Which shoot 'em up game have the best soundtrack?

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:44 pm

I'd say Lords of Thunder, hands down. But then I'm partial to '80s music.

Pulstar also has an amazing soundtrack-the second stage music is like meditation music!

norton7894 · Post by **norton7894** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:53 pm

I'll throw in my 3:

Zed blade
Viewpoint
M. Twinbee (stinger)
Gunsmoke.

Tychom · Post by **Tychom** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 11:59 pm

Rock Guitar Soundtracks - Star Soldier (GC/PS2), Sapphire (PCE SCD)(

Epic/Operatic - Axelay, Soukyugurentai, Gigawing 2

Special Mentions - Area 88 (SFC version), some great uplifting and moody blasting music. Zanac Neo - some of the later levels have some stunning music. Kikikaikai - (is it a shmup?). music you can hum too all day long.

Post by **nZero** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:12 am

Raiden series, especially Raiden DX.
Thunder Force series.
Star Soldier series, Soldier Blade is awesome.

Post by **system11** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:46 am

Some good ones:

Darius II / Sagaia (you need to play this on the real cab with sub)
Darius Gaiden
Dragon Breed
Hyper Duel
Sengoku Blade
Gunhed

Tomtom · Post by **Tomtom** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:54 am

jp wrote:Blast Wind
Thunder Force III/IV
Soukyugurentai
Radiant Silvergun
Border Down
Metal Black

Those would be my picks. But the music for the final fight of Blast Wind is just :Drool:

it's funny, I think that the Blast Wind final boss music was the inspiration for Daisuke Ishiwatare's "Awe of She". Still an awesome piece of music. Anyway, some of my favorites are:

Super Aleste
Armed Police Batrider
ANYTHING Technosoft
Radiant Silvergun
Most of the Gradius series
Axelay
R-Type Delta

I have never heard of Apidya, but you've certainly piqued my interest, Shatterhand.

EDIT: Found the Apidya soundtrack. Great stuff!

Post by **system11** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 2:52 am

I forgot one too - it's a remix of a Vapor Trail track, which I found on the Wolf Fang CD while scanning through tracks. It never appears in music test or anything, it was just hidden away. I've posted it in a temp area on my site.

http://www.system11.org/temp/vaptrailremix.mp3

It's -awesome-.

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 2:54 am

Outzone has the ultimate soundtrack. here are the MP3s for your pleasure if don't believe me

http://outzone.meodai.ch/medias.html

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 4:39 am

Level 5 boss of Dimahoo.

FatalError · Post by **FatalError** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 4:41 pm

In no particular order:

1: Einhander
2: Axelay
3: Battle Garegga
4: Radiant Silvergun
5: Ikaruga
6: Gradius Gaiden
7: M.U.S.H.A.
8: Lords of Thunder
9: Thunderforce (III, IV, and V)
10: Sokyuugurentai
11: Darius Gaiden
12: Sapphire

Honorable mention: Rez (I realize it's not a *true* shooter , but it's got an awesome soundtrack).

99pence · Post by **99pence** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 5:47 pm

I really like Gradius Gaiden. I don't know which but the first level on one of the Darius games (maybe all of them) is awesome.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 8:10 pm

Personal favorites of mine include:

The Gradius games (If you can manage to find the Gradius 3 Symphonic Poetry CD ever, it's a great interpetation of the Gradius III music)

Battle Garegga/Battle Bakraid
Raystorm
Radiant Silvergun (in fact, pretty much any Hitoshi Sakamoto soundtrack)
Ikaruga
The Thunder Force games

chtimi-CLA · Post by **chtimi-CLA** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:09 pm

-guwange: it is the only music that could form a coherent whole with the graphics
-twin cobra: i still whistle it 15 years after, the PS1 remix is good too but i prefer the original
-radiant
-heavy unit
-dangun
-donpachi: it still has the toaplan chip tune touch unlike the sequels which got more serious and worse each time
-crying (bio hazard battle): it's clear they hired someone very good, i wonder who. very seerie
-winds of thunder: best metal shmup soundtrack

there are plenty others,pc genjin,aldynes,r-type,dragon breed,outzone,progear, dragon saber...

No_not_like_Quake · Post by **No_not_like_Quake** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:25 pm

Any Technosoft 16-bit music, Apidya for sure, Guwange boss theme, one of R-type Final's boss themes, which works really well with the stage four boss, Gley Lancer, Blazing Star, Second stage of R-type 2, Axelay, M.U.S.H.A. and the Japanese version of Bio Metal. Those are some of my favorite shmup tunes.

Darkcomet72 · Post by **Darkcomet72** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:29 pm

Hmmm... I'm the only person so far that said 19XX...I feel special.

Dimahoo is a very different one, it's hard to believe it's done by Namiki. The Stage 5 Boss battle music is very cool, although it's missing something... It just piqued my mind when Landshark mentioned it. I still prefer the stage 1,3,4 boss battle music.

Apidya is great, I love Huelsbeck. Some of the turrican music I prefer, however.

Leeram · Post by **Leeram** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:35 pm

In no particular order (except the first six in the order in which they're listed)

- Warhawk C64
- Delta C64
- Sanxion C64
- Anything by Rob Hubbard on any game ever
- Salamander (arcade)
- Winds of Thunder (PC Engine Duo)
- Anything by Dave Whittaker
- Commando (Arcade)
- Gyruss (Arcade)
- Parodius (PC Engine)
- Xenon (all the tunes from it, Amiga/C64/Atari st)
- Smash TV
- Hybris
- Blood Money
- Axelay
- Gradius 3 (and 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 and all variants and everything)
- Ikari Warriors
- Ikaruga
- Battle Garegga
- anything with "pachi" in the title
- everything by everyone from Japan except Radiant Silvergun
- That track from the "homebrew" shooter on this discussion board, Endless Fire
- Microcosm
- Star Wars (Arcade)

OK some of them are border line, shoot me!

- Great Gianna Sisters
- Luigi's Castle
- Super Mario World
- Castlevania
- Rick Dangerous
- Bubble Bobble
- Space Ace

Ok, the last few aren't shoot 'em ups, but what the hell, I'm doing the typing!

Cheers

Leeram

brand1bil · Post by **brand1bil** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:45 pm

Border Down is the best...

borderline: Turrican 1-3 is best ever... (besides these two, top three also includes the MonkeyIsland-series music)

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:04 am

chtimi wrote:-crying (bio hazard battle): it's clear they hired someone very good, i wonder who. very seerie

I'm glad someone else mentioned this. Fantastic music, and very fitting to the graphics. The jungle level stands out in my mind.

silvery wings · Post by **silvery wings** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:16 am

I'm a huge Hitoshi Sakimoto fan:

Gradius V
Radiant Silvergun
Soukyuugurentai
Armed Police Batrider
Kingdom Granprix (mainly Sakimoto's tracks, not Iwata's)

Non-Sakimoto favorites:
Salamander 2 (hence my name)
Pulstar
Guwange
Zanac Neo
Dangun Feveron
any Thunderforce
Gleylancer

KrazyJoker · Post by **KrazyJoker** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:36 am

Tough choice. I loved the music in Thunder Force V, Gradius Gaiden, Giga Wing 2, Darius Gaiden, G. Darius and the Layer Section series. Those are my choices. But if I had to pick my favorite, it would be Thunder Force V. Once in a while I'll pop it in my CD player.

BUHA · Post by **BUHA** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:37 am

Biohazard battle has one of my favorite soundtracks on any game ever.

It's really hard to not love the music on Ikaruga, too.

I really like the music on Thunderforce IV, too. The genesis sounded awesome. Gunstar heroes is another favorite of mine.

umi · Post by **umi** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:58 am

Everyone's listed most of my faves... MANABU NAMIKI IS KING! Ahem...

No one has listed Robo (Dennin) Aleste (mega cd) though... awesome soundtrack. I would also like to give a nod to Insector X, that game has some real kick-ass tunes.

Also, I urge you all to hunt down the Xevious 3D/G+ arrange soundtrack! It has some of the best electro arrangements I have ever heard, full stop. To give you an idea, it competes with the music of Rez, in my mind. Makes me want to listen to the original music again, it's been over 5 years since I played the PSX game and I've forgotten the tunes (got up to the very final level just once! and I was completely drained ha).

One more thing... whoever said that the music of modern shooters isn't memorable? WTF? It is hella-memorable, it's just different to that of the 8 and 16-bit eras, that's all. Modern shooters can't afford to hire mediocre musicians to compose for them, I think. Manabu is doing Cave proud, Border Down music kicked ass, Psyvariar 2 music owned, Chaos Field (reportedly an average game, I haven't received mine yet) has wicked music, etc. You may get the occasional dud, but since the genre is a genuine minority (and the music has no limitations these days), overall you get fine music produced (that's also why most new shooters have official OSTs released).

deadninja · Post by **deadninja** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 6:24 am

Psy 2 really drew me in for a while...and I think the music is mostly to blame.

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Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:26 am

Shatterhand wrote:everyone who did NOT say Apidya obviously never played the game

Exactly. No other shmup's soundtrack even comes close to that of Apidya.

Additionally, I'll throw in Wings of Death, just because it's another shmup with exceptionally great music most people probably have never played. The soundtrack (very smooth 80s pop stuff) seems not to fit the game and its pace well at first, but you soon realize that it, in fact, gives the game a very unique feel.

blip · Post by **blip** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 11:23 am

Favorites:
- Radiant Silvergun
- Battle Garegga
- Soukyugurentai
- Zanac Neo
- Noiz2sa & rRootage
- Gunstar Heroes

Nostalgic for these, but I haven't heard them in years:
- Sol Deace (CD)
- In the Hunt (PS)
- Thunderforce 3
- Gynoug

DarkWolf7 · Post by **DarkWolf7** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 11:32 am

1942 is my absolute favorite, with its stunning melodies and exquisite composition. An aural masterpiece.

Ok, obviously I'm joking. If I had to narrow it down to ten, nah forget ten, twenty, I'd pick:

A-Jax
Apidya (though I haven't even played the game)
Axelay
Battle Garegga
Detana!! TwinBee
Dragon Saber
Gate of Thunder
Gradius II (MSX)
Gradius III (AC)
Gradius Gaiden
Life Force (NES)
Lords of Thunder (Duo)
Magical Chase
Radiant Silvergun
Shippu Mahou Daisakusen
Sol-Feace (X68000)
Space Manbow
Star Trader (X68000)
Thunder Force III
Trigon

zimeon · Post by **zimeon** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 11:44 am

Shatterhand wrote:everyone who did NOT say Apidya obviously never played the game

You're really getting me interested. Format? Only arcade?

blip · Post by **blip** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 12:32 pm

zimeon wrote:You're really getting me interested. Format? Only arcade?

The music of Apidya.

OptimusPrimeX · Post by **OptimusPrimeX** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 2:10 pm

some good choices in here... but a good example of great music to me, is something that gets you pumped up, and almost emotional. ( not crying you retards) Mostly i'm saying in shooters.... But on the flip side, sometimes the catchy melodic or fun/cute tunes are good for the light hearted gameplay.

My #1 choice even now... for 2 reasons. The high quality of layered sound produced from the humble megadrive.(skillz). and 2 the psuedo punk/rock tracks that are just really catchy

1. M.U.S.H.A

There's always more, but this always stuck out in my mind.....[/b]

Gozer · Post by **Gozer** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 3:02 pm

Life Force has a fantastic soundtrack.

shmups.system11.org

Which shoot 'em up game have the best soundtrack?

One of the best tunes ever, was never used.