DragonAvenger Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 wo1fwood Nikolas Allen nikolas.jeleniauskas@gmail.com www.jelenasmusic.com Submission Information Game Title: Battletoads Title of Song: 2.1 mJ Boot Pieces Referenced: Rat Race Other Info: Developed by Rare, published by Tradewest in 1991 on the NES, Composer David Wise (couldn't find any additional composers) Here are the tracks for Battletoads in order of levels as they progress in the game. I've attached the nsf file as well. Title Theme Ragnarok's Canyon Boss Battle Stage Clear Cut Scenes Wookie Hole Turbo Tunnel Parts 1 + 2 Game Over Arctic Cavern Surf City Karnath's Lair Volkmire's Inferno Parts 1 + 2 Intruder Excluder Terra Tubes Rat Race Clinger Winger The Revolution The Armageddon (not used in the actual game) Notes on the Piece: Well I should first mention that this is my first remix ever, and was a fairly strange and unfamiliar task for me as I come from a contemporary classical background. I've had so much fun browsing ocremix for over a year or two now, and I felt that maybe it was time that I attempted one myself. The difficult part was adapting my own stylistic choices to fit a more popular idiom, but surprisingly I think what resulted works fairly well. The title is a obfuscated reference to the fact that you are kicking a stick of dynamite in order to advance during the stage, and 2.1 mJ is the approximate energy value in one stick. In writing the piece I started with the middle as I wanted something that resembled a strong pulsating section (using the main bass line), then worked backwards, and then jumped into sections 3 + 4, and got very, very stuck in the fourth. The opening was really constructed out of the perceptual idea that you were in the position of the protagonists and slowly approaching the Rat Race, hearing the preamble to the raucous that would proceed soon afterwards. The last part, well, I'll say the end was a funny realization that the theme worked really well in that instrumentation, so I wanted to use it somehow, but had to still manage the overall electronic ideas going around and balance them accordingly. It wasn't the easiest of times to try to figure out these ideas, but it took a good month to figure out how to proceed out of what I thought was an overall solid idea, and into finishing it properly. So periodic work within 3-4 months, and I finally finished it, and I think it turned out ok. There are some conceptual issues that I think might hinder it, or perhaps get in the way of normal production values, but blame that on my general predilection for complexity. Anyway I hope you enjoy this as much as I had playing around with it! ------------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Pretty ambient opening, and though the source is eventually apparent, I feel that the arrangement itself has a lot of fat that could be trimmed, and overall lacks energy. Part of the issue is there is no moment where the feeling that the song had arrived completely. Conceptually, the arrangement works, and the intent is pretty well telegraphed. The section where the tonality veers off course and then crashes is cute, but I feel the buildup takes too long to get there, and it's not exciting enough to get to that point. I think overall trimming the arrangement down and making the song itself more exciting would be what needs to happen to get my vote. No Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 This one is pretty tough for me, because in a way I agree with Andrew, but at the same time it's still a good track. To me it feels like everything is behind a filter up until 2:58, and I'm expecting it to open up then, and it does...but somewhat disappointingly. As it is, that is a pretty long buildup, so I agree with Andrew that you could trim some of the fat. I like what's going on here a lot, but it just needs some adjustments. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halc Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 I loved the intro, but I agree that it could be condensed without losing any of the effect, and the eventual 'drop' didn't quite pay off the way it should. things also start getting pretty cluttered in the second half. pretty weird stuff overall, but I kinda like it. give this another look to see what else you can make of it, because it definitely has some potential, but as it stands, I've gotta go with a NO(resub) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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