awesomevgmusic-blog

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Ballad of the Goddess, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, 2011, Wii, developed by Nintendo EAD, published by Nintendo, composed by Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota, and Takeshi Hama (supervised by Koji Kondo)

“Ballad of the Goddess” I think will be Skyward Sword’s biggest musical contribution to the Zelda mythos, much like “The Dark World” or “Zelda’s Lullaby” before it.  Of course, we have to specifically mention “Zelda’s Lullaby” because of the genius twist the composers did, and why I’ve linked the specific video I did.  Ballad of the Goddess is Zelda’s Lullaby reversed - and even its goal within the game is reversed, being a song to wake Zelda up.  Simply brilliant.

On it’s own though, I feel the song is indicative of character growth for both Zelda and Link as the series has gone on.  Sure, it’s their canonical first outing, but I think this track drives home what these two heroes have become through over two decades of adventures -- for Zelda, her personification as the bright point of hope for Hyrule.  For Link, the realization that he’s not just any adventurer on a quest -- he’s a paladin of the Goddess Hylia.  It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

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Whistle Theme, Deadly Preomintion, 2010, PS3 and XBox 360, developed by Access Games, published by Marvelous Entertainment (Japan), Ignition Entertainment (North America, XBox 360 version), and Rising Star Games (Europe, XBox 360 version and Worldwide, PS3 version), composed by Riyou Kinugasa, Takuya Kobayashi, Hiromi Mizutani

“What do you think, Zach?”

Oh my stars, this game DEFIES description.  I’m just gonna leave this one here, I can’t even really discuss the context its used in, because frankly this happy go lucky track tends to get used during deadly serious parts.  It’s quite a trip!

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A Messenger From Behind, Shadow of the Colossus, 2005, PS2, developed by Team Ico, published by Sony Computer Entertainment, composed by Ko Otani

Popped in Shadow of the Colossus for the umpteenth time last night, so I figured I’d share what is one of only three tracks unique to one colossus - the sand serpent Dirge.  Probably the closest the game gets to abject horror, as Wander and Agro race ahead of this fearsome beast and its unnerving eyes.  Boy does this theme express that fantastically.

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Overworld, Super Mario Bros., 1985, NES/Famicom, developed by Nintendo R&D4, published by Nintendo, composed by Koji Kondo

I’d intended to save this for the 1 year mark of my blog, but as that happened during the hiatus, ah heck, we’ll do it now.

Here it is: arguably the granddaddy of all video game music, along with the Legend of Zelda’s overworld music and the Gameboy Tetris’ Theme A.  It is instantly recognizable to even non video games, and a true testament and essential component of Mario’s status as a cultural icon.

Imagine yourself as a kid in the mid 1980′s -- the video game market is in near death due to several poor choices by Atari and others, and then murmurings about this Japanese company bringing over a game about a man jumping on blocks, turtles, and mushrooms starts spreading. Huh.  And then you get a chance to play yourself - and you’re met by this infectiously catchy, infectiously happy theme that speaks to great possibilities, adventures, and fun.  And then the game IS that much fun and joyful.  The video game industry was saved, and childhoods around the world were forever brightened.  It’s a timeless classic for a reason -- while I could disseminate the piece’s various components, I don’t need to.  With so little, this track became so much.

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Opening Theme, Final Fantasy, 1987, NES, developed and published by Square, composed by Nobuo Uematsu

Don’t think I could have picked a better day to come back to this blog.  On this day, 26 years ago, North America was introduced to Final Fantasy, and the lives of myself and many youngsters were forever changed by this RPG.  The minute a friend of me told me the news, this song (and the Prelude) played through my head instantly.  Thanks, Nobuo Uematsu, for this treasured part of my childhood.

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I live!

Hiatus, I have returned from it!

Tl;dr, I had to focus solely on a job hunt, but as my life situation has evened out at least a little bit here, I can return to this project.  I know I said I might bring on some other people to man the fort, and I may still do that, but for now, we kick the doors back open.

This will have to go from a “daily” to a “when I have a moment” thing, though -- I have a part time gig, but am still going to have to devote my time to a full job search.

But for now, we’re back!

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A hiatus

I apologize for the lack of posts in the past couple of days, and my generally flakiness in keeping this updated over the past few weeks.

You probably knows where this is going, but here it is anyway:

Unfortunately, the realities of life have caught up to me a tad bit here, so I’m going to have to put down the blog for the time being to focus on a job hunt.

I’ve every intention of keeping this going, though, and I don’t want my absence to necessarily be a hiatus for this blog.  In the coming days, I’ll reach out to a few of my more consistent followers, to see if they’d like the keys to the car for a bit, so to speak.

I’ll catch you all in due time, and keep grooving to those sweet, sweet video game tunes!

-Matthias, AKA AwesomeVGMusic

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Outworld Marketplace, Mortal Kombat X, 2015, Multi-platform, developed by NetherRealm Studios, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, composed by Dynamedion and Tilman Sillescu

This one’s an example of how to tie your different pieces together with strong, joining themes.  While each Round has its distinct movement (helpfully announced here when each round starts), percussion, tone, and tempo really help tie it all together into something that builds.  You can really feel the fight start slow, but then begin to get desperate.  Given that this is Outworld, a creepy, otherwordly vibe really gives the piece some meat.

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Kings and Queens of the Wasteland, Nuclear Throne, PC, 2015, developed and published by Vlambeer, composed and vocals by Jukio “Kozilek” Kallio

I totally spaced out on a track yesterday, so I left today’s make-up track up to a friend of mine, who selected this great track from Nuclear Throne.  It’s equal parts cool, catchy, and creepy (like, seriously, those lyrics, wow).  A great choice as far as I’m concerned!

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Time for a Break, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, 2007, Nintendo DS, developed by Level-5, published by Level-5 (Japan), Nintendo of America (North America), Nintendo Australia (Australia), and Nintendo of Europe (Europe), composed by Tomohito Nishiura

3:30 in the afternoon hits, you’ve had a long day, your body is creaking and weary...it’s time to take after the good professor and grab a spot of tea and take a break.  Here’s some delightfully soothing and cheery music to accompany that!  A gentleman, of course, leaves no break un-taken.  Keeps the mind sharp.

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Stage 1, Earnest Evans, 1991, Mega CD, developed and published by Wolfteam, composed by Motoi Sakuraba (Note: yes, there’s a Genesis port of the game for North American shores, but as you might imagine, it don’t sound anything like this!)

An uptempo, high-energy first level theme can be important for setting the tone and getting your players bumped for the adventure ahead, and I think Sakuraba does a fully realized effort at doing just that with this offering from the Indiana Jones inspired *cough* complete rip off of *cough* Earnest Evans.

(Fun extra fact: Wolfteam would go on to become the Tales Studio responsible for the Tales of RPG series.)

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Batman: The Video Game, 1989, NES, developed and published by Sunsoft, composed by Naoki Kodaka

This is just kind of one those retro boss themes that just works.  I’m not entirely sure why -- might entirely be nostalgia, but it still has an ability to put a grin on my face.

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Introduction, Space Quest 1, 1986, DOS, Mac, Amiga, Atari ST, developed and published by Sierra On-Line, composed by Ken Allen, Mark Seibert, and Orpheus Hanley

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, so I was otherwise occupied with the intended purpose of the holiday.  Here’s your makeup track: a goofy and glorious track from the mid-80′s made of pure space cheese and ham.

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Twin Mountains, Brave Fencer Musashi, 1998, Playstation, developed by Square, published by Square (Japan) and Square Electronic Arts (North America), composed by Tsuyoshi Sekito

Proud, adventurous, and stirring, Brave Fencher Musashi brought us some tall tracks that called to exploration, such as this excellent theme for the Twinpeak Mountain.

My favorite part is about a minute in, with the flute backed by the big booming tuba and percussion. It just WORKS for me.

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Kartikeya ASGX_7135 (Battle), Wild Arms 5, 2006, PS2, developed by Media.Vision, published by SCEI (Japan), Xseed Games (North America and Australia) and 505 Games (Europe), composed by Masato Kouda and Noriyasu Agematsu

Mostly, you can expect soundtracks to carry a coherent sound that consistently conveys emotion, theme, and context across the work.  Every once in a while, though, you get a track like this that just JUMPS out of the work and screams to be heard because of how discordant it is with the rest of the piece.

Wild Arms 5 has always been known for a combination of spaghetti western inspired music and more sci-fi inspired fare, but I gotta say, I did not expect death metal to suddenly blare out when you go to take on the mad Kartikeya.  It’s jarring, just like me, so this track gets the nod today for being damn effective at its job.

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Precious Stars in the Sky, Kingdom Hearts, 2002, PS2, developed by Square, published by Square (Japan and North America) and Sony Computer Entertainment (Europe and Australia), composed by Yoko Shimomura

Been trying out Kingdom Hearts Unchained X (the new mobile one), and it’s been pretty fun so far!  Downside: This track is now thoroughly stuck in my head.

Oh don’t get me wrong, it’s a great track.  But still.  Earworm.  Full stop.  Yeesh.

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Cantina, Super Star Wars, 1992, SNES, developed by Sculptured Software and LucasArts, published by JVC and Nintendo, composed by Paul Webb (of course based off the original composition by John Williams for the film)

May the 4th be with you!  I of course had to pick a Star Wars related track, but given that I TRY to stick to video game tracks for this blog, I found myself in a brief quandary over what to do. Then I remembered Super Star Wars, and it was all good.  So here’s your 16 bit version of the iconic Cantina theme! Go watch the movie!