I've been working on this F-Zero entry for quite a while. The timing is completely appropriate for me as I'm currently on my annual summer road trip of performing, teaching, and (now) vacation. I've listened to the F-Zero soundtrack a few times while driving and it makes a really cool aural experience while on the interstate. I've also listened to it when running-- it's almost the perfect length for me to run two miles and it feels really great to hear the end game music start up as I finish my run. Overall, an awesome soundtrack for this game-- which was one of the titles available when the SNES was first shipped.
One of my favorite videos about F-Zero music is a YouTube upload by "Dr. Mario" and displays the SNES channels. In this video, you hear the Port Town music loop and the audio channels are added in various combinations. This allows you to hear exactly what each channel adds to the mix. Very cool-- give this a listen! This is a video I show in my game music class.
The composers for this music are simply listed as "staff" in the game credits: Yumiko Kanki and Naoto Ishida. Yumiko also worked on the music for Star Fox 2. I don't find much information about Naoto Ishida or Yumiko Kanki and would love to know more about either of them.
Amount of music versus gameplay...
One question I wondered was a comparison of the amount of music and the length of the race tracks. The first track, Mute City, is 55 seconds long and the track takes around 2:15 to complete. The final level, Fire Field, takes just over 3 minutes to complete and has about 85 seconds of music. In both cases, that's about a 40% ratio of music to gameplay level. In other words, as a player, you'll hear just over two loops of the music before you've completed the level. Unlike a platform game like Super Mario Bros, where many various actions reset the music, aside from jumping off the track or blowing up and dying, you're likely to hear the entire music track through just over twice in these levels.
Soundtrack in detail
The soundtrack has just under 11 minutes of music (656 sec). This is on the low side of the end of NES game music lengths. No discernible key center. These notes were made using this soundtrack.
-Title screen: 12 sec. Eb major. Short loop.
-Zoom: 3 sec. Eb-F gliss to Db-Eb.
-Start: 4 sec. Three slides to D, go is up to F.
-Mute City: 55 sec. C minor. Intro-vamp, repeat, A A B C (5). Intro-vamp only repeats once in loop.
-Big Blue: 59.5 sec. Bb minor (Picardy third). A A A' (melody) B (Picardy third) C C' C''. Reminds me of Mega Man-- is it the bVI-V and sounds of the C sections? Variations over a loop.
-Sand Ocean: 57.5 sec. B minor. A(14) B C(10). Hemiola in C. Compound meter. Reminds me of 7th Saga-- is it the sounds used?
-Death Wind: 57.5 sec. Ab minor. A A' A'' B C(9). Variations that build. Never thought about how this has a blowing sound in the track. Sounds like breathing into a mic-- cool! Always loved this music as kid.
-Silence: 50 sec. Eb major? B major? I hear this in two different keys, A in Eb and B in B. A(2+12) B12. First 2 of A don't repeat in the loop. 9th chords rule! This is definitely one of my favorite tracks in the game!
-Select Time: 12.5 sec. Db major. Simple Db-Cmin-Db6/4 progression.
-Red Canyon: 60 sec. F minor--> G minor. (Vamp 4) A A' A'(4) B B'(6) Variations over a bass.
-White Land I: 52.5 sec. Eb minor. Intro (6) A A'(4) B B B
-Port Town: 60 sec. C# minor. A A' (add octave) B C D D'.
-White Land II: 57 sec. D minor. Intro (6+8) A A' (countermelody) B. First 6 of intro don't repeat in the loop. Variations over a bass.
-Fire Field: 85 sec. F minor. Intro A (32) A' (18) B (16). I hear this in big chunks, not smaller sections. Reminds me of Maniac Mansion. As if improvising melody over bass (variations over bass).
-Lost Life: 2.5 sec. C# minor.
-Ending: 28 sec. A minor. A B.
Excited for today's entry on my first SNES game in My Gaming Audio History and this next period of SNES games (and a couple more GameBoy and computer games mixed in as well). First of all, I've been doing a bit of research into the differences between the NES and the SNES in terms of audio capabilities. The SNES had 8 channels in comparison to the 4 channels plus the sample channel of the NES. The SNES also allowed for 16-bit music versus the 8-bit of the NES, so a significant step up. You can read more about the technical aspects of the SNES on its wikipedia page.
Super Mario World shipped with the SNES and I'm sure we got it as part of the release pack. As best I can remember, we got this for Christmas when my parents had finished adding on a bonus room with stereo and space for my brother and I to play games out of the living room. I've played SMW many times through both as a kid and as an adult. I bought it for the Wii a few years ago and played it completely through, which I'm not ever sure I'd done before. Still, though, with all this playing, I learned this from my study of it-- notably, the fact that you can hear the original Super Mario Bros music on Star Road. Cool musical easter egg.
Now on to the music...
Unity of musical themes
I always watch a longplay of the games I study in addition to listening and analyzing their soundtracks and usually embed the longplay as I think it's generally best to hear the game audio in the context of the game. However, in this case, I was so intrigued by realizing that Super Mario World has a musical theme throughout it, I made a video to explore that musical theme and its uses in the game. Ta da!
Koji Kondo is such a mastermind and genius, no? I couldn't find anything where he specifically comments on his work with Super Mario World, but here's a great interview where he talks about composing for games and his history in the game audio industry.
Layering
Layering is a really important part of game audio. In short, I'd define it as the addition of sound/music to reflect a change in gameplay state. It's much more clear to hear than it is to read about; plus, it just so happens that the classic example I show of layering to my game audio class is from Super Mario World.
The layering in this game involves Yoshi. When you jump on Yoshi, an additional audio channel activates and drums are added to the musical mix. If you jump off Yoshi, the drumming stops. This is different from getting a star where the current music is completely usurped for the invincibility theme. In the case of jumping on Yoshi, another layer is simply added into the musical mix (hence the name, layering). Yoshi layering is possible in all of the levels where you can take Yoshi: Overworld, Athletic, Underworld, and Water world. You can't take Yoshi into castles or ghost houses, so there's no layering possible there. Note as well: one themes always has Yoshi drumming sounds, even though Yoshi isn't present: the bonus levels/switch worlds.
Soundtrack notes
Two things really stand out to me about this soundtrack. One is that it seems to be very much in the key of C major, as do all the Super Mario games before it. Much of the game is spent in C, but also G and F. The very end of the game is fascinating with its "truck driver modulation" up a half step for the last sections. Overall, with the way ending theme here goes through different feels, double time vs slow, and building voices on the repeat of various sections, it feels very much to me like the finale to a musical.
Secondly, the Castle music stands out to me as a bit schizophrenic compared with the rest of the tracks. The first section, in F minor, which uses the SMW theme, is 103 BPM. It doesn't repeat in the loop. The second section, in C minor, is 126 BPM and is the only section of the piece that repeats. I wondered, considering that these were different keys and tempos, if these were at one point two separate track ideas that were combined into the same track.
The game has 17 minutes of music. Interestingly, not so much beyond the amount of the last NES games! Here are my detailed notes. These notes were compiled using this soundtrack.
-Title screen: 41.5 sec. G major. Intro (2) A B C. Regular, simple, classical form.
-Castle Clear: 12.5 sec. C major. I-IV-iv-I-ii-V. Ends on V to emphasize the "keep going" feel.
-Yoshi's Island: 10 sec. C major. Short loop. Gives tonic after the "Castle clear music."
-Overworld: 41 sec. F major. Intro (3) A B (4) A' (4) C (4)
-Underworld: 43 sec. F major (bit of minor thrown in). Intro vamp (4) A B (4). Intro vamp is shortened to 2 bars when it loops. Shares thematic similarities with the Overworld music, both A and B sections, particularly B is obvious.
-Course clear: 7 sec. F major. Short I-V7/IV-IV-iv-V6/4-V-I progression.
-Donut Plains/Chocolate Island: 13 sec. C major. Short, regular, simple, classical loop.
-Bonus level: 33 sec. F major. Related to Overworld, in both A and particularly B section. Intro (2+4) A B(4) A. Second 4 of intro repeat with the loop.
-Bonus level clear: 3 sec loop that plays on the end of the Bonus level music giving a cadence in F.
-Switch: 2.5 sec oscillation between C major and Db major. Speeds up during the switch, which lasts 12.5 sec.
-Athletic: 36 sec. C major. Intro (1+8) A B A' Ragtime, stride piano feel. Related to Overworld, A and B. First bar (fanfare) doesn't repeat in the loop.
-Invincibility: 3 sec. Same D min7 C maj 7 loop as earlier games. Drum beat.
-Castle: 107 sec. F minor--> C minor. Intro (1+Vamp 4) A A' (10) B (new vamp) B' B'' (12). Only the B sections repeat in the loop. Uses the overworld motive mainly in the F minor section, but also more subtly in the C minor section. Were these two different pieces??? F minor section 103 BPM, C minor section 126 BPM.
-Castle boss: 52 sec. C major. C major- Db major oscillation or F minor to F# major oscillation. Form: Intro 1+ Vamp (4) A (8) Vamp + obligato (4) A(8) First intro bar doesn't repeat in the loop.
-Castle clear: 8 sec. F major. Based on overworld theme.
-Egg rescued: 4 sec. C major. Ends on a half cadence. Leads to Castle clear.
-Underwater: 49 sec. F major. Intro (2+4) A A' B A''(4). 6/8. Based on overworld theme.
-Ghost house: 47 sec. 89 sec. B minor--> A minor--> G minor. Intro vamp (2+8) A(6) A'(6) A''(6). Incomplete in the soundtrack linked version, hence the new link.
-Vanilla Dome: 21. 5 sec. D major? Feels as if it teeters between major and minor mode because of the motion to bIII. Intro (2) A.
-Forest of Illusion: 15 sec. G major. I hear this in G because of the Eb-D motion toward the end of the loop. Thus the loop doesn't start on topic.
-Boswer's Castle: 11 sec. Tritones. Chromatic. Short, simple loop.
-Star Road: 11 sec. Short loop. Same D min7 C maj7 vamp as the "invincibility music," but with an added rhythmic element. Fascinating that the rhythmic loop takes the same time as the star's invincibility in the first SMB game. Almost as long as the invincibility in this game (15 sec)
-Special Zone: 14 sec loop. C major/ D minor, same as star music... then, after clearing all the worlds, then the music changes after 2 loops and plays SMB overworld theme A B and C over a similar vamp. (87 sec loop). Awesome use of previous material. Musical easter egg!
-Life Lost: 3 sec. C major.
-Game over: 5 sec. F major. Nice use of extended harmonies! Jazzy!
-Bowser: 75 sec. E? Lots of tritones. I hear this as an E home base. Intro (accelerates)- Vamp(A)-Vamp+Melody(A')-B
-Rescue Princess: 16 sec. D-->G major. Big build up of a V-I.
-End game: 4:10. C major--> Db major. Synced with onscreen action. Builds, rather than simple repeats. Only A''' and A'''' repeat exactly as they are, and crescendo both times. FORM: Vamp (2) A A'(countermelody, voice change) B A'' (added voice) A''' A'''' Tag (4) A(slow 4 pause while Yoshi's hatch+4) A (double time feel) A' (dt) B(dt) B(dt, voice change) A(dt) A (dt bars 7-8 slow) A''' A'''' (10, 9-10 repeat two measures, key change) A'''' (in Db) Tag (4 in Db, with ending). Could reduce maybe 30 sec for repeated music.
This is a rather long entry, but contains a lot of information. If you're new to the blog or a regular reader, I highly suggest taking your time and reading. There's a lot of insight and information below as I analyze the NES games in My Gaming Audio History, a journey I've come to the end of after over a year. Next up, SNES games... but for today, the last of my musings and analysis of the NES era audio.
I've been taking some time to think about what I learned by studying the music (and audio) to these NES games that I played growing up. Not only have I been wondering about results of my study and what I've learned so far, but I've been asking myself fundamental questions like: why is the NES era so fascinating to me, and why am I studying game music? It's this final question that I'm going to start with now...
For one, I've always played games. I've also played the piano as well as several other musical instruments. I've already written about the connections I see between playing games and playing musical instruments, particularly my life and career as a pianist. Yet, recently I've thought of another reason that games study is so appealing to me. My partner is a very successful opera singer and is traveling the world roughly half of the year. I'm at home... my connection with his work is in preparing him for those roles and performances. After that initial step, then he leaves and is gone for months working on the projects in fabulous places around the country (the last year took him to France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and Holland, for instance). I've begun to realize that games are not just nostalgic, but also a way for me to go to exotic locations and hear amazing sounds right from my living room. I think this "away from where I am" aspect is a big part of the draw in studying game audio for me. It's a way to travel anywhere and hear new sounds from my life at home.
Continuing in reverse order, why is the NES era so fascinating to me? And, it's not just me! Many other folks love the 8-bit era above all other game audio times. One thing is that the NES was nearly universal-- it had such a huge market share in the 80s that nearly everyone who played games played the NES and could relate to it. Thus, it gives a universal language among people around my age.
Another reason I think the NES era is so fascinating is that with the development of the NES, the era of home gaming was born. One can definitely hear the influence of the arcades (the "ringing" up of your score at the end of Super Mario Bros, for instance, imitates pinball). However, music needed to fill out the audio experience of gaming because it was at home and not in a crowded arcade. Also, your NES was plugged into a TV, which didn't have great speakers, but probably better ones than your computer sound in the 80s! So, there's an influence of what came before (main the arcade/ pinball sound effects) but also better audio quality.
For me, undoubtedly one of the most amazing aspects of game music in the NES era was the lack of precedent. By the time of 16-bit consoles, there were years of game audio history to build on. But the developers of NES games and game audio were in uncharted territory. What should a game sound like? What should a power-up sound like? What should death sound like? What should running out of time sound like? What did music tell the player about the scene and moment in the game? These questions were decided in this era of home gaming in a way that still carries influence today-- and not just because some sounds are exactly the same (finding a treasure in Zelda, for instance), but even more basic parameters. Generally, power-ups rise, death music descends, running out of time speeds up....
By the time of the SNES, my parents had bought another TV and my brother and I were moved into a new room where we could game without using the "family TV." Thus, game audio no longer filled the house in the same way. Thus, games had lost their universality as my parents no longer watched and listened as we played along for hours.
Finally, what have I learned so far? I've already created a chart where I show how the amount of music in NES games increases over time. But what else? Well...
When I started this project, I expected to find a grand key scheme and design in these games. By this I mean: like a great Beethoven symphony, I hoped to find that a game was in a certain key with various tracks in related keys, which were connected by musical (mathematic) significance. I really didn't find much of this. Koji Kondo definitely has key relationships in the Mario Bros games (these games are overwhelmingly in C major), and David Wise has moments of it-- like the E centered RC Pro-Am. However, composers don't do this as much as one might expect.
I also expected to find lots of thematic relationships. By this I mean musical symbolism that occurs by the use of motives that describe feelings, people, places, things, etc... If you need more info, check out my video on Leitmotifs in Final Fantasy 7. I've only just started my SNES research, and am looking forward to writing about it soon, but I can already say that this is more common in SNES games than NES games. Koji Kondo is definitely a leader in this way.
Finally, I'd like to share one unexpected thing I've learned in my NES game study. Admittedly, I feel a little foolish to write that this is unexpected, because I should have realized it, but... Game composers have "sounds" that define them in the same way that Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, etc, have "sounds" that an experienced listener can identify. I definitely can recognize David Wise music, at least on the NES. He has compositional forms as well as sounds that he uses more regularly than another composer might, say Koji Kondo, for instance. And likewise with other composers. This isn't to say that all games by a composer sound exactly the same, but there are similarities that one can come to hear and understand as this music is studied so that even hearing a piece for the first time allows for educated guesses if you're familiar with more of the composer's work. Like I said, I don't know why I didn't expect to find this, but I hadn't thought of it until now and definitely hear it.
So there are my reflections on the last year and a half of game audio study I've been doing. Now, I'm off to the next era; I've already been studying Super Mario World with great delight. Looking forward to the next journey.
My next few posts will be analyzing the data I gathered by examining all these NES games that I played growing up in My Gaming Audio History. I've spent a bit of time creating a chart that describes the amount of music in these 33 NES games (including Wizards and Warriors, whose blog entry has gone missing...).
My thought process when I first started examining these games was that I wanted to find tonal commonalities. In other words, Super Mario Bros would be in the key of C, like some grand musically crafted symphony by Mozart, and all the various music in the game would have tonal significance and relevance. While I do think that Super Mario Bros is in the key of C overall (and in fact, I would argue so are SMB 2 and SMB 3), I didn't find as much tonal planning in that way as I was hoping. As I continued this work, I learned that game composers are often paid by minute of music, and thus also began to note how much music was in a game. Recently, I returned to some of my first entries and added duration calculations as well. Now, I doubt that this early period of game music creation had as strict of a pay scale and calculation as there is now, but still, it's a way to organize the amount of music in a game.
So check out my chart and I'll have a few more reflections after the jump.
As you can see, the amount of music in NES games increased overall through the general "life" of the NES. By this I mean the period from when the NES came out through the release of the SNES, when the NES and game development for the NES was Nintendo's main focus. I had definitely expected to find an increase in amount of music as the importance of music for home systems became more clear and programmers and composers became more crafty with system resources, and am pleased to have the data support it.
A few outliers jump out at me, most notably The Simpsons: Bart vs the Space Mutants, the next to last game I examined. This game has shockingly little music compared with contemporary titles. I believe this is because the game was rushed to release before the SNES came out, much the same as Atari's infamous ET game. Mega Man II also stands out as having quite a bit more music than its contemporaries. This is because of limitations in the way I considered "amount of music" as I describe in detail below. However, to be brief about it here, MM II uses variations and looping transpositions that undoubtedly saved memory, but made for much longer musical loops. These reasons are why it seems to have much more music than contemporary games.
I'm curious as to any trends you notice here. Leave me a comment, if you like. It's really cool for me to see the data expressed in this visual way. Looking forward to blogging some reflections on my NES game study.
*For those particularly interested in details and data... A word about how I calculated the amount of music, which is far from an exact science. I considered the music in the game to be from the start of a loop to the repeat of that loop. In the case of the SMB overworld music, that's a 90 second loop. Now, all of that music isn't brand new, the form of the SMB overworld music is A-B-B-C-A-D-D-C-D. As you can see, there are repeating internal sections of music. However, the whole loop doesn't repeat until after the final D section, so I consider this to be 90 seconds of music. Another easy to visualize case is the SMB star music. It's a much shorter ~2 second loop-- even though that same 2 second loop repeats for the duration of invincibility ~ 10 sec. In that case, because the loop of music contains nothing new after the first two seconds, I only count that as a two second loop. That may seem arbitrary, but I considered the repeat of an entire musical loop to be "amount of music" rather than judging small inner repetitions. I did not include the same musical loop if it was sped up or slowed down, for instance, when you're running out of time in SMB, the same music loop plays faster. Or in Dungeons and Dragons, as you descend in a cave, the music loop slows down and is lowered in pitch. Because these were the same musical loops, transposed up or down or sped up, and then played in completion, I didn't include them in the musical total. However, I did include musical loops that transposed within a loop... If you're thinking that sounds crazy and potentially subjective, I agree. And what of sound effects-- are they music or not??? I'm happy to discuss particular decisions I made and why if you're interested. Having examined these early games in detail, I now see it's very difficult to precisely calculate "how much music" there is. I often wondered if amount of memory might be a more accurate gauge than duration, but I suspect that it too would leave complex questions.
Today's a momentous occasion: the last of the NES games in My Gaming Audio History! Truth be told, I realized that I've skipped a few games that I did play. This realization came about because I went to UM's Engineering library and browsed through old Nintendo Powers and saw old games I had played but forgotten about. Maybe I'll go back and cover those old games eventually, but for today, the last NES game we bought and played: Battletoads.
Battletoads was an awesome game. The two player setting was really well done and my brother and I would return to the NES even after we got our SNES to play this game. I could rock out the first few levels, but I never quite figured out how to jump correctly in the third level underground racing area, so I mostly ended up watching my brother play. I'm not sure if I ever saw him beat it, or watched another friend, but I have seen the final boss before watching on a longplay. Interestingly, I know the music from the third level the best as well because I used to hear it so many times as I tried to get good at that level.
Cool that the first thing you hear is the sound of space travel rather than starting with music...
The composer is David Wise. I came across this Square Enix interview with David Wise and am intrigued by the information about Battletoads. It's not exactly clear, but sounds as if the arcade music was created before the NES or SNES versions. Fascinating because the NES version was released in 1991 and the arcade in 1994, so I'm wondering if this means he just worked on with the more advanced hardware as he composed or ??? More information is needed... In the meanwhile, I'm giving the arcade version a listen as I write, but don't hear any similarities yet.
There are some game audio conventions in place in this game that I've not heard before with a David Wise score. For instance, in all the racing levels, the music speeds up as the level progresses. This, of course, adds tension for the player and heightens the gameplay in a Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros, et al, way. Also, even the sound effects have clever rhythms. Take, for instance, the sound of the defeated boss robot pieces falling apart at the end of the first level. I used to sing this rhythm along with the visuals onscreen as a kid. These touches are small, but clever, and add deeply to the connection between gameplay, visual, and audio.
Little more than 13 minutes of music in this game.
The following detailed notes were made using this soundtrack.
-Title Screen: 90 (ish) sec. A major. Intro (4) A B C(2, intro?) A B B'(transposed) C' (transposed, intro?) Drum vamp. Not clear to me if the end loops indefinitely or eventually cuts off. Awesome opening track that uses repeated material to build familiarity.
-Interlude - The T-Bird: 26 sec. D minor. A A' (melody over bass vamp). This is really 2/4 not, 8/8, as a space saver, but I catalog when the loop repeats as the length, not necessarily musical material.
-Ragnarok's Canyon (Level 1): 66.5 sec. E minor. Awesome, rocking groove. Variations over bass. Irregular phrase shapes.
-Wookie Hole (Level 2): 80 sec. D minor. A6 A'8 B4 B'5 A''4 A'''5 C4 A'''8 D4 E8 E'8 Irregular phrase lengths. Uses downward glissandos to emphasize the descent aspect of the level. Also a series of variations, although there are changes...
-Turbo Tunnel (Level 3): 8 sec. D minor. Short vamp in preparation for the next theme.
-Turbo Tunnel Bike Race: 79 sec. G major. Intro (3) A (9) A'(Intro? 4) A(9) B6 B' B'' uses bII and IV. First bar of intro doesn't repeat.
-Turbo Tunnel Bike Race Extended: nothing new. In game, speeds up.
-Arctic Caverns (Level 4): 50 sec. E minor. A (2+5) A' (4+5) B
-Surf City (Level 5)/ Terra Tubes (Level 9): 57 sec. C minor. A(9) B A' A''(4)
-Karnath's Lair (Level 6): 63 sec. E minor. A(4) A' B B'(4) C
-Volkmire's Inferno (Level 7): 24 sec. Bb major. A B(4). Short, economic loop.
-Volkmire's Inferno Rocket Race: 46 sec. D minor--> D major. 10 sec intro doesn't repeat in loop. Intro -A B (10)
-Intruder Excluder (Level 8): 43.5 sec. C minor. Intro (8) A(6) B(4) C (4). Intro only second 4 repeat. First 4 have "race sounds" over the music.
-Terra Tubes (Unused): 36 sec. E minor. Did not include this in the calculation since it's unused.
-Rat Race (Level 10): 47.5 sec. Eb minor. Intro(4) A B C. Regular loop. Speeds as the race continues.
-Clinger Wingers (Level 11): 19.5 sec. E minor. Intro (6) A(4). Short loop. Rising pitch at the beginning mimics the speeding up of your race.
-The Revolution (Level 12): 69 sec. G minor. Rising keys and falling progressions build tension and uneasiness. A4 A'4 A4 B3 C D12
-Armageddon- Boss Battle: 10 sec. E minor. Typically short boss loop. Brief intro doesn't repeat.
-Level Complete: 2.5 sec. E minor.
-Game Over: 12 sec. F major?
Honestly, this game reminds me of Atari's ET. Bart vs the Space Mutants was incredibly difficult-- I could never beat it and don't remember getting past the museum level ever. The gameplay was also awkward; I couldn't consistently jump over the aliens... ever. And also, the music was just mediocre. But, everyone bought it because it was "The Simpsons," and you had to have that. I mean, the game starts with you as Bart Simpson spray painting things. For a kid, it doesn't get much more awesome than that!
The main question I have at this point... Was this pushed out for a certain release date? My thought process here is that it simply doesn't really compare with other games of this NES era. This is beyond the golden years of the NES, by '91, the SNES had come out and attention was shifting there. Perhaps, then, this answers my own question about a rushed release. In any case, the game has only about 2 minutes (!!!) of music. Two themes within those minutes: the main TV theme composed by Danny Elfman theme and a second theme. All the battle music, lose a life, level restart, end game music... all the rest is reusing bits of the main theme or is simply the main theme. Two minutes of audio is even less than Super Mario Bros, one of the first games for the NES. By now, it seems much more common to have ten or more minutes of music.
One of the coolest parts of the game audio I remember from my youth are the vocal samples of Bart saying "Cool man!" and "Eat my shorts!" The quality of these samples is abysmal, yes, but also bear in mind that NES games really didn't use much spoken word, so it was awesome to hear something in the celebrity voice, period.
After I watched this longplay, I listened to the Genesis version to see if it had better sound and it does, but the music is totally different for that game. The Amiga version also has much better sounding music and is similar to the NES game audio. However, it only uses the first level theme song music, it never varies to a second tune as the NES does. I'm shocked by the small amount of music in this game. I don't know if I ever thought about it as a kid because it was so hard I never played it for that long, but it's kind of embarrassing.... Tetris for Gameboy has more music than this NES game!
The in-game credits list original score material by Mark Van Hecke. If what VGMPF says is true, Mark often wrote music for tv conversions to games where the music "sounds rushed." Audio Engineer is Alex de Meo if you're curious.
Here are my usual notes on the game. Not much to say here because there's not much audio and the quality of it is pretty lacking. These notes were made using this soundtrack.
Title theme: 80 sec. C major--> Db major. Similar form to the TV theme. A set of variations and various keys for the main theme. Literally simply plays itself and ends then restarts. 5 sec intro doesn't repeat in the loop.
Stage 2: 43 sec. F# major. Like jazz solos over a vamp. Intro (4) A A' A'' (in E) A''' (4)
I'm getting to the end of the NES games in My Gaming Audio History-- this is the third to last! What an accomplishment that makes me feel great and want to digest and take pause! And yet, I'm also completely ready to move on to the SNES games so that I can compare them. I've also been thinking about what attracts me to game music study and also what I've learned so far examining these NES games. More on all that another day. For now, The NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (II): The arcade game.
If you watch the credits to this game in the longplay, you'll notice two audio folks mentioned. Sound Design: Y Manno. Music Design: K Nakamura. I've scoured the internet for information on this and it seems that questions remain. Is the music designer Kozo Nakamura or Kiezo Nakamura? More information is necessary to sort this out. Regardless, there are a few common errors in attribution that I can clarify. First of all is that references to the cartoon series tunes need to give credit for Dennis Brown and Chuck Lorre. Also, any references to original arcade game music should go to those composers, Mutshuhiko Izumi and Miki Higashino as I reported in my post on the arcade game. This isn't to downplay what's been done here by Manno and Nakamura, but just to clarify that much of the music was composed by others, even if Mannon and Nakamura arranged it for the NES and composed some new music.
One of my favorite things about the longplay below is that it includes a death scenario. Really awesome to hear the game over music in the context of the game. I wish more longplays also consider "all music heard" as a valid portion of the game demonstration. Not only for my research purposes, but also for the sake of the game and its creators. Here it's cool to hear that the game over music is the same as the arcade version. Equally bizarre that it's also the music that's heard at the end of the game, of course, that's how the arcade ends as well!
Comparing the NES and arcade versions of this game...
Of course the arcade has much better sound than the NES version. It's hardly even able to hold it's own, particularly with the bass sound. The arcade also uses music samples directly fro the TV show, which the NES version obviously couldn't do for memory's sake. Pieces that are reused here, the fire level, Shedder, Krang, boss, and several levels are in the same key and, often, roughly in the same tempo as the arcade version. However, a few are faster on the NES than the arcade. There's also new music for the winter, industrial, and Shogun levels here; ironically one of the most simple pieces musically. Interestingly, the sewer music is different than the arcade sewer music. The arcade also has a second track for fighting on the skateboards that isn't used in the NES game.
Fascinating: this game has almost 10.5 minutes of music, whereas the arcade version has just under 10 minutes (almost a minute less than the NES game). In other words, the faster tempo of a few tracks balances out the addition of a few extra tracks not found in each version. Plus, the ending music is extended to allow for credits, which is shorter in the arcade version. Cool to compare these two games.
The following are my detailed notes on the individual tracks. These notes were compiled using this soundtrack.
-We gotta save April: 9 sec. Db major. Motive from the TV show theme by Chuck Lorre and DC Brown.
-Choose your turtle: 7 sec. C major. Again, theme from TV show.
-Fire: C minor. 44.5 sec. Intro (4+4) A B. Same i-bIII-IV-bVI progression as the theme song. First 4 on intro doesn't repeat in loop. Same key as arcade.
-Boss: 32 sec. A minor. A (12) B (4). Same as arcade.
-Shredder's Introduction: 7 sec. E.
-Streets of New York: 38 sec. C major. Intro (4) A A' B (12). Again, motive from the TV show, i-bIII-IV-bVI. Intro doesn't repeat in the loop. Same key as arcade.
-To the sewers: 1.5 sec. A major.
-Sewers: 41.5 sec. A minor. Intro (4) A Intro (2) B. Chord planing upward at the end that increases tension and craziness. Don't hear a connection between the arcade and the NES here.
-Tonight I dine on turtle soup: 6.5 sec. A minor.
-Winter's here: 30.5 sec. D minor. A B. Simple form. 1 bar intro doesn't repeat.
-Spring's here: 3.5 sec. B major. TMNT motive.
-Parking lot: 40.5 sec. Db major. A B(10). TMNT motive. Same as arcade.
-Kiss: 2 sec. Whole tone pattern.
-Skate on: 40 sec. C major. Intro (4) A B (7). Same as arcade "freeway."
-Industrial district: 30 sec. E major. A B C. A section seems unrelated with B and C!
-Let's head up: 3.5 sec. Db major.
-Shogun: 20.5 sec. D minor. Intro (1) A B(4). Uses the "hero's in a half shell" motive.
-It's the technodrome: 6 sec. E minor. Virtually the same as arcade.
-Technodrome: 48.5 sec. E minor. Intro (4+4) A B (10). Same as arcade.
-Invincible Krang: 36.5 sec. Intro bar plus, 11 measures, then transposed same 11 measures. Simple progression: I-bVII-bVI-V, first in F, then Ab. Intro bar doesn't loop. Virtually the same as arcade.
-Shredder: 33 sec loop, shortened 4 sec introduction from earlier in the game. E minor. Intro (4) A12 A' B(11) Schizophrenic sound, especially with the way the "Shedder intro" bits come in the middle of the track." Virtually the same as the arcade version. Virtually the same as the arcade.
-Way to go Turtles: 19 sec. Db major. Significantly faster and shorter intro than arcade.
-Credits: 1:57. E major. Intro (1) A7 B(8) A B C A7 8-10 fade out. Same key and music also used in the arcade, but there's repeated music here, A and B return before C enters.
-Game Over: 3 sec. C major.
I had a student in Video Game Music class last fall who said to me: "please, can we look at anything Mega Man?" Thinking of you today! Today's post is on the last Mega Man game that I played, Mega Man III. I loved the Mega Man series, but it was extremely difficult and I left it behind when I moved past the NES. Somehow, this progression seems fitting, especially considering that the credits to this game list the original bosses. Loved this series as a kid. Tried to learn the best way to play through the stages, etc. In searching around for all this Mega Man info, I found some episodes of a Mega Man cartoon series. Want to waste a bit of time? Check out this retro 90s goodness.
One disappointment I have with this game is that there's no introductory movie. Mega Man II does such a great job of giving a brief story and panning up the building with a musical build starting with the end game music from the first Mega Man and then launching into the new Mega Man II theme that equates for an awesome intro. Nothing here, just a title screen. A bit disappointing to say the least.
Who composed the audio experience? Again, a change from either of the earlier Mega Man games. Composer: Yasuaki Fujita credited as "Bun Bun" in the game credits, and his wife Harumi, who is listed in the "special thanks" section of credits. VGMPF lists Harumi as having written two tracks before she gave birth and turned the project to her husband. However, VGMPF's list of game tracks only credits her as working on the staff roll track. My searches for more information led me to learn about a new blog, similar to my own, Classical Gaming: An academic study of video games, sound, and music. Here, Steve lists Needle Man and Gemini Man's themes as composed by Harumi. It's unclear to me where he gets this information, and it's at odds with VGMPF, so I'll simply leave this as unsettled. I'd love to know more specifics.
Want a bit of a time waster? BrentalFloss has created lyrics and sung to the end game music. His video has over a million views! This is interesting to me because I often made up lyrics to game music when I played. Not this particular track, but it's also something I did with other games.
Thinking across the NES Mega Man games...
I took a bit to read through my other entries on Mega Man I and Mega Man II to see how this game compares. Many of the sound effects are the same across all these games. Also, the function of the music is very much the same: music for various levels to create different atmospheres, boss selection music, boss music, victory music, Wiley stage music, end game music, etc. The purpose of music is virtually the same. However, there is quite a bit more music here than there is in earlier Mega Man games. Compare:
Mega Man: ~ 6 minutes of music. Average stage music length: 29.5 sec.
Mega Man II: ~ 13 minutes of music. Average stage music length: 44.5 sec.
Mega Man III ~ 15 minutes of music. Average stage music length: 50.25 sec.
In Mega Man III, tracks are generally longer, especially stage music. Needle Man's music is a 73 sec loop, quite a bit longer than any of the other tracks. Crash Man's music in Mega Man II is also quite a bit longer than any other music, but that seems to be because it's a series of variations. In Needle Man's case, the music continues into various sections. Really cool and interesting.
Boss battle is significantly longer here as is the music when you get a new weapon. I don't actually think I ever heard all of that track through until doing this project. End game music is also significantly longer in this game, over 3 minutes compared with about 2 minutes for Mega Man II and 1.5 minutes for the original Mega Man.
My detailed notes are below. They were made using this soundtrack.
-Title screen: 53 sec. F# minor. A A' B (12) C D. Only C and D loop. Intro sounds like blues.
-Select screen: 9.5 sec. G# minor. i-bVI-bVII motion.
-Proto Man whistle: 13 sec. G minor. Melody only. Blue notes. Fascinating to read his original name was "Blues"
-Gemini Man: 55 sec. C minor. A (10) B C. B section uses minor scale which sounds exotic, appropriate for the setting.
-Hard Man: 46. 5 sec. A minor--> D minor. A B C (4) D.
-Magnet Man: 40 sec. F# major. Intro (5) A B C (3). Intro doesn't repeat in the loop.
-Needle Man: 73 sec. Bb minor. Intro (10, Eb) A B C D Fascinating how much longer this loop is than other stages!
-Shadow Man: 58 sec. F# minor--> E major. Intro (2+4) A B B' (10) C. C section is in E major and uses bVI-bVII-I.
-Snake Man: 41 sec. F minor. Intro (2) A B C. Intro doesn't repeat as part of the loop.
-Spark Man: 38 sec. G minor. Intro A B. Intro doesn't repeat as part of the loop.
-Top Man: 50.5 sec. D minor. Intro (2) A (4) B C (4). Intro doesn't repeat in loop. Intro has irregular measure at the very top.
-Boss select: 6 sec. A minor--> E minor. Cool to consider how this music fits together in the game. First screen select, then this, then individual stage music...
-Boss battle: 32 sec. Eb minor--> Ab minor. Intro (4 + 2) A A'. Lots of tritones, at the beginning and in the melody. Last two bars of the intro repeats in the loop, but not the initial 4.
-Stage clear: 3.5 sec. F# major. bVI-bVII-I
-Get new weapon: 25.5 sec. F# minor. A B. Also uses bVI-bVII-I
-Password/ Game over: 12.5 sec. F# major. Short 8 bar loop.
-Wiley fortress intro: 18 sec. C minor. Intro (6) A. Compound meter. Starts with diminished arpeggios.
-Wiley fortress 1: 48 sec. Ab minor. Intro (1) A (6) A (6) B C. Very end of C section turns to E major. Intro doesn't repeat.
-Wiley fortress 2: 40 sec. B minor. Intro (1) A B B. Intro doesn't repeat.
-Wiley fortress 3: 44.5 sec. C minor. Intro (4) A A' B. Intro doesn't repeat in loop.
-Wiley battle: 22 sec. Ab minor. Intro (4) A (12).
-Wiley defeated: 5 sec. C major. bVI-bVII-I. Extended version of the stage clear music.
-Proto man theme: 1:52.5 plus 14 sec of Proto whistle at the beginning. G minor. A B C B' (4) C. Begins the Proto man whistle and then extends into a pop like song form. Doesn't loop whistle or A section, only B and beyond.
-Credits: 70 sec. D major--> G major? Very different feeling and sound from the rest of the game music. Somewhat tonally ambiguous. Intro (6) A A' B C.
Well today's entry ended up being a walk down memory lane and a dip into a nearly overwhelming amount of information, much of which I had never considered and hadn't thought about. I'm up to 1990 and the game WWF Wrestlemania Challenge. I don't know what it was, but in the early 90s, wrestling just got big. All my friends were talking about it. My brother and I even convinced my parents to let us go over to our great aunts' house (they had cable) and pay-per-view Wrestlemania VII, which we recorded on a VHS so we could rewatch it. I still remember Ultimate Warrior vs Macho Man in a "retirement" match during this event. Anyhow, I haven't watched wrestling in years and years, but I loved this game as a kid and the two player possibilities.
Original music is composed by David Wise, also composer of RC Pro AM, Wizards and Warriors, Battletoads, Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II, and plenty of other iconic games. However, one of the questions I had to address immediately was how much of this music was actually written by David Wise. The "internets" list David Wise as the composer for the game, but anyone around my age who bought the game probably also followed wrestling and was thus aware that the various characters' theme songs play when the matches start. In other words, when you fight the Big Boss Man, his theme plays, and likewise with Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior. This, of course, means that David Wise didn't composes these pieces; he arranged them for use in this game.
Definitely one of the joys of my game audio study is all the various avenues it leads me down. For instance, this entry led me to dig around on the internet for some information about who composed these original wrestling themes. Wow, this is a major topic of internet chatter... and well deserved! I totally agree that these composers should be more recognized for their work. I suspect a lot of guys my age know these songs. I can remember my friend Ryan doing a faux-strip dance when Ravishing Rick Rude's music came on as we played this game. Even though I haven't watched wrestling in years, I still know the words to the refrain of Hulk Hogan's theme, Real American. In any case if you're into learning more about wrestling music themes, I found particularly helpful postings here, here, here, and here. There's also a new documentary that's just come out, Signature Sounds: Music of the WWE, if you want to learn more about Jim Johnston, who composed (and still composes) much of wrestling's music. For tracks that are featured in this game, I've listed the original composers below in my notes.
One innovative use of the music implementation you can hear in this longplay is the fact that the music changes themes between the characters fighting. As a kid, I often thought the changes were random, but as I re-watch this video, it does seem that, after the initial introduction of the character's theme, the music changes depending on how the match is going. Perhaps, though, that's just my imagination, wishing to connect the dots. In support of that idea, notice how long Hacksaw's theme keeps playing versus how quickly Macho Man's theme shifts and compare the flow of the matches. It also seems that changes are only possible at the end of the loops, not mid loop, although pinning or getting out of the ring allows for a restart of theme. I'd love to ask David or another member of the design team about this musical implementation.
I'd say the overall key for this game is E minor. Most of the introduction music is in E minor, the bell that counts your pins rings an E. E definitely feels like home base, particularly for the music that David Wise composed. At the end of the game, we move into D for the victory music, but there is a nice flow between tonality at the beginning of the game.
Just over 10 minutes of music in this soundtrack.
These detailed notes on these pieces were composed using this soundtrack. Composed by David Wise unless otherwise noted.
-Title screen: 56 seconds. E minor. Through composed, A B C
-Menu: 9 sec. E minor. Uses i-bVI-bVII.
-Player 1: 42 sec. A minor. A B C D. D section is in the relative major.
-Player 2: 49 sec. E minor. A (6) B C(4) D. Less regular in phrase shapes than other themes. Also uses i-bVI-bVII in the D section.
-Brutus the Barber Beefcake: 50 sec. A minor. (Composer, Jimmy Hart, original in same key)
-Ravishing Rick Rude: 66 sec. C major. (Composer, David Rose, "Stripper", original in same key) Intro- A A B C. Awesome theme.
-Big Boss Man: 56 sec. E major. (Composers, Jimmy Hart and JJ Maguire, original in same key) A (12) A (12) B (12)
-Hacksaw Jim Duggan: 49 sec. A major. A (12) B (12) B' (12) (Hacksaw's theme was either Stars and Stripes, John Phillip Sousa, or an original piece, composed by Jim Johnston, "Two by Four". I don't hear a connection here to either of these. Perhaps there were rights problems or there was just a decision to make a new piece?). Probably an original David Wise composition.
-Andre the Giant: 51 sec. B minor. Intro (4) A B. Andre had no theme song at this point in his career, so this is probably David Wise.
-Rando "Macho Man" Savage: 47 sec. D major. A A . (Original here, in same key) Of course, we all know this from our graduation ceremonies. This is from a movement of Pomp and Circumstance Military Marches by Edward Elgar. Some online places cite this as being by Jim Johnston, who perhaps arranged it, but the composer is indeed Elgar.
- Hulk Hogan: 54.5 sec. A major. A B C (4) D D. Really unfortunate in the D section when the melody has to drop out to accommodate another line! ("Real American", in same key, composed (as best I can tell) by Jim Johnston, performed by Rick Derringer)
-Ultimate Warrior: 40 sec. E minor. A A B B (4). (Composer, Jim Johnston, original in same key)
Next up in My Gaming Audio History is Dr. Mario. What's better than Tetris? Tetris with Mario! Although there was a port of this to Game Boy, I only ever knew the NES version of this game.
The music in this game is by Hirokazu Tanaka who also composed the music for Duck Hunt, Earthbound, Metroid, and fittingly, Tetris. The music in this game is fairly straight forward in use: there's music for the title screen and selection screen, and, like Tetris, there's a choice of music during the gameplay. Otherwise, there's music when you win or lose the round or the hardest level of gameplay. The ending is different depending on the difficultly, and that's reflected in the music as well. If you beat the game on the highest level and speed, you hear a slightly different level clear than you would on a lower speed. Also fascinating that the highest level clear music and the end game music are the same.
Something I was aware of when I was younger but had forgotten was that the "fever" music is quite a bit shorter than the "chill" music. As I note below, the Chill music is nearly double in length compared with the Fever music. Wonder why that choice was made? Also thinking about the comparison of description between "fever" versus "chill." One is clearly more upbeat than the other. (Fever is 150 beats per minute, while Chill is a more moderate 128 bpm.) Recent studies have shown that listening to music of too high intensity negatively impacts gaming performance. I don't think Fever approaches that level, but cool to think about the ability to chose the background music. I definitely remember thinking about and deliberately choosing which music would help me to focus better, so I feel certain that the connection between gameplay, focus, and accuracy was something I intuited as a young person.
Here's a long play from cubex55 (love this person!) so that you can see the ending screen if you never did. I certainly never saw the UFO as a kid.
Dr. Mario has just a little less than 8 minutes of music. This is way less than many other NES games released as late as 1990. Perhaps this was because of the simultaneous release for the Game Boy? Perhaps the design play was simply to keep the same music but to adjust for the nuances of each systems technical limitations. The simplicity of gameplay definitely seems to be indicative of a Game Boy game, as is the short amount of music.
Here are my detailed notes as you're interested. This music has a distinctly pop feel. Reminds me of the 60s. These notes were compiled using this soundtrack.
-Title Screen: 64 sec. A major. Intro A A' B A''. Sounds like a 60s song, modulates to IV for the B section. Heart and Soul sound?
-Mode Select: 19.5 sec. F# major. A B(4).
-Fever: 67 sec. G major--> C major. Intro (2) A A' (in C) B A' (4, 2nd half) C (break) (12). This was the music I listened to most often when I played. Reminds me a bit of Super Mario 3 Hammer Bros battle theme, which is also in C! Boogie Woogie?
-Fever Clear: 22 sec. E major.
-Chill: 1:59. A minor (major moments). Intro(4) A B C(4) D E F (12) G(4) H Intro doesn't repeat with loop. Almost twice as long as "Fever." Through composed, but really mainly a set of variations over a bass.
-Chill Clear: 21 sec. F major--> A minor. Starts with same fanfare as Fever Clear.
-Game Over: 23.5 sec. Chromatic.
-Game Over Vs: 53 sec. E major. Fanfare- A B A' B'. A'/B' are melodic variations over the same bass. Quite a bit longer and more developed than the regular game over music. Were the designers giving more time for you to gloat?
-Level 20 Clear (low): 17 sec. B major. Intro- A. Intro doesn't repeat.
-Level 20 Clear (UFO): 59.5 sec. G major. Intro A(4) B A(4) B' Irregular meter. 4's of A and B add a beat. Same musical theme of the low clear.
-Ending: Same music as Level 20 Clear UFO
Crossing mediums from the NES to the Game Boy for this entry on the first handheld RPG I played, Final Fantasy Legend. I've learned that this is actually from a different line of games, Saga, but as a young player growing up in North America, I didn't know about Saga. This game fit in well with what I knew to be Final Fantasy: towns, talking to NPCs, battles, raising stats, etc.
Who created the audio experience? Nobuo Uematsu. Amazing to return to Uematsu right after a Team Fat game-- Maniac Mansion. Here melody is the focus and tracks are so classically shaped, clean, and balanced. I do think Uematsu is at his finest in early games like this. My favorite tracks are definitely the Prologue, with a beautiful, balanced structure. Wipe Away Your Tears is also easily a favorite, again, another exquisite Uematsu melody that simply pours out longing within the confines of the Game Boy audio. I especially appreciate the slight ritardando at the end of the loop. Also, the way that the main theme and Wipe Away Your Tears come back in the final track during the closing cutscenes of the game is rather like a finale in a musical, bringing back the best numbers from the show. Really amazing detail and such beautiful music for one of the first handheld RPGs. A much more eloquent ending that the NES Final Fantasy.
Two things strike me as I study through this game again. First of all, I hear a remarkable cross-game Uematsu similarity. In the Epilogue track, there are high background alternating pitches (1:34-1:43) that reminded me immediately of the Ancient Forest Temple track from Final Fantasy 7 (first 8 seconds). Give it a listen-- you'll hear it. They're even in the same key!
The second fact to catch my eye/ear is the amount of music compared with the gameplay. The longplay I see online of this game takes over 7 hours. There are just shy of 12 minutes of music in this game. That's about a 6:225 minute music to gameplay ratio. Perhaps even more stunning, over four minutes of the game music comes in the last half hour or so of game play (Warrior's Ascent, The Top Floor, Enraged Battle, and Epilogue)!!! While games have almost always saved some music as an endgame reward, I think decisions like this show how new the gaming genre was and how composers weren't yet sure how to balance the music throughout the game.
Below are my detailed notes as usual. These notes were compiled using this soundtrack.
-Prologue: 64 sec. E major. Intro (4) A B. The B theme uses material from the Intro. Love the canonic voices of the intro.
-Main Theme: 44 sec. G major. A B C (9). Through-composed. Fascinating that such a regular piece has that one extra measure at the end of it, which adds to the feeling of resolution at the end of the loop.
-Town Theme: 47 sec. G major. A B Really like the melodic emphasis on the rising Major 7th interval as well as the use of flat sixth scale degree in the melody in the second half of A. The end of the loop uses a bIII-V resolution that just seems so "Uematsu." Not sure what I mean here, but more to think about...
-Battle Theme: 35.5 sec. C minor. A B C. Very musically regular. Patterns and sequences make the motivic material memorable.
-Victory (Eat the Meat): 16 sec. C major. Intro Fanfare (2) A. Fascinating that the intro fanfare has the same whole tone motion and feeling (bVI-bVII-I) as the original NES game, although here the motion is technically bIII, IV, V.
-Bandit Cave: 48 sec. E minor. A A' A'' i-bII-bVII. A bass vamp begins this tune, the second A adds a melody, the third A is the same melody with a slight change at the end of the loop for a more definitive ending.
-Hurry Up!: 34 sec. A minor. A B B'. The use of bII in this piece toward the end of the loop and it's A minor tonality remind me of the over world theme for FF IV, which was just a few months away from this game.
-Fierce Battle: 43 sec. A minor. Intro A A B. Intro doesn't repeat in the loop. The A sections have irregular measures (4+3). Slightly longer than the normal battle theme, perhaps because these battles likely last a bit longer? Plays with a Picardy third at the ends of phrases in the A sections.
-Requiem: 27 sec. D minor (Picardy third). Intro (2) A. Opposite motion from the introduction's intro, which ascended, this intro descends! Beautiful, balanced classical phrase.
-Forbidden Tower: 36 sec. F minor. A B C. Really interesting use of bII here, as well as Uematsu's beloved bVI-bVII-i.
-Wipe Your Tears Away: 66 sec. E minor. A A' B. Such a beautiful, longing melody. Love the slight ritard at the end of the loop.
-Warriors Ascent: 35.5 sec. F minor. Intro (4) A B Intro Eb minor material doesn't repeat with the loop. The A section is basically a rising sound... imitating the name of the track?
-The Top Floor: 22 sec. C. A A' (down whole step). A simple short loop that teeters between major and minor.
-Enraged Battle: 52 sec. A minor. Intro (6) A A B B. Intro doesn't repeat with loop. A section is in A minor, B section is in the relative major, C.
-Epilogue: 2:25. B major--> E major. Reuses the main theme of the game. The music is synced with a slide show of various scenes and bosses in the game. Requiem? Main theme in B, Wipe Away Your Tears in E minor, then to major, main theme in A, then back to E. Moment of Final Fantasy 7? In the Ancient Forest temple, I hear a similarity here. Beginning of this reminds me the celebration music at the end of Star Wars 1.
Next up in My Gaming Audio History is the NES game, Maniac Mansion. I rented this game and played with friends. It was definitely a tough one for me because I found the interface with the mouse arrow/ NES controller to be confusing as a kid. I almost always got caught by the nurse in the kitchen immediately! As I blogged earlier, I love the fact that two of the characters could play the piano-- a big connection I felt with Syd and Razor as a child. Also cool is the fact that the music is connected to the characters you're playing or encountering rather than a certain level, area, or room.
The audio for the NES version was created by a number of folks: Dave Hayes, George Sanger, David Govett, and David Warhol. According to the game credits, Dave Hayes composed: The Boys Are Still Back, Psychadelic Brie, Flashbulb Funk, Heeeeeeeere's Talk-Show Host. George Sanger composed: Surf Face, Better Ed Than Dead, No Never Well Maybe Sure Ok. David-Govett composed: Go See Mark, Comp-U-Nerd, Sonata in G Opus 47 BVW 801. David Warhol composed: Eddie Van Tentacle and Doo Dop Deep. Crazy names, right? I don't know a lot about popular music, but I found this post that compares these names with the names of popular songs they are spoofing.
One of my favorite themes from this game is the Edison family/ Tentacle theme. When I hear this theme with the raised fourth and neighbor motion, it always reminds me of the Jetson's Theme. I wondered if this was by design and, since I know him from being a guest speaker in my game music class, I wrote to George Sanger to ask. Here's his response:
"I bet it was at least a subconscious salute. Maybe conscious. I do LOVE that theme-- it's just the kind of thing I would dip into when looking to get my blood up for composing. There's a similar suspension thingie in the Rocky and Bullwinkle theme, another one on my mental top 15. Oh, and come to think of it, West Side Story is on that list, and there's a similar feel in 'Maria.' So.... if you're like me, when you think 'Maniac Mansion,' you picture a futuristic gang-fighting moose and squirrel, and you can see that no other melody will do."
Another favorite tiny musical moment of mine is the Tchaikovsky reference to Swan Lake on the record that skips. Just a two second snippet of the Dance of the Petite Swans plays from Act II. Clever attention to detail!
This game has a little more than 18 minutes of music, which is really astonishing for a NES game.
Here are my usual detailed notes below for those interested. To compile these notes on the audio, I used this playlist.
-Title screen: 65 sec. G major. Intro (6) A B Intro with bass (6)? I'm not able to find a version that plays longer than 65 seconds, so I don't know if this music loops or is one time through.
-Dave's Theme (The Boys Are Still Back): 80 sec. A major. A A' A'' B B' B'' A''' A''''. This music is theme and variations, essentially, a beat and chords where a melody is "improvised" over top. The A sections are A-Bm-G and the B sections are over an E chord. Kind of like a jam session with friends. Very cool, a style of music I've not heard in my game studies so far.
-Razor's Theme (No No Never Never Well Maybe Sure Okay): 48 sec. A major. A A' B A'' B' (4). Again, variations over a chord progression and beat. Very dissonant in A' between the melody and the vamping accompaniment.
-Bernard's Theme (Comp-U-Nerd): 48 sec. F major. A A' B. This track stays in F major for its entire length. Again, a vamping beat with melodic variations.
-Syd's Theme (Psychadelic Brie): 81 sec. A major. A (20) A (20) B (16). A crazy track where I debated how to describe the form. I hear this as two run-on sentences. The first is repeated, and then a second. There are moments when this track gets rhythmically out of sync with itself, particularly toward the end of the B section, measures 13-15. Is that why the drum drops out during the second half of the B?
-Wendy's Theme (Sonata in G Opus 47 BVW 801): 90 sec. C major. A B (6) A C (13) A'' Rondo form! Definitely a more "classical" sounding track. This track has some rhythmic variability; if you listen to the steady drum pulse, you're hear that it speeds up slightly and slows down at times. Very unusual-- I've not heard this kind tempo fluctuation before.
-Jeff's Theme (Surf Face): 98 sec. A minor? C major? A major? I feel this piece never has a solid tonal center. The A major cadence a the end of the C section is so satisfactory, but then the C major A'' and B'' is equally strong. Not sure what key to settle on here. A B A' B' C (10) A'' B''
-Michael's Theme (Flashbulb Funk): 100 sec. E minor. A B C (break) D E F-- through-composed. Another example of a solo over a beat and chord. Almost all of the track is E minor, though there are a couple of moments of F# minor.
-Edison Family/ Tentacle Theme (Better Ed Than Dead): 67 sec. A major-minor. Intro (2) A (16) B C C. The use of raised 4 (fi) in the A section of this tune and the lower neighbor motion of the melody share similarities with the Jetson's Theme. I also really like the canonic counterpoint in the C section of this theme. Easily one of my favorites, though it usually meant I was about to die!
-Piano Demo: 37.5 sec. C major. Intro (4) A B C (6) A (4). Love that the two of the characters could play the piano!
-Three Guys Who Publish Anything (Go See Mark): 27 sec. C major. Intro (1) A B.
-Tentacle's Demo (Eddie Van Tentacle): 44 sec. G major. Wild solo-- 18 measures metered-- wild solo. Such a contrast to the piano demo! I suppose if you were a tentacle making a demo tape it wouldn't necessarily sound like a human....
-Wink Smiley Talk Show (Heeeeeeere's Talk Show Host): 56 sec. C major. A A B(4) A C C' B(4). Another example of variations over a bass and beat.
-Skipping Record: 2 sec. F# minor. The record plays a snippet of Tchaikovsky's ballet, Swan Lake. From Act II, Dance of the petite swans.
- Credits: 61 sec. G major. Intro (2) A A' B (11) This music shares similarities with the Title music, but is new variations. This makes for a nice bookend with the beginning and end of the music to the game.
-Unused: 59 sec. A major? E major? A A' B C D D' (9). I find this track to be tonally ambiguous as well. It spends a lot of time in E, but midway through when there's a small section in A, that feels like we've finally arrived home. Cool that this goes between completely normal sounding pop music and wildly crazy solo moments and clashing harmonies. It's like Bebop, Spanish dance, and popular song all came together at once. Wonder why it was cut?
It's certainly been a while since I've updated My Gaming Audio History. This is one of my favorite sections of my blog, but it takes a tremendous amount of time and mental energy for each post. I'm hoping this summer that I can create more of these entries. I'm particularly interested to get into the SNES games so I can compare soundtracks and lengths with all the Atari, Gameboy, and NES games I've written about. It'll definitely enrich the game music class I teach for me to get further with this research.
I'm now up to Castlevania III. I loved Castlevania III-- the ability to change characters and play different routes in the game was amazing. It also made a lot more sense to me than Castlevania II, which I played a bit with a friend, but never committed to purchasing and really getting in to.
Who created the audio experience? There's definitely plenty of internet chatter about this, and here's just one site I found helpful. Sounds as if Yukie Morimoto did the brunt of the work and Jun Funahashi did some composing as well. Part of the difficulty in this era is that jobs like sound designer, audio engineer, etc, weren't well defined and credits to games weren't always accurate either. Would love to gain certain clarity by hearing from involved parties. Is this the same Yukie Morimoto? If so, I'm very surprised he doesn't list Castlevania III among his credits as I think the music here to be outstanding!
Also, Vampire Slayer is rearranged from the first game, so though where on the internet seems to acknowledge it, Satoe Terashima also has music in this game. Compare the Vampire Killer from Castlevania III against the original version from the first Castlevania. Same key, same length, same form, yet a more sophisticated audio in terms of voicing, chromatic part-writing, sustains, decays, and overall sound palette. Nice display of the progression of game audio over between the original game and this one. There's a visual update to the original castle in this game that coincides with the audio update as well. A very cool, clever moment.
The other thought I have as I listen through to the music is that nearly everything in the game is in the minor mode. Very fitting, considering it's a "horror" platform game. Then, at the final all clear, once you've beat the game you hear a cool thing called a "Picardy Third" that shifts the music to major. This same shift happens during the ending music as well. This just gives a little lift, satisfaction, transcendence, to the end of the game. Also, a major arpeggio plays when you shake hands with another playable character, inviting him/her onto your team. Interesting that the title screen music starts in C minor and ends in the relative major Eb major, and the credit music is in Eb major at the end of the game is in Eb major as well.
Notable sound effect: sound of water flowing in various stages. Too bad your attacks make the water sound effect cut out!
Also, fascinating that the music can accompany various levels depending on the path you choose. This is to say that if you take Grant with you, the same music that you hear in stage 4 is the same music you hear in stage 7 with Syfa, etc.
-Title screen: 1:42. C minor (starts A ish, ends Eb major) Synced up with onscreen story. Intro A A B C
-Opening: 10.5 sec E minor, ends half cadence.
-Stage 1: 51 sec. D minor. Intro (5) A B(4) C(4) D(6)
-Boss: 25 sec. G minor. Intro (6 sec) accelerates. Lots of tritones and chromatic motion. Diminished chords. Awesome pitch range through arpeggiation.
-Stage clear: 4 sec. A minor.
-Choose your path: 15 sec. F minor.
-Stage 2 (Clockwork): 42.5 sec. G minor. A (12) B C (4 measures, triple meter)
-Stage 3 (Mad Forest): 44 sec. D minor. Intro (4) A B C. Cool syncopations.
-Anxiety: 61 sec. Ab? A (in 7) B C D (in 6) Starts 7 Irregular meter. Awesome groove. Lots of tritones. Rising pitch, especially in section C. One of the most "musically interesting" pieces.
-Rising: 50 sec. D minor. A (4) B C. Irregular meter in C. Another really awesome piece of music.
-Stream: 37 sec. A minor. Intro (4) A B. Very regular. The V-bVI motion in the B section gives a Spanish sound.
-Dead Beat: 44.5 sec. A minor. Intro (4) A A B. Second A adds an upper voice.
-Nightmare: 45 sec. D? A (11) B (in 5). Teeters between D and Ab just as Stage 4 did... Very chromatic.
-Aquarius: 37 sec. D minor. Intro (4) A B.
-Demon Seed: 45 sec. C minor. Intro (4) A B (5) C (2). Intro sets up bass vamp. Doesn't repeat in loop.
-Deja Vu (Vampire Killer): 30 sec. D minor. Intro (4) A B (4). Both visual and audio remakes for this section of gameplay.
-Riddle: 34 sec. C minor. Intro A B (4) C (4) Frantic sound. Intro comes to a pause, then the main tune begins. Intro doesn't repeat. Frantic sound with arpeggiation.
-Pressure: 6 sec. D minor.
-Overture (Dracula's Room/Battle 1): 57 sec. D minor. A (6) B C Irregular meter, patterns of 11 (4 x 2, plus 1 x 3). Crazy!
-Dracula Battle 2 (multi-faced): 37 sec. G minor. Variations. A (4) (pedal bass) A' A'' (7) A'' (7), in 3, except last measure of A'' is 4! Starts with drum roll.
-Dracula Battle 3 (statue): 32 sec. Ab minor. Same form as Battle 1, but doesn't start with drumroll. Up a half step and faster.
-All Clear: 8 sec. A minor-major (Picardy third). Classic stage clear music, but with an added tag that brings you to major.
-Encounter: 12.5 sec. A minor. Irregular phrase, 7 measures.
-Password: 21 sec. C# minor. Weird sound effects... laughing? howling?
-Ending: 65 sec. G minor- major (Picardy third). A A' (countermelody) B(4) C (10) Sound choices remind me of Final Fantasy Adventure. Beautiful melodies!
-Credits: 71 sec. Eb major. Intro A A A+ 3 measures concluding.
-Lose a life: 2 sec. E minor.
-Game Over: 6.5 sec. G minor- major (Picardy third)
Since I've already blogged about the music of Final Fantasy pretty extensively in a comparison between the original NES music and the iOS update music, I'll keep this a short with just a few thoughts about the music. I can't believe that the game has less than 10 minutes of music. For a NES game, that's not too bad, but considering that it takes 30 or 40 hours of gameplay, it's shocking to consider that ratio 1:180 ratio of music to gameplay. Pretty incredible! Especially considering that just about two minutes of those 10 minutes are end game music that's heard only once in those 30 hours. So, that means 8 minutes of music keeps you occupied for all that time.
One of the things I find most incredible about these beginning game compositions is that the music is so superb. These composers were working with very crude systems where the music had to be programmed in a very cumbersome way. Not only that, but the limitations of only having three or four voices was extremely challenging as well. Further this by the fact that there wasn't really much of a game music history for these composers to look back on and their groundbreaking, foundational work becomes even more inspiring. Composers like Uematsu took these limitations and difficulties and created art. The work he and others did was just incredible. I'll never understand people who dismiss early game music as bleeps and bloops or not yet of age. It's just like a great visual artist who decided to limit how colors or shapes are used, but still create incredible artwork.
I read on vgmpf that Final Fantasy used very little percussion in the soundtrack. I'd never really thought about it, but it's definitely true. For the battle music, the lack of percussion could be the fact that Uematsu didn't want the percussion dropping out to create the sound effects, which were typically created from the same noise maker channel. There are plenty of scenes where percussion would've been possible, but clearly he didn't feel it necessary for this game. And several of the tracks were used and reused many many times. The victory fanfare, the main theme of Final Fantasy (when you cross the Cornelia bridge) and the opening arpeggiation.
Here's a link to the vgmpf Uematsu page. I was checking it out to see where Final Fantasy fell in his game music compositional history. I'd be very interested to hear Uematsu's television and radio jingles-- didn't know he'd been involved in that sort of thing. I see that Rad Racer, was an even earlier NES game Uematsu did the music to. I thought I hadn't played it, but I've just pulled up a longplay and I definitely have played this game with a friend a lot growing up. Totally forgot about it. I'm giving the longplay a watch/listen as I finish up this blog. Check it out if you want to hear some earlier Uematsu. Here's a link to the soundtrack if you prefer.
Having now watched that longplay of Rad Racer, the vgmpf page is pretty disparaging about the music in the game. I don't really think it's all that bad! Some tracks sound more classical, the ending theme is a nice blues theme that's pretty catchy... Reading those comments makes me realize it's a really fine line for these websites that are maintain facts/history to not go too far into one person's opinion. If the writer of that page wants to trash the audio, at least find a source that agrees to back the position up so that it's semi-legitimate. That kind of opinionated stuff is hardly in the spirit of a "wiki" site. That said, it's unquestionable that Uematsu's compositional skill has blossomed through his career. Simultaneously, technological improvements allowed him to better realize his compositions, no doubt.
Lastly, I'll leave you with a link to a G4 Final Fantasy tribute I just watched. Great stuff. I'm all the more excited to see that FF4 is coming up in my list. It's a way off, but still, I'm excited to see how his style grows with the technological advances of the SNES.
