Electronic Archives - The Greatest Game Music

8-Bit Rally Soundtrack – Review

8-Bit Rally Soundtrack, poisoncut, 2011

Despite the album title, this is not one of the many retro exercises in NES-style chiptunes. Instead, composer poisoncut’s work here makes full use of contemporary sounds and production techniques. At the same time, he subtly alludes to the music of the games that inspired 8-Bit Rally – the Lotus and Top Gear franchises. In a way, poisoncut is in a fortunate situation. The Lotus and Top Gear soundtracks never really developed an unmistakable signature sound, despite some recurring stylistic features. This means that poisoncut doesn’t need to mimic particular musical gestures. Instead he is free to work within his own style of melodic, high-octane electronic music. And in the end, that is enough to maintain consistency with 8-Bit Rally’s musical inspirations.

The 8-Bit Rally soundtrack differs most obviously from the Lotus and Top Gear scores in its melody-driven nature. One listen to opening track “Renegade Racer” confirms that poisoncut is much readier than Barry Leitch and Patrick Phelan to hit listeners hard and fast with catchy melodies. Combine this tendency with heavier beats and 8-Bit Rally’s music is deliciously in-your-face and fuss-free. poisoncut’s melodic chops are evident throughout the album, as he serves up both memorable hooks and more long-winded melodies. The latter are also introduced on “Renegade Racer”, as a measured synth melody powerfully unfolds on top of pumping beats. It’s a perfectly judged combination of contrasts. Insistent, beefy beats deliver the necessary speed rush, while the determined melodies tell players that they are still in control of the frantic racing action around them, ready to capture first place.

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Battletoads Soundtrack (Sega Genesis) – Review

Battletoads Soundtrack (Sega Genesis), David Wise, 1993

Yes, it might have been a blatant attempt to ride the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ coattails. Still, Rare’s 1991 NES Battletoads game was successful enough to see it ported to a plethora of other platforms. Probably the highest-profile port was the Battletoads version released for the Sega Genesis in 1993. Reviews of the game were somewhat divided. More than a few critics pointed out that the developers could have done more to improve the game in the two years that had passed since the NES release, instead of releasing what was mostly a simple conversion that arguably didn’t push the Genesis graphics chip much.

In fact, where the Genesis port of Battletoads probably shines the brightest is with its score. Before delving deeper into this version of the Battletoads soundtrack, a few disclaimers are necessary. Available information on who developed the Genesis port is conflicting. Some sources point to Rare, others list Japanese studio Arc System Works. Keep in mind: Arc System Works developed the Battletoads Game Gear port. That game’s soundtrack was ported by Hikoshi Hashimoto, not original composer David Wise himself. So while Wise is commonly listed as the composer of the Battletoads soundtrack for the Genesis, there is a chance that the music was actually ported by someone else (assuming Arc System Works was involved). The fact that there is no credits roll at the end of the game doesn’t help matters. In the absence of definitive information, we need to assume Wise ported his own NES soundtrack to the Genesis.

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Catacomb Snatch Soundtrack – Review

Catacomb Snatch Soundtrack, C418 / anosou, 2012

Delivering under intense pressure can be a great conduit for creativity. For proof, look no further than the Catacomb Snatch soundtrack. The game itself came about as part of the “Humble Bundle Mojam”. This was a 60-hour event that saw indie developers creating a new game from scratch. To determine Catacomb Snatch’s theme, developer Mojang AB combined the most and least voted categories in an online poll they ran. That way, Catacomb Snatch turned out as an RTS/Shoot’em up game with an unlikely Steampunk-Ancient Egypt theme.

That sort of combination would pose quite a challenge for any composer – even if you ignored the fact that the music had to be delivered in less than three days. And it’s probably safe to assume that the composers wouldn’t have had the luxury of seeing much concept art or other indications of the game’s style before starting to pen the game’s music. On the other hand, maybe this relative lack of guidance proved liberating. That would explain how the Catacomb Snatch’s soundtrack turns out to be such a creative, at times intoxicating experience.

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Nanostray 2 Soundtrack – Review

Nanostray 2 Soundtrack, Manfred Linzner, 2008

Manfred Linzner remains one of Western game music’s better kept secrets – although his scores deserve to be much better known. His work particularly turned heads with the Game Boy Advance scores for Iridion 3D and Iridion II – and not just because of their catchy melodies. These scores were technical marvels, proving one could create high-quality sound on a console infamous for its lacking audio capabilities. Fortunately, the Iridion scores have seen an excellent release through a widely available arrange album. However, many of Linzner’s best soundtracks (Polaris SnoCross, Spider-Man, Fix & Foxi: Episode 1 Lupo) remain commercially unavailable.

Enter the Nano collection – a digital soundtrack bundle that includes the full scores for the four titles in the Nano shoot’em up franchise, as well as another very strong arrange album. Among the original scores included in this release, Linzner’s Nanostray 2 soundtrack is the strongest work. Significantly more fully-fledged and varied than its predecessor, Nanostray 2 closely mirrors the game in its general character. It doesn’t greatly innovate on tried-and-true shmup genre formulas, but polishes its components to an impressive degree.

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Sentinel Returns Soundtrack – Review

Sentinel Returns Soundtrack

Sentinel Returns Soundtrack, John Carpenter, 1998

Sentinel Returns was the entirely unexpected sequel to 1980s computer cult puzzle game The Sentinel. That 1986 title was one of the first games to feature solid-filled 3D graphics. Its successor wasn’t as revolutionary, but it still had a striking visual appeal all of its own. The world of Sentinel Returns was an entirely surreal one, unsettling and gloomy. It was full of bizarre flesh-meets-metal inhabitants that only had a vague resemblance to real life objects.

Sentinel Returns might have been a puzzle game, but its world was that of a nightmarish horror title. It’s no surprise then that horror maestro John Carpenter’s Sentinel Returns soundtrack is a perfect fit for the game. However, Carpenter’s involvement in Sentinel Returns is still a bit of surprise. Remember, Western movie composers crossing over into video games was still an absolute rarity in 1998.

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