Today’s Arrangement of the Week track led me to the discovery of an odd game from the late NES era. Kabuki: Quantum Fighter was a game released by HAL in 1990. The 2D side-scroller stars a character who enters a computer system to fight an evil virus as a kabuki warrior. Your character’s primary attack consists of whipping his hair at the enemies. The game has a bizarre premise, but features an interesting soundtrack by Masaki Hashimoto and Takahiro Wakuta.
Naturally, a game this obscure hasn’t received much attention, especially in the game music remix department. However, a few arrangements do in fact exist. The arrangement for this week comes from Aureolius with a cover of “Round 1” titled “USB Mindlink.”
The original track had a very repetitive set of beats and rhythmic motifs, so it really feels like a perfect fit for this techno arrangement. Aureolius’s approach with the material is pretty straight forward. The repeating bass motive establishes itself before being joined by a heavy kick and clap rhythm combo. The arrangement continues building up until around the 1’30” mark, at which point the piece drops out a majority of the instruments.
There are some nice little melodic moments, such as the flute-like lead that enters at 2’33” and actually remains in the mix as the music returns to the primary music riff. There are some cool atmospheric effects as well, which become especially noticeable in the quieter sections. Overall, a well done arrangement of a relatively unknown piece of game music.
Have you had a chance to listen to any remixes, arrangements, or covers of obscure videogame music? Let us know in the comment section below. You can listen to and download “USB Mindlink” by Aureolius on OC ReMix.
