What are the most musically ambitious 8-bit game songs?

[Sarge]

Iku Mizutani is the bomb. Check out his stuff from Shadow of the Ninja, Choujin Sentai - Jetman, Dragon Fighter, and some other stuff I can't remember. I'm pretty sure all those are Mizutani, anyway.



As for Follin, yeah, almost all their stuff is amazing.

[samsonlonghair]

OK, J T...What's the story? Are you writing a paper on video game music or something? This is the second topic you started this week on video game music.

[J T]

OK, J T...What's the story? Are you writing a paper on video game music or something? This is the second topic you started this week on video game music.

Actually, I think it is the third or fourth, but who's counting. I'm just enjoying a lot of old gaming tunes right now, and you're being subject to my passing fancy as I make threads about it.

Here is another ambitious track, though I it is a bit past the 8-bit era. It is a song from the arcade game beatemup based on the Asterix cartoon:


Notice the Spanish guitar, flamenco rhythm (Castanets! OLE!!!), and the baroque harpsichord freakout during the breakdown! This tune comes from Michiru Yamane, who would later compose such classic soundtracks as those of Castlevania: Bloodlines, Rocket Knight Adventures, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Suikoden III & IV, and more! She's great.

[Tanooki]

Maybe it's the rush of this and the SNES thread, but it's really making me want to do things I haven't in awhile -- enjoy console based Nintendo games. Not only that, but to jump into high gear selling off more of my crap so I can actually dedicate time to the stuff I truly will want to use and keep. The facts are pretty clear, much of the stuff I grew up with buying in the 20th century I've rarely put any effort in for a long long time. Between the NES and SNES I've got around 100-110 games -- to actually try and replay that stuff would take a LOT of hours. Yes it's not risk taking, but given the market, you can't afford to anymore without going with a flash kit or emulator which I don't want to do.

That said, for some reason I did install Higan thanks to the SNES thread, can't remember the last time I did it but I cleared the first 5 courses of F-Zero and it was a rush because I'm very rusty so it's like new again. The NES stuff is feeling much the same to keep it in the 8bit realm. Question is...real hardware (selling the retron 5), or not?

[Erik_Twice]

Notice the Spanish guitar, flamenco rhythm (Castanets! OLE!!!), and the baroque harpsichord freakout during the breakdown!

The Japanese really love flamenco, there are lots of flamenco-ínspired tracks in videogames despite being such a regional genre!

The synth style reminds me of Sunset Riders, which must have come around the same time and probably on similar hardware.

[Jagosaurus]

All 3 of the Castlevania titles on the NES standout to me. Even as a kid I remember being very impressed by the music. Humming the original theme now...

[chupon]

I'm stuck in Norway with very slow internets but I can share a few that come to mind. Hard for me to figure out links with iPad and slow internet but:

Dragon Slayer IV or Legacy of the Wizard. Lots of variants depending on which system you listen to. Here's a good site: http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?tit ... zard_(NES)

Also Deadly Towers tracks are really really good.

Also try the opening of Spelunker for NES.

[chupon]

Oh and if you are going to dig deep into NES Castlevania music - please please listen to the Famicom version of Castlevania 3 music and not that American garbage. The music from The extra sound chip is why the import Famicom castlevania 3 cart is so money.

[Tanooki]

I wouldn't call it garbage, limited sure, but not garbage. I own both carts so I know what you mean.

[RudySilvergun]

I recently picked up a Power Base FM from db-electronics, and those FM enabled Master System games sound amazing. Lagrange Point on Famicom is another that recently blew me away as well.