ReMix:Mario Kart 64 "Troppe Houseland" 3:06

Happy Mar10 Day! No matter the generation of gamers, nearly all of them have formative years with titles from the various Mario series. Around this time last year, for the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, we celebrated with our Mario Month event, where we had tons of those games represented with 15 OC ReMixes. Not found in the lineup though was Mario Kart 64, a communal favorite where lightning bolts and blue shells added wrinkles to the racing, and where the Kart franchise was introduced to the OTHER S-tier "Rainbow Road" theme, Kenta Nagata's version. For today though, we've got newcomer Ordonis putting some bump 'n thump into "Frappe Snowland" to add some heat to the cold:

"This is my first remix for OCR, so I wanted to do something that would be instantly recognizable. I've always loved Mario Kart 64 and specifically the "Frappe Snowland" music, but I always thought it would work better for a beach level. So, I made it into a tropical house track featuring my man Toad on vox. Yahoo!

I kept the arrangement fairly conservative in order to really emphasize the instrumental changes and reinforce the danciness of the track. Throw in a fun little bass solo, and you've got a head boppin' tune that'll keep the nerd dance floor pumping!

I'm so glad you all liked my track. Thank you all for the incredible feedback. I've taken another shot at this and tried my best to address all of your comments. Looking forward to hearing from you."

This is OC ReMix reaching back out to say "Well done!" While there were collective suggestions on improving the mixing for future works, the Js were in favor of the energy & expressiveness, led by judge DarkSim:

"Fun use of the Toad vox leading into the initial drop at 1:02. Steel drum lead sounds great, and some nice auxiliary percussion in the background. Nice transition to the B section with the descending triplet steel drums. Strings in the B section at 1:33 sound *very* similar to the original Mario Kart 64 instrumentation, and then we head into synth territory which reminds me of Ben Briggs' early stuff like Fleeting Ecstasy. [...]

Not a ton of original writing here, but the instrumentation is a neat switch from frosty to tropical, and it's a tidy package. [...] Nice job!"

The dropoff section at :46 with the Toad "whoa-whoa-whoa's" is so annoying; I definitely hate you for it, Ordonis. :-P (Seriously, good change in dynamics.) There's always room for melodically conservative pieces on OCR, there just needs to be enough differences compared to the original music for the arrangements to stand apart from the original music. Congrats to Ordonis for pulling off the more tropical vibe, co-signed by Emunator's closing vote to seal the deal:

"A super-fun twist on the source material, adapting it to a new stylistic palette and introducing a ton of fresh ideas. It's a fresh spin that feels totally fresh. You've peppered a ton of creative ideas throughout the arrangement, including the walk-down at 1:29 which is incredibly engaging and snaps me back into the moment before leading into a powerful presentation of the chorus. There's tons of spirit here, and that ultimately prevails over any technical hiccups."

Look at Emu, the freshmaker over here. :-) If MK64 had employed melodic variations all over the place like Koji Kondo did in Super Mario World, Ordonis's ReMix absolutely feels like one you could drop in as an alternate theme for Koopa Troopa Beach. The sun's shining bright, so select Toad, keep your fingers crossed for those mushroom boosts, and let's go for the checkered flag!