another fun, fairly obscure, game soundtrack title: Greg LoPiccolo's "Hospital - Alternate" from System Shock.
SS has some great tracks, but the musical qualities really depend upon the quality of MIDI synth you're working with. even with a real Roland SC-55, it's a bit flat sounding.
in a pretty rare move for Origin Systems - they released a Macintosh/PowerPC version of System Shock. there was a bunch of extra space on the CD, and LoPiccolo took advantage of it by rendering and remastering his own redbook audio tracks. they're great - far better than a vanilla SC-55. he took a lot of extra time to customize his instruments and play with the stereo separation.
so here it is, freshly ripped from my macintosh CD.
andrew sega (necros)'s title track for the tetris-alike Xixit is one of the best examples of what the MOD format is musically capable of.
unfortunately it is usually rendered by trackers for computer speakers and sounds like tinny garbage. we're used to that, but we don't have to be.
i had some fun re-rendering the track with FastTracker at its highest possible settings, and then doing some light remastering to open up the upper and lower ends. this is what, i imagine, necros wanted it to sound like on a great stereo.
For #SymphonicMonday today, a recent upload on the Nintendo of America Youtube channel: The Legend of Zelda Orchestra Concert [Nintendo Live 2024 TOKYO] 🎮🎶
This week @miona is BACK for VGM Wednesday! Welcome back!
She comes at us with a fantastic theme of "Super Sixteen Bit."
From the Genesis / SNES era, one of my favorite beat 'em ups is Comix Zone. For those who never played, it tells the story of a comic book artist who gets pulled into his own comic by it's main villain. He then has to fight from panel to panel to survive. It's cool and has a 16-bit rock inspired soundtrack.
It's #VGMWednesday and todays theme is #SuperSixteenBit One of my favorite and most played Sega Megadrive (Genesis) games was Streets of Rage 2. The soundtrack is still a banger!
It still blows my mind that composer Yuzo Koshiro was only 22 back then 🤯 He started composing video game soundtracks when still in high school. Check out a photo of his setup in 1989 in this recent feature:
The game itself was pretty mediocre iirc. I actually rented the game, played a bit, got tired, then recorded the title-screen on VHS so I could listen to the music after giving it back.
Sadly I didn't reach level 2 back then so I didn't hear the best track until much later :blobcatfacepalm:
As @miona is still on VGM Wednesday theme hiatus, looks like @CM30 jumped in with a theme of "Surprisingly Dark Themes."
For that, I think I want to go with Sonic the Hedgehog.
It shouldn't be surprising, but every time the short tune for drowning comes on, it is jarring and anxiety inducing. Even with no video game context to go with it.
Since @miona is still on hiatus for the hashtag, there's no formal VGM Wednesday theme.
So, I'm going with my favorite K.K. Slider song, K.K. Robot Synth, cause I want to share it and keep the hashtag around this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l85224VytME
Since @miona is taking a break from VGM Wednesday for January and I really want to see this hashtag still up and running - here's some music for the week.
With no theme, let's go with the Minibosses 2005 album "Brass." Check out their fantastic cover album with all sort of great video game tunes https://minibosses.bandcamp.com/album/brass
For @miona's VGM Wednesday, I didn't play any games released in 2023. So I'll go with something I played in 2023, but came out in 2022. Only official link I could find was for Astra Tanuki's Bandcamp. So here's a link to the whole album XD
For VGM Wednesday, by @miona the theme is Revive the Dancefloor... This is kind of cheating, but DDR is how I found smile.dk in the first place and the first thing I thought of lol.
This week for @miona's VGM Wednesday, she has given us a theme of "Let's Take a Breather" - talking about music from calming moments in a game. Such as save points, hub areas, or villages.
For me, as an Animal Crossing lover, the opening music is such a calming moment. Yes, it's before the game even starts, but it's mellow and soothing, setting the tone for playing hours of cozy gaming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI_C1Bjdqn4
That's 3, I know, but after 3 I really couldn't think of any more apart from Cake's "The Distance" and instead of spending way too much time looking things up, I'll end it here and add to it if I think of more.