Source: Phalanx (SNES) - Assault (Stage 1)

"Hi Bundeslang, 

Here is my choice for the next Remix Competition.

Game System : Super Nintendo

Game name   : Phalanx

Source Track  : Assault (Stage 1)

Phalanx is a shoot-them-up game that looks like Gradius.

This game is hard, I don't remember finishing it but it has some nice tunes on each stage.

You'll find the midi file attached to this message.

I extracted the midi file from the SPC file with the vgmtrans program.

I have corrected the drum part and done some little ajustment.

The link to hear the soundtrack on youtube : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmQIEjLHVIQ

Have fun "

(Hleet)

Source: Ape Escape - Time Station (PS1)

"Why is the music in the Ape Escape series, sooooooo gooood!? Like every track is just a winner, i absolutely love it. Minus the 2nd one, which is also good, but more of a conventional video game score. Still though, i can't get over how every track is just...awesome. I ended up making a list of sources from 1st to 3rd, and i still don't think that's enough. I ended up picking this one, because it was the one i was ended up returning to quite frequently, and also i didn't want to spend ages choosing a source. Believe you and me, the next time i win, i will be sending more Ape Escape sources to be remixed, because this soundtrack does not get enough love. 

It's just very weird and creative music as well. We have a mixture of that 90's ethereal ambience, mixed with very thick but very light jungle breaks. Some tracks are very goofy sounding, almost like it belongs to some cartoony world. The tracks vary, but they all have essentially the same Jungle/DnB outline in all of them. It's really the melodic content/arrangement that dictates the style/sound. So some tracks sound cold, some sound mechanical, some sound dreamy, some sound goofy and cute, and of course some tracks have a series hard edge to them, akin to rock music. I settled for this track in particular, because not only did i like the very sparse cold wintery sound, but because it gave us a framework for essentially us to make it our own, to add some new idea. It's a semi-black canvas basically. I also picked it, because it was the easiest to create the MIDI for XD.

I've already submitted an Ape Escape source before, so most of you might already know the game i'm talking about. Plus i don't want to bombard this with soo much text. Essentially it's a monkey game, where you capture monkey's using a variety of tools. Enough monkey's will allow you to move to the next stage. Considered unique gameplay at the time. Although i can only pick one Ape Escape source, rest assured when given the opportunity, more will come soon. 

Anyways, i think that's enough from me, i hope you do this one justice!"

(TheVideoGamer)

GAME: Ape Escape (PS1)

Source: Time Station

Source: Ori and the Blind Forest: Title Theme (Xbox)

"Ori and the Blind Forest: Title theme. Ori is a thoroughly beautiful platformer with charming characters, a transcendent soundtrack, and heartful themes such as light, returning to life, and a mother's love. It was worth every minute to transcribe this midi, have some fun with this one."

(Souperion)

Source: Freedom Planet - Aqua Tunnel 1 (PS4)

"Aqua Tunnel (1) is a charming track full of spunky beats. It's from the game Freedom Planet, a Sonic-like platformer with both great tribute to the 2D sonic games and its own originality. It's got a great soundtrack all around. Aqua Tunnel is the game's 'sewer' themed level, where a little dog goes tromping around some aqueducts fighting slimy monsters. This track's rhythm and beat should be great fun to play with, coupled with its Eastern flairs!"

(Wassup Thunder)

Source: Breath Of Fire 1 (SNES) - Overworld 2, Distant View

"Hello Bundeslang, 

To keep-up with the Breath of Fire series  here is the choice of my source : 

Console/System : SNES

Game Name    : Breath of fire 1

Source/Song name : Overworld 2, Distant View

You will find the midi file attached to this message.

I've ripped the midi with the free program vgmtrans (that does a great job by the way).

But I do have put together tracks manually (Drum, strings, ...) and have them sanitized from pan/reverb and other stuff that the extractor has put by default on them.

So it should provide a good start for remixers.

If needed, here is a youtube link for the original source :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1vhZ86W7dU

Thank you"

(Hleet)

Source: Breath of Fire 2 (SNES) - God of Decadence

'Next source is God of Decadence from Breath of Fire 2. Midi from VGM, the gift that keeps on giving. Choice wise was simple. I went and opened it up to "the people." I told a few folks about what this contest is about, the rules and what they would like to see. After going through some sources that didn't qualify, someone brought up this guy. I don't know what its about, and I can't say I'm a big fan of the song. But I think its really interesting to try and see what you and others can do with something you may or may not be familiar with. Well, then...shall we?"

(HarlemHeat360)

Source: Mega Man X1 (SNES) - Flame Mammoth

"Flame Mammoth's stage from Mega Man X. The game has a great soundtrack as a whole, I'd love to hear what y'all make outta this one."

(Souperion)

Source: Silent Hill (PS1) - Claw Finger

"Silent Hill is not the most friendliest of soundtrack for remixers, and i can clearly see why. It's pretty much pure texture and noise, so it'd be the equivalent of panting a blank canvas, with 2 colours. Your not going to get much to work with, nor will it be easy to work with what you have. Any chance of something melodic will be almost impossible. It's rare to find such a composition. So why the hell did i turn to Silent Hill for my PRC source selection? It turns out there is more to like than dislike, and i like the idea of setting some kind of limitation by sending in essentially Noise and Dark Ambient music. The source i selected isn't from the same mind frame, but it belongs to a soundtrack who's primary aim is to scare the living crap out of you. It's not happy go fun time music. It's "Oh My God, I'm About to Die". 

This source stood out though, because there were a lot of cool moments in this piece. It's purely a synth based piece, using only a single instrument patch from the Korg Triton to generate the melody/chords (I don't know why i said melody, it's just a series of minor chords lol). What's interesting is the random beat skips that happen, it isn't just a pure 4/4 composition. It also has quite the textural sound to it, from a simple patch, sounds closer to some kind of electric piano like synth. It's kind of cool. Even though there is one patch/instrument, i notated it as 4 channels on the MIDI, largely because of how dynamic the synth is. It was too much to simply write as a single channel, i needed to do more. So i made a bassline for it, a background layer, as well as a deep pad to function as some of it's more ambient aspects to the sound. So what is a single sound becomes 4 channels, but they're really just representing one sound. The piece is only 50 seconds, before it goes through the endless looping phase. No other instruments debut, it's literally just a synth sound, and a very interesting one at that.

So why did i pick something, that has barely any substance to it? Even though there is production in regards to chord sequences, there is no drums or melody, or even a real working bassline. What i've MIDIFY'D was basically 4 channels produced from 1 sound. I did this, to get all of the properties of the sound transcribed, as well as make it seem like there is more to the MIDI than that, The reason for choosing this, was largely because i wanted something that encouraged creativity. How will you take this further? In Silent Hill the purpose is to create tension, atmosphere, an unerving soundscape. But as a standalone piece, it's very unique, and isolated. I love the tune, but it's how you will take it further that's where the magic is. You don't know where to take it. Is it an electronic piece? Is it orchestral? Who knows, imagination is key to making this your own. 

I haven't really talked about the game itself, which is what i usually do, but i got fixated on this cool interesting piece whilst talking about it, so i've taken up so many of my description talking about the track. Also note, i didn't just pick this, because it had a series of recognisable pitches lol, but also because i felt it could be a unique PRC round. To be fair, the only interesting thing i can identify from the games company, is that they are called Team Silent, and they were responsible for pretty much the first 4 games of the franchise. I've rambled too much, i'm sure you can read up about it in you're own time. Good luck with this one!"

(TheVideoGamer)

GAME: Silent Hill (PS1)

Source: Claw Finger



As usual here's the video:

And my own custom MIDI:

https://www.vgmusic.com/file/e349937ffade26f15903aad73a9564ae.html#disqus_thread

Source: Solar Striker - Stage 1 (GB)

"Okay I see and I understand.

In this case, I prefer to change my first choice to another game : 

Console : GameBoy

Game name : Solar Striker

Song name : Stage 1"

(Hleet)

Source 1: Game: Dolucky no Puzzle Tour '94 (Super Famicom) - Final Battle

Source 2: Terranigma (SNES) - Flight

Source 1:

I'm feeling some Dance Music this time.

This is Dolucky no Puzzle Tour '94, which is a hybrid between Puzzle Bobble and Columns. It's also been compared to Tetris, but that's probably because they all have the same format/idea. In this case, you have to have 5 matching blocks for the blocks to disappear. The grey blocks can only be removed, if they are next to 5 coloured ones, and they will vanish alongside the grey blocks. If any blocks reach the bottom of the screen, it's game over. It doesn't matter where you place the blocks, they just have to be next to each other. As you progress in each level, it gets faster and harder, as do with any Puzzle Games. Admittedly i've not played this, but then again not many might, as it's a Japan Exclusive. I haven't even heard of the Soundtrack either, until fairly recently. It was one tune that stuck out, which made me submit this source. That's the Final Battle music. I mean i listen to rave music, especially VGM tunes in that style, and i will say this is the first i know off, that features a fully looping breakbeat. It's even perfectly in sync, and it's a pretty good break (Even with it's Lo-Fi sample rate). But it's not the break that draws me in (Although it plays a part), but rather the composition itself. I kept on listening to it even when it was over, because it's such a good tune. It's very groovy, and surprisingly well produced, for a 2 minute piece. It's also the only rave tune in the game, as the rest of the soundtrack is Primarily Funk Rock and Jazz Fusion, which i kind of find amusing, as it's a complete 180 from the rest of the soundtrack.

I should also mention, Dolucky is the name of the mascot for the games company Zoom Inc (Not not the infamous video company, we all used during COVID), and was featured in plenty of other games, such as a soccer styled game and a baseball game. The last game they've made is from 2010, however no information has arisen to whether they are still active or not, but they do have a good library of games, so they are prolific in that regard. There's nothing else to really say, because this game is a more obscure one, and only me has learnt of the OST recently, and felt it was too good not to remix. Hope you do this one justice!"

(TheVideoGamer)

Game: Dolucky no Puzzle Tour '94 (Super Famicom)

Source: Final Battle

So here's the video:

And here's my own custom MIDI: 

https://www.vgmusic.com/file/378c7bcc5ecd960d11061a6ac12696a9.html#disqus_thread

Source 2:

"So, I've tried a remix of this track before and just did not get the results I wanted. Maybe this will get me in gear and actually do a full on remix of this track. Anyways, the game has appeared twice before on PRC and several times on OCR. The game is none other than Terranigma and the track is Flight.

And the MIDI for ease of remixing

https://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes/TN_-_Flight.mid

Best,

-A"

(APZX)

Source: Ristar (Sega Genesis) - Dancing Leaves

"I decided to go for a more recognisable game, with a more recognisable soundtrack. The game is often regarded as the one that needs a sequal, since only one game was made. It's also the one, that many people love the soundtrack for (Including me). It's a very fun game, similar to Sonic, but different enough to be it's own entity.

I'm talking about Ristar: The Shooting Star or commonly known as Ristar. The idea of a shooting star came quite a while ago, during the Mascot craze of 1990-1991. Sega wanted someone to rival Mario, and hope this mascot would sell a lot of Genesis games. Lots of designs were omitted, which would become characters in it's own right. One would be an Armadillo, which made it's way into Knuckles Chaotix as Mighty the Armadillo, And another would be a man in PJ's which becomes Dr. Robotnik (Or Dr. Eggman in the modern Sonic games). In the end a Hedgehog was chosen, which become the Companies mascot, and the face of the Genesis. Now one of them, was a shooting star, which whilst it didn't make the cut, it did get transformed into this game. It wasn't intending to outsell Sonic or overtake him. Instead it was going to be a franchise in it's own right, with it's own line of games, in the end only one made it to air, which is this Genesis Game (There is a Game Gear port, with different levels, but it's usually consider just a port, not a separate game, so really only one game made it to air.). Many of fans wish for a new game, but as of yet, no such thing has happened. Let's move onto a bit about the game, and then of course the kick ass music.

The game features a star called Ristar, who's soul purpose is to save his Galaxy from being taken by a pirate called Kaiser Greedy, who has mind controlled all the inhabitants of the plants to be under his control. There are 2 versions of the story, localized in each respective country. In Japan's version the people inside Planet Neer (Japan's name for Planet Flora), send out a message to Oruto, Ristar's mother, who awakens Ristar. It is then Ristar's job to fufill the wishes of the people, by stopping Kaiser Greedy from sending out his Mind Controlled men to gather the planet's elder.

In the Non-Japanese version (Basically the rest of the world), Ristar's Father is kidnapped (Who is known as a legend around the planets), and Ristar must save him from Kaiser Greedy's control. Kind of a unique plot, it's not often you see many stories like this in my opinion, and to me that's what gives the game charm.

There are also naming differences, between Japan and the rest of the world, Planet Neer in Japan, and Planet Flora in the rest of the world is one such example. The game involves a arm mechanism, which you use to grab on to items, enemies, and branches. This is what you use to get through the levels. I've played this game it's super fun.

This is a long description, so i'll finish with music. The music is just....awesome. Perfect mix of Uplifting melodies, unique drum grooves, and a tropical edge to some of the tracks, it's almost like it's summer music, but it's not. It feels like a mix of Hip-Hop and Electronic styles, fused with more of a tropical and big-band-ish edge. I don't know how to describe it, other than Happy Dance/Hip-Hop. It's also packed full of super dynamic melodies, rich chord changes in parts, as well as a more straight forward pop like affair. Pop music seems like a good term, even if it's not. It's just soo happy, and vibrant, i love it. The track in particular i went for is called Dancing Leaves, because it's the most dynamic for me, and allows for a good mix of styles if needed. On Parade was a close second, because i love that too, but this, i feel gives you more to offer. 

The track is very tropical sounding, but with a lot of heavy Jazz influences, some cool Samba/Latin like beats, some lovely syncopation and a great switch-up in the second half where it really gets Jazzy. It also has a nice electronic sheen to the whole thing, it feels like it was partially inspired by a dance track of some sorts. I also love how it's a bit simple at the start, then it really transitions into something complex, i feel there is a lot of scope for creativity here, that can work for all styles and techniques. I just love it, and i hope you have a lot of fun with this."

(TheVideoGamer)

And here's my own custom MIDI:

https://www.vgmusic.com/file/2e417e2d970461858bc526d7f75047ba.html#disqus_thread