[leroyhacker]

Something that came up in the SNES thread was how interesting and unique Genesis soundtracks could be if a composer understood how to use the FM chip as an instrument in and of itself.

Yesterday I downloaded Bio-hazard Battle on the virtual console. I was immediately struck by the soundtrack. The (emulated) sound chip is producing sounds I've never heard before. I hadn't realized just how versatile of an analog synthesizer the Genesis hardware was. This music is really amazing to me. Does anyone know who composed it? Mobygames says only "Sound directed by K.N.U."


So I've been looking into Genesis music emulation in order to hear more of what the system can offer. The situation seems more complicated than for NES or SNES music. There's two different file formats, and a bunch of players. Does anyone here have any advice about what the best software to use is? Right now I'm using Meridian Advance, but it makes the .GYM files of Phantasy Star 2 sound like noise.

It also seems worth asking just how accurate the emulation of Genesis sound is on the virtual console. Having little experience with the original hardware I cannot judge this myself.


Some of the soundtracks I've downloaded are Beyond Oasis/Story of Thor and Streets of Rage 1-3, and also all of the Sakuraba games. Can people recommend other soundtracks worth listening to that effectively use the Genesis as an analog synthesizer?

[Jeff Garneau]

link to .gym?

can't find it anywhere.

[diplo]

castlevania bloodlines

[leroyhacker]

[John Mc.]

verytex.

VERYTEX.

VERYTEX!

[duomo]

That link doesn't work because no direct-link policy, but I think http://www.zophar.net/utilities/gym.html is the page in question.

[aderack]

Can't help you on the sound file issues; I can help you on the soundtrack side.

Check out Tokuhiko Uwabo's music -- Castle of Illusion, Phantasy Star II, Sword of Vermillion, Columns. It's eerie.

Revenge of Shinobi is by Yuzo Koshiro (of Streets of Rage/Beyond Oasis fame). Shinobi III isn't, though it's pretty good too.

Contra: Hard Corps is kind of insane in this regard.

Oh, you might want to check out Vectorman.

The following will be more controversial choices, though I really like them: Fire Shark (by Tatsuya Uemura), Sagaia, Wings of Wor

It's worth noting, I think, how fucking hard it is to correctly emulate Genesis music -- I guess because of its analog sound. Almost nobody gets it right, even in commercial applications. To hear them in context, the emulator with the best sound is probably Kega Fusion. Gens isn't too bad, either.

[leroyhacker]

[aderack]

Man. Sword of Vermillion does have an amazing soundtrack, doesn't it. I hadn't really listened in a long time. Even the title theme -- though the composition is familiar, it doesn't sound like anything you'd hear on another game console.

Oh hell. You know what it sounds like? The music to The Mysterious Cities of Gold.

[Red_venom]

[aderack]

Yeah. Witness the simple FM chip in most PC sound cards. The Genesis chip does produce a really complex, analog sound, though.

[Red_venom]

I think the interesting thing about the Genesis' sound hardware is that it's probably one of the most advanced actual synthesizers in a system(Being what I believe is a low quality/high polyphony Yamaha DX7 roughly)... And pretty much every system directly after it relied on very rudimentary sample based chips.

It's like a line drawn in the musical stylings of old game music between chip tunes and when terrible fake strings in the Super NES took over. ;]

[leroyhacker]

[dementia]

Streets of Rage 2 was fantastic. <3 Yuzo Koshiro

[Red_venom]

Only that the common implementation of FM is digital and as far as I know recreating the technology in analog means would be costly as hell and a quick googling revealed nothing about a hardware FM synth that used analog oscillators. But maybe some crazy dude made one, I dont know.

So yeah technically you're correct, but to many folks "Digital synth" basically means "FM synth"... Or maybe wavetable;] Bleheehee

[Sardoose]

Guys.

The Adventures of Batman & Robin.

Because seriously.

[Deets]

Ok. First, you don't want to be using GYM. It sucks. Use VGM. You can find a plugin and a huge repository of files at Project2612.

Recommendations-wise, Rocket Knight Adventures, Contra Hard Corps and Castlevania Bloodlines have already been mentioned, but they bear reiteration.

Dynamite Headdy, Gunstar Heroes and Alien Soldier are pretty rad, too.

What else. Batman! The genesis version of Batman was composed by Naoki Kodaka, who was also responsible for the awesome music in Journey to Silius and Battle Formula and shit. Quite good.

Comix Zone had some excellent music, but it works a lot better in the context of the game than it does on its own. Still worth checking out, I'd say.

Gauntlet IV and Devilish were both composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, and it's pretty obvious - the same booming fanfares and theming that eventually became his namesakes are evident in both. He was also responsible for the music in the Megadrive port of Midnight Resistance, so check that out too.

Gynoug? Gynoug!

Mega Turrican is pretty fucking amazing, both on its own and considering what Chris Hulsbeck managed to do with the megadrive sound hardware.

Monster World IV is also pretty wonderful.

Oh, and Toe Jam and Earl. Not technically exceptional by any means, but that's pretty damned irrelevant all things considered.

[Knurek]

[Levi]

[Talbain]

Ristar if nobody's mentioned it already.
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[Slonie]

I really dig the Genesis sound hardware's rendition of Vapor Trail, but then, I'm a little overly obsessed with Vapor Trail anyway. Still, a good example of how the Genesis's sound hardware had a real aesthetic to it compared with music composed of samples (like, say, the original arcade version of vapor trail...).

Also, Thunder Force III. Compare to the SNES version. Ugh.

Edit: Wow, Gauntlet IV is pretty amazing-sounding.
Edit2: Wow, Bio Hazard Battle is pretty amazing-sounding.
(both of them are also fairly unsettling!)
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-Slonie

[leroyhacker]

[another coma]

you can still download the game soundtracks in VGM format individually from their servers if you hit the download tab thar, chief.
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[Loki Laufeyson]

i am shocked at the lack of devil crush MD and thunderforce iv in this thread. and also gunstar heroes.

[Lick Meth]

World of Illusion (except fucking water level)

[leroyhacker]

[NFG]

This was double posted because the content is too rad for a single post.
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[NFG]

Wings of Wor / Gynoug is, as mentioned, truly great, with a unique style unmatched by other Genesis releases. At least two of the tracks are on permanent rotation in my game-tune listenings. one and two

I can't believe no one's mentioned Musha/Aleste, with its two brilliant tracks (title and stage 1).

And seriously - no mention of those other Tecnosoft classics Elemental Master and the inimitable Herzog Zwei? For shame!!

(two Herzog tracks: one and two)

Also, for funs, here's the good track from Castlevania
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[dmauro]

Yeah I think the fact that Castlevania Bloodlines has the best soundtrack of all the Castlevania games says good things about the OPN2.
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[Triton]

Is Sonic too obvious? Hydrocity Zone act 2 is not only my favorite video game song, it's one of my favorite songs, period. Even crappy old 3d blast has great music.

Alisia Dragoon's music makes great use of the chip. Both Ecco the Dolphin games manage some really atmospheric and ambient stuff, which is rare on the Genesis. For all it's been made fun of, Zero Wing has great tunes. Outrun 2019 has good music that's very characteristic of the genesis. QuackShot has some really technically competent stuff too.

Also for anyone who's got a homebrew-enabled PSP, the master system emulator MMSPlus has a built in VGM/GYM player, so you can listen to your genesis tunes on the go.

[kiken]

To add:

Whip Rush


Backing up: anything Technosoft, anything Yuzo Koshiro, anything Masato Nakamura, Ristar, Bloodlines/Vampire Killer, Rocket Knight Adventures, Monster World IV (it's all about the Ice Pyramids), Gunstar Heroes...

[aderack]

Rolling Thunder II also has some neat stuff going on, to mention.

And though I remembered Sword of Vermilion as being one of Bo's works, I'm now reading that it's by Hiroshi Miyauchi -- the guy behind Outrun and Space Harrier and all that. This actually makes a lot of sense, on two levels. One, the game was produced by AM2; two, on deeper listening I can hear Miyauchi's stylings all over the place and few of Bo's. So there we go.

Seriously, check out the "Erias" piece from this game. This thing could invade your dreams.

Is the Wings of Wor soundtrack really by Noriyuki Iwarare? Awesome.

[ionustron]

Yay, to Devil's Crush/Alica Dragoon/Musha/Mega Turrican mentions!

Also, Langrisser! G-Loc, Dangrous Seed, Ex-Ranza.

I also used to be a Motoi Sakuraba nut, so Granada, Arcus Odyssey, and El Viento (there were many others, but......eeeehh.)

Also, Adrack, you need to check out .MDX format, or X68000 music. Kinda like listening to 2 genesis consoles at once, it's beasty when done right! Rolling Thunder 2 if quite good in MDX (haven't heard the arcade one, so I don't know how it compares.)

bunch of soundtracks. - You can't go wrong with Konami, Falcom, Micro Cabin, and Namco.

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X68000's_MDX]Wikipedia Entry[/url]

BBcode seems to hate me today....

edit - trying to find the winamp plugin....also seems to hate me today...

EDIT EDIT - After some fighting, I can't seem to get MDX to work under winamp in XP. Very dissapointing. I did see some plugins for Foobar though (I use kbmedia player myself.)

http://www.vesta.dti.ne.jp/~tsato/soft_fb2kv9.html

[aderack]

While we're here, what the hell is going on with the melody to the "Dungeon" piece from Vermilion? It seems like a standard bass drum, ominous bass melody piece -- and then you get this earnest lead thrown on top. It's weirdly awesome, whatever it is. This soundtrack is so angular...

When I was in middle school, El Viento was my favorite videogame soundtrack ever. It's not anymore! It's still pretty solid, though.

Yeah, I'm not too up on the wacky Japanese computer formats. I know they tend to have great FM stuff going on -- Falcom and all. I should look into that.

[aderack]

Okay. Download the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack. It's... basically an Autechre album. I don't think I'd ever seriously listened to it before. This is pretty mind-blowing. It's smart, it's got a sense of humor about itself, it's...

I guess it works better as art music than as atmosphere for a sidescrolling brawler.

[diplo]

koshiro's work on streets of rage 3 is fascinating. it's like he was trying to recreate the sound of an underground rave, rife with hyper breakbeats and mid-90's stylized riffs, but, uh, on the genesis. the end result can sound almost experimental. the potency of the bass is pretty incredible, too.

most people seem to hate the music, though.

[Talbain]

Streets of Rage 3's music wasn't bad... it's just that everyone is going inevitably compare it to the other games. In doing so, the music doesn't really seem to "stack up," mostly because it's highly experimental.
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[aderack]

Yeah. It's much better as standalone music than as game music. On its own, though... man. The more I listen to it, the more I fall in love. This is some amazing stuff. You could put this out on a CD tomorrow, and people who listen to Aphex Twin would say "that's awesome!".

The stuff by the other guy is pretty great, too. Listen to the two "Ports" pieces. In earphones. They're basically electronic rock music. Koshiro's half is way weirder, though. And like nothing else in a videogame, that I'm aware of.

[NFG]

As far as Koshiro love goes, he did the original Ys soundtrack, and he had a track on the recent Street Fighter Tribute album, the M. Bison track, which kicks into gear nicely about halfway through:

M. Bison MP3

Sorry, not genesis tunes, but seemed relevent.
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[Jeff Garneau]

OH HEY THANKS THREE PEOPLE FOR LINKING ME TO THE MOST OBVIOUS SOURCE OF THE .GYM FILE ON THE PLANET WHEN IT'S NOT EVEN THERE I'M COOL OTHERWISE

[aderack]