Rexy

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.

You know, I had no idea that this went by the judges first. But hey, it's one track I remember extremely fondly from Unsung Heroes, so I'll go elaborate my thoughts. Beginning with this Police-like intro with the fast hihats, acoustic guitar and piano accompaniment, it doesn't take long for the melody to become easily recognisable. In regards to source the interpretation is rather straight-forward, but between the additional acoustic guitar writing work and the adaptation to what was basically a peaceful piano-driven source material while still retaining its beauty, I can say there's been a lot done that really managed to show its character. The package managed to come off similarly beautiful with some strong drum writing, attention paid towards the backing elements' emphasizing and the tones when applied. I'm amongst the people that especially LOVE that lead synth; it's got this delicate tone to it while still being expressed enough to fit with the upbeat soundscape, and it similarly reminds me of the time when I liked using these mellow synths in earlier works as well (though to be fair they mostly came out sounding like basic sine waves ); I'm glad to know the technique works extremely well for textures like this, and with OA's growth over the years it shows that his style managed to pay off immensely. It was great to see the track hit all the right spots on Unsung Heroes, and I really hope he doesn't stop with all the uplifting stuff that I love him best for. Again, a major congratulations for getting it all together and for making those contributions click

Alright, the OTHER God of War track off Heroes vs Villains. Like with Kunal, I enjoyed Brandon's representation of Kratos a lot; and similarly when I heard Kunal's work later on it goes to show that these two forces managed to provide one heck of a remix battle It starts out quite safe with the familiar taiko drums and string parts that consisted of the source, though hearing the soundscape change with the addition of all the industrial percussion and synth parts, it comes off as a great way to re-envision the track and take this direction that's distinct to Brandon's - while he provided the progressive, dangerous and adventurous route, this however managed to hint in this radio-friendlier, steadier and "divine" approach to the source. Admittedly I fell in love with the clean guitar/synth pad breakdown at 1:47 - it complimented the genre quite well, plus it managed to serve as a great bridge between that and the symphonic re-introductions near the end. Another thing I enjoyed was the sheer production values brought towards the organic instruments, with due attention being paid on the taikos; it's hard to get them portrayed as clear as the real thing, but as a professional in the music scene I can really understood that Kunal has a kean eye in emphasizing even the minor details. Very enjoyable work from Kunal, and in my honest opinion one of his best works to date. I hope to see him keep up his progression in the scene and keep contributing to the community within the near future

Kind of a strange track to make a short arrangement for - a 5 minute source and less than 2 minutes of a remix. But it's mp, so all is forgiven. The atmosphere tends to portray Tristram in this livelier light in comparison to the source material, and I commend you on the drum and guitar writing here; for one of those elder tracks, there's actually a clear tone sensed from the acoustic strings. Even the other components, while aged not quite as gracefully, managed to be mixed in well to give the track some clarity for its time. But I'm with everyone else here in that it basically feels too short for what it is which is especially considering the way the source material is structured; I'm usually fine with it on these elder tracks, but for something that was requiring more ideas to keep focused with, it may be a struggle to really appreciate for a long time. Fans of the game should still see some enjoyment out of it; short and sweet. Though I know that even back then Matt had the capability to do stronger works, it's still worth looking into if you can tolerate its obvious shortcomings.

To be fair, it was contemplated, but A) stylstically it didn't work with the track's direction, and I didn't think there was enough actual melody to work with its given purpose. We're still cool with #6 though

Yeah, a similar approach was taken out here as well - the Plant Man A-melody apparently made a good bass riff, Wily Machine 6's components made for appropriate backing, Splash Woman's A-melody also made for a good rhythm line, and even Hornet once contributed to some short string attack work somewhere (!!). To me it still sounds very Mega Man, though I can also say the writing has "matured" somewhat too. You'll decipher how when it gets unleashed. But it'll be neat to see how everyone all chipped in. Let's see the contest end in style, and best of luck to all

From what I can recall, the BGR is representing with Plant Man, Hornet Man, Splash Woman, Wily Machine 6... and ALSO a hint of Schala thrown in somewhere. Looks like there's two similar frame of minds around here, eh Gario?

Happy Abadirthday! And be sure to keep truckin' round here for another year

The Bad Guy Robots have been working hard, with one MP3 wip established at least as of right now. So I am sure to say we should be guaranteed a sexy entry x)

Nice going, everyone! Hope things all go well with your selections Now to contemplate exactly what I'm going to don for the custom avatar. This is going to be harder than I thought, in more ways than one.

Mirby's sure to get her dues for letting that beast come out of NOWHERE like that You are a monster, in a positive way!

You know, when I first saw this pop up in the to be posted list, I thought this was going to be a Bullet For My Valentine parody. But I guess that's where the puns end and the amusing tracks start; and let me say this now, I absolutely LOVED both sources you guys used! So, taking aside the not-quite-as-relevant-yet-cheesy anime quote at the beginning, what we have here is a track that manages to fit the uber-happy post-success feel of Route 225, and for the most part its involvment stays really safe to the source, though the additions to the source - and in halc's case some alterations to the melody via the chiptune elements - expresses the nature of all three artists as the track is manipulated. Even the WillRock solo brought in afterwards was really precise and fitted some kind of Journey-like twang to the track, and with the kind of flexibility thrown in to the hammered notes, it manages to adapt remarkably well with this nostalgic approach. Nice going, man The manipulation to the source taken aboard prior to leading into the G/S credits section may not have been the best way to go about it with the mechanical piano, but given its use as a bridge it could probably be excused. I had chills going through the last minute simply for the strange relevance relating to Pokemon games in general - you can do all you want after defeating the Elite Four, but you can always beat the crap out of them all over again and still feel fulfilled multiple times over; a sign that there's no end at all to being a Pokemon master Please excuse my reflective nature, but the stylistic approach from all three artists managed to create something that hit the sources nail on the head and showed a great amount of expression from all three of them. I can easily say this is one of my favorite tracks from MissingNo, so way to go you three!