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Best songs of a classic gaming system.

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Fawriel Since: Jan, 2001
#1: Oct 20th 2010 at 1:34:51 AM

Bleep bleep bloop.

Old gaming systems had limited capabilities. Very limited capabilities. To get an image consisting of a few pixels and barely enough colors to fill a hand with to look good, you had to know just where to put those pixels. And to make the music sound good... you needed mad skills.

But restrictions breed creativity! To make the most of the tools you're given... It takes effort, smarts and finesse. But if you managed to pull it off and created a great composition using what little you had to work with, the results will be amazing. To anyone who doesn't have to hold their ears shut anyway.

So, on all those older gaming consoles (perhaps including somewhat newer ones with limited capabilities, like the GBA?), which do you think is the most well-composed song on each?

For the NES, I can't think of anything better than the famous Ducktales Moon Theme. The high-pitched bleeps help the atmosphere with a sweet-sounding melody of chimes, with the bloops providing back-up in the background, and the blaaps (for lack of a better word) create a catchy, fun and energetic melody. The tracks aren't overstated and the whole thing manages to sound very clean aside from the natural shrillness of the high notes that can't be helped with an NES. Around the :39 mark in that video, it even manages one of those hard-to-describe things that I adore in songs.

It just doesn't get better than that.

So when you're working with such limited and shrill sounds, your best bet for composing nice-sounding music is probably to be subtle. That, or you can go ahead and embrace it all like you mean it. The Gameboy has even more limited capabilities, and the Route 27 theme from Gold/Silver makes the best possible use of the shrill crassness for a seriously badass marching tune. Feel the rawness! Tune up the volume and let it shake your bones! It makes the updated version sound like elevator music!

Now, the SNES... I'm supposed to pick one? That's a decision no man should be forced to make.

IYellalot READY! from The Flower Kingdom Since: Jul, 2010
READY!
#2: Oct 20th 2010 at 8:24:15 AM

The Genesis/Mega Drive also had some good tunes.

Discover the rest as the game progresses.
ImipolexG frozen in time from all our yesterdays Since: Jan, 2001
frozen in time
#3: Oct 20th 2010 at 8:32:53 AM

Star Fox had some good tunes. Not sure if this is my favorite but it's one of them.

no one will notice that I changed this
Longfellow Fractally long Since: Apr, 2009
Fractally long
#4: Oct 20th 2010 at 10:39:24 AM

The SNES had an advanced-enough sound chip that it wasn't that restricted in music. The NES was trickier. If we're gonna talk about music in terms of the technical limitations I think it makes more sense to talk about the NES.

I like the rock licks in the Mega Man series (2 and 3 especially). The Super Mario Bros. theme is obviously a classic. These songs focus on melody and rhythms where the chiptune isn't limited. In terms of which games did best at pushing the technology, Journey To Silius is a masterpiece. Castlevania III's worth mentioning too.

It Just Bugs Me
ImipolexG frozen in time from all our yesterdays Since: Jan, 2001
frozen in time
#5: Oct 20th 2010 at 11:16:03 AM

Well, if it's just NES, then.

no one will notice that I changed this
Glowsquid Since: Jul, 2009
#6: Oct 20th 2010 at 1:08:26 PM

The Genesis is often said to have a bad sound chip, and to some extent, it is somewhat inferior to the SNES. But this song proves to me it had more musical chops than what people credits it for.

nohaynicklibre Harkinian & The Bois from Spain Since: May, 2010
Harkinian & The Bois
#7: Oct 20th 2010 at 1:10:26 PM

This is even better because of the irony.

I can't stop listening to this
Electivirus Since: Jan, 2001
#8: Oct 21st 2010 at 10:52:43 AM

Every single fucking song from every SNES Final Fantasy title.

But, to avoid being called a cop-out:

Uematsu's always at his best when he experiments.

Tzetze DUMB from a converted church in Venice, Italy Since: Jan, 2001
Longfellow Fractally long Since: Apr, 2009
Fuzy2K Li'l Shardfinder from Toad Highlands Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Li'l Shardfinder
#11: Oct 21st 2010 at 12:27:08 PM

^ That song freakin' rocks!

You can not go to Utah again after you have eaten Utah and have not eaten.
Longfellow Fractally long Since: Apr, 2009
Fractally long
#12: Oct 21st 2010 at 1:13:31 PM

Naoki Kodaka is a video game music god. He milks the NES for all it's worth. His Journey To Silius stuff is brilliant and he also pumped out great tracks for Batman and Blaster Master.

He later composed Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean for the Saturn, with a lot fewer technical limits....and it's still amazing. RPG music at its best. Here's an excerpt:

edited 21st Oct '10 1:14:21 PM by Longfellow

It Just Bugs Me
Fuzy2K Li'l Shardfinder from Toad Highlands Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Li'l Shardfinder
#14: Oct 21st 2010 at 1:49:36 PM

^^ I didn't know that he composed the soundtrack to Albert Odyssey! I was used to the style of his NES compositions, so I didn't recognize it as one of his own.

This is exactly the kind of videogame music to show to somebody who thinks that game music isn't "real music"!

edited 21st Oct '10 1:51:17 PM by Fuzy2K

You can not go to Utah again after you have eaten Utah and have not eaten.
PippingFool Eclipse the Moon from A Floridian Prison Since: Oct, 2009 Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
Eclipse the Moon
#15: Oct 21st 2010 at 3:56:07 PM

Also. The Underworld Theme. is pretty rockin'. Then there is also the obligary Super Mario Bros. Overworld Theme, Legend Of Zelda Overworld Theme for the NES and the Super Mario World Overworld Theme for the SNES.

edited 21st Oct '10 4:04:21 PM by PippingFool

I'm having to learn to pay the price
Servbot Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Fuzy2K Li'l Shardfinder from Toad Highlands Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Li'l Shardfinder
#17: Oct 22nd 2010 at 11:59:54 PM

Jeez, The Joker must have huge dental bills with chompers like those!

You can not go to Utah again after you have eaten Utah and have not eaten.
Fuzy2K Li'l Shardfinder from Toad Highlands Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Li'l Shardfinder
#18: Oct 23rd 2010 at 3:44:32 AM

I posted this in the favorite video game musicks thread, but I guess it counts here too. I adore this song muchly.

edited 23rd Oct '10 3:45:13 AM by Fuzy2K

You can not go to Utah again after you have eaten Utah and have not eaten.
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#19: Oct 23rd 2010 at 4:04:51 AM

If you try even older systems than this, the music for Prohibition was way cool.

(note that this is both a cracked version and an old one. I used to have a version with a taller screen and a picture showing the main character hide behind a wall. (Edit: And the "kill the mob boss" sequence that's missing in this version)

I could never find an emulated version that had both these traits and the "save high scores on disk" feature my copy had.

edited 23rd Oct '10 6:49:31 AM by Medinoc

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Fuzy2K Li'l Shardfinder from Toad Highlands Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Li'l Shardfinder
#20: Oct 23rd 2010 at 4:15:01 AM

That sounds a lot like Game Boy music.

Also, was that an anti-piracy code at the beginning of the video?

You can not go to Utah again after you have eaten Utah and have not eaten.
BlackWolfe Viewer Gender Confusion? from Lost in Austin Since: Jun, 2010
#21: Oct 23rd 2010 at 4:55:31 AM

I loved this so much. Gauntlet for the C-64 had this intense, but short intro. Here it is (followed by the first four levels) as played by... some guy on YouTube.

But soft! What rock through yonder window breaks? It is a brick! And Juliet is out cold.
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#22: Oct 23rd 2010 at 6:46:54 AM

[up][up]Quite the contrary, the three questions were for cheat options (unlimited lives, unlimited time, and unlimited hiding) embedded in the crack. If any of the first two are enabled, the game can never end since it's (as far as I know) a Kobayashi Mario.

Then, the bit with the arrow symbols was simply the user redyfining the keys for his use (I usually used O/P/Q/A with space for fire an Esc for hide).

edited 23rd Oct '10 6:51:20 AM by Medinoc

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
OldManHoOh It's super effective. from England Since: Jul, 2010
It's super effective.
#23: Oct 23rd 2010 at 7:39:12 AM

Not the hugest Link to the Past fan, but damn that music still holds up.

Longfellow Fractally long Since: Apr, 2009
Demongodofchaos2 Face me now, bitch! from In a Cultivation World (Ancient one) Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Face me now, bitch!
#25: Oct 26th 2010 at 1:30:19 PM

Does this count?

Watch Symphogear

Total posts: 26
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