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[LeviR.star]

If you're wondering why there's two YouTube links below, it's not a mistake; this is actually a two-in-one sheet! (how neat...)


430th

[ARCADE] Mappy - "Initial Entry"

[ZIP]

I've got multiple reasons for arranging arcade OSTs over their NES versions, such as:

1.) The home console ports are often missing tracks characteristic of the arcade setting (ex. leaderboard-related music)

2.) In order to fit the music on NES hardware, reductions needed to be made once in a while, like dropping out a channel or two

3.) By arranging the original versions, I want to properly respect the composers' intentions and the legacy they've helped create

Some of you may see this differently, but this is how I see it, and I apply a similar philosophy to how I arrange remixes (I don't; not usually). As you all probably remember, I intend to arrange the entirety of Mappy's music, which will take me only two more sheets: the "Bonus Round" WIP that I mentioned earlier, and a "Miscellaneous Short Themes" collection for the remaining tracks. Next up, I'll be posting a sheet of the Mega Man II ending theme, which I've actually already prepared. Enjoy this catchy little piece!

[LeviR.star]

We're allllmooooost theeeeerrrrrreeee...


431st

[GB] Mega Man II - "Ending"

[ZIP]

For a good portion of this game's music, when I hear something that sounds a little off, I'll just think "eh, they were on a deadline, it's not that noticeable anyway". And a lot of stuff that my ears may perceive as "errors" just might be a result of the composer's creative quirks. But this track, the last you'll hear on your playthrough, is different, and I don't mean that in a good way. Really, it begs the question: Mr. Yamazaki,

what

the hell

were you thinking?!?

Seriously, listen to the first four bars, if you can stand it. What is this dissonant, ear-torturing garbage? It doesn't sound like Mega Man just saved the world! It sounds like he just launched a missile at Wily, causing the scientist to plummet down towards Earth and, upon impact, produce a monstrous skull-shaped mushroom cloud and—

What?

Oh, yeah, that's actually what happens in game.

I'm not kidding. It's been said that developers behind this title had no knowledge of the series, and the ending scene is proof of that. It's common knowledge that Mega Man would never try to cause bodily harm to a human, no matter how much chaos they've caused; in Mega Man 10, he even goes as far as to bring Wily to a hospital. Now, Mega Man 7's ending is iffy because of regional differences, but in every version of Mega Man II, the blue bomber just kills off the mad scientist once and for all. Brutal. Oh, well. Mega Man III tries to ignore what happened in the previous game, because Wily is alive and at it again until he crash lands again before the credits

Er, back to the sheet. I don't like this track. Sure, the introduction is much worse than the rest, but the piercingly high register was too much for me this time, and I was forced to do some octave transposition for the arrangement. I hope your left hand can handle sixteenths easily, because they're almost constant throughout, save for a few bars here and there. Overall, I think I did best with the material I was provided.

Next up will be another Mappy sheet. Enjoy, and Happy 125 Mega Man Sheets!

[LeviR.star]

"Who wants to post a PA sheet at 3:00 in the morning?"

Oh, boy, 3 AM!


432nd

[ARCADE] Mappy - "Bonus Round"

[ZIP]

At last, I've done it: I've finished the reason I started arranging the entire Mappy OST in the first place. Back in Spring of 2017, I heard this song for the first time, and decided that it was catchy enough to arrange, so I did. Well, not really; I attempted to, but even then, I didn't get very far. Once I got past transcribing the introduction, I was soon met with a problem: there were four overlaying channels throughout the rest of the song, and they weren't getting along. Sure, writing out the melody and bass line was simple enough, but it felt too empty, so I needed a way to incorporate at least one of the remaining two channels into the arrangement. This was my first attempt:



Not very pretty, I know. Even younger me from five years ago could tell it wasn't working out, but still, I needed to share a screenshot of the score for the forums. Since I wasn't on Discord yet, I didn't have a way to create embed links for my own images, so I registered for an Imgur account. As you can see above, that is an Imgur-linked image. The only problem was that it was shared publicly, for anyone on the site to see. One thoughful commenter offered some sage advice for me in the comments:



Though kind-hearted, the feedback did not give me any solution. Another stranger, however, went the extra mile:



... and came up with his own left hand part:

beeg attachment

[close]

But even then, it wasn't good enough for me. I decided to let this sheet rot in my backlog folder for a while, and some time later, I moved it to the dreaded "Never-To-Be-Finished" folder, a graveyard for my unworthiest arrangements. Things were looking pretty grim... until they weren't! You see, going back to listen to the track again, years later, I found that the accompaniment's arpeggiating pattern makes for a decent bass line, adjusted into root position where needed. And with a few finishing touches, I resurrected Mappy's "Bonus Round" from the dead; a first for this arranger, might I add!

So let this be a lesson to you all! No sheet, no matter how tricky, is unworthy. You might not finish it today, or next week, but someday, that song's gonna get the piano treatment it deserves. Enjoy! I've only got one more sheet left from this game, and it'll be here before you know it.

(Oh, and by the way, you may or may not have noticed that we dropped from nineteen to seventeen remaining work-in-progress sheets. The reason for this? Honestly, I've got no clue, and don't remember which sheet I removed, or where it got relocated. Maybe it'll turn up later, so tune in next time...)

(oh and my wip list is also public now just click on the counter ok thx bye)

Remaining WIP Sheets: 17

[LeviR.star]

433rd

[GB] Mega Man II - "Ending (Unused)"

[ZIP]

It is with great pleasure that I now present to you all my latest "dedicated game"...

Mega Man's II Bleeding Ears Project

Ever since I joined this site, I've wanted to be the one to arrange every single track from the ever-infamous Mega Man II, and today, that dream comes true! That's right: I've single-handedly put together sheets for all of this game's music, even the most mind-numbingly dissonant and screeching ones. See for yourself in the spoiler tab below:

Full List of Sheets (18 Total)

Title Screen / Dr. Wily Stage 2
Password
Stage Select
Stage Start
Metal Man Stage
Wood Man Stage
Air Man Stage
Crash Man Stage
Dr. Wily Stage 1
Needle Man Stage
Magnet Man Stage
Hard Man Stage
Top Man Stage
Boss
Stage Clear
Get a Weapon
Ending
Ending (Unused)

[close]

This certainly wasn't an easy feat, I can tell you that. I put off the last few sheets way too long for my own good, but I wouldn't have it any other way, because now I have them exactly the way I want 'em. Say, would any of you be interested in some meaningless statistics? Sure you would!

First Sheet Completed: Hard Man Stage
Last Sheet Completed: Ending (Unused) well, duh...
Easiest Sheet to Arrange: Stage Select
Hardest Sheet to Arrange: Air Man Stage
Shortest Sheet: Stage Clear, 0'2"
Longest Sheet: Ending (Unused), 1'51"
Favorite Sheet: Needle Man Stage (this one's parts merged very easily)
Least Favorite Sheet: Get a Weapon (conversely, this one's did not)
Project Duration: 67 months, or about 5 1/2 years

Little did you know that I only did this so no one else would have to do it for me and risk hearing loss

Welp, that just about wraps up my post. Not much left to say about this whole experience, since I've been telling you all stories the whole way... but that's okay! Because instead of reading nerds' rants on the Internet, you need to spend more time listening. That is, listening to:

Certified Mega Man Classics

[close]

If context clues didn't tip you off, I'll tell you: the next Mega Man game I intend to arrange in full is Mega Man IV, also on Game Boy. It's gonna be a little while longer, though, so you'd better get comfy.

Until next time, I hope you all have fun learning about yet another game you never knew existed.™

and, as always, don't forget to...

... eeeeennnnjoy!

[Fantastic Ike]

Wow nice! That takes a LOT of dedication.

[LeviR.star]

Wow nice! That takes a LOT of dedication.

Thanks, Ike!

Now it's time to finish off another soundtrack, on a much smaller scale.


434th

[ARCADE] Mappy - "Miscellaneous Short Themes and Sound Effects"

[ZIP]

YouTube Sources (there's a lot)

[close]

It's been a while since I've made a sheet like this. Normally, when I'm compiling a bunch of short themes together, it's for a smaller OST, but Mappy's was the first my series of Namco games that I felt needed multiple sheets. Could I have given "Bonus Round Results" its own sheet? Sure, but this saves time! And after all, it's a "short theme" isn't it? Case closed. Anyway, that's the last of Mappy. It's time for me to start thinking of the next early-eighties arcade game to give this treatment to. The Tower of Druaga looks tempting...

But don't go away yet! I've gotta post about the recent submissions, too:


105th (Re-Write)

[SNES] Kirby's Dream Course - "The First Hole"

[TOPIC]

(Original Sheet)

Starting out, this arrangement's first draft really isn't all that bad; it's the point at m. 22 where things start to take a turn for the worse. It drops the bass part completely in favor of the accompanying sixteenths, and the sense of key we had earlier is sorta lost (even if we've since modulated). I'm also not crazy about the older formatting, as you probably knew. Younger me had no business cramming this sheet into two pages. But no matter, because it's fixed now! Hooray!

0th - 40th?? (Re-Write)

[SNES] Mega Man 7 - "Dr. Wily Stage 4"

[TOPIC]

(Original Sheet)

O-Oh. That original sure is... ah...

*vomits*

... yeah, it's another one of these triple-stavers, as I like to call 'em. Shoddy formatting, incorrect beaming, missing information... it's got it all, as was the standard back in Fall of 2016. Though, I gotta say, the transcription ain't bad, so it was just a matter of condensing the three parts down into two hands. Am I happy with the result? Well, only sorta, but that's what the submission process is for. Taking okay sheets, and making them more-than-okay. Let's hear it for Mega Man 7 representation!

time to never touch this ost again


For my next PA update, I'll be adding my last sheet for the Kirby's Pinball Land soundtrack. Then, after that, I'll put together two new sheets for the recently-announced Space Travel project. And after that? I'll go back to arranging VGM at random, just like the good ol' days. You'll get to see some Mario Kart, a little Final Fantasy, and maybe even a dash of Kirby and The Forgotten Land, since I've just achieved 100% completion for it recently. The possibilities are endless, so enjoy!

Remaining Re-Writes: 7

[LeviR.star]

435th

[GB] Kirby's Pinball Land - "Leaderboard"

[ZIP]

"Hey, wait a minute, ain't that three completed OSTs in a row?"

Yes, that's right. You gonna help me celebrate, now, or what?

Presenting my tenth "dedicated game" project:

Kirby and the Forgotten Pinball Land Project

My even-longer journey to complete the Kirby's Pinball Land soundtrack has come to an end! There may only be half as many sheets here compared to Mega Man II, but it's still more than Mappy, so I felt it was worth putting on a ceremony for. Check the spoiler tag below for the full list:

Full List of Sheets (9 Total)

Title Screen
Leaderboard
Table Select
Whispy Woods Land
Bonus Game
Boss
King Dedede
Ending
High Score Entry

[close]

This game has been a part of my life for a while now (sixth grade, back when I first got my Game Boy,) so I always knew I had to do it justice and finish the project. You're probably not familiar with this title at all, but that's what I hope to fix. Meaningless statistics time? You bet!

First Sheet Completed: Whispy Woods Land
Last Sheet Completed: Leaderboard but you knew that...
Easiest Sheet to Arrange: Bonus Game
Hardest Sheet to Arrange: Table Select
Shortest Sheet: Title Screen, 0'22"
Longest Sheet: Whispy Woods Land, 1'22"
Favorite Sheet: Boss (catchy, and easy to arrange!)
Least Favorite Sheet: Leaderboard (those three parts did not get along...)
Project Duration: 69 months ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), or about 5 3/4 years

Now this game gets to join Kirby's Block Ball on my list of dedicated Kirby games. What's next? Oh, I dunno, probably BS Kirby's Toy Box... but does anyone really care about that one? i meant more than pinball land What I need to get back to doing is attempting to covering every single game in the franchise; I'm only a handful of titles away from accomplishing this goal, minus Kirby's Dream Land, since it is already finished on-site. But however long it takes me, I hope I'll still have you guys around to see it. Welp, I'm done rambling. Have a good night, everyone, and as always, don't forget to...

... check out my latest sheet for the Replacement Initiative!


436th

[NES] Yoshi's Cookie - "Music A"

[TOPIC]

God, this song is so boring; at least it was easy enough to prepare a sheet for.

I stand by this statement. Where was I? Oh, yeah...

... eeeeennnnjoy!

[LeviR.star]

Finals are imminent, and I'm beginning to lose a lot of sleep...


437th

[SNES] Kirby Super Star - "Flying Through Outer Space"

[TOPIC]

Hi just here to say what the frick, kirby?

Well said, my friend. As Cash has already pointed out in the thread, this is a rather unusual song for a Kirby game. It's in everybody's favorite meter, 7/8, and there's no clear tonal center—it just settles on a chord for a brief moment, then moves on to the next. Did I mention it took forever to put together? Err, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it definitely took me longer than anticipated; figuring out the right hand was a pain and a half. But now we're one step closer to finishing Kirby Super Star.

438th

[MUL] Mega Man 8 - "Astro Man Stage"

[TOPIC]

Ugh. Mega Man 8. Have you ever heard me talk about this game before? Probably not, because I'm not a huge fan. This here is the game that almost killed the classic series, leaving it to the many Mega Man spinoffs to keep the franchise alive. Mega Man 9, which released twelve years later, was arguably the only reason this franchise is still thriving today. What exactly don't I like about this game? Almost everything:

- the cutesy, saccharine visuals make me want to vomit; it's as if Mega Man X being edgy meant this game had to be the polar opposite
- the difficulty is watered down, and yet the developers thought that was good enough of a reason to get rid of E-Tanks, a staple of the series
- they not only brought back the scrolling shooter concept from Mega Man 5, but also introduced these god-awful snowboard sections
- the voice acting in the English version of the game is horrendous, and made me skip every cutscene I possibly could; it's like nobody cared
- most importantly, it's just not fun to me. I'm not sure where they went wrong with this factor, but I don't enjoy playing this game at all

Why is this all relevant here? Because, as you know, no matter how bad of a game I'm confronted with, I'll always find a way to defend its music. But this game's music? I just don't enjoy most of it. The transition into the next console generation brought about such a tonal shift, and for the first time in the series, I can't hum any of the game's tracks off the top of my head. Does not being catchy automatically make music bad? Certainly not, but it was the last straw with this game for me. I can't believe I was anxious to play this game when I got Mega Man Legacy Collection 2.

"Astro Man Stage", like many of the other tracks from this game, has very little to say. The melody is boring, strangely dissonant, and drops out for eight bars at a time on every loop, so these syncopated chords can take the spotlight. My opinion of the track wouldn't change if it worked better as a piano solo; that's just another downside. But I'm aiming to represent every game in the classic series on-site, and Mega Man 8 was just another hurdle.


Phew. That took a while to type out. Maybe updating my PA wouldn't take so long if I didn't spend so much time typing out long-winded rants...

Eh, who am I kidding? The rants are what make these updates exciting! So enjoy, and I'll see you next time.

[LeviR.star]

Over a month and a half and no new PA updates. Am I burnt out or something? Nah, far from it, actually.

We've got quite a bit of catching up to do, friends! To start, I'd like to introduce you all to my latest "dedicated game" project:


The Tower of Druaga Arrangement Project

I overestimated how much music I could fit into a single submission, which was rejected last week, so what started as a single "Music from..." sheet ended up getting split into six different ones! And it was a good call, too, because this OST had absolutely no business being crammed into one arrangement. Though, I'm not sure I want to submit any of them to the site on their own... maybe "Ending / Name Entry", because it works good on piano, but it's not notable enough by itself. And "Main Theme", while iconic to a degree, is devilishly challenging to play on a keyboard, and I don't want to punish any musicians out there. Oh well, I guess The Tower of Druaga's chapter ends here.

What's that? You want me to give an essay about this game and its influence on the gaming industry? Eh, go read about it yourself. I'm not in a rambling mood.

Full List of Sheets (6 Total)

[ARCADE] The Tower of Druaga

439th

Main Theme [ZIP]

440th

Quox [ZIP]

441st

Druaga [ZIP]

442nd

Princess Ki [ZIP]

443rd

Ending / Name Entry [ZIP]

444th

Miscellaneous Short Themes [ZIP]

[close]

Next up, I'll be posting about my latest submissions:


445th

[NES] Mega Man 2 - "Password"

[TOPIC]

This song seems awfully short for a submission, doesn't it? Yes, but as it's my goal to help finish covering Mega Man 2 on-site, it needed to be submitted eventually.

Also, I figured I'd lighten the load for the updaters, on account of my other submission slot...

446th

[NES] Bomberman - "Music from Bomberman"

[TOPIC]

Having watched over three and a half hours of this Bomberman documentary on YouTube so far, I've discovered that this franchise is way bigger than I could've ever imagined. So, out of respect for its massive legacy, I've decided to compile all the music from its first major title into another collection sheet. If you'd like to learn more about it, go ahead and click on the link to the topic.

Hang in there, we're not done yet! We've still gotta cover the bonus Druaga sheets!


[GB] The Tower of Druaga

447th

Title Screen [ZIP]

448th

Unused Song [ZIP]

Like the Game Boy nerd I am, I couldn't possibly ignore this game's first handheld rendition, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. At first glance, it appears to be an ordinary port, but if you look into it a bit further, it's got a handful of neat little upgrades: a health system, passwords for continuing every 10 floors, and even new music! (Okay, maybe that last part isn't so special.) But I couldn't resist arranging the new tracks, so I did; the title theme is especially catchy. Hope you enjoy thesebonus tracks!


Looks like we've reached the end, folks. I can assure you the next few sheets are going to be posted a little more regularly, because I can't do this every time. It can't be good for my health. Will the next selection surprise you? Will it make you roll your eyes? Will there ever be another update? Until next time, enjoy!

[LeviR.star]

Hello, all! What do you do when a sheet you thought was an original was actually a remix all along?

I'll tell you what you'll do; today, I'm introducing what I'm going to call a re-labeling!


155th (Re-Labeling)

[TG16] Bomberman '93 - "Planet Icicle"

[ON-SITE]

So, as you might've heard, I'm in the process of watching a very lengthy Bomberman documentary on YouTube, which gives a detailed history of every piece of Bomberman media over the years: games, mangas, anime series, and pretty much anything else there is to talk about. I'm not even yet halfway yet, but I have already picked up some valuable information about these games, the most important thing being that this is a series that reuses music. Like, relatively often; more than modern Kirby games, I'd venture to say. This is especially ironic, considering that the Bomberman series has a very... loose canon (ba-dum tiss) and lore throughout the early games is seldom consistent. I don't want to get into it, but I'll just say that many of these titles throw out established concepts, characters, and stories on the regular. Now, back to the music! The Super Bomberman games (there's five of them on the SNES alone) are especially comfortable with reusing tracks written by Jun Chikuma (the series's chief composer). And the remixes aren't all that novel, either; this one in particular is nearly a 1:1 port of the original, only with different instruments. But as I was rushing to find winter-related tracks for my first 12 Days of Sheet-Mas, I didn't know this; I hardly knew anything about these games. But now I do, so I hope you enjoy my first TurboGrafx-16 sheet!

[LeviR.star]

Two months later, I'm still chuggin' along...


154th (Re-Write)

[BS-X] BS-X: Sore wa Namae o Nusumareta Machi no Monogatari - "SoundLink Schedule"

[ON-SITE]

"Hey, now, hold on a minute!" you might be saying right now, "I don't remember Levi arranging from this game!"

You very well might, because this sheet is not only a re-write, but also another re-labeling of sorts! Here's the original sheet, from that dreaded 12 Days of Sheet-Mas of 2017. Turns out, the Satellaview BIOS has an official name, and it's commonly translated into English as "BS-X: The Story of The Town Whose Name Was Stolen" (kind of a mouthful, ain't it?) But, since this peripheral was never localized, the translated name isn't exactly "canon", so this is what we'll be calling it. Expect to see updated versions of the rest of my Satellaview sheets very soon!


179th (Re-Write)

[SNES] Kirby's Dream Land 3 - "Grass Land 1"

[TOPIC]

157th (Re-Write)

[GCN] The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures - "Frozen Hyrule"

[TOPIC]


As for my two most recent submissions, I think they're in a lot better shape than they were. The old version of "Grass Land 1" didn't have a playability or an accuracy problem, which is uncommon for my re-writes, but it was lacking those rapid sixteenths arpeggios that land between the melody and the bass. Because of this, a lot of energy from the original song was lost as a result. So I've included the best of both worlds by cramming sixteenths between the on-beats, and I'm pretty satisfied with the result. Hope you've got some fast fingers.

"Frozen Hyrule" is yet another disaster from the 2017 holiday season, and like all of my re-writes, it hasn't held up well. To put it simply, it's just ugly. The sorest of eyesores. And the playback? It sounds even worse than it looks. I wouldn't have even arranged it had I known it was just "Dark World" from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in disguise. All around, this is one of the most terrible sheets I've ever brought to my PA, and I can't overstate how relieved I am to have re-written it. But that doesn't mean it'll ever be good.

I'm making great headway with my re-writes, folks! Only four remain, and I plan on submitting them during November and December (because October is reserved for Castlevania). In the mean time, I'll get to work on finishing my WIPs and giving my other Satellaview sheets a fresh coat of paint. Enjoy!

Remaining Re-Writes: 4

[LeviR.star]

[insert generic greeting here]


126th (Re-Labeling)

[BS-X] BS-X: Sore wa Namae o Nusumareta Machi no Monogatari - "Downloading Theme 2"

[ON-SITE]

51st (Re-Labeling)

[BS-X] Kirby no Omochabako: Hoshi Kuzushi - "Title Screen"

[ON-SITE]

66th (Re-Labeling)

[BS-X] BS Zelda no Densetsu - "Overworld"

[ON-SITE]

0th - 40th?? (Re-Labeling)

[GB] Donkey Kong - "Chase Scene"

[ON-SITE]

If you recall seeing this post from the Sheet Music Errors Thread, you'll know what this is all about. I recently cracked down on addressing my incorrectly-labeled sheets, and to start, I've provided all-new versions of four of them. Kirby's Toy Box and the Satellaview remake of The Legend of Zelda now have their Japanese titles, and Donkey Kong '94 has been shortened to Donkey Kong, thanks to the addition of console tags on the site. In addition, all four of these have been recreated with my current sheet template, and received several corrections and formatting tweaks. We're not done with re-labeling yet, however, because my four other BS-X BIOS sheets still need to be updated to reflect the new changes. Enjoy!

[LeviR.star]

Good evening, everybody! Anyone hungry for some sheets?


449th

[ARCADE] Metro-Cross - "Main Theme"

[TOPIC]

450th

[ARCADE] Ghosts 'n Goblins - "Opening, Stage Start"

[ZIP]

This puppy's got 3 YouTube links

[close]

As a budding fan of Nobuyuki Ohnogi's contributions to VGM, it was only a matter of time before I arranged for Metro-Cross; after all, I've already covered Mappy and Galaga in full, so why stop there? This game's music is some of the catchiest that I've heard out of early 80s Namco, and its inclusion in the Super Smash Bros. games made arranging it an absolute necessity. After I finish off the rest of the music from this game, I think I'll put together a "Music from Xevious" sheet; we do already have a sheet for Xevious on the site, but I've grown discontent with it.

The arcade version of Ghosts 'n Goblins is something I've intended to cover more of for a while now, but the "Opening" and "Stage Start" fanfares were not exactly next on my list. See, when the Halloween 2022 Arrangement Project was shadow dropped a little while back, I looked through my PA to see if I had anything fitting to submit. I had several, but two in particular caught my eye: "Devilish Mode" from Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, and "Opening" from Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Since we were allowed to submit multiple shorter sheets, I figured the latter could use a companion, prompting me to put together a new Ghosts 'n Goblins arrangement, also based around the opening cutscene. Unfortunately, three sheets proved to be too much, so I deleted the other two, and kept the Kirby sheet.

That's all for tonight, folks! Enjoy, and I'll see you again soon.

[LeviR.star]

After I finish off the rest of the music from this game, I think I'll put together a "Music from Xevious" sheet; we do already have a sheet for Xevious on the site, but I've grown discontent with it.

A-ha! Gotcha. I said I'd move onto Xevious after I finished Metro-Cross, but I didn't say when I'd finish Metro-Cross, now, did I?

You fools! You've all fallen right into my trap! The Snooker strikes again! *mischievous laugh*


451st

[ARCADE] Bosconian - "Music from Bosconian"

[ZIP]

Like the YouTube source? I made it myself, just for this sheet! Everything was already on a Kingdom Hearts Insider page—all I had to do was organize the clips in a Google Doc, and splice them together with Audacity. From there, it was as simple as dropping the audio file along with a PNG of the game's logo into my video editing software. Easy as pie!

Bosconian is another one of composer/programmer Nobuyuki Ohnogi's projects, released in 1981, the same year Donkey Kong hit the arcades. Based on the title alone, you'd think it was another follow-up to Galaxian and Galaga, and in all fairness, it follows a very similar premise: shooting down alien space ships... in space (they weren't super creative in those days). But Bosconian was somewhat unique: it was a scrolling shooter, and you could flying around in multiple directions across a large area of space, without being confined to the borders of one screen. And in the sound department, it had voice samples to enrich the experience, which were a little less annoying than the ones in King & Balloon, the game that introduced them to arcade tech several months prior. The music is still limited to three channels, but it's got this fascinating pattern of pentatonic figures all throughout the soundtrack; you can hear them in "Game Start", "Round Clear", "High Score", and even the "Credit" and "1-Up" sound effects. This is more than enough evidence that Ohnogi was far ahead of his time, and more than just a programmer... if I haven't convinced you already, I'll keep at it!

Next up, I'll most likely be whipping up two more re-writes to submit for the next cycle. In the meantime, enjoy!

[LeviR.star]

On the first day of Sheet-Mas, my-

Wait just a second there!! We still haven't posted the latest re-writes I submitted this month! Better do that quick...


117th (Re-Write)

[SNES] Mega Man X3 - "Gravity Beetle Stage"

[TOPIC]

56th (Re-Write)

[GBA] Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land - "Main Menu"

[TOPIC]

Now, where were we? Oh, yes...

On the first day of Sheet-Mas, my true love gave to me...


1st/452nd

[SMS] Alex Kidd in Miracle World - "Main Theme"

[ZIP]

who the hell is alex kidd

He's a loser, that's who. Ah, sorry, that was kind of harsh, what I just said right then... I mean, he's just a Kidd, after all.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World is the first installment of Sega's short-lived franchise starring the titular character, the company's intended mascot. The popular story is that, after seeing the rising popularity of Nintendo's Mario, they asked themselves, "A charming, marketable character? Well, why can't we do that?" Since no one bothered to answer that question for them, they went ahead and launched this game for the Master System, a console which I've never arranged for, (unless you count the first 8-bit Sonic the Hedgehog game, also released to the Game Gear). In fact, they were so dead-set on selling this character that they built the game into newer models of the Master System; turn on the console without a cartridge plugged in, and you'd be able to play Miracle World right off the bat. Alex would go on to star in several more installments, but mixed reception to Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle combined with Sonic's explosive debut left this series to rot in obscurity for decades to come.

In terms of gameplay, the Alex Kidd titles have, in my opinion, aged horribly. I got the chance to play the 2021 remake, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, during Thanksgiving Break (it was on sale), and over the course of one long afternoon, I loathed it every step of the way. The controls were slippery no matter which settings I toggled, the short-ranged punching mechanic was a nightmare to use, and nearly every design aspect was laughably bad. The level design was incredibly unfriendly, you die after taking one hit, vehicles you can buy explode if you graze just one wall, and the main gimmick to fighting bosses is... rock, paper, scissors. Yes, you heard me correctly: surviving boss battles is entirely luck based. Sure, you can use a special item to see which move your opponent will use ahead of time, but come on, where's the strategy in that? The fact that this game is considered one of Sega and the Master System's crown jewels is pitiful, so, so pitiful. Sega certainly succeeded in creating a marketable character, but designing his games to be even remotely fun is where they fell short. Sound familiar, Sega fans?

Now, the music in the original is nothing special, but absolutely adore the work that was put into the remake's soundtrack. The implementation of an acoustic guitar was nothing short of genius, and the musicians breathed so much life into the originals that it's almost unreal. The main theme arrangement is a perfect reincarnation of the first iteration that even adds more melodic material, and the underwater theme arrangement took a boring song and made it sound gorgeous. They also composed a bunch of new songs, which all sound perfectly in-line with the re-arranged tracks; the boss rush's use of the main theme motif was absolutely fascinating. Best of all, they made Master System-styled arrangements of all the new tracks for the "retro mode" that the game utilizes, and had I not known they were newly-written, I would've fully believed they were from 1986. Bravo, you guys.

Before I sign off for tonight, I'd like to bring one thing to your attention: for my 12 Days of Sheet-Mas series this year, no console or franchise will be arranged for twice. I'm doing this to introduce a little more variety to my PA. Expect some interesting stuff to come! Enjoy!!

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