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Day 18! Sorry for the delay on this one, folks; it's been a busy week. But the semester's almost over! And once that happens, you'll be getting a big announcement!
For those of you just joining us, this is Day 18 of a 30 Day Video Game Music Challenge; if you missed the first seventeen days, they're all grouped together in the same category, at the top of the article. Each day consists of a different category of music, and I respond with a song that I feel fits it well, in terms of being one of my favorites of that category. Hard mode: I can't repeat games. Challenge mode: I can't repeat franchises either. (Repeat characters appearing in other franchises are fine.) In each entry, I've also been providing an honorable mention, a song that fits the bill quite well; in order to avoid removing other franchises from the running, I've been keeping these honorable mentions within the same franchise as the original item. Got it? Good!
Day 18's theme is "Music in a game released the year you were born"; alas, even including franchises I've already discussed, there simply weren't very many games released that year! But, there's certainly one absolute classic: Ghosts 'n Goblins. And it doesn't get much more iconic than the first level theme, a song that was remixed for I believe EVERY subsequent entry in the series. In that regard, it's right up there with Castlevania's iconic "Vampire Killer".
For an honorable mention, since this was the only game in the series released that year, I've got to go with another song from the same title. And, since so few ever got past the first level, much less even got to the first BOSS, that's gonna be where I go. The first boss theme is similarly iconic—even borrowing the leitmotif from the level's main theme. If you didn't know the song when you started, you certainly would by the time you gave up in frustration.
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And now, on to Day 17! Hard for me to believe we're more than halfway through this challenge, which I'd started back almost three years ago! (Sorry for the delays!)
For those of you just joining us, this is Day 17 of a 30 Day Video Game Music Challenge; if you missed the first sixteen days, they're all grouped together in the same category, at the top of the article. Each day consists of a different category of music, and I respond with a song that I feel fits it well, in terms of being one of my favorites of that category. Hard mode: I can't repeat games. Challenge mode: I can't repeat franchises either. (Repeat characters appearing in other franchises are fine.) In each entry, I've also been providing an honorable mention, a song that fits the bill quite well; in order to avoid removing other franchises from the running, I've been keeping these honorable mentions within the same franchise as the original item. Got it? Good!
Day 17's theme is "Music you never get tired of". This is a BIG challenge, since most songs I can think of immediately fall into one of the franchises I've mentioned previously! Lots of great music in those games. But, I think I've got a winner. This song, from the original Super Mario Land, plays in Worlds 2-1 and 2-2, and represents the song that actually got me interested in writing music. It's the first song I ever tried to reproduce in sheet music! (Of course, at the time I didn't know how to read or write sheet music, only being maybe six.) When a song leaves that kind of impact, you tend not to forget it!
For an honorable mention, unfortunately I can't say much for the rest of the entire Super Mario franchise, music-wise. Was never big on most of the songs from these games. But, returning to Super Mario Land, the song for Worlds 1-3, 3-2, and 3-3 was another great entry. Not quite as good as the aforementioned song, but it sticks with you just as well.
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Welp, that thesis project has been pushed back by an unreconcilable lack of data. So, I get to do more work on other stuff! Not that I dislike working on the thesis, just it had definitely superceded every other item in my backlog. But, since it's pretty set in stone that I'm not going to be able to graduate this semester, I now have time for other things! Like the Video Game Music Challenge!
For those of you just joining us, this is Day 16 of a 30 Day Video Game Music Challenge; if you missed the first fifteen days, they're all grouped together in the same category, at the top of the article. Each day consists of a different category of music, and I respond with a song that I feel fits it well, in terms of being one of my favorites of that category. Hard mode: I can't repeat games. Challenge mode: I can't repeat franchises either. (Repeat characters appearing in other franchises are fine.) In each entry, I've also been providing an honorable mention, a song that fits the bill quite well; in order to avoid removing other franchises from the running, I've been keeping these honorable mentions within the same franchise as the original item. Got it? Good!
Day 16's theme is "16-Bit music"; alas, I've used a number of great candidates already. But, an excellent song from the 16-bit era that I feel doesn't get the love or recognition it deserves is "Basement of Dr.Leo" from the Quintet/Enix title Soul Blazer (Soul Blader in Japan). The first time I ever heard this song, I was completely amazed! It's such a good song, highlighting the dangers and oppressive atmosphere of the titular dungeon. The other way you know it's good: The song isn't repeated anywhere else in the game.
"But, you already used Illusion of Gaia!" I hear you say. I sure did! Technically, these two games are not from the same franchise. I do agree that they form a solid overarching story alongside Terranigma, and even a couple other games Quintet developed (including another title I discussed in a previous entry), but they are not officially the same franchise. So I say it counts!
For today's honorable mention, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Battle with Deathtoll", the final boss theme from the same game. Is it a grand, sweeping orchestral theme? No, not really. But it's triumphant, and its regular use of minor key highlights just how desperate a battle this is. You're fighting the demon Deathtoll, for the fate of the world. You've gathered the six stones, assembled the Phoenix, freed the world's living beings from Deathtoll's clutches, and now you must defeat him once and for all.
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And now we're at Day 15. Actually, the day was here several days ago, but I've been busy, what with will be in another post. Sufficed to say, this is our Video Game Music Challenge post!
For those of you just joining us, this is Day 15 of a 30 Day Video Game Music Challenge; if you missed the first fourteen days, they're all grouped together in the same category, at the top of the article. Each day consists of a different category of music, and I respond with a song that I feel fits it well, in terms of being one of my favorites of that category. Hard mode: I can't repeat games. Challenge mode: I can't repeat franchises either. (Repeat characters appearing in other franchises are fine.) In each entry, I've also been providing an honorable mention, a song that fits the bill quite well; in order to avoid removing other franchises from the running, I've been keeping these honorable mentions within the same franchise as the original item. Got it? Good!
Today's topic is "Boss battle music", and while I had a hard time coming up with anything that came from a franchise I hadn't already used, I finally decided on the final battle theme for Illusion of Gaia, titled "Threat of Dark Gaia". This song plays during the climactic final battle of the game (though not the most challenging boss battle, if you know about Gem~), and when I finally reached it, OH, I was thoroughly impressed. It's still a wonderful song, and I feel truly matches the level of the destiny of this battle. If you win, you save mankind--at great personal cost. But if you lose, the world as you know it is destroyed.
For an honorable mention, there's really only one other boss song in this soundtrack, and that's the general boss track, "The Guardian". It's a good song too--really, every song on this soundtrack is amazing, and if you've never played the game I cannot recommend it enough--but its intent is to match the intensity of the battle on Earth, strong and stressful, but with no idea as to the gravity of the situation.
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Oof, Day 14. We're cruising along, but I'm pretty wiped today. Still gonna try to get something out!
For those of you just joining us, this is Day 14 of a 30 Day Video Game Music Challenge; if you missed the first thirteen days, they're all grouped together in the same category, at the top of the article. Each day consists of a different category of music, and I respond with a song that I feel fits it well, in terms of being one of my favorites of that category. Hard mode: I can't repeat games. Challenge mode: I can't repeat franchises either. (Repeat characters appearing in other franchises are fine.) In each entry, I've also been providing an honorable mention, a song that fits the bill quite well; in order to avoid removing other franchises from the running, I've been keeping these honorable mentions within the same franchise as the original item. Got it? Good!
Day 14's theme is "Music featuring vocals". Not many game soundtracks have songs that feature vocals, much less more than one within a given franchise! (Guitar Hero is cheating!) But ah, how could I forget the iconic opening sequence to Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. I remember first seeing this credits sequence a few short years after the game came out—I wasn't a Playstation player for a very long time—and absolutely loving it. It perfectly fits the style of Maurice Binder's classic James Bond openings (minus the scantily-clad women, of course), and the song itself is so wonderfully bombastic, it's hard to hate it!
An honorable mention is going to be tricky here, though... Unfortunately, I must admit a general lack of knowledge of the Metal Gear Solid series. While I know (and love) the general story, I've not played much of any of the games. As such, I'm going to deliberately choose a title that's often neglected: Portable Ops. This game's theme song, "Calling To the Night", is beautifully emotional, befitting a game series with such a beautifully emotional story.