ReMix:Legendary Wings "Legendary Strings" 3:07

By Rize

Arranging the music of 3 songs...

"Area 1", "Area 3", "Game Over"

Primary Game: Legendary Wings (Capcom , 1988, NES), music by Tamayo Kawamoto

Posted 2002-11-02, evaluated by the judges panel


Rockin'. Rize's initial submission is some guitar-centric coverage of Capcom's relatively obscure NES & arcade shooter from the later eighties. Starts with a roman fanfare motif, only played by dual lead guitar. Rize writes: "The track follows the original music fairly closely, but it's a medley of three songs (Level's 1, 3 and 4) and I played around with (more like completely twisted) things like tempo and feel. The style is rock and roll with distorted guitars and in-your-face drums (naturally)." which sums things up pretty well. Guitar fans should definitely sign up, regardless of familiarity or lack thereof with the source material, as this is basically guitar, guitar, more guitar, and some good rock drums. There's a nice, non-distorted ending to conclue the arrangement, and all-in-all things play off well, especially given that this is a medley of several pieces from various stages. Good first mix from Rize - we should be seeing more in the future :)

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Bahamut
on 2011-11-01 20:00:07

As dated as this mix is, I've always loved this one way when I first heard it in 2002. It inspires pure nostalgia for me :) .

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Level 99
on 2010-03-18 14:11:51

This is one of the earliest rock remixes I remember hearing on OCR. And of a game that is sorely underremixed (well, now I know what game I'm pitching for remix tunes on next OCAD). Anyways, Rize, I'd love to see you come back and touch this one up again. Still a classic example of what rock remixes can do to game melodies. And it's aged pretty well, if I may say so. Doesn't sound as top-shelf as it may have used to, but it is still very listenable.

Guilty fact: this remix is what inspired me to learn pinch harmonics in the first-place.

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Polo
on 2009-09-02 06:38:49

Since level 4 shares a starting resemblance to level 1, it feels fitting to quote it first, like an appetizer/overture before the mix gets down to business. The first three notes of level 1 are evenly spaced out, perhaps to steady their presence among the other notes (and each other). 1:03 catches me off-guard, but only because I'm used to hearing level 1 finish up with its final section - maybe it's challenging itself to make progressively longer runs from the beginning. Level 3's brought forth on a down-the-notes segue before 1:58 relieves us from the guitars with light cymbal taps and a bass. Brief pauses/cliffhangers soothingly welcome every tempo change encountered. And the Game Over quote at the end = shaweet.

Noble interpretation for the first video game I ever played. :-)

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Rize
on 2008-05-08 14:41:52

One day I may redo this (and even expand it). The "over-distorted" guitar sound comes from using a direct line from the effects box I was using rather than miking a speaker (the microphone and speaker especially cut out the really high harmonics and result in a more proper sound). For my later two Castlevania mixes I used a Line 6 Pod Pro. For my next mix (whenever that may be) I intend to use a real amp with a microphone in front of it.

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OA
on 2008-03-26 12:20:49

I remember that this was one of the first mixes I heard when I first came to the site that really stuck out to me.

I think the guitars had a bit too much distortion on them, but otherwise it's a pretty solid performance. Drums and bass are muddy, but as Rize mentioned, that gives it more of a live feel to it overall.

Though there are some flaws in this one (playing could be tighter, production, more interesting fills), it's still really nice, and it holds up well to time. There is a lot of character to the mix, and it has a lot going on.

Despite what I think could be better, the mix is very strong and is a classic OCR track.

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Scycon
on 2005-12-20 13:42:38

I like this mix a lot, it sounds very Nino-ish. dont know if any of you have heard of Nino. Metal game music! :D but yes, I'm glad to add this to my collection on my ipod =) Good job!

EDIT: sorry forgot link O.O

www.nino.com.br

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Liontamer
on 2005-12-20 13:01:26

Yeah, I was actually listening to this a week ago when I was researching the source tune names for this. I thought this was a really good mix from an underarranged game. It holds up very well for it's age, IMO. Nice work, David.

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Rize
on 2005-12-20 12:57:30

I fool myself sometimes. On my 2nd and 3rd mixes, the mixing was so bad and the drums so muffled that they can sound like a bad live recording. In fact, only the guitars are live. The bass is a mixture of two soundfonts of decent quality and the drums are the popular goldrums soundfont. Unfortunately, that bass only sound as good as it does in this song. Probably because I don't have much rhythm guitar in the song (only the ending). I've got some work to do on my production. I'm still very happy with the way this turned out though, especially considering it was my second mix ever.

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Sun_Quan
on 2004-11-28 17:20:03

Hey Rize, are the bass, guitar, and drums all real in this song? Because if so, who are the members? This is great stuff.

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Rize
on 2004-02-07 19:56:31

Hah, I've done the loop thing before with other mixes.

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Jaykool379
on 2004-01-21 06:23:09

Rize, props to ya for delivering a fine remix of some really great videogame music. I remember playing Legendary Wings on an arcade machine (yes, it was an arcade game first!) in Nebraska and that made me get the NES game. I loved the music then, we really need to see more Legendary Wings remixes. Too bad its such an obscure game that we probably won't. Good work on the guitar, you take a couple liberties with the intricasies but it stays on target with the melody. The choice of instrument was perfect for this remix, infact..I turn down the actual music to the game and put this on loop! Anywho, great job, keep pumpin' them out.

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Ferret
on 2003-04-26 04:45:23

I love it. That's all I got to say about that.

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Rize
on 2002-11-07 01:28:39

It's fun to play! :) Use the NSF to learn the parts. I followed that almost note for note for the dual leads (with a few audible exceptions).

You should note that the low guitar in the "chorus" portion of the first half was played on a D tuned guitar since it wouldn't quite fit on a normal one. I had to drop the entire song an octave because the the high notes in that part went off the end of the neck.

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skawttieboy
on 2002-11-06 23:38:04

The guitar in this is outstanding...makes me wanna learn to play this....this has QUICKLY become one of my fav's, and will be for a while. GREAT JOB! :)

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Rize
on 2002-11-06 01:40:47

I originally intended to close with more of the level four music, but it wasn't working out. Then I realized the game over tune fit perfectly with the overall theme!

Sources Arranged (3 Songs)


Primary Game:
Legendary Wings (Capcom , 1988, NES)
Music by Tamayo Kawamoto
Songs:
"Area 1"
"Area 3"
"Game Over"

Tags (5)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Energetic
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar
Additional:
Arrangement > Medley
Time > 4/4 Time Signature

File Information


Name:
Legendary_Wings_Legendary_Strings_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
3,834,013 bytes
MD5:
b4857d059c49e739df216077a7425da9
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
3:07

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