ReMix:Kirby's Dream Course "Funky Mountain Peaks" 3:54

Nintendo Force's editor-in-chief Lucas M. Thomas spoke highly of Satoru Iwata's NES programming prowess in his new book The Impact of Iwata; not only did Iwata work out the in-game physics for Pinball, Iwata-san was crazy enough to do the same for the much more complex sport of Golf, which is just insane to think about all the way back in 1984. The legacy of the 8-bit Golf's physics and gameplay still carries on TO THIS DAY, 40 years later, so we're proud to bring you a musical taste of the Golf legacy with Cyril the Wolf's bombastic, fantastic Impact of Iwata rock rendition of music from HAL Labs' mini-golf romp, Kirby's Dream Course! Our players have arrived in golf carts with their equipment in tow:

Arranging, bass guitar, additional lead guitar, mixing, production: Cyril the Wolf
Electric guitars: ZackParrish
Trumpet: TSori

We're extremely lucky Cyril's had this theme living rent-free in his thoughts for years, with The Impact of Iwata album being the perfect nudge to finally make an arrangement happen:

"This tune has been stuck in my head for... awhile. When the album opportunity was first posted, after reading the briefs on the track[s], I immediately knew that I wanted to do something from Kirby's Dream Course. Until the post, I had no idea Iwata contributed to Golf -- though I knew he was a large part of some of the Kirby franchise. Since Golf lacked a soundtrack, I wanted to do something from one of my all-time SNES games. When I saw that Golf was something Iwata contributed to and that it didn't have a proper soundtrack, I just couldn't shake the idea of doing something from Kirby's Dream Course which of course combines golfing with Kirby in a unique way.

The original track was pretty funky to start with in that Japanese fusion sort of way, but, one day, while I was practicing bass guitar, this other groove sort of came to me. It took slowing down the piece a little bit and giving it a little of that fonky swing, but it adapted pretty well to the slower tempo without losing any of the quirkyness that makes the Kirby's Dream Course song so endearing. The entire arrangement, the entire form of this song, was based around a jam grooving to a metronome I did on the bass, that's sort of why it switches to a straight time "rock" arrangement toward the end. None of the bass parts changed from the initial arrangement, though I did several takes to make sure the groove was as slick as possible. But, again, I think overall it keeps to the source while being great backing for an audiobook.

I couldn't have done this on my own, though, so I had some help -- as, while I take great pride in my ability to slap the bass, my guitar work does not always keep pace. After struggling to get the right guitar sound for far too long, I finally relented my ego and enlisted the help of ZackParrish with some clean, funky guitar rhythm in the first part. Initially, I was going to just have him do the "chikkachikka" guitars, but the end part was BEGGING for a bit of fantastic fusion-style shredding on the guitar. Zack obliged happily and, even though none of that solo performance was specifically arranged (other than the main melody), it fits like a glove.

There's a lot of different sounds happening with this song in the original and I definitely wanted to keep that spirit -- but one thing that I felt had to stay was the TRUMPET -- so, in the spirit of Mambo No. 5, I was able to get TSori (of directing this album fame) to contribute some live trumpet parts, because, while I was able to convincingly use other synthesizers and guitar sounds to my advantage... In order to put the cherry on top of this funky sundae, that one melody really just needed to be performed on trumpet to tie this all together.

I hadn't really done any serious arranging in probably about 6 months or more since this album was announced and the deadlines approached, but this reminded me just how much I love to create this kind of thing. It also reminded me just how much talent and collaboration there is in this community that makes projects like this shine brighter than they could in a vacuum. So happy to contribute to this project."

It takes a lot of maturity & self-awareness to examine ones flaws and choose the path of collaboration to fully realize an idea's potential; in this case, Cyril bringing in Zack to rock a good share of the guitar work was a great move, and allowed Cyril to focus on satisfyingly FONKY bass that sounds absolutely incredible. Man, I've heard great Kirby rock arrangement tracks, I just don't think I've heard many employing sound design that authentically channels the quirkiness of original Kirby music. What's another good example backing that up? TSori's trumpet turn for the chorus section (firstly at 1:04) is exactly the kind of modern-day sound upgrade that Nintendo themselves would have used for a modern day Kirby score, the tone and the feeling are that authentic. Our trio are clearly down with on-the-green hijinx, according to judge Emunator:

"That intro groove is ridiculous. It's clear that you embraced the silliness of the original source, but gave it a bit of a stumbling cadence that accentuates that energy even further and lets it become fully unhinged. The original source feels like a casual, confident stroll along the first hole fairway, whereas your arrangement strikes me as more of a tipsy stumble over the 17th green after you've spent a day pounding beers on the course. Still just as fun, but definitely a different kind of golf ;) This format gives you a chance to really showcase your musical talents without restraint, and I love it. TSori and Zack both bring the heat, but that's, err, par for the course. The loose swing rhythms that prophetik called out on some of the sections feels in-step with the overall vibe of the track, and scans as a feature, not a defect. Listener mileage may vary, but I'm all on board with this!"

Emu clearly likes to drink lots of spiked Arnold Palmers while he golfs; someone check that he isn't fudging his score. :-) Seriously though, I'm in full agreement that the looseness of the timing is completely a feature; what's a golf track without some swing, AMIRITE? :-) It's the main reason this piece feels so fun amidst being so transformative, with the other key aspect being these amazing performances. Judge Chimpazilla's on point that the good vibes abound:

"What a cute, funky, and well crafted and performed arrangement, let's go. I feel my spirits lifted after hearing this a couple of times!"

Perfect, perfect, that feels exactly like what this funky powerhouse of a track set out to do! A tip of the golf cap to Cyril, Zack & TSori for quirkily (scientific term) taking us to a happy place! It's all the more special as part of the thoughtful & creative 16-track tribute to the far-reaching influence of Satoru Iwata's gaming career -- The Impact of Iwata, as Lucas M. Thomas so catchily calls it. ;-D