ReMix: Double Dragon 'Enter the Guru'

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Been hankering for a Double Dragon megamix? Nintendo Guru, who's previous co-op OC ReMixes with Khalal date back to 2002 and 2000, goes solo and offers up a rockin' DD medley with the four stage themes plus title theme, constructed in Impulse Tracker over a four month period. The best way to work around some of the pitfalls of trying to create a rock and roll arrangement using decent-but-not-amazing samples and no real live instruments is via very tight, authentic programming. Particularly, NG does an ace job with the drums here, adding plenty of fills and breaks to create a dynamic, believable rhythm track that keeps the energy flowing. This is all the more vital when some of the guitar-chug chords used do border on sounding like GM - the drums pick up some of the slack. Good attention is paid to panning and stereo imaging as well, as call-and-answer instruments are placed across from one another, etc. Everything's sequenced well, though taken out of context the transitions can be spartan. Also, I'm an unusually harsh judge of brass samples - the one's used here aren't bad, but are a little anemic, without much presence to them. The effort was clearly spent, however, on doing the most humanly possible with the given soundset, and working within that constraint NG's put together a real treat for Double Dragon afficionados. Beatdrop writes: "I will say that, although the samples used aren't fantastic, they're used very well and they function well together." with an unusually-positive Protricity adding "This mix made my day. I love every aspect." I'm not one for medleys, and some of the samples and pieces of the transitions didn't float my boat as much as some of the judges, but I concur that this is a very worthy arrangement that brings the full canon of Double Dragon's musical universe in, and turns it all into something new and enjoyable. Great to see a submission so particularly worked on and perfected over a few months, and good to see Nintendo Guru still submitting shtuff as well. Check it out.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
yea, the snare drum in this one is not my friend

- bobby1983 on May 25, 2011
Wow nice track, thanks for mixin it up man. Sounds good.

- TheLongshot45 on February 17, 2011
Sample-wise this is pretty gross..like a gameboy, and it's a pretty straightforward cover medley. HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (!)
Double Dragon on the gameboy probably killed more batteries for me than any other game, and all because when I was 11 or so and waiting in the frigid cold for the bus, i'd have headphones in and would be jamming to the title screen music for hours as i'd head to school. The nostalgia on this mix is so strong I can't be rational and I love in conditionally. When the title screen music finally hits after the huge build, I forgot all of the shortcomings.
I will say the drum programming is really nice on this one, with some great fills and grooves.
I love this mix. <3

- OA on December 8, 2008
The first stage sounded a little too Capcom/Street-Fightery to me
But otherwise, good job :)

- SpikedBladeZero on February 3, 2008
Very nice remix, keep it up :nicework:

- Herode on December 11, 2005
That is very amused. Cool beats! Nice arrangement! KAZUNAKAAAA YAMANEEEE!!!!

- Txai on January 27, 2005
Way before I heard of MP3's NG developed things called IT's (Impulse Trackers) I thought these were MP3's but I was very wrong!!! It's really an IT gone MP3! So that's why it doesn't sound as good as it should! Take it from a dragon who has had experience!

- Mahjong No OujiSama Yoshi on November 18, 2003
I really want to like this song, but I can't for one primary reason. That AWFUL snare drum sample. It sounds very tinny and annoying, and its too far into the foreground. I might have been able to tolerate it if it was more in the backround and not so blaring. Rest of it is pretty good, but that drum....ARRRGH!!

- Fygee on April 25, 2003
like all Nintendo music does to me
im instilled with a great feeling of Nostalgia :)
sigh.. i love OCR

- Odyeiop on April 19, 2003
I thought it was good. Although it sounded like it came straight from game itself. But that might have been what you were going for. Good job on integrating the different themes. My favorite part is the end when the title theme comes in. Nice work.

- xamgis on April 6, 2003
Hmh... Well, I do enjoy it more once 4:12 kicks up... I wasn't paying much attention to it, until then..
Not my most favorite. Yet I'll keep it. It'll more then likely grow on me.

- Elex Synn on April 5, 2003
I think my review could be summed up in one word: blah.

- RazorRamon on April 5, 2003
*shakes fist* You included the song I wanted to mix! It is the one that is also on the versus stage (Stage 4 music). heh..
Overall, this mix is novel, but I agree with Ryan that the transitions don't develop (but rather just kind of happen and that's it), and the ending is really awkward. Feels almost like a jazzercised version of the original music, which is not all that bad, except that it's been a while since I've actually played DD, so I felt more like I wanted the song to build up to something instead of listening intently for each stage's music. But, this is a vegetable soup of DD mixing, and it is still a decent listen.

- TiKiMoN on April 5, 2003
I'm not sure what to say about this. There are parts that are good, but I feel they are outweighed by some others. First off, the medley doesn't seem to have any coherence aside from the fact that these are all DD tunes. The transitions don't work, the arrangement doesn't really go anywhere, and this is emphasized by the ending, which is kind of dull. And of course, the issue of sound samples. But there were parts with good drums, and a couple parts with good melody and panning. They just need to fit with the other parts better and form a more coherent piece.

- Ryan8bit on April 5, 2003
What makes this song so great is its like playing the game all over again. The samples are simple, and the tune is a little unoriginal, but the song still kicks plenty of ass, especially around the 4 minute mark when the last level tune kicks in, Yeah! Good Ending!
I never post on this board, although I download a lot. I've got like 500+ or so songs from this page and this is the first I felt the need to post on. The first video game I ever got was Double Dragon for the Sega Master System...and wow does this bring back memories. It's about time somebody did something for this game! This one is great too...the samples aren't top notch, and it's not very original, but still it's awesome! I was about to do the first level song myself if no one else was going to do it actually, (but I still have a month of classes left and it's double dragon or my degree so.....double dragon will have to wait!) Awesome song though, I just love it! I hope we can see more Double Dragon in the future.

- mutaclone on April 5, 2003