Garde

Maybe he's out of practice. He's won several tournaments in the past... :-/ I haven't talked to him since sometime in the middle of last year, I think, so I'm not really sure how he's been keeping up with the scene and whatnot. As for me, I have never been what I would consider good, and you are undoubtedly better than I have ever been. I am pretty much a thoery fighter and sit in training mode when I actually do turn my cube on.

Oh shit! My friend Neal went to that tournament! Haha, he was the IC player from Cal Poly Power. Wow, that sucks that he had to go up against his friend in the 1v1 tournament when he got sent to losers... Oh well, luck of the draw I guess. If you got any casuals with him or anything, tell me how he's been doing. I haven't really played him in like a year or something, but he's seemed to keep on top of the smash scene.

Global, finishing 7th is by no means terrible. Finishing in the top 1/3 of a tournament means you did pretty well (unless you consistently place in the top 3 or something). So congratulations a tournament well played! Jam, in my humble opinion, you should play whoever you want to play. One thing that really concerns me about Roy is that he has a lot of counter matches (Falco, Sheik, and Peach to name a few), and will cause a lot of headache when you have to go against them. Actually, almost everyone in the high/top tiers give Roy a significant amount of trouble, unless you're Neo (he was undoubtedly the best Roy in the US when I was still playing). But even he doesn't choose Roy for all of his matches. Here's a Roy ditto with Ken: Here's a Roy v. Marth match against Husband: Roy v. Marth (Ken) in the finals of a tourney: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8-rI1I47olU Roy v. Fox (Ken): http://youtube.com/watch?v=E2DrHWRvRQc That should be enough matches for now... Jam, if you really want to learn Roy, I highly recommend studying these videos to see how he plays. I think his style of Roy is probably the most effective around.

Global-Trance, that Peach wasn't too impressive, imho. My friend Jeromy plays a much scarier Peach. This Peach didn't really try to bait, and she tossed her Turnips as soon as she got them (didn't save them to keep the opponent wary), and never bothered to catch them. Sure, when you're far away, you want to throw them left and right, but once you start your approach to get into close range, hanging onto them isn't such a bad idea. When someone comes in, you can SH back and drop the turnip then float in with an aerial or two. I also didn't see the Peach using the instant float (down+jump on the ground), which is a pretty nice ability to get her high priority air moves flying around at a moment's instance. The Peach didn't throw Turnips up once to get them at a later time... That sort of disappointed me. Okay Jam, I'm taking a more analytical approach to tell you some do's and don't's for you match vs. Peach. One thing I noticed is that you dash attacked a few times while she was in a neutral state. You don't even want to use a dash attack while the opponent can react, they are some of the slowest recovering moves in the game, so you should use them to extend combos, that's about it. Unless you're 100% sure that your dash attack is going to hit them. Even if your dash attack crosses the opponent up, they can still SH from their shield and start a air to ground combo. So try and keep your dash attacks to a minimum. I think that if you had jump cancelled your dashes to grab (or just grab), you would've been in a lot better shape. That Peach shields a lot more than he dodges, and he shielded almost every time you dashed in. There is a problem with your WDing. When you go to bait a move from Peach, you should use a shorter WD. I'm sure you know of the 2 different lengths of WDes you can do, try and get them down, so you can mix them up when approaching. I noticed you ate down smashes a lot while WDing back and forth close to Peach. The reason you ate them is because on your approach in, you WD too far, and since you're holding down for part of it, you're CCing into her down smash, taking more damage. That hurts. If you short WD in, you can bait her down smash and then smack her while she's spinning around. Something else you can do is dash in and WD back. It's a pretty simple technique, but for the paragraph above this one, you were running in and did things at pretty inopportune times. If you feel like you're running into a bad situation, you can WD backwards out of it (if it's not too late), so keep that in mind. Also, it will make your opponents a little bit more wary because they won't know for sure that you're going to be trying to attack when you run in (at this point, you always go in for an attack when you dash in). After you got rid of Peach's first stock, you started playing a bit more carefully when he took a Turnip out. Another thing that you need practice on is catching them, though. If you're going to catch them, you want to catch it every time you mean to. I have an easy enough time since I play Link and used to practice catching all sorts of things, but it definitely looks like you need some practice catching them. It looked like you anticipated catching them a few times and threw out A moves randomly. If you were anticipating them, you have to unlearn that habit. Catching them off of reaction alone is what's going to help you, anticipating stuff and reacting before the situation occurs leaves you open for combos. If you have a friend who will help practice with you, go into training mode or something and have them throw turnips at you. Not just repeatedly, they'll have to mix it up a little bit. Make your friend carry a Turnip around at all times during this so they can attempt to catch you by surprise. I guess it won't be so easy to teach you how to fight against Peach tactics without a real Peach player, but you can at least learn how to catch her Turnips at a moment's notice. You really need to learn how to use the IC throw, also. It's pretty much essential to getting big damage fast. Each time you get a throw, you need to begin desyncing. While you're pressing A to keep them locked, you need to hit B so Nana (or whoever your 2nd is if you use Nana as main) will use her ice spray. You can get 2-3 reps of that for like 20-40 damage easy. My friend, Jeromy, does it all the time (and he's learned a few of his IC stuff from Neal, but Neal is much better). And you can finish the throw with a forward smash, which will send the opponent a lot further than a forward throw. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, go to SWF and post under the IC specific forums or read around and see if they have any advice there. Once you get that down, people will fear getting grabbed by you, and will play much more carefully. In your match against the ICs... You dash attack wayyy too much. Also, your desyncing is too unnatural at this point. If you have match vids of some good IC players, I suggest you watch them and see how and when they desync so it's a natural part of their game. You pretty much stop what you're doing right now to desync, and it doesn't give you any good results. I'm surprised neither of you jump out of your shields (shield cancelling is the correct term, I believe, or it's jump cancelling a shield, but there's already JCing for dash throws) when you get attacked from behind, you just sit there... Learn to short hop or jump (depends on what you want to do) when you've been hit from behind while shielding, it's definitely worth your time. EDIT: Fixed a few things and added some stuff to the WD bait part. And I forgot to say one last thing. I hope all of this constructive criticism helps you out a little. I'm not attacking your play style at all, I'm just trying to give you advice in areas where it looks like you could improve. If you've been getting advice from good IC players that contradicts anything I say, you'll probably want to listen to them (since I don't really play IC). 2ND EDIT: I forgot to mention another thing about shield cancelling. It's probably pretty obvious, but if you jump from your shield, you can also WD from your shield. I didn't notice you doing that either, but it's definitely a useful ability paired with light shielding to slide you away and then sliding back in to attack.

Say hi to Alex for me if he's there (DSF). Good luck in that tourney, that's not gonna be an easy one if people like Romeo are going.

I always get to this stuff late... Looking at how many people talked to AIM, and how many people got help from him in some manner outside of the forums, I can't blame him for leaving. It wasn't just moderating and judging that was taking up time, it was all of us as well. I knew he talked to a few people besides me (I thought mainly judges and collabers), but after reading through all of these posts, I can see that he was probably terribly over-burdened by us all... I first got to know him during a somewhat controversial rejection of his Distorted Star mix (and I kept every single one of his WIPs of all his mixes, I loved listening to all of them to see how he developed his music, though they've all been lost in a hard drive crash ), and ever since then we've talked about all sorts of personal things. I've been away from these forums for quite some time, but I would always come back whenever he told me a new mix was posted, just to post a review of each of his songs. I've been wondering where he's been for some time, I assume I was probably at work when he got on in July to let everyone know he was leaving for good. I've sent him various emails without response, I've sent him PMs, and he's not on MSN or any of his AIM SNs. Who knows, in a year or so he might come back. I know I'd certainly love to catch up with him, but so would everyone else that got the great opportunity to befriend him. Anyway, he was more than just a friend to me, he was pretty much the best older brother figure I could've asked for. He gave me all sorts of advice throughout high school and even partially through college. He was always supportive of my endeavors, and we would talk for hours on end, sharing all of our WIPs (haha, at one point I had to make folders for the songs because I had too many versions of each!). He never got upset and we rarely disagreed (and when we did, we respected one another's opinion). Hell, we even watched anime and listened to music synced over the internet so we could be listening/watching the stuff at the same time... I really loved how our music and anime tastes were near identical, there was never a moment where we had nothing to talk about... I'm really going to miss you, man. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you've moved on to (not sure if it's still the studio or something else). If there's anyone out there that deserves everything great this world has to offer, it's you. I think it's pretty clear that you mean a lot to us all. Take care of yourself, man. If you ever do decide to keep in touch with any of us, hit me up on AIM or send me an email or something.

The thing is that what you guys call Z-Cancelling (I didn't know they used the term in SSBM now) doesn't work with 3 characters. Link, YLink and Samus can't Z-Cancel the way you use it. If you just use the Z-button to cancel an aerial move, then sure, it works for everyone. You can't use neutral-Z in the air with those 3, and neutral-Z just so happens to be one of their most viable aerial moves (sex kick for the win). Fortunately, using A for combos involving these characters isn't difficult. I watched those match vids, and I'm somewhat impressed. My friend who plays IC is somewhat better at de-syncing (Influenza on SWF, Neal irl, if any of you have met him, he's hosted a tourney or two in the Long Beach area), but he's probably had a bit more experience (he's gone to at least 8 big ones and trained with DBR during a few smashfests). You'll pick it up in no time! I personally think you WD too much (this coming from a Link player, take it with a grain of salt ), but it's the IC's best form of mobility, so I don't blame you for using it a lot. It just seemed like a few times you got yourself into a bit of trouble by misjudging how safe you were while trying to bait Chopping Board. Again, nothing more experience won't fix. As some of you might know or remember, I use Link... I'm pretty much using a bastardized and outdated version of Germ's play style when I do play. I'm nothing special. Most of the stuff I ended up learning through my own experimenting, and when I saw vids of Germ and played with him a few times, I picked up some other things. He personally recommends cancelling with Z so you don't get stuck in your shield (so you don't have to worry about pulling your finger all the way off the L/R button). My right index finger is sort of screwed up though, not sure from what, but using the Z-button really aggravates it after a few hours (to the point where it swells and won't bend at any of the knuckles). I must've jammed it too many times while playing sports as a kid, or something. Oh yeah, I read somewhere about bad matchups in tourneys... My very first tourney, I was faced up against Eddie (the #1 Ganondorf in the US at the time, I honestly have no idea if he still plays). Well, I went to the losers' bracket, and unfortunately the controller I brought crapped out on me after I lent it to a friend. :/ If any of you are wondering, I can still pound unskilled players into the ground, but anyone that has been to several tourneys will probably give me a run for my money, or just destroy me outright. Whenever I have gone to smaller tourneys though, people think my Link is godly fast. I just find it funny that they think I'm good and insanely fast, I feel sluggish and clumsy in comparison to Germ and a few other Links that were around while I still played somewhat competitively... Man, talking makes me want to pull out the cube and start practicing... As well as making it to that SJ tourney... Too bad I definitely am not in a financial situation to make it up there. If any of you going see Germ or Trevyn up there, tell them Garde says hi.

The OCR SSBM community has come a long way to be talking about de-syncing the Ice Climbers... I've missed out on so much development here... As for breaking controllers, I've broken at least 3 through SSBM, and I never throw them or anything. It's always the control stick that craps out on me... I guess I was a little too enthusiastic when I used to play. Anyway, I'm really glad to see that SWF has spread its influence over here a bit more heavily than it had when I was somewhat a part of the scene. Great_Deku, is it invitation only or is it open for anyone on Facebook to join? Noodle, the L does not stand for Lag. In SSB64 it is called Z-Cancelling because you use the Z-button. I figure they called it L-Cancel because the L-Button (on GCN) uses the same finger the Z-Button does (on N64). So most people who played SSB64 competitively switched over still using their left pointer finger, and hence the L-Button. EDIT: Clarified 2 things.

Haha, I'm honored you think that. And by any chance, do I know you under a different name, Jam? I am pretty sure I must, otherwise you probably wouldn't know who I am. Anyway, I saw videos for Wii at E3 and I read that SSBB had characters released. I checked here to see if the SSBM community thread was around, and I saw that this was started. Anyway, congrats on pwning a Falco. I recently watched a tournament at my college and helped a friend warm up. My 2 friends placed 1st and 3rd with IC and Peach/Marth/Sheik, respectively. I only had an hour break between my work shifts, so I couldn't enter and participate, but I got to help in warm up and stuff. I'm still playing Link, though my play style is very different from how it used to be, especially since the only competition I get is Peach/Marth/Doc. I've been having a lot of luck with my Falco and Ganondorf in a lot of matches in my recent (yet infrequent) gaming. Still having trouble against Marth with my Falco, though. =/ I'm not having good luck with my Roy, either. Mid-tier and below ftw. The most fun characters to play are the ones near the middle just because they have all sorts of weird quirks about them, like Link... >.> Anyway, I eagerly await the release of Wii and S2B2. You can bet that I'm saving my money for it, and I might even enter the tournament scene once again, I'm not really sure. As for whether competitive play beats "playing for fun" or not isn't important, but I'll tell you all one thing. Playing competitively is how some people (including me) play for fun. Without figuring some of the more complex things out about a game, it can get very superficial and boring. I'm not saying that playing for fun is a bad thing, if you're not having fun from playing the game, then you shouldn't be playing it. Just because some people are dedicated to learning and competing doesn't mean we're freaks or the people that don't play it competitively are stupid (although possibly ignorant and misinformed about various issues within the game). The thing that makes playing competitively fun is that you are always learning something new about the game. As some of my friends have said "the moment you have nothing new to learn in a fighting game is the moment you should put it down and never play it again." Once there's nothing new to learn, the game becomes stale. I'm not talking about major discoveries like L-Cancelling, Wave Dashing, Jump Cancelling, etc., although all of those do count as possible material. What I'm mainly talking about are tactics and ideas that you can use in a game either for flash, or to be tricky, or to be cheap (there is no cheap in competitive play). Trying to figure out a way around a defensive player who seems to be unbeatable, trying to figure out how to play so you are never left vulnerable after attacks, etc. Learning stuff like that can be interesting, and there is always a lot of material in the SSB games to be discovered. As for the tier list, it is highly dependent upon tournament settings which are generally no items, with only BattleField, FinalDestination, DreamLand64, and a few other stages (specific to some tournaments). The reason everything else is pretty much disabled is because having a random factor allows for serious upsets to occur, such as someone getting killed by an exploding crate that appears in on top of them as they are performing a smash attack (a specific example that happened so frequently in tournaments that items were finally banned from all big tournaments).

You know, it just so happens that Jigglypuff is high tier, and above about 3/4 of the rest of the SSBM cast. Just thought I should point that out. The thing that makes JPuff so good in SSBM is what's called her "Wall of Pain." Because JPuff has the best air maneuverability in the air (before puffing), you can easily move in and out of someone's attack range with your back facing the opponent and spam your back+A in the air. Once you attack after puffing while in the air, you deflate and regain your air manuverability so you can keep going and going. Anyway, just wanted to pop in and correct a misconception.

Wow, I'm glad I came back for the April Fool's Joke. I haven't been here in a while, but I remembered April Fool's was yesterday and got to see the silliness that ensued. But what really caught my eye was a new mix from GrayLightning. After talking to him briefly, it seems as though the mix was mainly composed by Rexy, and GrayLightning revamped the instrumentation and added his subtle yet well-known touches on top of the song. I really like this song. I haven't been listening to OC ReMixes lately, but this was really a breath of fresh air in comparison to all the Epic Metal I've been dousing my ears in (I've been trying to get a good feel of what metal is so I can compose it easier for a fighting game I'm working on). Listening to this song really made me realize what I've been missing out on while I was listening to non OC ReMix stuff. Anyway, on to the ReView. The song starts out quiet with that bell synth. Then an oboe comes in with the melody. It sounds really good. When that next synth comes in, it reminds me a bit of a few Legend of Mana songs, though I can't remember exactly where they would be (I think one of them is the Mekiv Caverns song). At 1:37, when the strings start arpeggiating, that really reminds me of an Ys I song, even the progression itself, though I can't put a name to it right now. Right afterwards there's the distorted bell sound, which totally reminds me of Temple of the Ancients from Final Fantasy 7 (another song I liked). After that section, I really like the clocktower feel until 2:35-ish. At 2:44, I really like this part. I can't even put my finger on what it reminds me of, but I think it just sounds awesome and is not a bit out of place. I really like how the bell-ish sound in the background really gives the feel of a clock ticking somehow. The strings are great, as well. At 4:52, the song sort of has an anti-climax, but quickly recovers into a new subsection for the ending. I have listened to this song so much, but I can't get enough. Damn it, Gray, why is it that every song you have a role in creating has this effect on me? I really like the instrumentation here and I'm not sure if it could be better chosen. My only problem is at the end it sort of throws a whole bunch of new material that wasn't presented anywhere else, but even that works and sounds good. I really like the detache strings that hop into the mix every now and again. 2:44-3:05 is the highlight of the mix for me, though. I'm not quite sure why, but that part really seems powerful. I got it! It reminds me of a few of the songs from the OVA, Tsukihime (where Vampires actually play a main role, very fitting). I'm impressed that there are so many different elements crammed into one song. It really makes it full of flavor and interesting. I will continue to enjoy this song for a long time. Good job Rexy and Gray, this is awesome, and a new favorite of mine.

Excellent mix, Gray. I believe Gray's Phoenix pieces are all just part of a continuation of his Phoenix Symphonic, his first orchestral piece with his new samples (well, they were new when he made Phoenix Symphonic). I remember you sent me a WIP of this a little more than a month ago, and you wouldn't send me the final because you wanted it to be a "surprise." Well, it was definitely worth the wait! Just the way the mix starts off is full of energy. The percussion is incredible and accents every moment perfectly. The transitions are incredible in frequency and quality, I think this has the most transitions out of any of your mixes. The tempo changes are equally impressive, controlling the energy and mood of the mix very effectively. I especially love the transition at 1:18, very nicely done. Again, the transition at 1:52 is really good, and then it transitions again at 2:02. Very quick transitions, but they work incredibly well. Gray puts a lot of emotion, energy, and tension in his song, giving a grand and epic feel to it. The tempo shifts, transitions, and incredible percussion work together so well to achieve this. Those bombastic kettle drums are really nice, I mean really nice. The explosive power present at 4:05-4:32 was not present earlier in the mix, and it really adds to depth of the mix. In fact, everything in the second half has more emphasis and more instrumentation than its previous section. I love the ending starting at 5:10. It's so different from the rest of the mix, yet it works. It has a very ethereal feel to it, and at 5:18, damn... I don't even know how to describe it. Gray's definitely gotten a lot better at this orchestrating stuff. Great job!

I did not know that about Utada... I don't know what it is about pixietricks' voice and Utada's voice that is similar or how to describe it, I just know that when I listen to Prayer, it reminds me of Utada Hikaru. There's something about it, maybe the way some words are spoken, I dunno... I wish I were educated in the ways of voices to be able to describe it.

arias, you definitely posted constructive criticism, and a good deal of it. However, others did not (mainly the first few pages) and were just insulting her or her mix because she chose to sing in Japanese, or that she mispronounced words (when in fact Japanese pop artists tend to mispronounce just as much as pixietricks does). A few of her words were a little forced, but it did not deserve the negative attention it was drawing from people. In other words, they could have said things in a much more polite way to illustrate their thoughts on the song. I wouldn't want her leaving the mixing scene because people were bashing her for singing in Japanese. She has an incredibly beautiful voice, and I'd like to hear more of it, especially in more mixes. How can you expect someone to want to keep doing something if people continually throw insults at a person who is trying this out for the first time? That is why a lot of people jumped to her rescue. We want her to stay and make more mixes, and we don't want some rude peopel that think they know everything about Japanese scaring them away (when in fact, it was they that were mistaken/over-critical about singing Japanese). I think I will post up Sakura Drops, or at least a piece of it so you can hear the similarity of the singing. Edit: http://members.cox.net/garde/Utada%20Hikaru%20-%20Sakura%20Drops.mp3 I am posting this merely as a reference, that is all. And if you're wondering where you've heard her voice before, Utada Hikaru sung for the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack.

You know... I think I found the reason why I related it to American Indian songs... If any of you are familiar with Enigma, and the song "Return to Innocence." The singer in the background. I dunno why, but this song sort of reminds me of some part of that song. I'm weird, I know. But there's just some quality to this song that reminds me of that singer in the background of that song... Maybe it's just me...

Hm... Dhsu, you're right... What was I thinking of... It still feels like it has an American Indian feel to it... I'm just weird... Maybe instead of tribal dances, I'm thinking of songs? But yeah, this reminds me a lot of Utada Hikaru, especially her singing for Sakura Drops. The songs are completely different, but the tone and quality of voices are very similar. Again, good job!

Just to let you guys know, Japanese words are often mistpronounced in songs. I don't know why you guys are so anal about the pronunciation. I have over 50gb of jpop, jfunk, jrock, and jrap on my computer, and all of them mispronounce words a lot of the time. Her voice actually reminds me of Utada Hikaru, a lot. Some of the words seem forced, but I think she did an excellent job singing those words. It sounds like a japanese singer to me. This mix is incredibly creative. Layering a melody of a completely different mood and feel on top of what the original song was is amazing. And the transitions are incredibly smooth. The "oh-eh" that people are bitching about is actually really impressive. It's been a while since I played OoT (about 6 months) so I didn't really notice the difference until my second or third listen, when I realized that wasn't from the game itself. I don't feel that there should be a climax in this song, it's a very mellow song. It sounds almost like an American Indian song, except for the synths and the lyrics. But the way it's sung and the overall mood of the song definitely seems like it could be a tribal dance worshipping a god (or 3 goddesses, in this case), which it is. Very nice in execution. And there is a perfectly fine reason for singing in Japanese. It gives it an ethnic feel, and sort of seperates it from a lot of us, since most of us do not speak Japanese (I speak very little, a lot of my friends speak fluently and are native born Japanese people, so I hear correct pronunciation a lot). Another reason she could have sung it in Japanese was to pay tribute to the people who actually made the game. As much as some people might want to believe it, The Legend of Zelda series is a Japanese series owned by a Japanese company. It gets translated so the Japanese illiterate in the Americas and Europe can enjoy these wonderful games. Quit trying to tear this mix apart and stop being rude. All of you people bitching about the mix that are just bashing it should think of giving constructive criticism instead of "I don't like it," or "Japanese lyrics suck if you're not a native speaker," etc. That's what these review threads are for.

A "boom-chick, boom-boom-chick" beat doesn't make it onto OCR anymore. What Gray does with percussion is incredible and far more complex than something "satisfyingly predictable." I don't understand how you can want something predictable like a drum beat, yet call Gray's style too predictable for you when his percussion is far more dynamic than some simple and stereotypical techno beat using a snare and a kick. Mind boggling... Sure, he has settled into his style, while before he was wandering and experimenting in every which way to find what his strengths were, but he's definitely found them, and his percussion is far from being his weak point. Just because it's not some simple techno beat loop doesn't mean it's not good. Shit, it's better than good. Do you bitch about John Williams' orchestral pieces not having a "boom-chick, boom-boom-chick" beat to them? Do you bitch about how Howard Shore's scores aren't techno enough? If you do, well... You might say that their pieces don't surprise you as well, just because they don't go outside their genre. But, that's just ridiculous. It's obvious that their pieces are amazing, and although they might not be great techno loops or have that cool "boom-chick, boom-boom-chick" beat you're looking for doesn't mean it's not surprising or dynamic. It just means that you didn't get your highly repetitive and generic, "cookie cutter" musical piece that you wanted to hear. The things that Gray does within the piece, however are still original, although the genre may be the same as many of his pieces.

Time for my review... I finally got to one of Gray's pieces before it got to its second page of reviews! Joy! So... First, I'm gonna listen to it a few times with my new studio headphones... Damn, this song sounds SO much better with a good pair of phones... Back on topic... The song starts out soft with flute trills. At first it can seem to be pretty hard to pick out the theme of the song, although it becomes quite apparent at 0:48 when the song picks up. It is Decisive Battle, but it starts out around the middle of the song instead of the beginning. The way Gray blends orchestral with electronic, and then electronic with ethnic, and then back to orchestral instruments is just amazing. This song definitely deserves the title Phoenix, as it definitely lives up to his first remix by the name. The epic feeling is incredible, the percussion work is excellent, the harmonizing of everything is incredible. Gray's transitions are also incredible. Changing the mood so dramatically in short periods of time, then switching back is no small feat, yet he does it like it's child's play to him... As always, Gray also does a great job at building up the song. He's great at giving songs that epic feel. Somehow, he switches from the epic feeling to electronic and somewhat eerie around 1:20. Then again, switching around 2:15 to an epic but oriental style (but not oriental at the same time), and then into full epic around 2:50 as he slowly builds into it through the oriental part. Pure genius. All the while, the choral sample is being used throughout the piece for good background support further adding to that epic feeling. That percussion is really incredible as well. The asian strings doing pitch bends in the final minute or so also really add to it, although they may be slightly hard to pick out, it's all the little things Gray adds in, all the "goodies" that make his songs so incredible. Putting every little thing in makes a huge difference, and Gray's pieces, especially this one really show how damn well music comes out when you spend the time with those pain-staking details. Congrats on getting this piece up on OCR for it's 5th birthday. A very fitting birthday present, indeed. Can't wait to hear more of your incredible stuff!

Wow, I can't believe I didn't see this sooner, but it's been a while since I've visited OCR. I recently lost all of my music, and in my effort to recover it all, I visited OCR to get the torrent files, and I see this on the front page (not that I was surprised in the least that this song made it on). I was especially disappointed that I lost a lot of Gray's WIPs that I've had on my computer for years... I was especially glad to see that this was up, however. This is one of the songs I really enjoyed (though I do enjoy all of his remixes). This song is great, and although it carries a different feel than the original Frog theme, the point of remixing is to interpret stuff in a new way. This is what GrayLightning has done, and I must say he's done it quite well. I feel quite fortunate that I was able to host this on my website for him during the WIP stage of this song. I feel that this song is epic enough. Sure, it might not have the brass blaring out, but it is quite epic in its own right. I personally enjoy the tempo changes, and instrument choices quite a bit. I think that this mix is definitely awesome, although it may not be his best, it is still undoubtedly good. Someone spoke about how there is no climax in this piece... I personally feel that it has a climax, and although it may not be what you're expecting initially, you should take several more listens to hear it the way it was meant to be heard. Listen to everything. This song is wonderful, and just because it surprises you because you didn't expect something to happen the way it did doesn't mean it's a bad song. I will tell you, the first few times I listened to this song, it did feel like it kept building and never really did anything but build. But after a few listens, knowing what happens in the song, you can hear the building, the climaxes, the beauty of everything harmonizing and shifting. Excellent work GrayLightning, sorry for being so late with a review, but you never did IM me about this one. Edit: Oh yeah, you're getting better at the sig making, Gray!

DarkeSword... I was a fan of the first version of this mix, and although it's still very much the same mix as before, I LOVE what you've done with this. The SFX you use are great and not only go with the techno, but also brings me back to the days where I would beat the game from start to finish a few times every day... This song was my favorite in MMX2, and I would fight against Zero and beat the game just to hear this song, it was great. What you've done with it makes it so much better. Mixing in the MMX theme for Zero, as well as those voices is just great. I must ask, though you certainly don't need to answer, where did you find voice samples for Zero? Are the from RMZ, or are they from the MMX anime? Or even somewhere else? I think they're great and really add to the mix. Damn, that one little battle section sounds great... It goes perfectly with the beat (as you made it do, obciously ), and it sounds freaking awesome, it makes me want to play through the game and fight against Zero (or watch him destroy his pitiful clone, though fighting him is a lot more fun ). Thanks for spending the time to improve this mix, I had no problems with the original, but this one is even better... And I must say a techno mix of this song is very fitting, especially due to how short the original theme actually is. You've done an incredible job at adding a lot of variation and flavor to the song. Congrats on a job well done. Edit: For those of you who are saying this is cut and paste techno... Well, even if it is, this song is about a year old, and if you are familiar with the source material he's working with, not to mention mixing itself, you will know how difficult it is to make something that's less than 10 seconds long into a 4 minute mix. Give Darke the credit he deserves instead of bitching about why he's working on an old project. I commend his ability to see this thing through, it's taken a while, but he finished it, and it sounds good. Although I really like the RMZ2 mix (I listened to it at least for 2 days straight when I got the first version), and I hope he finishes that one as well, I'm glad Darke finished this mix, the original song has a special place in my memory, and this remix does the song justice. I'd even go so far as to say that this remix is at least 10x better than the original. Thanks for sharing this mix with us, Darke. Don't let those ungrateful bastages pull you down. Good luck on your future mixes, and I can't wait to hear what you make next! 2nd Edit: Disregard my question of the voices... I just read about them...

Once again, I'm late to review. Sorry 'bout this Gray, but the review was put on the back seat for some site administration stuff... Had to get that out of the way... Now, it's time for me to review this song. It's been quite a while since this song was finished... You were pumping out remixes every few days (no joke) when this song came out, it's incredible that you were able to make this over 50 midi tracks in only a few days... Almost unbelievable, really. I might not believe it myself if I hadn't gotten to hear a few other versions of this song and how fast you were working. I guess an artist's drive can do some amazing things... Anyways, I'm gonna search for the track from SF since someone said they could not hear the original in this. I remember listening to the original when you first sent me a WIP... Okay, Dark Sol's battle song... Hehe, now that I listen to the original, it sounds rather pathetic compared to what Gray has done with this song. You can find a midi of the original here. Back to the review... The remix starts out great. It sounds very much like from out of a movie, and there's definitely a lot of tension building in the song. The choral sections are incredible, not just because of great samples, but because someone with experience (GrayLightning) is using them the right way. Around 0:45, the song takes a break from the high amounts of tension for a bit. The chorus takes the lead for a bit, with some brass, woodwinds, and some strings coming in, not to mention some chromatic percussion. The complexity in this song is insane, making anything that uses 50 midi tracks is time consuming. Making something with 50 tracks that's nearly 4 minutes long, where every second of it sounds incredible is just amazing. I can't believe how short a time this was done in... Strings pick up where the choral section leaves off, building once again. It then transitions directly into a much calmer and new agish section of the song. As the volume increases though, you know something is going to happen. The intensity picks back up, and and the deeper percussion comes back in with the short choral bits and those amazingly complex string sections... The percussion to this piece is incredible, and really adds to the feel of the song. Listening to the song is sending chills down my spine. GrayLightning is a master of building, and ends it off perfectly. There's not a thing that I can think of that I don't like about this song, and it's so far beyond what I ever dream of doing, that I can't find any flaws either. An amazing piece from GrayLightning, a MUST download. Even if you're not a fan or orchestral cinematic stuff, you should take a listen just to try and pick up every single track playing at the same time, it's amazing how everything goes together even with how complex the piece is. Definitely a benchmark in Gray's remixing career, I am excited just thinking of what GrayLightning has in store for all of us.

Well, here goes... This being posted quite a while after it was made can confuse some people. Gray's style has evolved quite a bit since this song, and I think the quality of his mixes has improved greatly also. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE this song. I remember when this was in the WIP forum the first time, and I got the very first version of this... Man, so much has happened since then, and I'm amazed Gray was able to see this song all the way through and actually fix it so that it would be accepted by OCR. I'm glad he did, because his endurance through this trial has beared fruit, and he achieved his goal after around a year. Well, this song may not be the best of his works, but I will say that it definitely is a more unique piece of Gray's, especially after having SnappleMan perform the guitar. Although this piece is similar to the original, it is also very much different. Enough for me to say that it could be considered a remix of a remix, not just an improvement. Although I personally was very fond of the original, I enjoy this mix also. If you had a chance to listen to the original, you'll probably agree with me that the songs are very different. I personally liked the older version, though it had it's flaws, it carried a slightly different tone and feel to it. I will admit the orchestration and flow of this version are MUCH better than before, and the guitars are really incomparable in quality. Still, I feel the songs portray different meanings, and I liked the meaning of the older song more... It was less airy, if you understand what I mean, it was more intense, more in your face, more decisive. More like you were flying to the star of darkness to finish what has to be done. The new version has more of a Vangelis new age feel to it, and SnappleMan's guitar is far more dominating than the original (though I can see why the other guitar was quieter ). Still, the new version takes on a new perspective, it focuses more on the distortion than on what was in the original song (thus making it more creative, and more of an interpretation, which is good ). It doesn't really follow the older version's mood at all, due to the instrumentation changes. This is one reason I sort of feel it's a remix of a remix, instead of just an updated version. Now although I'm very fond of the original version of this remix, let me say some positive things about this mix. The instrument quality is far better, the interpretation is much deeper, and it really shows how much time Gray put into this to change the song so drastically. SnappleMan's guitar is pretty damn good, if you ask me, and I feel it enhances the song far more than the original guitar did. A warning to those of you that have heard any of GrayLightning's more recent things, this is very different from them. This is far more new agey than his more current projects which take on a more cinematic feel, and are even more complex and shnazzy than this. I highly recommend this download whether you've listened to the old version or not, and whether you've listened to his newer songs or not, or even if you've never listened to a song from GrayLightning. It's a great song, has a lot of elements you won't find in his more recent songs. It's a great song, and if you appreciate new age that's a little more edgy than Vangelis, you'll probably like it a lot. Congrats to both Gray and SnappleMan on this mix, they've done a great job at remaking this, and if you take a listen, you'll agree with me.

I wanted a note to fade... I just figured out how to use the Event Editor, but I have one question... Are the events saved with your flp file, or do you need to save them seperately (I was reading the help file that comes with FL Studio 4), and it was talking about loading and saving events as .FSC files...

Hi, I have a question about FL... I wouldn't consider myself a newbie at FL, but I'm definitely not skilled with it. I know how to use the piano roll, step sequencer, some of the VSTs (though most of the ones I use are non-FL VSTs), and a bunch of other stuff. I've been messing around with FL for about 2 years now, with some help from a bunch of people I know, but one thing I've been struggling with is learning how to make a single note get softer. I'm guessing it has to do with automation, but I don't know how to use automation, in fact, I have no clue what it is other than it's name (and the name's definition). Apparently automation goes in a seperate pattern, but I don't even know where to begin. I read somewhere in here that it has to do with using the record button, but that seems very full of flaws, such as if you are recording and your mouse has some reaction problems (your mouse gets caught, whether it be trackball or optical) then it will mess up. Can anyone explain to me exactly how to use automation in FL? Thanks.