F-Zero - Port Town (Genesis Cover)

[@Chadius]

Wow, those drums!

[@amirjubran1845]

There's no other way to say this: this rendition is simply better than the original, which is a masterpiece in its own right. The sound has a much crisper delivery here, and the extra drums increase the intensity without coming off as overdone.

[@yohkom.7988]

+Kuhntee Nyctiproc IMO F-Zero is one of the best sounding SNES games. Game took a long time to be developed, more than 15 months, and sounds better than many others SNES games which usually have weaker drums (snares in particular) and more muffled sound.

[@retropolis1]

while it sounds not bad, I don't think it sounds half as good as the original. All those remixes lack the eerie feel of the original.

[@SuperMikeFender]

It couldn't really exist like this in the real game though, not with all the other sound FX

[@danmakuman]

@@SuperMikeFender Well, it now can exist because there are software techniques to play more samples at once, so you can have this tune complete and with sound effects without a problem. Even if doesn't you can sacrifice 1 channel for the sound effects.

[@R3SerialDreams]

@@yohkom.7988 F-Zero's soundtrack is pretty damn good. One of the best sounding on the SNES? Kind of a stretch. I mean... have a listen to the soundtracks for Separation Anxiety, Maximum Carnage, Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, or (I shit ye not) Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcadia's Revenge.

[@papelmidi5154]

I love FM synthesis!

[@DeweyNewt]

Your lead instruments are always so appropriate and well-executed. Great job on this one!

[@ishinjuu91]

IGN: "too much sega" 9.3/10

[@benjaminzuniga5750]

Fuk u IGN!!

[@Meteotrance]

Again in the right hand FM synth is only limited, by people who doesn't know how to use it properly, this is a very good port of the original, people can use the extra PSG channel for square sound wisely, soundtrack like Landstalker and Street of Rage use it.

[@VestedUTuber]

@@crumbly8255 And what makes you think you have the right to tell him to not share his knowledge?

[@domikarus5237]

Landstalker's soundtrack is amazing too

[@yoru7852]

I believe the same can be argued for the SPC700, or any sound chip ever. There are a few remixes out there that literally sound like PSX soundtracks on SNES. Regardless FM synth does have that metalic sound and charm that the snes doesn't have.

[@Meteotrance]

@@yoru7852 except having just 64 KB of ram for store the midi note data and the sample that come with the tracker is seriously difficult to manage, i have huge respect for people like David Wise that was able to mimic the tone of a Korg Wavestation, to make the ambiant soundtrack of DKC with just 64 kb for everything, all the composer of the SNES era was limited by that factor, on megadrive you only have to program the synth and add few kilobite of sample for the drums sample that make the thing more bearable, to use, and you are not limited with tracker to make your music, GEMS soundkit work with midi support.

[@jrlepage2a03]

Wow holy shit

[@ChristopherFossMusic]

Fantastic track transition.

[@EricCabussu]

You did an awesome job with this. You have a very good taste and your arrangements are nice.

[@Cellmate412162]

Excellent cover! This sounds a lot better than the SNES version. It has that Mega Man X vibe to it.

[@Logicfray]

Amazing job Raijin, one of my favorite games!

[@nerzenjaeger]

Chiming in here: Great work. The arrangement is really appropriate for the transition from the SNES to the MD/Genesis.

[@danmakuman]

Fantastic

[@ItaloRoad]

Damn! Indeed it suited!

[@MarxasThomas]

i'm getting a Street fighter vibe from this, great work!

[@RadoslavMitrov]

Better than the original trumpets IMO.

[@mariowario5945]

Holy fuck, this sounds sooooo much much better than the original! It really emphasizes the speed in this version more than the snes!

[@ExtraLivesMusic]

Great instincts on this one! It sounds SO cool with this chipset!!!!

[@retrosoul8770]

Excellent work! I always stress that in capable hands, the Gen chip can sound better than the Snes's sometimes hollow samples. Nice

[@MelmanOfDaSouthh]

Sounds like rockman x2

[@condor.67]

eargasm

[@jfrancisbf]

Creepy, yet satisfyingly tangy. Mmm, this sounds more haunting than SNES. However.... the piano needs to be more noticeable.

[@GaliMercury]

WOW!

[@TheZmusicGroup]

Excellent!!!

[@SeyevSlime]

Lyrics for 1:58 are "DUN DIDIDI DUN DUN DIDIDI DUN DUUUUNNN" x2

[@BladesBasement]

Back Vocals: uuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhh

[@DaryxFox]

Is there a chance of getting downloads in .vgm format?

[@lambda494]

Very interesting. I'm biased towards the SNES but I have to agree this really improves on the original (although I think some of that was that the SNES was new when F-Zero was made and maybe composers hadn't figured it out yet?) I hear some SFX that sound like Street Fighter II in this too?

[@LobotomyTC]

The problem with the SNES is that it had 64k of ARAM that it had to share with the rest of the hardware. You could NEVER get above a certain quality with it, unfortunately. It's sad, because the chip they used is capable of way more if it had the RAM. It's a classic Nintendo thing to use the right parts but attach them together horribly.

[@christianschmidt-ljmg2249]

usually dont like video game music on it's own but holy shit

[@RedFlameFox]

Better than the original.

[@Antonio_NetoH]

Yeah

[@SonicTheJackrabbit]

Raijin, this might be too much for you and you don't have to do it, but do you think you could try your hand at arranging ALTTP music? I know orchestral music isn't necessarily one of the YM2612's strengths, but there are a few games that manage to pull it off very well, including Master of Monsters, Gauntlet IV, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Beyond Oasis. I'd be interested in hearing a song from that game in the style of those.

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

I can't guarantee I will mimic any particular composer style, but I will at least try to cover a track or two from LttP at some point.

[@AlexBaluh]

Nice!

[@Antonio_NetoH]

Amazing!!!!

[@yohkom.7988]

So good! :D

[@ryzmaker11]

I'd be very curious to hear a "V2" of this cover. It was already pretty good when you did it back then but I feel that you can improve it significantly which would be awesome for such an iconic video game music.

[@eknaekner7940]

this is an awesome version! i still like the snes version better, but had the game been on the genesis with this it would still be my favorite track.

[@ikagura]

Great remix

[@ir10031981]

I call this.... Port Town 2015

[@umiami80]

Awesome Awesome Awesome!!!! New favorite. Is this 100% representative of what a Model 1 MD can do?

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

Yes, it can be played on hardware no problem.

[@umiami80]

ChiptunedRaijin OUTSTANDING... There is a thread on Sega-16 where they have made Mode7 work on a Sega Genesis, not oly work but in fact superior to that of a SNES!!! www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?29069-Mode-7-demo-for-Genesis-MD There now must be a port of FZERO on the Genesis and I nominate you as the Composer

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

umiami80 I have seen that thread, and actually it is what made me feel like covering this track. I didn't feel like bugging gasega68k to try and port F-Zero just because I covered this though. I would certainly not mind doing some music for an F-Zero demo on the Genesis, however, the conversion process has proved to fail in the past. You might know of the Bad Apple demo for the Genesis which Stef made. I actually covered it for the Genesis to be used in that demo, but it ended up not being included. The conversion process was very unreliable, mostly because I use a VGM format tracker, which isn't really optimized for games, more for hardware accuracy in general. Now, if someone made an F-Zero demo, I would provide this track for them to use. If it would work out, it would be good news, so we would just have to see what happens. Hopefully conversion is more reliable.

[@umiami80]

link to that game please?

[@umiami80]

I dont know how to use that stuff.

[@blacktheripper9870]

this theme could definitely work in a sonic game.

[@DominiqueWillkins]

Congrats. Excellent versión! Better Than The original :)

[@gameguii]

Absolutely perfect. It's on my loop for days! thank you for this ♡ Any way to support you? Like a Patreon or Bandcamp?

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

Not at the moment. I get some people asking me about that every once in awhile, but I'm not really sure about that sort of thing. Maybe one day I'll set something up. Thanks for the good words.

[@IronCurtaiNYC]

I love this! Is there anyway to get this track on VGM, WAV or MP3?

[@blackmage8642]

+IronCurtaiNYC KZbin to mp3 converter. :)

[@edmocaldas]

🎧💙🎵

[@eduardobriseno5642]

Awesome... I like this pretty good for the genesis, also curious question: *have you been intrested in making stuff for the SNES?*

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

+Eduardo Briseno Finally, KZbin is letting me respond to you. To answer that, no, at the moment, I am not too interested in making music for the SNES. I prefer using Trackers dedicated to the sound hardware, and there aren't any fully completed SNES Trackers yet. In addition to that, I am more a fan of FM. It's more fun to program the sound, and work around the limitations of the Genesis. I feel like The Genesis has way more potential to discover, and it's fun trying to reach closer and closer to that potential. Still, whenever an SNES Tracker does finally become available, I will be sure to try it.

[@jfrancisbf]

Please do Chrono Trigger, or Secret of Mana music.

[@TheKurpower]

Nice Remix, Raijin!!! I just have something to ask you though. Could you do a cover of the theme of Jetta Maxx from of of the Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side (Sega CD) game? Please?!? Thank You!! luv your work!!!

[@VestedUTuber]

Reminds me a bit of GP Legend's version of the song, honestly.

[@sullyrox]

Good work 10/10!

[@toxiconflict]

Sounds sooo much better then the original. But is this possible on an unmodified Genesis system?

[@RomuloTheBrazilian]

This song is present in the latest demo of G-Zero (a homebrew port of F-Zero for Genesis) and it sounds 100% the same like in this video. you should find a video of the demo easily :)

[@itselguapo]

This version of the song makes F-Zero sound like a Shmup.

[@gorilli09]

do f-zero gx Port Town

[@OmegaGamer104]

Port Town Zone Act 1

[@SmoothCriminal127]

easy meditation like for 5-15min and rot. some - "from - zero to *** to ("numner from 1to9") to 0 to null...

[@HarlemHyena]

You heard of TheLegendOfRenegade? He's done his own Port Town Genesis remix, among many others including non-vg music. You might wanna check his Port Town for comparison.

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

Everyone talks about his covers, so of course I know of him. Unfortunately, he goes well beyond the Genesis limitations. My covers though are capable of playing back on hardware. If you think his might sound better, that's fine.

[@maquetasdetransantiagov887]

+ChiptunedRaijin your remix are better

[@retrosoul8770]

I like both of your remixes, you guys both rock. I'm subscribed to both you guys.

[@Hooliman434]

Port town VIP

[@RomuloTheBrazilian]

Raijin, do we have a chance of getting .vgm/.vgz files of your remixes so we can listen to them more easily? (I know they're playable on real hardware) :)

[@DanielMadeiraMM]

Great one. But, in the end, we never know if genesis would sound so good as this version. There are others "port town genesis version" out there on KZbin, and they are all diferent!!

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

+Daniel Madeira As far as I have seen, mine is the only one that would actually run on Hardware. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5m9ppKrl6qgrqs kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHfCm6yej56Mgas

[@DanielMadeiraMM]

+ChiptunedRaijin, if so, very great job! Keep going! There are a lot of fantastic Snes songs that you can convert it (Castlevania, Prince of Persia, King of dragon, etc)!

[@raymontdabizach]

*0.5x playback speed*

[@elinimitable8932]

Sega Genesis or Mega Drive in japan sounded better than SNES thanks to Yamaha YM2612 Chip AKA OPL2 REAL FM

[@hehateme1017]

Def not Genesis authentic.. just different.

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

All of my videos are 100% hardware compatible, meaning it can be played on a real Genesis.

[@elinimitableTV]

Snes made better games and music, but Sega's soundchip was better, Because Yamaha FM was onboard its like a sound blaster card inside the Sega from factory

[@retropolis1]

Not bad for the limitations of the Mega Drive sound chip, but altogether this doesn't sound half as good as the original on SNES. The eerie feel of the chimes / bells in the beginning is totally missing, the drums sound very muddy, and the whole theme is missing the futuristic arrangement. 6/10

[@ChiptunedRaijin]

Hey, nice analysis. :) There is some things I did on purpose though. I made it more rock oriented to be more like F-Zero X rather than the original, because I always thought rock suited the series more. I do admit I could've done a better job with it, but I was trying new things at the time and wanted to experiment with a couple of new instruments I had programmed for the Genesis. Thanks for your honest thoughts.

[@shawncasey7533]

I think it's fucking great.

[@jc_dogen]

The drums are clearer in this arrangement though...

[@jacknedry3925]

There’s no stereo effect, SNES still better

[@PeX218]

Wat

[@LobotomyTC]

You didn't listen to the percussion at all, did you? All models of the Genesis had stereo sound.