Sound Breakdown Paradise #1: The Incredible Hulk (Mega Drive)

Hello everyone; it was a long time coming, I know, but at long last, the first edition of Sound Breakdown Paradise has arrived! Part of the delay was the struggle of picking exactly what game to start us off with out of the many I wanted to talk about, but ultimately I decided to go with a little known gem of a soundtrack from my youth that, naturally, comes from a Mega Drive game.

Though nowadays Marvel is known for their foray into the film industry, in the 90s their biggest non-comic export was a line of animated series’ based around their properties. Perhaps the most well remembered (and arguably most successful) was the X-Men cartoon, but they also produced a few Spider Man cartoons, an Iron Man cartoon, and most relevant to this article, an Incredible Hulk cartoon. It ran for two seasons, brought Lou Ferringo back to voice The Hulk (which, really, was probably a legal requirement in a pre-Aang Lee world), boasted some sort-of-grim-and-gritty plot elements in it’s first season, and was in general a bit of a sleeper hit. I remember having watched it a couple of times in my youth, but I don’t really remember much about it, so I can’t vouch either way for its quality. However, much like its MAU brethren, it did produce some tie in material during it’s short lived run- including a video game developed by Probe Entertainment, that was published by US Gold on the Mega Drive, Game Gear, and SNES. This article will deal mainly with the Mega Drive version, but references will be made to the SNES version towards the end. The game, of course, puts you in the role of the mighty green force of nature as he carves a warpath on his way to stop The Leader from, what else, taking over the world, running into (and trouncing) enemies like The Rhino, Absorbing Man, and Tyrannus in the process. Oh, and Spider Man shows up at one point, because of course he does. I got a copy of the game amongst a bundle of Mega Drive games handed down to me by some relatives, and in all honesty, I wasn’t very fond of it back in the day, and I’m not very fond of it now; for all the upsides- visually speaking, the animation on the sprites is pretty darned good, and the somewhat deep gameplay involving needing to switch between being The Hulk and Bruce Banner is kind of interesting- there is a downside, like the levels themselves (barring one, but we’ll get to that) not being the most memorable levels ever put to a game, and the utterly baffling choice to have gun wielding enemies register hits via hitscan (which means that instead of firing visible projectiles the player needs to come in contact with, the guns simply give off muzzle flare, and if you’re in the line of fire you take damage immediately) in a platform game. The biggest thing the game has going for it- and the reason I’m talking about it at all- is the music.

First, a bit of tech knowledge; by now it’s somewhat well known that the Mega Drive primarily used FM Synth sound by way of the Yamaha produced YM2612 chip, and that integration of a Texas Instruments SN76489 gave it some PSG capabilities, both of which are sound forms built on the three basic Wave types; Square, Sine and Triangle/Sawtooth. The YM2612 did however contain very basic DAC (or Digital To Analog Conversion) integration by way of a “DAC” mode the 6th channel could be switched to, which was often used to convert recorded sounds into Analog waveforms that would play alongside the chip-generated ones. The most memorable uses of this function are probably the famous snare sample used in the first two Sonic The Hedgehog games, and the infamous “digitized speech” clips and snippets found in various games, usually of a somewhat dubious quality. As the Sonic example shows, oftentimes the DAC capability was used in place of FM Synth for the percussion, to allow for sounds with more depth, grit, and realism, and The Incredible Hulk’s soundtrack is one such score to use the technique. Normally that’s more of a footnote, but it’s the compositional style Hulk’s music goes for that makes it worth pointing out, as the music in the game consists largely of Funk based compositions. Experimenting with styles in game soundtracks wasn’t entirely new at the time- various games had experimented, however loosely, with orchestral and symphonic styles, and a few games had started braving the world of techno/rave inspired music- but this one stands out as especially interesting for two reasons.

One, the style it’s making use of is known typically to have more mild or subtle melodic elements, instead focusing on groove and repeating, danceable refrains that build up and change gradually, compared to “typical” game music, which is built around creating distinct, clear, evolving melodies. Two, well... it’s The Incredible Hulk. When you think of The Hulk, do you also think of Earth Wind And Fire, or Level 42? Most people probably don’t, but Probe clearly did. And in some ways, I’m thankful they did. To be entirely fair, to label the soundtrack as simply “funk” is kind of underselling it; the game puts a few interesting spins on the styles that give it a bit of an edge. The Title Screen Theme is, as many good “main themes” tend to be, a bit of a medley of the different techniques across the score; there is something of a clearly defined, progressing melody across the track, offset by a repeating bassline, little synth refrains and chords, and a steady, meaty funk rhythm that makes great use of rapid fire 16ths and offbeats. Technically speaking, the range of the sounds on display is nice and varied; the bass is velvet smooth, the melody and chord sounds run the gamut from silky to squelchy, there’s some really nice Hammond B3 Organ emulation going on, and the drums are extremely high quality DAC samples that, for all intents and purposes, sound like “the real thing”, or as close to that as the Mega Drive could manage; some funk stylings aside, it’s almost typical game song. The First Stage Theme on the other hand takes a more typical funk direction, with an even simpler bass groove that carries the track rather then leading it, sharp, crisp chords, and a small bit of twiddly key action is about as close to a melody as the song gets. It’s raw funk through and through, and the only other games I can think of at the time that had tracks emphasising groove and rhythm to that extent were the ToeJam & Earl games, and the Streets Of Rage games, so it stands out as being pretty unique on that front alone. The Third Stage Theme is similar to the first in that regard, finding it’s foundation on a punchy beat, a very deep and buttery groove offset by more synth stabs, and

those slidy chords over the intro, but it also has elements that border on an almost techno style edge, like the harsh, metallic synth groove and the arpeggiated rhythm. Other songs in the soundtrack expand on these additional sounds in interesting ways, like the Second Stage Theme, which mixes the aforementioned funk styles (that features some really impressive quick key noodling at one point) with a distinctly ‘digital’ drumbeat that boasts a very Roland TR-909 sounding snare, and much more obviously metallic sounding backing melodies. Conversely, the Third Boss Theme swaps the bass guitar sound out for a techno styled bass, more frantic arpeggios, and a four on the floor rhythm backed by what I’m assuming supposed to emulate a sampled breakbeat, once again letting rhythm and groove take the forefront over distinct melodic progression. Two of the most interesting songs in the game, for me, are the Fifth Stage Theme and Final Boss Theme. The Fifth Stage theme features a focus on the electronic side of things again, to the point of sounding like a Soul II Soul track almost (especially in the beat), but it brings back a heavier focus on the melody, and the song much more clearly progresses from point A to point B, completely switching up chord progressions even. Compared to even the title theme, it’s the most distinctly melody driven song on the score, and it stands out because of it. The Final Boss track, on the other hand, is one of the least melody driven, instead focusing on a vibe that is sorta halfway between a breakbeat cut, and a early drum ‘n bass track (complete with faux-offbeat heavy Reggae sample), thick with dark melodic tones, and arpeggios out the wazoo.

I haven’t really been talking about the “emotion” of the songs or how they relate to the levels themselves, and that’s because, in my opinion, not all of the songs really match what goes on in the game from an aesthetic standpoint. The mellow grooves of the tracks do compliment the sometimes slow paced action quite well, but listening to the pieces on their own, it’s kind of hard to get a read on what they’re trying to convey beyond the “funk” factor. The compositions themselves are all pretty fantastic, being fairly catchy in spite of their heavier focus on chords and basslines, all of the sounds and waveforms are pleasant to the ears, and it has some of the best percussion samples on the console, but the soundtrack is more focused on creating an atmosphere around it’s style rather then reflecting the world it takes place in, which doesn’t always work very well if there isn’t at least SOME connection between the audio and the rest of the product, and for the most part, there isn’t any ;this isn’t not helped by the fact that the very nature of the license itself doesn’t really lend itself to the type of music represented. The Second Stage track doesn’t immediately scream “ancient ruins” to me, and the Third Stage track doesn’t really give me much of a laboratory vibe; they’re both pretty much straight funk cuts.

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here are exceptions, of course; the First Stage Theme has the benefit of accompanying a level based in a city, and there is something about sprawling urban environments that brings to mind that kind of groove driven shtick the song has going for it. The Fourth Stage, which is set in a visceral, bloody alien breeding ground, boasts level and boss tracks that, whilst still following that funk formula, have little touches that fit the theme. The level song’s groove has a certain “creeping” factor to it that goes hand in hand with the brief scale and melody sections that use a vaguely electric piano sounding waveform, and the backing melody and pretty cool FM percussion sound that comes in at 39 seconds really add something to that overall “sleazy” atmosphere. The boss track carries the same atmosphere and is, for a boss song, extremely mellow, going for a cheesy-but-charming creepy vibe over hyped up energy, the first half lead by a sound meant to evoke a piano, before breaking down into a brief techno arpeggio and ending on more faux-Hammond Organ goodness. And whilst I can’t say they necessarily fit the visuals of the final level and boss, the Fifth Stage and Final Boss tracks do very much capture the creeping sense of dread and finality you’d expect in their own ways- the former with sombre melodies, and the latter with a sometimes barren and heavily atmospheric arrangement. I’d also argue that the High Score Song suits it’s intended purpose by sounding nicely upbeat, very videogame-y, and even a little congratulatory.

The score to The Incredible Hulk was produced by Steve Collett (also known as Steve Rockett), who has composed for games such as LEGO Island 2: The Brickster’s Revenge, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, and (fittingly) X-Men: Mutant Academy. The Mega Drive port’s music was converted by Matt Furniss, and is one of the more faithful-to-the-original conversions he did. However, it’s not completely faithful; for starters, a lot of the songs are actually shuffled around and repurposed for different levels or bosses, and in my opinion not for the better, but that could be more out of a sense of familiarity on my part then anything objective. Secondly, a lot of the songs are very subtly, or not so subtly different; for example, compare the SNES version of the Final Boss song to the Mega Drive version above, the SNES Fifth Stage song with the Mega Drive version, or the SNES version of the First Boss song with the Mega Drive version. As a general rule, the SNES songs tend to sound even more 90s or breakbeat-esque by way of more prominent drumloop sampling, and have little touches like wah-wah guitars or even scratches going on to fill out the mixes, but I tend to find the arrangements are a lot duller overall, in no small part to some of the samples- particularly the drum ones- being very, very weak and quiet, making it a case where the less capable technology of the Mega Drive utterly trounces the SPC700. Ultimately, though, I’ll leave it to you to make your own judgements which version you prefer.

The Incredible Hulk, as a game, didn’t exactly set the world on fire, and whilst it’s commendable for Probe to have taken a chance on Steve Collett’s funk inspired soundtrack, it doesn’t really represent the product or license very well. That said, the soundtrack does stand up on its own feet as a very well composed score that, technologically speaking, is as impressive as it is catchy- Matt Furniss’ adaption of the score specifically. You can find a Longplay of the game embedded below, if you’d like to see the game in motion.

~ Decon, 17/03/15

(images sourced from wikipedia.org, emuparadise.me, emu-russia.net, gameclassification.com, online-dandy.ru, and gamefabrique.com)