shmups.system11.org

Lol

Thanks to Kaizer01 on the discord, I discovered that the original FM Towns version of RefleX had a completely different first stage BGM, under the same title (Unavoidable Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHub-sBMUg0

It's much more fast paced and intense than RefleX's starter bgm, but still has the trademark Siter Skain melancholy and emotion to it. Kaizer also posted an official arrange which updates it to the instrumental style of their later games:

https://mu6.me/150651

On a side note, could anyone recommend me VGM tracks with cool backing vocals?

Ohshi, nice. Without audio at the moment but looking forward to those - it's a testament to SS's musical excellence that even their outtakes tend to shine. I seem to recall Alltynex 2nd's st1 BGM being totally different, and rad, in the old demo ver, and missing it in the final... but then its replacement was killer too so I forgot about it. Will have to look that one up.



I'm drawing a bit of a blank on more action-oriented stuff, the obvious (Zuntata, misc Darius and Ray) aside - I'm sure you're aware of the various DariusBurst OSTs, but Goodbye My Earth still raises a few goosebumps, Iron Corridor's plaintive wail even moreso. I guess the latter will verge on Yoko Ono caterwaul territory for some, haha... but in my mind Darius is synonymous with exile war and existential plight, so it sounds totally warranted.

Similarly, it's probably not news but I think Akai Katana's Kaerituno / st4 BGM is pretty good.

Others that come to mind readily are more adventure/RPG-sourced. The chanting in Chrono Cross's Tower of Stars has stuck with me. Always found it an eerie presence, and good accent on an elegantly doomy atmospheric track. Along the same lines, Silent Hill 2's gorgeously sepulchral Fermata in Mistic Air employs a synth choral backing that... well, if you've played SH2 you'll know the Lynchian horror our boy JIMMY JAMES has just been hit with a fresh wave of, but let's say it gives the feeling one might have upon remembering your girlfriend asked you to feed her fish while she's away and it's been a week. Punishing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgbQuafrmk0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkvqjFLfu_8
Nice Castlevania medley. Download link in ocremix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB8cSgDYDIM

Still one of the most badass Tekken songs ever released next to Emotionless Passion and Anger of the earth

Verytex - a justly vaunted OST, my mention of which will surprise nobody, but whenever it's been a while since my last listen, something about it will inevitably hit me really goddamn hard.

Listen
to
that
fucken
bassline.

Artfully pulverising.

See also MD Shadow Dancer's Round 3-2 BGM for a more organic take (800lb gorilla bass guitar shouldering big harmonised hooks) and of course its bonus stage BGM which goes nuts again. And Fantasy Zone's boss BGM - to keep with the MD theme let's go with Super Fantasy Zone ver. Fuuuck I love this sound. <333

I recall saying this to you in the past, but google for the Iron Goat rip. Ear bleeding!
Not sure if there ever was an official release.

Still got all of IG's Sakimoto/Iwata hardware rips in my VGM folder. ;3 Excellent stuff. Dustin's hardware rips are superb handiwork, too, but I'm not sure if he puts them up for DL anywhere. Certainly the first place I check on YT for Mega Drive music.

I don't think Verytex ever got an official release, sadly. I wonder if Sakimoto's pre-Squaresoft PC+console stuff ever got a decent anthology. He's got mind-blowing work with Iwata going right back to Revolter on PC-88. I mean holy fuck, that one never lets up on the tunes. I like to treat his more obscure stuff like that and the eccentric powerhouse Starship Rendezvous as straight-up solo albums... easily good enough to listen from end to end.

I'd like to hear that Verytex piece given a modern treatment (Sacrilege, I know )


Gunvalkyrie 2002 - OST

SEGA's Teruhiko Nakagawa comes up smelling of roses on this one.
Fuckin awesome!

Some of the score is like a mix of Jumping Flash! and Ridge Racer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFYsUm1 ... 22&index=5

Stand outs are;

Cosmic Blast
Valkyrie's Launch
Killing Bedroom
Megalomania
Valkyrie's Barefoot

Yes, it is. What modern treatment are you talking about?

Oh, nothing too radical.
Something along the lines of what Luminist did with the Metroid remake, might be interesting.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=61245

An aside, I've always loved this one's tracknames - looks distinctly like a lost Motorhead album.

Nexzr Credits theme is the soothing song of the month for me. Video isn't nice quality but it's the best I could find on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDwl-31afEc
Still amazing. Wish they adapted the story to a series or something.

http://dwellingofduels.net/dodarchive/1 ... ue-DoD.mp3
A nice remix of the godly original.

Hot Scramble, off doujin STG Cloudphobia's soundtrack. Been revisiting the game, as I liked but never really clicked with its "racing STG" format. As I'd hoped, much Battle Formula in the intervening years has helped on that front! STG + racing is sort of memorisation squared, but the performance payoff is accordingly extra exhilarating if done right.

SHE'S LOST CONTROL
IN A LONELY PLACE
DISORDER
ISOLATION
CEREMONY

In a game where each stage is named for a Joy Division song, I remembered this track as the only one to recall their austere post-punk sound; briefly, but quite compellingly so. Evokes the militantly stomping pulse of Incubation, shrouded in the bleak synths that accent ultimate signoff Decades. Or perhaps those of The Him, from transitional Joy Division/New Order record "Movement?" NO's club-geared sound dominates the rest of the OST, sometimes down to the tracknames (Vanishing Point could be a "Low Life"-era B side, a very decent one too).

Imperative that it's played loud - the sullenly relentless Hook/Morris-esque beat and that snarling outro riff are squandered otherwise.

^ Nice, had that one on my wishlist for a while. Need to give it a try soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaEH9Fhpe2E

Unfortunately titled Daddy Mulk arrangement.

Like much of my favourite Engrish, I'm both impressed and appalled, wondering how I never thought it up myself.

I like DMC's stuff - from what I've heard, they don't go too far off-script, but they absolutely deliver on straight-ahead hard rock/heavy metal arrangements. I wish Magical Trick Society's Dragon Spirit AST had taken a similarly disciplined approach; the conventional arrangements are some of my favourite ever (particularly the galloping, soaring Glacier Land), but they completely lose the plot on stuff like "Volcano" and "Graveyard."

re Daddy Mulk itself, I wonder if TNWA's composers (Hiroyuki Iwatsuki IIRC, not sure if others) were tempted to throw in at least a brief reference to that prize hook. I'm glad they didn't (shows character!) but at the same time, I could totally imagine it weaving into the already superb final boss BGM.



Cloudphobia is cool, at the least. The system has classic compulsive simplicity (every missed zako depletes your all-important mothership's HP), the mechanics are smartly tailored to the hectic action (micro hitbox to weave through swarming threats, generous weaponbox to lop off - or blow off - their heads)... but I happily admit a great deal of my love is for its immense cinematic panache. There's a screaming velocity throughout, paired with a decided brutal streak (the Blade's two-hit combo is memorable - an elegantly lethal iaido draw that seamlessly guillotines down from its apex with almighty skull-splitting venom).

Spoiler: show

Naturally, harnessing the pace requires bonking your head on the guardrails a few times, but then it's a racing STG with all the early stumblings and blazing highs the hybrid entails. Earns its indulgences, imo. ;3 Short, stylish and hyper-replayable.

Part of what made me shelve it, years back, was the seemingly myriad version tweaks - I figured I'd come back when things settled down. Seems it's gotten a Western release since, very cool... no idea what its more current versions might play like though. I also want to revisit Sora, another cool oddity from my brief Siter Skain+Samidare-driven doujin foray. That one has a fairly bangin' OST too (think you may be familiar with it already).

---

EDIT: Oh WAO :O Still on the Ian Curtis & co tip, Arcus Odyssey [MD]'s stage 2-1 BGM has a wistfully resigned, sparsely punctuated gloom straight outta the verses of New Dawn Fades. Just the BGM to watch your HP dwindle to, as you run hopelessly lost around a mutant cephalopod-infested dungeon!

I've walked on water and run through fire
Can't seem to feel it anymore

Dumbass! :O That's because you snorted all of our OBLIVION HERB!

X68000 Ver w/ Roland CM-64 - special thanks @ SuperDeadite! Usual LVLUP for Sakuraba's Wolfteam OSTs. Though tbh, while the more fiery tracks are indeed setting my balls ablaze, in st2-1's case I think I prefer the harsher dynamics of the MD port - nice and chilly.

No More Heroes - Pleather for Breakfast

I can't believe this game is already 10 years old.

Thanks for that BIL! Sounds like my kind of game, will definitely check out when I have time / money for it!



Ooh, that would have been wonderful! A triumphant reprise of that hook during the games final hour would have been emotional.

As of late, I've come to recognize repeated leitmotifs as an incredibly strong and under-rated way to set atmosphere in a game. A dark or triumphant reprise alone is enough to generate a real sense of continuity even in the simplest of games.

The absolute pinnacle is Trails in The Sky. 150 hours of genuinely well written character development, backed up by an incredibly diverse soundtrack that makes frequent and elegant use of leitmotifs. It all comes to a climax in The Merciless Savior, a final boss track which practically sums the entire journey in musical form. Easily my favorite Falcom composition.

v appropriate 7,777th post

- - - - - - - - - -

ape escape 3 - winterville (1st part)

Another Eden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEABEbHrB8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irz_rYC1HYU

Dungeon Travelers 2+2 Chiptune Arrange
https://my.mixtape.moe/zllsvo.mp3

NieR : Automata Arranged & Unreleased Tracks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MZGT5_ZWII

Soldam Bloom Declaration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9k_v_Xsces

Final Fantasy Jazz Arrange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZgBhSniVnw

Senko No Ronde Full Arrange Album - Reassemble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1tT5OXHmec

Also, proof that Square has completely run out of ideas. https://vgmdb.net/album/71685

Yes, that is 17 remixes of the same battle tune from Final Fantasy 5 on the same CD. Why? Because they can, I guess. :p

Happy Winter Soldeace everyone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8EUDJWQxUs

(continuing from here)



I mean it is kinda interesting how what disgusts in one context (Sonic Eraser) works a treat in another (SH1's deliberately caustic stuff like "Until Death").

But like Ridge Racer soundtracks you simply can't deny the SH music discussion. You can't fight us, you are like us, and your body will betray you.

The Last Mariachi sounds distinctly to me like a nylon-stringed acoustic. I was stuck with a dimestore one most of my teens, and my shitty playing didn't help the poor thing. It's a rad song, especially for a title theme. Neither SH1 nor SH2 have one, though the former has a Sega-good "pressed start" sound (KTANNNNG). SH3 uses the conventionally foreboding "Float Up From Dream," then SH4 is all "sup motherfucker?" plunking its acoustic atop a loud air conditioner, casually rolling off some disarmingly lovely little runs before deciding you've had quite enough and resuming the idle plunky-plink. I could swear you hear Yamaoka casually smacking the guitar at points, like he's considering attempting a bit of percussive technique but can't be arsed.

Bit late here for the volume I like scrutinising my music at, annoyingly! Yamaoka's guitar had balls of granite on the earlier soundtracks... Mariachi is IIRC about the closest SH4's soundtrack gets to the grittier old stuff.

She
Overdose Delusion

WTB a true instrumental "You're Not Here" with that absolutely wounded outro solo left unobscured.

Nothing I've just discovered, just an old favourite. Cyber Block Metal Orange OST by JKL Furukawa (Furukawa Yoshio of his real name) and Masaharu Iwata. Particularly the Furukawa songs.

Each year, there's always a time (or two, or three) where I give this one several spind for a while. Right now is one of those times.

This is one of my very favourite game soundtrack for sure. Top-5 material. To crank out so many masterpieces in one OST is just... frankly incredible. A great moment in FM Synth history for sure.

The same can be said for Magical Blocks Carat, also by Furukawa-san, as well as WAIEN (わいえんでい一 ) and Hitoshi Sakimoto, which incidently I also always listen to in tandem with CBMO when I'm in one of those phases. The bubbly, cute feel in this one is so intense, it really makes you all warm and fuzzy inside. You can't stay indifferent to that one! it's impossible. It'll move ya


METAL ORANGE :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1-P9ZiffTA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlGHfP3w7YI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dXMpxmVkQc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkmFv_fOHXs

CARAT :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNetMIe-INM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3OfdBIJNqs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUU9xaexMZg&t
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R76zcax6W8o

Both Metal Orange soundtracks come goddamn close to surpassing Verytex, imo. Similar winning combo of cybernetically intense basslines and monster harmonised hooks.

You really cannot go wrong with Sakimoto, Iwata & co's collective works from the 8-16bit era. Maybe beyond that... I'm certainly a fan of RSG and Baroque's soundtracks. But the catalogue they produced for the MD and the big JP personal computers is an absolute goldmine of irresistible hooks and cranked BPM, with a healthy amount of experimental sound to boot (Starship Rendezvous is crazy...).

Either name makes an OST an instant listen in my books. All this said, I'm not as familiar with JKL Furukawa, and I don't think I've encountered Carat before! Will enjoy checking that out! From that camp I've been blasting REVOLTER loud lately.

BTW, this might be of interest: Fanmade arrangement of Metal Orange EX music via Thunder Force III's soundfont.

Haven't listened to Verytex yet! Decided to listen to it right away after seeing you laud it, lol. It's blasting through my hifi right now

Sakimoto + Iwata is quite the deadly combo. Looks like they've worked together a bunch too, that's good. Haven't listened to everything they've done in the 8/16 bit era but I plan on doing so. I see they've worked with Furukawa on Verytex, awesome! Where these 3 an independant sound team for hire or something? I see these 3 names together a bunch. Especially Sakimoto + Iwata. But I've seen all combination of those names together a bunch of times for sure.

Yeah man, Carat OST is godly! I'm sure you'll like it. Super cheery in feel, so you've gotta be in that kinda stuff but it's no doubt a masterpiece. Furukawa is top tier talent. WAY up high on the list. One of my very fave VGM composers. His songs usually have this big emotional pull... very dramatic and moving. In adittion to extremely tight songwritting and CRAZY hooks. Really a frickin' force to be reckoned with his stuff is so damn clean sounding too, never cluttered yet there's always a lot going on. I'm telling ya : guy is INSANE!

Haven't listened to REVOLTER either, I'll cue that up next

That YM2612 arrange of Metal Orange is sweet dude! I liked it

Aha, I was trying to recall if Furukawa worked on Verytex too! Definitely adds up!

And oh yeah, lots of room in my heart for cheerier stuff - firm believer in balancing out the apocalyptic pummelings now and then. (don't wanna end up with NOTHING ELSE LEFT 2 DESTROY )

On the subject of old favourites and fan works, I've been revisiting this concept album for a new Konami-styled MSX shooter. First two tracks are impeccably melodic yet stoical ala Gradius 2 MSX. Last one is the silliest thing I've heard outside of Gradius III SFC's bonus stage, I love it

>"Colony"
>"Iceberg That Approaches"
>"Person Goes Forward"