ReMix: Virtua Fighter 2 'Juunen Hayaindayou'
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- Game: Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega, 1995, SAT)
- ReMixer(s): WillRock
- Composer(s): Akiko Hashimoto, Kazuhiko Kouchi, Takayuki Nakamura, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
- Song(s): 'AKIRA', 'Ride the Tiger'
- Posted: 2009-12-24, evaluated by the judges
Man, it's xmas eve already... how time flies! Anna's been wrapping gifts and I've been troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 error messages (oh, fun!), but I had to make some time to post this Willrock ReMix from Virtua Fighter & Virtua Fighter 2. In over ten years, this is somehow our very first mix from Sega's iconic Virtua Fighter series, which set the stage for numerous 3D fighters to follow. Mr. Harby writes:
"I have been a virtua fighter fan for many years now, and the music in the first 2 games always seemed outstanding to me, particularly Akira's theme in both games.
I have always wanted to take both themes and put them together in a remix, as I always thought that the two themes together seemed to complete each other, like the 2nd akira theme was a direct response to the first. As far as arrangement and production have gone, I wanted to achieve an old school 80's wall of sound and for the arrangement, I have dulled down the original sections that were often in my older remixes and put more effort into messing around with the sources - and there is plenty in the two sources I have chosen. Anyway, this is the result, I hope you enjoy it :P"
This is some high-octane 80's synthpop, as advertised, with a lot of emphasis on the synth lead melody. My absolute favorite bit is the intro of the alternate, oscillator-sync'd lead at 2'55" - it dips down, bends back up, LFO vibratos, then just starts getting brilliantly spastic and laying down the smack. Might be Willrock's best synth solo yet, and it's definitely my personal favorite. Interestingly, I caught the same Van Damme vibe that Vinnie did:
"Definitely hit that 80's sound with the heavily reverbed drums. You can imagine this playing in Bloodsport or one of those badass movies from the 80's that inexplicably had soft rock songs on the soundtrack."
Judges did agree that this didn't represent a huge step forward from Will's previous mixes, but hey - those were some pretty damn good mixes! I think the artist went for something a bit cheesier & more gung-ho power-melody here, and while it's probably true that he could have been a bit more daring, it's got baller synth solos that conjure the fighting spirit, and that makes me happy. Plus, we finally got some Virtua up in this joint, and that can only be good. Of course, until Virtua Hamster is ReMixed, I won't sleep easy... but this is at least a start, and a darn good one.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the WillRock;739869 wrote: This is easily the most overlooked of my remixes posted on ocr, which is a shame to me.
Is it the game choice? Is it the remix name? Or were people turned off by the vocal sample in the intro? Who knows, but some of you downloaded and liked it, which puts a smile on my face :)
It is the game choice. This is my absolute favourite ReMix of yours. I think it just comes down to 'if it ain't Zelda, FF, or Mega Man', then anything gets overlooked. But man, Akira's theme is my favourite track from VF2 in the first place, and this very much sounds like a massive expansion on the original.
You [i]should[/i] be goddamn proud of this mix :D
- AkumajoBelmont on December 23, 2010
Is it the game choice? Is it the remix name? Or were people turned off by the vocal sample in the intro? Who knows, but some of you downloaded and liked it, which puts a smile on my face :)
Anyway, this was another mix showcasing my synth/rock style I started with my "Mountain Of Dreams" mix.
The rough draft of inspiration for this mix was listening to A-ha. Not going to say the song, otherwise you'll all cry out that i'm a plagiarizer. Probably ;)
That said, as far as this mix goes, I started to recycle old ideas from passed remixes and throwing them together, and didn't really expand here, which was a personal choice - I was happy with were I was at for the moment, but the judges started pushing me for more development - just check the decision thread ;)
SOOOOOOOOO - nothing new and exciting here, but that really wasn't the point. I wasn't trying to expand, I was just doing what I enjoyed here, and I'm glad you guys enjoyed it all the same :)
- WillRock on December 22, 2010
- WesternZypher on October 27, 2010
- yosefu on January 29, 2010
Good work usual.
- metalsnakejuice on January 28, 2010
Good choice of synths. Nice work.
- Martin Penwald on January 17, 2010
- Subz1987 on January 9, 2010
Good mix, dude!
- OA on January 6, 2010
Also, be sure that you'll be hearing more from me in the future :D
- WillRock on January 4, 2010
However, being honest, his newest stuff really outdoes this. (Not to remove from this success.)
- PROTO·DOME on January 2, 2010
For some reason though, this feels exceedingly drawn out...
Still though, I like this one a lot.
- 42 on December 30, 2009
- CaptimusPrimus on December 30, 2009
This has some pretty fun synth work throughout, and I'll agree that the solo is some good stuff going on. Overall the track really sets that 'let's train until we can win the championship' feel to it, and somehow manages to get you pumped up even though it isn't all that fast paced or in your face. I would have liked a little more punch out of the melodies overall, but this still gets the job done. Cool stuff.
- DragonAvenger on December 29, 2009
My usual compliments on your production and instrument choices. Keep it up!
- Level 99 on December 28, 2009
Definitely your best to date, imo.
- Geoffrey Taucer on December 27, 2009
