"Tooth & Claw" from Killer Instinct on the Nintendo 64 (1994)
Composer: Robin Beanland
Record Label: Nintendo of America
Album: Killer Cuts
It might be expected that I choose this particular track from Killer Instinct, one of the few fighting games that I grew attached to. When the game was released on the SNES back in 1995, the first run cartridges came packaged with a physical CD copy of the soundtrack, which I promptly went out to our local video rental store (Placer TV/Video) and bought the soundtrack for a whopping $1; this was because my parents were not too keen on video games where you could beat up a woman (who could also kick the ever loving shit out of you too, but that's beside the point).
The music for Saberwulf's stage is something that I don't recall really paying attention to until after I bought the soundtrack and actually listened to the music. The various sound effects (Church bells, wind blowing, door slamming, creepy laughter, Saberwulf's howl, Spinal's laughter) are all a little bit on the cheesy side, but they don't take anything away from the Baroque/Bach inspired pipe organ and orchestra arrangement of this wonderful piece. It's as if to acknowledge how absurd the story is behind Killer Instinct as well as the possible idea of a werewolf and skeleton fighting each other (among many other characters).
It has always been a dream of mine to hear this performed by live musicians, but sadly I think this music is too far out of the mainstream (having been composed 21 years ago) for this to happen, but I can always hope. But more importantly, it's a great song that fits with the sad/creepy/cheesiness that is the month of October.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
This soundtrack does stand as a classic slice of life from 1994, doesn't it? The cheeziness was painful even then (and this was far and away NOT the cheesiest track). I forgot how grandiose the intro was, the first 1:39 not appearing when you play the game. Analysis aside: this song is great!
ReplyDeleteKiller Instinct side note: Spinal and Sabrewulf were definitely thematically matched as the sort of spooky, halloween style bad guys. But man, Spinal was SO tough to play as. Like... I just didn't get it.