Ripple Star: Stage Select
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Ripple Star: Stage Select[Japanese title] is a recurring theme that first appeared in Template:K64 while selecting one of Ripple Star's stages. It has since been remixed several times over the course of the series.
Composition
Ripple Star: Stage Select follows a simple 4/4 time signature with a single melodic bar in its simplest incarnations. It is notable for being a short song in most cases despite its prevalence in the series, since it was originally composed for a stage select screen (an area the player is not meant to spend much time in). Most subsequent uses of the track keep it short, though the versions used in Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Template:KEEY are notable exceptions.
Game appearances
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
This theme first appeared here, as the level select theme for Ripple Star. This version is somewhat loud and active in nature, featuring many layered flute-like instruments and percussion at a high tempo.
Kirby Super Star Ultra
This theme appeared in Helper to Hero's rest area, under the name Helper's Rest. This was the first instance of the theme being used in a more calm tempo with a relaxed instrumentation. It can be found as Music 93 in the Sound Test.
Kirby's (Extra) Epic Yarn
This theme appeared here as Dream Land's theme. It follows the mellow tone from the Template:KSSU version. A glockenspiel is used as the primary instrument, backed by piano.
Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition
When selecting Kirby's Epic Yarn in the "Kirby's History" mode, its "Dream Land" arrangement of Ripple Star: Stage Select plays.
Additionally, the Helper's Rest version from Kirby Super Star Ultra is reused as the file selection theme for the New Challenge Stages mode. Rarely, the original version can play as well.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe
This theme appears twice in Triple Deluxe, appearing in both The Arena and The True Arena as the rest area's theme.
The version featured in The Arena is a rearrangement of the Helper's Rest Template:KSSU version, with wind chimes playing at the start of the track. This version is arranged by Jun Ishikawa.[1]
The version featured in The True Arena, named A Well-Earned Rest on the Kirby: Triple Deluxe Soundtrack CD, follows the mellow tone from the Kirby's Epic Yarn version, though it uses more elaborate instrumentation and features a bend in the tempo near the beginning and end of the track. Interestingly, the track features two distinct variations of the same tune back-to-back, with only the second variation playing when the music loops. This variation is arranged by Hirokazu Ando[1] and is by far the longest iteration of the theme, lasting over two minutes before looping.
Kirby: Planet Robobot
This theme appeared as the results screen theme for The True Arena under the name Well-fed Victory. It is similar to the version from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, but with different digital-sounding instruments.
Kirby Star Allies
This theme was combined with Miracle Matter's theme and 0²'s theme for a remix in Kirby Star Allies. This remix is used for the fight against Morpho Knight when playing as Adeleine & Ribbon. As of Version 4.0.0, this remix can be heard as Track 178 of the Jukebox. The track is named おとめたちのやみとのたたかい (The Girls’ Battle With the Darkness) on Kirby Star Allies: The Original Soundtrack, and it was arranged by Hirokazu Ando.
Kirby Fighters 2
In the game's Training Mode, a medley of Training from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Green Greens, and Ripple Star: Stage Select plays. This medley has two distinct versions: one with regular instruments used in other songs of the game, and a chiptune version; the game selects one of the two at random to play in said mode.
Other arrangements
Variants of Ripple Star: Stage Select have appeared outside of the games themselves. Two in particular appear on the Kirby 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert CD set. The first comes from the Kirby's Dream Land 3 / Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Medley and is the fourth part of the performance. The second comes from the Kirby Memorial Arrangements track Epic Yarn and is the fourth part of the performance. Both take cues from their respective versions from the games represented in the medleys.
The Helper's Rest version of the theme is also featured in the beginning and at the end of the bonus track ステージメドレー／アコースティックver. (Stage Medley / Acoustic Ver.) of the Kirby Ultra Super Deluxe Original Sound Track.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
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| Japanese | リップルスター:ステージセレクト[2] Rippuru Sutā: Sutēji Serekuto |
Ripple Star: Stage Select |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kirby: Triple Deluxe Jukebox
- ↑ Kirby 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert pamphlet
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