MegaRace "In Memoriam" 3:42

ReMixes can be born from many inspirations. Maybe an artist found 2 themes that go well together, maybe they wanted to cover something from a game most people haven't heard of, maybe they wanted to capture the vibe of a non-VGM song, or the style of another composer, or maybe they just wanted to cover one of their favorite soundtracks. However, sometimes the circumstances around a remix can be different. I'll let our featured artist, minusworld, explain:

"So, I had seen some chatter on various VGM Discords around Stéphane Picq's passing... I wasn't familiar with the composer by name, but in that same chatter read that he was the composer for MegaRace.

MegaRace! As soon as read the game name, I unlocked a flood of good memories. I played that game a ton when I was a kid. I could see the visuals and hear the music for the game. It's strange, sobering, and inspiring that music can be embedded in someone like that, waiting to reemerge.

As I refreshed myself on the soundtrack, I found it to be a really interesting blend of electronica with rock and funk elements. Though musically I travel in many directions, my main goal has always been to find a good blend of heavy and funky. "Fractalian Space" from the MegaRace OST fit this to a "T", so I decided to remix it as an homage to Stéphane Picq's contribution to my childhood."

Now, don't go expecting an emotional arrangement that'll make tears fall from your eyes! As usual, minusworld blasts us with heavy guitars, quick variations, fast technical leads and mind-blowing solos... I suppose one could cry from the awesomeness!

Our judges really enjoyed this track, with prophetik music praising the mix and arrangement:

"nasty bass pad to start, and all sorts of heavy guitar screams that crawl right under my skin. loads of bass in there. the first riff really hits at 0:19. there's a ton going on right off the bat, so the mix keeping everything audible is pretty impressive. track rips through the A and B themes pretty quickly before we get some Algorithm-esque glitched metal complete with 90s era sfx before the B theme comes back in. [...]

this is a really fun track! the original's pretty wild, so there's a lot of what could normally be called exploratory stuff here but instead just kinda goes with the flow. it's a pretty dark mix, but the different elements are all audible easily and the arrangement is great. excellent work."

Judges also appreciated the intent behind this track, with Liontamer even taking the time to suggest more material to minus:

"You're a real one for this tribute; thank you sincerely for it! I only knew of Stéphane Picq's work through the 90s Dune game soundtrack (boy, you'd do a great job with any of those themes too -- check out Dune: Spice Opera!), so I appreciate being introduced to more of his work. Great energy with this original. [...]

Love the back and forth integration of the guitars; this is a wonderful example of a fusion piece where seemingly disparate instrumentation goes together so well; love the chimeric style and flow here, not unlike "Speedy Guitar" or "Behold the Winged Cathedral" in its own unique way. :-)"

A couple weeks ago I came across a post (tweet?) on Bluesky that referenced a 2013 interview where the composer behind Mega Man 2, Takashi Tateishi, revealed he wasn't aware of how much people loved his music. To me, this really highlights the importance of what we do here in OC ReMix and other communities, like Dwelling of Duels, paying tribute to the videogame music we love and, by extension, to the awesome composers behind it. This time, minusworld delivered an incredible track in honor of Stéphane Picq and I hope you all enjoy it and maybe even go back and listen to the soundtracks he composed!