MIDI Week Singles: "Downhill Theme" - Slalom (NES)

 

"Downhill Theme" from Slalom on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1987)
Composer: David Wise
Album: No Official Release
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Rare

Slalom is a game that I have semi-fond memories of.  In elementary school, I would sometimes go over to my neighbor N's house around the corner and we would play Nintendo games.  One of the games of his that I recall frequently playing, but never for more than a couple of attempts was Slalom.  This game is stupidly difficult, but really only once you get to the second race.  The first race is kind of a warm-up for everything else the game throws at you.  The game plays like any other racing game on the NES of that era, with the player controller their vehicle (in this case a beautifully shaped-butt skier) through a twisting course with other players in the way.  But Slalom ups the difficulty by also throwing trees, snowmen, sledders, and moguls.

The music here, composed by David Wise, does not change between courses, meaning regardless of the course you are on, you will hear this track, so it kind of gets ingrained in your brain.  Unless you give up on the third course after you keep slamming into one of the dozens of kids sledding IN THE MIDDLE OF A SLALOM COURSE!

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
I'm Tired of Screwing Up, I'm Tired of Going Down

MIDI Week Singles: "Ending Theme" - Willow (NES)

 

"Ending Theme" from Willow on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)
Composer: Harumi Fujita
Album: No Official Release
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom

Continuing with the Ending themes for December, I wanted to use this theme from the NES game Willow.  Admittedly, I have only heard this a few times all because a neighbor borrowed the game, wrote down passwords frequently and when he returned the game, also gave me his list of passwords so I could fight Bavmorda any time I wanted to with Willow Ufgood all souped-up with the best equipment.  I never have managed to make it through Willow on my own, which still makes me kind of sad because I find it to be one of the better video game translations of a movie IP.

Kind of similar to the End Theme from Shien's Revenge from last week's MIDI Week Single, the majority of the music here is all new and not taken from earlier moments in the game.  The song does open with a slightly creepy motif that is reminiscent of the music in Tir Asleen and possibly Nokmaar Castle but at least it is keeping in theme with the rest of the music in the game.  The music is very victorious, suiting to this end of Willow's journey as the player is shown locations throughout the world that they explored while questing to save Elora Danan and defeat Bavmorda.  Then as the screen changes back to Willow's home village of Nelwyn and the credits thank Lucas Arts and Capcom, the music transitions to Elora Danan's theme from the film.  This is the only time that the music from the film is used in the game and it only lasts seven seconds, but it is right before the end of the song, so that is what sticks in my head as the song ends.

Ahh!  I love it.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Tomorrows Turmoil Tonight

MIDI Week Singles: "Title Theme" - The Immortal (NES)

"Title Theme" from The Immortal on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)
Composer: Rob Hubbard
Album: No Official Release
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Sandcastle

It has been a long long while since I last played The Immortal on the NES.  I recall seeing the game in the pages of Nintendo Power and it wasn't until I purchased the game used from G&G in the Mall that I actually got to play the game.  Sort of.  Long story short, I still have the cartridge somewhere and I still do not think that I ever made much further than shortly after the first goblin.

So I decided to use the music that plays during the opening titles, which kind of comes across as your stereotypical medieval peasantry song that would play in an open-air market where you could buy a flagon of ale and roasted quail.  This song would not be out of place were it to have been used in either Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves or Willow video games.  What is great about this song being the title theme, is that it does not really represent the overall tone for the game which is a lot darker and more sinister than this jovial tune.  But that in part is what makes this song so great!  At least in my head anyway.

So nice job Rob Hubbard!  See, you are not just a one-trick pony, writing songs for skateboarding video games.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian

The World Today Seems Absolutely Crackers

MIDI Week Singles: "Unused Track" - Silent Service (NES)

"Unused Track" from Silent Service on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)
Composer: David Wise
Album: No Official Release
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Rare

If you have ever played or watched someone play through Silent Service on the NES, you will have noticed that there is very little music in the game.  There is the opening title track, then there is a Morse Code inspired ditty when you are entering your name at the end of a mission.  That is it.  On the NES cart however, there are nine unused compositions by Rare's David Wise.

After listening to all of the unused tracks, something about this unused track stuck out to me as the most interesting.  There are really only two sections in the song.  There is the intro which is really what drew me in, and then at 0:18 where it gets kinda Baroque-y and may not be out of place in a either a Castlevania or Shadowgate game, to how well the song loops back in on itself, it is interesting to realize that the whole song is only 30 seconds long.

That is really all I can and have to say about this song.  It is a song that a lot of people who have played Silent Service may not have heard, and we are all about sharing good music here.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Stage 3: Cadillac Heights" - Robocop 3 (NES)

"Stage 3: Cadillac Heights" from Robocop 3 on the Nintendo Entertainment System

Composer: Jeroen Tel

Album: No Official Release

Publisher: Ocean Software

Developer: Probe Software

With all of the posts about movies this last week, I thought it appropriate to feature music from a game that was based on a movie.  Because for some reason movie/game tie-ins never seem to be as successful as the movie, likewise with movies that are based on video games.  Unless you are talking about Willow on the NES, that was a great game based on, in my humble opinion, a great movie.  But we are here to talk about the untitled "Stage 3: Cadillac Heights" from Robocop 3 which I first came across during my time with #AllTheNESMusic.

Now, I have never played Robocop 3 (or any of the games in the Robocop franchise), so after watching a playthrough of the game I was a little saddened by how muted the music is in the game.  I had first thought that maybe the music volume was turned down, but before starting the game, you are given the option to play with the music on or off.  So it just appears that the music volume in-game is not very loud and gets pushed into the background once guns start blazing.  But since Robocop isn't called Cuddlecop, I guess it does make sense to sacrifice the volume of the music for sound effects.

With "Stage 3: Cadillac Heights," what I like about the song is that it does not give off any Robocop vibes, but it does sound very 80s.  Had this song been recorded with an army of synthesizers and not just a MIDI keyboard (or essentially a MIDI keyboard) .  The song is quite bouncy, which kind of works in this stage when you get to use the jetpack so movement becomes a bit floaty.  What "Stage 3: Cadillac Heights" does have, at least to me, is a metropolis feel to it.  Based on the name alone, Cadillac Heights sounds like it is supposed to either be an upperclass neighborhood, a neighborhood that used to be upperclass before it fell into disrepair, or that it was always a slum that had an upperclass name slapped on it.    Or I am just wrong altogether; I guess my lack of Robocop lore is showing a bit.  For me, something about the staccato-ness of the melody, that there are no sustained notes anywhere in this song, comes across that things happen quickly in dystopian Detroit.  Almost as if Metropolis in Sim City were to take on a dystopian future, there would still be a hint of what the city used to be like.

That is what I hear in this song anyway.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Machine Infected System Controlling

MIDI Week Singles: "Area 3 - The Jungle" - Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES)

"Area 3 - The Jungle" from Dragon Spirit: The New Legend on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)
Composer: Masakatsu Maekawa
Album: No Official Release
Publisher: Namco / Bandai
Developer: Now Production

Another great song discovered during the earlyish days of #AllTheNESMusic!

Now, if you are going to have a video game where you control a dragon in what is essentially a bullet hell airplane shooter a la 1942 where the dragon you control is able to spawn additional heads to spew greater fire and death upon your foes, you are going to need some pretty epic music to go with the cover art.  Now, the majority of Masakatsu Maekawa's music for the game is not nearly as grand or epic as I was either wanting or expecting, but the music for the third area, The Swamp, for me is where it all shines!

This song, at least to me, sounds quintessentially '80s.  Maybe it is just the beginning vamping intro?  The only way I could see this song being any better, is if the intro harmony was incorporated into the melody during the second time the melody is played (around 0:41).  But with the limitations of the NES sound chip, and it being 1989, maybe that would be asking too much?

And while I do not think that this song is particularly swamp-like, it is a pretty great song that does capture what it might feel like to be a multi head sprouting dragon trying to thwart the evil whims of the demon Zawel.  Lastly, this is the first time that I have come across Masakatsu Maekawa's name, but I am interested to see what else they have composed.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental*

*I personally find this arrangement/conducting by Michael Kamen to be performed too slow for my taste.  I much prefer Sir George Solti's conducting of this song.

MIDI Week Singles: "Labyrinth/Boss Theme" - Fire 'N Ice (NES)

"Labyrinth/Boss Theme" from Fire 'n Ice* on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1993)

Composer: Ryuichi Nitta

Album: No Official Release

Publisher: Tecmo

Developer: Tecmo

I have a two fold reason for picking this song for today.  The first, is because I find this boss music to a puzzle game to be to the point of what the melody is trying to get to and is not overly complicated.  The entire song only lasts 29 seconds before it begins to loop, and the theme is easily singable.  The second reason is just silly, being that A Song of Ice and Fire a la HBO's Game of Thrones is now officially over.

I saw the title for the song listed as a couple of different names, but I decided on "Labyrinth Theme" since the first boss you go up against at the end of World 1 tells you that you have to solve the labyrinth, and it is used during the final boss battle, hence the "Boss Theme" part.

That is really it.  Another case of wanting to share a song that I apparently do not have a whole lot to say about, most likely because I have never played Fire 'n Ice and therefore have nothing additional to add other than the fact that I like this song.  But if you do like this track and want to hear more from Ryuichi Nitta, go give the music from the first two Ninja Gaiden games a go.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Isn't He A Bit Like You And Me?

MIDI Week Singles: "Stage 2: Lightning Speed" - Bad Dudes (NES)

"Stage 2: Lightning Speed" from Bad Dudes on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)

Composer: Azusa Hara & Hiroaki Yoshida

Album: No Official Album Release

Publisher: Data East USA

Developer: Data East

You know, there is a fair amount going on in this song, and in each section, the melody is memorable enough that they could stand on their own.

However, even with how great the music is, how it is used in the game might seem a bit odd.  In the second stage, Blade/Striker ride atop a moving semi-truck down the highway as enemy ninjas attack from all sides.  On paper, this music does seem like it would work perfectly, even the name of the track fits in with the concept of the stage.  How the stage actually plays on the NES though is the complete opposite.  In the arcade, the same song is used, although the sound quality is a lot "tinnier" and more in the background, which makes sense when you consider that arcades are not typically where you would go to to listen to video game music, what with all of the competing sounds.  Even the level is nearly identical in its speed, with the screen slowly creeping from the right to the left.

Or maybe that was the original point of this song moving faster than the level?  With how slow the stage moves from right to left, revealing more of the truck a chunk of pixels at a time, that this music was used to instill a sense of speed that the level design either did not or could not do?  This is of course all just speculation.

I would recommend just sitting back, turning up the volume, play this song with a fan blowing in your face and you are all set to be a bad enough dude!

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Da!

MIDI Week Singles: "Bonus Stage" - Balloon Fight (NES)

"Bonus Stage" from Balloon Fight on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1985)
Composer: Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka
Album: No Official Album Release
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo Research & Development 1

I promise you that I am not using another song from Hirokazu Tanaka because I am just going through his catalogue.  Most of the time with #AllTheNESMusic, I am not paying attention to the composer if I do not already know the game, so when I decided to use Balloon Fight, I was surprised, but not, to find out that it was "Hip" Tanaka who had written the music.

Now, I've played Balloon Fight a bit on various platforms (Arcade cabinet, NES, Ultimate NES Remix, NES Mini, NES Online), and while I find most of the music to be fairly standard early '80s arcade style music, although more developed than Donkey Kong, it is not until the music that plays during the short bonus round that I am more than interested.

Now, with the short length of the bonus stages, even if you manage to miss every single balloon, will only last maybe 30-45 seconds which is just under the length of the song before it loops back to the beginning.  And the last five seconds or so of the song too is where the awesome doop sounding drum/tom-tom solo is.  I don't know why none of the video game cover bands I am familiar with have not yet covered it, but at least there are like minded people who have gone ahead and made a cover.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Who Is Fast and Thorough and Sharp as a Tack

MIDI Week Singles: "Act 2: The River Smurf", & "Act 8: The Sledge Race" - The Smurfs (NES)

"Act 2: The River Smurf" & "Act 8: The Sledge Race" from The Smurfs on the Nintendo Entertainment System [PAL] (1994)

Composer: Alberto Jose Gonzalez

Album: No Official Release

Publisher: Infrogames

Developer: Bit Managers

You would think by this point in my #AllTheNESMusic I should not be surprised by music from games that I have never heard of and would initially think I would not like.  The music from The Smurfs, which was never released on the NES in North America, fit very much into the brain folder of music that I had pre-maturely written off as I pulled it up on YouTube.  When this track ended, being the second song I listened to, I had paused the music to do some work stuff while at work (I had headphones plugged in), I realized that I was thinking about this song, and humming/whistling it while walking back to my desk.  Again, I kind of wrote off this one song as being the oddly catchy song for an otherwise children oriented game, but then song after song kept being good.

Now, part of my appreciation for the music (and this song in particular) could have been from the fact that I had zero expectations when I first started listening, but I do genuinely feel like, not only this song, but a lot of the soundtrack as a whole, is in fact really good.  It was a little difficult nailing down just one song from the soundtrack to use for today's MIDI Week Single, but do not be surprised at all if I decide to pull another song and use it in the coming weeks/months.  Because I can guarantee you that it will happen, it is now just a matter of when.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Title Screen" - Anticipation (NES)

"Title Screen" from Anticipation on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1988)
Composer: David Wise
Album: No Official Release
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo

When I was going through #AllTheNESMusic, the music immediately brought back feelings of nostalgia.  When I looked, I thought the box was familiar, and then I watched a gameplay video of Anticipation and it all clicked.  Kind of.  I know I played this game a lot, probably over summer vacation while at the house my Grandparents would rent that had an NES, and the video store only had a limited stock, so I think that is where this memory originates.

The other thing that surprised me, was that this was developed by Rare and that David (Dave) Wise wrote the music.  There might be hints of Diddy Kong Racing or Battletoads, although this music is probably more closely related to Snake Rattle 'n' Roll.  But maybe that is just hindsight working?

But for me, this song, as bouncy and catchy as I find it to be, is based heavily in nostalgia, although the rest of the music in the game did not quite strike the same chord.  For me, it is all about this title track, that sadly ends up getting skipped over faster than most of the other songs.  And there really is not more to this song than the memories it brought up before being able to fully recall the game, and just look at that cover!  Sure I used the Korean cover, but the only difference between that and the North American cover, is that there is Korean on the Korean cover.  Don't we all wish NES games were that much fun?  And aren't we all thankful that, for the most part, playing video games at home is nothing like that cover.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Stage Theme: Dr. Jekyll" - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NES)

"Stage Theme: Dr. Jekyll" from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)

Composer: Michiharu Hasuya

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Advance Communication Co.

Another game that I have never played, but piqued my interest during my #AllTheNESMusic days.  I can recall seeing the box art at Placer, but never even thought of renting the game as I had no knowledge of the story aside from it existing.  Plus the cover art is, well. . ., it is just kind of weird, especially to a 10 year old kid who is looking to see if Mega Man III has been released yet or not.

While not necessarily spooky, which is something that we sometimes like to aim for in the month of October, it is quirky and kind of odd, and by that perspective, potentially unsettling.  Perhaps fitting for the mind of Dr. Jekyll?  Something simmering there below the surface that might crop up at any time to take control and. . .kill bees apparently; again, I have not played the game but from what I have read, you can kill bees with your cane while as Mr. Hyde.

Remember kids, bees are our friends.  Don't be like Mr. Hyde, on more than one level.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Menu" - Greg Norman Golf Power (NES)

"Menu" from Greg Norman Golf Power on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1992)

Composer: Barry Leitch

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Gremlin Interactive

I decided upon this track for two reasons.

But, before I get to all of that claptrap, let us just take a moment to appreciate that this long, long song, is just the menu music to a golfing game.  The song plays for more than two and-a-half minutes before it repeats.  Granted, quantity over quality is kind of an issue here in that it sounds like composer Barry Leitch tried to cram too much music into what the NES sound chip could handle, but at least it is not an unlistenable mess.  Or at least I do not think so, but it probably helps having grown up listening to music on the NES.

So, the first for chosing "Menu" was that I was not expecting to like either of the two songs from Mr. Norman's Golf Power when it came up during my #AllTheNESMusic sessions.  I had this preconception because I felt, or at least recalled that golf games of old did not really focus too much on music (although I seem to recall that Golf on the Gameboy had some halfway decent tunes).  And to be honest with y'all, Greg Norman looks to be a bit of a square (but I could be very wrong on that front) who was not pining for some rocking tunes, so I would not expect some high quality Yasunori Mitsuda music to have been commissioned.  And from what I have gathered from various online sources, Greg Norman's Golf Power was not the best golfing game to come out of the NES era of games.

Secondly, and mostly influential, is the fact that I agreed to play in a charity golf game today, representing our office/company.  I used to play golf semi-regularly back when I lived in California but after moving up to the PNW, I have only played once in the last seven years.  And that one game was at a small 12 hole chip-and-putt.  The point is, because I am re-experiencing the game of golf again, I am going to share that with you all via some music from a 26 year old video game.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconain

It's All or Nothing at All

MIDI Week Singles: "Title Theme" - Journey to Silius (NES)

"Title Theme" from Journey to Silius on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)

Composer: Naoki Kodaka

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Sunsoft

I guess the story about hour Journey to Silius started out is interesting enough (and short enough) to share here.  Apparently it started out as a movie tie-in for The Terminator but Sunsoft lost the licensing rights part way through development, and so Journey to Silius was born.  Unsure when Naoki Kodaka was brought on to write the music, I guess it is open to say how the music composed for this game might have changed had the movie rights been retained.

But what we have here is a Mega Man-esque title theme that is full of energy, catchy, and has a complex (at least to my ears) drum set up.  Even the gameplay is similar in its run-and-gunness that the title theme alone is able to capture.  A lot of the music that plays during each stage fits in well with the style of play well too, but I feel like it never reaches that same level of excitement that I felt when I first heard the title track.  Even a number of the metal/rock covers manage to recreate that feeling.

My only criticism of this song is at 0:43, when the song slows down for a bit, I want there to to be bass drum beats on the eighth notes with a snare hit on 3, until about 0:54 when the song picks back up again.  But that's just a minor criticism.

What I think my biggest takeaway from today's post, is that I apparently really enjoy Naoki Kodaka's music.  I guess I need to look into more games developed by Sunsoft.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

In the Horizon of the Sky

MIDI Week Singles: "Main - Summer" - Gemfire (NES)

"Main - Summer" from Gemfire on the Nintendo Entertainment System* (1991)

Composer: Yoshiyuki Ito, Masumi Ito

Album: No Official Album Release**

Developer: Koei

So a couple of housekeeping bits before I get to the music.  

*Gemfire was released on a lot of systems.  Some systems I hadn't even heard of like the Sharp X68000 and the FM Towns, before writing this article.  And of course it was released on other known systems like MS-DOS, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, and Sega Genesis.  Not having the time to attempt to listen to all of the variations of "Main - Summer" I decided to simply list the NES as the primary system.

**Secondly, apparently there were no credits revealing who the composer or sound programmer was for Gemfire, but the "KOEI Original BGM Collection Vol.7 Sangokushi III / Super Royal Blood" lists both Yoshiyuki Ito and Masumi Ito as composers for the SNES version of the game.  This is also where I got the title for the song as a lot of other places have it labeled as "Strategy in Summer" which does sound a bit more of an official title than "Main - Summer," but I decided to stick with what was listed on the soundtrack.

Now, on with the music.

A lot of the music in the NES version of Gemfire was quite catchy, but it wasn't until "Main - Summer" came up that I really began to pay attention.  And then I played it again because I had felt like I was listening to multiple songs followed by a reprise.  Only at the 1:35 mark does the song repeat, which is somewhat impressive for 1991 NES.  

Each of the three sections of the song too are all interesting in their own right.  There is the first and most distinct melody happening around the 0:09 mark, which shouldn't be a surprise that it is also my favorite part of the song.  The next section which begins around 0:36 which to me sounds like an extended transition to the third section at about 1:05.  For whatever reason this third section reminds me a lot of music from The Secret of Mana and wouldn't sound at all out of place in an 8-bit version of that game.  As for how the song captures the essence of summer in a tactics game, I cannot say for sure.  Maybe if the song was able to radiate more heat?  It does work on its own however.

So maybe the inclusion of  "Main - Summer" in the MIDI Week Singles is in part because of its catchiness, and a bit of nostalgia.  Also watching videos of the game in all of its tactic-ness really makes me want to get back into Tactics Ogre, because I never finished that game.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
In the Moment of Visceral Haze

MIDI Week Singles: "Production" - Conflict (NES)

"Production"* from Conflict on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)

Composer: Michiharu Hasuya

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Vic Tokai

When I began listening to the music from Conflict, some of it sounded familiar, but not so familiar that I could place it.  Then the music for when the player enters the production screen to build up their army, my ears perked up and summers spent during the early '90s came flooding back.  In short, Conflict is a turn based strategy game akin to Advance Wars.

I borrowed Conflict a lot from Dellaños and I am 94.7% positive that I watched him play it at his place as well as at my parents.  I am pretty sure we played against each other, often with someone wanting to pick the Red Team since they had what we felt were the superior MiGs, which I believe was typically Player 2. 

Realizing that this song is only 14 seconds long was a bit of a surprise, and if anything, shows you that the developers probably did not expect people to be on the production screen for longer than 30 seconds.  Not being the brilliant strategist, I know I spent a lot of time looking at the production screen, trying to determine which units to produce, weighing my options as far as cost, production time, and overall power of the unit.  I probably spent more time on this screen than what might be considered strategic, if only because I would second guess my choices, as well as trying to plan ahead thinking about what better options I could have if I only had more resources.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Everyone Knows All About My Direction


*P.S. I should also mention that "Production" is not the official title of the song.  Since there was no official soundtrack (that I could find) I was likewise unable to find any official track names, so I went with what I found in the manual for the game, which on page 11 talks about the production of units, so that was the title I decided to go with.

MIDI Week Singles: "Boss Battle 1" - G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (NES)

"Boss Battle 1" from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1991)

Composer: Nobuyuki Shioda

Album: No Official Release

Developer: KID

If you happen to be in the United States, or are a citizen of this country, then I guess this song applies to however you want it to apply to whatever you want it to apply to.  Because 'murica! and because it is presently our Independence Day!

Not having ever played this game despite having watched a fair amount of the G.I. Joe cartoon as a wee kid, and played the board game quite a bunch, the NES game never seemed to interest me for whatever reason.  So when I came upon the music earlier last week during my #AllTheNESMusic listening, I thought that using for today would be appropriate.  I also thought that as boss music, it works, but at the same time, doesn't(?).  

It works in that, to me, it sounds very much like boss (or at the very least) mini-boss style music.  There is a franticness to the melody that clearly states it is not intended for your basic stage or level, but for fighting a single strong enemy in a single screen.  I do not know how or why I feel this is the case, but that is what it sounds like to me.  However, I feel that it does not quite work in that the melody itself seems kind happy go-lucky, but not in the same insanity way that "Majora's Incarnate Battle" did in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.  But that melody only lasts for about 13 seconds before it goes into a frantic "Get Out of THERE!" section that plays for another 15 seconds before the song repeats.  But I really think that that 13 seconds of where the melody is the strongest is where and why the song holds together, which is why I find it so catchy.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

And You Never Need A Guy To Guide You

MIDI Week Singles: "Title Theme" - Flying Warriors (NES)

"Title Theme" from Flying Warriors on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1991)

Composer: Akinori Sawa

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Culture Brain

I felt that it was fitting to feature another piece of music I discovered while delving into the #AllTheNESMusic (as referenced in Monday's article).  This one really surprised me, especially after looking at that wonderful cover there.  What I was not expecting was a theme that reminded me a lot, especially in tone and instrumentation as opposed to melody, to Craig Safan's theme for The Last Starfighter, or Alan Silvestri's theme for Back to the Future.  You know, some might even say that there is some of John Williams' Star Wars in there, but I feel like this is more fantastic and less operatic, but that is just me; bloody hell that sounds snobby (hold on, my glasses fell down my nose).

While listening to the rest of the music from Flying Warriors, it was really nice to hear this main theme sprinkled throughout the rest of the soundtrack, to remind the player that, "While these warriors do apparently tend to walk around a lot, they're still FLYING WARRIORS!!  So you watch out Demonyx!"

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Guide the Hidden Way