Dave Harris

Lovely work here great atmosphere and sound balance, sounds really crisp.

Thanks for checking it out y'all!

zomg nostalgia

a faux-derogatory term used against virtuosic kinds of music by people with infinitesimal genitalia.

It is very surprising if it just so happens that no-one else bothered to submit a pure chip remix during the last six or so years. Few people were writing 'pure' chiptunes back when Sam made Espergirl, but since then there's been an enormous explosion in chip music, with new software, new communities, new labels etc. It seems far more likely to me that chip artists have deliberately avoided OCR. I don't attribute it to Espergirl specifically but I assumed it was commonly understood that OCR was not accomodating to chip mixes. That's the impression of basically everyone I know who writes chiptunes, many whom have remixed vg songs. *shrug* Totally agree that it shouldn't, but it brings me back to my point -- if Espergirl can't pass, what can? What was it specifically lacking, in terms of objective judging criteria, that another pure chip mix wouldn't also lack? Glad this is keeping you entertained.

What concerns me is that hypothetically, unless there's some kind of rethink of submission standards, any chip arrangements submitted now need to be at least as strong as Espergirl. That's a pretty f'in tall order for starters a very very small minority of chiptuners can write with that kind of complexity, attention to detail and arrangement prowess. Like Protricity alluded to, Shna or virt might be successful - might be. This is why it was taken as a no-chiptunes-policy on the behalf of OCR at the time, because if that mix isn't good enough, how good does it have to be? I expect most chip musicians who saw that thread found it discouraging and didn't want to waste their time trying their luck with the site, especially if they were writing especially for OCR. So this business of "just submit chiptunes and we'll find the benchmark" is nonsense. Where is the assurance that it won't be a complete waste of time, if there's no real solid frame of reference for what's good enough? We'd be shooting in the dark. It isn't an argument about whether or not Espergirl is the best chiptune ever made (I don't think it is; I don't even believe in that idea, any more than there is a best trance track), it's because the technical aspects of it have set the bar very high indeed. The only areas where I'd say it's lacking in finesse is sound production (again, as one of the best chiptunes I've heard in terms of mix/master quality) and that it was written in Sonar using a sampler, which is a compromise in a number of ways.

Chibi-Tech just uploaded this song on youtube. The sound production is excellent - waaay different to what you'd get straight out of FamiTracker or any NSF player - as well as the song itself having excellent tracking technique. As I mentioned it's NSF (2A03+VRC6), and there's no other effects processing besides EQ, compression and some careful panning. I think it makes a great benchmark for sound production of chiptunes. Getting the mix sounding solid is something even chip format/hardware purists should be comfortable doing for submissions ~ hypothetically of course.

Aye, there's no debate about the amount of time, energy and love that goes into the site as it stands, that's not in question at all by anyone (I don't think.) I'm not personally upset at all or demanding anything to change, I don't think any site can do everything and please everyone, as I've said I'm more in favour of ocremix retaining or maybe even narrowing its focus, but I wanted to give an explanation for why I think this issue crops up over and over. I think more clarity would be great, whichever way is decided. A million times yes.

I often wondered the same thing. For instance if you listen to a lot of the arrangements on SSBB, they're not particularly modern sounding. Same goes for all those arrangements on official soundtrack CD releases from back in the late 80s/early 90s. I think a lot of them are great but I suspect they would be rejected if they were written by GAMEREMIXKID99. also <3 Daddy Mulk This is a couple of pages back now (conversation moves so quickly here!) but I want to address it because I think it gets to the heart of why people are upset that ocremix isn't very hospitable to chip arrangements. OCReMix doesn't need to be the be-all end-all of vgm and I think that's fair enough. I personally agree that it shouldn't and should stick to focusing on game mixes with a production emphasis. Slightly frustrating though is that be-all-end-all is exactly how the site is perceived and celebrated. OCR releases original soundtracks, composer interviews, hosts biographical data, hosts emulated/chip formats of soundtracks and broadcasts (or did broadcast) radio shows/podcasts in the past too; all things other sites do, and no doubt plans for expansion into other areas in future as well. It's easy to see why people think OCR is the be-all and end-all of game music. If I remember correctly Tommy Tallarico even called ocremix "the saviour of game music" or something along those lines - you can see why that might bother people who are passionate about chip music and just want to be included. So I figure if the site is already doing all this other stuff that's tangential to posting game mixes, it would be fitting for it to also more readily recognise and welcome chiptune arrangements... you would think that chip mixes would come WAY up the hierarchy before hosting original soundtracks and whatnot. So I do find awkward the claim that ocremix doesn't have to be the alpha and omega of game music when that's precisely what it's already doing.

Katie: EGADS WHY U DO THIS. For what it's worth I'm relieved it didn't make it onto the site. How the panel reached the decision to reject it might be an area of debate (ancient history now) BUT I think it was nonetheless the right choice, at least for me... as you say, it's pretty old and rough. Although it did end up at R:TS, safely where no-one will ever listen ;3

I can understand the arguments against Gregorian chant and wind chimes and nose flutes and whatever else for being esoteric and outside the scope of the site, but I would have thought as a website devoted to video game music there would be an exception made for chip music, for the sake of being culturally sensitive. I think only a small percentage of the site's audience would be against it if you made it very clear what it meant and didn't let it become a slippery slope. But yes I always found it odd. SHRUGGITY SHRUG. genuinely surprised this never happened, supply and demand being what it is!

this is sooooooo melody. I rike.

You may have seen this already now it's been FP'd by IGN, but if you haven't, check out the Metroid 25th Anniversary medley by Shnabubula and his pal Gabe! http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/118/1186531p1.html Just wanted to fire that one out there, it's so good. Myself, I have only played four games in the Metroid franchise to date; that's the Prime series and Super Metroid (I did not get to play the latter back when it was first released.) I really liked the Prime games. For me one of the greatest moments was in the first Prime game, on my first playthrough, when entering the crashed frigate orpheon. The dilapidated setting and creepy ambience had me set up for a pretty dark and tense segment in the game with "jumpy bits" and so forth, but when the haunting ambience gave way to ethereal twinkly piano music I felt a big sense of relief, and all the tension from the moment disappeared. It's a pretty great example of how powerful game audio can be in playing with our perceptions and how vital it can be for dictating mood and feel.

thanks guys i'm really surprised at how positive everyone has been about the game (and soundtrack) so far. i must be honest and admit i didn't expect it'd get such a good reception at ocremix. i've released an NSF of the level music on 8bc, for anyone who's interested ~ https://8bc.org/music/Blitz+Lunar/Super+Bat+Puncher+%28Demo%29+-+Level+1%3A+Forest/ ~ the rest of the soundtrack will be released once it's all completed. a youtube vid for it is here, too.

thanks Swann and OverCoat