ReMix: Double Dragon 'Enter the Guru'
- Game: Double Dragon (Technos, 1988, NES)
- ReMixer(s): Nintendo Guru
- Composer(s): Kazunaka Yamane
- Song(s): 'Arrival of the Black Warriors (City Slum)', 'Double Dragon (Opening Theme)', 'Old Nemesis Willy (Enemy's Headquarters)', 'Riot (Industrial Area)', 'Woods (Forest)'
- Posted: 2003-04-04, evaluated by the judges
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.
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
But otherwise, good job :)
- SpikedBladeZero on February 3, 2008
- Txai on January 27, 2005
- Mahjong No OujiSama Yoshi on November 18, 2003
- Fygee on April 25, 2003
im instilled with a great feeling of Nostalgia :)
sigh.. i love OCR
- Odyeiop on April 19, 2003
- xamgis on April 6, 2003
Not my most favorite. Yet I'll keep it. It'll more then likely grow on me.
- Elex Synn on April 5, 2003
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
- Ryan8bit on April 5, 2003
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
Stage 1 - 0:00
Stage 2 - 1:36
Stage 3 - 2:43
Stage 4 - 4:10
Title - 5:01
Thanks so much for your comments, guys. You have truly provided a fair assessment of this remix.
Yes, the samples aren't amazing. In fact I didn't pay a cent for any of them. Such is the life of a tracker. :)
Yes, drums are my specialty, and they are the backbone of this remix. The only thing closest to a live instrument in this remix is my snare drum, which I recorded from my own drumkit, and you can notice texture changes in it if you listen closely.
Saying that I was improving on Kazunaka's work instead of remixing it? Sounds good to me. Why mess with greatness? Stage 2 was the biggest style change IMO. The rest is straightforward rock with a splash of techno.
I will agree that the last two are the best ones in the set, but hey, I like them the most out of the five. My general theme was to start off nicely in Stage 1 with a basic song, get funky in Stage 2, relax a bit through the beginning of Stage 3, then build up intensity at the end of Stage 3 into Stage 4, so by the time the Title theme hits you're in full headbanging mode. The Title theme is the greatness of Double Dragon in a nutshell, so it gets the most grandeur. :)
What's in the future? I never run out of song ideas (I have eight candidates in mind right now), but I'm afraid that my method of delivery, Impulse Tracker, is finally showing its age. Plus it seems that all I do is Rock, Rock, Rock. I've stretched it for all it's worth. What I WANT to do is form a band, much like the other VG music bands around. I want better drums, better cymbals, better recording equipment. I want to learn to play the guitar and piano, and be better at the drums. All kinds of things that are beyond the reach of this poor college student.
So, basically, I'm afraid that I'm not good enough to compete with the rest of the talent on this site. Over these six years that I have made remixes, I have made them primarily for myself, because I liked the music so much that I wanted to make it better. After that, I wanted to show people that VG music is more than some lines of code in a chip. OC Remix has done that on a much larger scale, and I am happy to be able to contribute to it. But talent-wise ... I don't know any more. Am I good enough? Should I keep going?
- Nintendo Guru on April 5, 2003
- neostormx on April 4, 2003
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