Five-finger Discount
Five-finger Discount(Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys)
This was my alt entry for the Ys DoD. An arrangement of the shop theme.
To Reminisce Is To Relive
To Reminisce Is To Relive(Journey to Silius, Batman, Bionic Commando, Werewolf: The Last Warrior, Ninja Gaiden)
This was originally going to be a 10 minute epic medley of songs from (sidescrolling) games I played when I was a young boy. In the end I decided to drop half of the songs to have at least some musical coherency in it. I believe that choice was the right one.
This song has a fade out. Some people hate fade outs unconditionally, some don’t mind them. When used correctly, I don’t mind.
Seiren
Seiren(Thunder Force 3)
My alternate entry to the MAGFest 7/sidescroller month DoD. Someone requested Thunder Force 3 music from me so I did this.
Cyclops And Storm Lose, Juggernaut Wins
Cyclops And Storm Lose, Juggernaut Wins(X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes)
I think this turned out a bit weird. I couldn’t decide which one I’d do, Cyclops or Storm, so I did a medley. And I liked that Juggernaut ending song so much that I wanted to get that in this too. I was going for a “lighter” sound overall than my usual, so I dialed down the gain on the rhythm guitars to almost 0. See if you notice any difference.
I entered September’s superhero DoD with this song, and much to my surprise I placed first.
P.S. SnappleMan made me do it.
Fall of Garuda
Fall of Garuda(KAGE (aka Shadow of the Ninja, aka Blue Shadow))
My last month’s DoD entry. I must have done something right, since it was a free month and I won. And by a decent margin, too: I got 85 votes and M-H in second place got 51. Yeah, overall I guess it’s my best VG arrangement this far. It’s also my longest song to date.
Kefka Gets Decisive
Kefka Gets Decisive(Final Fantasy 6)
I entered the December 2007 DoD (free month) with this song. Placed fourth (out of 46). I didn’t have my usual gear with me when making this one, so everything sounds pretty bad… I like the arrangement though. The reason why I didn’t release this before is that I was planning to remake this song from scratch. However, seeing how it’s been six months already since the initial release chances are that I’m not going to. So here it is!
Dangerous Territory
Dangerous Territory(Life force (NES), Gradius II (NES))
My entry to May 2008 DoD, where the theme was Gradius. I got tied for third place. Basically a decent arrangement, but I’m not really happy myself. Still, I’m leaving this as is although it could use a bit of reworking arrangement-wise.
Level 6 Fanfic
Level 6 fanfic(Castlevania)
It all started with pingosimon’s thread on the Minibosses message board. pingo made his interpretation of the theme with vocals and everyone started making versions of their own in their own style and language. I made one, too.
Despite a few issues I’m generally happy with how it turned out.
Lyrics!
Kellotornin läpi vie tie luo Draculan
Poimi taikakello ja voit pysäyttää ajan
Kiipeä kiipeä kiipeä kiipeä kiipeä huipulle kellotornin
Ylitä silta, vältä rotkot, väistä lepakot ja niiden tulipallot
Turhaan luuranko sinua luullaan heittelee
Tornin huippu häämöttää jo
Isot linnut kantaa kynsissään pikkumiehiä
Taikakellon mahti auttaa sinua selviämään
Kiipeä kiipeä kiipeä kiipeä kiipeä huipulle kellotornin
Siellä Dracula odottaa, kohta koittaa hälle kuolema
Suojele kaupunkilaisia pyhäl’ vedellä
Ja vituikshan se meni taas
Nyt pelataan Contraa!
The Phantom Forest
The Phantom Forest(Final Fantasy 6)
Last night I was sitting here playing my keyboard (if you could call that playing…) and felt like doing something. Then I stumbled upon the thing that the strings play at the beginning of this song. I thought, why not! Then I estimated that it would take me about four hours to do this. Pretty much four hours later, I was done. The next day I tweaked some stuff for about 10 or 15 minutes.
This is a pretty straightforward cover. It plays the same thing twice and on the third time it fades out. Pretty standard stuff.
Heated Standstill
Heated Standstill(Chrono Cross)
Source song: Death volcano (plays at Mt Pyre). Made this one for may 2007 DoD (fire VS ice!) and got seventh place. I went for something different this time. My goal was to make this song atmospheric and mostly calm, and I think I succeeded pretty well. There’s “standstill” in the title because I think it reflects the piece’s feeling of “not going anywhere”. I know the fake sax is pretty horrible, but for now I can’t be arsed to do anything about that.
Irresistible Force
Irresistible Force(Contra: Hard Corps, Super C, Contra force, Contra)
My entry to April 2007 DoD (placed first). Tweaked a bit from the DoD version, should sound “better”. Sorry, I’m really out of praise and/or background story right now. Just download and enjoy.
Corneria
Corneria(Star Fox)
I battled it out in stage one, round three of AkumuHau’s Street Musician competition against Small child David with this cover/arrangement, and emerged victorious! It’s a rather straightforward cover once again, with little actual arrangement. Except that I added a solo section.
Snake Man
Snake Man(Mega Man 3)
I had a day free so I decided to occupy myself with another VG cover/arrangement. This time I held a raffle. I let people suggest songs to cover and styles to cover them in, and drew one lucky winner out of 17 different suggestions. I got to choose the style for this myself, and decided to go with something I haven’t done a lot of.
Took me about 6.5 hours to make and it was fun, but in retrospect I feel like I could have extended and expanded it a bit. That is, if I had had a week or so to work on it. But I had already decided that this would be a one-day thing.
Dragon Saber
Dragon Saber(Dragon Saber)
Some time ago AkumuHau posted links to a complete PC Engine HES (sound file) archive & Winamp plugin on the messageboard at theshizz. So I downloaded them and gave a few random games a listen. This was among those games (because dragons, obviously). Immediately upon hearing this particular tune I knew what had to be done. And now you can hear it, too!
I participated in the November 2006 DoD with this song, and ended up sharing third place with Ryan8bit. This is a pretty straightforward cover, not much arrangement done. However, I’m pretty pleased with how this song turned out, mixingwise and all. For once.
Liberate
Liberate(Parasite Eve)
Arrangement of the main theme. My entry in February 2006 DoD. Placed sixth. This is doomy metal with piano, some strings and choirs. Also includes a solo piano section. On my scale this was a rush-job, and I didn’t have enough time to arrange and yadda yadda. It’s still quite okay, though. I especially enjoy the reverb on the snare and the clean guitar sound.
My first VG arrangement that is based on only one song and that is not just a straightforward cover.
Somber Dimensions
Somber Dimensions(Faxanadu, Final Fantasy V, Contra, Chrono Trigger, Tecmo World Wrestling, Ninja Gaiden, Double Dragon III, Castlevania)
I participated in the September-October 2005 DoD with this song, and got fifth place. A few issues here and there but otherwise I’m pretty satisfied. This is a pure guitar-bass-drums arrangement, 6 minutes of rocking. I overdid the limiting a bit though.