ReMix:Gunstar Heroes "Rolling Gun Changer" 3:56

By Malcos

Arranging the music of one song...

"2 Stage"

Primary Game: Gunstar Heroes (Sega , 1993, GEN), music by Norio Hanzawa

Posted 2013-09-09, evaluated by djpretzel


Rolling right along, we've got none other than Malcos, the proud contributor of OCR's sole Gunstar Heroes ReMix prior to the advent of this album! Here he revisits the same source he arranged way back in 2002 (yes, we've been around that long!), with updated skills and a (fittingly) more aggressive, explosive & electronic approach:

"Gunstar Heroes is definitely one of my favourite games from the Mega Drive. The replayability value made it very addictive - there was so much choice in that game, something quite ahead of its time. The sound design, the animation and the soundtrack make it very memorable - whole days were wasted playing this game.

The "Rolling Chaser" track is used a few times in the game. I remember during the board game stage being transported to this room with a wobbling amoeba in it - it seemed to be wobbling in time with the track. I've covered this track once before (more than a decade ago!) and so I had a second opportunity to interpret it. I wanted to make this remix energetic, but I also wanted it to have a slight quirkiness to it, as well as a touch of abrasiveness."

Mission accomplished; more than a decade after his first take on it, Stephen's only gotten better. It's brilliant to see him contribute to this album, I like that he's taking another shot at the same source, and - as with so many gamers & mixers you'll hear talking about the game - he clearly loves him some Gunstar Heroes! Treasure really had a way of instilling absolute devotion in their fans, and I think a lot of that was an unrelenting focus on gameplay & mechanics, combined with polished art & fantastic music. Pretty successful formula, and you'd think it would be more intuitive/obvious ;) This mix starts off strong & hits hard for the majority of its 3'55", but Malcos does take the time to slow things down a bit for a breather @ 1'34", in an almost dubstep-without-being-dubstep style transition. This gives the arrangement a lot more structure & allows for the expansive runtime relative to the source. Excellent stuff from Malcos, who shows off a different side of his sound that works really well with the source material!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 7 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Fureddi
on 2013-09-17 14:36:07
Not following what you mean about staples of 8/16 bit. What I'm getting at is that the source material is about a minute and a half long, but this mix (and its predacessor) focuses on the first 14 seconds of that source material. Additionally, that 14 seconds is really just 3 or so seconds repeated four times. The rest of the song has great melodies, but they have little focus in this mix. I'm a big fan of those melodies, which is why I do not personally enjoy this mix's approach.

This mix is definitely a huge production improvement over his old one, So the remixer deserves mad props for that. It just retains the aforementioned approach that personally turns me off to it.

Ok, basically, I was stating that back in the era of gaming GSH is from due to equipment limitations and other reasons most tracks were probably just 15~20 seconds of stuff before it was looped over anyway, but, having reflected on it, and re-listened to other tracks from a variety of sources I think I was barking partially up the wrong tree.

Personally, I think Malcos has done pretty amazingly with what source there is with this track, but, bare in mind it's probably been 14~16 years since I played GSH (which was when I was like 8) and so my memory probably can't remember the original... so I may have to do a YouTube hunt and get back to you again.

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Crulex
on 2013-09-16 10:47:33

I can really dig the grinding undertones of this ReMix while keeping the spirit of the source alive. Sounds like something you would expect from an action filled level anyway, so it works for me. Not bad.

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Nick The Newbie
on 2013-09-11 23:46:32

Not following what you mean about staples of 8/16 bit. What I'm getting at is that the source material is about a minute and a half long, but this mix (and its predacessor) focuses on the first 14 seconds of that source material. Additionally, that 14 seconds is really just 3 or so seconds repeated four times. The rest of the song has great melodies, but they have little focus in this mix. I'm a big fan of those melodies, which is why I do not personally enjoy this mix's approach.

This mix is definitely a huge production improvement over his old one, So the remixer deserves mad props for that. It just retains the aforementioned approach that personally turns me off to it.

avatar
Fureddi
on 2013-09-11 06:16:49

Nick, I disagree. It's sometimes hard to go back to an old remix and have another crack, hence why it's very rarely done. And forgive me if I'm wrong, you've just listed everything that's rather staple in most VGM I've heard, particularly of the 8/16 bit eras?

That aside, my thoughts on Malcos' 2nd take. It's better than the first in terms of technical skill. Personally I like both equally because they offer two sides of the coin. The original is more of a relaxing jaunt done in a more cautious style, whilst the new mix fits in with the overall theme of "Be Aggressive" because it's pretty much the polar opposite of the original. Props to the mixer for both.

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Nick The Newbie
on 2013-09-09 15:54:40

Very well produced, but repeats the same mistake of remixer's original arrangement that he made some ten years ago. Too much focus is placed on the source material's 14 second intro section, repeating it over and over again, while the actual melody of the source material is left neglected.

Edit: Sorry, "mistake" is an objective term that I'm incorrectly using for a personal opinion. Replace that "aspect that I did not personally enjoy".

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timaeus222
on 2013-09-09 14:17:58

I was kinda thrown off with the very wide drums, but other than that, definitely a great revisit to this source and an awesome ReMix!

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djpretzel
on 2013-09-09 13:10:09

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Gunstar Heroes (Sega , 1993, GEN)
Music by Norio Hanzawa
Songs:
"2 Stage"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Mood:
Aggressive
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Synth
Additional:
Time > Tempo: Fast

File Information


Name:
Gunstar_Heroes_Rolling_Gun_Changer_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,093,546 bytes
MD5:
6462e4f27f5e802a5fb60d8f07d8a80f
Bitrate:
237Kbps
Duration:
3:56

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