Two horror franchises that have seen their share of iterations in film, literature, and gaming are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Friday the 13th. Both made waves in the gaming industry (for better or worse) in the late 1980s with ill-received releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System. These games are widely considered to be overly difficult and poorly designed, and have garnered a plethora of reviews skewering all aspects of their terribleness.

The soundtracks of these two monsters, however, couldn’t be more different. Let’s take a closer look at the music that propels these terrifying (in more ways than one!) games straight to the bottom of many a gamer’s “must-play” list.

“Friday the 13th”

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Disclaimer: Composed by Hirohiko Takayama, Friday the 13th‘s score gives us a LOT less to work with than Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There’s a massive amount of looping the same tracks during the game, which is pretty scary in itself…but here we go. You’ve been warned.

“Character Select/Room Theme”

We’ll start with the good one. Of only (apparently) four tracks in the game, this one actually has a melody that keeps a player interested. There’s a pretty rudimentary bass line underneath too, but that’s nothing to write home from Camp Crystal Lake about. It’s not unpleasant, which is nice in a game about trying to murder a serial killer before he can do the same to your friends at camp. Doesn’t exactly set the tone, but that’s what these other abominations are for…

“Walking Around”

Okay. Let’s put this in perspective: Friday the 13th wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, overly hard on the Nintendo Entertainment System’s processor. It wasn’t the ugliest game (visually), but it could have been better. Suffice it to say the graphics likely didn’t take up the whole cartridge. Long story short, there could have been so much more to the main theme of the game than a mere four bars of “music” that loops near-endlessly until a player either dies, fights Jason Voorhees, or wisely shuts off the console and finds a better game to play. It’s hard to listen to this one, but just wait until you hear the boss music!

“Battling Jason”

There’s not much to be said about this track — certainly nothing positive. It’s grating the first time, and it only gets worse. Thankfully (spoiler alert!) a player only has to defeat Jason three times to complete the game. Granted, that doesn’t mean only fighting him three times, unless he’s defeated on the first try each time. In the best-case scenario, we get to move on to the final piece of music as soon as humanly possible and don’t have to listen to this any more than we have to.

TERRIFYING!

“Jason Defeated”

Well, it’s finally over…or is it? Friday the 13th ends with this tune, and a cliffhanger. “Jason Defeated” isn’t much more complex than the previous two tracks, being just a short piece looping over and over. But like “Character Select/Room Theme”, it’s significantly nicer to listen to.

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

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Since this game has nearly five times as many tracks, it’s worth speaking about more broadly. A few of the entries here are just extended sound effects and not really full-fledged soundtrack pieces, so I’ll highlight some of the better tunes.

“Title”

This one really sets the old-school horror vibe, but ends in a way that nicely illustrates the dichotomy between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That might sound ambitious for such a limited sound chip, but the latter half of the track sort of shifts upward into a happier, more hopeful melody — and it’s a nice touch, particularly for some of the first sounds a player is likely to hear.

“Feuding Couple”

Hear me out on this one. Yes, we’ve got the same sort of repetition that we heard in Friday the 13th. But this one actually serves to set the scene for the game! The frantic pace of this melody excites a player and puts them on edge…and the best part? You don’t have to listen to it repeat several hundred times in a row!

“Elena McCowen”

This…thing (?) stands out due to its sheer dissonance. It’s not good, per se, but it’s strange enough to unnerve a player and create a general feeling of unease — which would be great if the gameplay stood up to the quality of the audio (Narrator: “It doesn’t.”)

“Mr. Hyde Stage”

It’s subtle and sinister without resorting to clashing notes or loud effects. The minor key, of course, evokes a wistful feeling that settles in nicely with the overall aesthetic and theme of the game.

“Ending”

Again, spoilers ahead: Upon finishing the game as Dr. Jekyll (reaching the church where he is to be married before Mr. Hyde can do the same), a traditional wedding processional will play. It’s nothing the player likely hasn’t heard, but it’s nice to finish the game with a happy ending. Note: This is apparently the “bad ending”, or at least, not the best one. For the sake of a complete picture, both endings can be seen below

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FINAL ROUND

It should be pretty apparent by this point that the winner of this showdown is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In addition to being a somewhat deeper game, the breadth of its soundtrack just sets up a horror atmosphere much better than that of Friday the 13th. Not only that, but half of the tracks on the latter are barely even music, looping almost endlessly and chipping away at a player’s sanity. Friday the 13th never even had a chance.

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Shared on ResetEra, the aptly-titled ‘In Rainbow Roads’ recreates every single track from the Oxfordshire band’s seventh studio album. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and it’s pitch-perfect. If you’ve even heard one song from Mario 64, you’ll be able to identify some of the sounds throughout this recreation. ’15 Step’ uses sound fonts from Shifting Sand Land, Bowser levels, and Bob-omb speech noises, and ‘Bodysnatchers’ has the iconic menu toot, for lack of a better word.

We’re not going to spoil every single track, but there are a handful of other little sounds we want to point out — ‘Weird Fishes / Arpeggi’ uses the little ‘tink’ sounds from Dire Dire Rocks (plus there’s something that made us laugh out loud), and ‘Reckoner’, which is an incredible song in its own right, gave us nightmares by using the Merry-go-round music from Big Boo’s Haunt.

It’s safe to say that on4word has a bit of a knack for this kind of thing — the musician has also recreated songs for bands such as Tame Impala, Aphex Twin, and Boards of Canada using sounds from both Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Bonkers. We’d pay for a full album of remixes using N64 sound fonts. [Update: And you can! You can buy the whole album for whatever price you want over on on4word’s Bandcamp. Huge thanks to BoFiS for dropping the link.]

Article provided by Nintendo Life

NINTENDO LIFE YOUTUBE

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Launched in 2007, in conjunction with the twentieth anniversary of FINAL FANTASY, Distant Worlds features the music of the great video game series FINAL FANTASY and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The concerts are performed by symphony orchestra, choir, and renowned vocal and instrumental soloists, under the direction of GRAMMY Award-winner and acclaimed conductor Arnie Roth. With HD video presentations from the FINAL FANTASY game developers SQUARE ENIX projected onto giant screens throughout the concerts, Distant Worlds performs a diverse and constantly expanding repertoire of classic FINAL FANTASY music from throughout the thirty year history of the game series.  With a dedicated and phenomenal community of FINAL FANTASY music lovers, Distant Worlds is a unique multimedia concert experience that delights audiences all over the globe.

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I had always known that full studio produced tracks for the release of Mother/Earthbound Origins existed, but I had only heard small bits and pieces of some of the tracks. When I picked up this record, I expected just a high-quality recording of the music from the Famicom classic; but instead, I got so much more. Let me be honest, these lyrical, studio-produced music tracks are pretty cheesy; but somehow hit me right in the heart with almost every track. For a game that was made to capture the essence of the mid to late ’80s in the United States, these arranged tracks manage to do the same thing. I could have easily heard music like this when I turned my radio on in the ’80s and not thought it was out of place. The arranged tracks range from genre to genre; sometimes you get a little pop music, and other times you get something that seems straight out of a Peter Gabriel album, but it’s all very well done and sounds fantastic on the format. Side D on the second record gives you the original music from the Famicom game, and it flows excellently in its constant mix presentation.

This two record LP set from Ship to Shore Phono Company is beautifully produced and comes on two gorgeous red vinyl discs, along with an excellent gatefold cover. The version I was given included a booklet which provides a fascinating history of the production of the music from this album and a thank you page devoted to the fans who backed the initial Kickstarter to fund this project.

Regrettably, the red double LP version of this soundtrack is out of print, but you can still pick up a pink vinyl pressing of the record or a CD version of this directly from Ship to Shore as of the publishing time of this article. If you are a fan of Mother or Earthbound and don’t have some version of this music in your library yet, I suggest you pick it up!

Mother Soundtrack CD/Vinyl: https://www.shiptoshoremedia.com/store/albums/mother

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Let’s start backward and talk about Side B of the record which features the arcade version of the Contra soundtrack. If you’re like me, chances are you experienced Contra first on the NES and in the arcade second. In most cases the typical response to your first arcade experience with the game is “Man, the NES version plays better.” Along with “Man, this music just doesn’t have the same feel as the NES version.” For me, these statements follow through with this record as well. I do appreciate the fact that the music from the arcade version is included and the audio recording is engineered wonderfully, but it’s just not my thing with its somewhat plodded instrumentations.

Side A of the record itself contains all the excellent music you remember from the home console game and features tracks straight from the superior Famicom version of the game with all the extra tracks that the Japanese release had on it. James Plotkin, the audio engineer on the project, did an excellent job of mastering the music to vinyl and captured the crispness of Konami’s punchy drums and melodic synths that everyone starts humming as soon as you mention the name “Contra” to them.

Playing this record not only takes me back to playing this classic side-scrolling shooter but reminds me of all the times I took my little boom box and strategically placed it next to my TV, so I could record music from my NES. Music from Contra was featured predominantly on those old video game mix tapes I made as a kid, and now it’s nice to have an official copy of the soundtrack without hearing my mom calling from upstairs to let me know that lunch was ready on those old cassette tape recordings.

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Nearly entirely different from the SNES score (only sharing “Metropolis”), the ten-song soundtrack is great. Each track helps tell the story that you get to build (just like later SimCity releases), but is even more stripped-down and raw, due to the hardware limitations. It’s a fantastic precursor to what became a fantastic game series, and can be heard in its entirety below. Happy listening!

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Disclaimer: There are many, many tracks that fit in this category, but we’re only covering a select few this time around. Comment below if you feel we missed something important!

“Cool Cool Mountain” (Super Mario 64)

Immediately upbeat, this snappy tune brings some of the best of Koji Kondo’s compositions to Super Mario 64. Granted, he’s amassed a huge pile of excellent music, but this one’s always been a winter favorite. If you listen closely, it’s very similar to “Slider”, but with much less banjo and fiddle, and a lot more sleigh bell. It’s more easygoing than its frantic sibling, but in a good way. The atmosphere is much more inviting and less “GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SLIDE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!”

“Frappe Snowland” (Mario Kart 64)

Just as easy to tap your toes to, “Frappe Snowland” is chilled-out (pun intended) enough to still allow a player to focus on driving on ice tracks without being too terribly distracting. It’s not loud. it’s not overbearing. It doesn’t make you forget about the godforsaken ice physics nobody ever asked for in any game ever. It’s just a nice, simple song that helps you get through snowy levels, and that’s wonderful in and of itself.

You’ll be seeing this a lot. Ice physics are, objectively, the worst.

“Chill Penguin” (Mega Man X)

Being the first Maverick many players face when starting a new playthrough of Mega Man X, Chill Penguin’s theme pairs an excellent melody with the futuristic rhythm section we’ve come to expect from the X series. It sets the scene for an early boss fight well. It doesn’t exactly conform to traditional “winter” music; there are no sleigh bells, but then again, Chill Penguin’s stage isn’t meant to evoke a happy, cozy feeling. There are more overt antagonistic forces at work in the level (and the game overall), and it shows in the tone.

“Jangle Bells” (Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!)

It should be noted that this track, under normal circumstances, does not appear during standard play. It can only be accessed by entering a special code at DKC 3’s sound test screen. It’s not hard to hear the similarities between “Jangle Bells” and pre-existing holiday tunes like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, but the comparisons are welcome. Once the cheat code is activated, not only will “Jangle Bells” play; bananas and in bonus levels will be replaced with presents and ornaments, thus making the festivity more complete. The song itself heavily features saxophones and tubular bells, which further push it into the winter/holiday style.

“Mountain Village” (The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask)

This track, much like the game whence it comes, is sort of a black sheep among its equals. It’s very simple, but even without its context, portrays loneliness and bleakness to a degree that truly enhances immersion. It’s a favorite not because of its festivity or happiness, but because it represents the other side of winter: the cold, unforgiving snow and wind and the initial futility of trying to resist them. It’s not unpleasant by any means…but as they say, variety is the spice of life!

“Ice Cave Chant” (Donkey Kong Country)

Touching on a game we covered earlier this year, we’ll keep this one brief. This one is another classic Rareware tune, composed by Eveline Fischer (not David Wise, who composed the majority of the other songs in the game). Its catchy melody only takes a few seconds to kick in after the strings intro, and it’s just a fun song to groove to.

Unfortunately, “Ice Cave Chant” does little to answer the question, “Why are there bees, though?”

“Freezeezy Mountain” (Banjo-Kazooie)

If there seems to be a pattern here, blame Rare. This one’s composed by Grant Kirkhope, and it doesn’t fail to amaze. The Nintendo 64 had some excellent platformers, and it only makes sense for the music to be just as good (if not better, in some cases) as the gameplay. Featuring a wide array of instruments (a horn section, flutes, and the nearly-compulsory sleigh bells), “Freezeezy Mountain” is laid-back at times, and sweepingly melodic at others. Its dynamics help create a wintry wonderland for Banjo the bear and his feathered friend Kazooie to play around in.

Overall, the ’90s were great for winter themes in Nintendo video games, and the accompanying tracks were no different. Happy holidays from Old School Gamer Magazine, and as always, stay tuned for more excellent old-school and retro gaming news and reviews!

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An interesting take on the pinball genre with some classic Sonic mechanics, Sonic Spinball is a spinoff of the main series based on the early 90’s cartoon The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. The game received mixed to moderately positive reviews, with problems cited mainly due to its clunky controls and shortfalls as both a Sonic game and a pinball game.

Sonic Spinball‘s soundtrack was composed by Howard Drossin, Brian Coburn, and Barry Blum. It features theme music for each of the four main levels, as well as tracks for boss rooms, bonus games, and high score display. There are also a few sound effects and transition tunes included here, but for the most part, we won’t go into detail about them.

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“Spinball Theme”

It’s worth mentioning solely because it’s the “main theme”. A little disappointing that it’s only a few seconds long, but to be fair, it normally wouldn’t play for long on the title screen anyway. It’s nothing special, but it’s certainly not the worst Sonic tune out there.

“Toxic Caves”

This peppy little number is the first song you’ll hear during actual gameplay. It’s upbeat enough to get the ball rolling (get it?) quickly, and sufficiently varied so that it doesn’t get terribly repetitive. The bass line, as in many Sonic the Hedgehog soundtracks, starts out strong and keeps the track funky. In addition, the lead synthesizer melody complements the driving low-end rhythm. Overall, it’s not bad for a first level.

Sonic Spinball was, in many ways, a product of its time.

“Lava Powerhouse”

This one might be a little polarizing; depending on how you feel about the buzzing synthesizer at the beginning, it might get on your nerves at first. However, if you can hold out past the initial forty seconds or so, the track really starts to get interesting. We get a brief reprieve from the droning (thankfully) and the song transitions into a more minimal melody and a simpler bass riff for a while. It alternates between chilled-out and in-your-face loud, and I’m not convinced that the dynamic range is entirely for the better.

“The Machine”

The theme for Sonic Spinball‘s third level is much more mellow. Both the high and low ends get a little playful in areas, and some “futuristic” sound effects are thrown in for good measure. If nothing else, it’s a welcome change from the previous level. There are a lot of “non-melody” sounds in here, but it’s not busy in a frustrating way due to their sparseness. It helps, too, that there’s not really a main melody either; it lets some of the more interesting sounds come to the forefront without really detracting from the tune itself.

“Showdown”

Being the theme for the final level in Sonic Spinball, you’d expect this track to build some tension and urgency — and it delivers. The simple bass line and not-too-complex melody evoke a sense of impending doom, and despite its relative repetitiveness, it sets the stage for, well, the final showdown with Dr. Robotnik. There’s some dissonance that helps make a player uncomfortable, which is great in a final level; it makes Dr. Robotnik seem like he should be much more serious than he looks and acts in the animated series on which the game is based.

And yet, the final boss is…this.

“Boss Room”

Funky and driving, “Boss Room” gets a player in the mood for a good, old-fashioned fight. The problem is, fighting a boss as a pinball is significantly more challenging than the usual Sonic the Hedgehog fare. It’s hard to know how to feel about this tune, because the experience is so much different from what a player would expect. The music is okay, but it does get a little repetitive after a while, particularly upon hearing it more than once in a playthrough.

“Bonus Game”

This happy-sounding song deviates from the rest of the soundtrack in its tone and sort of lack of a real connecting thread throughout. Its staccato notes and multitude of different instruments keep things interesting long enough to get through the relatively brief bonus stages. Its whimsical nature does match the departure from the (kind of) seriousness of the main levels that can be seen in the bonus stages as well.

One of several bonus stages

“High Scores”

This one’s a little shorter — which is nice, because the short amount of time spent viewing the high scores might as well be spent with the volume on mute. This track’s incessant buzzing is grating and unpleasant. There’s technically a melody to it, but it’s hard to listen to due to the instrumentation.

Final Rating

There are some pretty decent tracks here, but the egregious nature of “Lava Powerhouse” and especially “High Scores” (which, admittedly, isn’t really part of the main gameplay, but you’ll still hear it after every playthrough) really brings down the overall quality of the soundtrack. It’s not necessarily that the songs are poorly composed — on the contrary, the melodies are good and the dynamics of most of the songs keep things interesting. It’s just that the instrumentation, particularly the harsher buzzing noises, makes the two tracks mentioned above hard to listen to in a loop. Overall, Sonic Spinball‘s soundtrack is just…okay. Not terrible, but not great. I’m giving the soundtrack three Chaos Emeralds out of seven.

Image courtesy of willowthewolf10 on DeviantArt.

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• 4 different playable characters
• 7 unique boss battles
• 30+ types of enemies to encounter
• 90+ levels split into 6 episodes
• Secret exits and branching paths
• Password function to save progress
• Two-player melee mode

 
Luckily, you aren’t alone on this adventure! You will meet new friends along the way, each with different abilities to help you on your quest. Use these four characters to explore over 90 levels, collecting fish and battling baddies along the way! You can even choose a character and face off against your friends in Two-Player Melee Mode!

Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure will be available both as a ROM and in physical cartridge form! Cartridges will be available in both “Classic Grey” and “Snowy White” colors. There is even a vinyl record version of the game’s soundtrack available as a pledge reward! This project is a sure thing, as it’s already funded, so pledge for your copy today!

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