ReMix:Street Fighter II: The World Warrior "Retro Russian" 2:53

By MkVaff

Arranging the music of one song...

"Zangief (U.S.S.R.)"

Primary Game: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Capcom , 1992, ARC), music by Isao Abe, Yoko Shimomura

Posted 2001-11-22, evaluated by djpretzel


I've heard rumors of people that kick absolute ass with that beefiest of Russians, the 'Gief from SF2. I've never been able to do much myself, perhaps because I could never get the knack of doing a full 360 degree rotation on a joypad/stick without having the bastard look like he was trying to do ballet. But nevermind. McVaffe continues an excellent run on the Street Fighter II musical legacy with his latest Zangief submission, which uses retro beatbox sounds and vintage synth textures to connote that old-world slavic steelworks feel quite adeptly. Sometimes one feels McVaffe could write his ReMixes on autopilot and have them sound decent, but we know he's paying extra attention here with the nice triplets he incorporates in the lead melody, and with a nice stereo image achieved through some panning / cross-delay. Smooth, classic, analog, and Russian in a way that Karnov only aspires to be. Zangief is all of those things . . . err . . . and so is this ReMix. Here's to one of the ReMixers that definitely helped this site reach a million hits with consistent skillz. Just talkin' bout McV. We can dig it.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2024-01-11 14:18:02

Love that baseline and the smoother, more focused attention to Zangief's theme here. Could nitpick certain things, and in particular I wasn't into the "claps", but overall for the time, it delivered on the retro idea and was enjoyable enough. Not bad.

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Bahamut
on 2009-10-03 23:39:02

This is a nice take - but like many mixes from back then, there's a lot more that could've been done with the source material.

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DragonAvenger
on 2008-12-06 22:20:53

I like the mix, everything is subtle. The thing that bothers me the most is that the mix lacks energy. I feel like it should be a little more upbeat than what it is, but that could be personal preference.

Love the bassline, and the panning works quite well, and the wah effect on some of the melodic lines. Instrument choice is good, though the claps get a little annoying after a while. Nice work.

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OA
on 2006-12-27 15:27:39

A somewhat bouncy mix, it has a much more retro feel than a Russian one, though that's certainly the issue of the source tune. Everything is well sequenced and mixed here, but for some reason it seems just kindof generic to me. The chorus is nice, and there is some subtle panning, but even after about 5 repeats, it left me just kindof meh. Personal preference I suppose.

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Txai
on 2005-01-24 08:13:46
"Retro Russian" was the only one I felt was a quality mix.

Oh, Yes! Is the best remix from Street Fighter in OCR. Club Del Toro is another of high quality. This work from McVaffe is very good. Cool beats. Nice arrangement! Wow! RETROOOOOORUSSIAAAAAAN! :)

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Cheeszeman_
on 2004-10-04 03:27:04

heh i really liked this right when i got it... hell i still really like it now! but the thing that seems kinda weird is when the drums come in... imean it has synth in the beginning, and then on the down beat the drums come... if you clap ur hands to the beat from 1 second to 30 seconds in, you'll probably stumble

this really bugged me when i first got it, but now i've grown to like it! (sry McVaffe, im a picky drummer...)

another wicked part in the song is the part with the held synth somewhere around 1.24, 1.30... it really sounds like something is coming from far to near, its really cool!

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Ryudo_of_Destiny
on 2003-07-31 12:36:56

Ah, Zangief our favorite Wrestling Russian. I could only imagine if this was the music they played in the video game. This song is cool.

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MB
on 2002-10-09 15:54:59

i really liked this one... but i felt it was kinda short.

maybe i just got so into it, that i lost track of time?

ah, who knows?

you know what i think would be cool?

i wanna hear Mickey V do a remix of the Guile stage (that one was always my favorite).

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Weirdboyscott
on 2002-09-21 19:44:11

This song uses some cool effects I must say, when I was downloading it I couldn't remember the Zangeif level tune at all, but once I started listenint to it, I remembered right away. Now, about those nifty effects, the one thats the coolest is when this one sweet sounding tune just seems to jump out at you, yeah, you know what Im talking about.

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Xtreame1
on 2002-08-07 21:54:05

Great Mix McVaffe. Now when we gonna see some Alpha 3 (AKA Zero 3) Remixs?

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skawttieboy
on 2002-06-22 18:42:28

smooth with a nice beat...just an overall great mix. What will McVaffe amaze us with next? :)

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Liontamer
on 2002-06-12 07:21:41

I don't mean to knock on the other Street Fighter 2 tracks or the remixers, including McVaffe, but out of the nine SF2 mixes up on OCR, "Retro Russian" was the only one I felt was a quality mix. This mix stays very true to the original theme (while I felt most of the other SF2 mixes strayed WAY too far the original music by trying to incorporate too many additional elements), yet the musical elements in "Retro Russian" clearly distinguish the ReMix from Zangief's old school theme simply with a great new sound.

With the way the Capcom series of fighting games now use professional sounding music, "Retro Russian" easily fits in, and I think that says a lot about how well McVaffe kept the theme intact and along the same tempo of the original while still putting his unique touch on it. Other people will of course like this mix (as well as the other SF2 ReMixes) for other reasons, but I think most of us will fully agree when I say DL this one now, people.

-LT

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Ginnsu
on 2002-05-24 04:18:13

Street Fighter II 'Retro Russian'

Yet another excellent McVaffe Street Fighter remix, they just keep on coming, and I keep on loving them. The synth in this mix seems to be more the fore front then the previous stuff I’ve heard, and what a nice change it is, but I think I prefer more realistic sounding instruments as the lead. Regardless, an excellent piece here by McVaffe.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Capcom , 1992, ARC)
Music by Isao Abe,Yoko Shimomura
Songs:
"Zangief (U.S.S.R.)"

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File Information


Name:
Street_Fighter_2_Retro_Russian_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,245,746 bytes
MD5:
7314fb82fafc25677c7327731e7886f9
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
2:53

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