Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Car Editor)

The recent Nintendo Direct may not have brought us any F-Zero… but we are! Here’s Devil’s Call In Your Heart from F-Zero X, with a special guest solo section featuring YaboiMatoi, Sax Dragon, RichaadEB, and Ro Panuganti!

When this song was chosen during one of our recent GaMetal Patreon Request List streams, my initial thought was to have a fairly long solo section in the middle. Instead of a million Jonny solos, I thought it’d be far better and way more fun to feature some super talented folks from the VGM scene, so I reached out to a few and here they are! Big thank you to Matoi, Sax Dragon, Richaad, and Ro for joining me on this track, they all did a killer job! Be sure to show them some love over at their channels and in the comments below. 😀

Subscribe to these awesome people!!

YaboiMatoi: https://www.youtube.com/YaboiMatoi
Sax Dragon: https://www.twitch.tv/saxdragon
RichaadEB: https://www.youtube.com/richaadeb
Ro Panuganti: https://www.youtube.com/c/RoPanuganti

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: House / Item / Dialogue)

We’re venturing back to the NES era for this remake of the Cave Theme from Willow!

Remember Willow? Well for you younger folks out there, Willow is a fantasy movie that came in the late 80s starring Warwick Davis.

Back in the day, licensed games actually had the potential to be pretty decent, if not great. I’m not sure if I’d call the Willow game ‘great’, it’s been forever since I’ve played it, but I did play it quite a bit when I was a kid. My recollection was that it was a fairly solid title.

Although the songs were on the short side, the soundtrack, composed by Harumi Fujita (Bionic Commando, Strider, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers NES, a few Mega Man 3 songs, etc) was very solid as well. I’ve always been fond of the Cave theme, so I thought I’d throw something a little different at ya for today’s remix and do another ‘chill’ GaMetal song.

Check out Willow (NES, there’s an arcade game as well but it’s different) if you’re looking for an old Zelda-like game to play sometime! 🙂

(Also, there’s a Willow TV series coming out soon!)

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: The Sinking Old Sanctuary)

SHANOAAAAAAA!!!

We’re back in the world of Castlevania for a remake of the highly requested song Sorrow’s Distortion from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia!

You could throw every Castlevania song into a hat and choose one at random, and it’d most likely be a banger. Song #2 for the year comes from the Order of Ecclesia game, Sorrow’s Distortion, which plays when you fight Albus.

We had a Castlevania-themed GaMetal Discord Request Battle a few months back in October, where I took requests specifically for songs from the Castlevania series. Heart of Fire ended up winning there, but there were a few other songs that stuck out among the rest. Sorrow’s Distortion was one of them (placing #6 overall).

Since Order of Ecclesia doesn’t see a whole lot of remix love, I thought it’d be a cool song to do sometime. So why not now?

Who says we always have to save Castlevania songs for October?

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Rogueport)

2022 GaMetal kicks off with this medley of several tracks that comprise most of the entire showdown with King Olly from Paper Mario: The Origami King!

This medley features the following 6 songs:

1. Battle With King Olly
2. Mega Bowser Transformation
3. King Olly and Mega Bowser
4. Mega Bowser on the Brink
5. King Olly on the Brink
6. The Final Battle

Most of the Origami King requests from the 2021 ballot were for Battle with King Olly and The Final Battle, but I felt it’d be best to combine them all into a medley to represent the entire final showdown.

You may notice this arrangement sounds fairly similar to the original. Well, that’s because the Origami King soundtrack is already phenomenal! When I first heard it, my initial feeling was ‘this already sounds perfect’, so I felt simply combining the songs into a medley would be the coolest way to tackle these songs.

There are a couple of other songs that play during some between-battle scenes, but I felt they didn’t fit in as well, whereas Mega Bowser Transformation fits perfectly with Battle With King Olly, and the 3 songs from the Mega Bowser vs King Olly phase also work well with each other.

I had originally planned to get this one in the last month of 2021, but decided to move it into the 2022 premiere slot. I’m glad I did, because it took me a lot longer to finish than I first anticipated!

Also, I hope you like the new video set up! That’s another thing that took me some extra time to figure out, but after much trial and error, I believe I have the hang of it now. 🙂

(Don’t stare at the drum shot for too long, it’s all still a work in progress lol)

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Skies of a Strange Land)

The end has come… I present to you the #1 most requested song from the 2021 GaMetal Song Ballot, and the final GaMetal remix of 2021: The Azure Arbitrator from The Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki!

If you were to guess the #1 most requested song from the 2021 GaMetal Song Ballot, you might have expected Mario. Maybe Kirby. Possibly even something like Persona. Or perhaps you didn’t know the ballot closed in May, so you just assumed it was the current extremely hot request “Big Shot!” from Fatal Fury 3.

But in actuality, an underdog rose to the occasion this year: The Legend of Heroes.

With even more votes than God Shattering Star in 2020, The Azure Arbitrator from The Legend of Heroes: Ao no Kiseki, now holds the spot as the most requested GaMetal Song Ballot request to date.

So here it is, all 8+ minutes of the final boss theme from Trails to Azure! I based this arrangement on both the original version and the Ao no Kiseki Evolution version.

Thank you for rocking out with me in 2021! I wish you all the happiest of new years, see you in 2022! 🙂

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Legend of Legaia Boss)

Who says we only do Nintendo songs around these parts? Here’s an 18-song GaMetal tribute to the Sony Playstation!

All songs featured in this medley:

• Playstation Startup
• Main Theme / N’Sanity Beach (Crash Bandicoot)
• Title Theme (Ape Escape)
• Boss Battle (Legend of Legaia)
• Jin Kazama’s Theme (Tekken 3)
• Reiji’s Theme (Megami Ibunroku Persona)
• Frozen Altars (Spyro: Year of the Dragon)
• Dark Messenger (Final Fantasy IX)
• Dracula’s Castle (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)
• Daze of Thunder (Bubsy 3D)
• Gothic Neclord (Suikoden II)
• Man with the Machine Gun (Final Fantasy VIII)
• Encounter (Metal Gear Solid)
• Bared Fangs (Tales of Destiny)
• Everywhere You Go (Super Robot Wars Alpha / Alpha Gaiden)
• Chop Chop Master Onion’s Rap (PaRappa the Rapper)
• Dynamo (Mega Man X5)
• Conclusion (Tales of Phantasia)
• J-E-N-O-V-A (Final Fantasy VII)

This medley was assembled by GaMetal Patrons (hey you should become one), who submitted almost every song in this medley. We then drew several random songs and I hand selected a few from the list that were from key games I wanted to be sure to include.

There’s always a game or series that might have missed the cut, but I feel we’ve touched MOST of the important bases here. Besides, there could always be another medley in the future!

I hope you enjoy this tribute to the original Playstation!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: The Everlasting Sapling)

The bugs are back in the GaMetal universe with the highly requested MECHA BEE DESTROYER BLASTLORD from Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling!

Here’s another high ranking song from this year’s GaMetal Song Ballot for ya! Bug Fables came out pretty late in 2019, so it didn’t quite have enough traction yet to have a strong presence in the 2020 Ballot. However, throughout the year as it’s popularity grew, I was beginning to see more and more requests for songs from this game in the YT comments.

Most of those requests was for Transcending, Overpowering, Everlasting, which we covered back in November of 2020. It went over well with a lot of you, enough so to push MECHA BEE DESTROYER BLASTLORD up to the #13 spot of the 2021 GaMetal Song Ballot.

It’s one heck of a banger of a song, too!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Holli Jolli Village)

She’s finally here: Elder Princess Shroob from Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time has landed in the GaMetalverse!

It was only a matter of time…. PARTNERS in time.

This song was ranked #11 in the 2021 ballot, and was previously #7 in the 2020 ballot. In 2019, Final Antasma was the most requested M&L song, and as soon as that was done, this song took it’s spot as the #1 M&L request.

The second phase song (officially titled “Another’s Requiem“) is on the surprisingly short side (clocking in at about a minute), so I also threw in the first phase battle theme (“Overture to the End“), as well as Destroy! to transition between the two phases.

I know a lot of you have been waiting for this one, thank you for your patience! 🙂

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Big Bang!)

It’s SHOWTIME!! I know you all like Mario & Luigi remixes… so here’s a fan favorite for you from Bowser’s Inside Story: Tough Guy Alert!

Mario & Luigi has remained a very hot request in the GaMetal Song Ballots and comment sections every year, so I had to make sure I brought you all at least one M&L tune in 2021.

I recently held a Mario & Luigi themed GaMetal Discord Request Battle, pitting this song against another popular M&L Boss Theme, Never Let Up!. I expected a close race.. but Tough Guy Alert! ended up winning by a HUGE (like Bowser) margin.

Which maybe I should’ve expected, given Bowser’s awesomeness and all.

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Joy)

We’re battling for everyone’s souls with this highly requested GaMetal song: Battle Hymn of the Soul from Persona 3!

Now this is a classic VGM jam right here! I’ve been seeing requests for this song since the beginning of GaMetal. Back then we just called it ‘Battle for Everyone’s Souls‘, but it’s now officially known as Battle Hymn of the Soul.

It’s remained such a strong request, that it was voted up to the #5 spot on the 2021 GaMetal Song Ballot (tied with Revenge from Everhood), and was the #1 most requested Persona song.

So let’s get to it!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: SMW Overworld)

GaMetal is Ending. Just kidding, here’s a rockin’ tribute to one of gaming’s greatest staff roll themes: Ending from Super Mario World!

The #1 most requested series from the 2021 GaMetal Song Ballot was the gaming legend himself: Mario. Always bank on Mario. Although, the Mario series sort of has an unfair advantage over other series, since there are a a plethora of spinoffs that can be considered part of the Mario series.

I covered this song, partially, back in the 2015 SNES Medley. It was really fun to do a full version of. You’d think the main riff would get tiring after 4 minutes of constantly repeating, but it never really does.

That’s that Mario Magic, I suppose!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Dark Samus Approaching)

Here’s this year’s GaMetal Patreon Halloween Poll winner: Dark Samus Battle from Metroid Prime 3!

I wasn’t sure how well it would fair against the other songs I put it against given it’s oddness, but it managed to win by a solid margin.

This song appears in both Metroid Prime 2 and Prime 3 with some differences, I felt the Prime 3 version was a bit more fleshed out, so I used that as the base for this arrangement.

Shade Man brought the light hearted Halloween fun feel this year, Dark Samus brought the horror feel. So we were able to have a bit of something for both sides this year!

I hope you all had an amazing Halloween, now we gotta get ready for the year’s end!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Haunted Graveyard)

Shade Man has come to make his long awaited Halloween appearance!

No, not Haunted Graveyard.

The REAL Shade Man Stage theme!

Every year since 2016, I’ve held a poll on the GaMetal Patreon (hey you should become a Patron!) to determine what the Halloween Special will be. Shade Man was one of this year’s contenders, but it ultimately ended up in second place.

However, I had made such good progress on the three confirmed Halloween week songs (Heart ot Fire, Truth Beauty Hatred, and Dark Samus Battle), that I had just enough time to squeeze in another. So I thought, hey, how about that second place song?

I always thought the first Mega Man 7 song I’d cover (not including medley pieces) would be the Opening Stage Theme, but this one works too!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Reflection)

MAREWA! The Knight returns to GaMetal to take on it’s “fearsome” rival: the invincible, fearless, sensual, mysterious, enchanting, vigorous, diligent, overwhelming, gorgeous, passionate, terrifying, beautiful, powerful, Grey Prince Zote!

A couple of years back, Hollow Knight headlined our Halloween festivities with our remake of Grimm / Nightmare (still a favorite from that year). I played through the game shortly afterwards, and it’s remained one of my favorite platformers that I’ve played in recent years.

There are a few songs from this soundtrack that gets requests, and I ultimately decided to go with one that represents the mighty Zote, because he is awesome.

Here’s to hoping we’ll get Silksong soon!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Heart of Fire)

GaMetalloween Week 2021 began with the return of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, for this arrangement of Julius Belmont’s theme, Heart of Fire!

You can’t go wrong with Castlevania in October! This was the most requested Castlevania song from the 2021 GaMetal Song Ballot. It’s also the winner of our most recent GaMetal Discord Request Battle, beating out all other Castlevania songs.

Some info on this song’s title: the official Aria of Sorrow soundtrack goes only with the name of the first song that is represented in this arrangement, Don’t Wait Until Night, which is originally from Haunted Castle, but most people know this song by the name of the second song from the arrangement, Heart of Fire from the first Castlevania.

I hope you enjoy this arrangement of the best Belmont’s theme!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: House of Toys)

It’s that time again, time for another NES Medley!

Every year since 2014 (and once in the first year of GaMetal, 2009), we have put together an annual NES Medley to knock out a few awesome NES tunes that often get overlooked. Since the inception of the GaMetal Patreon in 2015, I’ve let the GaMetal Patreon community put together the song lists by submitting songs and choosing the line-up at random.

The 17 songs featured in this medley are:

1. Area A (Shatterhand)
2. Wily Battle (Mega Man)
3. Rising Tide (Layla: The Iris Missions)
4. Desert Tower (Joy Mech Fight)
5. Krang’s Theme (TMNT 2 / TMNT 3)
6. Hero’s Challenge (Dragon Quest 3)
7. This is the Final Battle (Final Fantasy 3)
8. Boss Battle (Ninja Gaiden)
9. Town Theme (Zelda 2: Adventure of Link)
10. Title Theme (Treasure Master)
11. Mission 01 (1943: The Battle of Midway)
12. Title Theme (Rad Gravity)
13. Boss Battle (Super Mario Bros. 2)
14. Energy Zone (Contra)
15. Stage 2 (TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project)
16. Valestein Castle (Ys 3: Wanderers from Ys)
17. Big Battle (Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse)

We hope you enjoy this year’s GaMetal NEStalgia Medley!

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Suspicion)

In recent years, I’ve had a lot piled on my to-do list from GaMetal Patreon requests and Youtube requests, to where I haven’t been able to throw in a completely biased personal selection too often. This hasn’t been too much of a worry for me, as at this point, I’ve done most of my favorite game songs that I’ve wanted to cover. Either way, I’ve recently cut the to-do list down to a very manageable size, and thus, I can now throw in a random Jonny pick every now and then. This is one of them!

I’ve always really loved FF4’s Red Wings theme, and always wanted to cover it, but wasn’t quite sure if it had enough to it for a full remix. I had made a version of this a little while ago just for fun and liked it so much that I figured I’d try to make it into a whole thing.

The pixel remaster version added some new stuff by changing up the instrumentation of the second go-around, so I used that arrangement as the base for this one, and gave it an actual ending.

Doing this song has also made me realize that we have a strong lack of Final Fantasy IV on the channel, hmm…

Download (MP3)
Download (End card acoustic short: Arena)

We’re visiting the Warriors series for a second time this year, this time we’re taking it all the way back to Dynasty Warriors 3!

I played A LOT of Dynasty Warriors 3 and 4 as a kid. Perhaps an unhealthy amount. I was introduced to the series by one of my best friends at the time, who had DW3. One thing that always stuck out was the soundtrack: it was full of guitar-centric bangers. Of course, there were plenty of rock soundtracks back then, but DW was one of the first series for me where I remember most of the soundtrack(s) having this kind of sound. I was just starting to learn guitar around this time, so I always loved it.

Over the years, I regularly get the occasional comment asking for some Dynasty Warriors material. There are a lot of great songs out there, but we’ve landed on this one which came from the GaMetal Patreon request list. It’s one of the most popular songs from DW3, the other probably being Arena. I’m sure I’ll get back around to this series sometime in the future. Besides, we did a Hyrule Warriors song earlier this year, so in a way, we got 2 Warriors songs in 2021! 🙂