ReMix:The Guardian Legend "Miria's Ascent" 4:55

By Platonist

Arranging the music of one song...

"Password Continue ~ Rescue the Earth"

Primary Game: The Guardian Legend (Broderbund , 1988, NES), music by Masatomo Miyamoto, Takeshi Santo

Posted 2016-05-24, evaluated by djpretzel


In the first six years that OCR existed, we saw ELEVEN ReMixes of The Guardian Legend. Then... silence. Nothing since 2006! Here to remedy that decade-long draught is Platonist (Jonas Loman), who takes TGL into a quirky, experimental/electronic dimension with plenty of chiptune components:

"Oh, dear, this one has been in the works since before my "Thinking Cap" remix. The oldest file I could find in my folders is from July 2011. Boy, has it changed though. It's gone through 4 revisions by now, but I'm finally decently happy with what it is/has become... I love this game, it's one of those forgotten classics that just blew me away as a kid. A combination of top-down explorer and space shooter? Why not? Sign me up! :) This is my - fairly exaggerated - take on the password/end stage theme, after everything has been blown to smithereens, as Miria leaves Naju to fight the final boss."

Larry "Liontamer" Oji had the following to say:

"The Guardian Legend is a vastly overlooked soundtrack that nonetheless has some great ReMixes by artists like The Wingless, Beatdrop, Shnabubula, zykO, and Russell Cox, so I'm glad Jonas has joined the lineup, tackling a theme not represented on the site, no less.

Besides having a catchy melody, the source's countermelody lends itself well to a good groove, so I like that Platonist retained it, chose to open with it at :16, and focused on that in the build to the melody at 1:04. By the way, what are those sound effects starting at :49? Reminds me of Super Mario World and Yoshi. :-)

Though I would have liked even more dynamic contrast with the groove here, there's good use of dynamic contrast via the dropoffs (e.g. :30, 1:02, 1:50) and buildups (e.g. :49, 1:20), and I dug the tempo changes at 2:48 & 3:18 to prevent the track from coasting too much in one gear.

Jonas made good, constant use of textural changes, including some more involved synth work from 3:35-4:35 to differentiate the energy of the last minute. I would have loved to have heard the specier textures of 4:35's close earlier in the piece, because it sounded pretty cool, but it's a good way to leave 'em wanting more. I hope another decade doesn't go by before the community's next Guardian Legend ReMix!"

Indeed; it's interesting to look back at some of the games like TGL & Bubble Bobble which were pretty popular in the earlier days of fan VGM arrangements but have since waned a bit. Jonas had fun with this mix, which has a lot of quirky & interesting textures - and arrangement ideas that utilize them. For me, things really kick in @ 2'15" with that rising, intense riff... very cool. I also dig introing the piece with just a drum groove, and the confidence of the sparser transitions & tempo modulations. Those pitch-modulated weeeooooo... cross-panned synth FX are fun, too :) Great, very particular work from Platonist, who hopefully rekindles some interest in TGL's music with this intricate, playful, & enjoyably complex ReMix!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 5 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
jnWake
on 2016-08-10 17:05:21

This is pretty good. I'm surprised you managed to make a 5 minute arrangement of a source that seems to be just one melody that changes key. Love the samples used and how dynamic the arrangement is.

avatar
Platonist
on 2016-05-25 04:27:33
1 hour ago, Txai said:

Really digging this. I think it's on par with your Solar Jetman track (which was already incredible).

Hey, thanks for listening! And also, liking that old thing still :)

psst... https://soundcloud.com/platonist/solar-jetman-diamond-worlds-remix-shammy-gen-2008-remaster

avatar
Txai
on 2016-05-25 04:07:12

Really digging this. I think it's on par with your Solar Jetman track (which was already incredible).

avatar
Platonist
on 2016-05-25 00:31:11
Quote

By the way, what are those sound effects starting at :49?

That's a sample I created by looping hihat noise, with the loop points so close together that they generate a note when pitched really high. The source sample (the hihat) is completely irrelevant at that point, though. It's just a fun way to find unique textures to play with, instead of using "clean" sine waves or the like. I've been doing that from time to time. Once that was done the rest is just pitch modulation. :)

avatar
Liontamer
on 2016-05-24 09:43:15

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
The Guardian Legend (Broderbund , 1988, NES)
Music by Masatomo Miyamoto,Takeshi Santo
Songs:
"Password Continue ~ Rescue the Earth"

Tags (7)


Genre:
EDM
Mood:
Energetic,Quirky
Instrumentation:
Chiptune,Electronic,Synth
Additional:
Time > Tempo: Variable

File Information


Name:
Guardian_Legend_Miria's_Ascent_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
8,730,024 bytes
MD5:
f7a4d7c80c1398ed3f37856cc2f0d034
Bitrate:
234Kbps
Duration:
4:55

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