Listen to a Wild, 2-Hour UFO 50 Mashup Album by Trombone Champ’s Co-Creator

For a short interval within the late 2000s, online game music mashups have been all the fad. That was due to albums like Staff Teamwork’s “The Ocarina of Rhyme” that paired rap vocals and recreation music. That power is again in full power due to “UFO 50,000,” a wild two-hour mixtape that mashes up hip-hop songs with music tracks from each recreation in UFO 50. Sure, all 50 of them.

The album is a ardour venture created by Dan Vecchitto, co-owner of Trombone Champ studio Holy Wow Video games. Vecchitto started mashing up songs from musician Eirik Suhrke’s UFO 50 soundtrack after receiving an invite to visitor on Eggplant (now The Secret Lives of Games), a podcast that had the aim of doing an episode about each recreation featured in developer Mossmouth’s retro-inspired recreation assortment. He began by mixing a tune from the sport Onion Supply with Dorrough’s “Ice Cream Paint Job.” That led to 2 extra mashups. One yr later, Vecchitto obtained an urge to create extra and introduced the quantity as much as 20. Whereas he deliberate to cease there with a view to keep away from coping with some tougher tracks, a dedication to the bit received out.

“Round a yr later, the itch got here again, and for some motive I hit an actual scorching streak,” Vecchitto advised Polygon in a textual content interview. “Earlier than I knew it, I had one thing like 35 of the tracks remixed, and at that time the end line was in sight and it felt foolish to cease earlier than doing all 50, no matter how tough the previous couple of have been.”

The ultimate results of that’s “UFO 50,000,” which is accessible to stream on YouTube. It is a madcap delight from begin to end of its two-hour runtime. That is thanks partly to some good mash-up decisions, which thematically pair video games and hip-hop lyrics. “Grimstone Street” pitch bends the vocals of Lil Nas X’s “Previous City Street” to match a monitor from the outdated west RPG Grimstone. “Nonetheless Mortol” thematically performs on Mortol, a recreation about sacrificing your character’s lives to progress, with the Geto Boys’ appropriately morbid “Nonetheless.” (“Die motherfuckers, die motherfuckers, nonetheless.”)

It’s unimaginable to select a favourite, however I’m personally a fan of “Can I Kick It Membership?” an excellent mashup of the theme from soccer recreation Kick Membership and A Tribe Referred to as Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” “Velgress’s a Bitch” additionally goes arduous as a jaunty mixture of Nas and Velgress. Vecchitto’s personal choose? “Waldorf Round,” a surprisingly good rework of Home of Ache’s “Bounce Round” set to the music of walrus platformer Waldorf’s Journey.

“Like lots of different video games within the soundtrack, the principle tune from Waldorf’s Journey has an inscrutable time signature, so it took a ton of chopping to suit it right into a 4/4 construction,” Vecchitto mentioned. “However the consequence for this one is one way or the other actually stunning and distinctly musical. I feel mashups have worth after they really recontextualize a tune and this one is an effective instance; the tune modifications from a enjoyable occasion anthem to one thing dreamy & ethereal, and it is simply actually fascinating.”

Past being a musical feat for Vecchitto, the venture is a testomony to Suhrke’s implausible UFO 50 soundtrack. The gathering known as for a large range of songs that also felt linked from recreation to recreation. Suhrke nailed the project, making a diverse soundtrack that feels genuine to the 8-bit era UFO 50 celebrates. “UFO 50,000” emphasizes that consistency through the use of the songs to gasoline a cohesive mixtape that’s unpredictable and extremely enjoyable to hearken to.

Even if you happen to don’t have two hours to spare, it’s value clicking on some timestamped tune titles that catch your eye and see what you discover inside. Coincidentally, that’s among the best methods to play UFO 50, too.