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OCR01302 - Bionic Commando (NES) "Advance with Caution"


djpretzel
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The Nice Work Guy? Cheesy, djp, cheesy. :nicework:

However, this mix is everything but cheesy. Star does what he does best, which is make music (unless, of course, he has a kick ass recipe for key lime pie). We have some hard hitting orchestral work here, which catches you straight off the bat with a tight snare and some bad ass sounding samples. As the mix progresses, things only get better, as Star really shows off his knowledge (another thing he does quite often ;)) of orchestration. This mix is nothing short of beautiful. Great work, Salzman.

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Bionic Comando was, is, and forever will be my favorite game of all times. Stars intrupritaion of the theam was nothing short of a dream to me untill now. This is a beutiful peice. Thank you...

Ok, I'm done gushing. This was pretty dang good. Not much I can critisize on. However, I am a totaly bias reviewer, so I hope sobody that dose not have a total Bionic Comando adition will reveiw this song... :roll:

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Another great Salzman work. I must say this song is truly excellent in all respects, superior to what every other remixer has to offer as usual.

Now for some negatives...The only thing I can say is star stuck too close to the original and didn't go for any of the really creative stuff. Oh, that and this song has been remixed 1000x before; someone really needs to do the last level music, and add some Pi Pi Pi magic to it.

All in all, a ridiculously good remix when compared to everyone else, an average Star quality remix however.

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Another great Salzman work. I must say this song is truly excellent in all respects, superior to what every other remixer has to offer as usual.

Now for some negatives...The only thing I can say is star stuck too close to the original and didn't go for any of the really creative stuff. Oh, that and this song has been remixed 1000x before; someone really needs to do the last level music, and add some Pi Pi Pi magic to it.

All in all, a ridiculously good remix when compared to everyone else, an average Star quality remix however.

Funny how Magi_tekk's sig is hosted on starblast.org..

/me Waits for the sig in question to change..

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Damn, LOVE the mood that military snare sets...it seems familiar, somehow, nostalgic...though I never played the game as a kid. Good mix overall, wonderfully executed, but I wish it were a little more dynamic (for example, the break at 2:35 felt overdue by the time it arrived and was a little short-lived). The last minute and a half doesn't introduce anything new or exciting, causing the song to just sorta fizzle out.

I really enjoy the first 1:32 of the song (9/10), but from then on I'm just not feelin' it (6/10).

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Better works: Super Street Fighter 2 - Fei Longer Theme (or Fei Long's Theme in original :roll: ). And Ducktales - Duck Blur.

Good beats in beginning. The bells are weak but satisfactory. The orchestra has a good arrangement. I liked the diversified melody. The end is similar to beginning. Repetitions are absent. Nice title, combines with this material. "In War, advance with caution!" :)

Nice work, Mr. Salzman!

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Another great Salzman work. I must say this song is truly excellent in all respects, superior to what every other remixer has to offer as usual.

um, I wouldn't quite go that far...

This is, however, a great mix. The instrumental parts are arranged excellently - the percussion, though a bit repetitive, works especially well in keeping the energy level very high throughout the mix. Though the mixing seems to favor the strings (especially around 1:14) and drown out the brass.

My only major gripe with this is the overall arrangement sticks pretty conservatively to the originals - the first theme is played and built upon a bit, then the next is built upon a little bit more, and then the mix trails off and ends. I would've liked a little more thought to be put into the structure.

Still, that doesn't diminish the fact that this is a very good mix. Gux also made a good mix of the first theme that you can find at vgmix (though I don't remember him submitting it here), if anyone is curious:

http://www.vgmix.com/song_view.php?song_id=289

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You know, in all honesty I was hoping this would be one of the game's deeper themes (like mission 2/3 or mission 5/6 themes). However, when I heard this remix it gave me a reason to enjoy the first mission's theme.

Great mix, and great emotion put into it. It's not often I get to hear a remix I like that you can also tell had a lot of emotion put in aswell. Keep up the good work, and hope to hear more bionic commando themes, or any others, soon.

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Solid fanfare. Do I hear a little NES chipset bit playing behind the marching band at 1:15? Tee hee!

I like how Star uses a xylophone without making it sounds stupid/cheesy. That can be... difficult. For reference, it starts at 2:06 or so and even manages to sound epic at the climax, 3:05.

GREAT anticlimax at 3:19. I think it could have ended here a little better than it does with the actual ending. Ah well, just an opinion :)

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This one was sorta medicore to me, but it's still good. The begining few seconds reminds me of a music track from the movie Preditor and when the 1st level theme starts up, it sounds alot like the opening song for Yu-Gi-Oh! which brings alot of nostilga in more ways than Star Salzman meant to (or did he?).

Pretty good. Now I'm wondering if his next mix will feature Lyrics or not.

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  • 1 month later...

Definitely a nicely done remix. Definitely one to enjoy. I couldn't even remember what the original sounded like from so many years back, but this brings it all back to me.

I think my gripe is the same as DJP's. Apparently he identified the over-synthesized buzz sound as "brass", I would definitely second a version with a nicer sound for that as it doesn't fit at all with the other instruments used. In fact it's so obviously out of place, I can only assume that Star meant to do that to remind us how 8-bit this stuff sounded back on the NES.

You know that equalizer thing that Winamp and some higher end stereos have where you can make the music sound like it's in different environments (e.g. music hall, outdoor, small room, etc.)? I can definitely tell it has one of those applied, and it's kinda neat since it sets this piece apart from most all the music posted which sounds very direct. But on the other hand it seemed a bit much. Not sure how much control Star has on this, but I'd keep a little of that effect, but tone it down some.

Oh, and go listen to DJP's remix of this same song. I'm not sure "reinterpretation" expresses the degree of difference in quality of the two pieces. :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

You know, the one thing I really love about this remix is it does everything a remix is supposed to do IMHO. It nails the original dead on so there's no mistaking it, and then it runs with the original tune into a direction completely of its own, playing off of the original, while still being different.

Bravo.

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  • 5 months later...

Excellent work. I absolutely loved this mix. Made me remember the game, while making the track entirely unique. Nice work.

One of the things I liked most about this track was that, whether intentional or not, it was orchestral without being photorealistic orchestral. Therefore, it kept some of Star's trademark electronic style even while going into the orchestra to produce kind of a Final Fantasy 7-ish electro-orchestra sound.

Loved it.

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  • 6 months later...

Bionic Commando!!! Yes. Just yes. If you've played BC, then you know why. If you haven't, you need to. Bionic Commando is one of the great platforming pioneers, and it deserves more recognition than it gets in today's gaming climes. Mr. Salzman's taken on quite a project here, as the music to BC is definitely a thing of beauty.

Breakdown:

0:00 - Nice military-style drum opening.

0:22 - Main melody. The tone of it here comes out sounding very Metal Gear Solid-esque, very cinematic.

1:14 - Nice staccato (I think that's the right term) on the drums--comes out almost like the ending to an action movie.

1:52 - Back with the drums. Now it sounds rather like a James Bond theme.

2:36 - A temporary pull-back from all the military sound to give you room to breathe.

2:50 - Back to the military drums.

3:20 - Another pull-back.

3:37 - And back to the military drums for our ending.

I don't have to tell you Star's work is consistently impressive, and this mix is certainly no exception. If you're of a mood to feel like you've just shot down the bad guy's helicopter in some big-budget action movie, this is for you. However, as much as I love Bionic Commando and Star's stuff, the loud, bombastic nature of it really isn't my thing. On an artsy level, it rocks, but personally...meh.

My iTunes rating: ***/*****

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  • 9 months later...
  • 1 year later...

How much more heroic can u get? Just like DJP says, Bionic Commando really didn't get it's chance in the spotlight, although the old Gameboy sequel was an awesome addition. Anyways, I loved this mix, it totally conveys the adventure and military style that the game was all about. Great great stuff! Thanks for bringing back some great memories!

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I thought I'd revisit this mix seeings as Capcom is revisiting Bionic Commando (and a slew of other franchises) of late with remakes and sequel/reboots.

I love Salzman's bombastic approach here and the old-school military march sound that really keeps a building energy as it proceeds. High production all round, but then, I'm even a fan of djpretzel's Bionic Commando mix, which has had its production disheveled by time. This is big, badass and bold, and a personal favourite from the site.

By the way, did I hear a blatant cue reference to John Williams' Duel of the Fates in there?

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  • 5 weeks later...

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