ReMix:Aah! Harimanada "Sumo Swagger" 3:21

"The remix no one asked for of a song no one heard in a game no one played!"

minusworld's joined by AarekMG & DakotaCityRag on saxes, and, boy, they've done it now. Is this the most obscure source ever for an OC ReMix? I really don't know. But a poorly-received adaptation of a sumo manga & anime that never released in the States is at least in the conversation. :-) This originated, like all good things, from VGM arrangement compo Dwelling of Duels:

"I present to you my arrangement of "Decisive Battle! Demon's Arena" from Aah! Harimanada on the Sega Mega Drive: "Sumo Swagger".

Dwelling of Duels just ran a competition in April 2024 for Sega Genesis and Mega Drive games. I never owned one. I remember playing Sonic 1 and Golden Axe 2? Maybe 3? I remember playing nothing else from that console. XD

It's been a long time since I didn't know what I wanted to do when the DoD theme was announced, so I thought it would be fun to go hunting for tracks that grabbed my attention. The long story short: I was looking through Japan-only releases when the music of Aah! Harimanada, a mediocre sumo wrestling fighting game, jumped out at me as being particularly interesting. I settled on "Decisive Battle! Demon's Arena" because the track already has a huge amount of swagger to it and I thought it would be fun to lean into that.

AarekMG and DakotaCityRag joined me to make the awesome saxophone chorus. There's 3 tenor parts by AarekMG and 1 alto part by DakotaCityRag.

The source track has a funny drum intro because it's played during a cutscene, but it doesn't flow very well musically. I decided to nod to it with two drum-heavy sections: the taiko drums underneath the bass solo and the Aja-like drum break following the guitar solo. Otherwise, I think the rest of the arrangement is pretty straightforward.

I hope you enjoy this DEEP cut!"

Though neither one of us is a sumo connoisseur, my fellow judge & fellow WWE fan Hemophiliac loves wrestling and was completely on board:

"This one got me boppin' my head along with the beat, swagger like you said. That source was definitely worth tackling. It's got something neat about it, but you improved on it. [...]

I really like the full band sound you get with everything playing at the same time. It's BIG, heavy and full of machismo.

Arrangement is great and has plenty of the original with your own spices injected throughout. People will dig this even without knowing the source."

It's a sumo ReMix for sure, because it indeed slaps! :-D The focus on the bass at 1:14 was so good, and the drumming in tandem with it had an amazing rumbling feel to it that surrounded you on headphones. Spirited, expansionist cover approach to the theme with a squishy belly (read: more interpretive) for the middle section. Dosu-koi!