Category Archives: Song Highlights
Wildcat’s favorite gaming tunes, with samples!
Song Highlights – The Music from Hotel Dusk: Room 215
It’s been a little while since I did a spotlight post on a game, and recently I sampled the entirety of the Hotel Dusk: Room 215 soundtrack, and it’s so good. CiNG’s Yuhki Mori and Satoshi Okubo did a spectacular job capturing the film noir vibe with their compositions, and it’s a major reason I love the game so much. Here’s eight examples of its excellence.
Desert Highway
A great introductory track that establishes the mood nicely.
Secrets
A great example of bringing sadness into a soundtrack. This game has a truly underrated musical score, and this is further evidence for how great it is. Read the rest of this entry
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Song Highlights – Heroes of Might and Magic IV, Final Fantasy, Blast Corps, Street Fighter II
Terrain Swamp, Heroes of Might and Magic IV (PC, 3DO/New World Computing, Paul Romero, Rob King, Steve Baca, Paul James)
Man, I forgot how lovely the Heroes music was until I was listening to a few of the songs recently. This is among one of my favorites from the game. I love the overall ambiance of the instrumentation and vocals. Great song.
Temple of Fiends, Final Fantasy (NES, Square-Enix, Nobuo Uematsu)
I heard a remix of this Darangen did (I’ll put it up later on this week as part of the Spring Break Remixfest) and was reminded of how great the original Final Fantasy music actually is (apparently, this is a “something reminded me” type of post. XD ). Anyway, this is menacing and well-tempoed. A good way to build the tension on the way to Chaos.
Angel City, Blast Corps (N64, Nintendo/Rare, Graeme Norgate)
Surprisingly rocking stuff on the N64 soundchip. Rare was no stranger to making that thing rock, but this is one of the better examples of a hard-hitting tune.
Chun Li’s Theme, Street Fighter II (Arcade, Capcom, Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Yoko Shimomura, & Tetsuya Nishimura)
Another piece from the SF2 STK, this time the theme to Chun Li’s stage. I like the distinctly Chinese sound this song eludes.
Song Highlights – Marble Madness, Donkey Kong Country, F-Zero GX, Hotel Dusk: Room 215
“Level 2″, Marble Madness (Arcade, Brad Fuller, Hal Canon, Midway/Atari Games)
I can thank the Advantage for making me realize how awesome this song is, and a recent playtest of the game with Grace connected the two pieces together and made me go, “ah, so that’s where that’s from!” A nice piece of early arcade tunage. Go in a 1:50 to begin hearing the song in question.
“Title Screen”, Donkey Kong Country (Super NES, David Wise, Nintendo/Rare)
While the games themselves fail to impress me much, I can’t deny how great the music is for the DKC franchise. This in particular has always stood out to me. Wonderful segue into the “modern” take on the classic DK theme.
“Capt. Falcon’s Theme”, F-Zero GX (Gamecube, Daiki Kasho, Alan Brey, Sega/Nintendo)
Yes, this is cheese metal to the XTREME but I don’t care. It’s fitting, it’s catchy, and damn if I don’t listen to this any time it pops up on my iPod.
“Secrets”, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS, Yuhki Mori, Satoshi Okubo, CiNG/Nintendo)
A great example of bringing sadness into a soundtrack. This game has a truly underrated musical score, and this is further evidence for how great it is.
Song Highlights – Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy VI, Resident Evil 2, Monster Tale
Red Dead Redemption – Triggernometry (PS3/Xbox 360, Rockstar, Bill Elm and Woody Jackson)
This is a pulsing, riveting song that smacked me sideways when I listened to it out-of-game. Definitely one of the best songs from a stellar soundtrack.
Final Fantasy VI – Terra (SNES, Square-Enix, Nobuo Uematsu)
Have I gone this long without giving Uematsu any sort of props? *facepalm* Well, I’m remedying that now with what song struck me the most from my playtime in FF6 thus far (man, more games I need to finish…). A wonderful overworld theme, that’s for sure.
Resident Evil 2 – Escape from Laboratory (N64/PS1, Capcom, Masami Ueda, Shun Nishigaki, Shusaku Uchiyama)
Tense, tense stuff to dash through a self-destructing Umbrella zombie lab to. An incredible tune, that this is.
Monster Tale – Ancient Ruins (DS, Majesco/Dreamrift, Ian Stocker)
Monster Tale is a charming little game, and its soundtrack stands tall as one of the best for the DS. Ancient Ruins happens to be my favorite of the bunch, and gives a good impression of how solid Stocker’s work was.
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Song Highlights – Halloween 2011 Edition
To further get into the Halloween spirit, let’s continue onward with some creepy game tunes!
Silent Hill 2 – Ashes and Ghost (PS2, Konami, Akira Yamaoka)
The appeal of Silent Hill for me comes from its unsettling atmosphere, and Yamaoka knew exactly how to utilize music to build upon the disturbing visuals. This is a fantastic example of this talent.
Resident Evil 4 – Regenerator (Gamecube, Capcom, Misao Senbongi, Shusaku Uchiyama)
Apparently it’s “Wildcat Loves Regenerator” day here at LVLs. :p
Anyway, this music is certainly the most chilling of the RE4 soundtrack, and it perfectly suits the creatures it represents. In fact, not hearing their breaths or grunts made the song lose a little of its punch. Still, a very tense song that gives me the willies.
Secret of Mana – Ceremony (Super NES, Square-Enix, Hiroki Kikuta)
This shocked the shit out of me when I was a kid. This is horror personified. The pounding bass, the shill bells, and the overall vibe of impending doom overpowers this track – amazing stuff.
Banjo-Kazooie – Mad Monster Mansion (N64, Rare/Nintendo, Grant Kirkhope)
To conclude, we’ll have Rare’s spin on monster tropes take the stage. It’s a little more upbeat than the others I’ve included here, but it encapsulates the spirit of Halloween quite nicely, too.
Song Highlights – The Music of Legend of Zelda
With the Legend of Zelda reaching its 25 year anniversary this year (among so many others – yikes!), I felt perhaps it would be prudent to give the series’ exceptional score a tip of my hat. Koji Kondo and his cohorts in later years have done splendidly rendering the worlds of Hyrule with musical joy, and these are ten examples that I cling strongest to.
The Legend of Zelda – Title Theme (NES, Koji Kondo)
About as epic a ballad the NES has ever done, I find this slower take on the classic Zelda theme preferable over the overworld standard, myself. Fantastic at establishing a mood and a great way to gear up before venturing into the first Hyrule. Read the rest of this entry
Song Highlights – Super Mario Galaxy 2, Street Fighter II, Henry Hatsworth, M.U.L.E.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 – The Tico and the Hat (Mahito Yokota, Wii, Nintendo)
I really do like the vibe this song creates. It’s a little melancholy, a curiosity in Mario games, and has a strong emotional tug on me upon listening to its familiar tune. Great stuff.
Street Fighter II – Ryu’s Theme (Yoko Shimomura, Isao Abe, and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Arcade, Capcom)
A little down the line to cover Street Fighter, I know. Anyway, Ryu’s theme is arguably my favorite from the original game (Ken, Sagat and Bison are close!), with its driving rhythm powering the match in store. I want to do my best to this music. Awesome.
Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure – Shammerdoodle (Puzzle Theme, Gene Rozenberg, DS, Electronic Arts)
This long, epic theme for the puzzling side of Henry Hatsworth goes through many transitions, but one thing is clear all the way through – it’s fantastic. A well-done score.
M.U.L.E. – Theme (Roy Glover, C64, Electronic Arts)
I’ve neglected the Commodore 64 thus far, and I’m rectifying it the best way I know how – with my favorite C64 theme! MULE’s simplistic yet joyous song just makes me smile. It’s peppy, upbeat and stands as among the finest low-bit synths I’ve ever heard.
This is a bit long in the tooth, perhaps, but the song is at the right speed – most of the others had it slowed down significantly for some weird reason. Emulation, perhaps.
Song Highlights – The Music of Metroid
Over the years Metroid has seen some of the most amazing music in all of gaming. As part of the series celebrating 20 years this year, I want to spotlight several of my favorite tracks from the entire catalog. Ten tracks in total will be featured here, which is arguably too little for me to fully give it the attention it deserves, but I think this will make a solid stepping stone for those curious for more.
Metroid – Creteria (NES, Hirokazu Tanaka)
The iconic Creteria theme sets the mood for Metroid pretty quickly – Tanaka’s composition didn’t immediately resonate with me, but I think it takes its time to attach itself to you. A brilliant piece to start of the game. Read the rest of this entry
Song Highlights – Diablo, Persona 4, Mega Man 6, Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Diablo – Tristam Village (PC, Matt Uelman, Blizzard)
A rather melancholy tune for a safe hub area, yet quite appropriate for such a dark game. Sanctuary from Diablo and his hellish minions shouldn’t be sunshine and rainbows, right? Great guitar and a menacing tone combine for one of my favorite town themes in any game.
Shin Megami Tenshi: Persona 4 – Reach Out to the Truth (first battle vers., PS2, Shoji Meguro, Atlus)
Peppy shiny theme to punch, go! I love Persona 4′s battle theme (particularly this one, which is for particular situations) – it’s perfect for the game’s cast to fight to, and despite featuring lyrics, it fails to get stale. Awesome work.
Mega Man 6 – Flame Man (NES, Yuko Takehara, Capcom)
I think MM6 has the best soundtrack of the latter three NES Mega Man’s, and Flame Man’s Arabic-inspired theme is a solid piece of evidence to my claim. The build-up on this was amazing, and I remember being wowed when I first played it. Great stuff.
Sly 2: Band of Thieves – Dmitri’s Nightclub (PS2, Peter McConnell, Sony/Sucker Punch)
Another dance-inspiring piece of music, Dmitri’s theme is so perfect for his character it’s ridiculous. Excellent use of voice samples and a cutting beat make this a go-to happy-inducer for me.
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