ReMix:Ninja Gaiden "Basilisk Run" 4:12

By Vurez

Arranging the music of one song...

"Ryu's Determination"

Primary Game: Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo , 1988, NES), music by Keiji Yamagishi, Ryuichi Nitta

Posted 2005-08-03, evaluated by the judges panel


Vurez is back with his sophomore offering:

"This is a remix of the mine music from the first Ninja Gaiden on the NES. And since this is a mine remix, I used a good amount of reverb and delay in some parts (well, I pretty much always use quite a bit of reverb and delay but at least it fits better in this case)."

Seems intuitive enough. With a guitar-laden conquistador vibe of sorts, venturing into spaghetti western territory, the ReMixer gives a nice genre spin on the original. This makes not one, not two, but three lovely Basilisks, to my certain knowledge, with the recent anime series (long live the Iga, Myth) and 68k Mac emulator being two others that come to mind. Introing with bass and discretely panned latin percussion, quickly articulated acoustic guitar enters and is then joined by panflute. Some of the articulations are quite intricate and graceful, and serve as numerous highlights. Trumpet enters at 1'42" and is not quite as strong as the other elements - a little anemic, but you gotta applaud the variety, and the tremolo electric guitar that comes in right afterwards at 2'04" more than compensates, taking things into Spaghetti Cowboy territory, if not as overtly as Gux did. Shnabubula bubulates:

"Bass and percussion hold down the air tight groove which allow other things to float on top like the pan flutes and melodic guitar parts. Sections flow seamlessly into one another. A good example is at 1:57 when the pan flute is the star player. At 2:05 the guitar shows up to comment and then assumes control at 2:12 but before we have a chance to miss the momentum created by the pan flute, the drums come in at 2:16 to compensate. That's how transitions are done!"

With weed adding:

"the arrangement is fantastic - the transitions are all very well-thought out. this is like ninja gaiden meets gerudo valley so while its extremely cliche in that respect, it still does it seamlessly and with enough panache to serve several arrangements over. the guitar parts are very well written and are loads of fun to listen to even if they aren't real."

Which is a pretty nice comment to get from one of them REAL guitar playin' folks ;) Hell, at 3'00" even you even get funkdafied wah action, and we all know how wah action can add that lil' sumtin-sumtin, and Don also brings in some high-end, almost discotheque strings for the finale. This is simply a very flamboyant, dynamic, and downright good mix, which does synthetic acoustic and electric guitars oh so very admirably and blends some less common genres in at the same time. Impressive.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Holy Land
on 2010-09-16 13:36:41

Damn, this is good. Quite unpredictable too, with the choice of instruments and such. The mine theme is one of the greatest NES songs and this is an interesting spin on it.

Great idea for the arrangement and even better execution. Thumbs up.

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tweex
on 2010-08-25 20:17:20

Love the latin/cuban vibe that the opening gives. THe hand percussion sounds really nice. I was a little disappointed by the tone of the upright bass as it sounds pretty fakey here and there, but when the guitar and pan flute come in, all is forgiven :)! The melody and counterpoint coming from the flute and guitar are excellent. THe panning section with the flute was an interesting choice. The trumpet, while it needed a little faster attack, sounded pretty darn good! I love when you go way down low on the guitar and hit some of those low strings that just resonate so well. I can't tell if I'd hear this in Cuba or in the Outback and I love that. The seamless integration of those two influences is so natural that they feel like they've always been together. I love the wah guitar as well. The marcato strings were a great touch. I swear, every time I think I know what's coming next, Don throws in some new element that totally out of the norm, but damn it, it works EVERY TIME! Excellent work!!!

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avaris
on 2009-12-01 11:38:02

Really unique song with a very strong flavour. would have enjoyed more emphasis on the percussion. The hand drums could have had more presence to allow the song to carry a better sense of forward motion that is carried out so well with the other instruments. Some awesome melodic and harmonic throughout this one, def good for some chilled out music when you are trying to work on something. :)

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metalsnakejuice
on 2009-04-13 04:55:55

l really enjoy this mix, the guitar was great while the flute was my favorite. overall this really is a tasty mix.

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OA
on 2009-04-02 12:42:25

The mix overall is really good, but what really stuck out to me was that super nicely sequenced guitar. It's really tastefully played, with a lot of detail in both velocities and modulation, and some well thought out slides and bends. The rest of the mix is good too, with some hard-panned pan flutes (haha) and a lot of varied percussive textures. The flow is really well paced, and production is very clean. The adding of additional guitars to build to an exciting ending is icing on this cake.

Tasty! Nom nom nom

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your the man now dog
on 2006-09-30 15:18:14

i haven't heard the song from the game, but this sounds almost like a Gerudo Valley OOT remix. Morricone western remixes = automatic win.

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Liontamer
on 2006-03-03 22:49:31
Sounds almost mexican sobraro type to me. I don't even realize what song was remixed on this one. Not bad, could be better.

Rather sad if you don't recognize the original in here. This is very far from a liberal arrangement.

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nardman
on 2006-03-03 22:30:39

Sounds almost mexican sobraro type to me. I don't even realize what song was remixed on this one. Not bad, could be better.

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YellowYoshi1
on 2006-03-02 07:22:14

Hey, another remix that gets stuck on repeat for hours on end. Great job with this. It definately has a Gerudo Valely/western feel, and I like it. Nice work.

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Ruffian
on 2006-02-26 03:41:02

by far, one of the best translations directly from a video game.

i love the pan flute

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tsh2596
on 2006-01-25 23:32:49

This is my favorite song from Ninja Gaiden. Please tell me that there is a guitar tab somewhere! I am dying to learn this and I can't quite get it by ear!

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1337pino
on 2006-01-19 01:37:24

With the guitar, this sounds like a remix of the Gerudu Valley song, and I'm glad I'm not the only one that is hearing this (yay, I'm still sane)

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meccaneer
on 2005-10-07 11:05:16

For real, this sounds like some RPG overworld theme. I ain't no ninja but, if I were, I wouldn't be gettin' my stealth on with this tune. I really can't dig it. Even some of the samples were pretty weak. The guitar is slick. The rest is hick. The drumming and violin at the end is redeeming but, not quite enough.

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Rychan
on 2005-08-26 14:30:10

Very sweet remix. Well done! Make more!

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Sinewav
on 2005-08-24 11:25:11

OH MY GOSH! I love the source tune for this song! I never ever thought it would get remixed! THANK YOU!

The remix itself is also much, much more than I expected. Gotta love the guitar playing.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo , 1988, NES)
Music by Keiji Yamagishi,Ryuichi Nitta
Songs:
"Ryu's Determination"

Tags (3)


Genre:
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Woodwinds
Additional:
Regional > World

File Information


Name:
Ninja_Gaiden_Basilisk_Run_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,903,653 bytes
MD5:
dfaf9a06bca037c98e80656d6372511d
Bitrate:
184Kbps
Duration:
4:12

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