ReMix: Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master 'Whirlwind(GaleForceMix)'

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As a fan of the original and a bigger fan of Revenge, I never quite got into Shinobi 3 or Shadow Dancer too much. Honestly, I think it was the difficulty level, because they still had many of the same qualities that made the others great - classic 2D ninja action, good tunes, and most importantly . . . Ninja Magic! This latest mix from Rayza is very hybridized work that transitions from spacey, electric-piano driven contemporary jazz to synth-driven trance, and manages to make such transitions sound fairly natural. Given the discrepancy between those two genres, that's an impressive feat. The melody is fairly simple and is not elaborated upon wildly, other than the sense that it's been skillfully adapted to not one but two alternate genres. Jazzy portions feature a mellow EP, half-tempo drums with a nice rim shot, and very new age pads and falling synth effects, whereas the upbeat dancish bits have pulsing synth chords, a synth arpeggio that hops around the stereo field, and a nice monoglide synth lead. The melody itself has some really tasteful intervals that exhibit some good range, and it's nice to hear it so emphasized and also covered by two different lead timbres. I initially thought the ending was gonna be a letdown, but things abruptly fade back in for a good "gotcha" that concludes things with quality punctuation. The main attraction here would seem to be the genre-alternation, which does work quite well and which in the end is enough to "sell" the arrangement; it's good enough, though, that Rayza could have elaborated more and taken a bit more poetic license, for my money, in cooking up some new harmony, lead, or counter-melody. Still a great mix of a good, memorable melody that deserved resurrection and works well with the style-hop transitions. Recommended.

― djpretzel