#toonlink

Ah, Super Mario 64 and toonlink...what better icons of early SiIvaGunner are there? I've talked plenty about the absolute flexibility of Super Mario 64's soundscape, be it with Slider rips like WA-HOO DISCO or more out-there arrangements like Super Mario 64 Submarine Ending. Its a game with an iconic and immediately recognizable set of samples and instruments, and one that's just as malleable, letting rippers do practically anything they can put their mind to with it. It should come as no surprise that Top of the Looping Steps is as good as it is despite how early into the channel's rip it was released.

Yet even back then, I remember feeling as if Top of the Looping Steps was a, pardon the pun, step above so much else. Looping Steps in Super Mario 64 isn't so much a song as it is a looping Shepard tone - a series of notes that trick your brain into thinking its escalating in pitch, whilst in reality going nowhere at all. Much of SiIvaGunner back in Season 1 was still built around the idea of the pure bait-and-switch: the idea of iterating upon an already existing song, be it through covers like Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday - as performed by Bob Dylan, through mashups like Door into a Hundred Summers, or through rearrangements in the original song's style like Earth, Wind & Bombs. I distinctly recall Top of the Looping Steps sticking out for how much of a creative endeavor it was - it still *felt* like the original Looping Steps, yet it was far more its own thing, using every part of the game's soundscape to recreate the instrumental backing of Top of the Stairs by Skee-Lo.

Okay, so Septemberposting may be over - but in the process of looking for other Earth, Wind & Fire songs to use for the posts earlier in the week, I rediscovered an absolute gem. A gem by, of course, none other than the legend toonlink himself - arguably the best ripper of them all in the early seasons of the channel.

That proficiency alone almost guarantees any rip he works on is one for the playlists, yet we've got something else to discuss here: Driftveil City from Pokémon Black and White. In all the years Pokémon games have been releasing, its hard to find one city theme that is as unanimously beloved as Driftveil City - its vibe and beat is simply unmatched, and several YouTube uploads of the theme have view counts in the millions. Its a theme whose sheer groove and quality transcends just Pokémon fans and unites people all over to sit down and jam.

Which, too, is what DRIFTVEIL CITY JUST GOT A TON MORE GROOVIER does to SiIvaGunner viewers - arranging Earth, Wind & Fire's Let's Groove into the tune of the theme. Its a perfect match for the city's original soundscape, and uses both instruments from the original track as well as ones from the Driftveil City Gym in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. The grooviness of both pieces are channelled into every part of the rip, from the percussion, lead and background instruments, and the intro still channelling Driftveil City's original intro.