Road to Victory
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"Road to Victory" is a theme first heard in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, although it was originally planned for the cancelled Kirby for Nintendo GameCube game. It was composed by Hirokazu Ando, and it is the basis of many other songs of its origin game.
Composition
Hirokazu Ando composed "Road to Victory" and "Sky Tower" at the same time as dark and light versions of the same tune, respectively.[1] This is evident in how "Supreme Ruler's Coronation - OVERLORD" transitions directly from "Road to Victory" to "Sky Tower", highlighting their similarities. "Road to Victory" is one of a handful of songs known to have been composed for the canceled Kirby for Nintendo GameCube project, and its motifs became the basis for many of the songs heard in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, such as "Four Adventurers: Cookie Country" and "A Visitor from Afar".
Whereas "Sky Tower" makes use of a somewhat light-sounding combination of piano, guitar, and aerophone samples, "Road to Victory" is an imposing orchestral composition, starting with a brief prelude of orchestral hits and continuous percussion. The first portion is in D Dorian mode and is built around a phrase with an ascending progression of D-G-A expressed in brass and woodwind samples, mirroring the ascending piano progression of "Sky Tower". After around half a minute, the track shifts to a motif that mirrors the motif of the second half of "Sky Tower". Each phrasing of the motif modulates rapidly through F major to elaborate further in G minor, with strings being most prominent in the first instance but brass sounds dominating the second. After a culmination of this portion still in G minor, the tune returns to a D minor mode to explore variations on the D-G-A progression with some use of electronic instrumentation, before looping back to the beginning.
While "Sky Tower" is composed in D-flat major, "Road to Victory" is set throughout in minor modes. In particular, it starts in the Dorian mode, also called the Russian minor scale and often associated with Gregorian chants. The use of minor scales further roots "Road to Victory" as a dark counterpart to "Sky Tower". At the same time, the use of a major sixth (rather than the minor sixth that would be used in a natural minor scale) for the first motif and occasional reversions to a major mode keeps the darkness somewhat restrained.
Game appearances
Kirby's Return to Dream Land / Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
"Road to Victory" debuts in Kirby's Return to Dream Land, as the title screen theme for The Arena, as well as the battle theme for bosses there and most of the The True Arena.
The theme is also incorporated into the game's credits theme, Return to Dream Land, which was also arranged by Hirokazu Ando.
In Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, "Road to Victory" is also present on "Onward to a Pain My Heart Knows Well", used for the stages of Locandra Dimension in Magolor Epilogue, as well as in the True Arena rest area before the battle with the Master Crown. Moreover, it is incorporated into the boss battle music for the Master Crown, "Mistilteinn, Tree Crown without a Ruler". Both of these new songs were once again arranged by Hirokazu Ando.
Finally, in the remake, "Supreme Ruler's Coronation - OVERLORD" from Kirby Star Allies is used for the the Magolor Soul battle in The True Arena. While at first the song is identical to the Star Allies version, during the battle's second phase, an added choir plus what sounds like Magolor's cries for help get mixed into the track.
Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition
The original version of the theme plays on the instructions screens before Magolor Race 1 and Magolor Race 2 of the New Challenge Stages mode.
Kirby: Triple Deluxe
Once again, the original version of the theme returns as one of the stage themes for Royal Road - Stage 8 EX.
Kirby: Planet Robobot
The original version of the theme is yet again reused, in this game for the Whispy Woods and Pyribbit quests of the Team Kirby Clash sub-game.
Kirby Star Allies
There are two distinct arrangements of this theme in Kirby Star Allies. The first is a piano focused arrangement that plays in Dream Palaces, and is named 夢をかなえるしんでん (Wish-granting Palace) on the Kirby Star Allies: The Original Soundtrack. The second arrangement is a chiptune remix of the theme, that plays in the puzzle rooms in the stages from Far-Flung Starlight Heroes, named ナゾトキ銀河 (Puzzle Milky Way). Both were arranged by the original composer, Hirokazu Ando.
Finally, during Morpho Knight's boss battle, if player 1 is Magolor, Morpho Knight's theme will be replaced by a medley of multiple themes from Kirby's Return to Dream Land related to Magolor, and "Road to Victory" is among them. This medley is titled Supreme Ruler's Coronation - OVERLORD in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and it was once again arranged by Hirokazu Ando.
Super Kirby Clash
A remix of the theme, which adds electric guitars, a choir, and more percussion to the original song, is used as the theme for the Tough rank quests against Whispy Woods and Kracko, and the Tough rank Party Quest against Pyribbit.
Other appearances
Kirby for Nintendo GameCube's E3 2005 trailer, which used "Road to Victory"
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"Road to Victory"'s first appearance was in the reveal trailer for Kirby for Nintendo GameCube at E3 2005, which would had been the song's first appearance if the game had not been cancelled. Notably, the song is the exact same that was eventually used for Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Due to its use as the trailer's theme, it's likely that the song would had been one of the main themes of the game, which eventually carried away to Return to Dream Land.
"Road to Victory" is one of the songs present in the Kirby Wii Music Selection album. Its Star Allies remixes also make an appearance in the Kirby Star Allies: The Original Soundtrack album.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
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| Japanese | 勝利への道 Shōri e no michi |
Road to Victory |
| Traditional Chinese | 通往勝利的道路 Tōng wǎng shènglì de dàolù |
Road to Victory |
| Simplified Chinese | 通往胜利的道路 Tōng wǎng shènglì de dàolù | |
| Dutch | De weg naar de glorie | The road to glory |
| French | Vers la victoire | Towards victory |
| German | Der Weg zum Sieg | The Road to Victory |
| Italian | La via per la vittoria | The road to victory |
| Korean | 승리의 길 seungliui gil |
Road of Victory |
| Portuguese | A rota da vitória | The route of victory |
| Spanish | La vía hacia la victoria | The road to victory |
References
- ↑ "たとえば「スカイタワー」と「勝利への道」は、雰囲気は正反対ですが、実は"同じ曲の明るい版と暗い版”という"対になる曲"として同時期に作られました。" –Kirby's Return to Dream Land Sound Staff, Jun Ishikawa and Hirokazu Ando (Kirby Wii Music Selection card.)
(Translation: For example, "Sky Tower" and "Road to Victory" have exact opposite atmospheres, and in truth, they were composed at the same time as "paired songs," a light version and a dark version of the same tune.)
{{Navbox-KRtDL/KRtDLD Music}} {{Navbox-KDCSE}} {{Navbox-KTD}} {{Navbox-KPR}} {{Navbox-KSA}} {{Navbox-SKC}} [[Category:Music in Kirby's Return to Dream Land]] [[Category:Music in Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition]] [[Category:Music in Kirby: Triple Deluxe]] [[Category:Music in Kirby: Planet Robobot]] [[Category:Music in Kirby Star Allies]] [[Category:Music in Super Kirby Clash]] [[Category:Music in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]]
