ReMix:Mischief Makers "The Floor Is Lava" 4:25

Some of you are gonna wanna punch me in the face...

Treasure music legend Norio Hanzawa is most known around these parts for his scores to Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy, but boy, I'd never heard of Mischief Makers at ALL until recently. :-O Am I a real VGM fan? Maybe not given this knowledge gap, but PLEASE DON'T HIT, I'm learning! :-( I recently saw Sega's Bethany Maddock tweet at WWE Superstar (and long-time friend of the site) Austin "Xavier Woods" Creed, about the game turning 26 years old on June 27th, so we certainly have the perfect arrangement to celebrate. Newcomer Biggoron (Logan Tucker) debuts with a sprited sound upgrade for a pair of Mischief Makers themes that you should check out whether or not you know this from the N64 days!

""SHAKE SHAKE!"

I leaned heavily into an industrial vibe which gives way to a full-blown 90s house vibe. The source material is so catchy and was stuck in my head for weeks after recording. Most instruments were played live on keyboard."

This piece scored silver in last June's DoD compo in a pretty stacked field, but why would anyone like it if it's not from one of the most mega-popular games??? Could it have something to do with how attention grabbing the groove of "Volcanic" is? Judge prophetik music knows what's up, as he got hooked right in, even while keeping his critic's hat on:

"wow, talk about variety in originals. volcanic has some really dope concepts in it.

love the fat intro sound. i wouldn't mind some compression and volumization on the band sound, but it's a fun sound. the initial lead with the volcanic melody is a bit hard to hear, but is a neat synth choice. the transition between sections is honestly kind of weird, but so's the original, so i get it. this first section through about 0:42 is then repeated with what sounds like little to no change, which is not great. there's a B section that meanders a bit at 1:22, and then we get to a poppy vibe at about 1:42 that's honestly head-bobbing. the hat in the right ear is a bit loud, but this is a great section and i really liked it.

there's a bit of a drop/break at 2:19, and a time change into a faster tempo, complete with flourishes in the keys and big drop before the band comes back in with the opening title material. the remixer wisely doesn't sit on this a lot, but puts another drop to allow it to build to the end rush. the solo at about 3:30 is great and thematically appropriate. from 4:00 out we've got a big blow to the end, and a simple but effective ending.

i was honestly on the fence initially about this simply because the beginning is not volumized super well. however, the second half absolutely changed my mind. this fits very well in the style you chose and the stuff you've added in make for a great, enjoyable experience overall. excellent work."

This sounds like a pure cover to start, but when you side-by-side it with "Volcanic", you hear how the supporting instrumentation writing's not copied over, so that's where the personalization comes from. The first half's stronger on production and less on the arrangement, then the second half beefing up "Opening Title" is stronger on arrangement and less on the production (mainly because of that flimsy clap). Even in light of some critiques from the panel, this has "official arrange album" vibes all over it!

Given Biggoron's namesake, he may have designs on some future Zelda material, but check out his websites to enjoy Logan's other great material, including a Mario Kart 64 "Toad's Turnpike" arrangement that would also sound awesome on the OCR front page as well. I enjoy receiving coverage of underrepresented games the most, because the world of VGM has so many underappreciated gems, so a big thank you to Biggoron for bringing his brand of mischief over to OCR. :-) Welcome aboard!