Feb 282018
Rock out to three hard-hitting NES soundtracks powered by Naoki Kodaka and the talented team at Sunsoft. We’re diving into Gremlins 2, Fester’s Quest and Journey to Silius!
SHOW NOTES
00:00 – Stage 1 (Gremlins 2)
08:42 – Stage 3 (Gremlins 2)
10:26 – Stage 5 (Gremlins 2)
23:24 – Overworld (Fester’s Quest)
25:36 – Underworld (Fester’s Quest)
39:39 – Title Screen (Journey to Silius)
41:03 – Theme 1 (Journey to Silius)
43:03 – Theme 2 (Journey to Silius)
44:52 – Theme 4 (Journey to Silius)
54:55 – Ending (Journey to Silius)
A VGMpire chock full of Naoki Kodaka Sunsoft? Double Prizes! THANK YOU ELSTON, you complete me
Every time I hear a track from Fester’s Quest, I remember the only time I ever made it to the final boss. I played it with my brother, and after hours of failed attempts we finally made to the final boss. I put up a decent fight, but eventually lost as I insisted on using the flaming whip. Having to restart from the beginning after that made me so angry I tried to break the controller over my knee and failed. It looked so ridiculous that my brother couldn’t stop laughing and even twenty something years later he still gives me a hard time about it. I guess it taught me that gamer rage both is and looks incredibly stupid, but the flashbacks from that fire soundtrack seems like too high a price.
In terms of the sample channel, did the Konami NES games use it to sample actual drum sounds? The percussion in most of their games sounds so much more distinctive than soundtracks from any other publisher (except maybe Nintendo with Mother and SMB3).
Also the Journey to Silius soundtrack is absolutely top tier and I can’t believe I haven’t heard anything but Theme 1 before this podcast. It’s soooooo good.
Awww yeah, I’ve been waiting for this one. And this barely scratches the surface, as Sunsoft goes. Next time there’s Batman, Gimmick, woo!
Got some Batman for ya! http://www.vgmpire.com/2016/03/23/vgmpire-114-batman-beats/
I was lucky enough to grow up with an NES as my first console, despite being a 93′ baby, so chiptunes are in my blood. However all three of these titles I’ve never experienced before, and man does Sunsoft kick it. Thanks for becoming my #2 podcast! I’ve been cycling and recycling episodes all of last year since the drought. Your doing fine work here my friend.
Like any fanatic fanboy, I’ve got a few suggestion episodes. Klonoa & Klonoa 2, anyone? “Going To Lunatea” and “Moonlight Museum” from K2 are my jams.
So good to have you back! Would a patreon allow you to do VGMpire much more often?
YEAAAHHHHHH! THANK YOU BRELSTON!!
Great episode! I was kinda hoping for a “dramatic reading” from Chris of the Journey to Silius intro, sorta like he did for the Magic Armageddon episode. The Silius intro music (while great) is so somber in tone but the english text is fairly non chalant. Would’ve been hilarious but oh well.
What’s next? Keep ’em coming!!
Dang it Brelston, I don’t know any more about square waves now than I did going into this podcast!
According to an English fellow on youtube, they’re nearly identical to sine waves at higher frequencies, and wikipedia claims that their “hollow” sound makes them a solid go-to for wind instrument analogues (like the lead in the NES Zelda theme). Thanks for keeping the VGMpire train a-moving, and for taking the time to go into how those wizards at Sunsoft (and the rest of the “big five”) got more than beeps and boops out of their (five?) channels…