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Voting Guidelines Teams were tasked with writing three mashup arrangements of two songs each, one from a Streets of Rage game and the other from an Etrian Odyssey game. In order to make your vote, listen to the remixes and, for each pair, choose the remix that fulfills the following criteria (listed in order of importance): The remix arranges both source tunes in an interesting and identifiable way into one cohesive piece of music. The remix is well-produced within the conventions of the genre. The remix is enjoyable to listen to. Stream the remixes via Soundcloud or Download the Round 3 Remix Pack (MP3). For your reference, here are the source tunes for Round 3. Streets of Rage vs. Etrian Odyssey II The Last Soul Labyrinth IV - Petal Bridge [Dungeon: 16F-20F] Streets of Rage 2 vs. Etrian Odyssey III Go Straight Labyrinth VI - Cyclopean Haunt Streets of Rage 3 vs. Etrian Odyssey Shinobi Reverse Labyrinth V - Lost Shinjuku [Dungeon: 21F-25F]

Voting Guidelines Teams were tasked with writing three mashup arrangements of two songs each, one from a Streets of Rage game and the other from an Etrian Odyssey game. In order to make your vote, listen to the remixes and, for each pair, choose the remix that fulfills the following criteria (listed in order of importance): The remix arranges both source tunes in an interesting and identifiable way into one cohesive piece of music. The remix is well-produced within the conventions of the genre. The remix is enjoyable to listen to. Stream the remixes via Soundcloud or Download the Round 2 Remix Pack (MP3). For your reference, here are the source tunes for Round 2. Streets of Rage vs. Etrian Odyssey III My Little Baby Cityscape - Engrave Thy Name and Go Forth Streets of Rage 2 vs. Etrian Odyssey Alien Power Strife - Rapture [Normal Battle: Final Floor] Streets of Rage 3 vs. Etrian Odyssey II Ending Return of the Heroes [Ending 1]

Sent these over to DS last night, but here's my take for one of the years!

Just chiming in to mention that I've sent a finished mix of Resident Evil 4's Save Room theme to VQ, so that's at least one track down for this project! Excited to hear what everyone else cooks up ☺️

Hello!!! Although I'm quite unfamiliar with this place, it is nice to meet people who enjoy remixing VGMs and OSTs! Although I usually make original tracks, I also make remixes. I met this place a few days ago, and I forgot introduce myself. I hope all is well!

Howdy! :) 🦇 Some of y'all know who I am, but in case ya don't: 'ello, 'ello--the name's VQ. Bit nervous writing this up, but here goes! Many here (including myself) have participated in (or know of) @Dyne & @The Coop's lovingly done, yearly [Unofficial] OCR Christmas Album, and I'd like to try and implement / propose something similar for ALL HALLOWS' EVE! 🧡 Out of every holiday in a year, Halloween has always been my all-time favorite, and it's a shame to have noticed not many artists or communities hold much weight for that time of the year--outside of any compos that chime-in for it as one-offs--and I'd like to give the opportunity for music inspired by Halloween, or that present "spooky vibes" to be freely envisioned and showcased for that special date! :D Here's the deets!

as someone who tried to do this yearly (and only managed for 3 years (3 eps of 3 songs for 3 halloweens does sound kinda cool though), i love this idea, i have a couple of songs i'd like to do, i just need to pick one. but count me in. also, if you need help with the website/hosting/whatever, let me know, i might be able to help.

I'm in, leaning towards something original instead of a remix but maybe that will change after i go through my game music archives. Maybe something along the lines of my old BABY SHARK remix could work, because there's nothing more horrifying than baby shark...

Oooooh.... me thinks this might be a great place for choirs / singers doing banshee / ghost / goblin etc vocals to have lots of fun. Teeeheeheee. Very interested in singing on and/or arranging vocals for a track on this:) - Bonnie Bogovich the weird lady who runs The Bwak Choir co-founder of Super Smash Opera https://blackcatbonifide.com

Hello all! CosmicBartender from Discord here; I'd love to participate if anyone has need/desire of drums/percussion. DMs and mentions are open - thank you for your time!

Thinking of joining this! I was originally thinking of making from scratch, but if possible, I'm planning to remix/re-arrange a touhou song and make it creepy, lol.

This is an amazing idea! I've got an old MNP that I've been tinkering with for... the last decade? Crap. But it might fit this album, so consider me signed up!

Sounds like we need listening parties for both soundtracks... :-)

Here's a sample of some of my work! I've done some banners for Dwelling of Duels and some personal projects as well. Hope I can get the opportunity to contribute to this project!

Sounds great! Wouldn't mind doing another year or two if you need—here's some other work, aiming to showcase a breadth of styles.

Actually, I'm thinking of doing Stage: Eerie Road from Miitopia. Seems spooky and silly :)

Put me down for the Caves of Narshe, from FF6. I have a perfect set of creepy sfx to go with the instrumentation I plan:)

Welcome aboard, H36T! ♡ Nice to see you still at it. ^_^

I'll spoop

Everyone has access to it, worst case is that it requires approval from admin but we will make it happen! Also put me down for “Theme of Laura” from Silent Hill 2. I’ve got a cowpunk version of it I started up for Xaleph’s 1-hour remix roulette that deserves more attention

Hell yeah! Be sure to add it to the Events Calendar 🙌

PMed you for more info

My wife is pretty good with markers and pencils in creating artwork. If some ideas on what kind of imagery you might want are given, she can produce something for consideration:)

@colorado weeks I'll shoot you a DM shortly, so we can chat about it. ♡

Not a whole lot on the CRAC server ATM, as that might pick up after some competition stuff passes and/or if I can get a channel & thread spinning personally for the album. I haven't advertised it on OCRs official server or Pixel Mixers or DoD. Unsure if I should really, as I don't wanna badger people or ping everywhere like mad. I'll try to muster up the courage to do so maybe over the weekend. :) And that's a fantastic idea! I'll update the second post later on today! I've had someone talk to me about it via DM on Disc, so maybe people seeing that he's got something in already will get others excited for it!

halloween album??? sign me the HELL up!!! if you're still looking for a dedicated website i can handle hosting/web design!

This reminds me of the old Hyadian Megaman music and boy this is a great treat for me. Fantastic job!

Thanks, and nice to meet you too:)

I would like to "throw my hat into the ring", so they say, on this idea:)

Hellllllll yes! There’s a One-Ups album I keep coming back to (Songs for the Recently Deceased) that is super inspirational for this! Not sure what piece I’d do yet but it would be in the same vein as that record for sure

Heya! And welcome aboard! :D Yeah, this gives me an excuse to finally go back to some old spoopy compo tracks I've done years past and rework them as well. :P No better time than the present, for sure!

Found myself with a hankering to listen to some of that cool, mellow guitar goodness from Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. But rather than listening to the soundtrack on Youtube, I figured I would look it up on here and see what people have made. I didn't find a single song. Like, I'm doing the search thing correctly, right? There are ZERO Crisis Core remixes listed here? Right? Weird, man. Weird. Alan

Definitely loved listening to Klonoa! So many twists and turns in the soundtrack and so much variety!

thank you!!! first post rn but cool beans :D

I never played either game, but I would be willing to help with or participate in any/or of the two. :) I'm sure something from their OSTs would be cool to do. ♡

@Guy In Rubber Suit let’s get you on 2004. Wanna avoid any specific characters from games but having people on the art is fine. Just art, and leave space for typography. @CNDR wanted to see a sample of art before you can claim a year, which is why I hid your previous post. We’re also not using season names, we’re specifically saying “Q1” instead of “winter” etc.

I tried to keep this brief, but as you might know, that's not my forte. FIRST, the facts... On October 28th I informed staff that I was stepping down from my role as president/admin/owner/etc. of OverClocked ReMix, and on November 1st I also stepped down from the board of Game Music Initiative, the 501c3 non-profit organization that funds OCR. In short, I no longer feel I have the bandwidth to do these roles justice and to not only maintain, but advance, the missions of both projects. I will be working with Shariq Ansari (DarkeSword) to transition my responsibilities and ensure continuity of operations. The (excellent!) mix posted on Halloween was published without my direct involvement, subsequent posts up to the milestone #OCR04500 have been superbly executed, and I am confident that staff will continue the work necessary to operate - and evolve - OCR in my absence. I will be even less available than I have been, lately, so I apologize in advance for any lack of responsiveness. THEN, the feels... Where to even begin? It's hard to encapsulate over two decades of history; omissions are inevitable. What began as a neat side project I started in my parents' basement in 1999 snowballed into something far beyond my wildest expectations, due to the blood, sweat, tears, and unbridled, rampant creativity that thousands of you have contributed. Much of this happened before social media was even a thing and before the platforms/services we now heavily associate with the modern internet had come into being; it was a frontier, and we were on it, and we took it pretty seriously because we knew how amazing VGM is, how creative arrangements could effectively convey and explore that vast musical landscape, and how a small fandom communicating via email, IRC, & forums could collaborate to build mighty, new things. We took it seriously, often too seriously, but we ALSO played more than a few rounds of Shaq-Fu at conventions, made some truly ridiculous (but always musical!) joke mixes, and developed internal circles of lore with our own memes & jargon. NOT in strictly chronological order: there was some drama with now-legendary composer Jake Kaufman; VGMix entered the fray; we added a judges panel so it wasn't just me making stuff up; we released our first community album; the unmoderated forum birthed its own sort of... subculture; the site itself evolved to be database-driven and not just two giant dropdowns sorted by game/date; we posted mixes submitted by composers George "The Fat Man" Sanger and Jeremy Soule; we met/interviewed Hiroki Kikuta and Nobuo Uematsu; our album trailers by the incomparable José the Bronx Rican started blowing minds; we started appearing in person at Otakon, PAX, MAG, others - much love to all for having us; we bumped into Leeroy Jenkins at ROFLcon and gave him a hoodie; we started hosting from our own server and managing the technical side of things ourselves; thanks to Mr. Shael Riley (among others!), we got to remix the music for an actual Street Fighter game (!!); we released fifteen more albums... ...and then we turned ten, on December 11th of 2009. Quite a first decade, and I missed hundreds of things I shouldn't have. Hundreds of firsts, some tragic lasts, and millions of memories that can't quite be conjured by words. In 2011, we stood up for Fair Use at World’s Fair Use Day, an event organized by the non-profit Public Knowledge. In 2012, we launched our kickstarter for Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin, it was taken down, we talked with Square lawyers directly for a couple hours and made the non-profit project structure clear & contractual, and we relaunched a successful kickstarter. That's not always how those things go! We launched Game Music Initiative in 2016, creating an official 501c3 charity to formalize the finances around OCR and potentially support other VGM-related projects, too. On a related note, I’ve absolutely loved seeing OC ReMixes featured by charity speedrunners Games Done Quick (GDQ) - it’s exactly the type of thing I always wanted to see, that synergy. Things do start getting a little quieter from then on out, and I think there are a ton of reasons for that, but it has been an incredible and improbable journey that I wouldn't have missed for the world. Thank you ALL for making it possible; OCR was always yours, I aspired only to stewardship of something I wanted to exist for everyone. FINALLY, the future… It's time - some would say past time - for OverClocked ReMix itself to be ReMixed. That's the point, right? Infinite permutation; endless possibility. You don't always know the day, month, or even year when your influence on something starts holding it back, or when the waning amount of time and energy you can dedicate becomes a liability. That type of certainty is often elusive; it can be a difficult diagnosis to even contemplate, and you need to look for & listen to signs. In addition to just being too much of a single point of failure for OCR (sorry, engineering mindset), the last year I've been asking myself whether it was time to let go, and I think the answer is sometimes in the asking. I have been stretched thin, like butter scraped over too much bread, and that's when you leave the Shire. Beyond representing what I genuinely believe is best for the future of OCR, I absolutely confess a personal wish to redirect reclaimed time & energy to my family and my own music. Being a husband to my wife Anna and being a father to our daughters Esther and Sarah is my meaning; I have always put them first, but now I can put them even MORE first. Esther just started learning trombone, so in a few years, expect a collab! Sarah is building her confidence learning piano & makes me proud every day. I want to write new music for them, and with them, and that requires more time than I've had. I believe the principles that have driven us - embracing all games & all styles of music, emphasizing interpretation & creativity, offering both curation and critique, and providing a non-commercial platform for those who seek it - are truly timeless, but there are many ways to honor them. I look to the new leadership/staff to galvanize, streamline, diversify, and re-imagine, within that immense space. I'll be leaving them with some ideas of my own; please let them know yours. I ask the community to support them, embrace change, provide guidance, and be patient; I believe it will be worth it! Thanks, - djpretzel

Very interesting approach to the arrangement here, let's break it down: Track begins with a pad, bass and an irregular kick pattern (it doesn't bother me as it did other judges though). Things seem to be in E minor here but at 0:26 the B melody from the source enters and there's a big point of contention, since the original is on F major (for this section) and you didn't change the key, which creates a huge dissonance. Of course, write-up shows you actually intended this but I don't think it's effective. Dissonance is a valid tool but I don't think flat out slotting a melody over an unfitting key works without extra effort, it's something you probably need to set up effectively. At 0:49 we move into a new section, with bass and melody on A major, an odd choice after the dissonant part. The beat here is cool though, the hi-hat pattern is very Chrono Trigger-ish. 1:13 seems to be kind of a reprise of the intro that leads into an actual reprise a bit later. A fun drum fill moves us into a new section at 1:38. I like the energy here. The lower of the 2 melodies seems to be playing some liberal variations of the souce and 1:51 echoes one of the chord progressions from the original. A fairly odd synth arpeggio leads into a section with distorted guitar around the 2 minute mark that's basically one riff played over a set of different chords, would've been a good spot for a solo or something of the sort. At 2:27 there's a bit of break/keyboard solo over a static 8ths rhytmic pattern which leads into a repeated arpeggio starting from around 2:45 to 3:01 in a small "drum solo". We then get a reprise of the 0:26 melody but without the dissonance, much more pleasant! Finally, at around 3:35 we reach a take on the source's end of loop section and the track ends. On the arrangement side, this is definitely an interesting piece. Changing Barret's Theme into a "battle theme" is a fun idea. Generally, I think the structure of the arrangement is solid but I have some criticisms. First is the dissonant section. You mention it "compliments everything that comes after it" but I don't really see it, the section right after the dissonance is an extremely upbeat one which is just a big whiplash that makes the dissonance lose purpose. There's some pay-off for the dissonance with the reprise at 3:01 but I feel that reprise would've still worked well without the big dissonant part earlier. Second is that there's a few parts where we basically have a bass part and percussion without nothing particularly interesting happening on top, like 1:01-1:13, 2:03-2:26 and 2:44-3:01. I also have a bit of trouble catching the vibe of the arrangement as it moves from tense sections to very upbeat melodies often. As a positive, I enjoy the general rhytm of the track, it's energetic and fun! On production, there's a big issue with the samples used... they're simply not high quality enough. I won't bet on this but some even seem taken directly from SNES soundfonts, which is a valid approach if you take the time to write and produce them well. Bass, particularly, suffers from this, as the sample picked doesn't really cut well through the mix. Even if you can't find better samples, it'd also be a good idea to invest time into sound design. As an example, the synth doing the backing from 2:27 to 3:01 could really use some effects to sound more interesting. I don't have big criticisms of the mix itself other than sample quality really, the track sounds well. Overall, there's a lot of potential here. Arrangement has interesting ideas but it needs some refinement. Production needs more work, focusing on making the instruments sound better (either by finding better samples or by mixing the existing ones in smart ways to make them better). I'd recommend hitting the workshop on the forums or the Discord and hopefully you hit us with a revision in the future! NO

Sometimes you come across a gem

I'm on the edge of my seat- the album finally nearing release. I've followed this from the start, and my aged heart can hardly take it anymore! Much love to everyone involved.

TIL I'm responsible for sharing all good music in the scene. :-D

There are a few weak spots but overall I really like the texture of this entire track. The hard-panned synth is a problem but it's not present for the entire song so I can get past it. It's transformative, and the contrast of industrial sounding percussion with a dreamier, synthy-er sound on top is nice. YES

First-time listener here as well! There’s no question that all 3 sources are represented in this remix. Opening (:00-:1:32~) arp is from Ghost Castle over the bass movement from Aquaduct, melody is from Title Screen. Dominant melody seems to change hands when the sections change (1:33, 2:08, 2:41, 3:12, 3:41) which helps keep all three sources tied together rather than getting into medley-itis. Outro blends the Aquaduct arp under the Ghost Castle melody; percs hint at the Ghost Castle ambient chip noises. Melodically, Knight ‘N’ Grail feels more dominant than Ninja Gaiden here, though structurally the arrangement and style are more Ninja Gaiden. I’m leaning more KnG here as far as dominant track, specifically Ghost Castle as its arp and melodic sequence feature most prominently across the runtime. The remix opens with the synth arp which has the focus for the first 30 seconds until the plucked synth comes in with the melody. Starts in 6/8 until around :14, when everything swaps to 7/4. 7/4 can be a tough meter to grok with a perceived lack of backbeat - the clap on 2 and 6 helps alleviate this, giving it a 2+3+2 feel. Title Screen melody over the top of the 7/4 around :30 was done by displacing the pick-up in the melody by a beat; love the ostinato line at the end, though the delay masks the playing more than it enhances. This also is where the panned-lead issue the other Js brought up begins. Counterpanning the delay from the pluck to the left channel is one way to address this, though centering the pluck and ping-ponging the delay right-to-left also works. Aqueduct shines through around 1:16; plucked synth takes the Aquaduct arp and a pad takes the two-note lead line movement. The percussion brings us to a 4/4 feel, building the claps to move to syncopated hits and a backbeat snare after 1:41. Energy picks up here thanks to the percussion and bass at 1:50. Section at 2:08 drops the bass for a round before coming back in around 2:23 an octave up. Filter synth has the Ghost Castle melody, the pluck enters with the bass for a countermelody. We get a fake-out drop at 2:38, swapping back to 7/4 but with a 2+2+3 feel this time. New warbly piano seems to have the melody here while the pluck takes a deserved breather. Bass maintains its upper octave work throughout. 3:12 seems to be the climax of the piece, pluck returns with the filter synth halfway through. When the outro arrives at 3:41, percussion and bass settle down to land the plane. This is a clever arrangement and a lot of attention has been paid to balancing out the sources. I am in the same boat with Hemo, Chimpa, and Proph, however - the panning on the leads is not helping this piece. Having a melodic phrase front and center gives the audience something to focus on, and especially when you've got a tricky odd-time rhythm underneath, it's all the more important. Bringing whichever instrument you want the audience to focus on back to the center while keeping the counter-melodic voices and FX to the sides gets this over the bar for me. NO (resubmit)

First, thanks for adding the source breakdown. That made identifying source usage and analyzing your arrangement much simpler. I’m not making the “Aquaduct” connection underneath the “Ghost Castle” arp until the bass starts the slides while the “Title Screen” melody begins to play. Still, each source is clearly represented throughout your track regardless. Proph already included a play-by-play outlining the arrangement and source usage above, but I’m including my own here. The track opens with the arp from “Ghost Castle” atop mechanical noises and bass sustains. As the other Js have noted, the bass is noticeably tamer than I’d expect for a track in this style. I didn’t have an opportunity to listen to this one on the first go ‘round the panel, but my understanding is the bass was too loud the first time through – seems like you overcorrected here, but I can hear it well enough. There’s a two-beat break and a shift from 6 into 7 at around 0:14 when the arp synth is joined by strings and claps. There’s some filter automation on the arp layers around 0:30 when a plucky synth adds the “Title Screen” melody into the mix. Around 0:45, the pluck synth’s pattern complexifies as the bass adds portamento. There’s a gradual release of energy around 1:00 as the plucks give way to the “Ghost Castle” arp. There’s a bar of 8 subtly thrown amongst the 7 and the extra beat seems to help this spot breathe. At 1:16, there’s a shift into “Aquaduct” and another meter shift into 4/4. The “Ghost Castle” arp gets molded to fit the 4. Excellent restraint on the percussion until 1:33, after the bar of 7, when the beat drops. There’s a mix imbalance in this segment as the pluck synth on the right overpowers the pads on the left until 1:33, where the plucks fall below the pads (note: from my listening experience, this is more pronounced in speakers or monitors than headphones). Hemo’s right that the pluck here is too hot, I’m hearing around 3.5 kHz – if you cut about 2-3 dB around with a medium Q, that would mitigate this issue. The drum groove intensifies at 1:50 with the return of the claps and some hi-hat drills. I’m actually on board with the drums mixwise here; to me, each part’s audible and in its lane. The claps are being used more like claves or a cowbell than like a backbeat layer here, which is probably going to throw some listeners for a loop and cause them to lose the beat, especially once this little foray into a 4/4 groove is over. While an unconventional use of the palette, this part writing choice works in my opinion because the snare is capable of holding the backbeat role without the clap layer. Back into 7 at 2:03 where the “Ghost Castle” arp returns and we get the melody from the same source – as an aside, the arp up to this point has been incredibly helpful for keeping track of the pulse against the intricate drum patterns. The plucks counter at 2:22 with a variation of the arp pattern. A break in 6 at 2:38, and then we’re back to 7 with the “Ghost Castle” melody in the plucks. The descending “Aquaduct” motif returns at 3:12 and flows into a recap of “Title Screen” at 3:27. The drums begin simplifying at 3:42, as does the pad running the “Title Screen” melody, and it feels like the energy is dragging here more than is necessary. But here comes a strong ending at 4:13 and we’re done. Is there a perceived lack of dynamics? The other Js have certainly made a good case for it, but I say Larry’s got the right of it with this track having a narrow dynamic curve. The meter swaps like the bar of 7 around 1:30 and the pause in 6 at 2:38 work wonders for managing the pacing as the track moves through the sources, and I feel the textural shifts more than make up for the slow burn in terms of track energy. As for the production side of things: as noted above, the right-panned plucky synth causes some panning imbalances. EQing the pluck could provide some more arrangement clarity in sections like 0:45-1:00, 1:33-2:03, and the return of the “Title Screen” motif at 3:12 – you might even have enough headroom left over to bring the bass up a couple dB. As it is, I’m not hearing clipping, pumping, or other overcompression artifacts, so this isn’t a deal-breaker for me in the grand scheme of things. I’m going to split the panel here with my first vote: I buck these NOs, too. As Larry mentioned, this one takes a few listens to grok. The production issues noted above are certainly worth exploring, but the arrangement is cohesive and there’s lots of creativity shining through on it. I say this is above board. YES

When the volume's up, this does still feel muddy, and I see how the delay/warbling effects can feel disorienting; I'm OK, but I can see why others would take issue with it, and those effects could be reduced without removing the overall sound it's meant to create. I like a fair amount of the sound design, though this still has a stilted feel, not helped in part due to the underwhelming claps, e.g. 1:42-2:38, as well as the bassline now getting pulled back too much, though I do hear it well enough that's it's genuinely contributing. It's not the most sophisticated piece, but my reservations weren't on the arrangement last time around, they were about the imbalances between the parts and that causing the piece to feel too meandering and unfocused. The finish didn't need to be grandiose, but it was flat and underwhelming; I'll chock that up to personal taste and not let that strongly color my opinion I understand the comments on the perceived lack of dynamics, but there's enough going on within a narrower curve, mostly from textural changes. Nothing about the rhythms and time signatures was throwing me off; for whatever reason, the busyness of this ultimately feels grounded to me, perhaps because I already heard the previous version. Same with the panning, nothing felt mishandled there to me. Arrangement-wise, very transformative and it creatively invokes the three source tunes, so I remain on board with it on that level. The sound design could have been more sophisticated in parts, but I want to be very careful that we're not too subjective here, when IMO this is OK with the production. I'd recommend looping this more and familiarizing oneself with the flow of it; to me, the writing's solid and I can better follow along with it now that the mixing isn't so odd. It's a solid mood piece and an overall cohesive enough piece of music to me. I buck these NOs; this is arguably too selective instead of permissive and what's here may have flaws but is more than cohesive enough to work, IMO. It's improved enough mixing-wise to push it over the line, and as much as I'm addressing potential issues, I want to be clear that the arrangement structure and creativity is actually there and the overall sound design and production are good enough for a hobbyist bar. YES

opens with some wide synths. the kick rhythm is a little confusing as there's no beat here to hang your hat on, so it's not clear where the down beat is initially. the melody comes in at 0:24, and you're right, it is questionable. polytonality is a technique i recognize, but it really doesn't work here - it just sounds off-key outright. 0:49 is where the track seems to be more settled. there's a recap of the beginning with some low synth blurbs at 1:13, and those synths kind of step on each other since they're all in the same freq range. the beat picks up at 1:38 and this has a pretty neat vibe once it gets trucking. i'll admit i don't really hear the original in this section. 2:27's lead synth doesn't really make a ton of sense to the rest of what's going on around this section, and it's so highly embellished i definitely wouldn't have caught that it's a reference to the opening without calling it out. right after the main riff here, the track just continues hammering that one note for a pretty long time without significant adds. the melody comes back finally - again, pretty heavily ornamented - and then gets some weird notes around the 3:28 point before the track is suddenly done. so right off the bat - i think that the arrangement has legs. you've got some really creative concept work behind each part of the track (to be honest, probably too much - if a book is needed to understand a 4-minute piece, you're not doing enough as the arranger). there's a lot of padding that can be trimmed, and you need to work on transitions and the opening sections so that they're approachable and understandable. that said, the instrumentation isn't close to being there. if this is supposed to be using some retro sound chip, ok, but evaluating this as a pickup piece of music, the audio quality isn't up to par. there's buckets of free stuff that's better across the board out there, and separately there's a lot of mixology you can do to get better sounds out of the instruments you're choosing. i think that some serious time in the workshop discord would help a ton on this, and i think that some time spent finding ways to get better sound quality from all of your instruments is helpful too. you can do nostalgic with real synths and make it sound like a modern song still. NO

On Crunchyroll? I've got a few that might be appropriate(italicized descriptions paraphrased from Wikipedia): 1) Time of Eve In the not-too-distant future, androids have come into common usage. Rikuo Sakisaka, who has taken robots for granted for his entire life, one day discovers that Sammy, his home android, has been acting independently and coming and going on her own. He finds a strange phrase recorded in her activity log, "Are you enjoying the Time of Eve?". He, along with his friend Masakazu Masaki, trace Sammy's movements and finds an unusual cafe, "The Time of Eve". The series focuses on the strained relationships between man and machine and usually involves the characters interacting with various androids at home(where they are obedient and treated as slaves) and at "The Time of Eve", where they speak can freely and are treated as individuals. It's very story driven and light on action. It's very short, having only 6 episodes, and should be appropriate for all ages. 2) Eden of the East On Monday, November 22, 2010, ten missiles strike Japan, but cause no casualties. This apparent terrorist act is referred to as "Careless Monday" and is eventually forgotten by the populace. The series begins three months later when Saki Morimi, a senior at university, visits Washington D.C. as part of her graduation trip. When she gets into trouble, a mysterious young Japanese man appears completely naked except for a gun and a cell phone, and rescues her. The man has lost his memory, but learns that he has a bunch of fake passports at his apartment; he chooses the Japanese one which names him Akira Takizawa. While he and Saki return to Japan, they learn that a new missile has hit. Akira discovers that his phone carries ¥8.2 billion in digital money, and that he is part of a game, where twelve individuals are given ¥10 billion to "save" Japan in some way. Again, this one is somewhat story driven but has a lot more action/drama added to the mix. Mostly focuses on the main character trying to regain his memories, with themes regarding what is really "right". It has 11 episodes total(which cover most of the plot and are all available on Crunchyroll) and two movies(not available on Crunchyroll). Aside from a few moments(the censored nudity at the start) and the general violence, it's relatively safe. Aside from those, there's also Ouran High School Host Club or Love Hina, both of which are on Crunchyroll. Both are pretty good(and I'd consider Love Hina a classic and must-watch in most situations) but they're also more along romantic comedies, though they tend to either be extremely comedic or extremely dramatic, not both at once. Not sure how big of a niche there is for that genre in your locale. Love Hina might push the age requirement just a bit with its perverse moments, though it's almost always played out for comedy. It may not be suitable if you have a lot of younger members. Ouran has a greater focus on comedy and should be safe for most age groups.