New Recca OST

[Nemo]

Anyone know anything about this album:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-8l-70-usj-4-6.html

Like will the tracks be remastered or original Famicon-quality?

[ccovell]

More information on the disc can be seen here: http://www.webcity.jp/ds/detail.php?pid=SCDC-00461

It looks like the selected original soundtrack, plus a few bonus tracks, and two arranged tracks. Not really worth it if you have the NSF handy. I'd love to hear the arranged songs, though...

[shiftace]

Of possible further interest: Recca superplay video and book for 1,200 yen.

I have no idea how to go about ordering it, but better informed and motivated parties than myself might figure it out.

[Ghegs]

I just got the OST - listening to it as I type this. The arranged songs are odd, I don't even recognize from what song they're supposed to be a remix from. And in Hyde - Jekyll Mix there are some lyrics backwards like it's summoning Satan. And JSR $2302 sounds VERY much like Mushi's final boss theme for a while. The booklet has a lot of text and screenshots, I'll try to get it scanned soon. Maybe somebody will want to translate it for me? Er, to all interested parties.

Which actually is pretty much me 'n shiftace, I'm guessing

I'll try and match the song titles to what stage they correspond to. I'll edit this once I have more. Or somebody can just translate the song titles from the link ccovell provided. In case anybody's interested, the track order is the same in the game's Sound Test.

Track on CD - Stage in game

01. AD 2302 - ??
02. Recca - Main menu
03. Jetter - Stage 1 first half
04. Crisis - Boss Fight
05. M.O.M - Stage 1 second half
06. Hyde - Stage 2
07. ELM-39 - Stage 3
08. D.A.D - ??
09. Tera - ??
10. Deepspace - ??
11. Bostune - ??
12. Death-Troy - ??
13. Heiner - ??
14. Gelgoog - ??
15. Over - ??

Oh, and if anyone figures out how to order that Recca VHS, lemme know.

[Klatrymadon]

Just as an aside, does anybody else think Recca was way ahead of its time?

And what exactly was the '92 "Summer Carnival" about, and where was it held, etc?

[Ghegs]

And what exactly was the '92 "Summer Carnival" about, and where was it held, etc?

From the mid-80's to early 90's a nationwide (in Japan) gaming tournament was held. These were the Summer Carnivals or "Hudson All-Japan Caravan Festival" (could be they're separate but very similar tournaments). Most of the competitive games played were shmups but few sportsgames made the mix as well. Often in these games a special mode where the gametime was limited to two or five minutes were played. And even after the tournaments ended developers still put these Caravan modes into their games as a homage of sorts.

I host a high-score thread which encompasses all the shmups with Caravan modes. If you're curious PC-Engine.org hosts a video of the tournament held in 1990. It's the "Super Karavan Senshitachinorokunen".

[Klatrymadon]

Aye, I'm very curious! I'm a bit obsessive about stuff like this, to tell the truth!

Thanks a lot, mate. I'll watch that video now. I take it Recca was designed purely for these competitions, then? Always wondered why it had that before the name Recca.

[Ghegs]

I take it Recca was designed purely for these competitions, then? Always wondered why it had that before the name Recca.

I'm not actually sure about that. Recca did get a commercial release with a box and manual just like a normal game. However, of many of the games there exist versions used only in the competitions. Like this one. Only the 2- and 5-minute modes are in that hucard and it was never sold in stores. But in the normal version of Final Soldier which can be bought for $20 the same gamemodes are included, plus there's the normal game, so those are for collectors only. The only exception might be Gunhed where the regular release has no 2/5 minute modes, they only exist in the Special Version. The same seller has few of the others for sale as well, including Gunhed.

[shiftace]

Actually, the OST order isn't exactly the same as the NSF/ROM sound test order. the boss tune and the Caravan tracks are in different places. The sound test goes like so:

1. Unused
2. Title / Area 7
3. Stage 1 a / Area 5 a
4. Stage 1 b / Area 3 / Area 5 b
5. Stage 2 / Area 6
6. Caravan a
7. Stage 3 / Stage 4
8. Caravan b
9. Area 2
10. Area 4
11. Boss fight
12. Final boss fight
13. Credits
14. Game Over
15. Area 1
16-18. Unused

[dave4shmups]

Just as an aside, does anybody else think Recca was way ahead of its time?

And what exactly was the '92 "Summer Carnival" about, and where was it held, etc?

Recca was absolutely ahead of it's time, and pushed the Famicom to it's limit's; watching it in action or playing it is an amazing shmupping experience, to say the least!

Thanks as well for that link Ghegs, but the video, after having been downloaded doesn't work. It downloaded 100% as an avi file, too, but I got an error message about it, saying that "ClassFactory cannot supply class." from RealOne Player.

[Ghegs]

Thanks as well for that link Ghegs, but the video, after having been downloaded doesn't work. It downloaded 100% as an avi file, too, but I got an error message about it, saying that "ClassFactory cannot supply class." from RealOne Player.

Don't use RealPlayer, then? Windows' own Media Player works just fine.

[ccovell]

Resurrecting this topic, I got 2 CD soundtracks in the mail recently: Recca OST and Gunstar Heroes Sound Collection (newly-released). Here's my take on them:

Recca sounds great, but if you already have the ripped NSF music on your computer, you're paying a lot for only 2 extra tracks. Most of the music on the disc is clean, and sounds great after all these years. The 2 arranged tracks are nice, but don't contribute much. "Hyde-Jekyll Mix" is slow and boring, frankly. "JSR $2302" is much better, with a good medley of the techno sounds from some of the songs in Recca. But, just as it's building up and reaches greatness, the song's over. Disappointing, really.

Gunstar Heroes contains the original soundtracks from the new GBA version of Gunstar Super Heroes(GSH) and the original MD/Genesis Gunstar Heroes, as well as one arranged track. So, once again, you get little that's actually new on this CD. So far, the GSH music hasn't been ripped into GSF format, so this CD is the first and only way to hear the whole soundtrack. GSH sounds very good, and cleaner than straight from the GBA; however the music is sometimes a little strident, with slightly off-key instruments like much of (Japanese) GBA game music. Some of the instrument samples used fit in well; others don't, making it sound like some Amiga MOD from 1989. The MD soundtrack is definitely the better soundtrack, with the FM music offering much smoother sound and deeper bass (though the MD's weakness at playing sampled sounds still bleeds through). Finally, the arranged song is nice, but nothing remarkable. Picture studio musicians recording a light rock version of the Stage 1 music, and you wouldn't be too far off.

In all, these two CDs aren't worth the cost you might pay importing them to your home countries, since most of the music can be found for free on the net in one ripped (albeit illegal) incarnation or another. Hell, if you have the Recca or Gunstar Heroes cartridges for your home systems, you can just as easily listen to the songs through their sound tests. But they are in a more convenient CD format, for taking around with you, so that's one of the benefits. I hope you enjoyed my little review.