Obscure Retro Games With Great Soundtracks by Specter at 2:08 PM EST on January 29, 2014
Hello there, I haven't been here for quite some time. So here's a thing, for the past few days I've been working on a video series featuring the best (at least, in my opinion) retro VGM. I need some help with pinpointing some of the more obscure soundtracks, since I have literally thousands of sets. Can anyone help me out?
by Knurek at 3:53 PM EST on January 29, 2014
この世の果てで恋を唄う少女YU-NO gets my vote.
by Specter at 5:58 PM EST on January 29, 2014
I have a VGM set called Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO. Is that it?
by JFD62780 at 7:34 PM EST on January 29, 2014
...I've a feeling the dude might mean ALL formats, not just VGM. Or SNES soundtracks would be exempt, as would PSX, GBA, Saturn and the like.

I'm maybe thinking the works of the Follin Bros. and Yuzo Koshiro to name a couple.
by Specter at 7:43 PM EST on January 29, 2014
Sorry, I should have been precise. I used VGM as short for Video Game Music. I'm interested in music from any system released before 2001, that includes arcades and computers.

by hcs at 9:49 PM EST on January 29, 2014
At the risk of being out-obscured (I think knurek has this one sewn up):

PC:
Math Rescue (there may be some nostalgia at work here)

N64:
Zool: Majou Tsukai Densetsu
Ganbare Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku (best samples on the N64)

PS:
Crime Crackers 2

And I'll nominate the NES's Journey to Silius here, its music far outweighs its popularity.

edited 10:01 PM EST January 29, 2014
by Dais! at 10:54 PM EST on January 29, 2014
Knurek took my choice :(

but you know, maybe you could do a feature on deceased composers (YU-NO being by Ryu Umemoto)?

I only just the other day stumbled across [ur=http://vgm.mdscene.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=539]Providence[/url], and was excited to hear more stuff by Manabu Saito, only to learn he'd passed over two decades ago...

Akihiko Mori did some truly excellent SNES scores.

Hidehito Aoki did the catchy tunes in Majin Tensei I and II, as well as some work on the original Persona.

I'm sure there's more I've forgotten....

you should also check out the main index of vgmrips, then maybe browse into the arcade section. There's a lot of interesting older stuff from major companies that doesn't get talked about as much, and there's also the wonderful period during the mid-90s when a lot of games had cheesy guitar samples and drums. A few to start you off in both categories:
Battlantis
Galaxy Fight
Gunforce
Lethal Thunder
Magical Drop III
Shock Troopers
Thunder Cross II
Vapor Trail
Zero Wing (actually, the Genesis version might sound better, I can never remember)
by JudgeIto at 2:28 AM EST on January 30, 2014
Vapor Trail +1

Soldam (arcade) - (1) (2) (3)
SION (X68000)
SION II (X68000)

Irem stuff isn't obscure, but I love their late 80s arcade output

Image Fight
Ninja Spirit - (1) - (2)
Vigilante - (1) - (2)
X-Multiply
by dissident93 at 2:38 AM EST on January 30, 2014
there are way too many game soundtracks out there that are great, but overlooked. not even sure I can make a list without sitting down for an hour. :P
by RukarioGyiyg996 at 4:37 AM EST on January 30, 2014
Whale's Voyage for the PC has really nice OPL2 music in my humble opinion...
by Specter at 5:16 AM EST on January 30, 2014
I never really thought about including music from Japanese-only computers. I have a few PC98, PC88 and X68000 sets in .vgm format, but that's about it. I know there are quite a few sets from those systems at hoot.joshw.info, but I honestly have no idea how to play them, let alone convert them to .wav.

Thank you all for the contributions, I'll check them out ASAP. I'm mostly looking for good SNES/Mega Drive/Mega CD stuff right now.
by JudgeIto at 6:24 AM EST on January 30, 2014
When you feel like expanding your search to those systems, you'll want the namesake of that subdirectory, a program called Hoot. Follow the FAQ carefully and you'll be well on your way.

Ever listen to Jaki Crush? (SNES) - (1) - (2)
by Specter at 6:45 AM EST on January 30, 2014
Didn't know about hoot, is it possible for it to output .wav files?

By the way, thanks for Maki Crush!
by Nisto at 7:36 AM EST on January 30, 2014
Cosmic Psycho (PC98/X68000) - [1][2][3]

Any Sonic fan ought to check out this soundtrack.
by JudgeIto at 8:30 AM EST on January 30, 2014
There is, but it's not so much of a dump as it is a real-time recording from within the program. The whole program is a bit different from foobar or Winamp.

If you use it for recording, make sure you pay attention to the sound quality part of the FAQ. You'll have to manually edit an .ini file to get the correct sample rates depending on the sound chip the game uses.
by Knurek at 8:44 AM EST on January 30, 2014
Of note is that the site JudgeIto links to is very, very outdated.
You should use the data from our new mirror instead.

And yeah, CTRL+W enables wavewriting in Hoot.
by Specter at 1:36 PM EST on January 30, 2014
Thank you both for your help.

I think I got enough videos up to show you how my little project looks like.

The Best of Retro VGM #1
The Best of Retro VGM #2
The Best of Retro VGM #3
The Best of Retro VGM #4 (Thanks Dais! for introducing me to Magical Drop III soundtrack.)

More to come. I'm trying to balance out well-known tunes with obscure ones.
by JudgeIto at 11:00 PM EST on January 30, 2014
Nice vids!

I didn't know hoot archive music data was being updated elsewhere. But as far as I know, the snesmusic site still gives the best info for setting up and fine tuning the program itself.
by Knurek at 3:22 AM EST on January 31, 2014
That is true, it's just that JoshW's mirror has at least 500 more games available (not to mention all those updated sets from SNESMusic.org days).

I really need to update that site sometime.
by Specter at 8:57 AM EST on January 31, 2014
Is there a one big archive containing all the sets from hoot.joshw.info? That would save me a lot of time.

Thanks, JudgeIto! Right now I have around 50 videos (and counting!) waiting to be uploaded. Currently I'm busy searching for good SNES/MD/PSX/PC-98/X68000 tunes, so my uploading pace may slow down after a month or so.

edited 8:59 AM EST January 31, 2014
by MrSinistar at 7:45 AM EDT on August 8, 2014
The DOS version of MegaRace has some of the best FM synth music I ever heard. Check out all six songs by Stephane Picq; they're absolutely epic.
by RukarioGyiyg996 at 8:16 AM EDT on August 8, 2014
Gunmetal has a very good soundtrack, too bad I can't figure out the game's files, nor would anyone else have a clue either given how unknown this game is.

And before you say anything I mean Gunmetal by Mad Genius Software. Note there is no space in the name "Gunmetal", this is totally unrelated to the Thexder ripoff "Gun Metal", note the space between "Gun" and "Metal" and note how the two words are capitalized and are indeed two separate words.

edited 1:21 PM EDT August 8, 2014
by froggestspirit at 6:15 PM EDT on August 8, 2014
Rocket: Robot on Wheels for the N64. I can't find who composed the music for the life of me
by dissident93 at 1:14 PM EDT on August 9, 2014
possibly Ashif Hakik?


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