Bubble Bobble / Gordian Tomb / Halifax / Solstice
BUBBLE BOBBLE (NES)
12 tracks, 8:43. Samples-
This game had more than one song? You bet! Here is the complete soundtrack to Bubble Bobble, the 1988 NES game that featured every one’s favorite bubble blowin’ dino duo.
Ok, so there’s not really a whole lot to the soundtrack outside of the highly memorable BGM that repeats through every level. Outside of short jingles and loops there’s really only 3 other distinct songs— the Boss Theme, Credits, and the highly mysterious Secret Room.
I encountered a track in the nsf that I thought was unused at first, but in searching for midi arrangements I found out that the track in question has been referred to as the “Secret Room”. To further back this up, according to gamefaqs, there is a secret diamond room you can uncover by clearing 20 levels without losing the first life you start on.
The only problem with this is that I took the time to do just that— I beat the first 40 something levels without losing a life just to be sure and I never got a stinking diamond room. Assholes.
Please, if you know how to get to the secret room let me know, and while you’re at it update the gamefaqs page to be more specific. I put too much work into finding out if the track was unused, only to come out empty handed!
The track also appears in the in-game soundtest, however untitled, which you have to get the best ending to unlock.
Composed by Tadashi Kimijima.
Wikipedia entry on Bubble Bobble.
GORDIAN TOMB (C64)
2 tracks, 34:35. Sample-
This next soundtrack was shown to me by my friend NO CARRIER. A couple weeks ago he was playing some pretty sweet music through his C64, and showed me some bits and pieces of Gordian Tomb.
There are only two tracks to this game, but the second is just a couple seconds shy of 32 MINUTES in length, without looping. This outdoes The Labyrinth of Time for a game soundtrack that has ‘the longest single song that I know of’. Plus this one is an original chiptune this time, instead of stock music…
The music to this simply rules. It’s like a Tangerine Dream album converted into a chiptune odyssey. An interview with the composer, Thomas Detert, reveals that he spent weeks on this soundtrack and is one of his favorite works.
Check out Gordian Tomb on lemon64.
HALIFAX (C64)
3 tracks, 9:40. Samples-
Halifax was released by CP Verlag, the same company that published Gordian Tomb. In the same year for that matter, 1990.
I found this soundtrack by random browsing, but if this and the above are any indication of what more soundtracks from CP Verlag will sound like, I think I’ve got some searching to do…
I’m not sure who composed this one, the sid file vaguely credits the entire design team, “Onyx Design”. Well, whoever you were, good job!
SOLSTICE (NES)
11 tracks, 7:38. Samples-
Solstice is a puzzle-adventure game for the NES, released in 1990 by Software Creations. This is yet another Tim Follin soundtrack I’ve ripped for explod. You gotta give it to the guy for making such awesome music.
The Title Theme is roughly 3 minutes long without looping, which is certainly longer than your average NES song. If you want to hear a ridiculous/ rad prog-metal arrangement of it, check out Ryan8bit’s cover. It can be downloaded here.
This rip includes one unknown or unused track, as well as four “jingles” from the nsf whose status are even less clear. Some have speculated that they’re glitches, as they borrow snippets from other tracks and then freeze. The one thing that has me uncertain, though, is that I’ve never seen a bad rip with that kind of effect. Oh well, if they’re not meant to be part of the real soundtrack, consider ‘em a bonus!
Oh and by the way, there is a shirtless wizard on the cover.
9 months ago
