ReMix: Super Mario Land 'Why So Serious?'

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Super Mario Land

So, craziness: SGC rocked last weekend, and we were lucky enough to be there. Larry and I were also lucky enough to end up as the finalists in the HD Remix tourney, but my lime green Ken sadly fell to the overwhelming masculine security of his pink T-hawk. We got this on video, but I'm currently looking for someone skilled enough to edit it so it looks like I won. Handily. There was a Nolan Bushnell keynote, a presentation and debate with Jack Thompson himself, and plenty of other awesomeness. If this con doesn't repeat next year and keep growing, there be no justice. We also need to send a major shout out to GPX Gaming - these guys run the gaming operations at tons of awesome events and do a first-class job. Manny hooked us up with speakers in the dealer's room so people could actually HEAR our shizz, and Javier and Glen made sure everything went smoothly with our live remix request set and HDR prize giveaway. It was glorious; we're definitely psyched about hanging with them again at Game Unicon in August.

We've been extra-super-busy with the convention circuit this summer, which has really exploded. Two additional announcements on that front:

Now on to the mix: halc showed up last year with a great Tetris Attack mix, and it's good to see him back in action in 2009, this time collabing with neighbor chthonic, whose last mix was (sadly) "way back" in 2007. Crazy, eh? Andrew writes:

"Let me start by saying that Super Mario Land is really hard. We've been producing this on Ben's computer, and there's no internet at his place, so everytime we needed to hear the source tune for Stage 2-1, I had to pick up the Gameboy and beat the first three stages, which was like... extremely difficult (for me, anyway) at first. Now I can play through the first three stages flawlessly without losing any lives. Enjoy and god bless the chip."

I'm really not a hardcore gamer, but I actually thought SML was pretty easy back in the day... I remember beating it and looping back to the beginning to accrue more extra lives - those bonus games were certainly helpful. I think the hardest thing about that game was playing on the Game Boy's un-backlit screen in low light, when the entire game basically looked like one big indeterminate greenish blob. Still, rather cool that the process for this mix involved playing the actual game each time they needed a source reference, and it seems like halc's platforming skills benefitted from the process. Ben writes:

"What to say. First off, I should probably mention that this is a collaborative effort... halcyon and I live in the same area, and we recently started using my brand new desktop pc. I thought of this theme on a whim, and we ran with it for a few months until it became this strange little super mario opus. This psuedo-chip tronica of sorts is becoming one of my personal favorite soundscapes... but really, the title says it all. Relax, people."

Of course, in the recent collective consciousness, the title question is being asked by a homicidal maniac dressed up in clown makeup, which might compromise the sentiment, but it's valid nonetheless. I'm sort of in a rush this morning, so it's time for the power of judgequote - Palpable writes:

"A few of the original sections also use the chord progression so I'm comfortable with the liberalness. Great use of texture in this, you constantly go from one soundscape to another (soundscape). Even though the 1-1 melody is used a bunch of times, the track still evolves through the use of different drums and synths."

BGC adds:

"I'm going to keep this short and sweet. SML was the first game I ever owned (besides Tetris which came with my Gameboy, so I don't count it). I'm quite familiar with the melody. I played this game for freaking hours and hours and hours. I think it's a fun deviation from what a lot of people around here seem to try to put into a remix lately. I didn't hear any production gripes that caused me to bite my cheek. I think it's a great arrangement and to me, the source connection remained plenty solid even during the parts where it seemed like entirely original music."

Mattias also wrote up a pretty detailed source breakdown in the judges' decision that you should read. Bottom line: great, interpretive collab from two guys who are each awesome in their own right and whose strengths are both put to great use; seriously good unseriousness.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
The arrangement's personalized every step of the way, crafting hills and valleys through natural, invigorating transitions and an expanse of old-school sounds. This in turn helps channel one's imagination as they enjoy a pleasurable romp through Retro Land. Top it all off with a calm ending of guitar strums and you have an enticing masterpiece.

- Polo on November 7, 2009
This track is just awesome. Yeah it kinda has some emo kid feel to it, but that doesn't diminish the fact that is done well. I wish some of the melodies were a little louder and the bass was a little sub woofer oriented, but this is a style and mood Id like to see much more of on ocremix. Most similar tracks come off as a little too simple rave repetitive beat. This one stays true to the style with the snare drum, but has many ambient drums that just flow each part together and build up to the leading snare... ahhh its great. There is kinda this static orchestra to the whole track caused by maybe compression Idk but it creates a progression and a introduction to each new section of the song which is cool. DOWNLOAD IT. I know I did.

- MaxxAndrew on September 29, 2009
KyleJCrb;564420 wrote: Loved this so much I played it on [URL="http://kngi.org/2009/04/12/nitro-game-injection-113-revenge-of-the-podcast/"]an episode of NGI[/URL] awhile back. Nice one, dudes.

wow, i guess i never caught this. you guys are awesome - i definitely enjoyed that. and larry, you are the man.
also just a comment on this whole live collaboration situation; ben's one of my good buds - not only do we live in the same 'general' area, but we actually went to high school together and have been within that proximity ever since.
anyway, thanks! glad you guys dig our mix. you'll certainly hear from us again. :-D

- halc on September 25, 2009
This is, as rainmanbk said, one of 'those' mixes. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS MIX! And actually, this was the mix that convinced me to join this site finally :razz:. One thing I did notice was that while it said that it was a mix of the second stage, it seemed to me, at least in the beginning, that it more resembled the credits music, which incidentally is also a really good song. Anyways, THANK YOU CHTHONIC AND HALCYON (ack, I keep thinking it's spelled 'Halycon')!!!! This is one of those that makes me go back and look up others by these remixers, regardless of whether I've played that game or not. And, incidentally, I find that all the ones they've done in other games I looked up were all ones I thought were good enough to keep, no exceptions.
Now to actual critiquing.
The intro was nice, with the coming in on those broken chords, and I liked how remniscent it was of the actual music. The slowdown later in the piece was a nice touch, and I also liked the 'background' type synth. As to negatives.... Well, this is one where I actually can't really catch much of anything. The coin sound was a bit annoying as it happened at irregular intervals, and was fairly quiet, making you listen harder for it, but not finding it. I also wish this had lasted longer... it seemed to end too soon, and the ending didn't really match the tone of the rest of the piece. Other than that, great job!

- Red_Link on September 14, 2009
This is one of my favorite mixes. The first day I downloaded it, I listened to it 21 times ... and that was only in the brief periods in my car or walking between classes. Excellent job guys! The title makes me happy ^_^

- stkyle on August 19, 2009
moonra;580095 wrote: [LEFT]Even only knowing the site for about a month, I already got hundreds of ReMixes (I use a dial-up connection). And chthonic works are the techno ones I liked most, BY FAR (along with some other random ones, like bLiNd's Jade Catacombs). It made me very sad to see that that he only had five ReMixes and that the last one was submitted almost 2 years ago. I thought "he was probably abducted by some aliens for his awesomeness."
Then here I am, listening some musics on my PC and one of his plays. Then I say to a friend of mine who's also a musician: "Man, it's so sad he only have 5 ReMixes and the last one is from almost 2 years ago...". Then I google his alias to see if he had a homepage or anything like that. Only to find that ChthoniC is a melodic black metal band from Taipei... So, as a rare struck of rational thought gets to my mind, I remember that there are links to the ReMixer homepage and such on their page on this very site.
And to my surprise, when I look in his page I see a "6".
Now, this' starting to become longer than I want it to be, so I'll cut the crap...
As you can see, I LOVED this guy ReMixes. He's my favorite on the techno remixes genre.
Welcome back chthonic and please, don't go on tripping with aliens again (at least not for so long).
[/LEFT]

not to take anything away from your review, but i don't think you realize that this is actually a collaboration...

- halc on August 16, 2009
[LEFT]Even only knowing the site for about a month, I already got hundreds of ReMixes (I use a dial-up connection). And chthonic works are the techno ones I liked most, BY FAR (along with some other random ones, like bLiNd's Jade Catacombs). It made me very sad to see that that he only had five ReMixes and that the last one was submitted almost 2 years ago. I thought "he was probably abducted by some aliens for his awesomeness."
Then here I am, listening some musics on my PC and one of his plays. Then I say to a friend of mine who's also a musician: "Man, it's so sad he only have 5 ReMixes and the last one is from almost 2 years ago...". Then I google his alias to see if he had a homepage or anything like that. Only to find that ChthoniC is a melodic black metal band from Taipei... So, as a rare struck of rational thought gets to my mind, I remember that there are links to the ReMixer homepage and such on their page on this very site.
And to my surprise, when I look in his page I see a "6".
Now, this' starting to become longer than I want it to be, so I'll cut the crap...
As you can see, I LOVED this guy ReMixes. He's my favorite on the techno remixes genre.
Welcome back chthonic and please, don't go on tripping with aliens again (at least not for so long).
[/LEFT]

- moonra on August 15, 2009
I really enjoy this track (now and when it was posted as an R:TS Mix). The beat is pumping and the melodies are really nicely arranged. That slowdown during the middle of the song is a neat part that makes the whole thing feel like some kind of slow-mo matrix leap over an enemy or something. Creative use of samples as well.
Actually, listening to this track made me wonder why there aren't more remixes from Gameboy titles.
---------------- Now playing: [url=http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/chthonic%2c+halcyon/track/super+mario+land%3a+why+so+serious%3f+r%3ats+mix]chthonic, halcyon - Super Mario Land: Why So Serious? R:TS Mix[/url] via FoxyTunes

- Lint on July 24, 2009
Upbeat, happy, fun. This remix is all of this. I hadn't heard the source in more than a decade, and hearing it again in this beautiful, chiptune-y rendition is a pleasure.
Nice work, guys.

- Martin Penwald on July 23, 2009
rainmanbk;567010 wrote: Thanks for single-handedly demonstrating all the reasons I love video game remixes with this one mix.

double-handedly*

also fun fact I originally wanted to title this mix "why so serious (business)"

- chthonic on July 20, 2009
Until I saw this remix posted I had all but forgotten about Super Mario Land. I really enjoyed the remix both because it was a great remix and because it was fun to remember my experiences playing this game when I was a younger lad than I am currently.
Fantastic job!

- jintoreedwine on July 20, 2009
Wow, awesome job you guys! Normally I'm against chiptune/lo-fi remixes, but this is definitely an exception! This is how it SHOULD be done, not overly simple!
The arrangement is absolutely creative. It feels very retro, but yet it has a big modern pop influence on it. It works very well! I absolutely love the new bass lines you've added in and how they lend well to the source's melody. The tempo changes at about 2/3 in were a nice touch and very well-timed. And the huge combination of different beeps and bloops was just as refreshing as listening to a full orchestra of instruments. In a way, it reminds me of many Katamari Damacy songs.
Overall, no complaints from me. You guys have done an excellent job rearranging one of my favorite childhood themes! I can't wait to hear more! :D

- MattInc on July 19, 2009
This is great. It's very liberal without ever straying too far from the source, and the gameboy leads really help there. Relaxed and fun - very enjoyable.

- Dafydd on July 18, 2009
Holy crap... This is one of those mixes.. You know, the one you download and you're like how was my life complete without this? And then you listen to it for days and days and it never gets old. You wonder, how could two people turn that simple Gameboy melody into this sweet nectar that is caressing my ears so gently, making me want to fall into an eternal state of orgasmic aurel pleasure. I can't tell you because I am not a God that these two are. This is easily in my top 10 oc.r of all time.
Thanks for single-handedly demonstrating all the reasons I love video game remixes with this one mix.

- rainmanbk on July 15, 2009
Great stuff, tracks like this, AeroZ, Willrock, and some of AnoSou's stuff make me think we are seeing the beginning of a new OCR chip renaissance, and that sounds pretty good to me. :-)
Nice sounds and a great mood, like the game boy traveled to the future! This is like a modern take on old-school OCR; great arrangement ideas throughout.
Highly recommended. :-)

- OA on July 11, 2009

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