CHz

I thought the game had a list of music credits somewhere, so I redownloaded it, et voilà: You should be able to find most if not all of these original tunes on YouTube, but if you have any problems finding a source, the HVSC will have a SID of it: http://www.hvsc.c64.org/. You'll need Chipamp + Winamp or some alternative SID player if you don't have one already: http://chipamp.org/.

I've played Platypus and heard all three Back in Time albums.

None of Platypus's music was written for the game, and, in fact, it all happens to already be mixes of Commodore 64 games. That particular track you uploaded is an arrangement of the loader theme from Comic Bakery, composed by Martin Galway: . Specifically, it's Tomas Danko's arrangement on the album Back in Time II: http://vgmdb.net/album/5448.

23:05 < Lukas_> Dud I've raped everyone in here ie 23:05 < Lukas_> I'm going for doug again 23:05 < Lukas_> Ready!!?????????? I hope you two had as much fun at your wedding as Will did!

Dan Bruno, an employee at Harmonix, does some nice VGM analysis at his blog Cruise Elroy. There's the irregular meter series (fuck yeah Mario Kart 64 race results theme), the Ocarina of Time series, and an article on Mother 3's awesome battle themes.

The album I'm assuming you're talking about, Dragon Quest VIII Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi Original Soundtrack [SVWC-7228~9], is the soundtrack to the original Japanese version of DQ8, which, as you have discovered, is sequenced. A while after the game was released, there was a live orchestral arrangement album for the game, which is the album Kyle linked: Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest VIII Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi [SVWC-7261~2]. When SQEX brought the game over, besides translating and etc., they also upgraded the music with the orchestral versions from the arrangement album. There are several tracks on the original soundtrack that aren't accounted for on the arranged soundtrack (night variations of themes, jingles, a few tunes on OST disc 2), and having played neither version of the game, I can't tell you what happened to those during the localization. But what you really want is the Symphonic Suite.

Not a very daring arrangement aside from the sound conversion, but the added stuff and textural progression put it over the bar. Synths are all used well. Ending is weird, I'm with the posse on that one, but it can stay. More could be done to put this further over the bar, but as it is, I'm cool with it. WHY NOT

Rather sparse stuff, and the same basic synths are used from start to finish, but the synthy textures are nice and the effects keep things interesting. Writing is good, loving the solos and synth interaction. Mixing could be a bit more balanced, because I'd like to hear that bass more, but it's alright here. Pretty close to the line with this one, but I'm leaning toward a yes. It's a fun track, nice work. YES

where did you come from YES (conditional on volume and the submissions fine print) Comments: You can sing well and your arrangement highlights that. Digging the vocal harmony. The left panning of the lead voice is kind of weird, but it's balanced for most of the track so I didn't think it was a big issue. Center would be better. There are occasional strong plosive sounds in your p's and b's; the most noticeable one for me was in "pale" at 0:52. There's nothing truly bad here, only mildly distracting in a few places. Submit more.

Off the top of my head, ESPGaluda 1 & 2 have the Kakusei modes to navigate around the ludicrous Cave-style bullet patterns and rack up ludicrous Cave-style point totals, and After Burner Climax has Climax mode, which in addition to slowing the game down gives you gigantic aiming crosshairs and infinite missiles, so you can blow up everything on the screen in one massive explosion of awesome.

I'm liking the new vocal arrangement, totally different feel to this. Performances are good. The big problem is the clutter, mainly in the choruses. The strings in particular take up room from the other instruments, and the compression hurts down the stretch when the track's at its fullest. The vocals are so faint and blend in so much with the other instruments at the end that they are really hard to make out. Fix that up and you've got a real winner here. YES (conditional on mixing)

Pretty good first submission. Arrangement's pretty short, but it's well developed and definitely interpretive enough. Would've liked this to be longer, but only because what you've got is already good. The sparseness is a little bit of a problem, since I feel a lot of the track, the climax starting at around 2:00 especially, should be coming at me with force; it feels a lot weaker than it ought to. Your dynamics are decent, although I think a bit more would help sections stand out more. Samples are effectively used, no qualms there. A more substantial arrangement would more easily counterbalance the sparseness thing, but what you have is creative, and it's not too big a deal. Welcome aboard. YES

Performance is good, and aside from the mutedness, the production's decent. Nice upgrade to the original DoD entry. Decent medley. Fairly straightforward covers of the MMX tracks, though there is definitely some personalization, and the transitions are generally effective. I'm with DS, this sounds like a crossfade demo for a full MMX arrangement album. Nothing is really developed, and overall it's just here's-one-thing-okay-now-here's-another. That Top Gear mix's transitions were worse, but I thought the overall shape and development worked out. Here, not so much. NO

This worked pretty well as a vocal. Nothing to fault with the arrangement. The synth solo is pretty great. Claps could be pushed back a bit, but I don't mind 'em. Production is very solid, no sour spots. That's all I've got, nice work. YES

Eek, pretty noticeable distortion in the organ in the 1:00-1:06 range. The sounds in general are pretty weak, especially the percussion. Some better sounds and EQing to clear up the cluttered parts would go a long way. Fairly simple arrangement, there could be more variation in both interpretation of the source and the original material. 2:46 was a good start, but the countermelody's just the same brass from before. Climax at 3:26 and the ending take on the name entry tune were nice. You've got a decent start here. Neither the arrangement nor production are bad, but there's room for improvement in both: cleaner and better sounds and more interesting writing. NO

Just for reference, he's talking about the short fanfare that plays after the Dark Cecil/Light Cecil battle. It's ff4-s-04.spc in the SNESmusic set: "The Paladin." It's a reprise of the Red Wings melody, so it's what you're hearing at 2:35. Off-tempo stuff works for me. Strings and piano could definitely use some work, because they really stand out from everything else. The rest is pretty solid. I agree with the meandering criticism; there are some really cool arrangement ideas in this, but it does seem a bit random and unfocused, especially by the end. Everything after 4:31 seems kind of unnecessary. I'd like to see both the instruments fixed and the arrangement tightened up, and taking both of those into consideration, there's too much for me to give a YES. Very promising stuff, I want this back if it doesn't pass. NO (resubmit)

Yeesh, definitely getting the distortion. The loud sections with the drumrolls are really hot. Production is decent otherwise, you got a good sound out of your samples. Liking the arrangement, similar approach to the original obviously, but with more than enough interpretation on the source. But the clipping has to go. YES (conditional)

It's not just 3:00 for the strings, they could definitely use some work in their first appearance as well. The piano/synth section 2:00 is pretty boss. The drums at 3:00 are an issue, could be meatier. Kind of like Anso, I think the harmonies at 3:38 are a little weird, but work, but 3:46 is a bit rough. Arrangement is pretty cool, heavy on original stuff but there's still enough source. This is really close, but I think there's just a little too much to work on with the drums, strings, and odd writing near the end. NO (resubmit)

Fantastic arrangement; the expansive approach was obviously the way to go with this one, and this is packed with unspeakable horrors (in a good way). The second half is pretty different from the first, but I thought the transition was fine and the contrast is great. The percussion in the second half does bother me a little bit, but it's not a major impediment. Job well done. YES

Awesome expansive take on the Hell Marches, still maintains the throat-gripping intensity of the originals. The switching of focus between the guitars and orchestra works really well. The drums could definitely be better, but I'm fine with them here, since they don't kill the mood. Great job, listening to this is like getting a fist in the face. YES

Yeah, I think stopwatching the rests in the melody is a bit excessive. 0:55-1:48, 2:06-2:28, and 3:17-3:39 are all straightforward blocks of source melody. Adding the three blocks with the string pattern would put the count over 50%, even without solo section Vinnie mentioned. Source usage is fine, arrangement and production are sexy, it's all good. YES

Palp said he got used to the snare by the end of the mix; I didn't. The drums really stick out from everything else, I'm feeling zirc's criticism on this one. Dropping them down and adding a little reverb would make a world of difference. I believe the strings have been adequately covered. Don't mind if this conditional passes, but I think there's just a little bit too much work to be done to give it that vote. It's almost there, just a touch more polish and both the production and arrangement will be great. NO (resubmit)

The intro was pretty good, maybe too long because it's a whole minute before the theme comes in, but when it actually does, it's a pretty great moment. Then 2:35 hits, the transition is okay from an arrangement standpoint, but things get weird with the production, as has been mentioned. Definitely too much compression, the guitar in that section should be hitting me in the face, as it's harder to make out than the ambient noodling in the beginning. I was okay with the panning for the most part, some of the instruments are panned a little too far for my liking, but no biggie. My biggest problem was the rhythm guitar panned hard right in 2:55-3:32, that really sticks out, especially since the lead guitar is stuck in the back. The whole section starting at 2:35 could use some rebalancing to make sure the lead comes out and the accompaniment stays in the back. The drumloop kind of works at the break at 3:33, not really too much elsewhere, I would suggest losing it entirely since you've already got other percussion in there. Solid take on the theme from an arrangement standpoint, I like how the piece develops. I wouldn't mind if you tightened it up a little, especially cutting down on the intro length, but if the production were up to snuff, this would be passable. Right now, it's pretty close, but I think there's still more work to be done on it. NO (resubmit)