MIDI Week Singles: "Decide in the Eyes" - F-ZERO X (N64)

 

"Decide in the Eyes" - F-ZERO X on the Nintendo 64 (1998)

Composer: Naoto Ishida

Arranged By: Taro Bando

Album: F-ZERO X ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK

Label: Nintendo 64 Sound Series

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo EAD

While not at all a controversial choice for a MIDI Week Single, there is a little bit of contentiousness saying that neither of the Big Blue tracks in F-ZERO X were my favorites.  The first Big Blue occurs in the Jack Cup and is the tube-track where for half of the race you drive on the outside of a cylinder where it can become very easy to lose your sense of direction especially if you are trying to hit the boosts and forget where exactly the tube stops and the road starts.  Big Blue 2 in the Queen Cup is a shorter race that involves sharp hairpin turns and a track that loops and double backs on itself, all of which I find rather uninteresting.  And that was it.  "Decide in the Eyes" (aka "Big Blue") only occurs twice in the entire game, although the X-Cup does randomly pull songs for the procedurally generated tracks, I am only counting the four primary Cups.

The music from F-Zero on the SNES composed by Naoto Ishida, here arranged by Taro Bando is a worthy successor to everything that made the original song great.  Pretty much all of the elements are there, just with an improved sound chip and a more aggressive take to match the fact that there are 29 other racers on the screen at the same time and matches the energy on the rest of the soundtrack.  And of all of the arrangements that "Big Blue"/"Decide in the Eyes" has made over the years in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (although I do appreciate the use of a saxophone in that arrangement), this is still likely my favorite take on this theme that is about as ubiquitous as "Mute City" is with the F-Zero IP.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

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P.S.  I should also mention that the song that is on the official soundtrack, and not the one in the game, was recorded in stereo and of better sound quality.  There are plenty of articles about the sound quality of the music in the game and how all of the audio was mixed to mono to help save room on the cartridge so that the game could maintain its (still) impressive 60 fps.