Rexy

Now that the female plaecment is brought up, it can be true that it can sell games; but not necessarily. Being a Crash Bandicoot fan I'll see if I can bring in a tale regarding that series. Let me copy a question from Naughty Dog founder Jason Rubin's interview at Crashmania: For the record, the original Tawna design had her wearing a very short pair of pants AND revealed her cleavage, which was indeed seen as an over-pimping kind of way for women. In the final design, the pants were shorter and her shirt was far more modest, not to mention she somehow lost her tail. But for the success of Crash back in the day, even the sequels didn't need sexual females to sell well. Crash 2 and 3 featured a female character but in a different way - Crash's sister Coco, coming across more like an intellectual rather than a VG pin-up. In the second game she never left her laptop but used it as a means of communication to Crash. In the third game however, she became a full-on playable character, being used for the jetski stages, the China stages (where she'd end up riding a tiger cub), an airplane dogfight and the boss fight against N. Gin (hence the fandom soon seeing them as a potential pairing). In fact, Naughty Dog didn't start referring to sexy girls again until Crash Team Racing, though that was merely used for the trophy girls at the end of each race. The sexual approach would be used more often though when they moved on to Jak and Daxter, in which pretty much every leading lady would reveal their legs (Ashelin), their cleavage (Tess) or their waist (Keira). To my knowledge they didn't have any modestly-dressed females in the series until Rayn in Jak X, though I'm not too sure if that sold as well as ND's other titles to be honest. So yes, in the early 90s it was possible to get games to have strong female characters AND sell well. Nowadays, we aren't too sure, but the examples stated already (and I especially agree with the Valve statement) have shown that while few and far between, non-pin-up girls are still around in videogame form to some degree. I'm in the same boat as Luiza in that I'm not too offended by how females are portrayed; again, it's the inner character that I want to see rather than appearances.

I have "The Obsidian Ocean" - great track from the VGMix days

Another track that I managed to steadily get attached to, not to mention that it wanted me to take interest into actually playing through the game. The sources used are very simplistic melodies that tend to get absorbed well without becoming too repetitive, and thus it works beautifully well in the context of a more chilled track from avaris's end. Having heard his progression since the PRC days he's managed to show his clarity and develop his style a lot, and in the style of a gentler soundscape it's managed to provide something that provides more of a zen-like state of mind from the user. It may be generally a tad dry and a little on the unrealistic side in regards to the organic instrument selection used, but given that this is more of a citing of his musical influences, it actually seems natural to be able to take it that way and fit in a more modernised context. So you can see that I dig this - works well for my travels out and about, and can be quite reflective depending on the context. I hope to sense more of avaris in later endeavours

I have appreciation for a lot of tracks on Unsung Heroes, but ilp0's track REALLY took that appreciation over the top in something that grew on me a lot since the release day - so much that this was one of the tracks I even picked to use in my video talking of my involvement about it. But enough about myself - while I hadn't played the game (like most people), it still didn't need to have memories of playing the game to invoke power towards the track. It starts out pretty upbeat with plenty of schizophrenic writings, while still remaining very upbeat with the interpretations of the Village theme. Though, the amount of manipulations taken in with the Dialog theme managed to add more of a moody "evil is coming" quality towards it and can even tell of one's own struggle even in their happiest of times. This is especially emphasized with the ending, with the darkening chords and lower timbres adding in more of a feeling of despair that gives me the CHILLS every time I hear it - that's how potent I think the writing is!! I can't say the Village theme is without its own moments - the lively interpretation at 3:26 with the acoustic guitar performance leading into the mad piano riff really shows as a strong example of ilp0's musicianship and does a lot to fit more of a frantic touch towards the track. In fact, I said in the IRC for the listening party that his style is filling the progressive void a lot in the community, though when someone else (was it KyleJCrb?) said that ilp0 is "his own genre", it does indeed make me think that he's benefitting the community in a very unique way, both with writing, ideas and growing sound quality over the years. For that, I got to say that this is one of his best works IMO - capturing the source to an emotive quality, great musicianship, and it doesn't necessarily need a nostalgic connection to pack a punch concept-wise. I'm now really looking forward to see what he can provide in the time to come, because honestly, I can't imagine the wider community without him

Having had Unsung Heroes floating around on my MP3 rotation in the past month, I say it's about time I take a look at some more of the flood posts. The opening track managed to capture that serene moment of wanting to express feelings about telling of the games that have been unexpressed in the community. Arrangement-wise it's pretty straightforward, but it didn't need a complex arrangement with the lyrical writing, slight modifications to the melody on both the vocals and flute countermelody, and even then the components highlighting the source sell the track more than what appears to be lesser-stellar original components, give or take the string writing near the end which I thought managed to compliment the mood quite well. As the time went on I felt a little unsure about the choice of room ambience; it felt rather dry and wide for what could be considered a tavern setting, and even then it wasn't exposed on all the instruments represented. That to me could be seen as more of a nitpick more than anything, as the sounds themselves have been emphasized very cleanly even with the ambience concerns taken to account, and Deia's laid-back vocal complimented the medieval-esque instrument selection just as much - the travelling bard in the pack of musicians, throwing her wisdom into the face of adversity, with not much expectation to go by other than her own heart. So for a rather inspirational album it made for a very pretty opening track, and I hope the other contributions that both OA and Deia worked on whether together or with others would eventually surface too to compliment the raw emotive power behind this one

Brandon has a bass at least, but you're going to have to ask him first. As for a drummer, live drums to me are few and far between so you might be pressed on your luck for that o_O

I'm up for it if you want me! I of course have piano service if anyone wants to use it, and I also have a harmonica on hand but I don't consider myself a shredder with it o_O

I guess this is the part where I say that the whole WCRG was a blast from start to finish. Sure, it wasn't an easy ride, but if anything it left me feeling more humbled and having grown my production set somewhat. These are things that I will be happy to take to new venture, wherever it would go. As for the whole popular-verses-left-aside remarks, the reason why Plant Man was my prime pick for Robot Master was both for accessibility reasons and for the fact that there was no Plant representation on OCR yet. I almost considered Centaur Man at one point because as stated he hasn't been represented in a Mega Man compo yet; but one look at Vurez's "Odyssey Beyond the Falls" quickly convinced otherwise (awesome remix, believe me). My knowledge on MM source material would remain slim though as I don't have much of a musical connection with 4/5/7/8/10 at this point, but I still enjoy working with lesser loved source material nevertheless I don't think I'd be doing the GMRB due to other commitments (as much as I'd love to represent Magma Dragoon for it... oh well xD), but I should still be able to listen in and see how things develop... and maybe keep refining the graphical skillset? We'll see For now, here's to a well-mannered results party!

While I'm here, while I am not quite open to actively pursue the project, I still would like to lend piano performance services for anyone that needs a part

A lot of the gentler cues from the various Dragon Quest symphonic suites worked for me in my student days - often anything to do with shrines, towers or sailing (requiems are questionable depending on your mood). From the soundtracks I have, here's what I think would work out to fit your situation: DQ4 - Menuet / Balloon's Flight / Sea Breeze / The Unknown Castle (I STRONGLY EMPHASIZE THIS) DQ5 - Magic Carpet ~ The Ocean (might need to watch out a bit with the second half) / Melody of Love / Noble Requiem ~ Saint / Heaven DQ6 - Ocean Waves / Pegasus ~ Saint's Wreath / Melancholy / Ocarina ~ The Saint DQ8 - Travelling with Wagon / Mysterious Tower / Remembrances... / Poet's World / Memories of an Ancient Ocean DQ9 - Angelic Land / Destiny ~ Prologue to Tragedy / Pathway to Good Fortune ~ Cathedral of Emptiness Your mileage may vary with some of these, but if you want something different to study to, it might be worth pursueing

I'm pretty sure the Sagat references have become a collective running gag with the Bad Dudes camp, particularly with a handful of individual mixes from members of the roster and the source getting cameo'd in unrelated arrangements from Diggi Dis and even posu himself. So I'm half-expecting to hear more Sagat for the rest of 2012. This classy cuban jazz like interpretation apparently fits more of JM's style than anyone else (which does seem odd to think since posu did a handful of the accompaniment work and lead guitar performance), though the translation from the original's 11/8 to a more conventional time signature AND a much more exotic jam setting definitely shines a very intriguing light on the arrangement. The teamwork is shown with a lot of the tradeoffs between posu's drum writing and guitar emphasis with JM's attention on pitched percussion and sweeping strings (with the occasional flute part from Stacy as well, which seems to be rather hidden in comparison); the collaborative effort has done a lot to shape in a much more atmospheric track that captures the more team spirit based nature of HvV extremely well. I don't think I have much else to say about it, other than it being a very different take on a popular theme by the Bad Dudes, and one to consider as a more distinct track amongst the HvV album tracks. I'm sure JM will be rising with a handful of tracks for 2012, and I'm also sure that Sagat will also make ANOTHER appearance somewhere with the way this is going

Yeah, this track was a huge thinker for me. No doubt that it caught the nature of the source material, but all those time signatures made it tough to really break down on the first go around xD Luckily it's been some time since BadAss was unleashed, and it should be much better digested as I state my thoughts. It starts out well with some nice creepy synth and echoed piano which bears a familiarity with some of the more ambient Metroid Prime soundtrack selections, before going straight into a hard 12/8 interpretation of the source which may make one somehow mistake you for DJ Orange in terms of writing (honestly, I can't help but think of "Harvest Hoedown" here xD). This feel managed to continue onto the hard 2/4 section, though like halc stated with the awkward beats, the transition between the signatures made it hard to digest initially due to the lack of a significant downbeat for the start of it. Luckily the adaptation of the source with this more aggressive soundscape worked creepily well. The return to the intro's texture with the 9/8 time signature, soon following with the return to the original's 5/8 time signature, both showed his testament to adapt the source within the different time signatures. But I have to say, the 11/8 section at 3:20 was by far what I felt to be the coup de grace for me, as it gave a lot of room towards the drum writing/variation and give in a more progressive feel to it with the accompaniment building. Following that though, the ending was a bit weird with all the pitch shifting invlved, but given the oddities of the time signature it's something that can A) be excused, and contribute more towards the general quaintness of the arrangement. While I hadn't heard too much of Rozovian's work (and I believe I need to rectify that soon lol), what I did hear though was one of his cleanest works to date; kinda low-mid heavy, but all the more to fit the feel for the source, and the attention to emphasis on the instrumentation and the sheer creative nature of handling the source material were seen as major key points for the track. The progressive-ish nature of the time signatures wouldn't at all really make this easy listening, but then again none of the tracks on BadAss were, so just come in and let Ridley take a gash at you in musical form

I've always had a soft spot for the Genesis version of this source, but hearing the Saturn one managed to capture the Christmas spirit extremely precisely; again, solid proof on my feelings of how amazing these 32-bit system soundtracks really are So, Jivemaster's mix. Similar to the source it manages to keep with the appropriate instrumentation with all the bells and subtle string work, though his light electronica style is also present to emphasize his style. This approach may be seen as dated due to the almost stagnant accompaniment work, but the sounds themselves are clean enough for their time to really take in casually. Similarly to some of his works there's been a lot of familiarity with the source, so Sonic fans would generally feel happy with the presentation as well. Strangely, I was most looking forward to seeing the development of the creative piano writing at the end; it seemed as if it was going to build into a climax, but before I knew it the track came to a rather abrupt end. Yes, I know the track itself is short, but I was kind of hoping for something to not make the closure feel so sudden. Still, it's an oldie but goodie from Jivemaster, and while I haven't seen much of him since he sent "Lava Reach" over in 2006, I do hope that his remixing plight hasn't stopped there. Please tell us that you're alive D:

Yeah, the source itself already had a hint of light funk with the clean guitar lead and latin pop sound to it, and thus I do indeed see it fitting really well with Joshua Morse's style. Nice pick! So what we have is this generally dry soundscape that managed to emphasize more of the mood of the source going by instrument selection, started by the classy organ writing before going into the clean guitar lead rather early on. As the track goes on, a lot of the writing would soon end up becoming very traditional JM flare with the keys/string writing and attention paid towards the drum work, as well as additional spotlights being given towards those keys and expressive modulated light synths. But odds are if you enjoy his style of arranging it would be down your alley a lot; not the most obvious connections to the source, but they didn't need to be if they are simply to provide a solid groove. Let me give high appraisal to something that caught my attention within the setting - the brass placement. The trumpets to me with their free moving texture sound really great to me as well; they are hard enough to sound convincing at all, but the slide work and attention to humanisation came off as one of his best attempts at conviction for me, and I am so happy for them. For my first experience on hearing something from Sonata of the Damned, it's definitely a good starting direction. I'm pretty sure I should take a look at the rest of the album down the line, and may even get a kick out of arrangements for the Castlevania titles that I am apparently more familiar with, but for what it is, it's another win for JM

Lol, the Tecmo sports games. Short riffs abound, or at least that's the impression I got from Tecmo Super Bowl due to exposure back in PRC52 (thank you Kamoh >_>). But it's Rayza, and one may expect him to provide a good free kick to the source. Like a lot of Rayza's works early on, they often provided a lot of cheese, and the gated "GOOOOOOOAL" voice clip at certain intervals with the addition of the occasional whistle in the percussion has managed to help with that. Even with the 8-bar limitation the additional non-source writing managed to help shake things up a lot as well, so for an early Rayza arrangement it could be seen as one of his more creative ones. Production-wise, I didn't think it aged quite as gracefully as some of his other works, most likely due to roughly mixed percussion (especially with the side snare apparently getting more attention than the claps), the rather minimalist textures and what appears to be minimal panning outside of the drum pieces. But things were made up for with some good bass manipulation (if not repetitive) and the clever use of gating particularly on the sound clips used (as stated before), so they may be enough to try and see past the shorcomings. While an elder track, it's quite appropriate for the soccer pundit in you I feel happy that Rayza managed to get involved with the requests side of the community and fulfil the wishes of others, and that's what I like seeing - some clean community spirit. I'm hoping this won't die down any time soon, and I also hope one of these days Rayza himself would chip in with new material too. Please come back

Oooh, The Prophet. Been quite familiar with this source due to Darangen's attempts to arrange it, and I sensed it as good remixing material So in terms of melodic notation, it's definitely seen as a much darker take on the theme, and can be seen as a manipulative take even for something going as far back as 2001. It would take some thinking to get around the source, but the attention towards what works with the original writing and the manipulation of the melody is what makes this work. To be fair I'm not really sure what direction it was trying to emphasize; due to the synth bass one might've expected some downbeat tempo, though the acoustic drum sounds would imply something more alternative in sound. I'm not minding the outdated sounds at all, however; they've been processed well, emphasized as much as they could, though two criticisms seem to arise from it: maybe less general master reverb to prevent any mud, and perhaps a little more velocity/volume envelope work might've worked to give the sounds some more depth and humanisation; but considering that the track itself is 10 years old I think for its time the production quality doesn't feel all that glaring to me. All in all, a very pleasant classic to listen to. It may take some listeners some time to understand Matt's direction and source identification, but once you overlook them this would make some good light listening

For the most frequent licker of people in the IRC: Many happy returns, CHz!

Not necessarily. I brought in some live keyboard parts in some intervals, and the only parts I even clicked in were mainly chip arpeggios, drums and bass (in which I assumed there'd be live bass in the end, but apparently not; my mistake). And it was already established further back in the thread - real men use mice

My second place vote wasn't Bubble Man's Requiem - it was for the Gentlemasters' entry. Not like it mattered with the positions, but just throwing that out there. And I told you I wouldn't at all change my vote

While I do show interest in giving Sonic some more love around these parts, I feel the need to state something that apparently hasn't been brought up yet. See, the reason why the Mega Man competitions worked, other than the franchise, was that the backstory managed to fit so well into the setting - DarkeSword said he was inspired by the Mega Man 6 robot tournament and the whole idea of robots going against each other. This managed to expand itself throughout the entire series, with the robot masters being used to go against other robot masters - and later on, Dr. Wily - it fitted the tone of the game series and worked with the series' simple tunes. Now, locations in the Sonic franchise isn't going to work in quite the same way. How are you supposed to represent a single zone and go against another zone without making it too much like an uninspired bloodbath? There was no need for different zones to have conflicts in the original Genesis titles at least, and I'm pretty sure it even extended to other stages in later games and on other platforms. Basically, to me, with the way you wanted it to go, it's just going to be the GRMRB with a Sonic paint job, which I don't think is going to be a fresh enough idea. I still don't see anything wrong with going for a Sonic related tourney, but honestly, citing inspiration from other successful competitions probably isn't the best way to make something long-lasting. I suggest finding ways for research on this matter before devising a final setup.

I don't know, with there being less mixes to think about, I think my vote is most likely going to be more concrete this time.

While I'm not too familiar with everything that Nerdy Show had on offer, I did however check some of the OCAD/NS crossover episodes. The first thing I did when I heard the news was re-played their reading of the original "A Tale of Two Minecrafts" in OCAD episode 71; and even in feeling the loss it still cracked me up a lot. Either way, rest in peace Mike. My condolences go out to Cap, Hex, his family and his other friends.

Ben, you just topped Ecto's "mis-heard Earthbound cameo" feedback with that as the best critique we Bad Guy Robots got in this entire compo.

Well I CAN open the Spreadsheet, and Scott Pilgrim already was a winner in the first round.

Given that you guys wanted to be The Amp Men at first, I can now understand the relevance. Though, just watch Capcom actually designing a robot master named Amp Man for Mega Man 11.