David W. Lloyd, alias djpretzel... hmmm... what can I say about him? He's the founder of OverClocked ReMix, which means he's busy almost all the time. He oversees all submissions to the site. He helped compose the music for Kaleidoscope, on XBox Live Arcade. 71 of the remixes on the site are his. He... I'm sorry, this is hard for me. The fangirl in me is trying to run rampant. I mean, I interviewed djpretzel! Ahem.... shoving that down for a second here... Somehow djp managed to find time from his busy schedule to let me interview him. This is the result of that interview. (EEEEEEEE!)
Mirby: What started your interest in video game music?
djpretzel: Well, I was already interested in both video games AND music, so it wasn't an epiphany or revelation, just a natural extension of combining two different loves into a single interest. I remember playing "Smurfs" on Colecovision or "Spy Hunter" on C64 and getting those themes stuck in my head, humming them for the rest of the day. Part of it may simply have been how BAD I was at certain games, and how many times I thus had to hear the same music over and over. When I got a Sega Master System, that was the first game console that was MINE instead of the family's (I have two older sisters), and that was really the system where themes like OutRun and Space Harrier and Shinobi got me hooked on VGM.
M: Classic tunes.
djp: Absolutely - they were all actually arcade themes, just conversions, except for Alex Kidd and Phantasy Star.
M: What started your interest in remixing?
djp: Now, as a far as remixing/arranging goes, I come from a musical family. Interestingly enough, neither of my parents are particularly musical or play instruments, but my sisters and I were all in high school band, marching band, etc., and we listened to a lot of different music on family trips.
M: I know another David like that...
djp: My sister Emily got a Yamaha PSR home keyboard - I forget the model, but it was actually really cool because it was one of the few that actually let you program your own sounds in a limited version of FM synthesis. She never used that feature, but later on I got into it. She wrote some original stuff, mostly cheesy synth pop since that was all the rage at the time, and I tried to as well. I got more and more into synthesis and electronic music because of this FM programming feature on this PSR - I was fascinated, crappy as it was, that I could actually design my own sounds. Back then eBay didn't even exist, I think, but I started looking in the classifieds for people selling used music gear, synths in particular. I bought a Casio CZ-101 from some dude in Maryland - my parents had to drive me to pick it up - and that made sound design a lot more fun since there were more options.
M: Sweet!
djp: It didn't have a sequencer, and I didn't have a computer, so I needed a way to actually record compositions as MIDI (all my original stuff at this point in time). So I checked the classifieds again and found someone selling an Alesis MMT-8. This is a hardware sequencer - a type of device that doesn't even really exist anymore, completely replaced by computers or onboard sequencers. It does nothing other than record MIDI, and play it back.
M: I figured as much.
djp: As I later learned, it also had the bad habit of erasing ALL of its storage if the power spiked.
M: That's not good... hehe...
djp: Anyways, I mention this because the dude I bought the MMT-8 from, we sat down and talked a bit, and he mentioned he was moving and that's why he was selling it. Then he asked me if I'd be interested in taking his collection of Keyboard magazine off his hands - for free.
M: I smell something a little shady about this...
djp: I played it off casually and said sure, why not, but I was actually really psyched, and for the next couple years I read through all those issues - he had stuff from 1986 through 1993, including old interviews w/ Jan Hammer and Keith Emerson and all sorts of gear reviews. Nah it was completely legit, the guy changed my life by giving me those old magazines, because it got me addicted to synths and music technology in general.
M: Well, I suppose it might be thanks to him we have OCR now, right? Or at least a little bit...
djp: I read those things front to cover, which really gave me an appreciation of where music tech started, and how far it had come. Of course, it's come twice as far in the time since then, but having that history & appreciation means you don't take things for granted.
M: Of course not.
djp: Software like Kontakt 4 or Cubase 5 would have been $4000 easily, if you could even come close to matching those features, way back then.
M: Which is a whole lot more these days...
djp: So yeah, I think this guy who gave me hundreds of issues of Keyboard magazine for free, he played some role in the eventual creation of OCR
M: Somewhere in your subconscious he lurked...
djp: Anyhow, eventually I got a Roland U20, which let me do compositions that started sounding more like actual music, and also an Alesis Datadisk - this device, also now obsolete, was designed specifically to recording incoming MIDI to floppy disks, and then also playing it back. This is all before I had done a single game remix, but I was certainly playing games at the time... this was still the 16-bit era, so I would have been playing Revenge of Shinobi and Phantasy II & III, most likely.
M: Good era.
djp: Anyhow, when each of my sisters turned 16, they got cars. Not superfly fancy cars, but a set of wheels nonetheless, which to a teenager is supposedly the ultimate freedom. I'm not knocking cars by a longshot, but when my turn came around, I decided to delay getting a car so I could get a sampler/workstation instead. That's when I got my Ensoniq ASR-10.
M: Sounds fancy.
djp: Thing had programmable effects, loaded the OS off floppy, and an LED readout that looked like a Speak & Spell, but man did I love it. And it was really a pretty decent bit of kit - I'd done my research well. I upgraded it to a *whopping* 16MB of memory and attached a 2X SCSI CD-ROM drive and I was on my way!
M: If you don't mind me asking, did you do early remixes on that thing?
djp: Around the same time I was also getting really involved in the emulation scene - retrogames.com, mame.net, that whole community was a lot more cohesive back then. Nowadays there's not as much of a scene, since the nostalgia factor has sorta given way to outright piracy masquerading as homebrew, and other issues. I'm getting there
M: My bad.
djp: Anyways I was a news poster at retrogames.com and was doing my own little emulation-themed comic strip called "OverClocked", which poked fun at the emulation scene. Believe it or not, there was a lot to poke fun at, although it was also just an excuse for me to get better at Photoshop and 3D Studio MAX (I can't draw - comic strip was all 3D).
M: Don't feel bad; I can't really draw either.
djp: Around that time retrogames.com was covering news about the occassional Commodore 64 remix, and indeed there was at that time something of a scene for those doing primarily electronica arrangements of C64 music. I loved that idea, but I wanted it to be all games, from all systems, in all styles of music.
M: A noble plan.
djp: So I sat down and started doing VGM arrangements on my ASR-10, in my parents basement. I did Phantasy Star III and Shinobi, in two different styles, and decided to start a side project to my comic strip, and call it "OverClocked ReMix" where I would post my own game mixes as well as others'.
M: Including a
really strange Bubble Bobble one.
djp: Indeed
M: And from there, the site grew and expanded into what we know today, right?
djp: That's the long version of that story, but essentially a series of events combined to get me interested in electronic music and emulation/retrogaming, and those two interests coalesced when I started this side project. Which, yeah, eventually grew much bigger and became my primary focus.
M: And it's a great community, if I do say so myself.
djp: Thanks.
M: Hey, it's the truth. After all, OCR gave birth to
VGMix, and from there,
Dwelling of Duels... Or something like that, right?
djp: Hmm, I have no idea how DoD came to be, but OCR certainly predates both of them.
M: Well I figured since DoD is hosted on VGMix... And I thought I read that VGMix was born out of some discontent members from OCR...
djp: It wasn't always hosted there, AFAIK, but like I said, OCR was certainly first.
M: I know this. 2000, and it's been a great 10 years since...
djp: There are a couple versions of that story, but that's certainly one way to put it. It's been a busy 10 years, that's for sure, and we've been online & growing for all ten of them.
M: 2000+ remixes, 17 albums, hundreds of members... And an inspiration to many, myself included.
djp: Glad to hear it.
M: Are there any tracks you've done that you're more proud of or like more than the others?
djp: Sure, I think Sonic 'Love Hurts' is a mix that's stood the test of time, and Zelda 64 'Pachelbel's Ganon' as well... those were both made on my Yamaha Motif, which is what I replaced the ASR-10 with.
M: Are there any remixers that you'd like to collaborate with in the future?
djp: I definitely wanna do something w/ Sixto, and I've already got an arrangement in mind that would be perfect for katethegreat19 to sing on.
M: Well I'll let him know, since I'm his unofficial secretary now...
djp: Heh, he already knows - shooting for a style similar to 80s rock band
The Cars.
M: Sadly enough, I know who they are, and I can't wait.
djp: Hey, great band
Actually Trent Reznor mentioned in a Keyboard interview a long time ago that they were an influence for him, the way they blended synths & guitars.
M: Hey, those free magazines just came in handy!
djp: Yup.
M: Anywho.... Any tracks you'd like to remix in the future?
djp: Yeah, I've got several WIPs at various stages.
M: I assume you have a backlog of other tracks too?
djp: First out of the gate is probably gonna be a ReMix from the PSP game Crush. Really awesome puzzler.
M: Sweet!
djp: Besides the stuff I already have WIPs for, I also have some project obligations for
Dragon Warrior,
Mega Man X, and
FF9, so I'm keeping busy.
M: You're always busy.
djp: Very true.
M: Do you have a favorite track from a game?
djp: Not really... I mean, I get asked that a lot, and music is really apples and oranges, I find it hard to rank overall soundtracks, much less individual songs.
M: In that case, are there any particular tracks that stand out in your mind moreso than others?
djp: "Small Two of Pieces" from Xenogears is what I sometimes say, just so I'm not copping out.
M: I don't qualify that as copping out; I qualify that as not having a favorite because you may or may not like it all equally, or are smart enought to not play favorites. Do you have a favorite video-game composer?
djp: I don't think in terms of games as much as I do individual songs... if trying to come up with my favorite game composer, I'd go by the number of songs I absolutely love and that I think work perfectly in the context as well. At the moment, using those criteria, I'd probably say Koji Kondo, but it could be [Nobuo] Uematsu, [Yasunori] Mitsuda, or [Yuzo] Koshiro depending on the mood I'm in.
M: That actually describes how I feel at times regarding this... Final question. What do you enjoy most about remixing?
djp: I'm very melody-centric, so I choose my source material and my overall approach with a focus on that. I think the best part of ReMixing is finding that one note, or passage, when if you change an interval or add a counter-harmony or modify the rhythm, it just makes sense and feels natural. Sometimes, when arranging music, you can end up fighting against a source or struggling with it to take it where you go, which is not the worst thing in the world, but it's much more enjoyable when things click and fall into place and you can get the ideas in your head turned into music that mirrors them.
M: I have the ideas; I just can never transfer them properly...
djp: Yeah I think that happens to even the best arrangers/composers... Until we get neural brain hookups that can seamlessly translate thought into sound, we're stuck with making music the hard way. But the hard way is often pretty fun, as it turns out.
M: I know; I've made one track myself. It sucks, but the fact I actually went through and made it... That is enough to keep me satisfied
djp: Groovy. Got what you needed? I gotta run.
M: Yeah. Thanks for your time!
djp: No problem.
You could find his page on OCR here:
Artist: djpretzel (David W. Lloyd), or you could just go to
OverClocked ReMix and check out the wonderful community he has founded. This was tough for me to do; tuning out the fangirl EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE is difficult, but I managed to do it for the most part. Stay tuned next time for a review of Rocked 'n Loaded. I should get it sometime next week, so patience is key, people! Until then, game on!
I recently realized I stole that from Joe Santulli, former writer of Collector's Closet in Tips & Tricks... if you see this, Joe, I hope you don't mind!
Posted on: April 11, 2010, 11:19:59 AM
Before I get Rocked 'n Loaded, here's an old interview I once did, with a new preface thing.
[NOTE: This interview was conducted via e-mail on September 12, 2006. As of that date, Clevinger had only completed
742 episodes of 8-Bit Theater. At that point in the story, the Light Warriors were in the Sunken Shrine, trying to prevent the revival of Jnn'efur. In
current time, the storyline has basically wrapped up. Please enjoy this view of the past.]
Mirby: What gave you the idea to make "
8-Bit Theatre?"
Brian Clevinger: I was attending the University of Florida at the time and managed to get myself in a class where all I had to do was produce a comic and analyze it. This would have been a great idea were it not for the fact that I can't draw.
So I used images from the original Final Fantasy video game for the NES to act as stand-ins. That way the reader, my professor, would know when different characters were talking. I put the comics online because he was awful about e-mail. Also it made it easier for my friends to read them. Somewhere along the line many thousands of other people found it.
M: How did you come up with the personalities for the characters?
BC: The main characters are stereotypical archetypes found in most fantasy literature. You've got the dark wizard, the cunning thief, the ox of a fighter, and the jack of all trades. The problem is that each of them is taken to a pathological extreme. What we end up with is a group of characters on a quest to save the world who are better equipped to destroy it.
M: How much time does it take to make a typical episode of "8-Bit Theatre?"
BC: It usually takes between three and five hours to make each page. It also takes a couple hours to hammer out a good script.
M: Any inspiration for "8-Bit Theatre?"
BC: A theme that almost every character runs head first into is incompetence. Most often it's their own incompetence, but there are also those rare moments where they are punished for the incompetence of someone else entirely. I think this means that I think everyone in the world is stupid, especially me.
M: Any advice for aspiring sprite comic creators?
BC: If you want to do a sprite comic, it would be best to use it as practice. It's a good way to get a feel for the mechanics of how a comic page or comic script works in terms of layout, flow, timing, and dialogue. But if you're serious about working in comics, you owe it to yourself to stop using sprites as early as you can.
Posted on: April 11, 2010, 02:15:45 PM
Contra 4: Rocked 'n' Loaded Review Written Whilst Listening
1. Hell's Orifice (Intro) - SnappleMan, norg 0:58
norg does a good job of recording the lines. SnappleMan creates an intense ambience in the background. Helicopter at the end!
2. Jungle Exploder (Jungle Normal) - SnappleMan 4:43
The first true track shows that the name of the album, unlike the cake, is not a lie. Shreddage all around in this track; Snapple keeps faithful to his rockin' style, and converts this track perfectly to that. Nice solo-thing at 2:23 or so. Fast-paced, much like the game's action. And it ends as quickly as it began. Next stage... I mean track...
3. Shrapnel Facial (Lab/Waterfall) - SnappleMan, Prince of Darkness, Prozax 6:53
Slow to start, yet it retains all the intensity of the previous track. Gets intense at 1:29. Guitar comes in at 1:44; sweet. More guitar at 2:13. Snapple does great work with the keyboards in this song. 4:23 brings in more epicity. Nice rhythm at 4:42 or so. Listening to this track, and this album, at anything other than max volume, is a crime. Calms down at 5:30 or so, and builds back up at 5:51 or so. The final build-up becomes noticeable at 6:03 or so. Nice echo to the end at 6:49.
4. BRICKWALLER (Base) - Prince of Darkness 5:19
Ah yes, one of the two free tracks available on the website for this. Pud does a great job of keeping an intense, metal feel for this. OH NO! DANGER at 1:34 or so. Nice bass at 2:04 or so. Gets even cooler at 3:03 or so. I'd work at a base if this track played in the background. Climax begins at 3:45 or so. And it keeps building after that somehow! It's hyperclimactic! Especially at 4:30 or so. Returns to basic rhythm at 4:48 or so. Silence at 5:06 to end.
5. Slave FREIGHTER (Harbor) - BrainCells 4:35
Cool rhythm and guitars come in at 0:13. Nice guitar at 1:10 or so. My brain cells are messing with me now; this is too epic. This album may cause epicity overload! Silence at 2:20 or so, then slowly builds back up. Bit by bit, the track builds and builds until 3:09 or so when the intensity spikes sharply. The spectrogram goes nuts at 3:28 or so on. Main rhythm returns at 3:53 or so; more epic guitar at 4:03 or so. Ends at 4:25 or so, silence to end.
6. Bass Fishing (Ocean) - SnappleMan, BrainCells, Prince of Darkness 5:18
I think they might be a little busy trying not to die to go fishing... Great guitar at 0:23. Pud provides great bass in this; appropriate given the name, I suppose. Even if the tendonitis mentioned in the booklet happened, it was worth it to provide this sexy track. Guitar awesomeness at 2:02 or so until 2:15. Sick bass at 2:35 or so. Guitar returns at 2:53 or so. Even sweeter guitar at 3:30 or so. More sweet guitar at 4:30 or so. I want to go fishing and listen to this track too! Final ending at 5:15.
7. Metropolis Massacre (Neo City) - Prince of Darkness, Travis Moberg 5:16
Menacing feel! Oh no! Not Neo City! Save it, gang! Pretty sweet bass at 0:20 or so. The feeling builds and builds throughout this track. I love it. Sweet guitar at 1:28. Travis helps out immensely with the drums, giving this track a dramatic touch. Intensity at 2:57 or so. More menace at 3:10 or so. Even more dramatic feel at 3:27. Basic rhythm at 3:40 or so, also with a menacing feel. Slow and mournful at 3:58, with guitar to match at 4:03. And drums and keyboards replace and hasten the feel at 4:10 or so. 4:28 brings in some more sexy guitar shreddage. Intensity contintues to 5:11, which is the end.
8. Balls of Steel (Factory) - norg 5:10
The other free track! Starts out immediately, and basic rhythms at 0:10. Source at 0:30. Pretty intense track. Metallic feeling to it; appropriate given the stage the source plays in. Nice synth sound at 1:32 or so. Sweet guitar at 1:58 or so. Intensity reigns supreme throughout this track. True factory sounds at 2:28 or so add to the feel. Main rhythms resum at 2:53 or so, with a more intense background. I love this job... Ahem. The whole track is insane! Crazy rhythms at 3:38 or so. Awesome distortion at 4:20 or so. Metallic sounds at 4:20 or so. Climax at 4:47, and abruptly but perfectly ends at 5:03.
9. Dey Callim Boss (Menu/Boss Approaches/Waterfall Boss/Waterfall Boss Chase) - SnappleMan, Prince of Darkness, Norrin_Radd 5:40
One hell of a medley! The FamiTracker sounds start immediately, with building ambience coming in soon after. Creepy vibe starts at 0:30 or so. Guitar starts at 0:50 or so, with the creepy feel continuing. 1:24 brings in the meat of the track. Sweet guitar at 1:40. The intensely creepy vibe just won't stop! I love it! More intensity at 3:04 or so. Silence and sound effects at 3:19 or so, melody returning at 3:24 or so. Guitar keeps rhythm and remains sexy as well. Nice keyboards at 4:00 or so. Nice FamiTracker solo at 4:17 or so; unique usage of the program, and it fits in so perfectly. Nice work! Sweet guitar returns at 4:45 or so. The climax begins at 5:14 or so.
10. Let's Attack Aggressively! (Alien Hive/Heart Battle) - Danimal Cannon, Chris Dlugosz 3:43
Sounds great! Aggressive too! Nice rhythm at 0:52. Sounds menacing! Melody switch-up at 1:24 or so. The backing guitar keeps the intensity flowing. Sick guitar at 1:43 or so. Chris' keyboards fit in perfectly with the alien feel of the ship. Builds in the background at 2:43. Nice vocal clip at 2:43! COME GET SOME! Climax begins at 3:12 or so. Ends suddenly at 3:37.
11. Flesh Harvest (Harvest Yard/Last Boss) - Christian Pacaud, Marc-André Gingras 4:07
The final stage and final battle. Has a whole final feel to it. Scary, creepy, lovely. Brassy sound is perfect for this track. Guitar comes in at 1:43 to make the track even better! Quiets down at 2:22 or so. More brass sound. Dramatic feel at 2:33. This is truly the final boss theme! If you fail this, the world ends! FIGHT FOR THE WORLD! FOR GREAT JUSTICE! ROCK FOR THE WORLD! FOR EVERLASTING PEACE! So climactic; final sounds at 3:53 or so. Noise at 3:59 to end.
12. GET TO THE CHOPPA (Jungle Hard) - Danimal Cannon, Prince of Darkness, Travis Moberg 2:50
Ah yes, the remix of the retro remix. Beautifully done, fast paced, shreddage faster than the Shredder could ever hope to achieve... Brings back many memories. So very intense. Nice work with the drums, Travis! Everything meshes together so perfectly! Vocal clip at 1:45, followed by epic guitar. Nice distortion at 2:20 or so to end.
13. B.E.I.G.L. (End Credits) - virt 4:33
Who better to do the final track here than the original composer himself, Mr. Jake Kaufman. Such a victorious feel. As to what the abbreviation means, I don't know. Either it's short for Badass Epic Inevitably Grand Litany or a reference to biglionmusic.com. Nice guitar at 1:42 or so. This works out to be a medley of various other tracks, and he covers them magnificently, naturally. He made them in the first place. Sexy guitar shreddage at 2:27 or so. Vastly different from the last track I reviewed of his, Flight of the Zinger. But just as polished. Climactic feel at 3:30 or so. The final note begins at 4:13 or so. And scene at 4:27.
Conclusion
What a phenomenal album! I honestly can't think of anything else to say about this, because there really isn't anything else that can be said, or needs to be. If you haven't bought this album yet, please go to
RockednLoaded.com to buy your own copy. You won't regret it, I guarantee you.
Posted on: April 13, 2010, 07:48:03 PM
Upon request, I interviewed Hiryu. Here's the result.
<Mirby> What are your interests?
<Hiryu> Video games, Computers, Sports, and swimming
<Mirby> Do you have a genre preference for games?
<Hiryu> Well, when it comes to games, I do have a variety that I like to play. My Favorite I would have to say would be RPGs. My least favorite are sports.
<Mirby> You prefer actually playing them then?
<Mirby> Sports, that is
<Hiryu> In real life, yes. I find playing with friends fun, because you're more into the game than you would just holding a controller.
<Mirby> I agree with that
<Mirby> What sports do you like playing?
<Hiryu> Basketball and Soccer, although I haven't played the latter in years.
<Mirby> Neither have I...
<Mirby> Do you compete competitively in anything?
<Hiryu> Right now, me and some of my friends have started playing Magic: The Gathering again. I try to build my decks the best I can, but my friends also have great decks to play against.
<Mirby> Never played it...
<Hiryu> Have you played any TCGs before?
<Hiryu> To me, it's like a fusion of Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh.
<Mirby> Umm... not really no
<Hiryu> Ah, well. It's an interesting card game to play.
<Hiryu> I did think about trying to get on the leaderboards on MM10 for the fastest time, but I eventually came to the conclusion that it would take too much of my time to do.
<Mirby> lol
<Mirby> Hmmm.... I can't think of any other questions to ask
<Hiryu> Can I ask you a quick question?
<Mirby> Yeah?
<Hiryu> Earlier you said about posting interviews on 1up.com. Are you a professional interviewer or someone who interviews people in the music industry in your spare time or what?
<Mirby> I wish.
<Mirby> I'm an aspiring journalist
<Mirby> I don't have a job at all right now and I'm only doing the interviews to get my... portfolio filled, to get my name out there
<Hiryu> I've looked at your articles, and I think that they're a worthy piece of journalism.
<Mirby> Thank you
<Hiryu> So why do you upload your interviews on 1up? Do you post on the forums or do you send them to someone?
<Mirby> I upload them on 1up because I figured it's a pretty well-traveled site for gamers and game makers alike
<Mirby> A good place to put my stuff
<Hiryu> Uh-huh
<Mirby> Anything else?
<Hiryu> I suppose not. Thank you.
<Mirby> No prob.
Posted on: April 14, 2010, 12:07:36 PM
Quoth the pretzel, "Operating the site costs too much." Or something. I don't have the exact quote, but it's true. In response to that, Big Giant Circles, alias Jimmy Hinson, began Support OCR Month a couple of years ago. The point? Help raise funds so DJP doesn't have to worry, and in return get cool OCR gear if you go that route, or a nice fuzzy feeling if you just donate.
You can visit this thread on the OCR forums for more information:
April is Support OCR Month 2010!You can also visit
this link to donate directly to OCR or
this link to buy stuff from the OCR store, which also helps. For more information on supporting OCR, click
here. Please, help out OCR by donating. And you don't only have to do it in April; if you can, help out whenever possible, regardless of what month it is!
Posted on: April 14, 2010, 04:22:16 PM
Nick Hagman, alias Nario, has some mad skills. So far he's beaten Castlevania 1 (didn't die until Level 5) and Super Mario Bros. An unremarkable accomplishment when one reads that part. But let's mention the controller he used. The Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix dance pad. Yes, he beat Castlevania 1 and Super Mario Bros. WITH A DANCE PAD! And he's gearing up for a Mega Man 2 run, with the same control scheme. I interviewed him earlier. What follows is the result of the interview.
Mirby: What gave you the original idea to play these games with a dance pad?
Nario: To be honest, I've always had a knack for playing video games how they weren't intended to be played. Whether it be beating Xbox 360 demos with a Guitar Hero controller or beating Metroid Prime without collecting any item expansions, I've always found a way to make any game more challenging or interesting, which I find to be quite satisfying. As far as why I originally chose to play Castlevania with a dance pad, it was mostly inspired by a friend who called me over to his house to test out his new dance pad on his computer--I also would've never played the Castlevania series to begin with if it weren't for AVGN or my friends. I told my friend that I had attempted the first two levels of Super Mario Bros. a long time ago on a dance pad, and so he requested that I test out the quality of his dance pad by playing Castlevania with it. By that point, I was hooked, and when I got home I did it again. When I uploaded the video to YouTube, all of my friends were happy for me, and encouraged me to play the rest of the game and to do it in split screen as well--some had their doubts that I could pull it off too. Eventually, I beat Castlevania, the video went viral across Kotaku and many other places, and that's when I knew this series wasn't stopping anytime soon.
M: Why did you add a new stuffed animal for each stage for the Castlevania run?
N: *laughs* It's hard to explain... For one, I didn't even intend Woody to be in the first video, so when I saw him laying there on YouTube, I decided to make use of him in the second video. At first, I wanted to leave people to notice on their own that I was secretly adding a plush toy every video, but by the fifth video it was pretty obvious by then. As to why I wanted to add another plush toy every episode, I guess it's my way of showing off my eccentric nature. Honestly, I have a personal attachment to most of my plush toys--once again, something else that's hard to explain that I'd rather cover in another video series, if only my sister would me! *laughs*--and so I thought I'd throw them in the video. I also feel like it would be the perfect fuel for anyone who hates me or what I do on a dance pad: I feel as though I've earned the right to show off my plush toys because I've beaten Castlevania and Super Mario Bros. with a dance pad. It's quite irrational and hard to explain, but I feel like I can be weird, have a little fun, and yet be forgiven due to the feets... er... feats that I have pulled off.
M: I think it was hilarious, personally...
N: I also find it ironic how one could overlook me beating a very hard game with a dance pad and discredit me due to having a plush toy audience; they do not make my skill suffer in any way. I just find it laughable that one could be so picky about something so minuscule when the focus should be me playing on a dance pad, so I'm pretty much getting the attention of said haters and pointing out the irony in their logic just by simply having the plush toys out for them to hate on. It's an awesome paradox where the haters always lose for not knowing that they're being manipulated.
M: Why did you pick Super Mario Bros. for the second playthrough?
N: As I said earlier, I had briefly played Super Mario Bros. on a dance pad before even being called over to test out Castlevania by a friend of mine. In fact, it was the first NES game I had ever tested out with a dance pad, so while gamers on Kotaku were asking for me to play Mega Man and Contra, I felt the need to take on the game that started everything NES Dance Pad related: Super Mario Bros. I know that no one ever requested it, but I knew people would enjoy it nonetheless because it's such a classic. It also happens to be the first game I ever played--World 1-4 at Age 4 is the earliest video game memory I have--so I consider my personal attachment to Super Mario Bros. to be a vague yet fond one. However, I did fear that people weren't going to receive it as well as the Castlevania video, as it wouldn't seem as difficult, so I briefly wondered if I should've announced Super Mario Bros. 3 instead (yes, I will eventually play that game too), but when it came down to me finally trying out World 8 on a dance pad, I knew the game was going to be hard enough for people to be interested. I'm so glad I went through with it too, because the video went on to be mentioned by Jeff Gerstmann, the awesome man himself, on Giant Bomb! What an honor! I love that site and have been following the staff members there ever since they worked at Gamespot.
M: That is quite awesome... To stray away from the playthrough questions, what genre of games do you like most?
N: Hmm... that can be quite difficult to answer, as I am a jack of all trades, so to speak. I play Puzzle games, First-Person Shooters, First-Person Adventure, Third-Person Shooter, Third-Person Action, Sidescrolling Action, RPGs of all kinds (Final Fantasy I-XIII, the Chrono series, the Xenogears/Xenosaga series, Tales of Symphonia, Pokemon, Shin Megami Tensei series, Persona series, Kingdom Hearts series, etc.), Party games, Science Fiction Racing games, and Rhythm/Music games. I'd say that I play all of those genres equally, which makes me very difficult to label as a fan of just one genre in particular. Genres that don't get enough love from me would probably be Sports titles and sidescrolling/verticalscrolling Shooters, although I do like a good game of Tiger Woods PGA Tour '04 or Gradius every once in a while.
M: My brother is obsessed with Tiger Woods '07... hehe. You seem to have answered my next question in this one, so I'll skip ahead. Is there music from any particular game or composer you enjoy more than others?
N: I must admit, this question is much more easier to answer. I usually prefer to listen to music from RPGs, Sonic games, and Castlevania games, and that's pretty much it. I adore Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears, Mario Party 1), Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario RPG, Xenoblade), Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy I-X, Lost Odyssey), Takeharu Ishimoto (Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII), Kenji Yamamoto (Super Metroid, Metroid Prime series, Metroid Zero Mission), Koji Kondo (Mario series, Zelda series), Jun Senoue (Sonic series), Fumie Kumatani (Sonic series), Hideki Naganuma (Jet Set Radio & Future, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz), Shoji Meguro (SMT3: Nocturne, SMT: Digital Devil Saga, Persona 3 & 4), Tim Follin (Silver Surfer, Ecco: Defender of the Future), Kinuyo Yamashita (Castlevania I), Motoi Sakaraba (Mario Golf series, Golden Sun series, Star Ocean series, Tales Of series), Michiru Yamane (Castlevania series), and a few others whose names have slipped my mind.
M: A lot of good names. Is there a particular era of games you prefer?
N: Anything from 1985 to current! I personally believe that people who prefer only the old games or only the old 3D games or only the current-gen stuff to be very close-minded. With this said, I don't like playing anything before 1985 except for Galaga, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Pitfall, so I'm pretty much a hypocrite! *laughs*
M: I'm the same way... When you play a game for the first time, do you play for fun, or do you try getting everything?
N: Depends on what system it's for, what series it falls under, and if there are any rewards for completing the game rather than just beating it. If it's an Xbox 360/PS3 title, I am more likely to strive for the achievements/trophies in the game. If it's an RPG, I will try to complete it if it means making New Game+ easier, if such a feature is available in the game. If it is an Action/Platforming/Linear game where bonus worlds can be accessed only by completing the game before approaching the final boss, then I will do everything in my power to access said bonus worlds. If it's a Sonic title, even if it's bad, I will get every achievement for it just to put credibility behind my opinion, whether if the game is good (Sonic Unleashed X360) or bad (Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 X360).
M: I see... I respect that, seeing as I'm a bit of a gaming perfectionist myself. Next question! When you make your chiptunes, do you have an idea in mind, or do you jsut mess around until you get a base to work from.
N: Honestly? Whenever I make a song, I usually have no clue what's coming up next! *laughs* An idea pops into my head, I spend a few hours sequencing it, and then I listen to the song about 30 times over the course of a few days until something awesome comes to mind, and then I binge and finish the song. This process can lead to me finishing a song within two or three sittings, but almost never do I plan ahead. Sometimes, though, I will compose a very epic, already-completed section in my head, and actually have to break it up and start with something minimal in order to build up to the part I wanted to create originally. My composition style usually builds upon layers until something musically explodes, kind of like bringing out a plate, putting a pancake on it, putting another pancake on it, then putting another pancake on it, and then dump a bunch of butter and syrup on top. I have no idea what the pancakes will look like or how they'll turn out, but none of that matters because it'll all taste good once the syrup hits everything! Next thing you know, I'm digging in, eating what I just created, which in the metaphor is letting the song loose and go where it wants to. Sometimes, however, I'll "finish eating the pancakes" a little too quickly, and realize that the song isn't long enough, so I'll make another batch of pancakes to make the song a little longer, or rather, fill my tummy up the rest of the way! *laughs* A good example of this whole process would be The Tale Of A Pirate, in which I didn't know what was coming up, ever:
http://8bitcollective.com/music/Nario/The+Tale+of+a+Pirate/ Note: How ironic, I plugged this song in the fifth video of the Castlevania DDR series!
M: I noticed that. Hehehe. That's a very tasty description... Last question. What do you enjoy most about recording these runs?
N: I enjoy a lot of things in doing these runs. First off, I enjoy the sense of satisfaction I get in beating these games with a dance pad. I don't know why I enjoy challenging myself with low-level RPG runs or low-item% runs on Metroid games, but I find it so satisfying to be able to pull off goals that are practically insane; feats that most people wouldn't have the dedication or motivation to perform or stick through with to be able to do so. Secondly, I enjoy making others happy with these videos. I couldn't tell you how many times I've read "I couldn't be able to do that!" "I had a blast watching this video!" "Congrats!" etc. etc. It makes me happy to know that there are people who are enjoying my videos, who are enjoying my hard work I put into beating games with a dance pad, and who are wanting more from me, and I don't plan to let them down. And lastly, I enjoy being able to leave a legacy behind on this planet. Being (one of?) the first to beat Castlevania and Super Mario Bros. with a dance pad is a truly remarkable achievement, and I'm happy to be the one (of the few?) to be able to do it thus far. I will next be playing Mega Man 2 with a dance pad and I hope others will enjoy watching me play that game with a dance pad as well.
M: Well, those are very good reasons. Thanks for your time!
N: Thank you! I enjoyed participating in this interview.
You can find his videos here:
DJ17Nario's YouTube Channel. Be sure to check the videos out! I should write up that R10 IST review soon, so keep your eyes peeled! Until then, game on!