ReMix:Streets of Rage "Twin Fire" 3:23

Time for a SEEEGAAAAA double-shot, as we pair off MkVaff's Ecco: Tides of Time ReMix with CJthemusicdude's hefty expansion on another 16-bit Genesis/Mega Drive classic! The streets are raging, or in this case, the ship is rockin', as CJthemusicdude brilliantly expands Streets of Rage's "Beatnik on the Ship":

"My remix of Stage 5 from Streets of Rage for the Genesis. Very memorable stage with the best boss of the game, in my opinion.

Some of the Japanese vocals used are samples from https://youtube.com/channel/UCEimJ4lmk9ItwWYYrypUdBg.

I got new headphones! :D"

This is LOWD, so we're very proud of you for those headphones, yes sirree! Seriously though, LOTS of old school gamers had major frustrations fighting twin sister bosses Mona & Lisa in the first Streets of Rage, so I don't envy anyone trying to put down those syndicate baddies, they're tough bosses! In honor of their stage, CJ sure slapped together a very spirited arrangement! Judge prophetik music play-by-played the action, no doubt while scrolling from left to right and punching bad guys:

"starts off with a chippy bass tone and a solid kick. the arpeggiated octave bass is a tie to the original right away. melodic elements right away are in the sidechained lead. big build into 0:57's hit. this section is pretty loud but the limiter's doing what it's supposed to, so while it's heavily squished it isn't clipping. there's another drop right after this at 1:31 that is welcome after how wall-to-wall the previous section was, and the bass here is fun.

there's another build up - 1:58-2:11 sound like the same as the earlier section, but there's a different (and also good) build into 2:21's big hit. the melody here's clear again and it's a different set of backing elements from the last time that this came around, so that's good. elements drop out after the 3:00 mark in order and then it's done.

this is a solid take. the super-heavy sections at 0:57 and 2:21 may not be everyone's cup of tea, but i think they sound fine and i'm able to pick out the parts going on, so i think that's pretty well done. it's certainly an adaptive take on the original and it's got good energy. nice work."

Dug the quick nods to "Fighting in the Street" at the very beginning at :12 & :16, and beyond maintaining some of the source tune's sound palette with the cowbell hits, there was also dashes of sampled SFX from the game throughout, e.g. snagging food (:12) and voices (2:39-2:46 & 2:56), that added nostalgia amidst the sonic spice. In the big picture though, the beats were thumpin' and the brass-style accents were filthy & full of power; you've gotta love the energy here, just like prophetik did, as well as our newest judge, Hemophiliac:

"Absolute joy here, Streets of Rage has such an awesome soundtrack. You've certainly done the 90s club vibes from Koshiro justice with this interpretation.

I can see why MindWanderer felt that the lead can get very bright and shill at the end of the section, but you change it up and go somewhere else just when it's starting to get that way for me. You have a good sense about when to go somewhere else, and I appreciate that.

The thing that I absolutely loved in this was the low brassy synth blats that start at 1:00. At first I thought they were brass samples, but It seems like there's some subtle filter opening on them just after their attack. Very cool choice and they fit right into the soundscape. Nice work."

Work so nice, the Js said it twice -- twin fire! I love that Hemo and I were on the same wavelength, because around 1:55, I too was looking for something different in the treatment, hoping there wouldn't be a huge cut-and-paste, and thankfully it didn't wind up that way after 2:11, so kudos to CJ for indeed having the presence of mind to know when things needed to shift here. Even earlier at 1:31, the dropoff was a nice respite from the overall intensity here as proph noted. Forceful yet dynamic, CJthemusicdude brought the heat for his hefty-sounding tribute to one of Yuzo Koshiro's finest 90s compositions!