Music

I recently picked this up during a weekend promo that Steam was running for $5. I've thrown away more money than that pretty much doing anything i can think of;burgers, porn, booze...you name it. At normal price(as of now on Steam) its $20, which i would not have shelled out. Not because i could not afford it, but because i didn't feel like adding the list of games that i haven't had time to focus on and finish. The only reason i wasn't engrossed with the new scout class update on Team Fortress 2 instead was that i nursing a cold, and couldn't handle anything that required too much coordination. World of Goo ended up being wildly better than i could have expected, or imagined, and well worth either the $5 or $20 you might spend on this. It was one of most beautiful and moving gaming experiences of my life, and especially surprising considering the fact that this game is a puzzle game by genre.

The premise is quite light-hearted, with playful elements and dialog reminiscent of Katamary Damacy (even though there's no dialog per se, just signs with hints from "The Sign Painter"), with highly stylized and highly polished 2-D and 3-D visuals, made to look like an illustrated childrens story book. What makes this game so appealing are the dark/innocent Burton-esque under-tones(which become much more pronounced as you progress through out the game), and marketing/corporate/glamor satire injected into the Sign-Painter's hints. As if he were a father who put them there to help you guide his children(the goo) through the harsh world of consumerism and superficiality.

These elements would not have been as poignant or effective in creating such masterful and polished gaming experience, if it wasn't for the score. Each individual level had a theme, and its corresponding track fit in, and perfectly emphasized that theme. When settings get darker in the later level, the music come through even more powerfully. Always communicating the foreboding atmosphere of the "World of Goo Corporation", and that you are some how you are helping this Goo find its place in the world , but also protecting them from it, and helping them return to "MOM". Very moving and mysterious stuff.

I usually don't highlight more modern scores, obviously, since this site is about retro games. But I felt this little gem need to be mentioned (not that it hasn't gotten a good amount of press on its own). Especially for the score, which in my mind, it would not have been the same experience if the music had been lacking. Special kudos for Track 18 - "My Virtual World of Goo Corporation" as a great little piece of chiptune goodness!

Tracks i dugg:

• Burning Man
• Cog in the Machine
• Jelly
• Screamer
• Tumbler
• Red Carpet Extend-o-matic
• My Virtual World of Goo Corporation

You can get the entire zipped set and notes on each track here: World of Goo Soundtrack by Kyle Gabler. Great Job Kyle!

When i was 10 or so the home version of the Neo Geo system was released, one of my friends actually got one as a gift(Makio, whom i've mention in previous post).  Looking back on it is when i realize what a fucking little brown-noser i was.  Makio was more of a friend of a freind; he lived across the cul-de-sac from Jerry's house(where i had as many sleep overs as humanly possible through out my middle school life).  While i was there, i was usually bugging Jerry to call Makio and see if he could bring over the newest greatest Neo Geo games.  Jerry had a Neo Geo too, but with the games being $200 a pop, he only had 3 games.  One Neo Geo game was more expensive than my Super NES, which i had to beg my Mom for for a good year before it was released.  At one point or another i convinced a reluctant Makio to record a Magician Lord, Ninja Combat run on VHS for me.  I still have this tape, and i must have watched it HUNDREDS of times.  I was amazed at all the pagan imagery contained within one game, it was disturbingly beautiful.  And the music has been bouncing around my head since then.

Magician Lord was one of the flagship games for the arcade Neo Geo MVS.  The genre is fantasy/anime, the atmosphere is dark and moody,  and the bloody pentagrams are freshly painted.  My impressionable 10 year old mind was uncontrollably drawn to it, how could i not be.  I dropped SO MANY quarters on this game at the local 7-Eleven in my youth.  The score is synthesized electro-funk, with some fantasy-rpg-esque melodies mixed in, in the flavor of Phantasy Star 2.

check out:

• Level 1
• Level 2
• Final Battle
• End Credits
• Prolog

Recently title has been added to the Wii Channel. The graphics don't look half bad for being a 15+ year old game. Still a fine example of some of the best 2D graphics out there. Well worth the points, despite being rediculously difficult. Do yourself a service and check out the Magician Lord Soundtrack in the meantime

This is one of the games that fueled my search for retro games online, and to the discovery of gods gift to game nostalgists like me: ROMS. Anyway this reminds me of a story that relates to this game, and its music of my childhood. When i was junior high, i had a group of friends whose entire reason for being around each other was because of the video games we loved to play(One of tm was Makio, from the Thunder Force 4 post). I had sleep overs at my other friends house, Jerry, at almost a weekly basis. Super EDF was one of the games that i had brought over for every one to try out(I was the only one with an SNES, Jerry and Makio would not defect from the Genesis camp). During one of the brief and rare moments that we were not playing, or watching someone else play a game, we decided to have an arm wrestling competition. So during the match we would have one of the people not involved play music from the sound test. I was like a little chubby frosted flakes fuled Hulk O' Maniac.

The game itself is quite good, incorporating RPG elements into the selectable weapon systems. Fortunately the music actually does the game justice. Tsukasa Tawada composed the sound track to this game, as well as Pokemon Colosseum. Its too bad that most of the games he composed music for have never made it to western shores.

The music is J-pop influnced, with a futuristic military funk to it. Midnight Intercept is a testiment to the funk; i only wish was as funky to be able to play the bass line.

Tracks of note are:

• Sunlit A Colony
• Name Entry
• Midnight Intercept

There arent that many tracks; but it is a shooter, so its not that unsual. Super EDF Soundtrack

The Thunder Force series is one of the best series of shooters ever released on Genesis, or on any video game system or computer for that matter. A friend from junior high named Makio had this, along with a couple hundred other genesis games ( he was "the kid who had all the cool systems and newest games"; the one who existed in everyones' childhood). I'd go to his house to play video games, and he'd be playing Thunder Force 3(also composed by Toshiharu Yamanishi and Tomomi Ootani) from time to time. The reason why i was reminded of these games is because of an episode of Airwaves (monthly podcast of chiptunes and retro game music) that focused on Genesis (aka Mega Drive) composers. You can find this episode at the Airwaves Archives(episode 18).

Thunder Force 4 was composed by a trio of composers: Toshiharu Yamanishi (last fm), Takeshi Yoshida, Tomomi Ootani. Tomomi Ootani worked on the soundtracks for part 2, and 3 along with Toshiharu Yamanishi. Unfortunately I cant seem to find any other games scores that Takeshi Yoshida has worked on. They have a number of original works of their own, in collaboration, and on their own, that even to this day are being released. The Thunder Force 4 soundtrack is easily the most awesome among the entire series; granted I've never heard Thunder Force 1, though i can only assume it gets better, not worse. With its bass and guitar heavy tracks, with a futuristic twang , they're quite"Metal" and go along well with the theme of destroying giant intergalactic machines enslaving random planet in some far off galaxy. Despite being heavy, there are some Jazzy and J-Pop overtones (more on some tracks than others) and some beautiful synth work that make this score very hard to get sick of.

There are a number of great tracks of note for this game, with goofy names to boot:

• Metal Squad
• Don't Go Off
• Fighting Back
• Space Walk
• The Sky Line
• Silvery Light of the Moon
• Count Down
• Because You Are The Number One
• Remember of Knight of Legend
• Omake 4
• Omake 7
• Omake 9
• Omake 10

These should be listened to, religiously! The rest of the tracks also deserve to be explored, so dont be shy.

Thunder Force 4 Soundtrack

Composed by Syusaku Uchiyama, this soundtrack grew on me quite a bit, as did the game. For me this is one of best Megaman scores since Megaman 3. Its quite poppy, jazzy, and light hearted. But by the end of the game the music take decidedly darker note; more ambient electronic music bordering on drum 'n bass, and gabber core. My favorite tracks include Granade Man, Frost Man, Wily Stage 1, Wily Stage 2, and Title

Megaman 8 Soundtrack

Mr. Uchiyama body of work also includes the scores for Resident Evil 2, and Megaman X3.

Cybernator is a 2-D, side-scrolling, action game relase by Konami in the US in 1994. It was released fairly early on in the life of the SNES, so in comparison to most games of the time on this system, this had fairly impressive visuals, and a great future-funk styled soundtrack. The contols were a bit clunky and slow, but it was a very well made game( as most Konami releases are). This was also the predecessor to Metal Warriors. Check out "Fully Set for Penetration" (great title :P), "Living Possibility", "No Time, No Shield", and "We've Gotta Do It".

Cybernator  Soundtraxck

I certainly hope that all you good people who have stumbled on to my site already know, or heard of, the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy 4, released as Final Fantasy 2 in the US, is aguably one of the best Final Fantasy games ever released. This is for a number of reasons, the biggest being the story and the music. This game was my first foray into videogame RPG's, and sent me into a nearly 10 year console RPG binge. The score for this game has be remixed and redone by countless people already, including The Black Mages(the side project/band of the oringal composer, Nobuo Uematsu). The music is quite extensive, but do yourself a favor and check out "Dancing Calobrena", "Illusionary World", "Red Wings", and "The Dreadful Fight".

Final Fantasy 4 Soundtrack

Enjoy

click here

Internet radio, is one the best things the internet has to offer(besides porn :P). It has been a huge catalyst for me to explore and discover like tasted people, bands, and artists that i never would have been exposed to in the "real world". It has also been a great alternative to corporate radion. My musical sphere has been thoroughly shaped by net radio, and now this wonderful, little known reasource, is in danger of disappearing.

Appearantly some of the largest internet radio broadcasters now have to pay larger royalties per song to the music industry; despite the fact that they already pay, in many cases up to 12 times the amount that "terrestrial" radio pays. Internet radio as we know it will most likely cease to exist, since it will cost radio broadcasters to much to continue broadcasting.

This will also affect smaller broadcasters even more, since the original plan to base the amount of royalies paid on the amount of income earned was thrown out. Most of these smaller broadcaster function on donations almost entirely to pay for their bandwidth costs.

Please do want you can to help the cause out, at least by telling people about what is going on.