Iridion II Soundtrack

Iridion II Soundtrack, Manfred Linzner, 2003

As the new millennium dawned, shoot’em ups were nowhere near as popular as during their 1980s and 1990s heyday. Even so, enough developers still cherished the genre to keep the flame burning. One such studio was Shin’en Multimedia, founded in 1999 by former members of Amiga demoscene group Abyss. Focusing in its early years on Nintendo’s handhelds, Shin’en turned what had originally been conceived as a Game Boy shooter into the Game Boy Advance launch title Iridion 3D. Despite the game’s much-praised pseudo-3D graphics, reviews were tepid thanks to frustrating gameplay. Two years later, Iridion II was received far more warmly. Its design broke little new ground, but critics agreed that it was a welcome reminder of the genre’s more straightforward past, and virtually every review singled out Iridion II’s stellar presentation.

Part of that presentation was one of the finest-sounding scores ever to grace the Game Boy Advance. For some, that may sound like faint praise, given how difficult the hardware made it to produce music that did not resemble a muddy, substandard SNES score. Yet those limitations only clarify what an accomplishment this soundtrack really is. And even if one is unfamiliar with the technological background, the music’s strengths quickly make the still slightly grainy quality of the samples feel like a secondary concern.

Behind this small marvel was Manfred Linzner, who had already demonstrated his command of the form on chiptune scores such as Fix & Foxi – Episode 1: Lupo. For the GBA, Linzner developed his own sound driver, the GAX Sound Engine. Through smart programming, GAX addressed two of the system’s central audio problems by allowing for better sample quality (up to 44 kHz) while placing less strain on the CPU. The latter mattered greatly, since the GBA lacked a dedicated sound chip and audio therefore had to compete with graphics and other assets for precious processing power. Linzner evidently remained dissatisfied with how the music on the original Iridion scores was rendered, hence the 2003 arrange album, one of the earliest Western game music releases of its kind.

Still, the Iridion II soundtrack warrants revisiting in its original form, not least because the arrange album omits some of its material. Like its predecessor, much of Iridion II is a love letter to 1980s synth-pop and game soundtracks. This is music you could drop into an Amiga-era Turrican and it would fit perfectly. Of course, when Chris Hülsbeck wrote those classic scores, he was channelling contemporary mainstream music. A work like Iridion II is conceptually a little more layered: it is a lovingly crafted homage that also refreshes its influences, drawing them into dialogue with more modern sounds.

It is also a significantly stronger score than Iridion 3D. That earlier soundtrack could sometimes feel like a collection of excellent hooks still searching for songs robust enough to support them. Iridion II, by contrast, benefits from arrangements that are far more fully realised while remaining uncluttered and economical, all in the service of stronger melodies. There is little doubt that Linzner delivers some of the most memorable pop writing ever heard in a portable console game. To return to that earlier Turrican comparison, Iridion II’s tunes are every bit as catchy, and its hooks as large, as Hülsbeck’s finest creations. “Azuki Canyon – Aniki” establishes this immediately with brightly gleaming melodies and crystalline leads that feel ready-made for instant stadium singalongs.

Accordingly, one half of the Iridion II soundtrack plays like a first-rate Top 40 album from the decade of gleaming, outsized synth anthems, albeit with rhythmic backdrops that often lean towards more contemporary electronica. Silvery, enthusiastic staccato leads effortlessly carry cues such as “Spaceport Alpha – Two Years Gone” and “Spaceport Gamma – Good To Feel”, while Linzner’s arrangements strike exactly the right balance between economy and colour. Yet he is not merely reprising decades-old conventions. “Seigetsu City – Cloudy Stairway” turns its harmonious melody into an insistent, unresolved figure that never quite settles harmonically. Meanwhile, “Space Minefield – Tearing” begins in a comparatively relaxed vein, with faintly jazzy overtones, before its lead gradually grows more aspirational as it rises towards the cue’s climax. With so much upbeat music, Iridion II seems less concerned with underscoring dramatic space battles than with entertaining the player and driving them ever forward.

But there is also the soundtrack’s other half, more adventurous and less dependent on immediate hooks. “Silicis Corridor – Crystal Symphony” shifts the emphasis from audacious flight to mood-building, as various tinkling melodic fragments circle above a heavy synth groove. Cymbal crashes arrive at just the right moments to add dramatic punctuation. The cue introduces a sense of mystery and hushed awe into the soundtrack’s energetic palette. Final-stage cue “Dockbay II – Pure Conscience” twists that sentiment into something far eerier, dominated by a harsh, ticking synth effect. Opening up an uncanny, cavernous space, this constant pulse frames an unlikely standoff between a robotic lead and tentatively emerging, almost drone-like notes, yet the music remains strikingly emotional and expressive. It is an astounding example of the subtlety and warmth the GBA could yield in the right hands.

Elsewhere, Linzner effortlessly dabbles in more contemporary electronic styles that point towards his later Nanostray scores. “Dockbay I – Citizen Discharged” has a trance-like melody whose majestic bearing and broad, synth wave-adjacent chordal backing lend the track an unexpectedly grand sweep, as always reinforced by a lively bass presence. The smooth neo-disco allusions of “Zansetsu Clough – Cold Play” are matched by the seductive urban cool and elastic bass of “Tenshi Plains – In My World”.

“Asteroid Field – Spiral Bliss” takes yet another approach, reaching further back into the musical past than the rest of the score with an almost psychedelic opening that gives way to a soothing Mini Moog solo. Even soul grooves are not alien to this soundtrack, a sign that Linzner ultimately aims at something broader than merely reviving classic video game music. The Iridion II soundtrack needs no qualifier: this is not simply one of the best GBA scores, but one of the greatest shoot’em up soundtracks of the 2000s, full stop.