ReMix:StarTropics "Test of Island Courage" 4:55

By Fairlight

Arranging the music of one song...

"Battle Stage"

Primary Game: StarTropics (Nintendo , 1990, NES), music by Yoshio Hirai

Posted 2001-10-20, evaluated by djpretzel


Now this here's what I'm talking about - FANTASTIC attention to the drum track CAN make a difference! Everything about this ReMix just feels right. Fairlight has ReMixed a track off the StarTropics soundtrack and really gone the whole nine yards. In addition to the afforementioned drums, you get a flute solo, then duet, background pads that cue up just right, triplet fingered electric bass that sits right where it should in the mix, actually GOOD steel drums (I mean, holy shit folks! ^^) and very smooth, fluid arrangement. This one's very impressive and in my opinion near perfectly if not perfectly captures the island motif of the game. Would get four stars even without the bitchin' drum solo at the end. Miss this one at your own peril - tres groovy :)

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
timaeus222
on 2015-04-22 00:39:07

OH MAN. That drum solo at the end... Cracks me up. :-o:):grin::lol:

avatar
WesternZypher
on 2010-12-28 14:04:35

Oldschool OCR is da best. Break out the steel drums and piña colada!

avatar
Mirby
on 2010-12-04 16:04:07

This site needs moar StarTropics.

This is a great example of it.

avatar
Hylian Lemon
on 2010-12-04 14:41:00

STARTROPIIIIIICS

This remix has been on my iPod for years. Every once in a while when I'm listening to more recent stuff, the playlist will loop and start playing this, and it makes me smile. Fun arrangement of a great source tune. It makes me glad my cousins had this game.

avatar
Bahamut
on 2009-09-11 09:30:33

Sample quality notwithstanding, this is a nifty mix. Definitely like the percussion like others have stated, as well as the piano and the whole carribean flair going on.

avatar
Rozovian
on 2008-12-14 08:58:08

Hm... I'm surprised I didn't see this one among the remixes with few reviews before. Anyway, this is an awesome track. Yeah, it's a bit old, but there's nothing that really bothers me unless I listen with headphones, and even then it's enjoyable. It's got great feel, one of those positive tracks that puts a smile on my face.

It's also a nice contrast to the more recent remix of the same source, which is so much more ambient. They complement each other well.

avatar
DragonAvenger
on 2008-09-29 22:01:16

Very good percussion, love the variety used. Flutes are a bit too fake compared to the rest of the mix, but they don't really detract too much from the mix overall. Love the breakdown, it comes at just the right time to vary things up. Same with the solo at the end, although I would have liked a little return of something melodic before the cut out (which is a little uprupt).

Overall still a good mix after all this time.

avatar
Fairlight
on 2007-08-15 10:19:00

Hi everyone! I happened to be ego-surfing on Google this morning and found out that the first website coming up with the actual me was OverClocked, and was extremely surprised and happy to discover that people are still downloading and commenting on my remix... with extremely kind comments, at that! So I wanted to heartfully thank everyone for the nice comments on this remix! :-D

A note about MIDI-sounding... The track is all made in MIDI and played back by a Panasonic SX-KC600 synthesizer. It was the first track I produced with this synthesizer after buying it; I was just discovering the magic of MIDI and Cakewalk Pro Audio so I didn't know how to play in depth with parameters like attack and decay... The synthesizer doesn't provide anything to really tweak these anyway.

Now listening to it after so many years I'd love to correct a bunch of stuff, like quantizing and volume, but I don't know if I could replace the current version with a newest one; I asked DJ Pretzel by e-mail but he didn't reply.

Thanks again people! ;-)

avatar
Monobrow
on 2007-04-07 02:40:49

Wow, I missed out on this from WAY back when. I also happened to miss out on this game until TODAY.

Anyway, this is actually a really awesome mix... Well thought out, creative, nice drums, nice atmosphere. Some of the samples are a bit dated but who cares, the mix is great. Hell, I like this better than I like a lot of the most recent mixes, and there is no nostalgia whatsoever factoring into my critique.

Great song.

avatar
OA
on 2007-03-29 11:53:08

Wow, the percussion is really good! Very clever starting straight up with it, it allowed me to really grasp the focus of the mix.

The pad attack is a little slow, and the flutes are a little too midi for my taste, but the steel drums were great and there is a lot of energy going into this. The breakdown is awesome, and the drum solo at the end is also fantastic.

avatar
Nineko
on 2005-11-20 10:17:08

if you like latin songs, this is going to sound awesome for you.

if you don't like latin songs, you can change your mind with this remix.

also, our Leader is always right:

FANTASTIC attention to the drum track CAN make a difference!
definitely agreed.

some of those percussions seem a bit MIDI to me, but the final result is great. I'm waiting for the day in which I'm posting a bad review on a song. what? I already did with a Tetris remix? oh well, download this and stfu.

avatar
KaelitioN
on 2003-11-22 01:40:22

I enjoyed it. It has the whole island thing going. I like the panning in the intro percussion. At first I thought the shakers were too far , but then I noticed how well it blended with what followed. It's something that I can listen to on a regular basis .

BTW-ScorchioHeldForRansom, your font color's killing my eyes.

avatar
Mahjong No OujiSama Yoshi
on 2003-11-18 14:06:25

This is the StarTropics Underworld Maze song heard in both StarTropics and StarTropics 2: Zoda's Revenge! I love the Steel drums in this song totally rock. The MP3's better than Razors' theme!

avatar
Khrystoph
on 2002-09-03 14:29:23

Once again, musical tastes (I don't really subscribe to the whole tropical beat thing) and the fact that I was all about StarTropics back when I had an NES notwithstanding, I liked this mix. Despite the instrument choices--which are, of course, VERY appropriate given the theme/setting of the game--I rocked out to this. Muy bueno, and all that.

avatar
Ginnsu
on 2002-05-22 19:46:09

StarTropics 'Test of Island Courage'

This is quite different feel then most mixes here, because it’s very spacious, and comes at you from all directions. It seems a tad quiet, but it’s not too bad in that way. I like the instruments used here, very clean sounding. Overall a great mix from Fairlight, keep up the good work.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
StarTropics (Nintendo , 1990, NES)
Music by Yoshio Hirai
Songs:
"Battle Stage"

Tags (9)


Genre:
Latin
Mood:
Happy
Instrumentation:
Acoustic,Bells,Flute,Steel Drum,Synth
Additional:
Time > 4/4 Time Signature
Time > Tempo: Moderate

File Information


Name:
StarTropics_Test_of_Island_Courage_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,811,565 bytes
MD5:
b7e0ec620eb07bf75b8a4fe16716f47d
Bitrate:
128Kbps
Duration:
4:55

Promotion

8-bit Jazz Heroes - Press Start
View All

Latest Albums

View All

Latest ReMixes