#the way this sounds like a dkc track

[finalfantasymusicdaily]

Marrow's Might Composed and Arranged by Masayoshi Soken

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 25/06/2023

dong music

Season 5 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume C

Ripped by eg_9371

One of the more novel things about having followed SiIva for as long as I have has been seeing the channel's library of jokes gradually grow and change overtime. Its almost impossible to picture now, but in the earliest days of the channel 7 Grand Dad was really the only joke that would appear regularly: Snow Halation, Loud Nigra, Nutshack, We Are Number One, and so on would all join later, of course, but for a time the selection was quite limited. And it might just be my imagination, but it felt like around ~2017-2018, sound-based shitposts akin to what SiIva was posting regularly started to become more of a mainstream meme-culture thing, where you'd find it in your average Twitter feed. Its become a kind of symbiosis I feel, wherin many of the channel's own in-jokes slowly creep their way into social media, and many social media-viral sound sources slowly get integrated into the channel itself, even if just momentarily. Penis Music, out of all sources, is what immediately comes to mind for me when I think of this phenomenon.

Maybe that's just because it feels like such a perfect fit for the channel? Maybe because the few appearances it had on the channel during Season 4:2 stuck out so much from their quality? Or maybe just because the source track is, even with or perhaps because of its instrumentation, a fucking banger.

Life in the Mines is already a top-tier DKC track to begin with and one that sounds good almost no matter what instrumentation you give it, and there's obviously something really funny about blasting the loudest, most obnoxious instrumentation possible over a track meant to convey ambience and quiet. But once the intro plays and the track begins, it quickly becomes clear that the joke was lead in to a genuinely fantastic EDM remix of the original track. Yet its not a bait-and-switch: The chorus is still using the same synth and same samples as the original Penis Music song, and the more iconic rubberband samples reappear as the track goes on, feeling part of this greater remix effort.

There's a good number of audio sources used on SiIva that are most often used in intentionally terrible ways, and I feel there's a real possibility Penis Music could've ended up like that. But a small band of rippers who saw the potential in the source back in 2021 really did do the most out of if, and it still brings a smile to my face even now.

...what do you MEAN this was also by eg_9371????

[slaket-and-sprash]

Listen Mario fans be eating good Tonight.

Mario kart 8 deluxe getting a beeg house track with Petey, Wiggler, AND Kamek? Stunning. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon getting a remake? Stunning. Mario+Rabbids dlc? Beautiful. A NEW WARIOWARE GAME SO SOON AFTER THE LAST ONE? BRILLIANT! PEACH GETTING A NEW GAME FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2005? BRILLIANT! SUPER MARIO RPG REMAKE!?? SUPER MARIO FUCKING WONDER!?

I'm so hyped and this direct as well as the movie are pushing me deeper into my Mario universe obsession.

HOWEVER, not trying to sound greedy here; but I'm kinda disappointed we didn't see a new Wario Land or Donkey Kong Country, since we haven't seen either since 2009 and 2013 respectfully. HOWEVER! I have a theory; a very crack-y theory but one regardless; is that Wario and Donkey Kong are going to be playeble in Super Mario Wonder With their move sets from WL and DKC respectfully.

The evidence for Wario;

This was the twitter user who originally leaked Super Mario Bros Wonder as well as Super Mario RPG Remake. Of course we know what the Daisy, Elephant, and Caterpillar Emojis mean; being playeble Daisy, the Elephant powerup, and the Crawling pipe. We don't know what the Star, Purple, and coin Emoji mean. Alot of people have been speculating that this is a hint towards playeble Rosalina, Waluigi and Wario respectfully. PLUS Wario was originally planned to be playeble in both NSMBWii and NSMB2, particularly stated to use his Wario Land moveset (atleast in NSMB2's case) Peach was also considered to be playeble In NSMBWii and later became playeble in here. Also having Wario being in a mainline Mario game isn't unprecedented *cough* SM64DS *cough* Also WarioWare Get it together! Had Wario preforming his iconic shoulder bash, so likely the Wario Land games are in public conscious. and, atleast according to jack black we are likely to see Wario in the second Mario Movie, and I feel like would get references to WarioWare and Wario Land, as well as a Lego Wario set and Wario Land/ WarioWare charecters in Mario Kart Tour...speaking of which;

As for Donkey Kong;

Nintendo has been advertising Donkey Kong Country like CRAZY! there's the Mario+Rabbids DLC, there's now Lego Donkey Kong sets, Dixie Kong AND Funky Kong got in Mario Kart Tour, He was a Huge part of the movie, which also featured Cranky Kong, Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and oh yeah, Chunky Kong and Swanky Kong!? Really Really deep cuts. There's atleast Something brewing with Donkey Kong for them to do nothing with him, and to be far the rumors of a new 3d Donkey Kong are probably true. But it seems odd to have nothing be done with him until then. I think that Donkey Kong being in Super Mario Wonder would be a great way to tide fans over, plus the movie showed him using Mario Powerups!? Like Nintendo had to approve that to some capacity.

Another sub theory I have relating to the Mario Movie and potential could be true for Super Mario Bros Wonder or a new Donkey Kong game;

I feel like the reason why they put Dixie, Diddy, AND Chunky right next to eachother was because either In Super Mario Wonder or a new DKC; They'll be playeble alongside Donkey Kong to reference the original Donkey Kong Country (with Chunky replacing Kiddie, since let's face it no one likes Kiddie Kong and Chunky Kong is better in every single way)

Ok I'm sorry for the funny wahoo man brainworms I'm just REALLY excited for Super Mario Bros Wonder.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Snapjaw

Debut: Donkey Kong Jr. 

...Wow, this image isn’t a great quality, is it? 

In my research to find weird enemies from older arcade games, I never even considered covering Snapjaw! It’s funny how you can just overlook certain things like that, but reading more about it, they’ve got an odd track record. Hm? Don’t you recognize them? Maybe their sprite might ring a bell:

Yup! These things! I’ve seen plenty of footage of Donkey Kong Jr., and I’ve always assumed they were some kind of small crocodile... like the Klaptraps, from DKC. Instead, they’re some kind of living bear trap, with googly eyes! They just exist in the jungle, somehow. That’s stupid! That’s wonderful. They’re almost like a predecessor to the Chain Chomp! 

In Mario vs. Donkey Kong, which at some point in time tried to continue the legacy of the arcade games, the Snapjaws got a pretty big overhaul, looking like the head of a cartoon dinosaur. What a goof. He looks like the kind of guy who could crack wise. 

In Yoshi’s Island DS, we got an enemy named Snap Jaw... not to be confused with Snapjaw! In a way, they’re almost like an organic counterpart... they climb vines, and only appear in stages with Baby DK- an infant Donkey Kong, sound familiar? But was it an intentional reference? They both have wani in their Japanese name, meaning crocodile... but maybe the localization team was just a big fan of DK Jr.? Or maybe they just accidentally gave them the same name... Who knows! I sure don’t! 

Last, and certainly least, Snapjaws appeared in the fondly-remembered cartoon, Captain N! Here, they’re piranhas. Okay. Okay. Sure. 

[notajinn]

Top 9 Games Played in 2020

As this year forced me inside even more than usual, it was good that I had some solid games to pass the time. While not all the games I played this year came out in 2020, I'll be considering them in my rankings; honestly some of the best games I played are from other years.

For fairness, I'll be pointing out the good and bad in each of these games. Also I just started 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim a few days ago, and couldn't honestly rank it yet; expect that in my 2021 list!

I was one short of playing ten games, so here is my Top 9 Games Played in 2020.

9. Sonic Lost World

Despite having a Wii U and being a major Sonic fan, I never got around to Sonic Lost World back when it came out. The idea didn't really interest me. Eventually I found it on Steam for under $10 and decided to give it a shot. After all, it was one of the few mainline Sonic games I hadn't played, and it was cheap!

This is a very bizarre Sonic game. It uses a gravity-defying physics system that lets you move vertically or even upside-down at times in a way best seen in Super Mario Galaxy.

Where It Excels

This is probably a weird thing to lead with, but one of my favourite aspects of this game is how competent Tails is. A lot of this is due to my frustration with how Tails was later portrayed in Sonic Forces, but here the fox is at a high-point for in-game characterization. The fact he doesn't hang on Sonic's every word, and casually outmaneuvers other characters helps remind us that this is the Tails that proved himself to be a hero in Sonic Adventure. He's also a little snarkier than usual, including to Sonic. I don't want his personality to go too far in Sonic's direction, but this is preferably to him cowering in Forces.

In gameplay, the combat is surprisingly good. You don't usually think of the combat system in a Sonic game. Either Sonic is just using the Homing Attack, or you're using a different character like E-102 Gamma or the Power characters in Sonic Heroes to do something a little more complicated. But Lost World manages to keep Sonic's combat fast and streamlined, but with options that make you pay attention.

Out of a jump, he can do either a Homing Attack or a Flying Kick depending on which button you press. The Flying Kick is a knockback move, and also works as a guard-breaker. Some enemies need to be kicked, some need to be hit with a Homing Attack, and some need both in a certain order. The game doesn't slow down despite this additional depth. 

The Homing Attack itself also has some extra depth with the multi-target system. If you can get the target on multiple enemies, you can defeat them all with a single Homing Attack. Or you can get multiple targets on one enemy to do big damage with a single Homing Attack. This in particular makes boss battles much faster if you can use it effectively.

The gravity physics are a big step up from the space stages of Sonic Adventure 2. I'd argue they're as polished as Super Mario Galaxy.  These physics also lead to some fun level design, such as with tubes you have to freely move around to avoid obstacles and grab monitors.

The Wisps return and are, if nothing else, not annoying. They do not take up as much time as in other games, and control well enough.

I also appreciate the spacing of checkpoints in levels. Whenever you finish a particularly frustrating section, you will almost always find a checkpoint. The game also has a mercy system in which failing multiple times before getting to the next checkpoint will spawn an optional Skip power that will warp you to the next checkpoint. There were at least a few sections where this was a godsend.

The gameplay also feels like they scratched out all the other 3D Sonic games, looked at the 16-bit games, and thought "how do we adapt this into 3D?" It's certainly more accurate, and while I don't think that's better, it's still commendable.

It also does a decent job at balancing 2D and 3D segments while emphasizing the 3D ones (as it should).

Also I really like this one song in particular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtYU2QPRy8w

Where It Fall Short

You know how Sonic can run fast? What if you needed to hold down a button to run? Does that sound like a stupid idea? Because it is, but no one told the Lost World team! This is one thing that makes a major negative impact on the whole game. I understand holding a run button in a Mario or DKC game, but it feels so antithetical to Sonic.

Another frustrating thing they adapted from other platforming series is the air stages. You remember those rocket stages in Donkey Kong Country Returns that no one liked where you have to hold a button to move up, press nothing to go down, and can't move much otherwise? How about playing those with Sonic? Thankfully there are extremely few of these in the game (I think maybe 3 tops), but boy do I dislike that gameplay style.

How about a Super Monkey Ball stage where Sonic is a snowball for some reason and can easily fall off the stage? Doesn't sound fun? My thoughts exactly. This was a stage I happily used the Skip power in.

Also as much as I like the combat system, it's often unclear how to get the Homing Attack to activate multiple targets. It feels like it's based on how long you wait after the target initially appears before pressing the button? Even though one of the bosses required a max-target Homing Attack to defeat, I'd be lying if I said I know how to regularly create that situation. Which made that boss fight very long...

The main villains - the Deadly Six - are forgettable. I actually don't remember most of their names despite playing the game a week ago. They are basic Saturday morning cartoon villains with one trope each, except possibly Zavok who seems to have no trope? But somehow gets pushed by Sega as a big deal in other games?

I don't know what's worse; Zavok's non-personality, or the girl's "every generic female character trope" personality. Why does she tell Sonic to call her after you beat her in a boss fight? And then hate him again the next time they meet? The least bad one was the old man, but I'm not exactly wishing he returns either.

With the story revolving around the Deadly Six, there's not much of interest outside of Tails. It has the tone of Sonic Boom, but without the polish or quality. And the final boss is so anticlimactic both in story and gameplay. Spoilers; you do not get to use Super Sonic for the final boss. In fact, you are just regular Sonic with no extra powers.

Rail grinding has also been changed for the worse. You can only change speed when jumping, and you do so by holding up to slow down, and down to speed up. It feels awkward. Also you can't rail switch like in the other 3D games, which makes navigating across multiple rails much more dangerous. The rail level in the final level is one of the hardest stages because of these control changes.

Speaking of rail changing, you also don't have the lane switching from Sonic Unleashed or Generations. I thought that was a great way to do high-speed sections, but you're on regular controls in Lost Worlds. Which took a while for me to register, leading to many deaths.

Despite the one track mentioned above, most of the soundtrack is also forgettable. It's not bad, but the fact it's not good is a big negative for a Sonic game. Almost every Sonic game has a good soundtrack.

Final Thoughts

I'm glad I played this game; ranking it last on my list does not mean I hate it. But it's not what I'd call one of the good Sonic games.

Somehow one of the most unique 3D Sonic games is average at best.

[hearthedungeons]

This project isn’t talked about enough. Perhaps because the artist has ONLY released 3 short albums in the last 18 months (I jest, but also not, as sometimes it seems like people do release material too often to stay on the radar), or perhaps because the visual aesthetic seems to shift a bit with every release - I remember the handdrawn artwork of the first release really jumping out, while others have fit a more generic black metal atmosphere. (Interesting though that the cover photo here seems to echo the drawing on the first demo.)

Whatever the case, I’m glad this artist keeps making work. The music started strong and has gotten better, and on this album we get ideas ranging from the somber dread of “Thrall” to the more mysterious atmospheres of “Chimes.” The composition and arrangement is strong but not anxious - it’s happy to include 3-4 elements, not all playing simultaneously, and be happy with that, rather than trying to force epic with a dozen layers of synths. I almost get a Donkey Kong Country-vibe from the playful first half of  “Amethyst Invocation”, which sounds much better than I just described it, especially when it shifts into a more static texture with padded synth chords for the final 2 minutes or so. XXVII uses a nice, slippery melody and bass ostinato in 7 that avoids feeling gimmicky - the backing chorus pad seems to follow a different set of rules and the contrast of the two rhythms makes this one a difficult piece to pin down, although I’d say this borders on being too long of an exploration of this single, admittedly clever idea.

Vaporkin also utilizes an odd time signature in an assured, less-obvious way - this track is also laced with lots of Marimba which i realize is what gives me the DKC vibe, but I think the sounds of synth marimbas are just automatically given that association in my head. This longer track also relies on the same idea but keeps interest with the careful way it manages the various elements entering and exiting around the main pattern. I love the title of this track and of the following Warlock Waltz, which have this more innocent lighter-fantasy feeling without feeling outright childish. Warlock Waltz has some really stellar polyrhythms going on, while there is a distinct boom-tik-tik rhythm to indicate a waltz, the main melody and some of the other percussion elements seem to rub against this pulse in a subtle way, creating a kind of static texture wherein a lot seems to happen. It’s a cool effect, and the piece is engaging throughout, a strong melodic end to this album to hopefully give listeners who make it to the end a strong impression. Ultimately this is a strong album, although I think I prefer more of the sublime melodic stillness of EPHEMERAL LANDSCAPES II.

Maybe that’s the reason why this project (and some others like it) is so often forgotten - previous releases went for a more ethereal approach, particularly demo 2 which was blissfully close to ambient, maybe with a hint of forest or winter synth in the atmosphere. I feel releases like this can be quite blissful to listen to in the moment, but the effect is so localized that you almost forget about it as soon as you are done listening. I don’t think that will be the case here - the pieces are all a little more involved, with stronger melodies and percussion, but I think without losing some of the gorgeous ethereal qualities present on previously releases. I feel like this is a rut that sometimes projects get stuck in, especially if they are only releasing EPs or demos without physical releases. The scene is, for better or worse, more likely to remember a physical release or a full length, so I hope that one or the other happens for this project so that it can be appreciated or at least discussed as much as it should.

[changerayon4-blog]

Donkey Kong Country 'Fearless'

Emunator (Wes McDonald) hits us with an energetic, genre-focused house take on "Fear Factory" from DKC, deviating from his more ambient & less overtly EDM style for something different & leveraging some vocal snippets to seal the feel:

"Hey there! Here's another remix I've been toiling over for the past year that I'm not quite satisfied with, but it's polished enough that I'm ready to get it off my plate!

My remixes to date have all been colored with various electronic music styles, but this is by far my most overtly-EDM influenced attempt to date. I've felt the urge to produce a full-blown house track for ages, and I've also wanted to include vocals in a track, so I decided to indulge both of those desires here.

I'm acutely aware of how many times this particular source has been remixed in an electronic style, and after hanging around OCR long enough, I also know that many listeners have a strong aversion to vocal-driven VGM of any kind. I've always been very self-conscious about sharing my music, and as a result, I think I've only been willing to publicly release songs that I knew would be well-received. But for once, I decided to shelve my anxieties and put this out there anyway, even though it's not very "on-brand Emunator" and I don't have a clue what I'm doing with EDM production... hence the title "Fearless"!

As far as arrangement goes, this starts out pretty conservative by my standards and doesn't really tie into any bigger conceptual structure like many of my past submissions. I wanted the vocals (which I sampled from a Vengeance Vocal Essentials pack, hence the nonsense lyrics -- hopefully, they're not too distracting!) to introduce some original melodies to the first half while still sounded vaguely "Fear Factory"-esque. The second part of the mix dives into a darker chillstep territory, driven by a looser, more interpretive take on the original melody, supplemented with vocal ad-libs rather than actual lyrics.

I had a lot of fun putting this together and learned a ton about electronic music production in the process. Even though this isn't indicative of where I plan on taking my music in the future (I definitely intend to bring back the ethnic-ambient vibes for my next submission), I hope you all enjoy this little experiment of mine!"

Neat; the vocal snips did distract me a bit the first time, but I think I was actually biased by his description... on subsequent listens, I was digging them a lot more. This is certainly more "staple" EDM than we've ever seen from Wes, but I enjoyed it, and it ended up bringing a new swing & a new thing for a pretty well-tread source. I can thing of specific tweaks I would like to have seen - more emphatic sidechaining, and dropping the underlying pads at 3'01" - but I dug the preceding synth solo at 2'37" & was bobbin' my head the whole way through. I think that generally the repeated HPF builds don't hit hard enough on the subsequent drops, but I'm also far from an EDM guru myself, so take that with a grain (or two, or three) of salt. Larry writes:

""Aquatic Ambiance" may be the source tune king of DKC, but "Fear Factory" is a close second and an inherently strong composition, so I never get tired of takes on this classic by David Wise. I dug the dynamics here, all while staying very upbeat, and I liked the aggression with some of the grittier sounds. That little dropoff from 2:30-2:37 was a thing of beauty; boy, I would have loved to have heard that expanded out a little longer. I actually think the sampled vocals being non-descript will help some people lose themselves in it, but we'll see how folks react. It's not Emunator's most polished piece in terms of the mixing, as Wes himself implies, but he nonetheless sets a high personal bar for himself, and this is nicely put together. There's an old saying: "Don't make the perfect the enemy of the good." We always encourage artists on the fence about submitting arrangements they feel aren't perfect or ideal. Don't let cool concepts just rest on your hard drive; send them in! Very happy to have this added into the DKC collection. :-)"

EDM is a craft unto itself and I think, especially in the last decade or so, that craft has become increasingly complex & challenging. What some snootier jazz & classical musicians might label as "not real music," etc. has widened in variety & matured in technique, and it can be a bit sobering to wander into & attempt when coming from other backgrounds & emphases. Wes has "fearlessly" done exactly that, and for a first foray OR a twentieth this is a pretty damn solid, enjoyable jam, and serves up "Fear Factory" deliciousness in an accessible, familiar, & still creative package!

Source: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR03931