Rare Archives - The Greatest Game Music

A Nightmare on Elm Street Soundtrack (NES)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES), David Wise, 1989

Before developer Rare became one of gaming’s powerhouses in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it toiled away for several years as one of the many companies churning out NES titles for various distributors. One of those distributors was LNJ – infamous for the usually low quality of the products that the company peddled. More than a few of their games were developed by Rare – almost all of them justifiably forgotten.

One of the stronger results of the collaboration between LNJ and Rare was A Nightmare on Elm Street – based of course on one of the most popular horror franchises of the 1980s. “Stronger” doesn’t mean that the game was an unqualified success – according to critics, it was merely better than most other LNJ titles and all in all made for a passable platformer. The game arguably would have been more distinctive had Rare stuck with the original concept where gamers controlled Freddie to hunt down teenagers. It’s not hard to see why this initial draft of the game was scrapped, particularly on a Nintendo console.

David Wise had delivered the music for each Rare NES (and Game Boy) title since joining the company in 1986. That Wise became a game composer was due to a chance encounter with Rare founders Tim and Chris Stamper in the Leicester music shop Wise worked in. After demonstrating a Yamaha CX5 sequencer (the company’s first music computer) with his own MIDI compositions, Wise was offered a job at Rare by the Stampers. While it would be the Battletoads franchise that brought Wise’s name to the attention of game music fans, the A Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack firmly stands as Wise’s first great score.

Writing horror music on a console as technologically restricted as the NES poses a particular challenge. Often enough, NES soundtracks overcome their inherent limitations by focusing on memorable melodies or intricate, creative rhythms. As Wise put it himself in an interview: “In the early days of video game music, with the limited resources we had at our disposal, the melody was incredibly important.” However, much contemporary horror scoring achieves its effect through other means – unsettling textures and extended use of dissonances. These musical approaches don’t translate easily to the NES, at least not without grating quickly if put in the hands of a lesser composer.

Wise achieves a more than workable compromise on the A Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack. His score is more melodic than many horror movie and game soundtracks, but equally creates a nearly constant feeling of dread (if never outright terror). Take “Town of Elm Street”, whose opening sounds almost adventurous. Its opening melody is maybe the most complex lead Wise has written for a chiptunes score, almost cascading and rushing forth in excitement, with an upbeat conclusion to each phrase. Expert harmonisation of the two pulse wave leads begins to introduce an otherworldly feel – and then the music suddenly falls into a black pit inhabited only by a mechnical pulse and eerie background drones that uncomfortably rise in pitch. It’s not a subtle change of mood, but it’s definitely effective, particularly as those encroaching drones never leave, even as the track returns to the relatively upbeat mood of its beginning.

Wise’s use of a nagging bass pulse to underscore evil returns on several other tracks – it’s hard not to suspect the influence of John Carpenter’s horror scores here. What works on the maestro’s soundtracks does the job on the A Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack too though. Mechanical and relentless, that bass ostinato and the menace it underscores remain elusive, without a face or other means to identify it, hunting down its victims with single-minded intent.

Other tracks find different ways to imbue horror scoring tropes with melodic content. Initially, “Inside House 2” dabbles in well-executed stereotypes. High-pitched, discordant melodies and swelling drones alternate with a forward tumbling, almost panicked bass figure. But then Wise seamlessly leads into a wistful, downright beautiful melody that comes out of nowhere – far more moving than what one would expect from an NES horror game. “Inside House 3”’s melodies – despite their fragmented nature – are almost heroic in their fanfaric progressions. Victory seems plausible and the track’s second half brings that sentiment across even more clearly with insistent, catchy chord progressions that add some pop sensibilities to the score. Wise’s most interesting composition here is “Elm Street Cemetary”. The cue pits its motivating forward push against an indecipherable shower of dissonant notes on both pulse wave channels, while also sporting the soundtrack’s most intriguing, experimental melodies.

Considering Wise’s obvious talents, it’s not surprising that the A Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack also shines when it goes for straight horror scoring. “Title Screen”’s slowly progressing bass pulse and drones right away set the required creepy mood, working in tandem with spine-tingling, almost shrill melodies. The skeletal, but highly effective instrumentation and shrapnels of melody recall Hirokazu Tanaka’s Metroid soundtrack, while the slow tempo creates a quietly suffocating atmosphere. “Junkyard” is more aggressively dissonant still. It returns that bass pulse in its most effectively unsettling iteration, underscoring creepily harmonised arpeggios that have a disconcerting stutter effect. As a game, A Nightmare on Elm Street might have exceeded expectations simply by not being really bad – but Wise’s ambitious and creative soundtrack goes above and beyond, creating an outstanding NES score where few would have expected one.

01 - Title Screen Wise, David 2:15
02 - Town of Elm Street Wise, David 2:45
03 - Inside House 1 Wise, David 1:50
04 - Inside House 2 Wise, David 2:33
05 - Inside House 3 Wise, David 2:40
06 - Junkyard Wise, David 2:53
07 - Elm Street Cemetary Wise, David 3:12

Battletoads & Double Dragon Soundtrack (SNES)

Battletoads & Double Dragon Soundtrack (SNES), David Wise, 1993

In 1993, the Battletoads franchise was in a slightly curious spot. The 1991 NES original had been successful enough to spawn several ports. There was also Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, a SNES (and later Sega Master System) game that ultimately felt like a remix of the 1991 NES title. So where to next for the burgeoning, but not quite yet established franchise? Publisher Tradewest had released Battletoads on several platforms and held the home license for the venerable Double Dragon franchise. Why not combine two forces of nature in one amazing game? The match seemed to be an entirely natural one, given that Kevin Bayliss, co-designer of Battletoads, was a big Double Dragon fan.

However, things didn’t quite pan out as expected. For starters, with Rare developing the game, Battletoads & Double Dragon felt like it was shoehorning the world of Billy and Jimmy Lee into the more comic-like antics of a Battletoads game. It didn’t help that Double Dragon characters made appearances under the wrong names. Ultimately, Battletoads & Double Dragon garnered respectable but rarely enthusiastic reviews at the time of its release. That impression seems to continue with more recent assessments of the game: a decent enough brawler that doesn’t live up to the potential of the franchise crossover.

Once more, the game was first released on the NES, followed by Game Boy, Sega Genesis and SNES ports. And of course, David Wise was responsible for the scores. Out of the quartet of Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtracks, it’s the SNES one that takes the crown. Wise takes the hard rock influences from the SNES Battletoads in Battlemaniacs – where they awkwardly shared the limelight with orchestral sounds – and puts them front and centre. He’s helped by a guitar tone that is far punchier and more exciting than the thinly buzzing guitars on Battlemaniacs. On the Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtrack, the guitars (and the rest of the rock band ensemble) are sampled to a very impressive standard that makes these compositions truly come alive. It’s hard not to think of Wise’s work here as a precursor to the amazingly realistic sounds he coaxed out of the SNES for Donkey Kong Country.

What’s more, Wise’s writing for guitars is flawless, his riffs beautifully melodic yet powerful, varied and instantly memorable. Thanks to this strength, “Main Theme” successfully kicks off proceedings at a steam-rolling, mid-tempo pace that references Battletoads’ earthy rock intro, but updates it for the 16-bit era. Amidst the fist-raising hard rock, Wise tastefully sprinkles in a few synth leads that effectively underscore the game’s space location.

The rest of the Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtrack follows this stylistic lead, dishing up some of the best melodic hard rock written for the SNES. “Abobo” reprises material from “Main Theme” in a slightly faster rendition, before moving through a number of various new riffs. This sort of variety and flow shapes almost the entire soundtrack. As a result, most tracks do feel like fully-fledged (if abbreviated) hard rock songs, performed on the SNES. “Robo Manus” dials up the tempo a few notches and immediately jumps into the action with utter joy and abandon. Its head-banging fury is delivered with a big grin, capped off perfectly by a clean guitar solo with a catchy pop influence.

On a handful of other tracks, Wise indulges in some genre mixing that is as well executed as the Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtrack’s hard rock stylings. “Big Blag” and “Shadow Boss” bring to the table the new jack swing influences that the original Battletoads had avoided. The irony here is of course that Battletoads was so clearly modelled after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES games and their new jack swing-heavy soundtracks. Wise’s tracks live up to those outstanding role models, with all the necessary cool swing and energy in their rhythms and colourful orchestrations that the SNES makes possible. “Big Blag” focuses mostly on its grooving beats, complemented by brass and organ leads, while “Shadow Boss” seamlessly merges hard rock guitars and funk inspirations.

What “Abobo” and “Big Blag” make clear is that the SNES version of the Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtrack is less interested in the intriguing moodiness of the Genesis port and instead simply goes for succinct, entertaining rock and funk action. The SNES score isn’t as creative as the Genesis soundtrack, but ultimately more successful. It keeps up the momentum until the last track, while the Genesis score begins to fizzle out towards the end. That’s largely due to the proliferation of repetitive material on the Genesis soundtrack, which doesn’t have the palette of instrumental colours to draw upon that helps the SNES port to dress up its musical ideas in new disguises.

The advantage of having more instruments to work with becomes particularly obvious on “Roper”. On the Genesis, the track feels a bit too fragmented to make the most of its initially intriguing mood. On the SNES, Wise can fully indulge in the Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtrack’s most ambitious genre mix that brings together introspective yet catchy synth melodies, funk brass fanfares, tribal drumming and fiery guitar salvos and sludgy riffs. It’s particularly the crunchy guitars that help to connect the different song sections better than what the Genesis soundtrack accomplishes. It also doesn’t hurt that the SNES version achieves more impressive changes in dynamics, making the track’s changes in direction exciting rather than jarring. If someone questions the SNES’ rock credentials, point them in the direction of the Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtrack.

Conversion notes

The Genesis version of the soundtrack is discussed above at some length already. The NES original is surprisingly underwhelming and no match for the 1991 Battletoads NES score. Tracks are fairly short and repetitive, evidencing little inspiration or energy. In fact, this might be Wise’s least impressive Battletoads soundtrack. The Game Boy port has a bit more grit and power than the NES version, while excising some material and compressing other pieces. That being said, the end result still isn’t anything to write home about.

01 - Main Theme David Wise 2:03
02 - Abobo (Stage 1) David Wise 2:45
03 - Big Blag (Stage 2) David Wise 2:11
04 - Roper (Stage 3) David Wise 3:03
05 - Robo Manus (Stage 5) David Wise 2:16
06 - Shadow Boss (Stage 6) David Wise 1:55
07 - The Dark Queen (Stage 7) David Wise 1:29

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs Soundtrack (Sega Master System)

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs Soundtrack (Sega Master System), Matt Furniss / David Wise, 1994

There aren’t a lot of Sega Master System ports of SNES games. There are even fewer ports where the Master System soundtrack improves on the SNES original. And if that score emerges from what was an unfinished release, we might be dealing with a minor miracle. Or maybe such a lucky outcome wasn’t entirely unpredictable. After all, it was Matt Furniss (working with Shaun Hollingworth under the Krisalis moniker) who ported the Battletoads in Battlemaniacs SNES score.

The Master System port of Battletoads in Battlemaniacs has a chequered history. The game – ported by Syrox Developments – was scheduled for a European release in 1994 through Virgin Interactive. The game had progressed far enough that at least two reviews of it were published in UK gaming magazines. However, Virgin Interactive cancelled the release for unknown reasons. At a later stage, the game saw the light of day in Master System-loving Brazil through Tec Toy. However, it’s not clear whether that release took place in 1994 or 1996.

What’s obvious is that what ended up on store shelves was an unfinished product. Filled with glitches, stage tunes playing in the wrong spots or not at all, and a generally underwhelming presentation, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs was hardly a sparkling addition to the Master System’s library of games. What’s intriguing to ponder is whether what was released in Brazil was the same build of the game that was scheduled for release in Europe. The published reviews – while less than enthusiastic – don’t indicate a broken game. That being said, the Mean Machines article does mention “poor sprite detection” and “overall sloppy programming”.

That same review takes a rather dim view of the Battletoads in Battlemaniacs soundtrack. The author claimed that it was a rip off of the Master System’s Lemmings port. That’s an odd claim to make, given that Matt Furnier rather obviously ported David Wise’s Battletoads in Battlemaniacs SNES score. That soundtrack is one of Wise’s lesser works. Its attempt to fuse orchestral and rock elements resulted in overly long and repetitive tracks that felt melodically uninspired and lacked momentum (and the buzzing guitar sound didn’t help matters).

Furniss’ take on Wise’s material is the sort of smart distillation and tweaking that makes a score written for a far superior sound chip work on a more limited platform. There was little hope to translate the guitar focus of the SNES score to the Master System, given its generally bright timbres and lack of duty cycles to manipulate instrumental colours. Furniss navigates around this issue by putting less emphasis on the melody instruments. Instead, he writes fantastically tight, rock-solid rhythms, rendered on must be some of the Master System’s best-sounding rock drum imitations – their sound all the more impressive considering the platform’s infamously bright, light timbres.

Beautifully spacious, yet authoritative and hard-hitting, it’s really the drums that are the star on the Battletoads in Battlemaniacs soundtrack. They drive each piece forward with relentless energy. What’s more, their lo-fi, near-industrial nature (compared to the SNES samples) gives them a grit and energy that was missing on the original score. At the same time, Furniss is aware that a great drum beat will only carry a piece for so long. What he ensures then is that none (well, almost none) of his tracks here outstay their welcome. As a result, his cues are more succinct than Wise’s compositions, staying closer to action game music conventions.

All this is not to say that the melodies Furniss either adapts or writes himself are lacking. Not surprising given his background in the European computer music scene, most melodies on the Battletoads in Battlemaniacs soundtrack come in the shape of cleverly layered arpeggios. Both on “Title” and “Ragnarok Canyon”, these bubbly arpeggios trade places regularly with bass melodies, helping the music’s variety and sense of forward direction. Ultimately though, while Furniss’ melodies get the job done, their purpose really is to support the rhythms and their never-ceasing propulsive drive.

“Snake Pit” is the culmination of this approach. Turning the SNES’ soft, percolating percussion into fierce ostinato, Furniss’ Battletoads in Battlemaniacs soundtrack uses its breathless pace and anthemic melodies to deliver the soundtrack’s most adrenaline-driven, rock-like track. A nice touch is Furniss’ pronounced use of vibrato on the sustained, decaying notes that close several of his melodies. It’s as close an approximation of guitar tones as one could hope for on the Master System.

The only track that is less than enticing is “Last Battle”. It stays too close to the original’s uninspired melodic material and call and response pattern. What’s worse, for some reason the percussion now feels strangely muted and is somewhat buried in the mix. That leaves about 10 minutes of material that still ranks as some of the Master System’s best action music. Now if only the game was actually complete and featured music for every single level…

01 - Title Matt Furniss / David Wise 2:28
02 - Ragnarok Canyon (Stage 1 & 8) Matt Furniss / David Wise 2:10
03 - Hollow Tree (Stage 2 & 10) Matt Furniss / David Wise 1:43
04 - Snake Pit (Stage 6) Matt Furniss / David Wise 1:32

Battletoads Soundtrack (Arcade)

Battletoads Soundtrack (Arcade), David Wise, 1994

The final entry in the Battletoads franchise also happens to be one of its less well-known ones. Electronic Arts made a rare attempt at releasing an arcade game, publishing Battletoads as a coin-op, three-player beat’em up. It’s hard to say how successful or not the game was, but no console ports ever saw the light of day. And so, three years after the release of the original NES Battletoads game, the franchise was laid to rest – at least until E3 2018.

The fact that the arcade Battletoads didn’t seem to have made any waves is a bit of a shame. According to both reviewers of the arcade title and the 2015 Rare Replay re-release, this Battletoads game might well have been the strongest entry in the franchise. In a departure from previous Battletoads titles, this game skipped any genre-hopping (no more platforming and speed biking) and only focused on the brawling elements. This made for a less adventurous, but more focused game. Battletoads was also enhanced by great graphics that ramped up the cartoonish violence that had always been part of the franchise – but usually in fairly tame fashion. This time however, Rare was clearly happy to work outside of the limits set by Nintendo’s content policy. The result played like a test run for Conker’s Bad Fur Day, with plenty of blood, swearing and crude jokes.

Of course, David Wise’s soundtrack follows this over-the-top aesthetic. The result is music that’s almost the polar opposite of the NES original’s soundtrack. That earlier score effectively undermined action scoring stereotypes, full of jittery tension and frayed nerves. On the other hand, this Battletoads soundtrack is the most testosterone-driven score of the entire franchise. It makes for few stylistic surprises, but fittingly underscores the game’s cartoonish, exuberant mood.

First track “Vulture – Robotic Rabble – Bonus Round” wastes no time in setting the course that this Battletoads soundtrack will take. With its speed metal-inspired staccato riffing, “Vulture – Robotic Rabble – Bonus Round” is easily the heaviest Battletoads track so far. It takes the hard rock sound of the SNES Battletoads & Double Dragon soundtrack and cranks up the intensity to take this score into metal territory. The guitar tone is hollower than on the SNES game, but “Vulture – Robotic Rabble – Bonus Round” is sufficiently varied and filled with enough indomitable energy that its fairly muddy sound matters little. And between the sledgehammer riffing, Wise still weaves in a handful of rousing guitar leads.

“Big Blag’s Stronghold – Scores” is closer to the SNES Battletoads & Double Dragon’s melodic mid-tempo riffing. And indeed, Wise finds a memorable riff that he rides for all that it’s worth, right from the track’s beginning. Once the track’s rock-solid groove is firmly established, Wise finds the perfect moment to layer in anthemic synth fanfares. The synths bring flawlessly timed cinematic drama and raised-fists-to-the-sky defiance through their proud, catchy melody. “Boss 1” is a more straightforward metal track, setting a galloping rhythm section against howling guitar riffs. The drums’ constant push is merciless, but thankfully never turns monotonous (a sin “Boss 2” is unfortunately guilty of).

Like Battletoads & Double Dragon, this Battletoads soundtrack is built on heavy rock guitars, with some genre mixes and experiments thrown in for good measure. Their number is slightly larger than on Battletoads & Double Dragon, giving Battletoads are more colourful feel. “Arctic Caverns” is a less surprising affair than its NES counterpart of the same name, but the cue is still a playful and effective evocation of its location. Wise has great fun pitting hammering ten-ton riffs against chiming Christmas bells and the expected bouncy rhythms. Despite the jaunty synth melodies though, “Arctic Caverns” never turns into overt parody and remembers to simply keep rocking.

Other tracks that venture outside of the standard hard rock/metal template reprise parts of the Battletoads franchise’s musical heritage. “The Dark Queen’s Battleship” feels like a more focused take on the synth pop/rock/new jack swing melange that was Battletoads & Double Dragon’s “Roper”, with an insidiously catchy beat that despite little variation is strong enough to carry the entire track. “Hole” recalls the carefully paced mid-tempo orchestra/rock mix that the SNES Battletoads in Battlemaniacs soundtrack.

However, “Hole” pulls off this approach much more successfully. The composition – despite its length – never meanders, with a clear sense of progression and constant rhythms. The latter help the music to develop an impressive sweep in steady, calm fashion as the claustrophobic atmosphere builds and builds and heavy melodies push the music forward, but only under great duress. It’s arguably a repetitive track, but for good reason, as the cue keeps hammering home its defiant melodies against increasing odds.

To close the musical history of the Battletoads franchise – at least for now – Wise caps things off in a more celebratory mood than on previous Battletoads games. “Ending – Credits” opens with a beautifully layered brass fanfare, highlighting Wise’s impressive orchestral writing skills that would power several of Donkey Kong Country 2’s highlights. More intriguing still is the cue’s B section, an expansive violin melody with good amounts of light woodwind counterpoint. It’s a style of music that hasn’t been heard on any previous Battletoads score. It’s fun to see that while in some ways this Battletoads soundtrack plays more by the rules than previous franchise scores, it keeps an appetite for musical surprises – maintaining a proud tradition that started with the 1991 NES original.

01 - Vulture (Stage 1) ~ Robotic Rabble (Stage 6) ~ Bonus Round David Wise 2:16
02 - Arctic Caverns (Stage 2) David Wise 2:55
03 - The Dark Queen's Battleship (Stage 3) David Wise 2:50
04 - Hole (Stage 4) David Wise 4:05
05 - Big Blag's Stronghold (Stage 5) ~ Scores David Wise 3:55
06 - Boss 1 David Wise 2:09
07 - Korpse Kount David Wise 1:36
08 - Ending ~ Credits David Wise 1:12

Battletoads Soundtrack (NES)

Battletoads Soundtrack (NES), David Wise, 1991

The Battletoads soundtrack might be David Wise’s best and most creative NES score. That’s certainly no small feat – after all, Wise scored a whopping 46 NES games during his prolific career. Of course, a soundtrack release was all but impossible in 1991. It took until 2015 – when enterprising game music label iam8bit released a raft of Rare scores on vinyl – that the Battletoads soundtrack received its belated, but very much deserved album release.

Mind you, it wasn’t quite the deluxe product you would hope to see from a commemorative release like this. iam8bit’s album was missing the DMC samples Wise used, for example the drums on “Title Theme”. It does make you wonder what materials the album producers were working with. Thankfully, this can’t distract from the eccentric brilliance of Wise’s work. A comparison with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES games and their music is not only apt, but also proves insightful. The Konami titles took the new jack swing genre popular around the late 1980s and early 1990s and harnessed its fusion of hip-hop, dance pop and R&B to generate the kind of hard-swinging urban cool that would fire up gamers. Battletoads, on the other hand, has something very different in mind.

Things start out fairly conventionally – if rockingly – with “Title Theme”. The theme in question is a three-note stomp from both square wave channels, answered by one of the NES’ better guitar imitations. Upbeat and with an earthy rock’n’roll groove, “Title Theme” feels like the perfect opener for an 8-bit beat’em up. These rock influences – previously heard in more purist fashion on Wise’s Snake Rattle ’n’ Roll – seep into other parts of the Battletoads soundtrack, but not as often as one would think. “Turbo Tunnel” is the game’s most action genre-typical composition, offering a chiptunes take on head-nodding mid-tempo rock. With its constant forward motion, steady yet varied drum work and motivating melodic phrases, this track feels – not unsurprisingly – like a racing game composition.

Later levels that also ask players to control some sort of vehicle reveal the Battletoads soundtrack’s true stylistic intentions. “Surf City / Terra Tubes” has no interest in straightforward underscoring of the level’s high speed action. With little melodic content to empower gamers, “Surf City / Terra Tubes” focuses much more on interlocking, surprisingly quiet rhythms whose twitchiness makes them enticingly slippery. The track’s initial melody line follows suit. It starts with a sustained decrescendoing note, as if fading out of view before it can actually get going.

“Volkmire’s Inferno” plays even less by the rules of 8-bit action game scoring. Staccato chords that would usually drive the piece refuse to play on the beat. The result is a breathless, jerky progression that hints at a melody, but never clearly spells it out. Wise teases listeners even more when the track’s B section suddenly delivers the soundtrack’s most uplifting, catchy melody. That is, if the major key tune didn’t feel so rushed, each note prematurely cut off by the next one. Underneath all this melodic playfulness, polymetric pulse wave and noise channel lines complicate the track’s layout further. If NES soundtracks ever managed to combine math rock and pop music, it’s on “Volkmire’s Inferno”.

On other tracks, Wise hews closer to action game-scoring conventions, but only to bend them to his idiosyncratic vision. The first stage theme, “Ragnarok Canyon”, is an almost entirely groove-based mood builder, with an air of cool swagger and superiority. At this stage, the mood is glum and enigmatic, but the player is still in control – even if the track keeps building towards a large reveal that never happens. “Wookie Hole” equally works primarily with layers of rhythms, more urgent and pushing this time. An explosion-like effect at 1:09 finally delivers some release, but the music quickly switches back into another convulsing episode.

And when the final level draws nearer and one would expect the music to ramp up, Wise does the opposite. “Intruder Excluder” perfectly highlights the Battletoads soundtrack’s minimalist, sometimes skeletal nature. Its constant rhythmic propulsion remains elusive rather than empowering, and at times feels willfully repetitive. What little melody there is appears in the form of snappy, effective short phrases. They refuse to deliver any melodic gratification, but instead simply push the music further on and on. Again, different to the TMNT Konami games, this isn’t a score that imbues players with confidence before the final showdown. “The Revolution”’s precariously rising arpeggios and anxious electronic pulses are merely the sound of a nervously clinched fist. Like the game itself, the Battletoads soundtrack lets players know that the odds are against them. Ultimately, the Battletoads soundtrack is an unexpected exercise in world building, creating an uncanny, hostile, but nevertheless intriguing environment.

Conversion notes

As it turned out, porting this somewhat unusual NES action score successfully to other platforms was a bit of a challenge. All ports present the same material as the NES soundtrack and adapt it for their respective platform.

The Game Boy port (confusingly titled “Battletoads in Ragnarok’s World”) sounds nearly identical to the NES soundtrack, but has some quirks. It adds a few stereo effects that don’t change the character of the music much. “Wookie Hole” plays faster than the original and feels more determined. Weirdest of all, this port botches the mischievous echo on the lead melody on “Arctic Caverns”, so that the tune is now out of sync with the rhythms.

The Game Gear conversion suffers from the system’s inherently limited, lighter timbres that struggle to bring across the soundtrack’s brooding yet agitated mood. Throughout its running time, the port lacks the atmospheric nuances that made the NES original tick. At least this version helps one appreciate Wise’s smart use of the NES’ duty cycles to evoke the soundtrack’s peculiar atmosphere.

The Amiga and identical Amiga CD32 port beef up the instrumentation, but that actually has a detrimental effect on the music, since the original made so much of its impact through its borderline skeletal sound that is now lost. Now the Battletoads soundtrack plays like a more traditional action score that is entertaining enough during its more energetic and melodic moments. However, the Amiga soundtracks lack the surprising changes of timbres that make the Sega Genesis conversion the best port.

01 - Title Theme - Opening David Wise 1:49
02 - Ragnarok's Canyon (Stage 1) David Wise 2:25
03 - Wookie Hole (Stage 2) David Wise 3:31
04 - Turbo Tunnel (Stage 3) David Wise 2:51
05 - Arctic Caverns (Stage 4) David Wise 1:51
06 - Surf City / Terra Tubes (Stages 5 & 9) David Wise 2:05
07 - Karnath's Lair (Stage 6) David Wise 2:17
08 - Volkmire's Inferno (Stage 7) David Wise 1:34
09 - Intruder Excluder (Stage 8) David Wise 1:30
10 - Rat Race (Stage 10) David Wise 1:39
11 - Clinger-Winger (Stage 11) David Wise 0:54
12 - The Revolution (Stage 12) David Wise 2:29

Battletoads Soundtrack (Sega Genesis)

Battletoads Soundtrack (Sega Genesis), Hikoshi Hashimoto / 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.

Let’s start with a few disclaimers. Available information on who developed the Genesis port is conflicting. Some sources point to Rare, others list Japanese studio Arc System Works. Arc System Works did develop the Battletoads Game Gear port, so it’s reasonably likely they handled the Genesis conversion too. The Game Gear soundtrack was ported by Hikoshi Hashimoto, not original composer David Wise himself and since it was practically unheard of in the mid-90s for a Western composer to work on a Japanese game, it is reasonably safe to assume Hashimoto handled the Genesis port as well. That theory is supported by the fact that the Genesis version of Battletoads uses the SMPS Z80 sound driver, commonly used by Japanese composers. This would also account for the fact that this version of Battletoads sounds quite different from Wise’s Genesis port of Battletoads & Double Dragon.

Thankfully, once we move to the music itself, these considerations matter little. The Genesis port of the Battletoads soundtrack is easily the most successful adaptation of the idiosyncratic NES original. The score’s Amiga and Amiga CD32 ports had proven that simply taking the NES compositions and beefing them up using better synths didn’t work particularly well. This approach turned the score into a decent-to-middling action game soundtrack that was missing the original’s nervously pulsing, twitchy intensity. On the Genesis, Hashimoto manages to avoid this issue, retaining the NES soundtrack’s character while subtly tweaking it.

Firstly, there are those more straightforward compositions that would have always been easier to port to other systems. Take “Turbo Tunnel Race”, which on the NES had already been a flawless, beautifully head-banging hard rock track. Transferring it to the superior Genesis sound chip only means that the rhythm section’s single-minded focus on breathless racing action comes across all the more powerfully. Similarly, “Theme” doesn’t need much tweaking to rock harder than its NES equivalent, while preserving its strident, catchy nature.

On other tracks, Hashimoto straightens out the NES compositions’ peculiarities to emphasise the tracks’ melodic strengths. Take the Genesis version of “Volkmire’s Inferno Race” – the off-kilter rhythms and complexities of the NES cue are gone. However, they are replaced by laser-sharp pop instincts and a killer of a sing-along melody in the cue’s B section. That melody was of course already there on the NES original, but here it absolutely soars with unrestrained euphoria, thanks to an uncluttered arrangement and more powerful, clearer synths. Arranging this kind of track might have come naturally to Hashimoto, considering his similarly-styled work on Racing Hero.

Final level track “Revolution” takes a similar approach. It doesn’t undermine action game scoring conventions as much as the NES score did, but still registers as a creative and effective piece of game music. If the NES cue was full of anxiously jittering anticipation, the Genesis port sets the scene for the final showdown in more conventionally spectacular fashion. “Revolution”’s opening descending arpeggios are hiding a vaguely hopeful melody that is more strongly emphasised on the Genesis. At the same time, the Genesis-exclusive hammering snare drums doubling the arpeggiated notes only increase the drama and tension. “Rat Race” even improves on the NES original, with the Genesis’ more powerful tones deployed most effectively. With every instrument right in the listener’s face, the fast rhythms feel more panicked and breathless than on the NES.

Still, much of the original Battletoads soundtrack was surprisingly moody and jagged. It also steadfastly refused to deliver much in terms of empowering melodies or rhythms. Porting the score to a 16-bit platform inevitably removes much of the original chiptunes’ haziness and their elusive nature that Wise had made the most of. However, Hashimoto finds a suitable replacement on the Genesis port to keep the music unpredictable.

Again, the effect is not as strong as what the NES original achieved, but it’s still sufficient to keep listeners intrigued. Rather than simply relying on the Genesis’ more forceful synths, Hashimoto uses the platform’s wider range of timbres to maintain the pieces’ unstable mood and uneven forward drive. First level track “Ragnarok’s Canyon” establishes this trait right away and “Wookie Hole” continues to fragment its momentum by switching back and forth between instrumental colours. As a result, the larger instrumentation isn’t in the way of the music’s originally intended mood, but instead creatively twists it.

Tracks like “Surf City”, “Karnath’s Lair” and “Intruder Excluder & Terra Tubes” might stick closer to racing action scoring than the NES originals, but they maintain the NES tracks’ erratic, yet effective stop/start dynamics. “Surf City” makes the most pronounced use of contrasting timbres to break up its own flow. From 0:35 onwards, its lead melody suddenly shifts back and forth between a bell-like instrument and bass synths – never sacrificing its thrust yet keeping the track’s progression a surprise. And thanks to the Genesis’ more robust synths, sudden changes of pace and rhythm register with more force than previously. So while the NES original remains the more creative score, the Battletoads soundtrack for the Genesis is still an excellent, sometimes intriguingly eccentric piece of action game scoring.

01 - Title Screen / Opening David Wise 1:38
02 - Ragnarok's Canyon (Stage 1) David Wise 2:26
03 - Wookie Hole (Stage 2) David Wise 3:43
04 - Turbo Tunnel Race (Stage 3) David Wise 2:51
05 - Arctic Caverns (Stage 4) David Wise 2:01
06 - Surf City (Stage 5) David Wise 2:07
07 - Karnath's Lair (Stage 6) David Wise 2:19
08 - Volkmire's Inferno Race (Stage 7) David Wise 1:47
09 - Intruder Excluder & Terra Tubes (Stage 8 & 9) David Wise 1:38
10 - Rat Race (Stage 10) David Wise 2:03
11 - The Revolution (Stage 12) David Wise 2:19

Blast Corps Soundtrack

Blast Corps Soundtrack, Graeme Norgate, 1997

Developer Rare arguably rose to fame and world-wide success with its Donkey Kong Country trilogy. However, it’s usually the Nintendo 64 era that is considered Rare’s golden age – no surprise, as the company seemed incapable of not churning out classic after classic for a while. That winning streak began with Blast Corps, released just in time for the console’s launch in Europe. The title was based on an idea by Rare founder Chris Stamper, who for years had wanted to make a game about destroying building – simple as that. Beginning production in 1996, a team of just four developers (sometimes expanded to seven) fitted a gameplay concept around this idea: a nuclear missile carrier was out of control and steamrolling ahead on autopilot. The player controls an array of sometimes bizarre vehicles (including a giant one-armed robot with a rolling attack) to clear the way.

The result was met with almost universal acclaim. Blast Corps was a beautifully idiosyncratic game, combining puzzle, racing and all-out-action elements into a wholly original package. Sales – around one million copies – ended up lower than the development team had expected. However, Blast Corps remains one of the most fondly remembered N64 games, thanks to its flawless level design and tough-as-nails yet always fair difficulty curve.

Scoring duties for Rare’s second N64 game fell to Graeme Norgate, who had recently joined the company and written the Donkey Kong Land soundtrack (adapting some of David Wise’s Donkey Kong Country material). Norgate’s fondness for game music originated in the 1980s, when he tried his hand at writing music for the C64 and Amiga (while also playing in various bands). Norgate had to break new ground at Rare, being their first composer to work with the N64, which ultimately didn’t have quite as many sound channels as manufacturer Silicon Graphics had implied early on. He was helped by one of Rare’s staff members, who wrote some code that allowed Norgate to feed his MIDI-based compositions into a machine and hear exactly what they would sound like on the N64.

For the Blast Corps soundtrack, Norgate drew upon various sources of inspiration. Befitting the title’s unusual gameplay, they were wildly divergent. Firstly, Norgate approached the game from the angle of writing about the various construction vehicles that the gamer controlled to tear down buildings, settling on an industrial soundtrack. And indeed, parts of Blast Corps sound like a jolly construction site on the move. It’s here that Norgate establishes some stylistic traits that make Blast Corps such a joyously creative score. Far more often than not, industrial music is a relentlessly pounding, exceedingly sombre affair. What Norgate creates feels like a fresh take on industrial music that – contrary to the genre’s reputation – is light and poppy.

That kind of approach is mixed with other influences, making the Blast Corps soundtrack an even more diverse and surprising affair. Opening track “Blast Corps” establishes a bit of a template (as much as the score has one). Electronic, rock, pop and orchestral elements join together in colourful, lushly arranged layers that prove Norgate already had full control of the new console’s capabilities. He also sets the urgent mood necessary for a game about impending nuclear meltdown.

But Norgate’s unorthodox musical mix also establishes the soundtrack’s playful streak that refuses to take things too seriously. There’s too much fun to be had with all those catchy, clanging rhythms and brief snippets of melody, and additions like those heroic horn figures add cinematic flourishes rather than drama. Throughout the Blast Corps soundtrack, Norgate strikes a delightful balance between these two poles – crafting a sound that creates a world of immense scale, but never turns remotely ponderous.

Interestingly enough, in interviews Norgate sounded somewhat regretful about the approach he took on Blast Corps, choosing the score’s industrial style “whether it [the game] needed it or not”, adding that “I’m a bit more sensible these days, and I do things to suit the project first, rather than my own little personal agenda.” Indeed, the Blast Corps soundtrack might be unusual and maybe suited Norgate’s own interests more than the game’s needs – but then again, what exactly were the musical needs of a game as quirky as Blast Corps? Ultimately, Norgate’s music organically became simply another facet of the game’s eccentric character.

And there’s no better cue to showcase that character than “Destruction Hoedown”, Blast Corps’s piece de resistance and likely the track fans of the game remember best – and Norgate nominated it as his favourite cue from the score as well. In a demonstration of inspired madness, Norgate combines wild country fiddle, banjo and mouth harp with borderline cheesy, but oh so catchy mid-90s techno rhythms. The result is an instant classic, the sort of composition that’s utterly unique and executed to perfection, with melody hooks that are impossible to get out of your head the second you’ve heard them – and ultimately a beautiful example of the kind of music one only encounters in video games.

Norgate’s innovation doesn’t end here either. “Bombs Away” plays like the exact opposite of the kind of music one would expect to hear in a game about constantly demolishing and blowing up stuff. A patient, calm mood builder with not a hint of propulsive rhythms or melodies, “Bombs Away” combines gentle percussion and arpeggios with wistful, expansive synth melodies and French horn lines. It’s as if the world of Blast Corps had stood still for a moment and the gamer is left to contemplate its scope. “Upbeat Mood” is equally laid-back, but uses 70s funk, wah-wah guitars and hammond organ to reach that state of mind. No, Blast Corps doesn’t make for a stylistically very coherent soundtrack, but that’s part of the fun.

And let’s not forget that Norgate executes the more expected styles just as well – the sort of compositions that communicate in straightforward fashion that things might get really bad. “Impending Disaster”, “The Alarm Sounds” and “Major Trouble” all see Norgate turning up the guitar amplifiers and going from rock to metal, aided by the intensity and scale that the familiar industrial and orchestral sounds already bring with them. The brief choral vocals on “The Alarm Sounds” are a particularly nice, ever so slightly tongue-in-cheek touch – not all sense of fun is lost here. Ultimately, what Norgate does on the Blast Corps soundtrack is to welcome the arrival of a new console generation with an outburst of creativity, made possible by the new technology and heralding a bright future ahead.

01 - Blast Corps (Title / Glory Crossing) Norgate, Graeme 5:28
02 - Plan of Action (Mission Description (General), Magma Peak, Moon, Mercury, Mars) Norgate, Graeme 4:57
03 - Destruction Hoedown (Simian Acres, Beeton Tracks, Crystal Rift, Diamond Sands) Norgate, Graeme 5:45
04 - Rolling Thunder (Thunderfist, Cromlech Court, Venus, Neptune) Norgate, Graeme 5:44
05 - Bombs Away! (J-Bomb, Havoc District, Lizard Island, Saline Watch, Dagger Pass) Norgate, Graeme 4:01
06 - Impending Disaster (Mica Park, Ironstone Mine, Outland Farm, Glander's Ranch) Norgate, Graeme 5:08
07 - Upbeat Mood (Blackridge Works, Ember Hamlet, Obsidian Mile) Norgate, Graeme 5:49
08 - Ocean Breeze (Carrick Point, Ebony Coast, Oyster Harbor) Norgate, Graeme 6:15
09 - The Alarm Sounds (Kipling Plant, Geode Square, Shuttle Clear) Norgate, Graeme 2:19
10 - Major Trouble (Tempest City, Beeton Tracks, Shuttle Clear (Intro) Norgate, Graeme 5:41
11 - Tension (Shuttle Gully, Morgan Hall, Sylver Junction) Norgate, Graeme 3:56
12 - Staff Roll Norgate, Graeme 1:50
13 - Mission Replay Norgate, Graeme 5:15

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest Soundtrack (SNES)

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest Soundtrack (SNES), David Wise, 1995

While Donkey Kong Country remains the most historically important (and best-selling) entry in the franchise, it is Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest that is usually most fondly remembered among gamers. Polished and bursting at the seams with ideas, Diddy’s Kong Quest remains one of the best 2d platformers ever created.

The one component of Donkey Kong Country that has arguably aged best is its soundtrack. Collaborating with Eveline Fischer, David Wise created a haunting, minimalist opus that underscored the lavish graphics with understated grace. For the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest soundtrack, Wise returned and wrote the entire score on his own. In short, this might well be his career-defining masterpiece. It’s a stunning example of musical world building that pushes the ageing SNES sound hardware to its very limits.

The biggest stylistic addition to the palette of the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest soundtrack is the much larger presence of orchestral pieces. Wise isn’t often thought of as an orchestral composer, but his work here shows his undeniable talent in this area. Determined and driven, map theme “Welcome to Crocodile Isle” could hardly be more different from DKC’s “Simian Segue”’s sunny demeanour. Clearly, the stakes have been raised and it’s not just the game’s sombre colour palette that is telling us so. Most impressive of all is “Krook’s March”, as multi-faceted and sophisticated as any top shelf SNES JRPG composition. Its opening references “K. Rool Returns”’ theatrical mood, but soon enough Wise lets the orchestral drama disintegrate into a surprisingly lean passage for solo bassoon against string pizzicati and glockenspiel. Despite the fluidity of its orchestrations, the composition’s structure remains admirably coherent.

These confidently expressed dramatic gestures particularly benefit the boss tracks. On Donkey Kong Country, they were the soundtrack’s weakest link, repetitive and heavy-handed. On the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest soundtrack, these tracks largely maintain the score’s level of excellence. “Boss Bossanova” mixes K. Rool’s theme from “K. Rool Returns” with a sea chantey mood that feels entirely appropriate. “Crocodile Cacophony” equally relies on the antagonist’s theme, which ends up being the soundtrack’s most prominent thematic construct. Here and elsewhere on this score, Wise pushes the SNES sound chip as hard as one could possibly imagine. The metallic percussion on “Crocodile Cacophony” couldn’t sound anymore heavy and forceful on this platform.

Ultimately though, what has made the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest soundtrack a fan favourite is its continuation and expansion of Donkey Kong Country’s soundscaping. On that earlier game, many of the level themes had a beguilingly stark mood. The stage tracks on Diddy’s Kong Quest are less hypnotic, but arguably more immediately accessible – and just as memorable.

Take “Stickerbush Symphony”, inspiration to many electronic music artists and the reason why a decades-old SNES soundtrack still receives coverage in mainstream music publications, including the Rolling Stone (even if that coverage isn’t always very well-researched). Originally written to accompany an underwater level, “Stickerbush Symphony” arguably doesn’t deviate much stylistically from DKC’s “Aquatic Ambience”. Both compositions are portals to a soothing world of gently morphing synthscapes and wistful melodies gliding on top of ebbing and swelling electronic pulses. But “Stickerbush Symphony” puts greater emphasis on its melody, a call-and-response pattern that ranks among the SNES’ best melodic ideas.

And so it goes on the entire Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest soundtrack. While maintaining aspects of DKC’s ambient nature, the level themes are now more strongly guided by melody progressions rather than hushed explorations of moods. “In a Snow-Bound Land” manages to rival “Stickerbush Symphony”’s emotional impact. Its light pop feel only makes the yearning character of its ethereal melody lead more immediate and touching. The track’s treble-heavy orchestration offers few surprises, but as always, Wise shapes the instrument sounds magnificently. Indeed, this is easily one of the best sounding soundtracks in the entire SNES library, such is Wise’s mastery of the single-cycle wave samples he has created for this project.

Diddy’s Kong Quest is also considerably more colourful than its predecessor. Just sample “Hot-Head Bop”, which moves the soundtrack’s melodic content surprisingly close to 90s rock. Indeed bopping along with a distinct pop ballad feel, the track doesn’t forget to underscore its sweltering location. “Bayou Boogie” has great fun translating the oppressive atmosphere of its setting into music. And when Wise convincingly emulates the sound of “In the Air Tonight”’s Roland CR78 drum machine, it is not merely an exercise in pastiche, but only increases the humidity-drenched, claustrophobic mood.

The biggest surprise here is “Disco Train”, which takes the Donkey Kong Country franchise into new territory. Far from an exuberant dance out though, the track feels more like an eerie take on mid-90s techno. An amazingly well-synthesised bass drives a disconcertingly siren-like lead on a track one would expect to find on a 32-bit futuristic racing game from the same year. Add to all this “Flight of the Zinger”’s jittery tension that subtly undermines the generally calm mood of the game’s stage themes, and the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest soundtrack emerges as one of the most atmospherically and emotionally rich game soundtracks ever written.

Conversion notes

As with its predecessor, porting this sort of envelope-pushing soundtrack to a technologically less capable platform is a formidable challenge. Thankfully, Grant Kirkhope was more than up to the task when he created the music for Donkey Kong Land 2 on the Game Boy.

On the other hand, the music on the inevitable Game Boy Advance port is entirely skippable. While the Game Boy soundtrack has its own identity that makes it a worthwhile listen, the Game Boy Advance version only registers as a watered-down version of the original.

01 - K. Rool Returns (Title) David Wise 0:38
02 - Welcome to Crocodile Isle (Map) David Wise 1:09
03 - Klomp's Romp (Ship Deck (Ocean)) David Wise 2:26
04 - Lockjaw's Saga (Ship Hold) David Wise 1:52
05 - Jib Jig (Rigging) David Wise 2:11
06 - Snakey Chantey (Ship Deck (Swamp)) David Wise 1:35
07 - Bayou Boogie (Swamp) David Wise 2:59
08 - Forest Interlude (Forest) David Wise 4:33
09 - Flight of the Zinger (Zinger Hive) David Wise 2:59
10 - Cranky's Conga (Cranky's Monkey Museum) David Wise 1:22
11 - Hot-Head Bop (Lava Caves) David Wise 3:40
12 - Stickerbush Symphony (Bramble Maze) David Wise 4:23
13 - Mining Melancholy (Mine Shaft) David Wise 3:35
14 - Disco Train (Amusement Park Roller Coaster) David Wise 3:23
15 - Boss Bossanova (Boss Battle) David Wise 1:10
16 - Steel Drum Rhumba (Save/Load Menu) David Wise 1:21
17 - Krook's March (Castle) David Wise 3:38
18 - Klubba's Reveille (Klubba's Kiosk) David Wise 1:07
19 - Haunted Chase (Haunted Roller Coaster) David Wise 2:14
20 - In a Snow-Bound Land (Ice Cave) David Wise 3:08
21 - Lost World Anthem (Lost World Map) David Wise 1:37
22 - Primal Rave (Jungle) David Wise 3:22
23 - Crocodile Cacophony (Final Battle) David Wise 1:58
24 - Donkey Kong Rescued (Ending & Staff Roll) David Wise 2:27

Donkey Kong Country Soundtrack (SNES)

Donkey Kong Country Soundtrack (SNES), Robin Beanland / Eveline Fischer / David Wise, 1994

It’s probably safe to say that Donkey Kong Country was always destined to be a blockbuster. What set the game on course for domination of the 1994 Christmas season were its ground-breaking graphics. More than nine million sold copies later, Donkey Kong Country had become a milestone in gaming history.

While it was the game’s quasi-3D graphics that made waves back in 1994, what has arguably aged better is the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack. For the first time in Rare’s history, David Wise was joined by co-composers: Eveline Fischer (now Novakovic) and Robin Beanland. The latter’s contribution only extended to one track (“Funky’s Fugue”) that Wise converted to run on the SNES. Fischer – recently graduated from college – on the other hand contributed seven compositions. The soundtrack was one of the very first Western game scores to receive a commercial release – on both sides of the Pacific.

Considering the lavish, intricate nature of the game’s graphics, as well as its (initial) jungle setting, where would Wise and Fischer take the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack? Occasionally, they play to genre expectations. Mostly though, Donkey Kong Country plays almost like an antithesis to the typically bouncy sound of 16-bit platformers.

Where the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack sticks closest to conventions is in its use of vivacious swing jazz to underscore its jungle environment. The most memorable and best developed incarnation of this influence is “DK Island Swing”, presenting what has become the unofficial Donkey Kong Country theme, reprised on future franchise titles. It’s interesting to note that this lively melody – although now so closely associated with the franchise – really only makes one brief appearance on the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack. The same goes for the soundtrack’s jazz component as a whole. While fondly remembered by many gamers, it only makes up a relatively small part of the score.

While Wise and Fischer integrate jazz (and some rock’n’roll) influences seamlessly, the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack shines brightest elsewhere. More often than not, Wise and Fischer react to the game’s immensely detailed, colourful graphics with ascetic music that suggests a very different aesthetic. Be it to avoid sensory overload or not, most of the time the music subtly establishes a particular mood, rather than underscoring the on-screen action. For a 16-bit platformer score, Donkey Kong Country is at times exceedingly minimalist. Wise and Fischer’s work suggests a world rather than spelling it out, leaving gaps for the listener to fill in.

The effects of this restrained approach are stunning, thanks to Wise and Fischer’s compositional care. Listen to “Cave Dweller Concert”, running at nearly six minutes when looped. Sounds of dropping water mix with wooden xylophone strikes and other percussion, echoing in the depths to hint at a vast, dimly lit space. This is music that tantalisingly suggests, rather than reveals. The utterly spell-binding “Misty Menace” pairs back its instrumentation even further. Initially, it’s little more than white noise and echoing metal strikes, before a single swelling string chord and more metallic percussion fragments join in. At this stage, the world of Donkey Kong Country turns elusive and borderline sublime, appropriately captured only with the most understated of gestures.

None of this means though that the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack is a heady, cold affair. True, it’s not as outwardly melodic as its successor. However, the score still manages to be richly emotional, without having to rely on overt emoting. “Aquatic Ambience” is a perfect example of Wise’s slowly morphing soundscapes, evoking 80s synth film scores rather than SNES music. Softly oscillating synth layers gently waver through the ether, creating an otherworldly mood quite unlike anything else on the SNES. Finally, after 85 seconds have passed, a dreamy, yet wistful melody that is impossible to forget appears. Quietly moving, “Aquatic Ambience” works its magic with stunning effortlessness.

That the music can work its spell so potently is the result of painstaking technical work by Wise. To work around the SNES’ sample size limitation of 64kb, Wise worked with single-cycle, custom created wave samples. His efforts pay off in spades. Many of the synth-driven tracks on the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack suggest a 32- rather than a 16-bit platform.

While Wise receives most kudos for the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack’s success, Fischer’s contributions are just as strong. In fact, considering that this was Fischer’s first game score, the quality of her work here is stunning. Take “Ice Cave Chant”, which adds a welcome dose of catchy, shimmering pop melodicism to what is otherwise a fairly hushed score. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest would proceed further down that avenue, putting greater focus on melodies. However, the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack remains a singularly engrossing experiment as far as SNES music goes, appearing in the unlikely disguise of a blockbuster game score.

Conversion notes

As you would expect, porting a soundtrack that relies so heavily on soundscaping to other platforms is no easy task – at least if those platforms are technologically less advanced than the SNES.

Predictably, Donkey Kong Country’s Game Boy port excises a fair amount of material from the SNES score and shortens several other compositions that it does include. What’s left is at times a valiant attempt to approximate the subtlety of the SNES compositions, on a platform that really wasn’t built for this kind of texturally-focused, mood-driven music. At other times, the compositions end up significantly rearranged, with far heavier, stomping rhythms and bungled attempts to introduce new contrapuntal melodies.

Released nearly ten years after the SNES original, the game’s Game Boy Advance port faithfully renders the soundtrack on significantly less powerful sound hardware – like so many GBA ports of SNES games, just stick with the original.

01 - Theme (Title) David Wise 2:00
02 - Simian Segue (Map) Eveline Fischer 2:32
03 - DK Island Swing (Jungle Stages) David Wise 5:15
04 - Cranky's Theme (Cranky's Cabin) David Wise 1:54
05 - Cave Dweller Concert (Cave Stages) David Wise 5:56
06 - Bonus Room Blitz (Bonus Area) David Wise 1:04
07 - Aquatic Ambiance (Underwater Stages) David Wise 3:24
08 - Candy's Love Song (Candy's Save Point) Eveline Fischer 2:14
09 - Mine Cart Madness (Mine Cart Stages) David Wise 3:11
10 - Life in the Mines (Mine Stages) David Wise 4:29
11 - Voices in the Temple (Temple Stages) Eveline Fischer 3:03
12 - Forest Frenzy (Forest Stages) Eveline Fischer 2:06
13 - Treetop Rock (Treetop Village Stages) Eveline Fischer 2:57
14 - Misty Menace (Dark Cave Stages) David Wise 4:23
15 - Northern Hemispheres (Snowfield Stages) Eveline Fischer 4:06
16 - Ice Cave Chant (Ice Cave Stages) Eveline Fischer 3:24
17 - Fear Factory (Factory Stages) David Wise 3:56

Donkey Kong Land 2 Soundtrack

Donkey Kong Land 2 Soundtrack, Grant Kirkhope / David Wise, 1996

When Donkey Kong Country was released on the SNES in 1994, it was hailed as a technical marvel that very few people would have expected to see on the ageing hardware. When Rare released a Game Boy port called Donkey Kong Land a year later, jaws hit the floor again. How could those Silicon Graphics workstations-rendered 3D sprites possibly translate to the monochrome Game Boy display? Turns out it was possible to bring those pre-rendered graphics to the 4-bit platform – although the result was visually overly busy and impacted gameplay.

One year later, Rare released Donkey Kong Land 2 – the Game Boy port of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest. This time, the developers had figured out how to keep the visuals less cluttered and the game more playable. True, reviewers pointed out the lack of original content – DKL2 was more or less a straight port of DKC2. However, the SNES original’s outstanding gameplay qualities made the Game Boy version one of the system’s best platformers.

While the game itself didn’t offer much that was new, it definitely marked one beginning: that of composer Grant Kirkhope’s tenure at Rare, which would yield several classic game scores. Having played trumpet and guitar in British bands for years, Kirkhope connected with Rare through his friend Robin Beanland (who was looking for a guitar player for Killer Instinct 2). Five demo tapes later, Kirkhope landed the job at Rare, just as the company was about to become huge after Nintendo bought 49% of it.

After his work on Killer Instinct 2, Kirkhope was handed what he described as “the lowest job, which was the Game Boy job”. That job – Donkey Kong Land 2 – turned out to be almost overwhelmingly daunting, to the point that Kirkhope considering resigning from his job. While he had help from David Wise, working in hex while porting one of the SNES most cutting-edge scores to the humble Game Boy was an enormous challenge. It all worked out fine though, with Kirkhope saying that “I actually enjoyed it in the end, and it became a sort of challenge to see how far I could push the Game Boy.”

And yes, the Donkey Kong Land 2 soundtrack does push the Game Boy. It isn’t one of those whizz-bank Game Boy scores that appeared towards the end of 1990s, which coaxed an ungodly amount of musical activity and competing melody lines out of the hardware’s four channels. But the soundtrack does manage something quite astounding: it retains a good amount of the SNES original’s atmospheric richness and variety – and of course, its melodic beauty. For a first-time composer working with a platform and programming language he hadn’t used before, it’s an amazing accomplishment – even if Kirkhope was working off Wise’s material.

While converting DKC 2’s music to the Game Boy might seem like a fool’s errand, the SNES score is arguably the most melody-focused of the first three DKC soundtracks – and thus the best candidate for a chiptunes port. Not surprisingly, Kirkhope foregoes Wise’s carefully sculpted soundscaping and – by necessity – puts the focus squarely on the soundtrack’s melodies.

Assessing his work on the Donkey Kong Land 2 soundtrack, Kirkhope modestly stated that what he did was “a straight conversion of the music that Dave Wise had written note for note.” That’s not entirely true – just listen to Kirkhope’s version of “In a Snow-Bound Land”. On the SNES, this was the soundtrack’s wispiest, most fragile track. Kirkhope manages to retain the lead melody’s dreamy, lilting quality, despite the Game Boy’s fairly coarse timbres. He also isolates an arpeggio figure that was subtly present on the SNES track and gives it a much more prominent role, moving it into the foreground where it helps create the composition’s almost hypnotic quality. This sort of careful rearrangement and working with the Game Boy’s few duty cycles to give melodies the desired character is certainly more than a simple note by note conversion.

Other wonders of subtlety like “Stickerbush Symphony” and “Bayou Boogie” yield equally enchanting results on the Donkey Kong Land 2 soundtrack. “Stickerbush Symphony” might lack its original tinge of mystery, but its air of blissful serenity still comes across, just like the melodies’ contemplative beauty. On “Bayou Boogie”, Kirkhope replaces Wise’s layers of sound effects and textures with sustained deep chords to maintain the original’s oppressive atmosphere. The resulting brooding mood only serves to highlight the lead melody’s wistful nature all the more effectively. Other tracks like the jazzy “Snakey Chantey” are more obvious candidates for a successful translation to the Game Boy, thanks to its reliance on swinging rhythms and melodies, rather than gorgeous atmospherics.

Due to the Game Boy’s gritty noise channel and snare drum-like percussion, the Donkey Kong Island 2 soundtrack inevitably puts greater emphasis on heavy rhythms – a challenge when the original SNES score was such an understated work. Once more, Kirkhope does an outstanding job at working successfully within the Game Boy’s limitations, generally ensuring that the noise channel percussion and stronger arpeggio presence doesn’t interfere with the melodies. “Hot-Head Bop” is more of a bop now than it was before, but the greater rhythmic focus only serves to put the spotlight on the original’s impeccable groove. And the mid-90s techno of “Disco Train” makes for a mid-tempo stomper that retains the SNES composition’s variety of beats and melody bits – and its eerie undertones.

The fact that these compositions and their hardware-induced heaviness are more in-your-face than Wise’s SNES tracks even works in the favour of some cues. The undercurrent of tension that ran through the original versions of “Lockjaw Saga” and “Flight of the Zinger” explodes on the Game Boy, turning these compositions into much more outwardly dramatic compositions. Particularly “Lockjaw’s Saga” grabs listeners’ attention from the first second with its hammering percussion salvos. Again, Kirkhope does much more than simply converting Wise’s composition note by note. He strips away the layers of the SNES track and keeps exactly the right elements to turn the cue into a rousing chiptunes epic with cinematic intent and lush arpeggios. Like the game itself, the Donkey Kong Land 2 soundtrack stands on the shoulders of its big brother – but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the best in class, judged on its own merits.

01 - Welcome to Crocodile Isle (Map) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 1:07
02 - Lockjaw's Saga (Ship Hold) Grant Kirkhope / David WiseGrant Kirkhope 1:49
03 - Snakey Chantey (Ship Deck (Swamp)) Grant Kirkhope / David WiseGrant Kirkhope 1:40
04 - Bayou Boogie (Swamp) Grant Kirkhope / David WiseGrant Kirkhope 1:54
05 - School House Harmony Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 1:45
06 - Flight of the Zinger (Zinger Hive) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 2:33
07 - Hot-Head Bop (Lava Caves) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 3:28
08 - Stickerbush Symphony (Bramble Maze) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 3:51
09 - Disco Train (Amusement Park Roller Coaster) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 3:33
10 - Boss Bossanova (Boss Battle) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 1:13
11 - Krook's March (Castle) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 3:37
12 - In a Snow-Bound Land (Ice Caves) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 2:39
13 - Crocodile Cacophony (Final Battle) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 1:53
14 - Donkey Kong Rescued (Ending & Staff Roll) Grant Kirkhope / David Wise 1:56