them all. The synth textures could be focused a bit more. One of the guitars cuts out in mono! (Just moved, haven't set up *real* sound yet.)
- Clockwork Dolphin on June 16, 2005
- Nathsazar on October 22, 2004
- Brim on August 4, 2004
- Gnam on July 12, 2003
- AXNJAXN on February 26, 2003
heh heh :vomit:
good guitar playing makes me jealous... i must make something better!! gyahhh hahahahahahahaha :nicework:
this one coulda used a bit of eq'ing in my opinion...
- lefty on February 25, 2003
