Overclocked Remix, the world’s largest video game remix community has just released an awesome 24 track tribute to Kirby’s Super Star for SNES! Directed by Arek the Absolute with beautiful cover art by PROTODOME, this album doesn’t sparkle in cosmetics alone.
As with all OCRemix albums, these are fan arrangements offered for free download direct from their site! They offer MP3 downloads either direct from their server or via BitTorrent. I suggest using the torrent, as it’s super fast and helps OCR save on bandwidth!
I love Donkey Kong Country as much as the next person who enjoys tediously difficult super nintendo games, and turns out I’m not the only one. Both OverClocked Remix and DK Vine have created their own massive DKR remix albums. And they’re both free!
OverClocked Remix’s “Double The Trouble!” is a ridiculous 77 song compilations featuring remixes from 69 individual artists in a variety of styles. The album is available for free download via dkc3.ocremix.org.
DK Vine’s “Chip Country” is a 30 track 8-bit remix album featuring chipmusicians like Iron Curtain, Heavy W8bit, MyLifeIsPixels, 8-BITchin’tendo, PolarBirds, and Nestrogen. It is also available for free download viaDKVine.com.
Melt away that winter chill at 8static on February 9th!! This month we will bring you four amazing performers; all debuting new material live at this show!!
Scene chameleon, Doomcloud, may perform under many different monikers, but this time he will be completely redefining an existing one! Presenting his live debut of all-live hardware, NES dance music, you could almost call this Doomcloud 2.0! Don’t let the name or platform change interrupt your perception of what will be an amazing groove session as we close out the night in style!
Local legend, Ro-Bear, will be bring us some all-new jams this time. Known for producing some of the most elegant and lyrical music on the Gameboy, we can’t wait to see what he has in store for us this show!
Ricky Brugal may be a new name to 8static, but he definitely isn’t a new face. Performing twice before in the past under Da Pantz, Ricky Brugal will making his 8static debut not only with a change in names, but also in style! His musical autobiography has changed pace to reflect his true-life experience and we look forward to seeing his performance!
Philadelphia’s Cutman may be better known for his chiptune and VGM remix work as Dj CUTMAN, but at this show he will be debuting his set of all-original music for the first time at 8static! Don’t be late as he will be opening the performance with his new jams!
Coming all the out from Seattle, we welcome demoscene player, Guybrush on visuals!! Formerly of Northern Dragons demo group, we are honored to have him make his east coast performance debut at 8static!! Aside from visuals, Guybrush will also be hosting our workshop, giving us a demoscene rundown and some examples of his work!
Our after-party upstairs at The Institute Bar down the block will be a special performance by, Dj CUTMAN, temporarily suspending his hiatus to hang with us!! Also don’t forget, as an 8static patron your bill will be 10% off!
Admission will be a sliding scale of $7-$10 & doors are at 7pm. Those that support 8static with a $10 admission fee will receive a special sticker exclusive to this month’s show! Spread the word and get your friends to join us at another amazing 8static at PhilaMOCA!!!
Can’t make it out to Philly? Listen to the live stream on Arecibo Radio and experience the show as it happens!
The lists of the best NES and Gameboy soundtracks are filled with familiar hits from Megaman, Zelda and Metroid. But there were a lot of less-than-stellar games for these systems that had some killer music. Here’s some amazing 8-bit songs you might have never heard.
Journey To Sillius
Journey to Sillius was originally going to be a Terminator video game but somehow Sunsoft lost the liscence and slapped a generic Sci-Fi story on this super tough platform run-and-gun game. Sunsoft gets two games on the top of the list for the same reason: Killer bass! While the triangle wave bass sound is one of the defining sounds of the NES, it also lacks character and punch of more modern synthesizer basses. While the DPCM channel on the NES normally plays tiny drum samples, that’s not all it can do.
The composers of Journey To Sillius loaded up beefy synth samples and used the noise channel to make drums. That gives these songs a lot more punch than your standard NES song. The added static from these 1-bit crushed samples actually adds to the power of these tunes.
To be fair, this soundtrack has gotten some recognition, it breaks the top 100, 300 and even top 20 on some lists, but I think it should be much higher. Check out the mind-blowing echoing part around 2:12 too!
Gimmick!
Gimmick is another Sunsoft entry to the NES line of games from 1992. Its happy, bouncy tunes are propelled along by awesome slap bass and crunchy samples that set it apart from other NES songs with their subtle bass parts. This game has got to have the busiest DPCM channels of any game out there. If you listen carefully you’ll notice that in some songs drum samples are playing in between bass samples. The resulting full sound never got the recognition it deserverd, probably mostly due to the fact that the game came out so late in the NES’s development cycle.
M.C. Kids
An annoying thing from the 90’s was that there was a video game that game out for every product imaginable. Every Saturday morning cartoon, soda, action figure collection got their own second-rate NES game. McDonalds didn’t want to be left out so they released M.C. Kids. It was basically a Super Mario 3 clone and brought little innovation or excitement. It’s graphics were also pretty weak. All that said though, this track is one of the most catchy things I’ve heard on the NES. The way they use the triangle bass is just great! I am warning you right now, if you listen to this song more than twice, it will be in your head for weeks. You may even awake from a sudden daze sitting in McDonalds with a Big Mac in your hand and have no idea how you got there. True story.
Turok
The Turok franchise started up around the N64 days around 1997. The Gameboy games had some amazing music. This Asian-infused little groove is really great. It’s hard to imagine this song sounding any better with modern instrumentation.
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Conquest of the Crystal Palace was a hard-as-Blaster-Master platformer filled with weird characters (Dogs wearing Samurai armor) and impossible jumps. It’s one of those games that’s hard even if you use save states to cheat! The first level, however, has some of the most memorable Asian-influenced music you’ll ever hear on the NES. It’s got some great drum work too.
S-11
Released by Sunsoft and Paragon 5 in 2001, S-11 boasts some of the most amazing music for the Gameboy Color. You’re ears will have a hard time accepting that you’re only listening to 4 simultaneous sounds here.
Uncle Fester’s Quest
This super whacky Adams Family game might not have been the best game ever, but it had some killer music. This track uses the sampled bass trick that Sunsoft later perfected. You gotta respect that gritty bass sound and head banging beat. It’s very hard to make anything that truly rocks on the NES but this hits the spot. The interior “3d” areas of the game also have some of the creepiest music you’ll ever hear. I remember being on the edge of my seat exploring dark empty hallways, expecting something to jump out at me.
This is by no means a complete list. Post in the comments the long-lost gems that I might have left out.
Beatscribe is a full time indie composer, musician and writer. By day he creates soundtracks for various mobile gaming companies, by night creates megaman-inspired chiptunes, in the afternoons he drinks tea. Check out his latest releases, tutorials and retro ruminations at www.beatscribe.com.
Overclocked Remix, the world’s largest video game remix community has just released an awesome 24 track tribute to Kirby’s Super Star for SNES! Directed by
