ReMix:Mega Man 3 "Blue Balls" 6:59

By Sukotto42

Arranging the music of 6 songs...

"Boss", "New Character", "Shadow Man Stage", "Snake Man Stage", "Staff Roll", "Title"

Primary Game: Mega Man 3 (Capcom , 1990, NES), music by Harumi Fujita, Yasuaki Fujita

Posted 2006-10-08, evaluated by the judges panel


Newcomer Scott Hannay, alias Sukotto42, writes:

"...it's a medley from Mega Man 3 for the NES. It goes first from the title screen into Shadow Man, into Snake man, then the boss battle. After that, it goes to the 2nd half of the credits music to close it out. Oh yeah, and it's all crunchy prog-rock."

It is indeed... although from my experiences with prog rock, I'd say this is crunchier than it is progressive. I was honestly surprised when I looked over at the length of this mix, just shy of seven minutes, given the file size - while it's encoded @ 112Kbps, which can often sound noticeably lossy, audio quality wasn't much of an issue. JJT does some work in a similar vein, so let's see what he thinks:

"yeah, this'll do nicely. good arranging. though it's a tad on the conservative side, there's enough personal touches and flourishes to render it as your own. the drums samples are really cheesy. you could find a much better set for free on the net without too much effort. other than that, my rawk fist is raised in tribute to your guitar kwakery/prowess. good day."

I'd say it's more than a "tad" on the conservative side; Jesse was the primary voice of dissent in noting that most of what's qualifying as melodic arrangement here is the performance and instrumentation, and that's a valid point. I think he was correct to raise strong concerns, as this is definitely a mix that teeters on the threshold of minimal arrangement. In this case, the same reasoning that's held true for similarly liminal mixes in the past applies, however: if the production and performance are there, and there's enough interpretation on the latter to qualify as arrangement, coupled with instrumentation changes, then things can fly. Plus, it's always keen to have a nice euphemistic mix title - doesn't sway the judges, but makes wordsmiths like myself happy. Guitar is clearly the focus and is the strongest element - drums are solidly sequenced, but the samples sound a little cardboard at times, and the bass is loud enough to create a midrange EQ gap at times. Last but not least, part of whether this mix is going to resonate with you depends on your feelings about medleys; I've always preferred a single song being focused on, or two songs being merged, to a series of pieces that are mature enough to stand on their own being concatenated. Transitions can and do mitigate this, but it's ultimately a matter of personal preference - you'll dig this a bit more if you dig the medley thing. Good, accessible stuff from Scott which may not take a lot of risks, but compensates with fun + energy.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2013-06-20 10:23:04

My thinking is that this is just enough of a ReMix to avoid being a straight up melody, and while there were a few times where I wasn't sure about that particular section, overall I feel like this worked with the rocking direction you took it in. A lot more hits in my opinion than anything that might be labeled a miss, so not bad at all on my end.

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DarkShingo
on 2011-09-09 18:55:18

Hands down one of the best Megaman 3 Medleys I've ever listened. Kudos, great, great sound.

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Master in Lunacy
on 2009-12-24 02:30:57

I was Very Impressed with everything except I think the Shadow man Stage Keyboard Part should have Been Played Longer since its the best. Otherwise it rules I listen to it once a day at least.

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OA
on 2009-03-24 11:37:48

Some of the playing is sloppy, especially the intro (I kindof raised an eyebrow, though I'm not able to raise just one physically, so it was both), but even as a medley it has plenty of original material in the form of counterpoint, harmony, or original sections, which make great segues in between other tracks. Tone is good once things get going, but overall production is lacking a little polish.

Good stuff, but not mind blowing. :-)

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Duo
on 2007-05-03 15:18:57

When I was first introduced to OCR, I decided to look the game that got me interested in Video games and never let go, and still stands as one of my favorite games of all time - Mega Man III. I sifted through a couple intro theme remixes that seemed unastounding to me and then I saw "Blue Balls". Something about that told me to listen.

This song has got to be one of my favorite remixes if not one of my favorite songs of all time. The intro is slow at first but makes for a great lead in to the adrenaline rush that follows, and every listen after the first has me full of anticipation until it explodes at 35 seconds. Speaking of the 35 second mark, I love how you threw in a bunch of SFX from the game for a 2nd that are hard to catch at first.

Then that guitar breaks in and rips it up. I love the energy and performance here that remains consistent throughout the piece. If anything, the electric guitar is the sole best part of this piece bar none and the reason I seek out remixes with predominant electric guitar parts like this. Everything sets up great for the lead into Shadowmans theme, which also owns hard. I don't believe I've ever heard another remix of the song, but it doesn't need to be after hearing this. I especially love what you do with the guitar and keyboard from 1;50 until 2:00, and the part right after works great too.

The Protoman theme whistle and the lead into Snake's theme provides a nice cool down intermission kind of feel and though some complain about the transitions, I actually think this worked really well, especially when it kicks into high gear again at 3:18. The sudden stop and re-explosion (is that a word?) at 3:57 makes me gigglious. That just gives me a rush for some reason, almost as much as the utterly kickass leadin and performance of the Boss theme. I can't even begin to describe what part or why but the entire boss them is just so awesome and epic that it stands as my favorite part of the medley. MM3's boss theme has always been the best MM boss theme of any game in my mind and this does it justice for the feel I've wanted to get from it for years.

The "explosion" at the end and lead into the ending theme is nice, and the final song makes kind've a nice cool down for the rest of the song and wraps it all up very well. I appreciate how you picked some lesser-remixed songs and even a couple more common ones and brought it all together so nicely. It'd be great to hear more medleys of this style from you for this game or really any other. My jaw would hit the floor to hear you do this with some MM2 tracks.

Taking into consideration the criticism of drum samples, I will say they hold ground - but it's hardly noticeable when you get into the style of the song and let yourself get lost in it. The guitar also makes up for any lack in the drums by 100fold. I imagine this whole thing took a crapload of work so I appreciate that as well. I also dropped by your myspace and checked out the other tunes you've done - it's all really good stuff that suits my tastes very well. I wish you the best of luck in the music industry, I love what you're doing and I shall forever love this song.

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meccaneer
on 2007-01-21 23:34:22

You got me, dude. I don't usually like rock or medleys or long songs. I must be in a good mood or I'm just a sucka for MM3. The guitars sound crisp and there's some nice use of the ever underused stereo soundfield. The drum programming is pretty impressive - there could be some more velocity variation in there, but the sequencing otherwise is solid. And, yeah, Shadowman needs some remixes.

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usmc2hard4u
on 2007-01-09 02:06:41

I dont post often. This was amazing, and quite possibly the best done Mega Man Mix I have heard. Thank you. Please, post more when you are able.

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hellion0
on 2006-12-14 02:20:44

Had to reply to this one. Unlike some of the other posters, medleys are my favorite form of song.

It sounds a bit shaky in the beginning, and the drum sound is not the best (Not just the crash, the toms distort horribly as well), but the transitions somehow fall perfectly into place, and having Shadow Man's stage and the ending themes are a nice touch. Those two need to be ReMixed more often. This song is seriously made of win, even with its flaws.

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Goten X
on 2006-12-03 17:41:18

A truly amazing remix. I enjoyed this chain of songs a lot, and how they meshed together really worked... Not much to say, really. :P

Oh, I would like to note that on my first listen through I missed the boss theme, but that could be due to me not hearing MM3's boss theme in a while.

|GX

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MysteriousMrGlenn
on 2006-11-13 19:44:38

Well I'll start by saying i dont know anything about music on the technical level, but I do know games, and I have to say I really enjoy this remix. I find myself bumping it to the front of my music list quite often. Btw sneaking in Protoman's theme was a really great touch, nobody ever really gives that little tune enough credit (short tho it may be).

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DarkCecil13
on 2006-11-02 02:11:25

Contrary to what others say, transitions aren't really issue for me in this ReMix. Mind-blowing transitions are overrated in medleys.. The fact that Sukotto ReMixed the component originals effectively is really all that matters in the long run for overall enjoyment. Naturally, some of the samples could have been better. Drummer of 6 years, my only real beef with the drums is the cymbal crash sample used, as it is unusually white-noisy. All the other drum samples sound just fine. Nothing really out of the dorm for sequenced drums..

All the other instrumentation sounds more than great, and there's a plethora of creative deviations from the originals. Each original is given equal opportunity to strut their stuff.. I love medleys, and this one no less! 8)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for Mega Man or prog-rock fans!

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Martin Penwald
on 2006-10-29 17:48:10

This just doesn't work for me. There is a lot of potential for great remixes in there, but the medley ruins it for me. Some of the transitions really bother me, and I think that it's simply too long.

It's really sad, considering that this could have been a bunch of awesome songs.

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MegamanX14
on 2006-10-16 21:21:46

Yeah, I was a HUGE fan of this remix. I believe it's one of my favorite remixes on the site. I love the transitions in the song.

Good job. Two thumbs up.

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Mirai Gen
on 2006-10-14 15:34:01

I have to say I like this mix alot. Even though the background really is very, well, background, the transitions that were made reminded me of "SNES Battle Medly."

I found sticky fluid in my jeans at the transition into Boss Music, and when the main chords of Snake Man came in (one of my favorite Mega Man songs). That was stylish.

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zircon
on 2006-10-11 18:20:36

To say this isn't "coherent", I think, would be incorrect. The songs aren't just pasted together. There is intelligent writing of harmony parts and transitions that were simply not there in the originals. We don't let cover songs or cover medleys pass, and this is no exception. We checked it compared to the originals and it had a lot material that they didn't.

To say it's not compelling or interesting is a different story, but the interpretation factor IS there.

Sources Arranged (6 Songs)


Primary Game:
Mega Man 3 (Capcom , 1990, NES)
Music by Harumi Fujita,Yasuaki Fujita
Songs:
"Boss"
"New Character"
"Shadow Man Stage"
"Snake Man Stage"
"Staff Roll"
"Title"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Synth
Additional:
Time > Duration: Long

File Information


Name:
Mega_Man_3_Blue_Balls_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,958,922 bytes
MD5:
33816e139e7b54d46a015601d6470d37
Bitrate:
112Kbps
Duration:
6:59

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