Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I am back, and this is "Ultima Online"

I am finally back from my business days in Canada. Had a good time, lots of friendly people there, and the food was nice (Poutine all the way :).

Now it´s back to chiptunes and game music. For today, I present you a track of the classic game "Ultima Online". I hope you all know the "godfather" of online roleplaying games, I sure do. Never did I experience more emotions in front of my computer than when playing this gem 15 years ago. Being hunted by playerkillers, stalking big prey in dungeons... it´s not the same with games like "World of Warcraft" nowadays. The adrenaline is gone, at least for me.

Anyway, Ultima Online did also feature some very nice music. This is the title tune, and to be honest - I cannot listen to it without getting tears in my eyes. Those were the days...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Just a wee post, for I am stressed: "Monkey Island"

Hey guys and gals,

I know, long time no update, but my real life is killing me at the moment (especially my job), plus I will be on a business trip to Canada for the next few days.

I will try and post from Canada. In the meantime, I present you something you all know already: The intro music of "The Secret of Monkey Island". I don´t think I need to explain why I am posting this here. Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Classic SNES Tune: "Mute City" from "F-Zero"

Do you remember playing "F-Zero" on the SNES? I do not like racing games at all, and I never did - but F-Zero was such a good game, I just *had* to play it for hours and hours without end. Incredible fast 3D graphics, powerful music and pretty nice gameplay. For me, it was an instant classic.

Here, I present you the track named "Mute City". Enjoy!

By the way, I have just bought myself an original SNES from a friend, along with several games (including F-Zero). I sold mine when I was around 15 or 16 years old to enter the "next generation" with a Playstation 1. I am glad I can finally play on that old system again...

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Orchestra plays Chiptune: "Giana Sisters"

Aye, it´s true. German game music god Chris Huelsbeck worked together with a famous german orchestra (the "WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln"), to play some tunes of the C-64 and Amiga classic "The Great Giana Sisters". If that isn´t cool, I don´t know what is.

Of course, "Giana Sisters" isn´t the only piece he did together with that orchestra. The series is called "Symphonic Shades", you cant get some good glimpses at it at youtube.

Enjoy!


Friday, May 6, 2011

Oldschool all the way: Title tune of "Gods"

"Gods" was a platformer for the Amiga, developed by the much-renowned software studio "Bitmap Brothers". It received widespread accolade during the early nineties. In the game, the player becomes Hercules on his quest for eternal life (which is kinda cheesy but much better than the usual "goblins took my family" stories of that time ;)

The music is pretty special. It was composed by "Nation 12", whoever that may be :) The title track is really famous... by the way, the voice says "Into the wonderful".


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Again: No chiptune. Title track of "Myst"

Once again, game music that is _not_ chiptune. I am sorry, dear readers, but I promise to post something really oldschool again tomorrow. Anyway, I guess most of you know "Myst". My parents gave it to me when I was young(ish), and boy, did I enjoy that game. The graphic was nice, the story was creepy (for the young(ish) me), and the music once again put you into the right mood for the game.

The most prominent track arguably is the title tune. How often did I listen to it while taking a nap on my few spare days :) You should try it out, it evokes very nice dreams...


Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Now this is special: "Defssupr" from "TFX"

Now this is REALLY special. TFX is "Tactical Fighter Experiment", a combat flight simulator from 1993 for PC. There were different versions of this acclaimed game, one came on disks, one came on CD - and one had a special sound engine optimized for the "Roland SCC-1" sound card.

The sound of this version is very, _very_ cool. The music is pretty relaxed and atmospheric, there is no aggressive tune, but it certainly goes with the feeling of the simulation. I gotta admit, this certainly is NO chiptune - it is just very pleasant computer game music.
 
I present you the track "Defssupr". Let me know what you think.


Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Kung Fu Fighting! "International Karate+"

Who doesn´t remember that C-64 and Amiga classic! Three Karatekas fight to the death until one of them falls to the ground. The music was composed by Rob Hubbard, who was one of the top game musicians during the 80s / early 90s.

This tune is cheesy, no questions asked - but it´s also an extreme catchy one. I have to admit, I got it in my car (it´s a roadster), and during the summertime, sometimes I have to drive around and listen to it on full blast... embarrassing? yes. incredibly smooth? yes!


Monday, May 2, 2011

64K Demo: "Candytron" by "Farbrausch"

The demo scene is still alive and kicking. The following demo named "Candytron" won the 64k competition at Breakpoint '03 (a former scene gathering in Germany). Made by german demo group "Farbrausch", it is incredibly well made - nice graphics and arrangement, and, once again, a killer soundtrack.

When you are watching this, remember: The whole thing weighs in at UNDER 64.000 Bytes! You already reach 64 kbytes with one compressed mid-sized jped image. Incredible work. By the way, if you like what you see, check out Farbrausch at http://www.farb-rausch.de/ .

Dreamy music: "Brinstar theme" from "Super Metroid"

Ok, here goes. I guess all of you know "Super Metroid". To me, it is the best SNES/Super Famicom game i have ever played, and I do not think the newer Metroid games even come near it. It´s all about the atmosphere of this title, the feeling of loneliness on a far-away planet. The GFX are nice, the gameplay is superb, but the music REALLY stands out.

This is the theme of "Brinstar", one of the sections of the game. I _really_ love it, especially the piano part. It is so tranquil, but at the same time it is kinda oppressive. I can listen to the Super Metroid soundtrack literally all day.


Now click play, sit back, relax, close your eyes, and imagine a foreign world.

Mundo Smash!!! joins the nostalgia with Ecco: The Tides of Time...

Mundo Smash!!!: Music from Consoles Past - Ecco: The Tides of Time...: "Taking a queue from from flowchiller , I thought I would share some of my favorite console scores with everyone. There are way to many for..."

Moody... The "Ice Palace" tune from "Secret of Mana"

Oh my, oh my... how many hours of my life did I spend with "Secret of Mana" (Seiken Densetsu 2) on the SNES (Super Famicom). Brilliant game, and the music - oh, the music. It really got you into the mood to play it, it made the game a wholesome experience.

Here I present you the "Ice Palace" tune... its very quiet and athmospheric, maybe you´ll like it.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

"Chipdisk #3" by Razor - 30+ tracks, 800 KB

 Loads of great chiptune tracks in less than 1 Megabyte - "Chipdisks" do the trick. They come complete with an audio engine and several tracks, in this case over 30 by well-known artists like dubmood, lesnik and blz.

Download this great disk here - don´t worry, the file is clean. Just 50+ minutes of chiptune goodness!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MMVVIC6N

Another Game Tune: "One Must Fall 2097" for PC

Another game tune for you. But this time, it is not really oldschool stuff, because it´s the title track of a PC game from 1994 by Diversions Entertainment. The music is really catchy und cool, which was a pretty rare thing when the game came out - the music of PC games generally was real crap, to be honest.

By the way, the game itself was really cool too. Does anyone of you remember it? Beat'em'up with robots - very nice :) And it even had fatalities (but since I had no internet at that time, I had to figure out the right button combinations myself... omg :)