I don’t think I’m really making a controversial statement when I say that music can have an incredibly profound effect on people, especially when it comes to both forming memories and connecting with something you love. That’s part of the reason I did that list of 20 chip-based songs from old video games that really stood out, to me, as especially spooky or unsettling. I briefly considered doing a direct follow up to that article, probably with some glib title like “20 MORE Chilling Chiptunes”, but I figured that retreading ground that closely was a bit of a wanky idea. So I decided to set myself a challenge, and look for morose melodies where you wouldn’t normally expect to find them.
The general rule I stuck with was “no explicitly horrific or otherwise horror-themed games”, so there’s no Resident Evil, Splatterhouse, or Silent Hill anywhere on this list; otherwise, I gave myself free reign with genre, era, composer and all of that good stuff. So, without further ado, and in no particular order...
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Title: Facade & Blade
From: Klonoa: Door To Phantomile
Composer: Tetsukazu Nakanishi
If there’s one thing you can absolutely count on, it’s that games that are ostensibly aimed at children can- and often will- have at least one or two moments of genuine creepiness. The first title in the Klonoa series arguably has a couple, but the one that stood out to me comes at the end of the fifth world; Ghadius, the main villain of the game, has finally revealed his plan to engulf the world of Phantomile in a never ending nightmare, and Klonoa and Huepow are the only ones capable of stopping him. Then out of nowhere, Ghadius’ comedy sidekick Joka, who up to this point has mostly had jokes made at his expense, takes a turn for the sinister. In keeping with this sudden turn for the grim, the battle against him is backed by the delightfully morbid track above. The track is fairly basic in construction- a minimal drum machine beat, spacey electric percussion, synthesized choral vocals, and some lovely string work serving as the main draw of the track. There’s both a sense of panic within the mid ranged string strikes that’s offset wonderfully by the tense atmosphere the sustained, high pitched strings give off. Little touches like the piercing synth bass pattern holding it all together, or the combination of the climbing strings and descending choral vocals in the second breakdown bring the whole thing together in one neat little package.
Title: Ulcer (Final Mission)
From: Alien Storm (Mega Drive Version)
Composer: Keisuke Tsukahara
Given how grotesque the creature design is in Alien Storm, this arguably toes the line of my list-making criteria; on the other hand, it would be sacrilege to NOT include a song that manages to make a sample of a Polaroid camera tense. This song has the best of both worlds when it comes to “final” songs, having an initial section that is very atmospheric, downtempo, and almost apprehensive, before practically exploding into a hard, driving portion with screaming leads and fierce bass twanging that would make Les Claypool blush. Both sections of the song contain a surprising amount of gravitas and a real sense of “finality” for what is at its core an affectionate send up of Ghostbusters, and arguably that’s not only what makes it stand out, but what makes it so memorable- just from listening to the song alone, you get a very cold, very chilling reminder of the fact that the fate of the world is solely in your hands, giving the song a very sombre yet determined feeling. Also, it’s literally titled “Ulcer”, so it gets gross points for that alone.
Title: American City (Stage 1)
From: King Of The Monsters 2: The Next Thing (Arcade Version)
Composer: Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan
King Of The Monsters 2 was, much like its immediate predecessor, a send up of good ol’ Kaiju movies (and other such giant-whatever fare), and for the most part it wears that campy atmosphere on it’s sleeve quite proudly- the game is subtitled “The Next Thing”, after all, let’s not pretend it’s Shakespeare. In that sense, you could argue that the game opening with a fairly dramatic and actually kind of chilling track like this is ill fitting, but I honestly can’t picture the game opening without those descending notes, looped laughter sample, and that driving rock beat. It manages to pull off something that can be fairly difficult to pull off effectively, by being both fairly suspenseful and atmospheric- especially with the breakdown into a more atmospheric section full of weird synthy effects at 1:25- yet still allowing the player to get hyped up; after all, the invading forces are certainly monstrous, but you are equally so, and you’re not about to let the world fall without a fight (even if only because you’ve reserved the right to pummel it into oblivion yourself). And there’s something quite poetic about a song that manages to embody the ferocity of the foes you’re facing, and empower you to lay waste to them at the same time.
Title: Specter Land: Ride The Terror Coaster
From: Ape Escape
Composer: Soichi Terada
Ape Escape was, so far as I can tell, something of a breakout moment for Soichi Terada; he was hardly an unknown entity before it, being a fairly high regarded part of the Japanese House and Jungle movements with equally highly regarded work, but his D’n B-Meets-Charming-Jingles work on Ape Escape made him an even more in-demand VGM composer. Though this particular song isn’t one of my favourites per say, it IS one of the most unique and interesting, entirely thanks to how it approaches conveying a sense of fear; the main element or pull of the song is that constantly rising, spacey, atonal synth effect, that always starts over whenever it reaches its peak. It’s not the sole element, of course- there’s the backing beat made up of drum machine sounds and chopped up cuts from breakbeats, and that deep, meaty sub bass that slices through the mix like a knife- but both definitely take a backseat in terms of prominence to that ever-rising sound. In many ways, it’s actually fairly similar to all those rising sound effects that movie trailers have used for at least a decade now, just a bit more Rood Bwoy flavoured.
Title: Level 8 (Inside Monstro)
From: Pinocchio (Mega Drive Version)
Composer: Allister Brimble
This is arguably the single most haunting track in a Disney game. At the very least, it’s the most haunting one I’ve heard, and I’m counting the 16bit rendition of To Die For in that statement. Given that it is the score to the level based on the portion of the film where the titular boy puppet and his creator are nestled in the belly of Monstro, the literally killer whale, you can’t say it’s not fitting; the song is almost entirely melodic, sans a few occasional bass drum kicks here and there in the first half of the song, driven instead by arpeggiated chimes, a powerful lead, and some meaty bass drones. The melody itself is almost without hope or whimsy, remaining melancholic and despairing almost all the way through, but I think one of my favourite things about it is that it achieves this powerful effect in spite of its technological shortcomings; the base elements the song is made up of are some of the most basic waveforms that the YM2612 is capable of producing natively, and that cold, plasticy sound is often associated with bad Mega Drive games (or just western-made Mega Drive games as a general rule). Here, though, it arguably contributes to the overall dreadful atmosphere, and in a way manages to sound paradoxically warm and full of soul in its inherent coldness.
Title: Phage
From: G Darius
Composer: Hisayoshi Ogura
G Darius’ soundtrack is a real underrated gem, in my honest opinion, although it’s not hard to see why it’s underrated; it’s somewhat eclectic, to put it mildly. In fact, I’ve argued before that the soundtrack could easily work in a horror game, although perhaps no track more so then this one. It only plays during the first boss encounter, against an enormous mechanical angler fish named Eclipse Eye (fish is Darius’ thing, just go with it), but it leaves one hell of a memorable impression. Shrieking guitar slaps, samples of machinery, psychotic sounding string stabs, synths that spend at least half their time in tune, and half their time clashing with one another- this song is all over the place, cultivated with a sense of deliberate and controlled chaos. The end result of all of this is one of the most stunning and attention grabbing ways to open a game, aurally speaking, creating a something that sounds utterly psychotic and frenzied, almost as if the music itself is has taken one tremendous plunge into the depths of total insanity- which, to be fair, I probably would do just that were Earth to suddenly find itself invaded by intergalactic mechanised fish of mass destruction. It conveys a real sense of danger to the player without any sort of pretence; it is, quite literally, “prepare to get murdered” in song form.
Title: Alien Power
From: Streets Of Rage 2
Composer: Yuzo Koshiro
This was always one of the stand out songs from Streets Of Rage 2 for me, in part because of the sort-of H.R. Giger-esque Alien Horrorhouse setpiece it accompanies, and it part because the core elements of the song are great. That piercing bass that sounds not entirely unlike the MD’s take on a TB-303, the theramin-like lead synth, the sudden change from a steady dance beat with a phat bass to a more scattershot beat backed a much more raw, distorted bass sound, even little things like the descending scale going on in the background of the track. It’s got the perfect one-two punch of being a kitschy sort of spooky whilst still keeping in line with Streets Of Rage 2’s techno influenced soundtrack. It’s also a pretty good example of a song that’s composed of some fairly basic elements that don’t really change all that much, instead focusing on maintaining a consistent tone and mood over a wildly progressive melody; how much this works out is going to vary from person to person, but if a hook works for me, I can gel with that hook being repeated.
Title: Bonus 2
From: Kula World
Composer: Twice A Man
Kula World is a puzzle game that places you in the roll of a colourful Beach Ball, wherein your aim is to solve a long list of levels heavily reliant on physics to collect a load of stuff, such as keys that open the exit, and fruit that unlocks bonus stages. You’d have no idea the game was comparatively upbeat solely listening to its soundtrack, which comprises primarily of a mixture of chillout, downtempo, and breakbeat pieces that either sound contemplative and sedate, or slightly off kilter and demented. This track falls into the latter, mixing together perfectly cut breakbeats with menacing staccato synths, spacey leads and pads, and even some tweaky acid basslines at a couple of points, never sounding outright monstrous or deviant, but always carrying an undercurrent of unease that you probably wouldn’t expect to be in a game with such a friendly and welcoming framing device. Similarly to Ape Escape’s Soichi Terada, Swedish electronica group Twice A Man was brought on to compose the games’ score. Unlike Soichi Terada, however, it seems to have been their only real foray into soundtrack work. It is, however, easily one of the most memorable soundtracks on the PS1 (at least in the hearts and minds of the few that played it).
Title: The Stone-like
From: Radiant Silvergun
Composer: Hitoshi Sakamoto
For all my love of weird synth work and dramatic organs, sometimes all you really need to convey a haunting sense of dread is the power of the human voice alone. Veteran composer Hitoshi Sakamoto certainly knew that, and eschewed his lush orchestral arrangements in favour of a piece constructed solely out of a wordless choir for the final battle of Radian Silvergun- whilst still working in the games’ leitmotif, which is no small feat. Although likely constructed out of samples or even synthesized wholesale, there’s no denying this song has an incredibly amount of power to it, as layer over layer of a heavenly choir mesh together to create a dense wall of raw emotion. The sense of serenity in the song almost comes across like a lullaby lulling the player to sleep, and the song carries that feeling across in a really sinister way; it’s serene, but almost deviously so, almost as if trying to trick you into some feigned sense of reverence in what is arguably the most decisive and dramatic point of any game; the final battle against the opposing force. That’s an incredibly complex mood to create in a song with a more intricate arrangement, but to do it with the power of a choir alone really says something about Sakamoto’s skills.
Title: Happy Happy Is Blue
From: MOTHER 2
Composer: Keiichi Suzuki, Hirokazu Tanaka
Hey, speaking of off-kilter synthesized stuff and dramatic organs, here’s this lovely little slice of psychedelia from Shigesato Itoi’s seminal Americana simulator. MOTHER 2 is known for having a weird soundtrack through and through, but there are times when the surreal nature of the score is deliberately used to unsettle the player, with this being one of the earliest examples. There’s a lot going on in it, too; howling synth wind effects, bombastic organs, fuzzy synth leads, and all manner of weird electronic effects and lots of pitchbending throughout. The result is an almost drunken, hazy kind of song that straddles the line between sounding just a little bit off, and being full-out creepy in places. It’s one of the most interesting- and yet oddly most fitting- attempts to score a village under the grip of cult influence. Specifically, under the grip of colour obsessive and non-specific deity worshipping cult influence. The high quality of the samples being pushed out by the SPC700 chip, as well as the complexity of the arrangement also go a long way to maintaining that off kilter, just-slightly-west of all that is wholesome and good atmosphere.
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Well, there we are; ten booky songs from ten decidedly not-booky games. I hope you enjoyed listening to the tunes on this list as much as I did ranting and rambling about them, dear readers.
~ Decon (06/10/15)