Iconic...
Forgotten...
Timeless...
Innovative...
These are the soundtracks that helped shape and define what we hear in the video games that we play. I am Nitro, and this is the M Disk Playlist's Video Game Music Primer: 1993.
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (Super Nintendo), composed by Yasunori Shiono
Lufia may not be as big of an RPG series as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, it is far from being considered underrated. The game itself is a prequel to the previous Lufia game, originally released in 1993. It tells the story of a band of heroes, lead by Maxim and his eventual wife Selan, going on a quest to save the world from destruction at the hands of the four powerful warriors collectively known as the Sinstrals.
Information on Shiono's career is very limited. His most famous works are the Lufia games. As for his works outside of the series; he is currently primary composer for Neverland, the developer of the Lufia games, also known for their work in the Rune Factory series. Before Neverland, he was a composer for the company Wolf Team, the company that would become famous for the "Tales of" series.
The music itself doesn't do anything to push the Super Nintendo to its limits, but it does enhance the storytelling in remarkable ways, leading to much of Lufia II's praise being given to the score as well as how Lufia II made their dungeons similar to the Legend of Zelda franchise. Once you reach the finale, fans of the previous Lufia game will be treated to familiar fights, familiar settings, and familiar music.
Once you enter Doom Island, home of the Sinistrals, you are treated to an arrangement of the Lufia 1 piece "Last Battle." One of the most uplifting, and most encouraging final dungeon themes you will hear in an RPG. You go through the entire island defeating the Sinistrals one by one, until you realize that a happy ending for our heroes will not be realized. If you already played Lufia 1, you already know that Maxim and Selan sacrifice their lives to stop the collapsing Doom Island from destroying the world. What you don't see in Lufia 1 is how the sacrifice plays out in its entirety.
You already know how Selan dies, but you do not see how Maxim dies. The way Maxim's death is very subtle for storytelling on the Super Nintendo. After Maxim stops Doom Island from causing catastrophic damage, he starts to speak to Selan, wanting to "sleep" by her side for a little while. Selan's spirit appears before him, inviting him to visit their son. And then the game ends proper.
You see the spirits of Maxim and Selan traveling the entire world, metaphorically saying goodbye to all they encountered, until they finally "visit" their son Jeros. And the last scene you see before the credits roll is their son being told that Maxim and Selan saved the world, and that they will come back to see him. All while Jeros cries "mama" over and over. It is one of the most emotonal endings in video games. The depiction of sacrifice, and the reaction to it is handled in a way that is very bittersweet. You know the world is saved, but you cannot help but feel sorry for those they were closes to. The music used only amplifies that sadness, almost to a point where the music cannot be heard without feeling an emotional gut punch.
That kind of connection to the cast is perhaps the greatest strength of Lufia II, on top of what it was already known for. The dungeons, the unique for its time sidequests, and the soundtrack. A soundtrack that enhanced the story in many ways, treated every battle as a fight to the death, made the final dungeon exciting, and arguably the most important enhancement made to the game through its soundtrack, made the finale an unforgettable moment in RPG storytelling.
Lufia may not be as big of an RPG series as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, it is far from being considered underrated. The game itself is a prequel to the previous Lufia game, originally released in 1993. It tells the story of a band of heroes, lead by Maxim and his eventual wife Selan, going on a quest to save the world from destruction at the hands of the four powerful warriors collectively known as the Sinstrals.
Information on Shiono's career is very limited. His most famous works are the Lufia games. As for his works outside of the series; he is currently primary composer for Neverland, the developer of the Lufia games, also known for their work in the Rune Factory series. Before Neverland, he was a composer for the company Wolf Team, the company that would become famous for the "Tales of" series.
The music itself doesn't do anything to push the Super Nintendo to its limits, but it does enhance the storytelling in remarkable ways, leading to much of Lufia II's praise being given to the score as well as how Lufia II made their dungeons similar to the Legend of Zelda franchise. Once you reach the finale, fans of the previous Lufia game will be treated to familiar fights, familiar settings, and familiar music.
Once you enter Doom Island, home of the Sinistrals, you are treated to an arrangement of the Lufia 1 piece "Last Battle." One of the most uplifting, and most encouraging final dungeon themes you will hear in an RPG. You go through the entire island defeating the Sinistrals one by one, until you realize that a happy ending for our heroes will not be realized. If you already played Lufia 1, you already know that Maxim and Selan sacrifice their lives to stop the collapsing Doom Island from destroying the world. What you don't see in Lufia 1 is how the sacrifice plays out in its entirety.
You already know how Selan dies, but you do not see how Maxim dies. The way Maxim's death is very subtle for storytelling on the Super Nintendo. After Maxim stops Doom Island from causing catastrophic damage, he starts to speak to Selan, wanting to "sleep" by her side for a little while. Selan's spirit appears before him, inviting him to visit their son. And then the game ends proper.
You see the spirits of Maxim and Selan traveling the entire world, metaphorically saying goodbye to all they encountered, until they finally "visit" their son Jeros. And the last scene you see before the credits roll is their son being told that Maxim and Selan saved the world, and that they will come back to see him. All while Jeros cries "mama" over and over. It is one of the most emotonal endings in video games. The depiction of sacrifice, and the reaction to it is handled in a way that is very bittersweet. You know the world is saved, but you cannot help but feel sorry for those they were closes to. The music used only amplifies that sadness, almost to a point where the music cannot be heard without feeling an emotional gut punch.
That kind of connection to the cast is perhaps the greatest strength of Lufia II, on top of what it was already known for. The dungeons, the unique for its time sidequests, and the soundtrack. A soundtrack that enhanced the story in many ways, treated every battle as a fight to the death, made the final dungeon exciting, and arguably the most important enhancement made to the game through its soundtrack, made the finale an unforgettable moment in RPG storytelling.
Chrono Trigger (Super Nintendo), composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, and Noriko Matsueda
From the moment it was announced, Chrono Trigger was billed as something special. It was hyped as being a game designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Yuji Horii, creators of both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest respectivly. The memorable cast was designed by Akira Toriyama, famous for his works on Dr.Slump, the Dragon Ball franchise, and of course, Dragon Quest. Despite all the veteran experience leading the design of the game, the game itself would actually be composed primarily by a newcomer.
Yasunori Mitsuda came to Square as a sound engineer, working on popular titles like Secret of Mana, and Romancing SaGa 2. Upset at the lack of opportunities he was getting, he threatened to quit Square unless he was given the chance to compose for a game. That game ended up being Chrono Trigger. Mitsuda had been inspired by film scores like Pink Panther, and Blade Runner. The soundtrack even contains a piece called "Memories of Green." Indirectly named after a piece from the Blade Runner score with the same name. He collaborated with story writer, and personal friend Masato Kato to help connect Kato's settings to Mitsuda's music.
The soundtrack itself focused more on enhancing the mood, rather than the setting the music was composed for, like many RPGs before this one. Whether it's in an overworld, a festival, a dark dungeon, or the end of time, every piece captured the mood of what you were experiencing. Themes were recurring throughout the entire soundtrack. Other than mood, leitmotifs became Mitsuda's go-to for making the entire soundtrack flow naturally and not feel out of place. For example, the second to last battle theme against Lavos has traces of the Chrono Trigger theme, which you hear in its entirety during the game's opening demo. You also hear a shorter and looped version of the Chrono Trigger theme as you fight Lavos's first form, assuming you challenged him via the End of Time bucket gate. Almost as if the music brings the entire experience of Chrono Trigger to a full circle.
Mitsuda also claims to have some of the music inspired by dreams he had. The most prominant example of this is the ending theme, Outskirts of Time AKA To Far Away Dreams. In an interview with Square Enix promoting the Nintendo DS port of CHrono Trigger, Mitsuda states that this specific piece was worked on before being part of Chrono Trigger. "I was writing this song in dedication to a certain person, a certain person with whom I wanted to share a generation. It definitely has a greater sentiment than the other songs."
The soundtrack wasn't entirely composed by Mitsuda though. He worked endless nights, to the point where it would cause stomach ulcers. Veteran Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu was brought in to finish the soundtrack while Mitsuda recovered. Uematsu's contributions to the soundtrack are Light of Silence, Mystery of the Past, Those Without the Will to Live, Bike Chase, Creeping Through the Sewers, Primeval Mountain, Burn! Bobonga! Burn!, Tyrano Lair, and Sealed Door. Basically, most of what you hear in the Future, and Prehistoric eras, plus the music associated with the rooms that could only be unlocked with Marle's powered up pendant.
Uematsu also did arrangement work on Noriko Matsueda's only contribution to the game, Boss Battle 1. Matsueda had studied piano, and the electronic organ since she was three years old. She has incorporated a lot of fusion jazz into her works. When you hear the organ work in boss battle 1, it becomes obvious what 20+ years of studying the organ can do.
When the game was released on the Nintendo DS in 2008, you finally got to hear the complete soundtrack in the game. Not just in the official soundtrack. The piece "battle 2" was used as the battle theme for the Arena of the Ages. And Singing Mountain would end up being used in the Frozen Cliffs of the Dimensional Vortex.
Chrono Trigger's music has been studied, remixed, orchestrated, performed, and has been beloved for over 20 years. Truly a soundtrack worthy of the adjective "timeless." And to think it was Yasunori Mitsuda's very first soundtrack, which he admits that, while significant to his development as a composer, was rough around the edges. But isn't that the attitude to be expected towards a creators very first piece of professional work?
From the moment it was announced, Chrono Trigger was billed as something special. It was hyped as being a game designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Yuji Horii, creators of both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest respectivly. The memorable cast was designed by Akira Toriyama, famous for his works on Dr.Slump, the Dragon Ball franchise, and of course, Dragon Quest. Despite all the veteran experience leading the design of the game, the game itself would actually be composed primarily by a newcomer.
Yasunori Mitsuda came to Square as a sound engineer, working on popular titles like Secret of Mana, and Romancing SaGa 2. Upset at the lack of opportunities he was getting, he threatened to quit Square unless he was given the chance to compose for a game. That game ended up being Chrono Trigger. Mitsuda had been inspired by film scores like Pink Panther, and Blade Runner. The soundtrack even contains a piece called "Memories of Green." Indirectly named after a piece from the Blade Runner score with the same name. He collaborated with story writer, and personal friend Masato Kato to help connect Kato's settings to Mitsuda's music.
The soundtrack itself focused more on enhancing the mood, rather than the setting the music was composed for, like many RPGs before this one. Whether it's in an overworld, a festival, a dark dungeon, or the end of time, every piece captured the mood of what you were experiencing. Themes were recurring throughout the entire soundtrack. Other than mood, leitmotifs became Mitsuda's go-to for making the entire soundtrack flow naturally and not feel out of place. For example, the second to last battle theme against Lavos has traces of the Chrono Trigger theme, which you hear in its entirety during the game's opening demo. You also hear a shorter and looped version of the Chrono Trigger theme as you fight Lavos's first form, assuming you challenged him via the End of Time bucket gate. Almost as if the music brings the entire experience of Chrono Trigger to a full circle.
Mitsuda also claims to have some of the music inspired by dreams he had. The most prominant example of this is the ending theme, Outskirts of Time AKA To Far Away Dreams. In an interview with Square Enix promoting the Nintendo DS port of CHrono Trigger, Mitsuda states that this specific piece was worked on before being part of Chrono Trigger. "I was writing this song in dedication to a certain person, a certain person with whom I wanted to share a generation. It definitely has a greater sentiment than the other songs."
The soundtrack wasn't entirely composed by Mitsuda though. He worked endless nights, to the point where it would cause stomach ulcers. Veteran Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu was brought in to finish the soundtrack while Mitsuda recovered. Uematsu's contributions to the soundtrack are Light of Silence, Mystery of the Past, Those Without the Will to Live, Bike Chase, Creeping Through the Sewers, Primeval Mountain, Burn! Bobonga! Burn!, Tyrano Lair, and Sealed Door. Basically, most of what you hear in the Future, and Prehistoric eras, plus the music associated with the rooms that could only be unlocked with Marle's powered up pendant.
Uematsu also did arrangement work on Noriko Matsueda's only contribution to the game, Boss Battle 1. Matsueda had studied piano, and the electronic organ since she was three years old. She has incorporated a lot of fusion jazz into her works. When you hear the organ work in boss battle 1, it becomes obvious what 20+ years of studying the organ can do.
When the game was released on the Nintendo DS in 2008, you finally got to hear the complete soundtrack in the game. Not just in the official soundtrack. The piece "battle 2" was used as the battle theme for the Arena of the Ages. And Singing Mountain would end up being used in the Frozen Cliffs of the Dimensional Vortex.
Chrono Trigger's music has been studied, remixed, orchestrated, performed, and has been beloved for over 20 years. Truly a soundtrack worthy of the adjective "timeless." And to think it was Yasunori Mitsuda's very first soundtrack, which he admits that, while significant to his development as a composer, was rough around the edges. But isn't that the attitude to be expected towards a creators very first piece of professional work?
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Super Nintendo), composed by Koji Kondo
Koji Kondo and the Mario franchise at the time were considered synonymous with one another. You couldn't have one without the other. Yoshi's Island was a spin-off of the Mario series, and it was a one of a kind platformer. While Nintendo wanted to embrace games that looked more like Donkey Kong Country, and reject games that looked more like Super Mario World, producer Shigeru Miyamoto had his staff make the game look like it was completely drawn with pastel colors. The result of Miyamoto's vision, as well as the power of the Super FX chip (which had only been used on 3D rendered games at that point), lead to Yoshi's Island becoming the most colorful, fluid, and most vibrant looking game in an age where computer graphics and the 32-bit era were slowly starting to be embraced.
Koji Kondo's music for this game is just as vibrant as the graphics themselves, not only enhancing the experience of playing the game, but adding a very important compliment to the asthetics of the game. They are very cheerful, and fun. Even the underground theme, which was usually a moodier minimalist score in Kondo's previous games, was as vibrant as the rest of the game. The only times the music became dramatic were when you had to explore the levels of the bosses, and when you fought the main boss of the level you were in.
The map theme of the game is unique as well. As you comple each of the six main worlds, one instrument is added to the music. First was the main melody, then the main melody with percussion, then a backing string section, then a backing section from another keyboard, then brass instruments to support the backing string section, then brass instruments to support the main melody, and then you get the complete theme when you're ready to begin the final world. The equally memorable soundtrack to the yet-to-be-released Super Mario 64 can even be traced back to this game, thanks to its invicibility theme, Powerful Infant.
The final battle theme against Baby Bowser could be considered the most appropriate display of what inspired Koji Kondo in the first place, progressive rock. Kondo has made it no secret that his main inspirations were the bands Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. He experimented with this genre a little bit in Super Mario World's final battle theme. But for this theme, Kondo was able to compose as close to the perfect prog rock sound as the Super Nintendo would allow.
Yoshi's Island is a great example of how it's okay to blend exciting and memorable gameplay with an incredibly cute aesthetic. The world may have been getting ready to embrace the 32-bit era, but the world was not quite ready to ignore a game like Yoshi's Island.
Koji Kondo and the Mario franchise at the time were considered synonymous with one another. You couldn't have one without the other. Yoshi's Island was a spin-off of the Mario series, and it was a one of a kind platformer. While Nintendo wanted to embrace games that looked more like Donkey Kong Country, and reject games that looked more like Super Mario World, producer Shigeru Miyamoto had his staff make the game look like it was completely drawn with pastel colors. The result of Miyamoto's vision, as well as the power of the Super FX chip (which had only been used on 3D rendered games at that point), lead to Yoshi's Island becoming the most colorful, fluid, and most vibrant looking game in an age where computer graphics and the 32-bit era were slowly starting to be embraced.
Koji Kondo's music for this game is just as vibrant as the graphics themselves, not only enhancing the experience of playing the game, but adding a very important compliment to the asthetics of the game. They are very cheerful, and fun. Even the underground theme, which was usually a moodier minimalist score in Kondo's previous games, was as vibrant as the rest of the game. The only times the music became dramatic were when you had to explore the levels of the bosses, and when you fought the main boss of the level you were in.
The map theme of the game is unique as well. As you comple each of the six main worlds, one instrument is added to the music. First was the main melody, then the main melody with percussion, then a backing string section, then a backing section from another keyboard, then brass instruments to support the backing string section, then brass instruments to support the main melody, and then you get the complete theme when you're ready to begin the final world. The equally memorable soundtrack to the yet-to-be-released Super Mario 64 can even be traced back to this game, thanks to its invicibility theme, Powerful Infant.
The final battle theme against Baby Bowser could be considered the most appropriate display of what inspired Koji Kondo in the first place, progressive rock. Kondo has made it no secret that his main inspirations were the bands Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. He experimented with this genre a little bit in Super Mario World's final battle theme. But for this theme, Kondo was able to compose as close to the perfect prog rock sound as the Super Nintendo would allow.
Yoshi's Island is a great example of how it's okay to blend exciting and memorable gameplay with an incredibly cute aesthetic. The world may have been getting ready to embrace the 32-bit era, but the world was not quite ready to ignore a game like Yoshi's Island.
Clock Tower (Super Nintendo), composed by Koji Niikura
With a small team, and a very limited budget, director Hifumi Kono sought to create a game that was heavily inspired by the works of Dario Argento. Specifically, Phoenomena, with the most striking similarity being the fact that both the game, and Phonenomena have a young, dark haired main protagonist named Jennifer. In Clock Tower, Jennifer finds herself in a creepy mansion filled with many different horrors, with the main horror coming from an usual boy with a large pair of scissors. This character was inspired by Tony Maylam's The Burning. But for the most part, Hifumi Kono made a game borrowing many elements from Dario Argento's horror films, as Kono was a huge enthusiast of his, as well as an enthusiast of classic horror films.
A large portion of the game is played without music, to add to the tension of not knowing what to expect. You only hear music when you are in danger, when there is a major plot development, when you're playing a piano, or when you're playing a vinyl that causes a doll to come to life and attack you. While this program promotes video game music as being enhnancements to the gaming experience, sometimes a lack of music is the best approach to enhancing the gameplay experience.
Koji Niikura was a primary composer for game developer Human Entertainment. Not much is known about him, as of this production, other than the games he's worked on. Other than working with Human Entertainment, Niikura has worked on the music for THQ's wrestling games, including the still popular WWF No Mercy game for the Nintendo 64. Niikura has also worked as a sound designer for games like Shadow of the Colossus, LocoRoco, and more recently, Gran Turismo: Sport.
Clock Tower is a primary example of how small teams, and small budgets can create some of the most memorable experiences. And the way that Niikura's music worked in this game set the standard for how to enhance the audible experience of interacting with the environemtns of a survival horror game.
With a small team, and a very limited budget, director Hifumi Kono sought to create a game that was heavily inspired by the works of Dario Argento. Specifically, Phoenomena, with the most striking similarity being the fact that both the game, and Phonenomena have a young, dark haired main protagonist named Jennifer. In Clock Tower, Jennifer finds herself in a creepy mansion filled with many different horrors, with the main horror coming from an usual boy with a large pair of scissors. This character was inspired by Tony Maylam's The Burning. But for the most part, Hifumi Kono made a game borrowing many elements from Dario Argento's horror films, as Kono was a huge enthusiast of his, as well as an enthusiast of classic horror films.
A large portion of the game is played without music, to add to the tension of not knowing what to expect. You only hear music when you are in danger, when there is a major plot development, when you're playing a piano, or when you're playing a vinyl that causes a doll to come to life and attack you. While this program promotes video game music as being enhnancements to the gaming experience, sometimes a lack of music is the best approach to enhancing the gameplay experience.
Koji Niikura was a primary composer for game developer Human Entertainment. Not much is known about him, as of this production, other than the games he's worked on. Other than working with Human Entertainment, Niikura has worked on the music for THQ's wrestling games, including the still popular WWF No Mercy game for the Nintendo 64. Niikura has also worked as a sound designer for games like Shadow of the Colossus, LocoRoco, and more recently, Gran Turismo: Sport.
Clock Tower is a primary example of how small teams, and small budgets can create some of the most memorable experiences. And the way that Niikura's music worked in this game set the standard for how to enhance the audible experience of interacting with the environemtns of a survival horror game.
Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Nintendo), composed by Hiroki Kikuta
Hiroki Kikuta gained instant recognition for his work on Secret of Mana, the second Seiken Densetsu game. He was brought back for this game, and it soon becomes clear that he learned a lot working with the Super Nintendo hardware, creating what RPGFan described as a more refined soundtrack, when compared to what he achieved in Secret of Mana. The process for composing this game did not change from the previous game, he still worked endless nights, and he still created his own sound samples so that he would know exactly what his music would sound like without compromise.
What separates this soundtrack from Secret of Mana is the heavy emphasis on select instruments. The piano is more emphasized than others in a good portion of this soundtrack, giving some of the more dramatic moments of the game a minimalist touch. Strumming guitars are also incorporated to add a unique touch to the soundtrack that isn't commonly found in role playing games. But perhaps the biggest choice of emphasism in instruments is percussion. Percussion instruments aren't normaly used to convey the tension against evil. But in a piece like Three of Darkside, the almost exclusive use of percussion instruments is very haunting. Percussion is also heavily emphasised in the penultimate battle theme, The Sacrifice Part 2. Whether it's the Dragon Emperor, the Dark Prince, Dark Lich, or even the secret Black Rabite you're getting a battle theme that also almost exclusively relies on percussion to enhance the drama behind the battle. And speaking of battle themes, instead of having three battle themes, the battle themes in Seiken Densetsu 3 go to eleven. Only three of them are meant for specific characters. The rest, are just randomly assigned to different bosses throughout the game.
But just like Secret of Mana, Kikuta was able to balance with the dark-intense moods with light-exciting moods. The opening piece starts off as an original. But at the crescendo, you get a more uplifting arrangement of the title screen music from Secret of Mana, Angel's Fear. And during the second half of the final battle, the music will change to The Sacrifice Part 3. A fairly large (for 16 bit) piece that lasts nearly four minutes before looping. Against Dragon Emperor and Dark Lich, the music change is abrupt. Against the Dark Prince, it occurs when he changes forms. But in all cases, the shift in music comes when the final battle is halfway over. Part 1 of the Sacrifice introduces the villain, part 2 enhances the despair of the fight, and part 3 serves as an encouraging way to say "you're almost there! you can do it! hang on just a bit more!"
Seiken Densetsu 3 was never released in the west, but you can experience its music through the DLC in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call. The pieces you can download and play in that game are Swivel, Meridian Child, and The Sacrifice Part 3. With this game, Hiroki Kikuta is able to blend a wide variety of moods with a wide range of music. Just as he did with Secret of Mana. Seiken Densetsu 3 improves on what he had already accomplished, creating a richer, more polished, and more advanced sound to compliment the larger, multi-story driven sequel.
Hiroki Kikuta gained instant recognition for his work on Secret of Mana, the second Seiken Densetsu game. He was brought back for this game, and it soon becomes clear that he learned a lot working with the Super Nintendo hardware, creating what RPGFan described as a more refined soundtrack, when compared to what he achieved in Secret of Mana. The process for composing this game did not change from the previous game, he still worked endless nights, and he still created his own sound samples so that he would know exactly what his music would sound like without compromise.
What separates this soundtrack from Secret of Mana is the heavy emphasis on select instruments. The piano is more emphasized than others in a good portion of this soundtrack, giving some of the more dramatic moments of the game a minimalist touch. Strumming guitars are also incorporated to add a unique touch to the soundtrack that isn't commonly found in role playing games. But perhaps the biggest choice of emphasism in instruments is percussion. Percussion instruments aren't normaly used to convey the tension against evil. But in a piece like Three of Darkside, the almost exclusive use of percussion instruments is very haunting. Percussion is also heavily emphasised in the penultimate battle theme, The Sacrifice Part 2. Whether it's the Dragon Emperor, the Dark Prince, Dark Lich, or even the secret Black Rabite you're getting a battle theme that also almost exclusively relies on percussion to enhance the drama behind the battle. And speaking of battle themes, instead of having three battle themes, the battle themes in Seiken Densetsu 3 go to eleven. Only three of them are meant for specific characters. The rest, are just randomly assigned to different bosses throughout the game.
But just like Secret of Mana, Kikuta was able to balance with the dark-intense moods with light-exciting moods. The opening piece starts off as an original. But at the crescendo, you get a more uplifting arrangement of the title screen music from Secret of Mana, Angel's Fear. And during the second half of the final battle, the music will change to The Sacrifice Part 3. A fairly large (for 16 bit) piece that lasts nearly four minutes before looping. Against Dragon Emperor and Dark Lich, the music change is abrupt. Against the Dark Prince, it occurs when he changes forms. But in all cases, the shift in music comes when the final battle is halfway over. Part 1 of the Sacrifice introduces the villain, part 2 enhances the despair of the fight, and part 3 serves as an encouraging way to say "you're almost there! you can do it! hang on just a bit more!"
Seiken Densetsu 3 was never released in the west, but you can experience its music through the DLC in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call. The pieces you can download and play in that game are Swivel, Meridian Child, and The Sacrifice Part 3. With this game, Hiroki Kikuta is able to blend a wide variety of moods with a wide range of music. Just as he did with Secret of Mana. Seiken Densetsu 3 improves on what he had already accomplished, creating a richer, more polished, and more advanced sound to compliment the larger, multi-story driven sequel.
Secret of Evermore (Super Nintendo), composed by Jeremy Soule
Although it played almost exactly like Secret of Mana, and the logo shared a similar font to Secret of Mana's logo, Secret of Evermore has absolutely nothing to do with the entire Mana series. You play a young boy, accompanied by a shape shifting dog, who must traverse the world of Evermore in order to find their way back home. It was developed entirely by Square's North American staff in Redmond, Washington. All of whom had never worked on a game before. One of those new hires is Jeremy Soule.
Jeremy Soule, arguably most famous for his work on the entire Elder Scrolls series, sought to be a composer for video games because he believed he had the talent to give video games that rich, and more expressive sound that it was lacking at the time. Immediately after graduating high school, he worked on a portfolio, and submitted it to LucasArts and Square. Square responded, and hired him to work on Secret of Evermore.
The soundtrack to Secret of Evermore was very atmospheric. Almost on par with atmospheric soundtracks like Super Castlevania IV, and Super Metroid. The reason for that, according to Soule himself, was because of hardware limitations. He didn't have access to the kind of sound drivers that other composers for Square had. The sound driver Soule used was described as "very buggy." He found that the game would slow down if he tried to do anything close to what the music for games developed by Square normally sounded like. There are a couple of pieces with higher tempos. But for the most part, the soundtrack enhanced the atmosphere of the world, and the eras they represented, moreso than anything else in the game.
The soundtrack was officially released on CD as a pre-order bonus for the game. The first eight pieces on the CD were official arrangements of the game's music, while the rest of the CD contained pieces from the game. For the CD release, Soule got assistance from his brother Julian. Julian is credited for performing the high brass instruments in the soundtrack, while helping with the mixing and mastering of the tracks.
Secret of Evermore was an unusual addition to Square's North American release library. Unusual, but still a cult classic. It was a larger game than a lot of the Super Nintendo games out there, and it introduced the world to Jeremy Soule, who would quickly go on to become one of the most profilic composers for western video games.
Although it played almost exactly like Secret of Mana, and the logo shared a similar font to Secret of Mana's logo, Secret of Evermore has absolutely nothing to do with the entire Mana series. You play a young boy, accompanied by a shape shifting dog, who must traverse the world of Evermore in order to find their way back home. It was developed entirely by Square's North American staff in Redmond, Washington. All of whom had never worked on a game before. One of those new hires is Jeremy Soule.
Jeremy Soule, arguably most famous for his work on the entire Elder Scrolls series, sought to be a composer for video games because he believed he had the talent to give video games that rich, and more expressive sound that it was lacking at the time. Immediately after graduating high school, he worked on a portfolio, and submitted it to LucasArts and Square. Square responded, and hired him to work on Secret of Evermore.
The soundtrack to Secret of Evermore was very atmospheric. Almost on par with atmospheric soundtracks like Super Castlevania IV, and Super Metroid. The reason for that, according to Soule himself, was because of hardware limitations. He didn't have access to the kind of sound drivers that other composers for Square had. The sound driver Soule used was described as "very buggy." He found that the game would slow down if he tried to do anything close to what the music for games developed by Square normally sounded like. There are a couple of pieces with higher tempos. But for the most part, the soundtrack enhanced the atmosphere of the world, and the eras they represented, moreso than anything else in the game.
The soundtrack was officially released on CD as a pre-order bonus for the game. The first eight pieces on the CD were official arrangements of the game's music, while the rest of the CD contained pieces from the game. For the CD release, Soule got assistance from his brother Julian. Julian is credited for performing the high brass instruments in the soundtrack, while helping with the mixing and mastering of the tracks.
Secret of Evermore was an unusual addition to Square's North American release library. Unusual, but still a cult classic. It was a larger game than a lot of the Super Nintendo games out there, and it introduced the world to Jeremy Soule, who would quickly go on to become one of the most profilic composers for western video games.
Terranigma (Super Nintendo), composed by Miyoko Takaoka and Masanori Hikichi
Terranigma would be the third game of the Soul Blazer trilogy that started with Soul Blazer, and followed later by Illusion of Gaia. All three games were centered around the creation and reincarnation of life. Each game had its other similarities; Action adventure with historical fictional elements. But each game had different composers. Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia each had one composer. Terranigma had two.
Masanori Hikichi, in addition to providing music for the majority of the soundtrack, he also provided the sound effects for the game. Prior to joining Quintet, Hikichi was a composer and sound designer for Sega, working on games like Steel Empire, Galaxy Force, and Dr.Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. He also worked on The Gramstream Saga, an action RPG from Quintet staff members under the name Shade. Miyoko Takaoka only had a few years of experience by the time she started Terranigma. Overtime, she would become one of the key composers for the Atelier series as Miyoko Kobayashi.
There are a lot of moods explored in this game, to help tell this interpretation of Quintet's games about creation. The game has its light hearted moments, as well as some of the most bittersweet moments in the 16-bit era. You are met with some entertaning characters and circumstances. You are met with heart wrenching scenarios, and shocking revelations. You will laugh, you will cry, you will show determination at some of the games harshest battles. Throughout all that, you will get a game that pushes the emotional connection between music and storytelling to a level rarely achieved in the 16-bit era.
Terranigma would be the third game of the Soul Blazer trilogy that started with Soul Blazer, and followed later by Illusion of Gaia. All three games were centered around the creation and reincarnation of life. Each game had its other similarities; Action adventure with historical fictional elements. But each game had different composers. Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia each had one composer. Terranigma had two.
Masanori Hikichi, in addition to providing music for the majority of the soundtrack, he also provided the sound effects for the game. Prior to joining Quintet, Hikichi was a composer and sound designer for Sega, working on games like Steel Empire, Galaxy Force, and Dr.Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. He also worked on The Gramstream Saga, an action RPG from Quintet staff members under the name Shade. Miyoko Takaoka only had a few years of experience by the time she started Terranigma. Overtime, she would become one of the key composers for the Atelier series as Miyoko Kobayashi.
There are a lot of moods explored in this game, to help tell this interpretation of Quintet's games about creation. The game has its light hearted moments, as well as some of the most bittersweet moments in the 16-bit era. You are met with some entertaning characters and circumstances. You are met with heart wrenching scenarios, and shocking revelations. You will laugh, you will cry, you will show determination at some of the games harshest battles. Throughout all that, you will get a game that pushes the emotional connection between music and storytelling to a level rarely achieved in the 16-bit era.
Vectorman (Sega Genesis), composed by Jon Holland
While platformers and RPGs were hitting their stride on the Super Nintendo, action games remained most prominant on the Genesis. One such game was made during the Genesis' twilight years. While Nintendo was slowly transitioning to 3D rendered graphics through games like Donkey Kong Country, Sega used Vectorman as its bridge to 3D gameplay.
Vectorman could morph into whatever the environment called for. And speaking of the environment, it's in perill. And it's up to Vectorman to stop the evil Warhead from polluting the planet more in the most dramatic, stylish way. It was a very simple plot, partly inspired by the plot of the original Turrican. But the presentation makes Vectorman stand out in the action genre.
The music is heavily inspired by EDM, electronic dance music. It didn't matter what the level looked like, or who you were facing. It didn't even matter who you were facing. You were doing everything to music you would normally hear at nightclubs. A couple of the stage names in the game are references to classic songs. Stayin' Alive; the top down stage set in a disco room of sorts, an appropriate reference to the Bee Gees. And Twist and Shout, the final stage where you literally rise up a tornado to confront Warhead in the final showdown, a reference to the Beatles.
Jon Holland was limited to using six sounds at a time for the soundtrack, a whole cord. He describes the music as simply being "rhythmic." GEMS, the same sound driver used in Earthworm Jim, was used to help compose the Vectorman soundtrack. Jon Holland is known for being tough to look up any information on. As of this recording, there exists two sources of information for direct quotes and behind the scenes information on his works, and his life. An interview with Game Zero along with the rest of the BlueSky Software staff, and a YouTube interview with Russian YouTuber Valet2.
Vectorman wasn't as popular as other action games on the Genesis, partly due to the Genesis losing a lot of steam in the mid-90s. But Vectorman still remains a favorie among Genesis fans, to the point where it has appeared in numerous Genesis compilation sets, most recently appearing in the 2018 release of the Sega Genesis Collection, along with its sequel. The music remains one of Sega's best examples of how dance music really shined on the Genesis platform in the 90s.
While platformers and RPGs were hitting their stride on the Super Nintendo, action games remained most prominant on the Genesis. One such game was made during the Genesis' twilight years. While Nintendo was slowly transitioning to 3D rendered graphics through games like Donkey Kong Country, Sega used Vectorman as its bridge to 3D gameplay.
Vectorman could morph into whatever the environment called for. And speaking of the environment, it's in perill. And it's up to Vectorman to stop the evil Warhead from polluting the planet more in the most dramatic, stylish way. It was a very simple plot, partly inspired by the plot of the original Turrican. But the presentation makes Vectorman stand out in the action genre.
The music is heavily inspired by EDM, electronic dance music. It didn't matter what the level looked like, or who you were facing. It didn't even matter who you were facing. You were doing everything to music you would normally hear at nightclubs. A couple of the stage names in the game are references to classic songs. Stayin' Alive; the top down stage set in a disco room of sorts, an appropriate reference to the Bee Gees. And Twist and Shout, the final stage where you literally rise up a tornado to confront Warhead in the final showdown, a reference to the Beatles.
Jon Holland was limited to using six sounds at a time for the soundtrack, a whole cord. He describes the music as simply being "rhythmic." GEMS, the same sound driver used in Earthworm Jim, was used to help compose the Vectorman soundtrack. Jon Holland is known for being tough to look up any information on. As of this recording, there exists two sources of information for direct quotes and behind the scenes information on his works, and his life. An interview with Game Zero along with the rest of the BlueSky Software staff, and a YouTube interview with Russian YouTuber Valet2.
Vectorman wasn't as popular as other action games on the Genesis, partly due to the Genesis losing a lot of steam in the mid-90s. But Vectorman still remains a favorie among Genesis fans, to the point where it has appeared in numerous Genesis compilation sets, most recently appearing in the 2018 release of the Sega Genesis Collection, along with its sequel. The music remains one of Sega's best examples of how dance music really shined on the Genesis platform in the 90s.
Panel de Pon (Super Nintendo), composed by Masaya Kuzume
Music in puzzle games were mainly used as background music to help encourage you to solve the puzzle, or to get the highest score possible. The music in Panel de Pon does all that, but is also very light hearted, cheerful, and on occasion, dramatic. Panel de Pon combines simple puzzle mechanics with a story about Lip the fairy, who must rescue her friends from an evil curse, causing the faeries to fight each other.
Panel de Pon was also released in North America in as Tetris Attack. In Tetris Attack, all the faeries were replaced with characters from the Yoshi's Island franchise, similar to how Super Mario Bros 2 replaced the characters and plotline from Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic with characters from the Mario universe. Music from Yoshi's Island was added to the soundtrack, all arranged by Fire Emblem composer Yuka Tsujiyoko. Tetris Attack is also notable for having absolutely nothing to do with Tetris. It was all a marketing strategy from Nintendo to help sell the game.
Masaya Kuzume also composed the Game Boy version of Tetris Attack, and has only been involved in the music for Metal Combat, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, and Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. After working on the 2003 release of Nintendo Puzzle Collection, he would start a recording studio called B-TRAX. In 2008, he returned to video games for the soundtrack of Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Regardless of the misleading title, Tetris Attack was criticaly acclaimed for its easy-to-learn gameplay, and it became popular enough for the gameplay to become its own franchise called the Puzzle League Series. But it didn't start with Yoshi playing a puzzle game, it started with faeries fighting a curse through puzzle games.
Music in puzzle games were mainly used as background music to help encourage you to solve the puzzle, or to get the highest score possible. The music in Panel de Pon does all that, but is also very light hearted, cheerful, and on occasion, dramatic. Panel de Pon combines simple puzzle mechanics with a story about Lip the fairy, who must rescue her friends from an evil curse, causing the faeries to fight each other.
Panel de Pon was also released in North America in as Tetris Attack. In Tetris Attack, all the faeries were replaced with characters from the Yoshi's Island franchise, similar to how Super Mario Bros 2 replaced the characters and plotline from Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic with characters from the Mario universe. Music from Yoshi's Island was added to the soundtrack, all arranged by Fire Emblem composer Yuka Tsujiyoko. Tetris Attack is also notable for having absolutely nothing to do with Tetris. It was all a marketing strategy from Nintendo to help sell the game.
Masaya Kuzume also composed the Game Boy version of Tetris Attack, and has only been involved in the music for Metal Combat, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, and Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. After working on the 2003 release of Nintendo Puzzle Collection, he would start a recording studio called B-TRAX. In 2008, he returned to video games for the soundtrack of Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Regardless of the misleading title, Tetris Attack was criticaly acclaimed for its easy-to-learn gameplay, and it became popular enough for the gameplay to become its own franchise called the Puzzle League Series. But it didn't start with Yoshi playing a puzzle game, it started with faeries fighting a curse through puzzle games.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super Nintendo), composed by David Wise
Donkey Kong Country helped establish David Wise as one of the best composers for videogames. With his extensive knowledge of keyboard synthesizers, his history with Rare, and ability to work around the limitations of consoles back then, he was able to create one of the most memorable soundtracks of the 90s. The sequel was a technical improvement on what David Wise had already achieved with the first game. And unlike the first game, which was shared by three composers, David Wise was the only composer for this game.
In an interview with Square Enix, Wise states that "the mission [for the Donkey Kong Country 2 soundtrack] was to make the SNES sound as pretty as possible." He uses the Bramble Blast music, otherwise known as Stickerbrush Symphony, as an example of this. With this piece, he feels that he had pushed the SNES sound chip to its limit. In the same interview, he lists this as one of his three favorite pieces of all the pieces he composed for the Donkey Kong Country series, with the other two being DK Swing, and Aquatic Ambiance from the first game.
This entire soundtrack was given an arrangement album from OverClocked Remix called Serious Monkey Business. David Wise was brought in to make a new arrangement of the ending theme called Re-Skewed, a play on the word rescued. He brought in Rare composers Grant Kirkhope to perform the guitar parts, and Robin Beanland to perform the trumpet parts. The relationship between Wise, and a community as popular as OverClocked Remix really shows how well this soundtrack stands the test of time, and how much Wise is willing to help enhance and promote the love musicians have for ths soundtrack.
What seperates this soundtrack from other soundtracks to platformer games of the 16-bit era is how atmospheric this soundtrack is. It isn't just background music that is part of the level you're in. It's almost as if the background music is just as intigral to the level as the backgrounds, obstacles, and enemies themselves. You'll hear the rain pouring, the wind blowing, the lava molting, the birds flapping their wings, and more.
Donkey Kong Country helped establish David Wise as one of the best composers for videogames. With his extensive knowledge of keyboard synthesizers, his history with Rare, and ability to work around the limitations of consoles back then, he was able to create one of the most memorable soundtracks of the 90s. The sequel was a technical improvement on what David Wise had already achieved with the first game. And unlike the first game, which was shared by three composers, David Wise was the only composer for this game.
In an interview with Square Enix, Wise states that "the mission [for the Donkey Kong Country 2 soundtrack] was to make the SNES sound as pretty as possible." He uses the Bramble Blast music, otherwise known as Stickerbrush Symphony, as an example of this. With this piece, he feels that he had pushed the SNES sound chip to its limit. In the same interview, he lists this as one of his three favorite pieces of all the pieces he composed for the Donkey Kong Country series, with the other two being DK Swing, and Aquatic Ambiance from the first game.
This entire soundtrack was given an arrangement album from OverClocked Remix called Serious Monkey Business. David Wise was brought in to make a new arrangement of the ending theme called Re-Skewed, a play on the word rescued. He brought in Rare composers Grant Kirkhope to perform the guitar parts, and Robin Beanland to perform the trumpet parts. The relationship between Wise, and a community as popular as OverClocked Remix really shows how well this soundtrack stands the test of time, and how much Wise is willing to help enhance and promote the love musicians have for ths soundtrack.
What seperates this soundtrack from other soundtracks to platformer games of the 16-bit era is how atmospheric this soundtrack is. It isn't just background music that is part of the level you're in. It's almost as if the background music is just as intigral to the level as the backgrounds, obstacles, and enemies themselves. You'll hear the rain pouring, the wind blowing, the lava molting, the birds flapping their wings, and more.
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