Shmups music poll, with a bit of a twist

[Skyknight]

This time, what would you put on a CD (no random order playback, and remember you've got a limit of 80 minutes--this might limit things depending on how many cycles you want a song to go)? This is my own rough outline for what I plan to craft ("rough" because, once I get my hands on at LEAST the Battle Bakraid and G-Darius soundtracks, at least Ostragle's theme and "Intolerance" will be bounced by, respectively, "Terrible Object" and "Adam"):

PROLOGUE

1. "Ultimate Destroyer" (Blast Wind, attract mode)

PART 1: DESPERATE GAMBIT

2. Coin + "Gallantry" (Raiden, st. 1 & 4)
3. "I Defend STM" (Tatsujin-Ou, st. 2)
4. Raiden II, st. 3 [provisional name: "Noble Struggle"]
5. Raiden D/X (PSX soundtrack), st. 3 ["Sacrifices For Our Future"]
6 (BOSS). "Axon" (Darius Gaiden...I'm not sure where. This and "E.E.G." have similar structures. I'm willing to bet that when "E.E.G." is the stage them, "Axon" is the boss theme, and vice versa)

PART 2: THE MEANING OF BATTLE

7. "Rising Blue Lightning" (Thunder Force V, Human Road mission)
8. "Touei" (Darius Gaiden. This one, when it's about to repeat a cycle, has several single synth-piano notes set about three seconds apart)
9. "Great Sea Power" (Thunder Force IV, st. 6)
10. "Terrorist" (Night Striker, Canal and Streets missions. Yes, I know Night Striker is a Space Harrier-style game, but I can't bring myself to reject its music)
11 (BOSS). "Simmer Down" (TF4, Air Raid boss)

PART 3: STAND AGAINST THE SHADOW

12. "Cyber Cave" (TF5, st. 4)
13. "Burning Road" (Night Striker, Tunnel missions)
14. "Sea of Flame" (TF4, st. 7)
15. "Aquarius" (Night Striker, Sea missions)
16 (BOSS). Theme of Ostragle ["Critical Juncture"] (Blast Wind, boss 4)

PART 4: CALM BEFORE THE STORM

17. "Dam Buster" (Strikers 1945 II, st. 6)
18. "Illusion" (Thunder Force II. Where it is depends on your version. For the original MSX version, it's st. 5-1. For the Genesis version, st. 4-1)
19. "Metal Squad" (TF4, st.
20. "Sadness in Your Eyes" (Fire Shark, st. 4)
21 (BOSS). Theme of Drad ["Verge of Collapse"] (Blast Wind, boss 5)

PART 5: AVATAR OF VALOR

22. "Still Love You" (Tatsujin-Ou, st. 5)
23. "Steel of Destiny" (TF5, st. 5)
24. Raiden D/X (PSX soundtrack), st. 7 ["Wicked Presence"]
25. "Hunger Made Them Desperate" (Thunder Force AC, st. 7)
26 (FINAL BOSS). "Intolerance" (Raystorm, second and third phases of Yggdrasil)

EPILOGUE

27. "The Longest Voyage" (Blast Wind, ending)

[Thunder Force]

Those are good choices (especially nice to see the original "Cyber Cave" there). Your list is close to what I'd listen to, except I'd probably replace some of the TF4 selections with TF2&3 tunes. And I'd also throw in some modern Ray Crisis and Psyvariar, some classic Axelay and Whip Rush, and some tunes off the recent "Project Thunder Force VI Broken Thunder" music CD.

[Rob]

no order:

einhander - badlands
g darius - biophoton
shikigami 2 - approach
gradius 5 - elephant gear
rayforce - cracking!
r-type delta - crazy machine*
giga wing 2 - stage 4
lightening force - ruin theme
thunder force 3 - hydra or gorgon theme
musha - fullmetal fighter
bari-arm - stage 6*
bio hazard battle - s2/6
forgotten worlds - s1/3
dodonpachi doj - stage 2*
border down - border select*
axelay - stage 1
life force - how about a medley
dimahoo - something
darius gaiden - visionerz (sp?)

*If anyone could get me mp3s of these:

[Vexorg]

Hmmm... Mine would be heavy on the Gradius tracks, as those games contain some of my favorite shmup music. Again, no particular order:



Gradius:
Beginning of the History (Intro flight, I have this as my default ringtone on my cell phone)
Challenger 1985 (Stage 1)
Free Flyer (Stage 4)

Gradius 2:
Attract mode (not sure what this title is)
Burning Heat (Stage 1)
A Shooting Star (ACM 2... I have this one as a ringtone as well)
Maximum Speed (Stage 6)
The Final Enemy (Stage

Gradius 3:
Prelude of Legend (attract mode)
Invitation (Equipment select)
In the Wind (Stage 3-1)
Fire Scramble (Stage 7)

Also included:

The music from Gyruss. By far the best sounding game of its era.
Volcano (Dragon Saber, Stage 2)
Fighting Back (Thunder Force IV, Stage 1)
Metal Squad(Thunder Force IV, Stage 8 )
Steam Syndrome (Battle Bakraid, Railway)
Origin (Radiant Silvergun)
Trial (Ikaruga stage 2)

[Skyknight]

Just re-posting to indicate the new order, now that I have several new soundtracks...And am hoping to FINALLY get my hands on the Ajax soundtrack...

PROLOGUE

1. "Ultimate Destroyer" (Blast Wind, attract mode)

PART 1: DESPERATE GAMBIT

2. Coin + "Gallantry" (Raiden, st. 1 & 4)
3. "Like the Wind" (Elemental Master, air realm)
4. "I Defend STM" (Tatsujin-Ou, st. 2)
5. Raiden II, st. 3
6 (BOSS). "Axon" (Darius Gaiden, boss F)

PART 2: THE MEANING OF BATTLE

7. "Fighting Spirit" (Ajax, st. 3)
8. "Rising Blue Lightning" (Thunder Force V, Human Road mission)
9. "Cyber Cave" (TF5, st. 4)
10. "Roaring Field" (Raiden D/X PSX, st. 3 and 9)
11 (BOSS). "Terrible Object" (Battle Bakraid, theme of Axebeak, Balrog, and Gigamanta)

PART 3: THE PRICE OF WAR

12. "Burning Road" (Night Striker, Tunnel missions)
13. "Touei" (Darius Gaiden, Zone K; the name means "Projection", as in projection of one's faults onto one's view of others)
14. "Aquarius" (Night Striker, Sea missions)
15. "Dam Buster" (Strikers 1945 II, st. 6)
16 (BOSS). "Calling on the Dark Dragon King" (Elemental Master, boss 5)

PART 4: CALM BEFORE THE STORM

17. "In Vivo" (G Darius, st. 4)
18. "Sadness in Your Eyes" (Fire Shark, st. 4)
19. "Still Love You" (Tatsujin-Ou, st. 5)
20. "Steel of Destiny" (TF5, st. 5)
21 (BOSS). Theme of Drad (Blast Wind, boss 5)

PART 5: AVATAR OF VALOR

22. "Battle Logic" (Battle Bakraid, st. 7)
23. "Thrusts" (Raiden D/X PSX, st. 7)
24. "Hunger Made Them Desperate" (Thunder Force AC, st. 7)
25. "Kimera II" (G Darius, st. 5)
26 (FINAL BOSS). "Adam" (G Darius, final boss)

EPILOGUE

27. "The Longest Voyage" (Blast Wind, ending)

[Ed Oscuro]

I really like these choices, although for some of them I would have picked different tracks (off the top of my head, Aquarius from Night Striker, and the Command X-whatever from AJax - first stage bgm). The track title from Fire Shark I don't recognize...arcade version?

[Bar81]

Ummm, where are esp.ra.de and rayforce?

[Skyknight]

I don't have the ESPrade soundtrack. As for Rayforce, it wasn't that interesting to me (except for "Cracking!", "Destructive of Power", and "Atrocity", but I had no place to fit them--I'm intentionally limiting myself to five boss themes, and the five above I judged to all be more brilliant than "Atrocity" or "Destructive of Power").

Meanwhile, as part of my attempt to get the track below 4800 seconds (i.e. what a CD will fit), I ended up jettisoning the two Night Striker soundtracks (not a real shmup, anyway) in favor of Elemental Master's "Blood-Stained Lake" (water realm) and Battle Bakraid's "Steam Syndrome" (Railroad mission).

[Bar81]

I don't have the ESPrade soundtrack.

Must get

[FMK]

01. Show Time (Ibara)
02. To the Blue Sky (Progear)
03. Raging Deicide (ESP Ra.De)
04. Disco 999 (Dangun Feveron)
05. Gift of the Wind (Detana!! Twinbee)
06. Like the Night of the Falling Stars (Mushihime-sama)
07. Universe (Shikigami no Shiro 2)
08. Badlands (Einhänder)
09. Spiders (Axelay)
10. Into Darkness (Rayforce)
11. Dual Moon (Metal Black)
12. Visionnerz (Darius Gaiden)
13. Adam (G-Darius)
14. Last Boss (Psyvariar 2)
15. The Justice Ray Part II (Thunderforce V)
16. Yasashii Koe (Espgaluda)

[Skyknight]

After using Galbadia to listen to the ESPRade songs...I'm afraid they didn't appeal to me ("Nightmare" was the closest to being among my favored songs, if that helps you understand). I tend to favor the melodic tracks (e.g. Battle Bakraid, Elemental Master, Tatsujin-Ou, Raiden II).

[Blade]

How can you not add "Descend" from ESPGaluda II?

That's like THE BOSS THEME EVER.

[Dale]

*If anyone could get me mp3s of these:

You couldnt find any of these at Galbadia Hotel? I got Full Metal Fighter and Approach there.

EDIT: If your confused about how to download them I'll explain. Go to the link to the song which when clicked on opens a listen only quicktime page. Just right click the link and press save link as then select a place on your computer to put it, Then it should download.

[No_not_like_Quake]

3 loops / song

Thunderforce II - first stage music
Thunderforce III - stage 3 music
Thunderforce IV - boss 2 theme
Guwange - boss theme
Rayforce - stage 2 music
Gradius III - stage 3 music SNES version
Axelay - stage 2 music
R-type 2 - stage 2 music
Bio-Metal - stage 1 music Japanese version
Pulstar - intro music

post more later.

[Ed Oscuro]

How can you not add "Descend" from ESPGaluda II?

That's like THE BOSS THEME EVER.

Is that another of those soundtracks with a breakbeat in it? Somebody had me listen to a ESPGaluda track (I think) yesterday and it was basically rave music, I thought.

[Blade]

It's not just rave, dude...it's rave with boss tones in it. The minute I heard it, I though...Giant Bee, trying to kill me.

[ROBOTRON]

PROLOGUE:

"Title screen" (Thunderforce 2)

1. "City Lights" (Stage 3 Axelay SNES)
2. "Level 2" (Zanac NES)
3. "Level 8" (Zanac NES)
4. "Silicon Forest" (The Guardian Legend NES)
5. "Crystal Sector Flight" (The Guardian Legend NES)
7. "Forest Sector" (The Guardian Legend NES)
8. "Underwater Sector" (The Guardian Legend NES)
9. "Level 3" (Lifeforce NES)
10. "Colony" (Axelay SNES)
11. "Nebula stage 4" (Space Megaforce SNES)
12. "Caves Stage 5" (Space Megaforce SNES)
13. "Decimated Fleet Stage 8" (Space Megaforce SNES)

1. "Stage 1" (Viewpoint Neo-Geo)
2. "Stage 2" (Viewpoint Neo-Geo)
3. "Stage 3" (Viewpoint Neo-Geo)
4. "Stage 5 Dimension Jump" (R-Type Final PS2)
5. "Stage 2 I-GYO Water" (R-Type Delta PS1)
6. "Stage 3 KYO-SHU" (R-Type Delta PS1)
7. "Stage 4 SHIN-SYOKU" (R-Type Delta PS1)
8. "Fortress" (Gradius V PS2)
9. "Universe" (Gradius V PS2)
10. "Opening attract mode" (Mars Matrix DC)
11. "Creepy Waters" (Last Hope DC)
12. "Stage 2" (Last Resort Neo-Geo)
13. "Stage 2" (Alpha Mission II Neo-Geo)

ALL MUSIC FOR THE THUNDERFORCE SERIES SEGA SATURN/GENESIS (too much to type...lazy)

EPILOGUE:

"Go with the Stream" (Herzog Zwei) <---(shmup/strategy hybrid)

[bVork]

I tried to be a little different. I really love Amiga-style music and Zuntata electronica weirdness, so this soundtrack has a lot of both. There's also a bit of TF5 (because that level 1 tune rocks so much, as does the TF4 intro remix), Tempest (I think the T2K and T3K soundtracks are really underrated), and Radiant Silvergun (I couldn't find anything else that sounded close to the half-symphonic and half-pop music of Turrican, and I tried to make the stage and boss music somewhat match in style). No, Mega Turrican isn't a shooter. But Turrican 2 has shooting stages, so it's only two degrees away from a shooter!

PROLOGUE: "Title" - R-Type (Commodore 64)

Stage 1: "Legendary Wings" - Thunder Force V
Boss 1: "Fake" - Darius Gaiden

Stage 2: "Pure Spirit" - Gekirindan
Boss 2: "Kimera II" - G-Darius

Stage 3: "Two Years Gone" - Iridion II
Boss 3: "Duel of Top" - Thunder Force V

Stage 4: "Dada" - G-Darius
Boss 4: "Slaughter Hour" - RayStorm

Stage 5: "Air Combat" - Mega Turrican
Boss 5: "Debris" - Radiant Silvergun

BOSS RUSH: "Boss Panic" - Apidya

Stage 6: "Flash" - Tempest 3000
Final Boss: "Intolerance" - RayForce

EPILOGUE: "Credits" - Apidya

[nZero]

Way too many good songs to be placed, especially since I wanted to match stage themes and boss themes as well as possible. If you asked me again tomorrow it'd probably end up being entirely different...

Prologue - "Lightning Strikes Again" - Lightening Force
Tutorial/Select - "秘密の力 (Select)" - ESPGaluda

Stage 1 - "Gallantry" - Raiden DX
Boss 1 - "Overpowered" - Raiden DX New Release

Stage 2 - "Operation 1" - Soldier Blade
Boss 2 - "Fear of Approaching" - Viper Phase 1

Stage 3 - Stage 1 - Triggerheart Exelica
Boss 3 - Boss - Triggerheart Exelica

Stage 4 - "Vapor Trail" - Vapor Trail
Boss 4 - "Stranger" - Lightening Force

Stage 5 - "Desperate School" - ESPRa.De.
Boss 5 - "Raging Decide" - ESPRa.De.

Stage 6 - "Colony" - Psyvariar Revision
Boss 6 - "Boss 1" - Psyvariar Medium Unit

Stage 7 - "Mission 5「戦慄」Terrible" - Star Soldier Vanishing Earth
Boss 7 - "Boss#02" - Psyvariar 2

Stage 8 - "浮遊城ウツロブネ (Stage5-1)" - ESPGaluda
Boss 8 - "Prot #7 "Illusion" (boss C1)" - Border Down

Stage 9 - "Steel of Destiny" - Thunder Force V
Boss 9 - "Duel of Top" - Thunder Force V

Final Area - "Eta" - Psyvariar 2
Final Boss (3 Possible) -
"LastBoss" - Psyvariar 2
"Ark" - Giga Wing 2
"Justice Ray, Part 3" - Broken Thunder

Ending - "All Clear" - Raiden II
Staff Roll - "Stand Up Against Myself" - Lightening Force

I didn't even get to wedge in any Axelay or UN Squadron/Area 88, or Under Defeat boss themes