ReMix:Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future "Raging Ranman" 4:08

BlackPanther (Rashad Hill) earns my "Awesome Person of the Week" award for giving us another Third Strike ReMix!! I play this game often... and I'm terrible at it. To make matters worse, I play on PSN under my legit ReMixer name, "djpretzel," so plenty of SRK peoples probably think I'm an imbecile & dismiss everything I say or do online as poppycock, given my scrubby flowchart Ken that rarely parries. And yet... so much fun! And a brilliant, absolutely iconic soundtrack - one of the best fighting OSTs ever, and ALSO one of the hardest to mix. SF3:TS is the uber-rare example of game that shot for a "hip, urban soundtrack" and somehow, miraculously, against all odds, did it RIGHT. Usually those are marketing terms that end up materializing in shallow attempts at cultural relevance, or just soundtracks where they added breakbeats and record-scratching samples and called it a day, but with Third Strike, the aesthetic was uniform, thoughtful, well-executed, and formed an integral part of the game's ATTITUDE. A landmark VGM occurrence... and perhaps ultimately an anomaly, but a beautiful one. A Tale of Two Akumas, Rashad mixes in some SFA to comply with the SF compo rules:

"Alright, giving you the breakdown first:

• 0:00 - 0:30 Influenced by Rob Dougans Furious Angels with some wind and a light flute playing in the background
• 0:30 - 0:46 Introduced by Akuma himself, beat and funky bass comes in and plays for the duration of this section
• 0:46 - 1:02 Akuma yells, then more is added to the beat, now there's an organ loop playing in the background
• slightly modified and the bass gets a little more colorful and ends with a "combo" fill all liberal for the most part
• 1:02 - 1:33 This section is where killing moon comes in. The bass is still liberal, but that lead instrument is what's playing the main flute in the source tune, the strings are also playing the strings in the source. This section is stretched out and broken up with some bass sections doing it's thing, compared with the source that plays at a much faster tempo and shorter melody length-wise
• 1:33 - 1:41 This section gets into Akuma's Street Fighter Alpha theme and this part specifically is playing the part towards the end before it loops
• 1:41 - 3:00 This whole section is rather conservative with some variations to the melody and rhythms and this section actually was Sakura's theme from SFA but I decided to take it out and extend this section. A little, breakdown section at the end before it goes into the next section
• 3:00 - 3:30 Back into killing moon, this section resembles the the source at 1:25, with slight variations, but conservative overall.
• 3:30 - End Repeat hook section and end song with Akuma speaking at the end

Comments:

Whooo! Had a lot of fun making this track, this is probably one of my personal favorites too. This track was birthed during the Street Fighter remix competition and I was pitted against Jewbei. To be honest, I was actually surprised that I lost, though I knew it could have went either way but maybe it was just my bias of hearing so much 4 on the floor lol. But I digress; I knew I wanted to make a mean, aggressive track for the Akuma theme and so I decided to look back on some of tefnek's tracks which was a big influence for this piece (gosh I miss that dude!) and just taking bits and pieces from other places and this is what emerged. Also, I decided to take out Sakuras part as I had some complaints about it being off key and too happy and so I added Akuma's theme from Street Fighter Alpha and extended this section. I didn't know what to do with it at first but in the end, I'm happy with it. Anyways hope you guys enjoy!"

Thick bass, meaty beats, seamless blending of themes, and dem ingame samples for a retro-vibe make this a crowd-pleaser & fitting tribute to Gouki. TBH, playing online, I'd say about 60-70% of Akuma players are even worse than I am, and he's definitely the primary whose players are most prone to rage-quitting, which I suppose makes the mix title (and his signature move) all the more appropriate :) The other percentage who know what they're doing, though? Legit scary. Judges were unanimous; Palpable writes:

"What a funky groove. Love how even just stripped down to bass and drums, this is super groovy. The other stuff you added on top only further complements. And how sweet are the punching FX in that one transition - jealous I didn't think of that!"

Old-school without seeming dated or stale, creative arrangement, and tasteful sample usage all add up for a fun & funk treat for SF fans, Akuma fans, & fans of sweet beats and plentiful groove. Grats & kudos to Rashad for an awesome mix!