Fave music in a shmup

adam76 · Post by **adam76** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:35 pm

Recently, whilst enjoying a resurgence in playing my old Mega Drive shooters i've twice woken in the morning to find myself humming music from firstly Zero Wing, then again, from Thunderforce 3.
I realised then, what high-emphasis i put on in-game music and dug through some more of my old games only to remember loads of classic tunes i'd long forgotten! To me, some of the best shmup music was created on 16-bit systems and although i love the music in more 'modern' shooters(i doff my cap to you, Batsugun and your lovely arranged soundtrack!), i find that my favourites all hark back to this era.
Anyways, these games hold some of my favourite videogame music of all time:

Axelay (snes)
Final Soldier (pce)
Zero Wing (md)
Musha Aleste (md)
Thunderforce 3 (md)
Gaiares (md)
Gynoug (md)

Wha'dya think and what are some of your favourite tunes in a shooter?

King Slime · Post by **King Slime** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:38 pm

G-Darius, Einhander, R-Type, Super R-Type, R-Type3, R-Type Final, Gradius5, and Life Force.

dpful · Post by **dpful** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:41 pm

I LOOOVE the Shienryu music.
Also, the soukyugurentai music is great. And then, as a child of new wave, it occurs to me that probably my favorite is Darius Gaiden.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:45 pm

i love the first stages music in Curse (seems to be the only game i talk about these days

) can never remember the tune after i turn off the game though (interpret that as you like

)

MUSHA is always excellent
i'm digging the Gate of Thunder soundtrack too
Dodonpachi - still pop it into my cd player from time to time
ESPgaluda is very relaxing, even though i don't play the game enough to get decent at it
-others i am totally spacing on

not shmup (and thus shouldn't be mentioned

), but VampireKiller will be stuck in my head as long as i live.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:45 pm

I've been jamming to the music from Imperishable Night lately. Damn it's good -- it's exactly what videogame music should be. I can't wait to get EoSD and PCB so I can check out the tunes in those, too.

Other than that, I really like the music from Thunderforce III and Hellfire (Gen). Hellfire in particular is some of the best music I've heard the 'ol Genesis crank out.

adam76 · Post by **adam76** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:57 pm

it290 wrote: Hellfire in particular is some of the best music I've heard the 'ol Genesis crank out.

Hellfire's another of my faves! The only problem is that its so damn hard i only ever get to hear about 4 tunes!

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:02 pm

There are so many shmups with great music, that this is really tough...the list would be extremely long.

In no order whatsoever:

RSG and Ikaruga
Giga Wing 2
Fire Shark/Truxton 1&2/Twin Cobras/Batsugun (I believe these are all by the same composer, but Rando would know)
Darius Gaiden
Raiden 1 & 2 (and obviously DX)
Gun Frontier
Gekirindan
Don Pachi

One hell of a lot of the Genesis/MD shmups have great soundtracks...wow!

Galaxius · Post by **Galaxius** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:11 pm

Gradius 2 MSX/Nemesis 90 Kai - Ancient Planet just rules.
Truxton/Tatsujin
Thunderforce 3
Salamander 2
Gradius Gaiden - Inside Mission is something hardcore

R-Type - especially the second level.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:19 pm

Radiant Silvergun, Axelay, and Soukyugurentai are the ones I recall best off the top of my head...I'm half tempted to mention DoDonPachi and its super-cheeseball guitar riffs, as they suit the game perfectly, but dang it, there just aren't enough tracks!

incognoscente · Post by **incognoscente** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:38 pm

CMoon: Batsugun OST is by Yoshitatsu Sakai.
The others are by Masanori Yuge, with Tatsuya Uemura receiving also a partial credit for Twin Cobra/Kyukyoku Tiger music.

I agree on the Fire Shark/Same!Same!Same! choice, too. Certainly one of my favorite soundtracks.

MovingTarget · Post by **MovingTarget** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:55 pm

In soukyugurentai you can hear tracks from battle garegga, and the BG music sounds amazing!

Bydo Dragon · Post by **Bydo Dragon** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:04 pm

R-TYPE Delta
R-TYPE III
Super R-TYPE
G Darius
Einhander
EDF (Particularly the SNES version, as stage 4 and 5 tunes are different than the arcade)
Iridion II
DoDonPachi
Thunder Force III
Thunder Force V
Salamander 2
Dragon Spirit
Tatsujin (the first...I wasn't as pleased with the second game's ST)

Post by **nZero** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:08 pm

19xx series (exceptions: 1942, 19xx)
Axelay
ESPGaluda
Hellfire
Psyvariar 2
Raiden series
Star Soldier series
Thunder Force series
Twin Cobra
UN Squadron
Zero Wing

Good stuff all around, there.

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:24 pm

I thought the original R-Type had awesome unforgettable music. Who doesn't remember the tune from the 1st stage?

SFKhoa · Post by **SFKhoa** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:30 pm

Raiden II. period.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:19 pm

Border Down
Salamander (especially at the end of stage 1)
And actually 90% of the Gradius's soundtracks are unforgettable for me! Favourites are Gradius 1 and Gradius 2 MSX (aka '90 KAI).
Never was an $34 so well spent as when I spent it on the Gradius Arcade Soundtrack compilation...

.

There's other stuff I like but when someone would put a gun to my head and ask for the truth those would be my choices...

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:49 pm

I really LOVE the music in Xevious Arrangement on PS1 Xevious 3D/G+. It sounds wonderful, and anyone who can turn the original Xevious tune into techno has got to have some serious musical talent!

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:01 am

My favorite soundtracks:

R-Type III (for a SNES game, it needs a CD soundtrack!!!)
Lords of Thunder (TG-16 CD)
19XX (I like the soundtrack big time)
Ikaruga
Super EDF
Gradius V (all the music just kick ass)
Carrier Air Wing (Stage Two rocks)
Axelay (Stage Two)
Einhander (the music is top noch!)
Giga Wing (well a little bit)
Sonic Wings Speical
R-Type Final
Raiden games (I and II)
DoDonPachi
Darius Gaiden
Twin Cobra
MUSHA Aleste
Solder Blade (my all time favorite Hu-Card soundtrack)
Battle Garegga (I made my own CD soundtrack of the music in this game)

They are so many shmups music I like, it's not funny.

Darkcomet72 · Post by **Darkcomet72** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:35 am

Oh, NOW the 19XX comes in.

My list has become too huge.

LUNardei · Post by **LUNardei** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 2:15 am

No surprises from me:

Ikaruga
Esp Ra.De.

And Mushihime sama ost seems good too.

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 6:40 am

Thunder Force V's soundtrack hits me in the right spot.

CL@$$!C · Post by **CL@$$!C** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 7:19 am

MUSHA!!!!

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 7:25 am

Apidya, Wings of Death and the final boss music of Thunderforce V.

Edit: and Battle Squadron!

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:17 pm

In no order
Guwange, Batsugun, Soukygurentai, Espgaluda, Esp.Ra.De, Progear, Gradius V & Shikigami No Shiro 2

~Kid Icarus~ · Post by **~Kid Icarus~** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:22 pm

Thunderforce IV, Ikaruga, ESP Rade and Raiden have the best shmup music IMO.

In terms of any type of videogame, I also love FFVII's music and Streets Of Rage.

Tony Gradius · Post by **Tony Gradius** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:04 pm

Galaxius wrote: Gradius Gaiden - Inside Mission is something hardcore

I suppose you mean the fastscrolling level called "speed". I like it so much, it`s regularly in my portable mp3player tracklist. Gaidens music is top notch from the first to the last level.

I would name the Turrican II title track from Chris Huelbeck too, but that`s a Jump`n shooter.

The Lightforce title track by Rob Hubbard is unforgettable too.

Super Alestes first level tune is my actual mobile ringtone.

LUNardei · Post by **LUNardei** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:42 pm

~Kid Icarus~ wrote: In terms of any type of videogame, I also love FFVII's music and Streets Of Rage.

Uh, i love FFVII's ost too...

visuatrox · Post by **visuatrox** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 6:30 pm

I would have to say Disposable Hero (the Amiga CD32 version) it has some pretty cool music

.

And also have to mention Agony, pretty odd stuff but suits the game

Oh and Battle Squadron that tune got stuck in my mind. and Xenon 2 Megablast too!.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 7:57 pm

I relaly enjoyed Axelay's music.

But I've recently taken a liking to the Parodius series' music.

The level 5 Dimahoo boss music rocks.

gigadrive32 · Post by **gigadrive32** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 9:28 pm

Thunder Force III Genesis - Megadrive

Thunder Force II Genesis - Megadrive

and believe it or not, the music on the first level of Whip Rush for Genesis - Megadrive is really sweet, IMO.