MIDI Week Singles: "Biathlon" - Winter Olympics: Lillehammer '94 (SGN)

 

"Biathlon" from Winter Olympics: Lillehammer '94 on the SEGA Genesis / SEGA Master System (1993)

Composer: John Hancock*

Album: No Official Release

Publisher: U.S. Gold

Developer: Abstract Images, Unexpected Development, Tiertex Design Studios

It's Winter Olympics time so I thought I'd scour the video game universe for some banging tunes, and what is more banging of an Olympic sport than cross-country skiing for 20km (12.42 miles) while taking breaks to shoot at targets with a .22 caliber rifle?  Yeah, the Biathlon.  Okay sure, Ski Jumping is up there too.  And I guess Giant Slalom too.  But I did not like those tracks as much as I liked the song that was used for the Biathlon.  I also listened to three or four different versions of this soundtrack as the game was also released on the PC, SNES, Master System, and the Game Gear, but something about the Mega Drive/Genesis version just struck me as more interesting.  I just like that bass line and then when the synth/keyboard comes in (~0:27) just screams early '90s childhood, which is horrific to think was nearly 30 years ago.

That is pretty much the extent of this music today.  And it looks like the Biathlon happened earlier in the Winter Olympic schedule so I am not potentially spoiling anything by using this song today.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

My Playground is the World

P.S.  I am not 100% sure that John Hancock wrote the music for either this or any of the other versions of the game, but he was the only name I could find that was associated with the sound department, so I am going to give him the credit.