Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Donkey Kong Title Screen)

It’s that time of year once again: May Madness! For those that aren’t aware, every May I go back and remake some songs that I arranged in the old days of GaMetal.

This year’s first GaMetal remake is a song I first covered in 2010, then ended up liking so much that I did it again in 2014. Now, almost 7 years later, it was one of the most requested by the GaMetal community for a 2021 remake, so let’s get to it: Stage 9-8 from Donkey Kong ‘94!

Also dubbed by fans as ‘Showdown at the Tower’, this may have been the first song I did by request where I was initially unfamiliar with the original.

Along with generally being a cool song, the original has a sick ‘solo’ section that sounds like it was meant to be for guitar. That could explain why I like it so much, haha.

For this 3rd and final revision, I threw in a lot more background instrumentation in areas, with some added brass/strings/synths. I also let the synth handle the lead melody of the first ‘Ascending the Tower’ section that comes in at 00:56. I didn’t really care for how I handled that section in my older arrangements. I like this way much better.

I’m now fully satisfied with this arrangement, so I think we can leave this song be now. Farewell, Stage 9-8!