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  • Joined: 10 Apr 2002
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The Best VGM's
Post Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 8:26 pm
Hello all

Thanks to the new release of Maxims wonderful in_vgm Winamp plugin, I've been listening to a lot of VGM music recently. Inspired by an old thread (which I couldn't find with a quick search), I'd like to ask: what's your favorite, released SMS VGM?

To list a few of my own favorites:

Mystical Mountains, Psycho Fox
Side-Crawler's Dance, Wonder Boy III
Title Screen, Micro Machines
Green House, Home Alone

Below is some of the games to which the music, in my oppinion, fits perfectly:

Ecco the Dolphin
Castle of Illusion
Fantasy Zone I & II
...and of course Prince of Persia :P

Also, I've always been thinking about the music for Cosmic Spacehead. I am very sure I would have gone completely insane if I had played that game as a child. It's some really great music, it's just so excessively chippy that it's actually quite ridiculous.
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Post Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:39 pm
Japanese SMS BIOS - Space Harrier Theme

Hardly needs to be mentioned. This is presumably what happens when you give a music programmer more ROM space and CPU cycles than he would normally get.

Most of Ys is unfeasibly good.

Ristar is completely unlike anything else, which is either very good or very bad.

Bah, I can't decide.
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Post Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:56 am
Wonder Boy III's entire soundtrack is very good. I couldn't find a single track I didn't like.

Out Run 3D's soundtrack is also good, depsite the fact that Magical Sound Shower and Last Wave are the only two songs that made it from the arcade version.

Phantasy Star is another game that has an awesome soundtrack.
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My List
Post Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:00 am
Hello This is my list of cool VGM's

-Japanese SMS BIOS Space Harrier Theme Demo
-Phantasy Star
-Ys
-Alex Kidd The Lost Stars
-Weonderboy 3 Dragons Trap
- The Castle (SG-1000)
-Lemmings

running songs through my head..... thinking........ thinking......

Ah!

-Aztec Adventure
-Sonic 2 (Credits)

All I can think of for now

Jacko
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:57 am
Well...... =P


Aztec Adventure
Psychic World
(these two are the soundtracks that put me into the VGM world) ^_^

And...

Fantasy Zone 2
Ys (probably the best Master System soundtrack)
SpellCaster
Ghouls'n Ghosts
Monster World 2 (Wonder Boy 3...)
Lucky Dime Caper
Renegade

and much more.... =P
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:22 pm
My faves are:

Fantastic Dizzy - annoyingly catchy
Cosmic spacehead - same
sonic 2 - some suck but others are decent
streets of rage 2 - sor1 music is best on genesis, but sor2 is best on sms IMO
black belt - really decent
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:39 am
In preference order:

BIOS - Space Harrier Main Theme demo
Golvellius - Input Password
Golvellius - Fairy
Wonder Boy III - Side-Crawler's Dance
Wonder Boy III - The Dragon's Trap
Phantasy Star - Medusa
Phantasy Star - Boss Dungeon
Double Dragon - Mission 3
Double Dragon - Mission 4
Golvellius - Fifth Boss - Warlic
Sonic The Hedgehog - Scrap Brain Zone
Kenseiden - Warlock Battle
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:35 am
Ack! Nobody ever mentions these:

Sonic 2 - Sky High Zone
Sonic 2 - Under Ground Zone
Sonic 2 - Aqua Lake Zone (these three have a special place in my childhood, including the levels themselves)
Sonic The Hedgehog - Labyrinth Zone -> IMO, the best Aquatic Labyrinth song from all versions of StHh... someone could make a good resampling of it... anyone? :)
Alex Kidd in Miracle World - Castle
Castle of Illusion - Clock Tower
Alien 3 - Episode 1
Ninja Gaiden (the entire soundtrack)
Ghost House - House
Lemmings
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (the entire soundtrack too, I kept all the songs in my memory my entire life!) - but the Mega Drive soundtrack is better (you know, I'd love to have these songs orchestrated or just played with real instruments)

Don't think Ristar soundtrack is for 8-bit, but the 16-bit soundtrack is really cool.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:38 am
Unfair! I was going only for full soundtracks... =P

By music:

After Burner - Super Stripe
Alex Kidd Lost Stars - Machine World
Alex Kidd Miracle World - Castle
Alien 3 - Episode 2
Altered Beast - Level 2 & 3 (Boss in Mega Drive version...)
Astro Warrior - Nebula Zone
Aztec Adventure - Underground Waterway
Black Belt - Boss
Cyber Shinobi - At the Docks
Double Dragon - Mission 4
Dragon Crystal - Level 11-20
E-SWAT - Level 3
E-SWAT - Level 4
E-SWAT - Level 5
Fantasy Zone 2 - Bow Bow
Fantasy Zone 2 - Sbardian
Gain Ground - Middle Ages
Gain Ground - Final Era
Ghost House - In Game
Ghouls'n Ghosts - Round 2
Ghouls'n Ghosts - Round 4
Ghouls'n Ghosts - Boss 4
Golvellius - Vertical Cave
Golvellius - Overworld 2
Lord of the Sword - Battling
Lucky Dime Caper - Magica Castle
Monster World (thats WBinML) - Endless Labyrinth
Monster World 2 (thats WB3) - The Monster Lair
Phantasy Star - Tower
R-Type - Boss
Sonic - Labyrinth
Sonic 2 - Green Hills
SpellCaster - Shrine
SpellCaster - Underwater
SpellCaster - Final Battle
Thunder Blade - First person
Ys - Beat of Terror
Ys - Tower of Shadow of Death
Ys - Morning Grow
Zillion - Maze (Inside Planet)

So many favorites.... O_o
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:06 am
Johnnyz wrote
Unfair! I was going only for full soundtracks... =P

By music:

Cyber Shinobi - At the Docks


If there's one thing that's good about that game, it's the music. I wonder who did it...
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Rastan
Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:39 am
I can't believe no one mentionned Rastan!
Great game (*), few music but great music.

Rastan - Outside
Rastan - Castle

(*) Unless you don't understand how to jump between platforms.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:39 pm
Don't know if these are all VGM'd (I use the KSS versions), but these games have my absolute favourite soundtracks on the SMS:

R-Type: Super Stage music (FM version)
Sagaia (better than the Genesis ver, IMHO)
Miracle Warriors/Haja no Fuuin (FM version)
Space Harrier: Battle Field & Haya-Oh
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:00 pm
Ach! I forgot about Zillion and Space Harrier. Love that music.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:25 pm
Hmm, I too forgot about Zillion - inside planet.

Talking about kss, where can I find SMS kss? Although I prefer vgz, kss has better OPLL.
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:44 am
Wiseduck wrote
Talking about kss, where can I find SMS kss? Although I prefer vgz, kss has better OPLL.


Here: http://manbowj.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ You have to convert them yourself using the SMS/GG ROMs of the games.

I was also considering releasing all of the existing KSS files already converted, but I figured nobody cared, as they all loved VGM. Does anybody care?
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...
Post Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 3:11 am
Hi, Chris.

ccovell wrote
I was also considering releasing all of the existing KSS files already converted, but I figured nobody cared, as they all loved VGM. Does anybody care?


I care. I prefer KSS format and wish it would've been adapted to cover a larger amount of soundtracks. A few years [!] back, I prepared a good number of KSS files for my own use, but later lost them due to lack of a proper backup. I'd definitely be interested in having a complete set of what is available.

- Death Adder
Webmaster, www.superfighter.com
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KSS vs. VGM
Post Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:30 am
What is the advantage you see in KSS over VGM? The format itself does not have "better OPLL", as both depend entirely on the chip emulation used in the player; I use EMU2413 because it has the reputation of being the best, and compared to a real chip I find it sounds very good. There are a few issues with EMU2413's emulation of the rhythm mode control registers, but apart from that it's fine.

KSS has a much higher emulation overhead and its biggest problem is the difficulty in ripping music engines from games. VGM is very easy to rip and its support for looping control and tagging makes it much easier to use. I know I am biased, but I want to know what you see as the problems with it.
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:02 am
Thanks to ccovell for that link to the KSS archive. The one thing I do like about KSS is that it DOES rip straight from the code. There's no hand-trimming "middleman" required. I swear, just about every VGM package, carefully checked as it may have been, has some small problem, usually looping, with at least one file. Curse my sensitive ears! Drives me nuts sometimes...

On another note:
At the aforementioned KSS archive, there's a file for Alex Kidd in Shinobi World. Seems there's two pieces of music that were not used in the game and are not in the available VGM package...
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:17 am
Well, VGM trimming can be tricky and mistakes do happen. All it takes is an email or forum post and we can see about fixing it.

Regarding the unused music tracks - yes, ideally we'd hack every game (easier than ripping KSS) to check for them, but they only turn up in maybe 1 in 20 cases. I'll definitely hack AKSW though..

Maxim
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Post Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:17 pm
When I said kss has better OPLL, I wasn`t taking in account the technical facts. But there are just more things to it than the technical part. First of all, there are only few FM VGM tunes and no new FM tunes are being ripped (and I agree completely with the reason).

Second, although BIOS Space Harrier demo sounds very good, other VGM FM tunes like Dragon`s Trap and Phantasy Star sounds very badly to my ears, even taking in account that I never listened thoso songs on the real thing, but I do have a MSX with OPLL and it just don`t sound like a real OPLL chip.

In the other hand, my KSS MSX FM tunes, while not very accured, appear to be more advanced than VGM, but only with the OPLL, the PSG part is worse and VGM really rocks.

Anyway, sorry if I was a little disrespectful with your work. I didn`t mean that. :(
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 12:58 am
Maxim wrote
Well, VGM trimming can be tricky and mistakes do happen.


geez, can it be any easier?
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Post Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:31 am
I badly miss chip-generated music, in the non-CD sense I mean, it just isn't the same these days.

Out of all the VGM's released thus far I'd have to say that Rastan, Streets of Rage I & II and GG Shinobi II are amongst my all time favourites, generally anything by Yuzo Koshiro, but... my absolute favourite that I hum and whistle everywhere I go has not been released :(

Kung Fu Kid :)
I have it on Mini Disk, a bit rough though.

So am I just plain death/mad or dose anyone else like Kung Fu Kid's catchy tunes?
 
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My personal favs
Post Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:14 am
I have to say, before I post my favs, that I am very greatful for the emulator that plays SMS music. My whole teen life I have been listening to SMS music with the aid of the sound test option and taping them...and figuring them out on my bass too! Here are my favs, no order:

1. Quartet... the whole soundtrack, the best to me is the last boss and round 1
2. Zillion... the whole soundtrack...I also have the Anime soundtrack (and know all the songs on my bass)
3. Space Harrier : The whole soundtrack (also know on my bass...the solo to Battlefield, too)
4. Fantasy Zone : La Dune and Plaleaf (on bass too)
5. Teddy Boy : Round and Bonus
6. Astro Warrior : Intro, 1st & 2nd rounds

Thanks for reading! PEACE!
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:51 am
Giovanni wrote
My whole teen life I have been listening to SMS music with the aid of the sound test option and taping them...and figuring them out on my bass too!

A few tips:

- get an MP3 output plugin for Winamp, for example out_lame, and you can make MP3s that will play on an iPod or other device. (If you prefer other formats, there are output plugins for them too.)

- when trying to "figure out" melodies, play with the channel muting options in the plugin configuration to isolate a single part of the tune. You can also set the speed to be slower so you can figure out the fast parts more easily.
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Post Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:39 am
Among others, i'd say Golden axe: very well done adaptation, added harmonics... of course, Ys, or even Double Dragon (stage 3)...
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Post Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 2:35 am
I love songs from sonic triple trouble (that's why I ripped them!), especially Sunset Park Zone - Act 3 (train). I also usually like all other sonic's soundtracks (the best sonic game ever? sonic 3 & knuckles, genesis).
and I agree with maxim saying that Space Harrier's theme included in Bios is awesomely good.

also (alphabetical order):
Alex Kidd - The Lost Stars - Toy World & Monsters World (FM version)
Hang On - Hidden Track (which is a shortened version of the very good "winning run", complete in other version of hang on e.g. Genesis or Arcade)
Lemmings - Ronda Alla Turca, She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain When She Comes
M.A.S.H. - Suicide Is Painless

regards.
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