Arrangement Highlights of 2023

[Latios212]

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It's that time of year! Now that 2023 draws to a close, what sheets that you made during the year are you the most proud of?

(If you're not an arranger, you can list your favorite new sheets by other arrangers instead!)

[LeviR.star]

Excluding my 12 Days of Sheet-Mas contributions, most of my sheets from 2023 were finished and shared between April and June, and were part of an effort to empty out my backlog of abandoned arrangements. These were put off so long for a reason—many of them posed a considerable challenge. Of the sheets from this period, here are the ones I'm most proud of:

Number Five

5. [NES] Kirby's Adventure - "Nightmare Wizard"

[SHEET]

You wouldn't believe the lengths I went to perfect m. 6 & 7. Worth it? Absolutely.

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Number Four

4. [BS-X] Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle - "Staff Roll"

[SHEET]

Writing in the lead sheet symbols was half the battle here. Credits themes are no joke!

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Number Three

3. [MUL] Mega Man 9 - "Thunder Tornado (Tornado Man Stage)"

[SHEET]

There are some Mega Man tracks that do not make an easy transition into solo piano, and with ones like this, many compromises need to be made. Despite some hang-ups, I think I made it work, though!

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Number Two

2. [SNES] Kirby Super Star - "Heart of Nova"

[SHEET]

Believe it or not, the challenges involved making this sheet were actually quite fun to solve; I especially liked coming up with a solution for the high-register "stings" starting at m. 28.

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Number One

1. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot - "VS. Star Dream"

[SHEET]

Zeila helped make my dream come true here, and together, we managed to craft an arrangement for one of the Kirby franchise's most popular final boss tracks. I think I can say that, without a doubt, this is my biggest NinSheetMusic-related accomplishment, but I certainly couldn't have managed it alone. Thanks again, Zeila!

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Thank you to everyone who stuck by and cheered me on this year! Here's to hoping I can come up with some good ones for next year~

[Fantastic Ike]

2023 was a year of...questionable output and quality control, but I still did it! So here's my top five, much like Levi (good job on yours btw!)

Number Five

It's a bit of a goofy track, but I'm proudest of how I managed to fit all the various interlocking parts into one semi-cohesive whole. Not something I'd probably have ever arranged if it weren't a replacement, but still.

Spoiler

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising [GBA]

Colin's Theme (Replacement)

MUS

MIDI

PDF

Original

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Number Four

My most recent sheet, so recent in fact that I haven't made an official post about it yet. I'm impressed at how quickly I rolled through this sheet, with (I think) a decent accuracy. Might actually end up submitting this in another submission cycle or two...

Spoiler

Final Fantasy XVI [PS5]

My Lady

MUS

MIDI

PDF

Original

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Number Three

Just such a fun track. Normally I get sick of some of these sheets by the time I stagger through them, but I'm still obsessed with this song (and the whole soundtrack)! I think I also did a decent job with the jazzy chords, especially since this was before my impromptu music theory crash course.

Spoiler

One Piece: Pirate Warriors [MUL]

Climb This Mountain

MUS

MIDI

PDF

Original

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Number Two

Was feeling a bit demoralized over my submission quality after the issues with my Ratchet & Clank sheet, but the ease of arranging and submitting this sheet really restored a lot of my confidence. Reminds me of why I still love NSM

Spoiler

Goldeneye 007 [N64]

Settle the Score with 006 (Replacement)

MUS

MIDI

PDF

Original

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Number One

The beginning of this kinda sucked, not gonna lie. But I don't know what it was, something just changed. By the end of this (not an easy part to arrange either!) I just felt like I was firing on all cylinders. I'm a bit of a masochist when it comes to arranging these super dense orchestral songs, but there's nothing better than getting that perfect sound on a piano to me.

Spoiler

Destiny 2 [MUL]

EDZ

MUS

MIDI

PDF

Original

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Anyway that's it! I'm gonna try to be more realistic about my expectations in 2024, which I think hurt me a lot this year. But very excited to start another year here!

[ThatHiddenCharacter]

Aw man, I'd love to do this, but most of my new arrangements are still just rough drafts in Musescore. I probably don't even have more than 5 new ones this year, anyway. I guess my arranging highlight is returning here and starting to make piano arrangements again!

[Atcero]

Didn't have as much time as I'd hope to to arrange this year cause lyfe. But I did get enough for this countdown

 V

Chapel - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
The last replacement I did for 2023, completed merely a week before Jan 1st :please:. Currently just in my arrangement thread. This song marks only one left for AoS that needs to be replaced.

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 Fourth

Hail to the Past - Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
I attempted this song either last year or two years ago, finally just restarted and finished it all in like two sittings cause I got tired of it being a WIP.

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 Number the 3

Phantom Palace (Inner Quarters) - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
A very chill song that was hella fun to do. Had a steady rhythm and vibe to it that made it honestly not the worst to arrange (unlike Clocktower you evil complex mess)

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 Duo

Awake - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Another replacement, this time of easily my fav song in all of CotM. This song marks only one left in CotM that needs to be replaced.

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 1.

Fillmore - Actraiser
This song is currently still in subs, but easily one of the most fun songs I've arranged in a while since Fillmore is just a banging track from a banging game.

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In the coming year I will be finally finishing up replacing CotM and AoS so those can be marked off the CV list of what needs replacin'. After that, prob move onto PoR and little bit of SotN.

[cashwarrior1]

I've made a lot of stuff that I'm proud of this year, and I feel like I'm gonna make even cooler stuff next year!

Honorable Mention

Beach - Plok!
I had included this in my 2021 arrangement highlights, so I don't want it to be on the list here, but it's changed a lot for submissions and is still the one I feel the most proud of.
[PDF]

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#5

In the Space Pirate Ship - Kid Icarus Uprising
This one is so cool and I'm really happy with how my arrangement came out!
[PDF]

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#4

Sky Islands - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
This sheet is still in the submissions, but it was really fun capturing the feeling of this piece on piano.

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#3

Withered Savannah - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
One day I was trying to learn threelines3's arrangement of this and I thought, hey wouldn't it be cool if I made one? So I did.
[PDF]

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#2

Holehills - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
The other PMD one. Probably one of my favorite tunes from any pmd game and I've always wished there was an arrangement of it (please threelines3) but then I realized hey, I can arrange piano, so I did.
[PDF]

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#1

[PDF]

Also! VGLeadsheets uploaded a solstice lead sheet that same month!
https://www.vgleadsheets.com/view/solstice/title?transposition=C

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Next year, I will be arranging something big..

What's next?

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[Latios212]

Didn't have as much time as I'd hope to to arrange this year cause lyfe. But I did get enough for this countdown

Same as well - I had a bunch of other things to focus on in 2023 and wasn't able to arrange nearly as much as I used to. But I did return from an almost year-long arranging dry spell and have some sheets I'm happy with

#5

Writing out all the free-flowing Chopin-esque parts in this one was fun!

Genshin Impact - Silent Starry Night

[MUS]

[MIDI]

[PDF]

[Original]

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#4

A very simple piece drilled into my head in the game, it's very comfortable to play - even the couple of measures towards the end with fingerings I had fun writing.

Genshin Impact - Another Hopeful Tomorrow

[MUS]

[MIDI]

[PDF]

[Original]

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#3

Thanks to the hot project for poking me to take a break from Genshin and arrange something else (and more challenging than other stuff I did last year as well). I didn't really know if I'd get anything salvageable from it when starting it, but I think it came out pretty good!

Fire Emblem: Three Houses - As Fierce as Fire

[MUS]

[MIDI]

[PDF]

[Original]

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#2

The original instrumentation doesn't seem like it'd carry over to piano too well, but it fits surprisingly comfortably. It was fun to experiment with what kind of texture I wanted in the middle section and I'm happy with what I ended up with

Genshin Impact - For Riddles, for Wonders

[MUS]

[MIDI]

[PDF]

[Original]

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#1

A fairly straightforward and beautiful piece, I originally wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the B section to keep the bass, chords, melody, and countermelody. I'm happy I was able to end up with something that captures the richness of the original while also staying very easy to play!

Genshin Impact - Fragile Fantasy

[MUS] [MIDI] [PDF] [Original]

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In 2024, I plan to make more than the 21 arrangements I made in 2023! Aside from more Genshin pieces, I hope to finish a few more complex Xenoblade pieces as well as visit some classic pieces from older games that I wasn't sure how to write out previously, to help fill in some gaps on site.