Optomon | 65 Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 http://optovania.com/top50 I made this "50 quintessential songs list" for the NES earlier this summer, then revised it several times since. I'm done playing around with it though, and I'm moving on with life. It is a list of 50 NES era songs, each accompanied by a player and a description why I felt the piece was good and describe the piece, trying to be neither too technical nor too simple. It is all crammed onto one webpage. I tried to represent as many different styles as possible while also representing what I feel are among the most sensibly written and highest quality pieces on the NES. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glazball | 168 Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 Very cool, I look forward to checking it out after I can home (and can listen). To avoid spoilers, I didn't scroll down far but from the tracks I did see, I can tell you've done some digging and picked some good ones. I know what I would pick as #1 (and probably #2 and #3 as well), but I'll stay quiet for now and see if we agree. Oh the suspense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiRD | 137 Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 nice read too! good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optomon | 65 Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 (edited) Many people disagree with the choices but I'm cool with that at this point, I mainly went with what I felt was original and sophisticated. Regarding the #1, I'm surprised the song isn't more known or widely regarded, I think it's amazingly written for something that is epic in scale. I had never heard of it before I started making this list. Edited August 19, 2020 by Optomon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,894 Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 1 hour ago, Optomon said: Many people disagree with the choices but I'm cool with that at this point, I mainly went with what I felt was original and sophisticated. Regarding the #1, I'm surprised the song isn't more known or widely regarded, I think it's amazingly written for something that is epic in scale. I had never heard of it before I started making this list. Any list like this is going to be subjective. Regardless, I see Streets of Desolation, and I "like!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.A. | 1,139 Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Impressive amount of work! Some serious research must have went into this as there are some pretty obscure ones on that list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhleo | 2,184 Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 10. You 9. Can't 8. Make 7. An 6. Accurate 5. Top 50 4. NES 3. Music 2. List 1. Pictionary Theme Song Jokes aside, that's a really well researched list! Some solid examples of what the NES / Famicom is capable of! However, for the Magician, I would have swapped out the techno title for this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4MqeTY9jCk It fits the game itself much better than the title. The song itself is relatively simple, but the atmosphere is really awesome. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optomon | 65 Posted August 25, 2020 Author Share Posted August 25, 2020 (edited) While I am not a fan of Neil Baldwin's music, I have a lot of respect for what it accomplishes. Magician soundtrack seems to be the epitome of his style, and he has diverse ways of demonstrating hypnotic ambience. I think I could have have gotten away with picking any song from that soundtrack. Edited August 25, 2020 by Optomon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumer | 221 Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 (edited) Good list! Unless I totally missed it on your list, the one I would put on my list has got to be the Double Dragon title theme. That tune just gets me jazzed up to play some NES! Edited September 23, 2020 by Sumer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat-Doug | 5,104 Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 5 hours ago, Sumer said: Good list! Unless I totally missed it on your list, the one I would put on my list has got to be the Double Dragon title theme. That tune just gets me jazzed you to play some NES! I looked for Dead or Alive on there too! The arcade version is even better than the NES, but I still thought it would have made the top 50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Morbis | 2,088 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 (edited) Great list and I appreciate all the work you put into it. I was getting pretty low on the list thinking, "how the Fuck does he not have Silver Surfer Stage 1 on here?" but sure enough it showed up at #5. My only issue is that I feel like there is so much great material to work with that you could easily get 10 people to make lists like this and have zero overlap in song selection and they'd all still be great lists. Like, how do you pick just one tune from Mega Man 2, you know what I mean? Or do you just say, 'Fuck it' and have like six tunes from the same game on your list? But anyway, it was fun going through your particular selections, for sure... Edited September 23, 2020 by Dr. Morbis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optomon | 65 Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 3 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said: My only issue is that I feel like there is so much great material to work with that you could easily get 10 people to make lists like this and have zero overlap in song selection and they'd all still be great lists. Like, how do you pick just one tune from Mega Man 2, you know what I mean? Or do you just say, 'Fuck it' and have like six tunes from the same game on your list? Thanks for reading. I wrestled with about 100 or so serious candidates, and decided that I could have reasonably gotten away with putting any of those songs on the list (the aforementioned Double Dragon song was one of them). I started putting many other songs up and down the list for a while to see if it made sense to me. I pretty much leaned toward anything that I felt represented an original idea and executed it really well. I also tried to avoid songs that were similar to one another, and went with the ones that I felt did it best. For example, I at first put up 4 Mega Man 2 songs, but cut it down to 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guests · Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Really cool and I love the descriptions for each. I like quite a bit from your list. Ninja Gaiden 1 and 2, Shadowgate, Deja Vu and the Uninvited have some fantastic soundtracks so I was surprised to not see any of that on there. But really there's so many great tunes it would be really difficult to list them without feeling like you're leaving something out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a3quit4s | 4,091 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 (edited) Mega Man 3 Title at number 14! Snub of the century Really good list though. I love that Super Dodgeball Russia theme. Super dodgeball has got to be one of my fav nes games Edited April 30, 2021 by a3quit4s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 I finally got around to going through this list a couple months ago and enjoyed it! There were definitely a couple ones that I liked a lot and hadn't heard before including Captain Tsubasa II --- End Credits and Super Dodgeball --- Team USSR. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vectrex28 | 366 Posted May 10, 2021 Share Posted May 10, 2021 That's a pretty nice list, there's some pretty cool songs in there, even though I wouldn't have scored Ducktales moon and Wily 1 so high because they're the definition of overrated (not saying they're bad, far from it. I tjust hink they get far too much exposure when there's far better NES songs) Needs more Codemasters music too, Follin is great and all but there's other great composers in a similar style. I'd recommend CJ's Elephant Antics or Super Robin Hood for some great tunes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarzombie | 923 Posted May 14, 2021 Share Posted May 14, 2021 Nice to see the Blaster Master ending on there. My favorite ending music next to Bionic Commando. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optomon | 65 Posted May 19, 2021 Author Share Posted May 19, 2021 Blaster Master ending was not something I expected to put on the list, and it still has me wondering. It does a lot of things that I feel are novel and emotional even though it seems like it should be a generic song. A lot of people mention Ninja Gaiden music. My biggest issue for me is that the songs tend to be unwaveringly repetitive, too brief, or even feel cliche. Nonetheless, the music is very above average, and I rated the Ninja Gaiden II Introduction highest. But even with its great build up and emotional intensity, the repetition and typical feeling chord progression was a difference maker for me, and I narrowly cut it. Other examples of songs that were very close to being on this list that do absolutely amazing things: Gauntlet --- Song A Batman --- Labratory Ruins Magic Johnson's Fast Break --- High Score New Ghostbusters II --- Peter's Apartment Dragon Warrior IV --- Battle Theme Castle of Dragon --- End Credits Kiwi Kraze --- Stage Theme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarzombie | 923 Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 I think a lot of people have a huge love for music thats generally i-bVI-VII, aka the Iron Maiden progression. Its all over Castlevania and Mega Man. I think they recognize it from music they like but are not aware of the similar harmony and I think that has a lot of weight on what people say should be on a list. Its even in that Batman Labratory Ruins track haha. Its touched upon SLIGHTLY in The Castle Dragon End Credits, but not enough for it to be a direct copy. It does have the popular parallel minor thing bVI - bVII - I, aka the Super Mario Bros level end fanfare. Dragon Warriors is really cool! I own the game but I never play RPGs so I thats why I never heard it haha. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodysGameRoom | 2,008 Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 This list is fun, thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhyNotZoidberg | 585 Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 Not that Capcom is under represented in the list, but what do you think of the music in Gun.Smoke? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optomon | 65 Posted May 28, 2021 Author Share Posted May 28, 2021 Gun smoke has diverse set of themed, catchy songs. Above average soundtrack for sure but not elite. Quality is similar to Mega Man 1, perhaps a notch higher, but one or two below DuckTales or Bionic Commando. I do want to study chord progressions and the art of it eventually. And I know what you mean with common progressions in a lot of Castlevania and Mega Man. Metal Man theme for example is nearly straight up i - VI - VII, but there's so much going on in that piece melodically and harmonically outside of it with pertinent counterpoints and perfect texturing that make it epic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarzombie | 923 Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 8 hours ago, Optomon said: Gun smoke has diverse set of themed, catchy songs. Above average soundtrack for sure but not elite. Quality is similar to Mega Man 1, perhaps a notch higher, but one or two below DuckTales or Bionic Commando. I do want to study chord progressions and the art of it eventually. And I know what you mean with common progressions in a lot of Castlevania and Mega Man. Metal Man theme for example is nearly straight up i - VI - VII, but there's so much going on in that piece melodically and harmonically outside of it with pertinent counterpoints and perfect texturing that make it epic. I would certainly like to see someone take the time to dig in deeper with a harmonic analysis of some of that stuff because a lot of VG music is just incredible. I wish I could but I already have my own insane project im working on! It also would be really interesting to put up a poll of a lot of music and have people rate music from a lot of popular titles/popular tracks/random tunes (1 - 5, strong dislike to strong like), and then afterwards see what all the ones that people like have in common harmonically. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 14 minutes ago, guitarzombie said: I would certainly like to see someone take the time to dig in deeper with a harmonic analysis of some of that stuff because a lot of VG music is just incredible. I wish I could but I already have my own insane project im working on! It also would be really interesting to put up a poll of a lot of music and have people rate music from a lot of popular titles/popular tracks/random tunes (1 - 5, strong dislike to strong like), and then afterwards see what all the ones that people like have in common harmonically. This YouTube channel seems right up your alley then: https://youtube.com/c/8bitMusicTheory 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarzombie | 923 Posted May 28, 2021 Share Posted May 28, 2021 2 hours ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said: This YouTube channel seems right up your alley then: https://youtube.com/c/8bitMusicTheory I actually forgot about this. He did a really good job with Mega Man 2, which to me points out how over rated it is :P. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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