Thanks, GreenFlash420! High praise indeed. Always great to know when someone enjoys the journey.

Thanks a ton! I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Little Nemo, so that's a right fine compliment in my book.

Haha, you're welcome for the referral! I'm almost more surprised that you actually followed up and even left me another review. Once again, you have my thanks.

And you still like "The Wizard's Grimoire" more than this one! No worries, I can easily take that as a compliment, though you've caught me by surprise again. This one garnered much more attention last year than my more recent Pixel Day offering.

Part of the reason that they sound so different is that I used a completely different set of instruments, for pretty much everything but the percussion. That said, I'm certainly happy to hear that I've improved over the course of a year, and I will continue to strive for further improvement in the future.

Hey, thanks for the review! Not sure how I missed responding to this one for almost two weeks, but I'll rectify that now:

Whew, that is quite the run-on sentence you have there! Okay, so let's see, I believe you're saying that the track is really nice, you appreciate the overall quality and love the slow theme, but you would have preferred a more intense buildup. Fair enough, and I really appreciate the props, but without explaining what you mean by "more intense" regarding the buildup, that doesn't really help.

Do you mean that the music should get louder? The tempo should speed up? Does it need more cowbell or bloodcurdling screams? xD Anyway, try to be a little more specific when using a term like "more intense." Since there are so many potential ideas attached to it, more information is needed in order for someone else to see your vision.

Woo! Thanks a ton, McG! You've got me blushin' over here, man. xD

Yeah, this was my track for Pixel Day, still a relatively new annual holiday cooked up by RealFaction right here on Newgrounds. I've been making tracks since its inception, starting with Retrograde Meanderings in 2016; Anytown, RPG last year; and of course this one most recently. One Hero's Journey actually snagged 3rd place in the Audio contest back in January! So...BONUS! ^__^

It's interesting that you mention how each individual section could be more fleshed out into full-length tracks, such as for a video game OST. I've actually been thinking about that myself, as well as an orchestral version based largely upon the original. Even I don't know where the journey will take me...

As for all those awesome 8-bit instruments, there are many VST on offer if you want to reproduce that nostalgic sound. For this track I used several BiT BOX kits for the percussion; pooBoy2 (the VST even looks like a GameBoy!) for the two different basses; as well as the NES VST, Peach (by Tweakbench), and a couple instances of FAMISYNTH-II for the melody and harmony lines. Not to mention about a dozen Automation clips for tempo changes, volume control, and panning.

Whew! That's a lot of information, I know. But when someone asks, I make it a point to deliver. Thank you once again for dropping by, giving this a listen, and especially for the very thoughtful review! Really glad that you enjoy it so much. You've made me smile, and that's something the world could always use more of. :D