Old game music giving commercial music a run for its money

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:26 am

mr_m0nks wrote:dont know if this interests anyone but a year or so ago a number of well respected chiptune artists got together and did an album of kraftwerk covers

http://www.myspace.com/8bitoperators

http://www.8bitoperators.com/

hey, I am interested... (and am grateful for the awesome link. Chiptunes ROCK!)

Kraftwerk is about the best humanoids ever made!

(also had the best live show I ever visited)

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Tue May 06, 2008 10:23 am

Fenrir wrote:Last level of Mushiimesama Futari + first pre-boss... you really don't want to stop shooting like a maniac :]

Hey man, I've never heard any of the Futari stuff yet. That Chinese instrument is a very interesting sound, and its a brilliantly intricate piece.
Love it where it slows right down at 1:40

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:04 am

I'm liking posting MP3 links - Zebra Airforce, your muxtape is fantastic.

Here's a link to all the Streets of Rage 2 stuff (scroll down the page to em) which are some of my all time faves.

http://www.freewebs.com/watler/mp3/Mp3music.htm

Tracks of note (well all of them, but...)

Streets of Rage:

Boss

http://www.freewebs.com/watler/mp3/Str109.mp3

Track 5

http://www.freewebs.com/watler/mp3/Str105.mp3

Streets of Rage 2 (it's a crime cos the Shiva fight music isn't here, and that might be the best track of all. It's the best theme to want to smack the boss's head in.)

Track 3 - boss theme

http://www.freewebs.com/watler/mp3/Str203.mp3

Track 16 - Not one of my faves, but funny cos its stolen from 'Move and Mountain' by the Shamen. Bad Yuzo.

http://www.freewebs.com/watler/mp3/Str216.mp3

Track 18 - Last boss remix

http://www.freewebs.com/watler/mp3/Str218.mp3

Track 19 - This one is just fantastic.

http://www.freewebs.com/watler/mp3/Str219.mp3

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:10 am

Shiva theme Found - they should've left it for a second loop, but you get the idea. It's badass:

http://www.imeem.com/kyo-kusanagi/music ... iva_theme/

And the actual fight on youtube. Maybe it makes more sense when the game is being played to understand why the music seems so ahead if its time.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DOBJaqUpZiA&feature=related

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:11 am

I'm glad to see Streets of Rage, Castlevania, Silent Hill and in particular Contra III's terrifying late-game music all mentioned here. If there's one song I'd contribute to this thread, it's "My Dear D" from Shinobi III. As a huge game music fan, that is one song that never fails to amaze me. The creativity, aggression and finesse are all through the roof. The combination of those hammering drum fills, the pounding bass (especially in the intro) and the alternating lazy / articulate lead melody is killer. I wish someone would do a full arranged version of that song, it's amazing enough to hear blasted through some good speakers as is.

charlie chong · Post by **charlie chong** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:12 am

quite a few hip hoppers have sampled up some good shit off of games too..

ones i can recall
mf doom-gas drawls (think this is sampled off an ending off streetfighter alpha 2 (charlie ending??) )

del tha funky homosapien-protoculture (all about import and retro games

uses a bit of darkstalkers music)

cocoa brovas-super brooklyn (uses the infamous super mario tunnel tune der derh derh derh duhh!!

revenge of shinobi is probbly on a par with s.o.r 1/2 i think.. but c64 had the most atmospheric tunes.. platoons' intro music is a particular favourite of mine

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:04 pm

Bill wrote:If there's one song I'd contribute to this thread, it's "My Dear D" from Shinobi III.

Fuck yeah bro!

I also like the various other fast tracks - Whirlwind is most everybody's favorite, and Idaten (the first riding stage's music) is great too.

Solitary (music to the floating boss with antigravity tricks and a diagonal machine gun attack iirc) is great; same for Trap Boogie and Mandara are also fun, although I think I kinda wore them out.

I like Izayoi a lot now - marches right along while still sounding subdued.

Shinobi III's music is better than most of Yuzo's music (including maybe 80% of the Revenge soundtrack) up to that point, I feel.

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:16 am

Ed Oscuro wrote: Shinobi III's music is better than most of Yuzo's music (including maybe 80% of the Revenge soundtrack) up to that point, I feel.

It's probably just a matter of taste, but despite Shinobi 3 being undeniably brilliant I don't think it betters his work on SOR2.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:38 am

Skykid wrote:It's probably just a matter of taste, but despite Shinobi 3 being undeniably brilliant I don't think it betters his work on SOR2.

Only half a year between those releases, though.

SoR II's sound is great for its outstanding tunes, but it's got a number of clunkers. Shinobi III has a lot of tracks that do a great job sounding like Japanese instruments are being used, whereas there's a lot of SoR II tracks like Expander or Jungle Base or Little Money Avenue that have weak intros (those tracks do get better, but the forgettable parts are very much so).

Still, gotta love Max Man and Under Logic.

Also, I have to recognize that SoR II simply has more tracks than S III, and while SIII has three composers listed, Yuzo did all of SoR II by himself. Amazing he fit in so many successes in.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Wed May 07, 2008 2:22 am

Ed Oscuro wrote:Fuck yeah bro!

I also like the various other fast tracks - Whirlwind is most everybody's favorite, and Idaten (the first riding stage's music) is great too.

Solitary (music to the floating boss with antigravity tricks and a diagonal machine gun attack iirc) is great; same for Trap Boogie and Mandara are also fun, although I think I kinda wore them out.

I like Izayoi a lot now - marches right along while still sounding subdued.

Shinobi III's music is better than most of Yuzo's music (including maybe 80% of the Revenge soundtrack) up to that point, I feel.

I love Shinobi III's whole OST, too. I'd definitely put it over Revenge's; it did the dramatic / occasionally upbeat ninja vibe a lot more ambitiously on both counts. Solitary is another huge favourite of mine, along with Inner Darkside; as with My Dear D, the drum and bass lines on those songs are so damn authentic-sounding, and involved (Inner Darkside has to be one of the darkest yet hardest-hitting songs in gaming, full stop).

I know what you mean about Mandara in particular getting old, after a while. That song has a killer intro, but it's one of the less ambitious tracks on the OST (I think Revenge's "Terrible Beat" is the more enduring boss theme). I think this soundtrack's real strength is the powerful rhythm backing, which is why I tend to love Idaten more than Mandara and Whirlwind. Japonesque is another faster song that has a ton of powerful rhythm. I just love the drum / bass sound and programming on this OST, it's got such force behind it.

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Wed May 07, 2008 2:54 am

Skykid wrote:Hey man, I've never heard any of the Futari stuff yet.

You should check out stage 3 + 4, they have excellent tunes.