Hero Quest (Franchise) Archives - The Greatest Game Music

Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil Soundtrack (Amiga CD32)

Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil Soundtrack (Amiga CD32), Patrick Phelan, 1994

While it was based on a popular fantasy board game license, Hero Quest didn’t exactly set the video game world on fire upon release in 1991. Ultimately, it didn’t leave much more than a reasonably positive impression with reviewers and gamers. Still, developer Gremlin Interactive must have felt that there was enough life left in the license to squeeze out another Hero Quest game. Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil was released in 1994, reusing its predecessor’s engine and isometric view. The game didn’t deliver much in terms of new ideas or innovations and consequently reaped the same muted response as the first Hero Quest. The fact that Legacy of Sorasil hit store shelves towards the end of the Amiga’s lifespan didn’t help – and its showing on the Amiga CD32 was doomed by the console’s quick demise.

Hero Quest’s biggest achievement might have been its music. Neil Baldwin (on the NES) and Barry Leitch (ZX Spectrum) delivered a couple of classic fantasy scores that both made full use of the limited sound capacities of their respective platforms. For the Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil soundtrack, scoring duties went to Patrick Phelan. Phelan had only entered the game industry in 1992, but quickly established himself as one of Gremlin Interactive’s go-to composers, working on its Zool, Lotus and Top Gear games. Interestingly enough, on the Lotus and Top Gear series, Phelan took over from Leitch, who had scored earlier franchise iterations – and this trend would continue with Legacy of Sorasil.

As a game, Legacy of Sorasil raised few eyebrows – and so the quality of its Amiga CD32-exclusive CDDA soundtrack is all the more surprising. Phelan wastes no time establishing his credentials on curtain raiser “Menu”. The cue starts off as a march with a lithe flute melody leading the way, before things quickly escalate. A resolute deep string line and bell strikes widen the composition’s scope, the flute melody is passed to the brass, turning proud and rousing… and then the track explodes into a fortissimo with an even more forceful brass melody, gaining its towering effect from the contrast between the melody’s stately progression and the maniacally swirling vortex of chromatic strings scales backing it.

It’s a convincingly monumental passage that quickly underlines the soundtrack’s ability to impress. For the remainder of the piece, Phelan alternates between reprises of this grimly triumphant musical climax and quieter episodes that are just as skillfully orchestrated, combining a multitude of ideas into one coherent composition. And pay attention to those racing strings underneath the brass declarations – their chromatic, unexpected progressions ensure that these awe-inspiring fortissimi don’t just sound grand, but also menacing and edgy.

Indeed, the fantasy world that Phelan creates on the Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil soundtrack is both imposing and untrustworthy, filled with dangers. Like on Leitch’s Hero Quest score, listeners won’t find much of the romanticism and adventurous spirit often associated with fantasy soundtracks. Leitch’s approach created a wistful, dreamy realm, whereas Phelan heads in the opposite direction. His compositions focus on the bass end of the orchestra, evoking an earthy medievalism that’s certainly not foreign to the fantasy genre – but the way Phelan uses it to broaden the scale of the game’s environments is unusual.

Take “In-Game 01”, clocking in at no less than 11 minutes. Its opening mood is moribund and forlorn, thanks to its bassoon lead (soon replaced by harmonising solo woodwind) and plodding percussion. The melody keeps repeating without ever grating, creating a ritualistic pull as if underscoring an ancient ceremony in an age-old, barren land. Dramatic, sudden brass fanfares interject at 3:20, as if the game’s world suddenly bares its fangs, followed by deep string pizzicati that sound like hammers. Then the desolate atmosphere lightens as Phelan introduces an episode for impish woodwinds and cheeky rhythms, before circling through more changes of mood, including trumpet soli whose chromatic progressions subtly undermine their traditional fantasy heroism. Another highlight is an oboe lead around the eight-minute mark which sounds like the transcription of an organ melody, perfectly complementing the composition’s somber ceremonial undercurrent.

Throughout the entire piece, Phelan develops his material like a seasoned professional, while making expert use of his carefully selected range of orchestral colours. Most importantly, his focus on melodic and rhythmic repetition – evoking that earthy medievalism mentioned before – is consistent with the foundations he built on “Menu”. Whether it is that earlier cue’s grandiosity or “In-Game 01”’s constantly recurring material, the resulting sound has a monolithic quality, turning the world of Legacy of Sorasil into a vast, harsh terrain that’s still exciting and vibrant enough to invite exploration.

Such skillful orchestral writing might seem like a surprise coming from a composer who up to this point was best known for his synth-heavy racing scores. However, there’s Litil Divil, a little-known Amiga title released in 1993 and scored by Phelan and frequent collaborator Neil Biggin. Litil Divil’s orchestral score had no doubt shown potential, despite ultimately feeling like a collection of competently written gestures rather than full-blown, coherent compositions. The Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil soundtrack then shows Phelan making true on the promise shown on that earlier game, to astounding effect.

The remainder of Legacy of Sorasil by and large maintains the same high standard of quality. “In-Game 02” (13 minutes long!) wades through five minutes of low-key mumblings – but then things turn more interesting. Phelan reaches back to the march rhythms heard on “Menu” and merges them with the expansive development of “In-Game 01”. It makes for a less consistent piece than “In-Game 01”, but “In-Game 02”’s combination of belligerent determination and constant melodic appeal makes for another orchestral epic that smartly rises and falls to achieve maximum effect. Its drastic dynamic contrasts again underscore a fantasy world of unpredictable menace and immense scale. It’s a domain full of roughly-hewn cathedrals and soldiers ploughing on through mud towards the battlefield, waiting in eerie silence before the ferocious clash of arms.

“In-Game 03” provides a welcome breather after the intensity of what’s come before, condensing Phelan’s ability to effortlessly develop his compositions and their melodic content into a charming three-minute cue. What starts out as the sort of piece many fantasy games use for locations like a tavern – think light dance rhythms and instantly tuneful woodwind melodies – soon turns into something more elaborate. Phelan brings in a harpsichord, which takes turns with a solo flute as the track’s lead instrument. The result is an intriguing combination of medieval and baroque influences that feels entirely organic and seamless, while providing an abundance of melodic riches. It’s the fitting summary of one of Western game music’s strongest orchestral game soundtracks up to that point.

Conversion notes

Phelan also wrote the music for the Amiga version of Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil. Interestingly enough, while it uses different musical material, it’s strikingly similar in its orchestrations and mood to the Amiga CD32 score. A fine score in and of itself, the Amiga soundtrack is somewhat held back by the limitations of its platform, so it ultimately feels a bit like the draft of a work that was more fully realised on the Amiga CD32. That being said, it is still worth seeking out.

01 - Menu Patrick Phelan 3:46
02 - In-Game 01 Patrick Phelan 11:15
03 - In-Game 02 Patrick Phelan 8:29
04 - In-Game 03 Patrick Phelan 3:19

Hero Quest Soundtrack (NES)

Hero Quest Soundtrack (NES), Neil Baldwin, 1991

Even at the height of the NES’ popularity, there were no official album releases of Western NES game music. That makes a website like Neil Baldwin‘s Duty Cycle Generator a very important contribution towards closing this gap. On his site, game music veteran Baldwin, whose career began on the C64, released all of his NES soundtracks. Baldwin pointed out that part of the reason his website exists was the praise one of his works had generated within online chiptunes communities. That score was Hero Quest, the video game version of the popular fantasy-themed board game. The score’s popularity was all the more surprising considering that the game was cancelled. However, its developer Chris Shrigley released it years later into the NES community, and its reputation built over time. Baldwin’s surprised discovery of the Hero Quest soundtrack’s popularity also kickstarted his involvement with the online game music community.

On Duty Cycle Generator, Baldwin shares his view that the Hero Quest soundtrack “is probably some of the best NES music” he did. It’s safe to say he’s correct in that assessment. Prior works by Baldwin (and his later Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge) can feel like exercises in arpeggio-based NES compositions. Those arpeggios were a relatively easy way to generate a lush sound with the NES’ limited hardware. There’s no doubt that Baldwin handled the arpeggio sounds driving his compositions with virtuoso technical skills matched by few other composers. Still, particularly a fantasy-themed work like Magician feels deficient in other regards, for example engaging melodies and moods.

The Hero Quest soundtrack is the first of Baldwin’s works where he finds a comfortable balance between technical complexity and a stronger emotional connection with the music, underpinned by appealing melodies. “Title Screen / Menu / Quest Story” opens with an appropriately medieval-sounding, stately melody over a slow arpeggio. It’s a scene setter that recalls the ‘once upon a time’-opening of many other NES RPGs. That includes Magician, but this time the melody is more involving. It leads up to an ear-catching ritardando, achieved manually by gradually increasing note lengths. A clever, rarely deployed method in game music, it gets listeners guessing what might come next…

And then more contemporary beats set in, waves of sweeping arpeggios back a heroic melody lead that oozes high adventure, and the music rides off to conquer the world. While more melody-focused than Baldwin’s other scores, a lot of “Title Screen / Menu / Quest Story”’s emotional pull still stems from his technical wizardry. The sounds emanating from all channels have a warmth and weight that are rare for an NES score. Additionally, Baldwin’s idea to have the arpeggios alternating octaves to create even denser textures gives the music precisely the orchestral feel he was after. While Barry Leitch‘s computer ports of Hero Quest evoke the game’s fantasy world by suggesting vast open spaces, Baldwin is busy filling these spaces with as much musical activity as he can muster.

On that note, “Dungeon Theme (Overworld)” feels like Baldwin’s definitive, most fleshed-out statement on arpeggio composition. It’s a relentless onslaught of cascading notes that has just the right amount of melodic backbone to pull listeners through what is one of the longer NES compositions (nearly 3 ½ minutes unlooped). An invigorating wall of sound, “Dungeon Theme (Overworld)” is one of those NES cues that challenges you to untangle the web of competing musical lines and figure out how on earth one could create such a track with the NES’ four sound channels.

“Dungeon Theme (Overworld)”’s sumptuousness makes it an ideal match for an RPG. The track’s aural richness gives it a grand scope that far exceeds the soundtrack’s short running time. The music’s breadth and energy, generated to no small measure by wonderful vibrato effects on the full-bodied arpeggios, sets the scene for a powerful finale as the music spirals higher and higher and ends with a literal bang. It doesn’t make for a great loop point, but musically it couldn’t be a more satisfying conclusion.

The same goes for the Hero Quest soundtrack’s closing composition, “Ending (Unused)”. The cue picks up the contemporary elements from previous tracks and translates them into a slow power ballad. The track is driven by a huge, anthemic drum sound that is one of Baldwin’s most impressive accomplishments here. Just like previous compositions had orchestral ambitions, “Ending” aims high. But it aims in a different direction and actually plays like the end credits song of a big Hollywood movie (in 8-bit, of course). The simple, but wistful melody lead is once more beautifully complemented by vibrant arpeggios. Their glow equally permeates the lead melody’s suspended, achingly swelling notes.

“Ending” concludes not necessarily the best of Baldwin’s NES soundtracks overall. That honour would have to go to the following year’s Erik the Viking. However, what “Ending” does is to complete a trio of Baldwin’s most outstanding, substantial NES compositions.

01 - Title Screen / Menu / Quest Story Baldwin, Neil 3:25
02 - Dungeon Theme (Overworld) Baldwin, Neil 3:19
03 - Ending (Unused) Baldwin, Neil 3:26

Hero Quest Soundtrack (ZX Spectrum)

Hero Quest Soundtrack (ZX Spectrum), Barry Leitch, 1991

Disclaimer: An earlier version of this review stated that the Atari ST port suffered from technical problems. This turned out to be an emulator issue and the ‘Conversion Notes’ section of the review has been updated accordingly.

Board games are arguably a lot easier to turn into video games than say movies. They already function as games, have a set of clearly defined rules and often enough feature just enough backstory to efficiently set up the game’s world. The sheer number of Dungeons & Dragons video games is testament to the close connection between both worlds. The success of the Dungeons & Dragons table top games of course inspired others to follow in their footsteps. In 1989, US board game manufacturer Milton Bradley tried their hand at a fantasy-themed title called Hero Quest. Despite its generic presentation, the game was fairly successful around the globe, with a number of expansions, new editions and even novels published.

The inevitable video game ports of Hero Quest arrived in 1991 on several home computer systems and the NES. Developers 221B Software Development looked after the computer ports, while Eurocom handled the NES game. Unfortunately, that title was ultimately cancelled and never officially released. As for the various computer ports, they were reasonably well received by video game journalists, although reviews ranged from very strong to merely middling. While some scribes welcomed the game’s accessibility, others bemoaned its low difficulty level and that Hero Quest stuck too close to its original board game mechanics.

As with many other titles published by Gremlin Graphics, game music veteran Barry Leitch wrote the Hero Quest soundtrack for the various computer platforms (Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS and ZX Spectrum). The game turned out to be particularly challenging for Leitch, who was only given 30kb for the in-game music on the Amiga. As a result, he was forced to use the tiniest possible instrument samples – one waveform length and looped (similar to the approach David Wise would take on his Donkey Kong Country soundtracks). The effort was worth it though – in an interview, Leitch ranked his Hero Quest in-game music as one of his ten favourite tunes.

Out of the different versions of Leitch’s Hero Quest soundtrack, the ZX Spectrum port turns out best. Leitch has good reason to be fond of “In-Game 01” – the way it manages to organically ebb and flow (well, almost) over seven minutes, with its melody constantly reinventing itself, is impressive. A gently fluttering ostinato provides the track’s basis, evoking a dream-like mood that’s a perfect fit for the game’s adventures set in faraway lands. Leitch’s melodies are both subdued and majestic, straddling the divide between the expansiveness of classically-inspired prog-rock melody lines and the catchiness of great pop tunes. The track builds over more than three minutes until it settles into a steady march rhythm, making the most of the momentum built so far… only to be abruptly cut short, before the music returns to the opening’s pensive atmosphere, realised just as beautifully as before.

Throughout all of this, “In-Game 01” rarely sounds very adventurous. Instead, the Hero Quest soundtrack mixes the lushness of its fantasy-inspired sounds (helped by Leitch’s technical wizardry) with unexpectedly calm, even intimate strains. It’s a surprising emotional, sometimes longing composition that immensely benefits from Leitch’s patience as a carefully widens the scope of the piece. Witness how the soothing opening moves into a riding rhythm that increases anticipation before heavier percussion join at 2:35, accompanied by ominously rising and falling bass glissandi – and then the main march section finally sets in. There’s no doubt this is epic fantasy scoring, but it’s realised with quiet, intriguing means.

Leitch’s other two tracks on the Hero Quest soundtrack – “Title” and “In-Game 02” – aren’t as show-stopping, but still maintain the score’s high level of quality. “Title” feels like a denser, more energetic companion to “In-Game 01”. A plodding melody, presented over constant arpeggios and stately rhythms, turns prouder and more animated as the track progresses, while the music’s complexity increases until the cue rushes forth in excitement. Again, Leitch write a constantly evolving melody that remains memorable in all its shapes, sufficiently heavy to conjure the gravitas of a great fantasy adventure, but equally agile enough to not drag.

“In-Game 02” feels like the Hero Quest soundtrack’s most straightforward chiptunes composition, delivering a fitting, if somewhat low-key and reflective ending to the adventure with its anthemic melody lead and steady rhythms. The cue strikes just the right balance between heroic pride and somewhat wistfully looking back – a mix of emotions that Leitch articulates throughout the entire score, giving Hero Quest its own individual character amidst the masses of fantasy game scores.

Conversion Notes

Out of all the different versions of the Hero Quest soundtrack, the Amiga port sounds of course most realistic and lavish, with expert use of the stereo field to create a suitably grand sound. However, there are some niggling issues. The melody voice tends to sound piercing and off-key (particularly on “Title”). While the larger amount of instrumental colours is of course an advantage, it also leads to distractions like the out-of-place electric piano on “In-Game 01” and some at times overwhelming bass sounds. The Amiga version is also missing “In-Game 02”.

The Atari ST port sounds almost identical to the ZX Spectrum version – which ultimately is a disappointment, given the superior sound capacities of the Atari ST. This port has a slightly fuller – maybe occasionally overbearing – sound, although the difference is almost negligible (and since we’re talking emulators here, it might well not have been present on the original release).

The C64 version of Hero Quest only features the title track in a faithful rendition that’s pleasant in and of itself – it just can’t help feel murky and overly bassy compared to the ZX Spectrum score, which makes it harder to appreciate the intricacies of the different layers within the composition.

01 - Title Leitch, Barry 3:37
02 - In-Game 01 Leitch, Barry 6:59
03 - In-Game 02 Leitch, Barry 2:49