WEEK 4: Labyrinth of Time / Final Fantasy / Mighty Final Fight / YS III
LABYRINTH OF TIME (Amiga CD 32)
2 tracks, 33:33. Samples-
Released in 1993, The Labyrinth of Time is an adventure/ puzzle game similar to Myst and the 7th Guest.
The background game music consists of one looping track that is over 30 minutes in length. Released for CD, the music was able to be formatted as large PCM rips (8SVX), allowing essentially “infinite” channels and a higher quality sound than the classic .mod and similar formats.
In an effort to figure out who the composer was, I learned that the soundtrack is actually all stock music. Knowing that the music was composed without the game in mind initially took it down a peg for me, but it still stands as a memorable selection. And several years back, before I knew this, I could have sworn I heard music from this game (the part at 15 mins) in an episode of Pete and Pete. At the time I figured I had to be mistaken, but knowing a little bit more about the vague origins— it seems possible that I heard right.
Wikipedia entry on The Labyrinth of Time.
FINAL FANTASY (MSX)
21 tracks, 20:51. Samples-
Published by Microcabin in 1989, Final Fantasy was ported to the MSX2, a Japanese Microsoft/ Sony home computer.
This version made use of the MSX’s Yamaha 2413 sound chip, which used FM synthesis and had more channels than standard NES music. While the songs remain true to the originals, I consider most of these adaptations to be an improvement.
Wikipedia entry on Final Fantasy (MSX).
You can see visual comparisons between this game and the original here.
MIGHTY FINAL FIGHT (NES)
16 tracks, 14:11. Samples-
Part of the Final Fight series, Mighty Final Fight was released in 1993 for the NES by Capcom.
The music was composed by Setsuo Yamamoto and Yuko Takehara, two of the composers in the highly regarded Mega Man X soundtrack. I find tracks like Riverside, Factory, and Bay Area to be reminiscent of classic Mega Man music… so if you’re a fan of that series, I highly recommend this soundtrack.
Wikipedia entry on Mighty Final Fight.
YS III (Sega Genesis)
31 tracks, 1:00:19. Samples-
Introduction
Redmont, the Street of Trading
Winged Boy
Ruins of Ilverns
Burning Fight
Pray for Mercy
The Sega Genesis version of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys was released in 1991. The original soundtrack was composed by Mieko Ishikawa, and alternate arrangements and compositions for the Genesis port were handled by the J.D.K. sound team. This rip is just over an hour in length, and is one of my favorite video game soundtracks.
This marks my first month of keeping up with explod, with 20 soundtracks and over 7 hours of music. Hopefully this will be the first of many!
4 years ago
