Dunno if this should go here...but a few questions.

[Redlandsman87]

First of all, let me say I am extremely new to the whole process of "video game remixing", so please excuse any ignorance on my part.

Anyway, I'm sure many of you all have become familiar with many of the "NES remakes" of titles for much more advanced systems that have been appearing as of late, such as the popular Final Fantasy VII downgrade, or the Bioshock downgrade.

If you are not familiar with what I'm speaking of, please watch this video for an example of what I'm talking about -

I am very intrigued by these titles, and quality of them aside, I enjoy them very much. These titles, in a sense, have "inspired" me to try and create one of my own. I have always loved the 8-Bit era, and would like to try my hand at trying to put some of my favorite games into this format, if only for my own amusement. Of course, one of the first plans I wanted to set into motion was getting the music down first, before starting anything else.

Now, some of the games I've envisioned are the ever popular "Golden Sun" titles, which were featured on the GBA and have proven to be some of (if not the) most popular RPG titles on the system.

I don't even know if this qualifies as "remixing"...But, I'm asking you...how exactly could I convert the music of 32-bit games into 8-bit? I had a vague idea of how to do so, but am somewhat musically challenged - and after trying to do this for quite awhile, I am just getting more and more confused.

I have the music for both games ripped (109 tracks in total), but they are in MP3 format. I also downloaded a program called GXSCC, which can, I think, convert MIDI files to 8-Bit using the "Famicom Like Set" setting.

So, after learning this, I looked for places to download MIDI files of the series music...only to find very few tracks are actually available in this format. I downloaded them anyway, and when using the program, I was satisfied with the results..but simply could not find any more tracks.

So, the thought came into my head that maybe I could convert the original MP3 files I had into MIDI files, and the subsequently convert them to the 8-bit format I wanted.

But, after searching for awhile, most (if not all) of the MP3-to-MIDI converters I found required you to pay for them, and while I do not mind doing so, I simply do not have the money as of now.

So here I am. Am I going about this in a completely asinine way? I never really knew where to begin on the music, so I've just kind of been stumbling around. I'm not even sure that if I did somehow convert all the music into 8-Bit if it could be used in the actual game I'm planning to create... I want to make it so I could play it on an actual NES system, bleh. Would that require more conversion to get the music right, etc?

I'm completely befuddled and lost - I'm fine with everything else such as programming and whatnot, but it's the music that is getting to me. Can someone possibly help me...or is this a lost cause?

[Fishy]

Mp3 to MIDI doesn't work yet, you will get crappy results even from the most expensive of those crappy applications. Maybe if they were one line monophonic tunes but anything more and it'll die. Likewise, MIDI to 8-bit sounds dubious aswell.

You're better off finding somone who is good with a tracker to make the .nsf chiptunes for you, I know there are a few around here. You might want a put a request in the request forum for someone to convert the OST into nsf format. I wouldn't bother until you have some screenshots of the game though or evidence that your remake is going well, most people aren't going to put in the time and effort unless they know the game project isn't going to die.

[Redlandsman87]

Thanks very much for the help. Though I do not at the moment have any screen shots or evidence available as of now, (there are still many games I am considering - the Golden Sun titles, while still a candidate, were basically used as an example, per se, to illustrate my problems with the music.) I will make sure to post any results I have come up with if I get work done on some games.

Once again, thanks for the help, and I'll keep your suggestions in mind when/if the time comes.