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OCR01121 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG) "Reich Lake"


djpretzel
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I'll try to be a bit more intuitive than the last review poster. :P

Although Mario music is my strong suit, I've dabbled in Sonnic enough to like it. Also, along with Mario and Zelda, Sonic remixes are among the toppest in quality on the site. But enough of that.

To be objective, at 00:10 I was prematurely wondering if the mix was going anywhere. But at about 00:40 when the drums kick in, I got into it more. The mix has a nice steady rise and an equally pleasing decline at the end, with all instruments coming in on their cues. Is the mix repetative? Yes, a little? Is it monotonous? No, I don't think so. The patches are good enough, and their interface with eachother is implemented well enough, so that the mix, though not pulling much in the way of surprise and improvization, has a nice steady run.

Overall rating: 4/5

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Sounds odd to hear a Sega Master System Sonic 2 track here, but eh... the Reich style definitely fits within the piece, and the instruments chosen fill the atmosphere for the game level nicely, as well as keeping true to the original track for the most part. Dynamics have been recreated gracefully, allowing a lot of deep bassy sounds to come around and fill the spot beautifully.

And how did you manage to cram a 90-second track within five minutes? The melody (and instruments for it) have improvised a lot within the time, adding a lot of depth to the piece. It's these kind of things that manage to keep the listener listening to the piece. I'm probably picky about the fadeout at the end though, but eh... nevermind :P

If I can point out a few things that need improving, then I'm sure that we could have at least had a keychange somewhere - does seem a bit plain playing a G (minor) chord all the way through the piece. But that aside, we've got a handsome winner here.

Now, give us an Aquatic Ruin remix! :twisted: (j/k)

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oh dear god i love you mazedude. not only does all your previous music rock, but steve reich is one of my favorite composers. I really like the usage of mallets in this song, its very reminiscent of some of reich's works, particularly his piece "Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organs." Following the minimalist style, it involves a nice slow progression and build up. This is extremely well constructed, your creativity is quite amazing.

edit: oops, hadn't read the full write up before reviewing, apparently it was directly inspired by that piece, silly me.

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I agree with lazermario, it does take almost a minute to really get into the swing of things, to the point where I almost like to skip to right around 1:00 exactly to get to the meat. My attention span is somewhat on the short side with music, heh, I can't handle pattern building.

But beyond my own faults, it's incredibly well constructed, I can absolutely imagine playing a Sonic game with this song. Hell, I get misty-eyed imagining an Sonic game where the entire soundtrack would match the quality of this this one song, no more of the current Sonic variety tried-and-typical-but-true synth rock that feels somewhat out of place compared to the old fashioned inventive synth of sonic 2 and 3. An entire soundtrack of this, Rayza's Lava Reef Zone, McVaffe's IceCapped and Bonus Retreat, and the last half of JAXX's Lightning Star...well, you get the idea. It's this sort of high quality tune-age still retaining the spirit of Sonic that impresses me the most about this mix, and what earns it 3/4 stars.

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Well. . . This piece of music has successfully obliterated what little believe I had left, that I had some musical talent. I can sit on my arse and make S3Ms of Sonic the Hedgehog music, among other video game music, until the apocolypse hits. . .and none of them. . . At all. . . Would even begin to stratch this work of art. This, or a great deal of the mixes here at OverClocked ReMix. I may be the (self-proclaimed)King of All Video Game S3M Arrangements. . . . . .but it's nothing more than a tremendously painful moot point when compared to remixes like these. What I do is pointless. Scream Tracker III Modules are worthless in this day and age. Especially crappy ones like mine.

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for years my dad was a cheap SOB and i never had a genesis until 1996. however, i had a gamegear, because it was cheap and a family friend gave it to my mother to buy a present for me.

game that came with it was sonic 2.

sonic 2 gamegear (aka master system) is easily the hardest game in the series.

which is why this song gives me fonder memories than i originally had.

[ps] oh, i dunno if anyone knew this but the theme from green hills zone in sonic 2 gg is the same as the opening theme of the megaCD version of sonic CD.

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I love Mazdude's music, and I've told him so.

I have to agree on this remix, though, that it is a bit too repetititititititititve for my own taste. There's no one revealing bridge moment which sweeps me away and makes the refrain worth the wait...and wait... and wait...

2 1/2 stars from me.

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For some reason....

The beginning of this tune sounds like some music Microsoft would use for one of their ads or tutorials or something.:D .

Even though I never got to play that stage (Stupid first boss), sounds good!! .....except that it does take a while to get into the swing of things, but still, cool.

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After all the Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, and Megaman remixes, it's nice to see Sonic is finally seeing some attention. And hey, what's this? It's not yet another remix of IceCap Zone! Yay! Now, when I first saw the words "Sonic the Hedgehog 2", my mind went to the Sega Genesis. I quickly skimmed the review and assumed it was an Aquatic Ruin Zone ReMix. Well, I guess I need my eyes checked! Aqua Lake Zone from the Game Gear StH2... Why, may I ask? I mean, StH2 was probably the worst Sonic game for the Game Gear. And, if I had to pick the best music in that game, it would probably be Crystal Egg Zone, not Aqua Lake. But alas, beggars for Sonic-related ReMixes can't be choosy. Let me be forthright about this: it's too long. This song literally takes a full minute to get started. The entire song basically wades in the introduction of the Aqua Lake music and never ventures very far into the pool. I kept waiting for the song's "chorus" to really take over and it just never does. I admit, this is a welcome change from the constant techno ReMixes Sonic seems to be "priveleged" with, but next time someone's itchy to ReMix a GG Sonic BGM, how about Sunset Park Zone from Triple Trouble?

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The biggest buzzword for this arrangement for me would be the word, "Reich"! Steve Reich's work is some of the most extraordinary stuff in existence today. I noticed that many of you do not feel positive about the repetitive nature of this piece. It is my recommendation to you, then, to listen to some of Steve Reich's work! He is a minimalist (and probably the best one out there). Repetition is a very incredible property of music, yet is the most hated by some. Repetition is the key element of minimalism. If you think for any amount of time that this piece is repetitive in its minuscule five minutes of play, you will not survive ten seconds into Reich's music. His best piece, "Different Trains", uses the same train-emulating string riffs throughout the entire piece, which is 26:57. Different Trains is really awesome because of the factors around this repetition, specifically the strings' emulation of the voice clips taken from survivors of the holocaust. Try sitting through Steve Reich's "Come Out," which is composed of a two-second sound clip of an African American pastor saying "Come out to show them" that is layered over itself at different speeds until it becomes absolutely unintelligible in the thirteenth minute. I fail to see any problem with this remix. In all truth, it doesn't favour Reich's technique in its use of an actual melody. :)

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Damnit, just damnit. I've waited too long for something like this to come along. After I downloaded this, I was noticing that my toes were a-tappin'. I said to myself "Self, what is this blessed noise coming from our speakers?" I replied "Why, it's Mazedude, me! Ask us no more." Ahem, too much Golem. 8O Psychosis aside, I found that the second after I saw that Mazedude had remixed this tune, the download was 98% over with. However, I do believe that he outdid himself here. This should be a track to the next Sonic. Simple as that.

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First and Formost. I love this. I'm gonna be listening to this for the next few days, at the very least. I like, muchly. Kudos to Mazedude! :)

Now. Is this or is this not Aqua Lake zone from Sonic 2 GG? (yes, I know, it was on the master system, but all I have is the gamegrear version.

I'm probably gonna plug up my HH now and indulge in some vintage Sonic

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