Yesterday I mentioned how the start of a game needs good music to lift the game off the ground, yeah? Well here's a solid game, one of my favorites actually: Mystical Ninja 64. Its and adventure platforming game, and while dated, I really recommend everyone reading this blog to someday play it. Why?
Well, I've played hundreds, hell thousands of video games. And I don't believe I can come up with a single game that has a better soundtrack. I present to you "The Journey Begins on Mt. Fuji Road".
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The starting music
You just got a new game. You tear the game out of its box, sit your ass cross-legged on the floor while you slam the game into your SNES. Maybe you have a brother or a friend with you, you tell him you just got a sweet new 2-player game and you wanna play together.
The intro shines on. Oooh, ahhh. The start screen. In your childlike excitement you frantically hit the start button until you're playing the game. The screen fades to black, and fades back in and you see Kirby. And the music just screams "You're beginning a huge and exciting adventure."
The first level's music has to be really gripping, because this paves the road for the rest of the game's music...And atmosphere.
The intro shines on. Oooh, ahhh. The start screen. In your childlike excitement you frantically hit the start button until you're playing the game. The screen fades to black, and fades back in and you see Kirby. And the music just screams "You're beginning a huge and exciting adventure."
The first level's music has to be really gripping, because this paves the road for the rest of the game's music...And atmosphere.
Mega Man
Awhile ago someone asked for some Megaman. That sounds fine by me actually. I could easily pick the obvious answers like Crash Man or something, but nah. Through the original Mega Man series if I had to pick one favorite, it would have to go to the first stage I ever played in Mega Man 9.
Mega Man 9 was great. They really nailed the NES style on it (despite being a 2009 game) and the moment I turned it on my face was bright as a sunday morning. For retro gamers such as myself, I'm glad that there's still developers that care about us.
Mega Man 9 was great. They really nailed the NES style on it (despite being a 2009 game) and the moment I turned it on my face was bright as a sunday morning. For retro gamers such as myself, I'm glad that there's still developers that care about us.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
There's two kinds of people in this world: People with loaded guns, and people who dig. You dig.
I love Cowboys. Some people are scifi geeks, some are fantasy geeks, I'm a Wild West geek. The only thing that makes cowboys better are Android cowboys. That's my geek fetish. Robot Cowboys. So you can probably guess I get a raging boner for Weird West/Steampunk stuff.
Anyway, where am I going with this? Timesplitters 2 was a solid game. It was made through the fallout of the Goldeneye/Perfect Dark dev team, so there's some ties to Rare. Specifically, I'm looking at Graeme Norgate, a solid composer who did some work for Rare in David Wise's shadow.
But Norgate did the whole score for Timesplitters 2, which has an INCREDIBLY varied soundtrack, taking fitting music for respective eras (For, say, the 1930's Chicago Mobster era, for example) and spinning it into something incredibly fitting for a kind of dance/techno soundtrack. But here's the Wild West theme, it really takes on a sort of 'epic' feel to it. Give it a listen, the slow start builds into something truly fierce.
Anyway, where am I going with this? Timesplitters 2 was a solid game. It was made through the fallout of the Goldeneye/Perfect Dark dev team, so there's some ties to Rare. Specifically, I'm looking at Graeme Norgate, a solid composer who did some work for Rare in David Wise's shadow.
But Norgate did the whole score for Timesplitters 2, which has an INCREDIBLY varied soundtrack, taking fitting music for respective eras (For, say, the 1930's Chicago Mobster era, for example) and spinning it into something incredibly fitting for a kind of dance/techno soundtrack. But here's the Wild West theme, it really takes on a sort of 'epic' feel to it. Give it a listen, the slow start builds into something truly fierce.
Request
Someone mentioned I should get some Donkey Kong Country on here. That, my good man, sounds like a great idea. My last post, Icefire Mountain, was composed by David Wise of classic Rare. And he is, without a ghost of a doubt, my favorite composer. He did work on a lot of memorable games, including DKC. And a lot of people would probably agree that DKC2 was the best of the series, music-wise or not. And here's my personal favorite:
The part right at the 0:36 mark gets me every time. Just so good.
But hey! As an added bonus, here's another boss theme from the first game: Gankplank Galleon. This is definitely one of my favorite SNES tracks out there, and even one of the first songs I learned to play on bass. Nifty?
I've always had plans of covering Gangplank Galleon, actually. A kind of Punk Rock cover, but that will have to wait until my equipment is ready for recording ANYTHING.
The part right at the 0:36 mark gets me every time. Just so good.
But hey! As an added bonus, here's another boss theme from the first game: Gankplank Galleon. This is definitely one of my favorite SNES tracks out there, and even one of the first songs I learned to play on bass. Nifty?
I've always had plans of covering Gangplank Galleon, actually. A kind of Punk Rock cover, but that will have to wait until my equipment is ready for recording ANYTHING.
Icefire Mountain
Here's a solid one from my favorite NES series, Wizards & Warriors. This is a really happy and upbeat songs, even for a final boss theme. It really gives a nice feel of "Yeah alright I'm coming to the end of my adventure". Its really simple and short, but just so catchy, so give it a listen.
Edge of Phendrana
Does Metroid Prime count as retro? I mean, its not this gen so anything before counts as retro I guess. Also its made by Retro studios, right? Who cares, this song is amazing.
New Blog
Welcome to the Retro Game Music blog, were I post some rad classic tunes daily. No blah blah blah, no bullshit, just music all day baby.
And check out this crazy good remix:
And check out this crazy good remix:
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