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Nitwit

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Posts posted by Nitwit

  1. Hello everyone,

    I'm curious if anyone knows what has happened to the Mega Man 25th anniversary album called MM25: Mega Man Rocks that I believe launched alongside MM25: For Everlasting Peace.  I was trying to recommend it to a friend.  I bought it off of iTunes back when it released in 2013, and for some reason I can no longer find it on iTunes or any other music service.  I have found heaps of press releases alluding to the two albums, but none of them that have links, including the publisher's website have any further information.

    For example: here's a press release published on the Capcom website for both albums with links.  All of the links for Everlasting Peace still work, but the Mega Man Rocks links are all duds.  I've found a few other streaming or digital stores that have tracklists, but you can't even listen to previews.  This might be the only reference I've found on Youtube, under Capcom's account.

    It was published by Sumthing Else Records and has artists such as Mega Ran, Armcannon, The Protomen, and The Megas.

    So has it truly vanished?  Was there some kind of legal swamp it fell in to and had to be pulled?

    Anyone know what happened?

  2. Since we're reminiscing: I too still have the original mp3 files (encoded at 128kbps) from the early days.  In fact, the way I even discovered ocremix was through NAPSTER.  I had just discovered Napster in early 2002 and it occurred to me that I could start looking for old nostalgic tunes, such as old tv show themes and Nintendo themes.  So I was just searching by NES games and downloaded a few Mega Man II or Super Mario Bros. 3 remixes that I liked.  One day, I think I was editing the metadata fields and somewhere in the notes or something was simply listed a website: ocremix.org.  Hm... I thought to myself. If this song came from there, I wonder what else might be on that website.  I visited the site and was gobsmacked at the treasure trove I just stumbled upon.  I remember going systematically through the alphabet index that used to be at the top of the page and just scrolled through for games I was familiar with and tunes that I knew.  I'd listen to every remix of a certain game and download the ones I liked.  Soon after that, I just started listening to every new remix that was being posted and discovered a lot of great new games and great new OST music that way (as well as the remixes too, of course).  I also joined as a member in 2002, but I think my profile got deleted for some reason, so I had to rejoin in 2003.

    Later, in 2004 I used to listen to ocradio and discovered other remixes I had never come across before, and probably wouldn't have on my own.  I also did a video game music radio program at my college radio station (and again in 2007-2008).  A lot of my source material came from ocremix, but through the forums I was put onto other OSTs or other remix sites.

    It's funny, because 2007, ten years ago, were the years where I was already feeling like we were in the "latter years" of ocremix, for whatever reason, and because of my own perception of time progression I feel like 2007 wasn't that long ago.

    To be honest, regarding the forums, it certainly feels like the early days of the forums is where I became familiar with the term "flame war," because almost any topic that someone started seemed to devolve into insults, name calling, and the pointing out of how intrinsically linked someone's IQ was to their simple grammar mistakes.  The forums by that regard seem way more tame (and tolerable) to me, but maybe I'm not reading the right posts.

    Well, thanks OCRemix and moderators, judges, and admin personnel that have kept this thing going for 3,641+ remixes.

  3. I have always taken the absurd levels of difficulty in the NES era to be the industry's way of adding value for money.  Given the memory limitations of the time, they couldn't create a several hours long story driven platformer/adventure, and so instead just made the games crazy hard so that it took a consumer/user/player hours to beat.  If someone paid $35-$40 for a cartridge in those days (what I remember approximately paying for a game back then), took it home and was able to complete the game in 30-60 minutes, they might feel like it was a bit of a waste of money.  If it was something they had to sweat through 50 game overs before finally being able to overcome a certain area, boss, or just getting lucky, the feeling of accomplishment felt way more worthwhile... Even though the remaining memory in the cartridge usually only allowed for a simple "Congladulation!" at the end.

    I remember buying Street Fighter II for the SNES and beating it in 10 minutes on easy.  I turned to my brother and said, "Don't tell Dad," because I thought if he knew he'd think I had just wasted a bunch of money on a game so easily "completed."  Of course, I didn't realise at the time that you had to play through the game on hard to actually get the good endings.

    That TMNT dam level did me in too.  It had never occurred to me back at the time that as one turtle's life got lower through the dam to just switch turtles in order to complete the level.  I just kept trying to make it through one turtle at a time, having only two bombs left to defuse, dying, and then starting over.

    The Kacho ALWAYS leaves me gobsmacked at his tenacity and ability to just keep trying on all of the old games.  I think my evolution into newer games has made me lose my perseverance on the older games, and if I can't beat a certain level or spot after maybe 10 or so tries, I often just give up.  Episode 60 shows where he did level 97 of Quest of Ki for like six hours or something before finally being able to overcome and beat the game.

  4. I like the arrangement of the work.  The instrumentation sounds good.  Is this all recorded live?  The recording levels and/or mixing could definitely use some tweaking to make some of the parts sound a bit more clear, but I do like the take on this source.  As for length, I wonder if it could be looped/repeated with perhaps a bridge at some point to connect three passages (?).  Keep up the good work.

  5. Hey!  It's so good to see Bubsy get some more representation.  It has such a great soundtrack, but doesn't seem to get remixed much.  I think the mix is off to a good start.  There's something about its current state however that makes it feel a bit too "flat" or synthesized.  It could be the way the saxophone sounds, and perhaps the piano could be more layered, using bass chords.  It sounds like starting at 1:13 that you are potentially mixing in the track "Tunnel Vision," and in fact I expected the song to transition there.  I think it would seamlessly work as a break, or interlude in your song, especially if the solo of Tunnel Vision were made as an e-piano or something.

     

  6. Now I'm on the watch for VGM on NPR.  Maybe I should do some investigation in who selects the music for some of these shows.  On Today's All Things Considered, there is a song by Harris Cole called "Game Over."  I clicked on it to see if it was VGM related and instantly recognised the Super Mario World game over music.  I'd probably be doing the same thing if I was in charge of music over there.

  7. I was just listening to NPR Morning Edition (20 September 2016) and was surprised to see "Departure from South Town (FATAL FURY TEAM BGM)" by Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan used as one of the in-between music pieces.  This was not really a place I expected to see incidental VGM pop up for background music.

    http://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/

    Edit: Wow, sorry...  I meant to paste a photo in here, but for some reason it won't stay in my post.  I'm not sure how to embed an image into this.  I'm not sure how to use the insert existing attachment.

  8. Game: Battle Tetris Gaiden

    Track: The Last Battle

     

    https://youtu.be/Ygn8i4JowCQ?t=1h5m2s

     

    For some reason in such an obscure game, there is this wicked cool track on the last battle.  It's quite lengthy compared to the other tracks as well.  It seems to lend itself to a techno/electronic or hard rock vibe, but I'm sure that someone could come up with something totally different.  The wave drop sound, or descending tone is particularly cool.  If you get the SPC file, listen to the whole track!

     

     

  9. The Megas' album History Repeating: Blue is I think some of the best use of Mega Man source material I have heard in the VGM remix community, at least for it's cohesiveness in one album.  Similar to what MindWanderer said, it was money well spent.  I bought the album and decided to listen to it when I need to drive my motorbike across the city in crazy traffic to run an absurd bureaucratic task, and I think the album looped around four or five times before I got back home.  The first half builds incredibly well.  History Repeating: Red, where this track comes from is also worth a listen.  Like djpretzel said, the stories they tell in the songs warrant a close listen.

  10. Nice! I like themed radio shows. I used to do themes on my video game radio show too for my college station... Of course, only for two hours, not eight.

    It's hard, because do you want music that sounds like it's icy/wintery, or just remixes based off of ice levels/winter themes? There are a lot of remixes out there based off of some ice or winter theme, but don't exactly sound "wintery (for example: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01355. It's a really cool mix, but doesn't sound much like a soft, snowy winter).

    There was that one album OCremix did for April Fool's Day that was ALL Sonic 3 Icecap remixes (http://icecap.ocremix.org/).

    The Earthbound/Mother remix albums usually have a few songs based off of their snow areas. (Rock Candy3, Mother +Love2, Bound Together, Mother 3+, Mother OST Vocal, et cetera).

    If you're just looking for mixes based off of ice/winter/snow, type into the search field on OCremix those keywords and you should be able to find a lot of mixes.

    Hope this helps, and good luck trying to fill eight hours on this theme!

  11. Yeah, I think the original OLR mix is a lot tighter than this version. The sound is a lot more crisp, the vocals are a lot more audible, and the beat is a lot more catchy. I do like the intro of this version up to 0:24 but the "Oh really" section at 1:07 is pretty difficult to hear clearly. Still good to revisit the song and try something different with it.

  12. I would love it so much if someone would take on some of these songs to remix. I feel like the soundtrack has so much potential.

    Particularly, "Funky Goblin" is, as it says, funky and I think that someone could really lay into it with some keyboard skills.

    If you've never listened to the music, I found the SPC files at: http://www.zophar.net/music/spc/king-arthur-s-world.html or you can download the ROM directly from this site.

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