Today we return to remixing through a choice that, somehow, I’m expecting to receive only a luke-warm reception. Despite being one of the more prolific arrangers out there in the last few years, Instant Remedy seem to be rather underappreciated. Hopefully I can persuade you to give them a look. If you like what you hear below, check out all of their productions over on their homepage - it’s well worth it!

Zolyx’s Game Music Monday #17:
Instant Remedy – Last Ninja – The Wastelands (Extended Version)

From the second those iconic ninja eyes fade into view the discerning viewer will recognise that the song I’ve picked is from 8-bit masterpiece Last Ninja. The Commodore 64 version was produced almost completely by a Hungarian team known as SoftView at the request of Mark Cale, the boss of System 3. They were never credited for it – allegedly at their own request – and nor were they paid for their efforts. Considering the success that their game enjoyed, this seems most unjust. For many it must feature high on list of the best games of all time, on any platform.

Enjoy the track and be sure to tune in next week for another trip back in time!

Back in time we go, way back to the happy ol’ year of 1987 – a time when the Commodore 64 was in its heyday, Mastertronic was as close to a household name for budget gaming as you could get, and bedroom coders were busily programming their way towards innovating the next fantastic game.

It’s debatable whether Energy Warrior falls into the exact category of “fantastic”, but I’d say the music is more than good enough to deserve a listen. This is the original title theme as composed by Andy Grimson (according to Lemon, at least… and who am I to prove them wrong?).

Zolyx’s Game Music Monday #16: Andy Grimson – Energy Warrior

I particularly like the punchy start and creative use of unconventional drum sounds, and for me it ranks up there as one of the most memorable tunes of the C64 era. I wonder if the SID chip’s designers ever thought that three channels and some noise would be the source of such fond reminiscing all these years later…

Anyhow, I bid you farewell until next time, SID-heads!

Here we find ourselves on another Monday full of dreariness and possibly even despair. But push whatever ails you out of your mind for just a few minutes and enjoy another retrolicious remixed track from two people you’ve probably never heard of before in your life! Apple is the fine person to have rearranged the original composition from Blair Zuppicich. And, er, no… we’re not talking about that Apple. Oh no. Certainly there are no apps or music playing devices in this post, except for the cunning Flash wotsit through which you can enjoy the tune on YouTube, right below these very words…

Zolyx’s Game Music Monday #15: Apple – Cybernetix

If the image wasn’t enough of a clue, let me tell you that this comes from an old but excellently polished Amiga title called Cybernetix: The First Battle. I seem to remember it being similar to Transplant – another game with great music that someone really needs to remix – in that all you had to do was kill all of the aliens in each level. In this game, however, there is no nausea-inducing screen rotation, just good ol’ fashioned wraparound horizontal scrolling. Pretty standard fare for 1992, really, but packaged up and presented quite professionally by the author, Paul Andrews. Some credit should also go to Rodney Smith for the game’s artwork.

Where are they now, eh? I will leave you to ponder that thought until next week’s thrilling episode!

So, on to business we go. My pick today is just a single one of the many remix productions of Sebastian Bachliñski, aka moog. Arguably the most prolific musician of the last 5 years in the scene, his portfolio on remix.kwed.org spans over thirty pieces of music, and all of them are rated either “very good” or “excellent”. He knows his art, that’s for sure. This is the first track of his that I’ve featured and, you know, I rather think there’ll be others as the year rolls on…

Zolyx’s Game Music Monday #14: moog (Sebastian Bachliñski) – Rubicon Title 98

The song comes from Rubicon, a game released in 1991 by 21st Century Entertainment, with the music being composed originally by Jeroen Tel of the legendary Maniacs of Noise. Yep – he’s the same man who created possibly the greatest piece of C64 SID music ever for Cybernoid 2… but that’s a story for another Monday. Meanwhile, this track isn’t too shabby either, so I hope you enjoy it and be sure to tune in next week for some more of the good stuff!

No, in fact the game I talk of is one of those rare few titles that spans multiple generations of gaming hardware – from the humble BBC Micro to the ill-fated Amiga CD32 – and at each step, has retained its crown as one of the most epic arcade adventures that was ever created. Do you believe you can procedurally generate a world big enough to easily support tens of hours of action-puzzle exploration, and give that world a complete Newtonian physics engine, all in just 64KB of memory? That is what programmers Peter Irvin and Jeremy Smith managed to do. Oh… and did I say yet how bloody fantastic the Amiga version intro music is?

Zolyx’s Game Music Monday #13: Henry Jackman – Exile

Yes, you can tell it’s 4-channel MOD music and it has rough edges, but like a Vulcan mind-meld, it also imprints the feel of the game into you using nothing more than a few seconds of instantly memorable synth pad harmony. I’m really glad I chose this music for today’s episode because until now, the MOD version of this had been sitting in my library under “unknown artist”. Now I can finally give Henry Jackman proper credit for composing and arranging this bit of the gaming memory that is Exile.

A little while ago it was the Indie Music Bundle to titillate your ears with fantastic vibes, but right now you have a choice of not one, or even two… but four different game bundles to check out – and they’re all asking you to pay as little or as much as you like! One is even completely free to download!

Since a couple of them are also supporting charity, now is a great time if you’re just starting to dip in to the world of indie games and are looking to snag some great deals at the same time as helping a good cause. While it’s possible to take the dimmer view that it’s an easy way for an organiser to make a quick buck, that would be pretty unfair – if you believe in the charitable roots behind a couple of these bundles then they’re doing a lot of good at a time of year when it matters the most. Even if a bundle doesn’t donate part of its proceeds to charity, it’s still a good way to get some games you might otherwise have overlooked for an excellent price. Stocking fillers ahoy!

Read on to see all of the currently running bundles that are clamouring for your attention…

First we have The Humble Indie Bundle #4. From the people who started the whole bundle phenomenon off, this is actually their eighth compilation of games that they’ve offered up, and it’s a darn good one too: Visually sumptuous bullet hell shoot ‘em up Jamestown, pixelly reflex tester Bit.Trip.Runner, acclaimed platformer Super Meat Boy, gritty tale of revenge Shank, and rolling stone NightSky HD as standard. There’s also strategic explosion factory Gratuitous Space Battles and magnificent adventure Cave Story+ included if you pay more than the average price. Eek! That’s a lot of adjectives for a lot of games!

Next we have Indie Royale’s Christmas Bundle. For some titles that aren’t quite so well-known you may want to give this a look – it contains The Blackwell Trilogy: Remastered, a quality series of three point ‘n’ click adventures; Eets, an endearing puzzler that’s far more cerebral than it looks; Dino D-Day, a FPS exploring an alternative WW2; and The Oil Blue, a satirical action simulator of the oil business. Ticks all the right boxes and covers all bases pretty darn well.

Third up is the Little Big Bunch, a newcomer to the bundle party but boasting a juicy selection of five classy indie titles. It features polished platformer Explodemon, the only game I know of with a self-exploding hero, and Frozen Synapse, a fine turn-based strategy game set in a strange blue cyberverse. It has more, too, in the form of New Star Soccer 5 for all you football fans, Munch’s Oddysee for those who love helping aliens, and Serious Sam Double D for those who just want to shoot aliens with literally stacks of guns!

Last but certainly not least is the free-to-download 99 Percent Bundle, a pack of games from developers that you almost certainly won’t have heard of. Does that mean you should ignore them? Absolutely not! It includes a ginormous thirteen games to enjoy, including NeonPlat Adventures (by AGameAWeek’s Jayenkai), pleasant Flash game Diamond Hollow II, and the fantastically-titled Next Time I Won’t Trust The Man In The White Van. I dare you not to check out this pack just through sheer curiosity!

Surely somewhere amongst this selection of 31 titles is a game to tweak your interest. But if there isn’t… word on the street is there’s probably another bundle coming out next week. Just you wait and see if I’m not right

Happy bundling!

Episode #11: Richard Westall – Arkanoid (Title Screen)
http://youtu.be/5FmhC-2TcR0

You’d think that with there being so many different mixes of the unmistakable Arkanoid title screen theme that it would be easy to find one that was good whilst also being a bit out of the ordinary. Not so, to my ear! Well-known UK remixer Infamous came close with one of his versions but, at the end of the day, I plumped for one of the oldest listed versions by Richard Westall. The original music was, of course, by Martin Galway. If you think my choice of mix is a little boring, well… you’re wrong, of course, but perhaps this week’s offering might be more to your liking…

Episode #12: Mixer – Nemesis the Warlock
http://youtu.be/3YarfFg87G0

Mentioning one musical legend in this post isn’t enough for me. It’s time to double the awesome – so how about a saxaphonistic re-imagination one of Rob Hubbard‘s compositions? The tune was one he made for the computer adaptation of 2000AD’s comic book character, Nemesis the Warlock. In a strangely effective tangent to the comic’s style, artist Mixer decided to jazz it up – with real jazz. I think it works surprisingly well. Treat your ears for a few minutes and see if you don’t agree.

Happy listening – until next time!

Zolyx’s Game Music Monday #10: J Krafft – IK Hamburg Extravaganza RMX

Today’s arranger, J Krafft, takes one of Rob Hubbard‘s iconic songs from International Karate and changes it into a softer, more ambient mix that is perfect to just chill and unwind with. The vocal samples are a nice touch and don’t sound gimmicky as such additions often can.

Click play and tune out! Hope you enjoy and I’ll see you same time next week.