Play That Funky Island Music
In the early 1990s one of the most heated videogame hardware rivalries was in full swing: Nintendo vs. SEGA. Nintendo's NES had been wiping the floor with SEGA's SEGA Master System, but SEGA struck back with their 16-bit monster: The SEGA Genesis (Mega Drive outside of NA). The improvements in graphics and sound provided by the Genesis was astonishing. Nintendo struck back two years later with the Super NES. While posessing a slower clock speed, the SNES boasted even more graphical trickery than the Genesis and had much better sound and music capabilities. It was difficult to create pleasing music on the Genesis, but in the right hands SEGA's powerhouse could positively sing. Castle of Illusion, Sonic The Hedgehog and Toe Jam & Earl are excellent examples of what excellent music could be lovingly coaxed out of the Genesis. The SNES's music system was much more forgiving (and designed by SONY's Ken Kutagari, interestingly enough).
In 1992 HudsonSoft released Super Adventure Island for the SNES. While fairly early on in the SNES's life cycle, this platformer had bright, colorful graphics and large bosses. Stages include a deep jungle (complete with cannibals wearing masks), dark caves, misty forests, a frozen mountain range and even the belly of a whale! The music, composed by veteran Yuzo Koshiro, is where Super Adventure Island truly shines. Each funky piece of music has its own rhythm that matches perfectly with the visuals of the stage it is set against. No stranger to videogame music, composer Yuzo Koshiro began his composing career at Nihon Falcom in 1986 and through the years has provided memorable soundtracks to such games as Ys and Ys II (both for the PC-88), Legacy of the Wizard (NES), Streets of Rage (Genesis), ActRaiser 1 & 2 (SNES), Shenmue (Dreamcast), Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS) and is providing several compilations for the upcoming Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Wii).
Take a listen to the music in the flash player below, or download the .zip of MP3s or the raw game music itself (you'll need something that can play .SPC files).
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I really enjoyed listening to you play through it the other day; the music was great to work to! I found myself rocking out many a time. :D
I can't say I'm keen on the graphics (replace that fellow's grass skirt with a pair of jeans and you've got a guy you're likely to encounter in an Alabama supermarket), but the tunes are super! I often wonder whether these better/best video game soundtrack composers ever create commercially released music. I'd really dig having a listen to further creations by the composers of the music in such games as Kirby Air Ride and Animal Crossing (whose names I am at the moment too lazy to learn via a Google search).