Doing more with less

Video game soundtracks today are so unimaginative. Making music exciting and dramatic is easy when you have a full orchestra at your disposal. Try making a musical impact when you only have a few “instruments” to work with…it’s a little bit harder yet all the more memorable. Little did I know back in the NES days that the game music of the time would become its own genre more than a decade later.

All of these 8-bit era tunes can now be filed under the music heading of “chip tunes” and you’ll find there is a huge following of composers making new 8-bit style music that rivals some of the best game music that I’ll highlight below. I admit that nostalgia runs high when I hear the 5-channel hum of an 8-bit song, but what I really love about the music is how such a limited set of sounds can make such a huge impact. The best game soundtracks are ones that capture the emotion of what’s happening in the game to the point that it works beyond the game. Think about it…most game music is there to set the tone of the level or action that is happening.

Boss battles got big, ominous music that made you feel the pressure and the importance. Driving games got fast and groovy music. Action games got a strong, grinding beat while fantasy titles about wizards and warriors got the appropriate mythical themes. Now take that music out of the game and drop them into your every day life and if you’re like me, you’ll find some of it fits there too. Under a deadline at work? There’s video game music for that. Blogging about some happy moments? There’s a track for that too…all of it in beeping and blooping 8-bit glory.

The birth of a genre

I’m not ashamed to say that I listen to old Nintendo music a lot…at work, at home, in the car…doesn’t matter. When the mood strikes, I’ll put on my headphones (to spare co-workers) and fire up my favorite tracks. Not only will it take me back to a simpler time when life’s only worry was video games, the music really helps me focus because it’s track after track of songs I love and know…and there’s no lyrics or words to distract me. Pure electric boogaloo.

It doesn’t matter what age or generation of games you are, some music has just become timeless and iconic…songs you can’t escape. The Super Mario Bros theme and Zelda themes being two of the big ones, but behind these monolithic 8-bit scores are many great tracks that you’ve maybe never heard or maybe just forgotten. So here in no particular order are some of my favorite 8-bit game soundtracks.

Mega Man 3

Let’s get the easy one out of the way. It’s hard to find poor music when you look back at the 8-bit generation of Mega Man games, and every gamer has their preference, but mine is Mega Man 3. Not only is this the Mega Man title I remember the most, it is probably the soundtrack I listen too most frequently today. To my best estimation, there is no less than 30 minutes of awesome music as you battle through every stage in the game. Everything starts with a simple little jingle of sorts and then races into non-stop melody that doesn’t disappoint.

Robocop

I admit that I have a soft spot in my heart for Robocop. As a huge fan of the movie growing up, it was only proper that I was a fan of the NES game (a game in which I would later hold a world record). Movie video games were less prominent then than they are now so when they came out you noticed. But what makes the Robocop game music standout, fanboy love notwithstanding, is that it seems a near-perfect port of the actual score. The theme is highlighted during the film’s montage of Robocop kicking ass, and all you do in the video game is punch and shoot, so it’s only proper that the music makes you feel like doing just that. The music really put you in the mindset that you were a part of the movie…at least as much as an 8-bit Robocop can.

Battletoads

Battletoads has two accolades in my book. One is that it is one of the hardest NES games you’ll ever player. Two is that the soundtrack is absolutely awesome. Every track makes you want to keep moving and that’s exactly what you need to do in the game. The highlight of the score comes in the third level when it goes from a slow grind into a high-octane beat while you’re riding the hover bikes. The music matched the moment and if you ever need some music to push you to the finish line, this is it.

Batman

The first Batman game on the NES is on my Games You Should Have Played list and not just because it’s a lot of fun to play, but because it looks good and it sounds good. Unlike Robocop, Batman doesn’t make use of any film music so it’s all original and that’s all for the better. Every track sounds like superhero music should…powerful and hopeful, but not without moments of despair. I’ll argue that there’s not a bad track to be found in the 17-minute soundtrack. Much like the game, this soundtrack is one of the 8-bit era’s most overlooked.

The Immortal

If superheroes and cyborgs aren’t your thing, try out music from The Immortal and you’ll be transportable to your local renaissance fair instantly…assuming the bards were jamming out on NES consoles and not nose flutes. To be honest, the only track that sticks out here is the title track. Beyond that a few tracks can be somewhat clunky with more thuds and beeps that melody, but a few of the tracks set a good dungeon-fighting mood.

Castlevania, Blades of Steel, Lifeforce…or just about any other Konami game

Out of all the 8-bit era games there are two houses that created most of the memorable music. One of them was Nintendo, the other was Konami. You know the Nintendo songs by heart but music Konami games put out was just as good if not better. I know the Blades of Steel music isn’t a popular ring tone like Mario sounds are, but you’ll be hard pressed to find other NES music with as much depth as games like Castlevania (and Simon’s Quest!), Gradius, Contra and one of my favorites, Rush N Attack. It’s hard to pick just game out of the bunch…of course, it doesn’t help that the music across these games was fairly consistent and shared a lot of traits.

Super Mario Bros 2

I know I said I wasn’t going to include any first-party Nintendo games but I just can’t say “No” to the Super Mario Bros. 2 music, it’s just too happy. You can cite to me the history of SMB2 and how it’s not really a Mario game and all that stuff…I know all that, and I don’t really care. Fact of the matter is, this is one of the most light-hearted and fun soundtracks to come out of the NES era. If the music from this game doesn’t put you in a good mood, you’re a robot.

Chiptunes are alive and well

Even though the 8-bit era of gaming is more than 25 years behind us, the music from the games of the day are alive and well, and they’ve been inspiring new artists ever since. Finding old game music online isn’t too hard but if you’re looking for some new chiptunes then head over to places like 8 Bit Peoples and the 8 Bit Collective. There you’ll find people that have composed original chiptune works using NESes, Game Boys, and everything in between. If you’re not sure where to start, I suggest looking up the artists RushJet1 and Virt. All good stuff there that will take you instantly back to 1988.

In this list I focused only on NES games but I’d like to throw in a serious nod to the TurboGrafx 16 console and all the great music it pumped out as well. The TurboGrafx 16 was an 8-bit machine that acted like a 16-bit machine and because of that it’s not really fair to compare it to the NES but technically they are of the same era. Look for Dungeon Explorer and have your mind blown.

This Belmont means business. Gorgeous, HD business.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is pretty danged good. No need to dance around something as simple as that. It’s not without faults, oh no, but it’s also not without a ton of merit. Has Castlevania managed to produce a quality 3D platformer yet? Now it has, at least as quality as any you can expect. As far as controls are concerned, Lords of Shadow plays well. Not perfect, but very good nonetheless. Alright, get used to that qualifier there because most of what I’ll be telling you will be a “yes, but” statement. Whipping enemies feels good and responsive and some fun situations can come about from the various encounters you’ll have with said enemies. This new Belmont knows his stuff in terms of combat.

He doesn’t, however, seem to know the platforming as well as we’d like him to. The camera will continually get in the way between you and your enjoyment of the title, offering amazing views that in no way assist you in performing complicated jumps. You’ll frequently even find yourself forced into the terrifying “Leaps of Faith” that infect otherwise decent platformers, moments where you need to jump from one platform to another but have no clue what you’re aloud to jump to due to the graphics being too pretty or the camera ignoring the need to show you. Expect cheap deaths and lots of them.

Just remember that the combat is the high point and be happy with it.

Also expect to do some searching on your own. The game, while gorgeous, doesn’t like giving any help regarding where to go next and what to do. Plenty of times you’ll fight a swarm of enemies, only to then wander around aimlessly completely unaware of your next objective. A map system would have helped, but you get nothing of the sort. At least the game looks nice though.

The game also sounds nice, too. Patrick Stewart, Mr. Classy himself, plays one of the lead roles, making at least that one role sound the best anyone could possibly make it sound. Maybe I just love Patrick Stewart, but his inclusion bumps Lords of Shadow up a few points. The rest of the voice work is well done, though the dialogue seems to be the usual Castlevania schlock with some really lame lines here and there. Mostly, it functions enough to get you through the story and that should be enough.

You don't need a story when there are demons to slay.

Lords of Shadow decides to forgo the Castlevania in its name almost entirely, leaving you with something closer to God of War or Uncharted or even Prince of Persia or Shadow of the Colossus at times, but this isn’t a bad thing. Longtime fans may lament the change in style, but this isn’t a bad game. Quite the contrary, Lords of Shadow is already on my Christmas wishlist as a game I really want to spend some quality time with. And it just might be worth it seeing as how Konami has already mentioned working on the sequel. Lords of Shadow gets my full approval at the moment, so give it a rent and check it out.

Want more reviews? Check these out:

-Just Stay Dead: A Review of Dead Rising 2

-How To Reach The Masses: A Review of Halo: Reach

-Samuses Should Be Seen, Not Heard: A Review of Metroid: Other M

They are shooting pure joy from my heart.

Halloween is pretty much here, but for some of us that doesn’t mean much. Why is that? Well we’re too busy playing video games to care what’s happening around us. As a result, we may accidentally pass up the day in lieu of just playing something bright and cheery, but there are other options for us shut-ins that still want to celebrate Halloween with some good atmospheric games. So here are 10 Games You Should Play On Halloween.

Resident Evil 4:

Sure, the first game is great and the most recent installment is pretty good, but Resident Evil 4 knocked my socks off when I first played it on the GameCube all those years ago. It was the perfect mix of fluid gameplay with situations that terrified me to no end due to stuff like, oh, I don’t know, chainsaw wielding zombies or Wolverine-style monsters with their eyes sown shut. I freaked, but I never stopped playing.

The thing about RE4 is that it pushed games to be at least as good as it was by deciding what 3rd-person gameplay should be for shooters and what to expect with quick-time events (one of two games I was actually okay with the silly feature). You can pick up a copy for the GameCube, PS2, or PC, and the Wii has a version with motion controls that work extremely well (Amazon’s got it for under $15). Just do yourself a favor and play through if you haven’t already. Just tell me when you get to Del Lago.

Silent Hill 2:

This is Pyramid Head. This thing should not be.

I was forced to play both Silent Hill 1 and 2 by my friends and I made fun of them the whole way through, especially number 2. And why? Because I didn’t want to let on that I’d probably be crying unless I found a means of coping with fear since Silent Hill 2 throws you into a bad situation and just makes it worse. If you haven’t heard of a Silent Hill game, you probably live a happier life than I, otherwise Amazon has the PS2 version for around $10.

See, Silent Hill is a town that’s cursed since a little girl was pushed to become pure evil and fill the town with demons (yes, I hate it when this happens, too). The combat is awful on purpose as the main character isn’t a great fighter or solider. He just wants to find his dead wife because she told him to meet him in Silent Hill (if your dead anything ever says this, don’t go). You will see horrible things and you will hear horrible things and by the end of the game you will have had to do horrible things and you won’t sleep with the lights off for a while. Seriously, if you ever want to terrify someone who’s played a Silent Hill game, flick off the lights and blare a disaster siren. They will go hide in a corner; I guarantee it.

Super Ghouls & Ghosts:

And that's about as far as I get.

No, not every game has to be extremely terrifying to make for good Halloween playing. Super Ghouls & Ghosts (and really any entry in the Ghosts & Goblins series), will give you nightmares just realizing you can’t make it past the first level. I’ve put the game on easy, cranked up my lives, and still I couldn’t make it anywhere near the end of the first level. The first level! And I’m not a bad game player. I’ve even beat I Wanna Be The Guy (go search this on Google to see what it is), so you know I’m hardcore.

Super Ghouls & Ghosts has you jump in the shoes of Arthur on a quest to save a princess from a demon. Along the way, Arthur will die and die and die because he will be attacked by every manner of zombie and skeleton and unholy death with only two hits before he dies. If that sounds merciful, it isn’t. Ten hits before death is even being stingy. But the game is still worth playing even if you can’t make it past the first few zombies, so go find this on the SNES or the Virtual Console. In fact, this is so dificult that it looks like people are practically giving away used copies on Amazon for under $4.

Super Castlevania IV:

The box art sort of says it all.

Yes yes and more yes. I’m not going for scary here, I’m just telling you to go play games that put you in a Halloween mood and Super Castlevania IV (so super it needed it in the title), is such a good game that you’d be a fool to just let it pass you buy. It’s on the SNES but also on the Virtual Console, making it an extremely easy and affordable purchase.

Simon Belmont goes toe-to-toe with Dracula yet again, but at this point the structure of the Castlevania games is nearly perfected. The game is tough but fair and beating it yields a sweet sense of accomplishment that games don’t typically give anymore. Just whipping zombies and horrors and Death itself makes this one a game you should be playing anyway.

Luigi’s Mansion:

Don't care; Great game.

There I said it. Go play Luigi’s Mansion, one of the first titles released on the GameCube. It gets a bad rap but the game was great, albeit extremely short. So what better game to play through in a single day? This was Luigi’s big chance to shine (the only other game he’s starred in since Mario Is Missing and that doesn’t count), and while he doesn’t get a chance to stomp Goombas, he does get a chance to rid a haunted mansion of ghosts and spirits and such.

Surprisingly, this was one of the best looking games on the system, and it was a launch title. I always found that strange. You’re going around a mansion filled with ghosts and everything makes spooky noises. It’s cartoony but it works. It’s a small diversion but it pays off, especially since you can probably find this title for $5 at a video game store, Amazon inclued. Just think of it like Ghostbusters but with Luigi instead of Bill Murray.

Ghostbusters The Video Game:

Or heck, why not just play Ghostbusters The Video Game? It’s new this year on the PS3 and Xbox 360 (there is also a pretty good Wii version, too), and if you are wondering, yes, it is just what you’d expect from a Ghostbusters game. And by that I mean it’s awesome.

Those games on the NES from back in the day? Yeah, those sucked. This game is like seeing the 3rd movie that never was (but will be due to the high sales of the game). Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis all reprise their roles for the game, and for a video game that’s simply amazing. You play as the rookie, a nameless new guy that the other Ghostbusters don’t want to get attached to since they think you’ll probably get killed testing out the new equipment. The best part of the game is the humor, but they still don’t skimp on the actual gameplay, which is also great. It’s just the perfect lighthearted Halloween game to play, plus it’s under $20. Good deal.

Eternal Darkness:

No don't try to figure out what they're talking about. You'll just go insane.

But maybe you don’t want lighthearted. Maybe you want to go over the edge with insanity. So go ahead and pop in Eternal Darkness for the GameCube and watch your mind slowly retreat into itself to hide from whatever you’re about to see on the screen. This game was the answer to anyone that ever called the GameCube a kiddie system. You dare challenge me? Snag it on Amazon for $15 and prove me incorrect.

What sets Eternal Darkness above other horror games is the way you play through multiple characters’ doomed stories. You know that each of these characters will die by the end of their chapter, but you want to see where their section of the plot takes them. Naturally, it takes them to the brink of madness as you have both a health meter and a sanity meter to deal with. If your sanity gets too low then weird things start to happen like the TV volume fluctuating, the screen turning on and off, and even a message telling you that your memory card is being erased. I freaked out around the point that my character thought her head fell off and she had to go pick it up. Read that sentence one more time if you didn’t catch that. Oh yeah is this game messed up.

Dead Space:

That hand there isn't going back on any time soon.

Yup, another game for the 360, PS3, and PC with play control similar to Resident Evil 4. You are one of very few survivors left alive on a space mining facility where a plague of alien something or other…yeah, it doesn’t matter. All that’s important is the fact that crazy stuff happens all around you and you have to fight off hellish monsters with futuristic mining equipment. Also, that the game is a Bestseller, meaning it’s only $20 these days.

The main draw here is the ability to sever various limbs from the enemies in order to rendering them unable to walk or attack. Instead of headshots being the best way to go, some enemies had more of a weakness in their legs or midsection or something similar to that, making you have to rethink the genre slightly. Not by much, but just enough to be extremely creepy and keep you playing past every insane challenge that comes up.

Left 4 Dead:

At least the Dead Space guy's hand still had a thumb.

Okay, so you could play this on your 360, or you could play it right on the PC. I suggest the PC version. Left 4 Dead is a Valve title and currently it is one of their best (which says a lot). You are one of four characters alive after a zombie apocalypse and you must work with the others to stay alive through swarms of the typical zombie fare. You can play this as a single player, but the best reason to play Left 4 Dead is to blow zombies away with three friends in cooperative play.

This is simply one of the best multiplayer games on the market right now, and Valve has been hard at work delivering patches and new content and a sequel hitting not too long from now (which promises to be just as great, if not better). If you saw Zombie Land this past month, this is pretty much the game that the movie is based off of, even if it wasn’t aware of it.

Bioshock:

Why won't you love me?!

I will never stop telling everyone to go play Bioshock. Maybe it’s my own guilt for not playing it until just recently, but Bioshock stands out as a game that understands what it means to create atmosphere in order for things to be scary. Out on the 360, PS3, and now on Steam for the PC, everyone can play Bioshock and figure out what I’m going on about.

You play as a character that survives a plane crash and swims to a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, only to find the entrance to the city of Rapture, a dystopian society that’s been utterly destroyed after people spliced their genes way too much for God to allow. You’ll get to encounter Big Daddies, Little Sisters, Splicers, and Andrew Ryan, my new favorite villain. I can’t wait until Bioshock is made into a movie since the plot alone has me sold.

And that’s my list off the top of my head. I promise that there is something here for everyone, from the hardcore gamers out there to the casual players. But I know this isn’t a complete list, so tell me what I left out. Are there some games I should be ashamed to omit? Let me know with a comment or two in the comments section and let your voice be heard.