Music you wish they'd put in a Shmup

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:25 pm

Doesn't Ibara already do that? And I was only kidding about the Grand Theft Auto thing, since everybody seemed to disagree on what stylings of music should be in shmups anyway. As far as I can tell, what music you use in the stage depends on a number of factors (or at least I think so):

1) How fast your ship is moving though (and mowing down) the stage.
2) How big and tough the boss is. (or how cute)
3) Horizontal or Vertical movement (or sometimes reverse movement or pitched movement).
4) Whether or not it's a Bio, Mech, or Hyper Space Styled Stage

Other possible factors that might (and this is a big might mind you) effect the music:

5) Number of Power-ups/Subweapons you've gathered.
6) Possibly a Time Limit (if applicable)
7) The number of enemies you must or already have disposed of.
8 ) If there's a lot of dodging and weaving into tight spots.

Anyway, these seem to be the most familiar to me for the most part. But I've always liked the way (especially in the Zelda games) the music changes depending on your current situation, not just when dealing with a boss or on a certain stage. Different variations to the song that is...

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:33 pm

It might, if it were merciful enough to actually LET you beat the bosses, from what I hear of it, heh.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:26 pm

The album I would most like to see as the soundtrack to a shmup:

The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)

This album freakin' rules, and it would be perfect for a truly epic shmup.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:25 pm

^ Agree!

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:39 pm

^I suppose it would be pretty cool to hear "do you realize?" playing in the background while blasting away. I think it would have to be a cute 'em up though.

gs68 · Post by **gs68** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:42 pm

Super Eurobeat songs would be pretty good for those city stages.

Sly Cherry Chunks · Post by **Sly Cherry Chunks** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 8:13 pm

Jon wrote:^I suppose it would be pretty cool to hear "do you realize?" playing in the background while blasting away. I think it would have to be a cute 'em up though.

I think that would be the ending theme.

Tomtom · Post by **Tomtom** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 8:30 pm

professor ganson wrote:The album I would most like to see as the soundtrack to a shmup:

The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)

This album freakin' rules, and it would be perfect for a truly epic shmup.

Yes indeed. I've actually done that a couple of times. Fight Test makes a great intro, then Yoshimi pt.2 could be for boss battles...

Darkcomet72 · Post by **Darkcomet72** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:32 pm

So what's wrong with the music that's in shmups now?

Really, I like to keep an open mind about the music, be it epic orchestra, or souless techno...

So I wouldn't change the music for the world, since most of it is done well.

FatCobra wrote:
It could be kinda neat of John William's stuff was used in a shmup.....(joking)

Actually, you might have something there. If he was actually composing for a Shmup, He might pull a Hitoshi Sakimoto on us...

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 8:37 pm

The thing about shmups is, John Tesh could make appropriate music for them.

King Crimson, Tool, Satriani, Josh Homme, Yanni; Abba would make excellent cute-'em-up music; anything but punk and heavy metal would work in a shmup, really.

I'm not sure why, but heavy metal seems much more suited to run'n'gun type games than it does for shmups. As for punk, it seems to fit the fighting genre much more than it does the shmup one to me. These styles seem much less beat-oriented than techno, rap, or Wagnerian classical scores are (yah, punk and metal have plenty of beat, but they're usually not stressed so much), so maybe that's it. They're more likely to lack metronomic quality.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:07 pm

My obvious answer to this is Children of Bodom. I always thought it would be cool to take out the vocals of alot of metal music and lay it behind the shmup action. Nothing against Alexi's vocals or anything - they rock- it just would blend better with no spoken words.

hikarutilmitt · Post by **hikarutilmitt** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:03 am

Dream Theater would be pretty good, I think. Just Petrucci himself would be good, for that matter. He's already done at least 1 game soundtrack, possibly 2.

russ · Post by **russ** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:36 am

IMO, it totally depends on the type of shmup. Take Souky for example - it has a very deep, serious setting, and the music perfectly reflects it. Some of the boss tracks have a very dark feel to them (stage 1 and 2 boss), and the stage tracks sort of change rhythm as the tone of the stage changes (such as the stage 3 track).

Another example could be Raiden Fighters Jet. All of the tracks are like +200 bpm, which goes with the game pretty well since it's a shit-my-pants fast-paced game.

Though if I could pick a band to do the soundtrack to a shmup, it'd definitely be Imperanon - minus the lyrics, they already have video game music feel to them.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:28 pm

Russ! I just randomly checked out Imperanon because of your post! ARRGHHHH They fucking rock!

russ · Post by **russ** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:20 pm

Aint it the truth! I was listening to the song "Memories to Dust" which made me suggest them, but I also recommend "Hollow Man", "Blade"... actually, everything they have, dammit. They're still pretty new, just a few years old with only 1 album out.

pixelcorps · Post by **pixelcorps** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:49 pm

panacea or squarepusher would be good.. or some violent instrumental metal, nothing too "widdly" tho!!

I like the music for GUWANGE a lot, dodonpachi and dimahoo following in 2nd and 3rd place

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:19 pm

Warmen would be awesome. It's basically Children of Bodom with a hella lot of instrumental tracks.

PsikyoPshumpPshooterP · Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:29 pm

Initial D music...

janrodricks · Post by **janrodricks** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 4:25 am

I can't wait to see what music Jon Changs "KETM" has - he said its "not techno"...so I'm hoping that means it's grindcore that he helped make. I think that would be awesome in a shmup

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:27 pm

The Pillows. i don't care what anyone says. blasting alien scum to the sounds of "Hybrid Rainbow" and "Ride on Shooting Star", with the final battle music being "I Think I Can", all the way!

EDIT: The Pillows are the band that did, among MANY other things, the entire soundtrack for FLCL.

MIKEY'SEGA · Post by **MIKEY'SEGA** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:52 am

DRUM AND BASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ShmupSamurai · Post by **ShmupSamurai** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:13 pm

80's/ 90's Glam-Rock("Hair Metal") and "Super Robot" type music with some "J-Core" Trance.

Jeneki · Post by **Jeneki** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:49 pm

Nice old thread bump.

Something I've been thinking about lately, with all the slow-moving bullet games these days, is why not mix in some equally slow paced Doom Metal? As long as we've got this tide of miasma ready to sweep us away at a glacial rate, toss in something slow and foreboding to proceed our tortuously dragged out destruction.

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:02 pm

Yeah, man, something like Reverend Bizarre or old Cathedral could be ace.

I'd be interested in hearing some grind in a shooter, too, although it'd probably just be a horrendous distraction.

emphatic · Post by **emphatic** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 10:26 pm

While I really hate the music in Bullet Soul, I'm glad it sucks, as the XBox 360 allows you to replace the music with ease. I just pop in an USB drive with one of my dj mixes, and start one before launching the game. The sound effects stay and everything's just epic.

I would love to hear Ozric Tentacles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2HFzl23 ... re=related or The Mahavishnu Orchestra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSIEkPqVgk in a shmup though.

Siren2011 · Post by **Siren2011** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:06 pm

FACT: Caring is Creepy by The Shins goes amazing with the first two stages of Mushihimesama. In fact I plan to make a music video shmup compilation with this song (Not a shitty one, I promise). I swear to God, it's like that track and the game were created so they could find each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhxthxhwk0

Aconcit · Post by **Aconcit** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:44 pm

I personally enjoy the idea of using music already used in shmups more than the idea of using any of the music mentioned. I like my music to sound video game-like not like an easy listening rock song or techno music. I'm a big fan of metal, but I hate the idea of a metal song just thrown into a shmup for no reason. I enjoyed what was done in Level 2 but that's because it fit the theme. If you're going to throw some Suffocation into a shmup at least make it have a horror theme.

I really disliked both Espgaluda's soundtracks and I don't think they fit the game at all.

Oh I forgot, I want more opera/classical sounding music like in Darius Gaiden and Gaia Seed.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:47 pm

emphatic wrote:Ozric Tentacles

This would be awesome, but would require some careful editing and track selection. Not everything they've done is shmup material imo.

If I was going to pick some D&B, it'd definitely be Spor.

mesh control · Post by **mesh control** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 1:26 am

Brian Eno + Psyvariar =

eh, nvm. that doesn't sound right.

Brian Eno + Border Down =

GrantWindsor · Post by **GrantWindsor** » Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:11 pm

Don't know about anyone else, but I had wished for years that someone would have hired Yuzo Koshiro to score a shmup...back when he was experimental and relevant, that is. My two favorite shmup soundtracks are those from Darius II and Ai Cho Aniki, the latter being an oddball choice, I know. Though, if I had my way, you'd also probably find many Sega racing game tunes transplanted into shmups. Daytonaaaaa........

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