[NES] Kid Dracula - "Go! Go! in the Castle" by Nine Lives

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Castlevania
Game: Kid Dracula
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Go! Go! in the Castle
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Nine Lives

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[NineLives]

[LeviR.star]

This probably won't make any difference, but...

Here you go. For optimal accuracy.

[XiaoMigros]

• I think all the notes you have marked as tenuto-staccato are better written as regular 4th notes. The half notes don't sound like they're being held any longer than that.
• m. 4: I'm hearing a D being played just below those high Es.
• For m. 16, I hear this:
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• m. 48: I'd use an ottava for the high RH notes.

I haven't checked the notes in much detail, though what you have looks correct
Personally I'd consider making most of the LH staccato, but I think what you have written works just as well.

[NineLives]

Well, I listened to the Famicom version and it turns out there's quite a bit different. A couple different notes here and there and the note lengths are different as well compared to the Game Boy version. I've tried to make what I have closer to the original version, XiaoMigros' comments included.

[Libera]

So this is a sheet for the NES version now?  Maybe change the youtube link in the first post then.  Anyway, generally this looks pretty well laid out, I just have some accuracy pointers mostly.

-I think this sheet should be in Amaj for the entire thing.  It just uses a lot of bVII chords (G chords), but the tonality is still clearly A and you get these E -> A (V->I) throughout the entire sheet.
-I would cut down the triplet run in bar 8 to single notes, or just doubles in a few opportune places, like at the start and the end, or something like that.
-The bass in bar 11/15 etc. plays a D on beat 3, not an A.
-I hear something different in bar 16.  It sounds like the offbeat dyads should be E-G# rather than F#-A.
-The C#s in the left hand of bar 25/29 sound like Cns to me.
-These RH octaves in bar 27-28 sound a lot more dissonant to me, like E with D#.  It's probably best to change the top ones.
-The high RH octaves in bar 44 sound more like fourths to me, like E-A -> F#-B -> E-A.  Same for in bar 48 (A-D -> B-E -> A-D).
-The high notes in bar 49 do a little more than just trill at the end, but I don't know if you decided to omit that intentionally.

[NineLives]

Everything above should be taken care of.

-The high notes in bar 49 do a little more than just trill at the end, but I don't know if you decided to omit that intentionally.

Also, yes, this was on purpose. Didn't want to overcomplicate this part, despite the fact of how far off the second tremolo is.

[Libera]

Some things thrown up in the edit, some things that weren't fixed and some additional things that I spotted.

-I wouldn't write 'w/' in the direction at the start, it looks a bit silly. Just write 'with'.  Unless this is someone reference to the game that I'm not getting.
-The Bbs in bar 12/20 should be A#s.  They were before, but I think changing the key signature altered them.
-In bars 44/48 you've changed it to fifths when I said fourths.  Unless you hear it differently?  I'm still hearing the A on top in bar 44 and the D on top in bar 48, if that makes sense.
-I'd suggest just writing the mf in between the staves in bar 17.  It's simpler that way and it doesn't make any difference to the left hand.
-I know I only just told you to change the notes to E G# in bar 16, but I actually think it might be worth dropping the E from these offbeat dyads.  The hand positioning is a lot more natural that way and I don't think it really changes the sound that much.  Your choice though.
-There are still lots of key changes.  I suggest getting rid of all of them.  You can also do away with the double barlines; I don't think they're necessary anymore.
-You changed the A to an F# in bar 11, but I'm still pretty sure it's a D.

[NineLives]

Sorry! I got a bit confused. Hopefully, everything's good now, but if not, I'll be here.

[Libera]

No worries.  Approved.

[Latios212]

- The bass note on beat 3 of m. 19 and 23 should be D, just like m. 11 and 15. You may want to put a courtesy natural on the one in m. 23 since the RH is playing D#.
- There's no lower note in m. 17 beat 4.5 RH - the lower harmony enters on beat 1.5 of the next measure. Same goes for m. 21.
- The first melody note in m. 37 is a D instead of E.
- That comment about the second layer staccatos in m. 39
- m. 41-44 doesn't actually have the upper notes of the RH octaves you wrote in, it's just two parallel voices there. Removing the upper notes would also make it easier to play.
- The last two measures aren't really playable as written unless you make some super awkward jumps from the tremolos to the half notes. I would recommend keeping the upper layer at the same E so you can hit those lower layer notes easier.
- It's also slightly ambiguous that the trill should continue through the second whole note in each pair. You could use an explicit trill line to indicate this (although writing it out, it looks slightly silly, but I think the extra clarity helps).

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-In bars 44/48 you've changed it to fifths when I said fourths.  Unless you hear it differently?  I'm still hearing the A on top in bar 44 and the D on top in bar 48, if that makes sense.

I'm hearing both of these differently than what's written currently...

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[NineLives]

I believe I've updated everything, given this exception:

- There's no lower note in m. 17 beat 4.5 RH - the lower harmony enters on beat 1.5 of the next measure. Same goes for m. 21.

This was a more intentional choice. The E from beat 2.5 of measures 17 and 21 is held over to beat 1 of the next measures in the source, so I thought I'd have it hit again after the higher notes were played to at least have it still sorta backtracking, if I'm using that word correctly.

[Latios212]

This was a more intentional choice. The E from beat 2.5 of measures 17 and 21 is held over to beat 1 of the next measures in the source, so I thought I'd have it hit again after the higher notes were played to at least have it still sorta backtracking, if I'm using that word correctly.

Makes sense. That said, including that E does make it much more awkward to play coming from the high notes. Your choice, though.

Aside from that, the dyads in m. 48 don't match what I suggested above, and the lower layer B in m. 51 is off-center. Everything else looks good!

[NineLives]

Aside from that, the dyads in m. 48 don't match what I suggested above, and the lower layer B in m. 51 is off-center.

Got 'em.

[Latios212]

Great!