Raiden Soundtrack (FM Towns)

Raiden Soundtrack (FM Towns), Akira Satoh, 1991

You could argue Raiden wasn’t a terribly innovative or flashy title, released at a time when there was no shortage of shoot’em ups jostling for the genre throne. Still, Seibu Kaihatsu’s game turned into one of the best-known vertical shoot’em ups, spawning an extensive franchise that would see new games released even decades after Raiden first delighted arcade audiences in 1990. What did set the game apart from the competition was not just its refinement of existing gameplay concepts but also its almost proto-bullet hell approach, filling the screen with tons of projectiles. As would befit a popular shoot’em up from the genre’s golden era, Raiden was released across many computer and console platforms. Likely the best contemporary port was the FM Towns conversion – a familiar story at the time, given the platform’s superior processing power.

What also elevated the FM Towns version of Raiden above the fray was its rearranged soundtrack. Akira Satoh had written the music for the arcade original. There’s not a lot of information available on Satoh in the English-speaking corners of the internet. He seems to have been busy within the ecosystem of Japanese computer games during the late 1980s and early 90s, writing a string of scores for developers like F&C, including several eroge titles. However, his career also included co-composing music for the Game Boy port of Yoshi’s Cookie. Raiden remains by far Satoh’s most high-profile and best-remembered project. Whether he arranged the music for the FM Towns port is unknown at the time of writing.

None of the many Raiden ports changed Satoh’s arcade compositions substantially, instead adapting the pieces to the sound capacities of each respective platform. What makes the FM Towns port of the Raiden soundtrack the standout version? Like the TurboGrafx-16 CD port, the FM Towns rendition of the score benefits from the platform’s CD capabilities, naturally allowing for more realistic sound reproduction. It’s worth noting that the TCD port features two additional level themes and two new final boss tracks. One might assume that this alone would make the TCD port the preferred version of the score. However, the FM Towns port undeniably sounds more powerful and vivid, as well as better produced and mixed, than the comparably feeble TCD score.

In other words, the FM Towns rendition of the Raiden soundtrack beautifully plays to the score’s strengths. This isn’t music of great subtlety or a work that presents a well-developed narrative or emotional arc – all it does is aim for the brain’s pleasure centres with ruthless efficiency. With the game’s intro, outro and boss tracks all playing like filler, the meat of the score really are the four stage themes, which combined clock in at less than ten minutes (looped). But in those ten minutes, Raiden fires off more stadium-sized, rousing synth-pop/rock melodies than almost any other game score. Every single hook on these few compositions could anchor a fists-raised-to-the-sky anthem. Now consider that this version of the score delivers these in-your-face compositions wrapped in the most dramatic, punchy instrumentations of any Raiden port, and you know why the FM Towns is the undisputed winner of this particular composition.

Stylistically, Satoh doesn’t do anything particularly original on the Raiden soundtrack – it’s the same proudly anthemic, 80s-inspired synth-rock heard on so many other video games of the era. However, no other composer realises this sound better than Satoh does here – sometimes, this feels like Japan’s belated answer to the Top Gun soundtrack. “Gallantry”’s building blocks – a riding synth rhythm backing a catchy, heroic melody with massive sing-along potential – aren’t new, but the magic lies in the execution. It’s hard to imagine game music pulling off the tension between single-minded rhythmic focus and soaring, upbeat melodies better than “Gallantry.” Again, this is music that just cries for the biggest, punchiest synths available, and the FM Towns port happily delivers. Kudos also to Satoh for perfectly judging just how often he can repeat his melodies before it’s time to move on to the next monumental hook.

The rest of the Raiden soundtrack, by and large, proceeds along the same lines as “Gallantry”. On “Lightning War”, the FM Towns version’s habit of blowing up everything to larger-than-life dimensions removes some of the arcade original’s contrast between pushing rhythms and a hopeful rather than dashing melody. That essentially means more of the same as what we’ve heard on “Gallantry”, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. If anything, “Lightning War” develops more extensively than “Gallantry”, presenting a constant flow of ideas rather than relying on repetitions of the same two weapons-grade hooks.

“Rough and Tumble” and “Fighting Thunder” slightly move towards more rock-influenced tones. “Rough and Tumble”’s initial main melodic idea becomes a bit repetitive, but the arranger’s idea to throw a synth acoustic guitar into the mix adds enough colour to distract. Thankfully, the track’s melodies soon develop into more expansive leads. “Fighting Thunder” lacks the exuberant spirit of previous cues, with clipped melodic phrases that are driven hard by synth bass and thrilling arpeggios. Particularly on a track like this, which relies on thinner material, the FM Towns’ synth upgrade is crucially important. Those almost nagging melody leads now have new bite and aggression, while the heightened dynamics give the cue the climactic rise and fall required for a final level cue. It all adds up to only a few minutes of music – but hardly any other game score is such a pure, joyful shot of endorphins and unforgettable melodies.