Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami (JP + US), Palcom (EU)
Year: 1989 (JP), 1990 (US), 1992 (EU)
AKA: Akumajou Densetsu

Taking the #1 spot as our voters’ all time favorite NES soundtrack is Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. Having a score over two to three times the size of previous Castlevania titles, with a quality of sound that is refined, it is no surprise that Castlevania III stands as a favorite for many.

CV3 opens with Prelude, an ominous and powerful track that likens itself to a more orchestral sound as the back story is introduced. The second track heard in-game is Epitaph, a neat but short loop with a sample of, presumbly, Dracula cackling at you as you enter your name or password.

The rest of the game offers a variety of tracks that cover a range of styles and genres. The opening stage has one of the catchiest and most energetic tunes from the Castlevania series, Beginning. Following with the upbeat (although minor key), driving feel are tracks like Mad Forest, Aquarius, Stream, and Deja Vu- a remake of Vampire Killer for when the player finally makes it to Dracula’s castle.

Perhaps a bit more over the top and of a baroque-metal influence are tracks like Riddle and the various boss themes. A more classical feel is touched upon in tracks like Clockwork and Prelude. Weirder, more ambient and progressive tracks emerge with tunes like Demon Seed, Rising and Overture.

Most of the themes from Castlevania III are simply brilliant. While I find that it’s usually the more driving and catchy tunes that catch our attention, I’ll be darned if I don’t find a track like Demon Seed to be as interesting as Beginning.

Admittedtly, Castlevania III did cheat a little to make it this high on the list. It garnered some votes as ‘Akumajou Densetsu’, the original Famicom version that made use of the VRC6 mapper for sound expansion. Although the majority of votes were specific to the US release, the total 137 votes are a combination of, essentially, two soundtracks combined as one.

The VRC6, designed by Hidenori Maezawa of Contra, allowed for 3 additional channels of sound. Two were for pulse waves, however there were 7 different sounding ones (duty cycles) available as opposed to the original 3 the NES produced. The third channel was for a sawtooth wave. Such expansion audio was only ever used in three games from Konami- the original Japanese Castlevania III, Madara, and Esper Dream 2.

The VRC6 version of the soundtrack has both its fans and detractors. Some enjoy the larger sound and nuances omitted from the American arrangements, while for others it comes across as muddier or less clear in sound. I can go both ways on this, as I do prefer the bright simplicity and quality of sound heard in some of the NES arrangements. There are others that I think sound awesome on the Famicom, however, like Overture and Pressure.

Whichever is your cup of tea, Castlevania III has one of the best video game soundtracks for the NES, and rests as the #1 pick from The Shizz.

The music is composed by Y. Sasaki, J. Funamashi, and Y. Morimoto (Gradius II).

Listen to a selection of tracks on youtube here.

“Good-Evil; The Soundtrack” is a weekly feature that showcases an editor’s song pick complete with a small write-up and a YouTube video or streaming version of the song. This week’s selection by Chuck is “Michael Jackson – Smooth Criminal”. (more…)

Yesterday, Mega Man #3 was revealed as the #3 entry in our top 30 list. What I failed to mention was that it actually tied Mega Man 2 with 125 votes, and it was only by an arbitrary decision that they were to be divided in a tie-breaking round along with the rest of the ties. Take into consideration that the #4 spot only claimed 74 votes- It’d be one thing if all the top entries were neck and neck, but with Mega Man 2 and 3 tying with such a wide gap around their position, I think the voters’ overall opinion is clear. They’re both equally awesome.

Mega Man 2 offers some of the catchiest, most lovable tunes out of any NES game. It opens up with an introduction that recycles the first half of the Mega Man 1 ending, likely pleasing players who made it through the original, but then kicks into a new title theme that is much more anthemic and energetic.

The strong, galloping rhythm heard in the title screen music is an important characteristic of the Mega Man 2 soundtrack, appearing in a couple other tracks that are often considered favorites as well. Take the Wood Man and Dr. Wily Stage 1 themes for example. While I’m not sure that the composers have ever come forth and divulged their thoughts and influences on writing Mega Man 2, many fans will cite Iron Maiden as having had to be influential.

Some of my other favorite stage themes include Bubble Man, Metal Man, Quick Man, and Air Man. This review would be incomplete, however, without mention of the ending prologue music (skip to 0:41). The realization that Mega Man is saddened by fighting and wishes to stop is a bittersweet closing to the game, accompanied by the most sombre composition in Mega Man’s history.

Mega Man 2 is simply one of the most cherished and iconic titles of the 8-bit generation. It rests easily in most top lists as having some of the best video game music of all time.

The music is composed by Manami Matsumae, Ogeretsu Kun and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (aka Yuukichan’s Papa).

Listen to a selection of tracks on youtube here.

Earlier this week, Chuck gave us his impressions of the new Transformers film, and that was a fine time to review what Good-Evil had previously said about other related Transformers media. (more…)

Developer, Publisher: Capcom
Year: 1990 (JP + US), 1992 (EU)
AKA: RockMan 3: Dr. Wily no Saigo!?

Near the top of our list is Mega Man 3, reminding us that no matter who you ask, the Mega Man series is widely regarded as one of the top franchises for having the best NES music.

The classic Mega Man formula should be familiar to most readers; pick one of 8 levels, in any order, defeat their respective bosses and then face a final gauntlet of stages. Each stage has its own theme, with which we associate the music to its boss and setting. The music in Mega Man has always proven to be vital- it’s an element that can often make or break the gaming experience for the player. It’s no coincidence that I couldn’t stand Mega Man 8, for example, which in my opinion has one of the worst soundtracks out of all of them.

At the other end of the spectrum lies Mega Man 3, which is typically a fan favorite alongside its older brother, Mega Man 2. Its quite difficult to try and pinpoint a single genre for comparison, but some of the more “metal” moments from Mega Man 2 were mostly omitted from Mega Man 3. In eschewing what was a strong point from the previous score, however, Mega Man 3 sought to have its own excellent soundtrack without being too derivative of its predecessor.

The game opens with a very catchy tune for the title screen. It’s not too often that NES music has me picturing live instruments for all the voices, but the jazzy intro has always had me imagining a pianist playing the part. The track then builds up into the catchy, galloping tune you’d hope for from a Mega Man game.

I’m not sure where to even begin with the stage themes, or how detailed of an insight I can provide for the rest of the tracks, so I’ll continue by listing some of my favorites- Spark Man, Snake Man, the boss theme, the Weapon Acquisition screen, Dr Wily Themes 1 & 2, Protoman’s theme, and the ending credits.

A very cool musical reveal in the game comes with Protoman’s theme. His character appears several times in the game as a miniboss or encounter, introduced by a short jingle often referred to as the “whistle” sound. At the end of the game, the ending theme is introduced with the same sound, but develops into a complete tune.

Oddly enough, you could never actually hear that track in its entirety without exploiting some crazy trick that involves the second controller, as it would cut to the ending credits less than halfway through the composition. Although you can hear the complete version in the link above, the Mega Man series is guilty of making that mistake in a couple other places too. The interlude between the Wily Stages or ‘Castle Map’ contains more music than heard in-game, as does the title screen from Mega Man 4.

One thing that I’ve discovered about the magic of classic Mega Man music is that the brilliance is, essentially, all in the compositional work. While there’s a bit more care to the overall sound than your average NES game, none of the Mega Man titles ever really pushed it in terms of production or ‘milking’ the system’s sound. They just made sure to write some really awesome music.

I made this observation in a project where I carefully reconstructed the second Dr. Wily theme from this game, which you can listen to and read more about here. Not that it wasn’t a tedious task to replicate the original so closely, but I learned that there was a great simplicity to the some of the sounds behind Mega Man 3. Everything special about the music is in the melody and rhythm, which is a strong point of Mega Man 3 and the best that the Mega Man series has to offer.

Listen to a selection of tracks on youtube here.

Developer, Publisher: Konami
Year: 1988 (JP + US), 1990 (EU)
AKA: Probotector (EU)

Entering our list at #4 is Contra, a classic title which should need no introduction. Contra boasts some of the most remembered themes for the NES, like the Jungle stage, which cements its place this high in our top list.

What Contra does with incredibly well is its Konami-esque approach to energetic and driving game music. Most of the stage themes, like Waterfall and Energy Zone, offer catchy, fast-paced riffs and rhythms that are highly memorable. This soundtrack also has an excellent boss theme, which is a personal favorite of mine in terms of conveying tension and excitement at the same time.

As shizz member and chiptune artist Norrin Radd puts it, Contra is “Predator, Aliens, and prog metal all rolled up into one soundtrack”.

The original Japanese release had a pretty cool introduction song which was cut from the American and European versions. There was also another final victory jingle titled “Alien Dead“. You can read more about these unique, lesser known Contra tracks and why they were cut in the video descriptions.

The music was composed and programmed by Hidenori Maezawa and K. Sada. Maezawa was recently interviewed by 1up, in which he provides a more detailed, introspective look at his work with Contra.

Listen to the complete Contra soundtrack on youtube here.

Developer, Publisher: Tecmo
Year: 1990 (JP + US), 1994 (EU)
AKA: Ninja Ryuukenden II / Shadow Warriors II

Personal anecdotes, for the most part, have been absent from the reviews in this Top 30 list. It’s not that I haven’t been offering opinion, but I prefer to speak factually whenever possible, leaving stories of nostalgia and personal history in the backseat for any details I find worth mentioning. So, as an advance warning, I deviate from the precedent here a little.

To get this out of the way– If you want to know what I think makes Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos an excellent entry for this placement in this top list, simply read the entry on Ninja Gaiden if you haven’t already. As a reference point, I feel that Ninja Gaiden II retains all the positive aspects of the first Ninja Gaiden, while ironing out and crafting a more impressive soundtrack overall.

Alright. Formed during my highschool years, I had a band dedicated to covering music from NES games. Something kind of like The Minibosses or The Advantage, but far less notable or interesing. Stressed for a name, we decided on The Parasprinter, a song title from Ninja Gaiden II. It was sort of odd picking such a specific reference, but we liked it because “parasprinter” isn’t a real word in any language and figured it was a safe bet for not being used in any other context ever. Maybe it’s like a paratrooper that hits the ground running? Or, perhaps the boss known as Funky Dynamite with the jetpack is supposed to be “The Parasprinter”? The world may never know.

Anyways, if picking a band name off of this soundtrack wasn’t a silly enough personal connection, there was a point when we had planned on doing an album of covers specifically from NG2, sometime around the end of my high school years (2004-ish). As it turned out, we were beaten to the concept! Who were the jerks that got it done before us? Chromelodeon.

Around the same time I grew quite fond of this (now defunct) band for their original music. I knew they had done some video game covers as well, but it wasn’t until I had booked them for a show with my band, and met them for the first time, that I had heard anything about their Ninja Gaiden II release. It was a funny converstation, something like-

“Oh sweet, you’re also into the Ninja Gaiden II music?” (chromelodeon)

“Yeah, we plan on doing an album of just that sometime!” (me)

“Oh cool, we did that, here’s a copy…”

I would’ve never guessed that such an esoteric concept would’ve come to fruition and crossed my path in such a manner.  Especially when there were far less video game cover bands out there than there are today.

I listened to their album, download-able here, the same night as the show and immediately gave up on any NG2 related plans I had with The Parasprinter. It was already done, and the execution was far superior to anything we would have come up with.

This only helped fuel a dedicated interest in Chromelodeon, whom I eventually joined and performed on two recordings with. It was a grand ol’ time, and my experience with them not only greatly increased my interest in chiptune music, but also lead me to eventually relocate and live in a new city, where I kind of love life and things are awesome.

I think its very odd how one soundtrack would have such a presence in my existence some 10+ years after its release. It is by no means my favorite video game or NES soundtrack, but it is up there somewhere! So, uh, thank you Ninja Gaiden II / Chromelodeon for where I am today?

Now back to the usual means of wrapping up my entries here-

Ninja Gaiden II contains an in-game soundtest, complete with official track names. This made it easy to enjoy the wonderful musical experience if you owned the game but didn’t want to attempt playing all the way through it. It even has a display for all the sound channels, showing the volumes for each as it plays, making it the most interesting NES sound test I can think of.

There was an unused track, only available from the nsf rip, which can be heard here. It’s very odd and sounds possibly unfinished (they couldn’t have been into the sound for that one lead, right?), perhaps initially meant as another boss theme.

Watch the 25+ minutes of Ninja Gaiden II cutscenes here.

Listen to another selection of tracks on youtube here.

The latest installment of Transformers is like many sequels. There is a story that tries to do too much, the introduction of new characters, and more over the top action than you can shake a stick at. However, many times a sequel does not live up to the original, and sequels have a nasty habit of being pretentious and lacking the originality that made the first movie stand out. Anticipation was high for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This was illustrated by selling out two theaters at midnight in the local movie theater. Would this sequel live up to the hype like that of The Empire Strikes Back or would it flop like The Matrix: Revolutions? (more…)

Developer, Publisher: Konami
Year: 1987 (JP), 1988 (US), 1990 (EU)
AKA: Dracula II: Noroi no Fuin

The second entry in the Castlevania series enters our list at #6, with 66 votes. The score is shorter in length than its predecessor, which is a bit odd for a sequel, but Castlevania 2 offers 9 tracks of music that are each highly memorable. As much as I enjoy the first Castlevania soundtrack, I think CV2 is more succinct in its efforts to share excellent music with the gamer.

Final Boss and Monster Dance are possibly my least favorite tracks from the game, yet I still find them very enjoyable. If the rest of the soundtrack can only go uphill from there, then there is no question of its excellence.

Message of Darkness opens Castlevania 2 up with an ominous tune, which then transitions to the daytime town theme, Silence of Daylight. While offering some subtle references to Vampire Killer from Castlevania, it’s not too derivative to lack originality. It’s also another perfect example of what I think distinguishes the classic Castlevania sound, which is that weird, sort of genre-ambiguous approach to spooky melodic “progressive funk”.

Less subtle in their musical influences, and likely to please a lot of video game nerds, are Bloody Tears and Dwelling of Doom. These tracks are some of the most metal sounding tunes in the Castlevania series, with Dwelling of Doom often recognized as being eerily similar to Yngwie Malmsteen’s Far Beyond the Sun (skip to 0:36 in).

Just like the previous entry and a handful of others in our top list, the original was released on floppy disc for the Famicom in Japan and had a different sounding score. You can read more about the differences between the two and my thoughts on them in the video descriptions of any of the linked videos. In short, I’m a bigger fan of the music we got here in the United States.

The music was composed and programmed by Kenichi Matsubara (Crisis Force, Contra Force), and S. Terishima (Lifeforce). Surprisingly, Castlevania 2 wasn’t called “Simon’s Force”.

You can listen to the complete Dracula II and Castlevania II soundtracks on youtube here.