#AllTheNESMusic

It was a while ago while deciding what to do for our MIDI Week Single article that I came up with this idea.  Every so often, I feel like I hit a rut and am afraid that every other song we post is composed by either Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu, Jeremy Soule, or Hirokazu Tanaka.  I also fully recognize that here at Stage Select Start, that we lean pretty heavily on the Nintendo side of things, mainly because that is what Dr. Potts and I grew up with; although the Dr.'s family did have an Atari 2600, but music from that era is more of a sound effect than 80's era video game music.  Then there is an Instagram account I have been following for a while (Gametracks) and I frequently realize how much video game music is out there that I have not been exposed to.  

That is where #AllTheNESMusic comes from.  I decided to start off with only NES music for a couple of reasons, with the first being that this was the system I grew up with.  Even then, there are a lot of licensed NES games, maybe not as mind boggling as in today's PC digital marketplace, but in the mid 80s to early 90s, for a single home console 716 games can be a lot.  And that is only North America and PAL region NES games, which does not include all of the 231 Famicom games, although there is some cross over.  #AllTheFamicomMusic coming your way Spring 2020!

So I decided to start listening to the music from NES games, even if the majority of NES era games never received an official soundtrack release.  There is a community on YouTube that has ripped the music from games and has made that music readily available for listening.  And this listening I have primarily done while at work, and I count myself fortunate enough to work at a place where I am able to have music playing in the background.  So before I go any further, a massive "Thank you" to both Wiiguy's 8BitStereo, GBlair, and a handful of others for uploading hours upon hours of music.  And in a few instances, I have had to use longplays in order to listen to the music (looking at you Defenders of Dynatron City).

On the first day, I had originally thought to listen to games chronologically based on their North America release date (because 'Murica!), but after listening to 10 Yard Fight, I decided that I would rather have games crop up with 1m28s of music throughout the entire list, rather than trudge my way through 30+ at the beginning.  Plus, I was not trying to write a piece about the evolution of NES era music, I just wanted to listen to AllTheNESMusic.  So I reordered to list the titles alphabetically and. . . started off with 10 Yard Fight.  Again.

To date, I have made it from 10 Yard Fight up through Fun House.  There have been some odd soundtracks that have cropped up like the Fischer Price series which consisted of primarily MIDI arranged traditional kids songs ("Row Row Row Your Boat," "Pop! Goes the Weasel," etc), but there has also been a lot of music that surprised me.  Some of these new-to-me tracks I have featured on recent MIDI Week Single articles because I feel like they need to be shared.  I currently have a list of songs that I may end up featuring, but as I delve deeper into the alphabet, I know that this is only going to grow longer by the week, and I may never get around to using the music from The Adventures of Rad Gravity or Bandit Kings of Ancient China.

Three of the most interesting things that I have come across while streaming these songs, are the number of games that I have heard of or at least recognize the box art, the number of games I have never heard of before, and how these unheard of games have impacted other peoples' lives.  Games like 8 Eyes, Conquest of the Crystal Palace, and Cobra Triangle are all games that I can recall existing, but nothing more than that.  They are games I never rented from Placer TV/Video, but might have seen them on the shelves there, or at G&G Games.  Then there are games like Banana Prince, Day Dreamin' Davey, and Digger T. Rock: The Legend of the Lost City which were all new titles to me.  But what has really struck me as intriguing, is reading comments from someone who might have played Caveman Games and loved that music as much as I loved the music in Crystalis.  There is just something about reading that a particular game someone had a lot of fun playing when they were younger and here I am just finding out that that game existed.

Before I started this, I knew that there were songs from early video games that were just part of the collective consciousness, like "Above Ground BGM" from Super Mario Bros., or "Overworld" from The Legend of Zelda; coincidentally both by Koji Kondo.  However, I began to appreciate just how much music there is out there (specifically NES era music at the moment) that someone took the time to compose that I myself am just completely unaware of, and I aim to change that.

And again, that is just the North American/PAL versions, with the Famicom possibly/probably coming later.  And on my list I have specified NES despite only listening to NES games.  Or maybe this means that I will get around to SEGA Master System (SMS?, #AllTheSMSGames?) games as well?



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
At A Rate That's Sure To Agitate