Arrangement of the Week: Frozen Fantasie

The Kirby series has seen its main character go on a wide variety of adventures. Outside the standard platforming titles he’s had his own pinball game, a handful of puzzle games, and even a mini-golf style game. One of my favorite deviations from the regular games is the GameCube title Kirby Air Ride, a unique racing game that featured the series characters riding around on various types of stars.

Like many of the Kirby games, the soundtrack is full of great music tracks for the various races and game events. For this week’s Arrangement of the Week, we’ll be looking at a solo piano arrangement of “Frozen Hillside” by artist jdaster64 titled “Frozen Fantasie.”

At first the arrangement is relatively calm and doesn’t feature much melodic variation from the original track. This ends up being a good thing, as it’s a clear and pleasantly light variation that sets the listener up for what’s to come. The piece soon builds a greater amount of contrast, switching quickly between sections of heavy chords across the piano’s entire pitch register to more delicate and quieter sections.

This type of variety makes the arrangement more interesting, while still keeping the original theme clear and recognizable. The decision to frequently switch between the different arrangement styles also gives the track a lighter and more playful vibe, which is a perfect match for the Kirby series. All in all, it’s a wonderful piano arrangement that effortlessly captures the spirit of its source material.

Have any favorite remixes, arrangements, or remixes of the Kirby Air Ride soundtrack? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out idaster64’s “Frozen Fantasie” on OCReMix.