The most evil sounding VGM chiptunes

[Xeogred]

I was going to make a thread wondering what you guys thought were some of the best dark, suffocating, metallic, dense atmospheric tracks of the old, but in the spirit of Halloween coming up maybe it can be a little broader and just... evil dark sounding tunes in general.

I believe that if you look up Hell in the dictionary, you get a picture of Area 8 from Blaster Master and an audio sampling. This level is an ultimate nightmare in every single way. EVIL.

Blaster Master (NES) Music - Area 8

Both Super Turrican games have a lot of variety and some really cool darker tracks. There is actually a lot in these OST's that I could picture being perfect with a Metroid game, guess you could almost argue Turrican is kind of Contra meets Metroid anyways. Stage 2-2 is a really good one from the first game, you can just sense and hear the Terminator's breathing in the background:

Super Turrican - Stage 2-2

An interesting one from Super Turrican 2 is Space 8001, although it has an upbeat section to it, the other half of the track is this constant muffled like drowning wailing noise in space, it's super weird and awesome:

Super Turrican 2 - Space 8001

The SNES Ocean stuff in general just had this amazing sound to it. Jurassic Park 2 The Chaos Continues has a very heavy, intense metallic sound to its OST. This one played in some underground bunker stages, with lots of blacks/shadows used... fittingly so:

Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues - Raptor Attack

For sheer utter dread and sadness, I think Terranigma's Barren Land is it... the short loop does a bit of a disservice, but I seriously find this to be one of the most frightening songs out there. Especially in the context of the game, with the first half being so lonely and a lot of apocalyptic death/rebirth themes. This song generally played in a few obscure desert areas or mountain tops. Nothing but rotten bones surrounded you. Emptiness.

Terranigma - Barren Land (SNES OST)

For a left field pick, how about Donkey Kong Country 2's Lost World theme? DK2 in general is consistently pretty serious and dark sounding. I don't know why but I'm just infatuated with tracks like this and my other picks here. I kid you not but this was one of those tracks that I manually recorded onto a tape back in the day as a kid, I swear haha.

Lost World Anthem - Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong-Quest

Super Ghouls' n Ghosts would be a good one. The whole game sounds super evil and gothic. And Super Metroid goes without saying. Super Castlevania IV is a good one, but in classic Castlevania fashion I think most of it sounds a bit more melodic and upbeat, not quite as foreboding as Super Ghouls or Demon's Crest.

For some Genesis stuff, the Ecco the Dolphin games come to mind for sure. Vectorman 2 is super gritty too. But for something different, how about Earthworm Jim's Intestinal Distress. This level freaked me out as a kid and I used to play the SNES version more, which does not have this level (Nintendo censorship?)... so I only saw this level once or twice growing up as a kid, but I never forgot it. It's basically gore. The constant heartbeat makes you nauseous and sweat.

Intestinal Distress Earthworm Jim Genesis Music

I think it would be interesting to limit this to chiptunes. Otherwise, Silent Hill 1 probably has the most evil soundscape ever from start to finish. Or Metroid 1...

[BoneSnapDeez]

Cool thread.

Secret of Mana - Ceremony
Secret of Mana - The Oracle
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - Vile Tribe

I'll think of more later. Probably as soon as I get off the computer and head to bed.

[Xeogred]

Love that Lunar pick, I don't think I got that far or something.

No kidding on those two from SoM... no matter how many times I've replayed it, those two tracks always catch me off guard. Insanely creepy stuff.

[Sarge]

A tune that has forever (forever!) creeped me out: Double Dragon II's temple stage. But really, a lot of that soundtrack has a sort of eerie sound to me. Give it a listen if you haven't before.

Also, Faxanadu don't mess around.

The Genesis can do some creepy stuff for sure. I like this Gauntlet IV tune.

Black Tiger has always sounded pretty eerie to me, too.

And while we're on arcade games, how 'bout Rastan?

Oh, right, and Gargoyle's Quest. Tons of creepy stuff there.

[EllertMichael]

Air Fortress panic attack immediately comes to mind

[J T]

Ah Xeogred, you beat me to the punch! I was putting together a mix of my top 25 favorite evil sounding 16-bit songs, but your thread came first. My thunder... it is stolen. hahah. Well, at least I have a thorough answer to your question.

Here's one to add from outside the 16-bit era.
Super Paper Mario- River Twygz Bed

I like this one because you just don't expect something so creepy from Paper Mario.

[o.pwuaioc]

ZAMN (you know exactly which one):

[Key-Glyph]

The one that comes immediately to mind for me is:

Alcahest - Alcahest (Final Form)

Oh my GOD I love that track.

Other creepers:

Clocktower - Don't Cry, Jennifer
Contra: Hard Corps - Guillotine
Ecco: Tides of Time - Moray Abyss

If you want something a little less sinister a bit funkier, I am a huge fan of:

Wiz n' Liz - The Creepy Clock

[J T]

Thanks for all the links people. There are some great tunes in here. I also like Xeogred's commentary on each track.

[Xeogred]

Thanks, insomnia struck last night so I kind of sleep typed that but I'm glad it came out well.

I'll definitely check out your mix you posted there.

The one that comes immediately to mind for me is:

Alcahest - Alcahest (Final Form)

Oh my GOD I love that track.

Other creepers:

Clocktower - Don't Cry, Jennifer

I've come to the realization that Kirby's Adventure on the NES is kind of the only Kirby game I truly super LOVE a lot, so it doesn't pain me to say... I seriously wish the Kirby composer there did way less Kirby and way more epic serious stuff like Alcahest. That entire soundtrack is just mindblowing. Topped off with some awesome sprite work and graphics, it was one of those OST's that was so insane to me I had to check the game out and it turned out to be pretty cool. I've frequented that OST a lot ever since.

That Clocktower one is super cool, barely sounds like the SNES.

For a cool podcast discovery via the Legacy Music Hour, this one was really messed up and evil, I'm not even sure what's going on here:

SKELETON KREW (GENESIS / MEGADRIVE) MUSIC - STAGE 3 SEWER DUCT

Nice to see Flashback in the mix JT, this Skeleton Krew track makes me think of Flashback a bit.