ReMix:Mega Man 3 "Cybernetic Skullstorm" 6:58

Can't say happy birfday to pixelseph and not do the same for his twin brother, paradiddlesjosh, so, FINE, you get a mixpost today too! Josh provided drums for Xaleph's mammoth Mega Man 3 collab also alongside ZackParrish and long-time friend & collaborator Ryan8bit! Xaleph broke down everyone's involvement:

• Main Arranger: Xaleph
• Co-Arrangement: ZackParrish (2:43-3:31)
• Mastering: ZackParrish

Instruments:

• Electric Guitars (both leads, rhythm) - Non-7/4 parts: Ryan8bit 99%, Xaleph 1%] + 7/4 Electric Guitars: ZackParrish
• Drums: paradiddlesjosh
• Piano + Organ: Xaleph
• Acoustic Guitar: ZackParrish
• Banjo: ZackParrish
• Foley -> "There's an encoder": ZackParrish (That was my idea. Thought it would sound good with the cowboy theme. Like a digital cyborg cowboy metal, hah! Plus, he has a natural southern accent and he's a bass... it worked naturally.)

Done in a flurry for Dwelling of Duels, Xaleph & crew pushed the creative pace and managed to Mega-medal with a super strong finish:

"This mix has a bit of a story. So, it started off with me wanting to do a mix again with Ryan8bit when I first came back from my long hiatus. I couldn't get a hold of him until like a year later, and, one year after that, we decided to do a Mega Man mix. We initially were thinking using dueling guitars - Zack joined, and then we wanted metal drums, and who else is better at that than Josh? With 34 mains/43 total tracks in DoD, and the quality of some of the tracks, we knew it was going to be a tough competition and were thrilled to get third. The version here is a better master than what we had previously submitted as we had more time to master (I gave Zack like 30 minutes, initially). Thank you all who joined this last-minute!"

Though Ryan8bit had a years-long hiatus from the scene, we're glad Xaleph's reemergence has also led to hearing Ryan tear it up on more OCR arrangements, with this being our first mixpost involving Ryan since their 2007 Xenogears team-up. Judge Emunator held this latest collab in high regard as showcasing just how much range Xaleph's capable of:

"Absolute masterclass of execution and ambition. There are times that I've considered Xaleph a "genre specialist" who sticks with his preferred genre (in this case, psytrance) and this doesn't exactly dispel that impression, but it does show just how much room there is to color within those genre lines and bring something truly unique to the table. The shredding lead guitar, Zack's acoustic contributions, the kit drumming all push this beyond the bounds of a traditional psytrance arrangement. That's not saying anything of the full-blown metal breakdown in the middle, either. This is virtuosic levels of vision at work here."

After a delicate piano intro, this is a monster of a track with get-up-and-go energy from :32-on. Beyond Xaleph's masterminding of this piece, I also wanna show love to ZackParrish's string-focused arranged section from 2:43-3:31, since he uses what sounds like the same string samples as Tim Follin's modern work, which makes me enjoy it all the more! Far from the only J with strong praise, fellow judge MindWanderer was also impressed by just how much blood was squeezed from the stone that is "Dr. Wily Stage 3":

"Fantastic use of the least interesting track on the OST, as a simple foundation to basically do whatever the hell you wanted. And hey, when you give a bunch of geniuses some raw material, turns out they can build something great out of it. Truly stellar metal performances and production."

The main source tune, while catchy, was indeed brief, and certainly not meant to be cycled for any extended period of time, so all the more challenge to develop some substance from it. The challenge was expertly asked & answered by Xaleph, Ryan8bit, ZackParrish, and birthday boi paradiddlesjosh! \m/