Game Set Mash!! (GSM2) - Metroid vs. Castlevania

[DarkeSword]

Welcome back to Game Set Mash!!, a team-based, long-form competition format for the OC ReMix community!

Current Status

Game Set Mash!! 2 has come to a close with Team Metroid coming out on top! Congratulations to everyone who participated!

Scores

        | Metroid       | Caslevania    |
Round 1 | 6(sub) 6(won) | 6(sub) 0(won) |
Round 2 | 6(sub) 4(won) | 6(sub) 2(won) |
Round 3 | 6(sub) 3(won) | 6(sub) 3(won) |
--------+---------------+---------------+
Total   | 31            | 23            |

How does the competition work?

• Participating remixers will form 2 teams of at least 3 members each.
• Each team will be assigned a set of 3 games.
• The competition lasts 6-7 weeks, with 10-day mixing rounds alternating with 4-day voting periods.
• At the start of the mixing round, each team will choose and reveal 1 source tune from each of their 3 games.
• Each source will be paired with another source from the opposing team, for a total of 3 pairs.
• Each team will be responsible for writing 3 remixes for the week that combine (or mash) both source tunes in each pair.
• At the end of the mixing round, we'll upload the remixes and have a community vote.
• Voters will vote on the 3 remixes that did the best job of mashing the two source tunes together.
• Teams will accumulate a score based on how many of the community votes they win.
• In the next mixing round, we'll rotate which games get paired up with opposing games.

What are the rules about teams?
I want to make things easy and accessible for people to participate, so there's no maximum on team size, but I will be asking people to do their best to even out the teams once we have all of our participants signed up. Unlike previous competitions I've run, there's no rules about who has to be a primary arranger for a track from week to week. Teams will be free to organize and determine how each of the three remixes gets covered. Using your teammates for collaboration and feedback is highly encouraged.

What are the games we're remixing?

• The Metroid games are: Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Prime.
• The Castlevania games are: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.

This seems like it'll take a long time, when does it start?
I'm aiming to gather interest here on the forums and in our Discord and I'd like to start in November, depending on if we can get some sizable teams. I would love to have around 6-7 people on each team to really get the spirit of collaboration going. I understand that the holiday season gets busy, so depending on interest levels, we could delay until January, but I'd love to get things rolling earlier.

[paradiddlesjosh]

“What is a[n OC ReMixer]? A miserable little pile of [sample libraries]. But enough talk; have at you!”

Team Castlevania represent!

[Thirdkoopa]

team metroid

[colorado weeks]

put me down for team Castlevania!

[Ridley Snipes]

Metroid o7

[pixelseph]

“So… You like to play Castlevania?”

 Team Castlevania!

[The Vodoú Queen]

What a horrible night to have a curse...but fuck it.

Castlevania me up, sir.

[Emunator]

Dammit, fine. I’m in for Team Metroid 

[H36T]

Mmmmmm I'm pretty torn. To participate or not, that is the question. I don't know the music from these games very well.

[The Vodoú Queen]

12 minutes ago, H36T said:

Mmmmmm I'm pretty torn. To participate or not, that is the question. I don't know the music from these games very well.

Just hop on-board. Even if just for the experience. Both has a lot of music that is right up your alley tonally and soundscape-wise, IMHO.

[DarkeSword]

Folks, given my added responsibilities here at OCR along with some feedback about start times from some of you, I'd like to push GSM2 to January. Excited to run this!

[Wassup Thunder]

Play that Samus Appears fanfare and put me on team Metroid!!

[ZackParrish]

Metroid.

Edited January 7 by ZackParrish

[Xaleph]

I'll be on Metroid

[DarkeSword]

We're starting at the end of the month!! Check the first post for details!!

[DarkeSword]

Folks, we are beginning our mixing stage this Friday evening.

• Choose one source from each game in your set, for a total of three sources. As stated before, don't choose the same song multiple times if multiple games share the song.
• When your team has settled on your picks, one person on each team should @darkesword in the team thread on Discord with YouTube links to the sources.
• Source picks are due by Thursday, January 25, at 11:59PM EST.

Make sure you join the OCR Discord! That's where most of the discussion and team coordination is occurring!

[DarkeSword]

Here are our matchups for Round 1!

First up is Super Metroid vs. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse! You're combining

• Brinstar (Red Soil Swampy Area)
• Beginning

Next is Metroid Prime vs. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! You're combining

• Phendrana Drifts
• Lost Painting

Last but not least is Metroid Fusion vs. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow! You're combining

• Sector 4 (AQA)
• Heart of Fire

Your team is responsible for writing three remixes, one for for each match-up. Each remix should aim to combine both tracks into a single, cohesive piece of music. Remember, you're not writing two separate remixes and sticking them end-to-end, but writing a track that captures both sources as a piece of music that stands on its own.

Remixes should be at least 1 minute in length. Every remix you submit is worth 2 points just for submitting, so make sure your team submits all three remixes or you risk falling behind.

[DarkeSword]

Submission Instructions

• Remixes are due by 11:59PM ET on Monday, February 5.
• Remixes should be at least 1 minute long.
• Use the submission form to send me your remix.
• Make sure you submit a 16-bit, 44.1KHz WAV file. I will encode MP3s myself.
• Follow the filename conventions laid out in the form

[DarkeSword]

Voting thread is up! Get the music!

 

[DarkeSword]

Remixes are due in 16-bit, 44.1khz WAV format by the end of this event. Use the provided form to submit your tracks.

Here are our matchups for Round 2!

First up is Super Metroid vs. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow! You're combining

• Maridia (Rocky Underwater Area)
• Purification

Next is Metroid Prime vs. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse! You're combining

• Tallon Overworld Depths
• Overture

Last but not least is Metroid Fusion vs. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! You're combining

• Environmental Mystery
• Marble Gallery

Your team is responsible for writing three remixes, one for for each match-up. Each remix should aim to combine both tracks into a single, cohesive piece of music. Remember, you're not writing two separate remixes and sticking them end-to-end, but writing a track that captures both sources as a piece of music that stands on its own.

Remixes should be at least 1 minute in length. Every remix you submit is worth 2 points just for submitting, so make sure your team submits all three remixes or you risk falling behind.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the sources.

 

[Hemophiliac]

Thoughts on the round 1 entries:

Red Harvest vs. Wir Sind Team Peitsche: This one was really close but in the end it came down to production execution.  Both arrangements were very good and mashed up the sources in very creative ways.  I really liked the last section of Wir Sind Team Peitsche with the group chanting.  That was a great way to bring everyone together onto it.

A couple specific notes on Wir Sind Team Peitsche.  The brass in the first 0:36-0:58 is very "blatty".  Would like to hear more humanization on that section for the orchestral samples. 1:53-2:32, I didn't even notice there was chiptune elements here until multiple listens.

Red Harvest: 0:41-0:50 the melody for Brinstar here is very washed out, like when you turn the wet on reverb all the way up and dry all the way down.  IMO it got very buried here.

Adrift Eternal vs. Back in Cold Blood (Dracula Flow): Difficult to vote for a "joke" track.  When I say that I mean, the track was for laughs rather then to be taken very seriously.

Back in Cold Blood: The production on the background work is pretty clean and stands on it's own pretty well.  I know I mentioned it on voice to you, but changing to the Alucard audio at 3:18 of the way through was a good choice to keep the track moving forward and preventing the Dracula Flow bit from being stale.  Good call on the change.  Some percussive elements ping-ponging left/right are a little disorienting.

Adrift Eternal: This is starting to sound like the modus operandi of Emunator at this point.  I have no idea who contributed what on this.  Electronic cinematic take on both themes seamlessly transitions back and forth between sources.  Very well done.  At 4:23 it's suddenly major for some reason did feel a little odd, but I can understand wanting to change the color at the end of the piece to bring more energy.

The Heart of Atlantis vs. No Castle for Old Belmonts:  This was the toughest call of the 3 pairs.  For me I chose No Castle for Old Belmonts due to how the melody was interpreted, used, and embellished upon.  Both had good production, and it came down to arrangement/usage.

The Heart of Atlantis: The organ echoes of the guitar such as at 2:07 and 2:43 were a little awkward for having close intervals in a low register, makes them get harmonically muddy.

No Castle for Old Belmonts: I don't know why, with the title I was expecting this to be country song-like "Take me home country roads".  The bass is a little muddy, sounds like someone humming doubling the bass in the first ~minute or so.  Not sure if that is a production issue or recording thing.  The guitar playing from 2:57 to the end is fantastic and I absolutely love the embellishment here.  Whip sfx towards the end is fitting and I'm surprised I had not heard it in any of the other tracks at this point.  Production could have been a spoiler on this one, but I preferred the arrangement here.