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OCR00680 - Castlevania II "DownTown"


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Castlevania II 'DownTown'

A nicely done piece hear from Castlevania 2. For me, the highlight of this one has got to be the drums. Accompanying those drums, I must say, I was really expecting guitars. But the instruments used to produce an interesting sound. There is nothing flashy here, just an all round nice piece of easy to listen to music. Nice work Vic Viper.

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I disagree. I found that some of the music work was good, but not all of it. Too similar to the original work...

The parts that go into a funky style are a true remixing.

The best part is the beginning drums. Good echo, and crystal clear. It gets the mood of the music set up very well. But as the music progressed, it became mundane. No offence, Vic, but I'd like to see a better remix than this.

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I enjoyed it. Wasn't my favorite Castlevania mix, but it was decent.

The beginning thunder didn't really fit too much with the rest of the song though. Cause we've got a creepy chorused version of the password music, and then it busts into like an 80's drumbeat with a bouncy synth. The two didn't quite mesh well. And if a different lead was used, it would've been much nicer. As it was in the middle, it sounded sort of midi-ish... and not too much added or mixed. But I liked the sort of bouncy feel that led into it. The town music has always been an interesting piece of work that so much can be done with.

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I really have to give Vic two thumbs up after hearing this remix. In response to the other reviews, I honestly can not understand why someone would want such a great peice of work to be changed so significantly. If you stray to far from the original then you are ruining the beauty of the music. Keep up the good work Mr.Viper!

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I like this mix, kinda laid back with a nice beat to it. I love how they included the "Password theme" in the beginning. I can remember being 6 years old again, and wanting to play that game but couldn't because I was afraid of the password or start music, so I'd have to mute the televison to play the game...haha, fun times! :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

I enjoyed this remix for exactly what it was. I loved the original song, and it was great to hear a rendition with real sound, rather than the clunky 8 bit Nintendo samples. If a remixer chooses to translate rather than remix that's fine by me, as long as he does justice to the original. I feel that Vic Viper did a great job glorifying an excellent song.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I honestly can say that I don't enjoy this - mainly because I love this theme so much that I think it deserves the best remix ever...and that's a little bit too much to expect from a newcomer.

Anyway, as said before, the dark password music doesn't really fit with the happy techno that dominates the rest of the piece. I also don't like the bassline...something sounded a little off, and everything sounded a bit bleepy bloopy techno-y for me. Finally, as DJP says, the reverb is kind of weird, and imo the samples aren't great and there's not a whole lot of elaboration anywhere.

Still, despite all my gripes, I think it's good enough to warrant a listen to see if you like it. Some people do, but I don't get into this sort of thing...

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  • 1 year later...

The opening clip is directly from the game, I thought.

Anyway, this is well-arranged, but has very little variation. The choice of instruments could be better (I mean the lead was a simple midi square wave it sounds like). The general introduction was a bit long, but the drums sort of made up for it. Overall, as several other people said, this is more or less average. It has a few good points (like said drums), but those are negated by the bad points (little variation), bringing it to average.

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I like the funk.

Overall, this was a great arrangement that could have stood to be in a better voice with better samples, but he was working with what he had. I would love to see this song get upgraded oneday, because it is a rockin beat with a great melody. I think it might be near the line of sounding too MIDIish, but i'm glad it got posted anyway.

Awesome attention to the drumline though, many a remixer could learn from the example.

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  • 4 months later...
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I thought the idea behind using the "unfitting" password music at the beginning was to immediately put the listener into Castlevania mode by drawing on that piece's ability to really evoke memories of the first time you loaded up CV2, and then sort of shock you out of it with the beat, eventually bringing you back with a fairly unchanged rendition of a beloved theme.

I'm not really a fan at all of mixes that deviate extremely from the original, ones that if you heard them on the radio you wouldn't even know they came from one of your favorite games, so this is right up my alley. In fact, I only registered so I could let Vic Viper know that I've literally been listening to this mp3 for years and consider it to be one of the finest versions of one of the best songs from my favorite game series. It seems sorely underappreciated here. Thanks man, and move your ass on making some more music! :D

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  • 2 years later...

Very midi sounding, but the arrangement is creative and pretty jammin. The source is fantastic and that helps this a lot.

The intro is kind of strange with the in-game music and the high-fi storm music, and then the pretty upbeat sounding synth throwdown. I don't really follow I don't think. It sets up a darker atmosphere, and then goes into dance funk mode for the rest of the song.

Samples are weak, but it's a fun track and worth a listen.

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  • 1 year later...

When I consider this mix's title and its 4-iteration structure, my thoughts irrevocably turn to the Hoedown from Whose Line is it Anyway. Each actor sings some funny-cuz-it's-true observation about CV2 (Dracula's parts, the blocky day/night transitions, whatever), and the "all together now" chorus from the source functions like the one from the Irish Drinking Song. Colin gets the mellow-starting third iteration at 2:00 and Ryan wraps it up at 2:26 with a show-stopping ROFL rhyme.

What a fun night to have a Hoedown.

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  • 2 months later...

The source tune makes this otherwise boring mix tolerable and actually pretty enjoyable to listen to. I think it's a terrible waste that there isn't much elaboration to stimulate me besides the source melody, but eh, what can you do?

The brief shift to piano (although a weak sample) was really welcome and adds probably the mix's only memorable moment for me. And that's not exactly a bold creative move either.

As a remake of a super-strong game tune, this is a guilty pleasure. It's an unapologetic run-through of the theme four or five times in succession with varied samples and a drum beat. Am I in love with this mix? No, I am not. Do I listen to it anyway? Yes, I certainly do.

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  • Liontamer changed the title to OCR00680 - Castlevania II "DownTown"

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