As the title says, post any video game trivia that you think is interesting. Or ask trivia questions.

I'll start this off with some video game songs that sound like other music.

Here's Nobuo Uematsu's "Tosca Village" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIx05qiDfnE) from Lost Odyssey...
...and Thom Yorke's "The Eraser" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDTSz9-Ns_U) from the album of the same name.

And also, here's Uematsu's "Besaid Island" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2UjfueRo7g) from Final Fantasy X...
...and Radiohead's "Worrywort" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCq9k0_O96I) from the "Knives Out" single.

I don't think anybody's plagiarizing here, but the similarities are intriguing. I wonder if Uematsu is a Radiohead fan?

Also, here's the semi-infamous "Robo/Rick Roll," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ20N6syuwc) which I love. It's a mash-up of "Robo's Theme" from Chrono Trigger and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

I'll post some in the next few days. Also, there's a day left to nominate songs in the video game music thread linked in my signature.

The song "Destructive Power" from Knuckles Chaotix bears an uncanny resemblance to Fear Factory's "Echoes Of Innocence".
Echoes of Innocence was originally written in 1991 in a demo and later remastered and released in 2002 in "Concrete".
It's very odd or in the very least interesting to note that this re-release is when people got to hear it for the first time, long after Chaotix. To think that one of the composers for Chaotix could have gotten their hands on an obscure little demo back in 1991 that featured "Echoes" in low-fi quality from a beginning metal-band seems unlikely.

Nevertheless, the resemblance is near perfect, and here's a silly little mashup to illustrate it: echoesofdestructivepower.mp3 (http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/2576043_yzqou/echoesofdestructivepower.mp3)

Here's something I found out recently.

I was watching the film Chungking Express and recognized the actress Faye Wong from Kar Wai Wong's other excellent movie 2046. So I checked her out on IMDB to see what else she'd been in, and it turns out she's a singer, too, and sang an extremely famous video game song we all know:

Her IMDB page (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910947/)
The song in question (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNefNLOHVYk&feature=PlayList&p=1EEA3583745CDFFE&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1)

Regarding the song, it was released as a CD single in Japan, and "sold more than 400,000 copies, placing it as the best-selling video game music disc ever released in that country until 'Hikari' by Utada Hikaru for Kingdom Hearts." The song was also "the first song in video game history to win an award at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards, where it won 'Song of the Year (Western Music)' in 1999."

You can probably guess what it is now...=)

Here's another round of video game songs that sound like other music.

It has been said a few times that Uematsu's work on the Front Mission:Gun Hazard soundtrack bears resemblances to his subsequent work on Final Fantasy 7. One piece, in particular, seems to bear out this theory. While "Secret Story" is not a direct forerunner of the Sephiroth pieces, several of the compositional techniques used in it play out in "Who Are You?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV67Ee9kmRg&feature=PlayList&p=059E737424ABC07B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5) "Chasing the Black-Caped Man" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti_iazvRLD4&feature=PlayList&p=77D98F68F6DBB35D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31) and also "Who Am I?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhC7uunwJE4&feature=PlayList&p=059E737424ABC07B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4). An incomplete version of "Secret Story" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHRvPBP5t7M) plays in this video, starting at 2:40, but the illustration is especially clear if you can dig up the whole song.

To take on one of the other giants of video game and anime music, Yoko Kanno's gorgeous piece "Mast in the Mist" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_LfQUu7m6o) has been nagging me for several days. The music is reminiscent of John Adams' "China Gates" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V45cX4GnWSg), but I'm convinced I've previously heard that ascending progression that starts off Kanno's piece somewhere else. Does anyone else recognize it, or am I going crazy?

As far as the "songs that sound like other songs" thing, compare Super Mario Bros. 3's World 1 Map Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK3FnQA0kOE) to T. Rex's "Groove a Little Baby". (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MEV0OQTM) Seriously made me laugh out loud when I first heard the comparison on Nicovideo.

Recently, I've been doing some research into the sources of the base instrument samples used in the soundtracks of some older games. Two of the ones I've studies the most are Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Gradius III (love that "Oooooh" choir). Super Street Fighter II Turbo uses lots of sounds from the Roland U-220 (http://www.synthmania.com/u-220.htm); check out the "Synth Bass 7" and "Synth Brs 1" demos in particular.

Speaking of Gradius III, it's official soundtrack CD made #26 on the charts in Japan, a video game music first.

Excellent post, felineki! I've never heard of "Groove a Little Baby" and laughed when I heard it. I'm also fascinated by the samples used in older games, though I know little about it. It was fun just poking around on that site and listening to the different demos. Please post more.

I was going through random music on snesmusic.org, and the soundtrack for The Untouchables popped up.One of the tracks has a strong resemblance to Iron Man's theme from Marvel Super Heroes.

The Untouchables (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3AzIalzUNw) Skip to about 40 seconds in.

Iron Man's Theme-Marvel Super Heroes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkogdkFXz50)

Maybe it's just me, but I'll see what you guys say.

Good call. That opening synth line that plays throughout the Iron Man theme is note-for-note the same as the first part of the bass line in The Untouchables song. The only difference is that the Untouchables bass also transposes down a half-step, while the synth line in Iron Man stays the same.

I got another one.I finally got to play Onimusha 3 for first time last year, and when I got to the zoo, I noticed some similarities between the song and a song from Chrono Cross.Once again, I think they sound similar in some places, but I'll let you guys decide.

Onimusha 3- Raining in Hell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ9cEgBoW3g)

Chrono Cross-Isle of the Dead (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7z5tKsXcDI)

Hmm...The percussion is similar, particularly because both have an echo effect on the bass drum, but I don't hear anything beyond that. That's just me, though.

Okay, I have heard heaps of praise for "At Zanarkand", but have never heard anyone say that one bit sounds like "Silent Night". It almost ruins it for me because it sounds unnatural to me to hear that melody like that.

Well, you're not alone.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=197344&topic=45938603

But I can't say I've ever found myself thinking of "Silent Night" when I've listened to the song.

File this one under "Random."

Earlier today I was watching the newest episode of Chrontendo (http://chrontendo.blogspot.com/) and found out that Nobuo Uematsu did the soundtrack for Rad Racer. Because of how minimal that music is, I searched Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuo_uematsu) to see if Uematsu, in fact, scored every Square game back then, regardless of genre (not quite, but he did score a hell of a lot of games that have fallen into obscurity). That led me to Square's complete list of games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Square_games), which includes The Bouncer.

Later in the evening, I visited TheSpoonyOne's site and caught a video (http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/category/channel-awesome/) of him and the Angry Video Game Nerd visiting the house shown in the title sequence for Family Matters. That reminded me of an episode in which an R&B singer appeared and sang a song with the words, "I love your smile," repeated over and over again. After googling those lyrics, I found out the singer's name is Shanice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanice) and the song was called "I Love Your Smile." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFJKcRm2UBw) Turns out she's still recording music, but in between albums she's done some voice work, including one of the characters in, you guessed it, The Bouncer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bouncer). Additionally, the ending song to that game is a cover of one of Shanice's songs.

So now you'll have me to thank every time someone asks you what early 90s R&B one-hit wonder appeared in one of Square's last games as an entity independent from Enix. Or maybe you already knew that...

This one is kind of old, not sure if anyone has seen it yet.The rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony used some melodies from Eternal Champions, in a couple of their songs.

Eternal Champions-Character Bios (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTcQMQXJGPw&fmt=18)

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony-Eternal (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6m8GFqfrjc&fmt=18)

Eternal Champions-Bad Ending (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjO98lNDgRk&fmt=18)

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony-Crossroad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvGSCMHnKwU&fmt=18)

Ha. I ran across that a while ago, but had forgotten about it. Here's a list (http://www.examiner.com/x-578-Video-Game-Examiner~y2008m9d5-Top-10-HipHop-Songs-that-Sampled-a-Video-Game?cid=exrss-Video-Game-Examiner) of hip-hop songs that have sampled video game music, which I think is interesting. On the whole, rap seems much more accepting of antiquated synth sounds than other popular music genres.

Two observations about Motoi Sakuraba.

I was listening to Tales of Phantasia yesterday and noticed that "Field of Sunset" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UvAqAvOwdY) sounds a lot like "A Premonition" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhM8qHAowgM) from Chrono Trigger (starting at the :19 mark).

And that made me think about another thing Sakuraba does, which is to re-use his piece "Mission to the Deep Space" in several of his soundtracks. So far, I've noticed it in Valkyrie Profile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A3wW40NPnM), Star Ocean 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmyJY42YeDo), Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Rc1_OhoCiE), and Radiata Stories (http://www.imeem.com/people/bLS0hL/music/rsRMQdSU/motoi-sakuraba-mission-to-the-deep-space-radiata-ver/).

Apparently, as recently as two years ago the Playstation 1 was a high-end piece of audio equipment--the equivalent of a $6,000 CD player. Anyone know if it still measures up? Article is here (http://www.destructoid.com/playstation-1-the-audiophile-s-dream--32269.phtml).

Kinda posting this in a rush, so forgive the lack of links(I'll probably put some up later if I remember).

Try listening to "Final Option" from Ace Combat 5, and "Lifeline" from Ace Combat 4. Obviously, plagiarism isn't an issue here, but for a series that has its music so vastly different with each installment, to hear the similarities between these two was jarring, to say the least.

When I pointed this out on another board, it was suggested that they were done in a different 'beat-time'(is that the right musical term?). Can anyone confirm?

I think it might be known, but Nobuo Uematsu has directly taken the lyrics for "One Winged Angel" from Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana".

This one has always stood out for me.

Terminator (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7nq-r7QWW0&feature=related) 4:40 in

Super Swiv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJjOzVn7kWY&feature=related) 5:20 in, boss music.

Similar?

Well, if you wonder why Metal Gear Solid Main Theme wasn't used in MGS 4, that's because it sounds too similar to Georgy Sviridov's Snow Storm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcNUoxCmHI

If you read the earlier comments for this video, there is a mention that the intro music for Sky Destroyer (an NES game) is similar to the Indiana Jones theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpv4Toq4Cy0
I can understand why some people would notice this similarity, and the 2 pieces of music indeed sound similar, but I think they both can be easily differentiated from each other too.

Sorry to be so late with my replies...


@ChazA4: "Final Option" is in 3/4 time until the :55 mark, where it switches into 4/4 time. It stays that way until 1:23, when it switches back into 3/4 time. On the other hand, "Lifeline" is just in 4/4 time. This difference is in the "time signature" of the songs. That's the most significant difference. Also, on first listen it sounded like "Lifeline" was slower, or had fewer beats per minute (bpm) than "Final Option." People may have mentioned either of these things (time signature or bpm) in the other thread.


@Sherlock: I had forgotten that, actually. Here are the two (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/orff-cb/carmlyr.php) sets (http://www.animelyrics.com/game/ffvii/ff7owa.htm) of lyrics, if anyone wants to compare. I can see right off the bat that the first two lyrics of "One-Winged Angel" are the first two lyrics of "Estuans interius."


@ShadowmanXbl: Good ear. There are definitely similarities between the two, although the Super SWIV music is a little cooler. =)


@SilentEd: That's fascinating! I've never heard anyone mention that similarity or the video before.


@pooiyx: Not only Sky Destroyer, but also the first notes of A Boy and His Blob (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2XEb8MH-Eo). But, you're right. I don't think anybody would call them out for plagiarism.

I remember noticing this back when I first played Breath of Fire III, circa 1998, but I just ran across it again. "Forest (Falling Green)" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8U5nxhxYf0) from that soundtrack bears a striking similarity to "Secret of the Forest" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r1iesThvYg) from the Chrono Trigger soundtrack. Not just the arpeggio, but the bass line in "Falling Green" seems too close to not be inspired by the other song.

Also, I randomly ran across a physics term called the "Kondo effect," (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080922090807.htm) which I thought was interesting. =)

Every time I hear the beginning of "Twinkle Elementary School" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_6pGJz0iR4) from Mother, I think of the song that my own mother's clock plays (appropriate, I guess). So I decided to do a little research and found that the clock song not only has a name, but an interesting background as well. It's called the "Westminster Chimes," (http://www.clocksnmore.com/midi/westminster.mp3) and apparently is the most common clock chime in the world. It also actually has words (http://www.clocksnmore.com/clock_chimes.asp), which are:

"Lord through this hour,
Be Thou our guide
So, by Thy power
No foot shall slide."

That text comes from Handel's "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9YzflmSSwk) (sung by Isobel Baillie in the link's recording), and is quite a pretty little tune itself. Too bad it doesn't have a kick ass bass line like the Mother song. =)

So apparently Mike Tyson's Punch Out! "borrowed" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbtmOBMk1ak) a couple tunes and sound effects from Defender II, aka Stargate. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_%28video_game%29) points out these connections: "The music played when the game begins is a longer version of the entrance music of the Little Mac's opponents. Also, after completing a stage, during the intermission screen between waves, the music played is the same as the screen after Mac loses a match." Doctor Sparkle also talked about this on the latest episode of Chrontendo (http://www.archive.org/details/Chrontendo_Vol_22).

Also, to bring up another ancient example of this kind of thing, in the soundtrack for 1995's Parodius there is an homage to KC and the Sunshine Band's 1975 hit "That's the Way (I Like It)." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKRbOevLsGM) You can hear the Parodius version in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2YwoJiOsNs) at 3:12.

Lastly, here's a VGM trivia quiz (http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/VideoGames/Video-Game-Music-Creators-192783.html) for you, if you're bored. I got a 7/10.

Also, to bring up another ancient example of this kind of thing, in the soundtrack for 1995's Parodius there is an homage to KC and the Sunshine Band's 1975 hit "That's the Way (I Like It)." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKRbOevLsGM) You can hear the Parodius version in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2YwoJiOsNs) at 3:12.

Lastly, here's a VGM trivia quiz (http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/VideoGames/Video-Game-Music-Creators-192783.html) for you, if you're bored. I got a 7/10.

Never made the Parodius connection, I never listen to the whole song.I got a 9/10 on the quiz, I missed number 6.The worse part is that I played ED 3 times, and still didn't know.

I missed...

"Which of these games' soundtracks have music from Incubus?"

"Who composed the music for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time?"

And "Which of these games has music by Godsmack?"

I generally gravitate towards games with original soundtracks, so that's no surprise to me. Prince of Persia I just didn't know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IXNpPhfk1s

Documents how id Software "stole" the music to some of their levels from heavy rock bands. I can definitely see how some are similar; others in the video I don't think are even close; particularly Master of Puppets from Metallica.

Either way, the influence was huge; that can't be denied.

Thanks, Link006!

I ran into this one last night: Tommy Tallarico reused "Buttville" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl5dl1kGXHU) from Earthworm Jim to do "Beast Ride" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD3IGEXCpnI) in Wild 9.

Something I discovered recently.I have always loved Jesper Kyd's older music, but never like his newer stuff.I recently decided to listen to the Hitman Blood Money soundtrack, and to my delight he remade one of his older songs.He has remade this song already in the game AMOK, which I knew about, but I didn't know about the Hitman rendition.

Red Zone-Spinner(Genesis)-1994 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9iWKzBe_zs&fmt=18)
Amok-Track 3(PC/Saturn)-1996 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrYCN9_7u8o&fmt=18)
Hitman:Blood Money-Apocalypse(Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2)-2006 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LF8dYZVZw&fmt=18)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkcXD6IkUKM Bayou Boogie beginning from DKC2 sounds like

Phil Collins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riw7j9b8fM8 In the Air tonight

@kokujin: Cool find! Jesper Kyd's music is always welcome here.

@Biyte: Haha. That's hilarious.

I haven't listened to too much interesting music in the last few days. I did run across this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwKux-E0cEw) from Fray in Magical Adventure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fray_in_Magical_Adventure), which reminded me of "Mystic Mysidia" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvE4knGPqxw) from Final Fantasy IV.

Also, similar to Parodius (which I posted about above), Otomedius Gorgeous (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otomedius_Gorgeous) is a parody shmup with a soundtrack full of remixes of older songs. A lot of these are souped-up version of old classics like "Power of Anger" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RugbXE_iEw) from Life Force (original version here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mv4YfP4uqM)).

I do have one question for y'all, though. I'm trying to get more info about the Lords of Thunder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Thunder) composer. From what I gather, his name is Satoshi Miyashita and he hired a guitarist nicknamed The Groove King to work on the soundtrack. But does anyone know if this is correct and what other soundtracks they might have worked on?

Forgot about this one. Check out :33 into this vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgBVOBT7QPc

Sound familiar?

Think Final Fantasy 8...

... and vocal track...

Haha. Good ear. I've heard the Path�tique a thousand times before and never noticed that. :)

That second movement reminds me of the Piano Collections version of "Gau" too, but more in feel than in sound. Do I even have to mention how that one melodic line in "Gau" sounds a lot like that song "What if God was One of Us?"

Heh. Worth mentioning. Here's the illustration:

Joan Osborne's "One of Us" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZEO1Lug25s)
and
"Gau's Theme" from Final Fantasy VI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR7musjvdTk#t=00m54s)

Just caught this one, which is obviously intentional:
Plok's "Boxing Glove" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmleGVilw5U) homages the Rocky theme song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhlPAj38rHc).

The Metal Gear Solid music was stolen from a russian peice of music called Winter Road:


winter road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JL4JXEv-RY


mgs2 theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU6pZdl9AQc


that's why it wasn't used in mgs4.




Tomb Raider 2 - If you reverse the music from ''The Ritual'' cutscene you can hear music from Temple Of Doom (an Indiana Jones soundtrack).


Silent Hill 2 - In the track ''The Reverse Will''. If you reverse the track you can hear a girl saying repeatedly ''if i should die, before i wake, i pray the lord my soul redeem.''


Devil May Cry 3 - If you reverse the track Stage Music 9 (Demon World) you can hear an angry man talking about murder and his father.

Thanks for posting the music samples, 140.48. Earlier in this thread, Silent Ed actually posted an interview where Hideo Kojima is confronted about the similarities you mentioned.


Well, if you wonder why Metal Gear Solid Main Theme wasn't used in MGS 4, that's because it sounds too similar to Georgy Sviridov's Snow Storm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcNUoxCmHI

Concerning Tomb Raider 2, Silent Hill 2, and Devil May Cry 3, do you know anyplace online where we can hear the samples? Or did you reverse them yourself and noticed the similarities? I'm curious about those three and would like to hear them, too.

Thanks for posting the music samples, 140.48. Earlier in this thread, Silent Ed actually posted an interview where Hideo Kojima is confronted about the similarities you mentioned.



Concerning Tomb Raider 2, Silent Hill 2, and Devil May Cry 3, do you know anyplace online where we can hear the samples? Or did you reverse them yourself and noticed the similarities? I'm curious about those three and would like to hear them, too.

the first one i read in the tomb raider forums. the other 2 i just heard and revearsed it using windows sound recorder. you have to convert it to wav first though.

i don't know of anywhere on the net to hear it.

The music from Medal of Honor was used in a McCain campaign.

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/06/19/medal-honor-music-used-mccain-campaign-ad-composer-obama-supporter

Great post.


While I do not control the ownership of this piece, I am extremely disappointed its placement in this commercial. I did not authorize the use and was not made aware of the situation. Regardless of party affiliation of support, I would like to think that someone who believes in the American ideals of business and creativity like Sen. McCain supposedly does, would not want to disgrace or inflict any hardship or ill-will on the artists who create in this country by using their works to promote products and agendas which with they disagree.
This reminds me of Uematsu talking about how he doesn't own any of the Final Fantasy music and has to get the approval of Square-Enix even to play shows with the Black Mages. What a terrible situation, but I doubt any company-employed video game composer, save maybe Kondo, has enough clout to negotiate restrictions on how their music can be used outside the game. Plus, the appearance of video game music in political ads was unprecedented before this. Can you imagine a candidate in the next presidential race using the Super Mario Bros. theme? :)



I am dismayed that my music has been used to promote his platform and even more disappointed that a candidate who claims to be the best voice for American entrepreneurs and business owners in this troubled economy so flagrantly ignored the most basic values and tenents of copyright and intellectual property.

Ouch.

Have you all ever heard of the infamous Totaka's Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLMAgcGA8Dw)?
It's a long video, and there's multiple parts, but I found the secret song to be one of the most interesting Easter eggs in all of gaming.

That's amazing! And it's been found in a lot of his other games since that video was posted. I also found videos for this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0KnkU1cZz4), this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfXSa0m_ryc), and this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvBI3jH-Ymk).

Yeah! I heard the one from X as well, but not those other ones. People are still trying to find Totaka's Song in more recent games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl...

Two observations about Motoi Sakuraba.

I was listening to Tales of Phantasia yesterday and noticed that "Field of Sunset" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UvAqAvOwdY) sounds a lot like "A Premonition" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhM8qHAowgM) from Chrono Trigger (starting at the :19 mark).
Oh wow! I never noticed that, and you may be interested to know what I discovered a while ago from those two exact games too.

~First, listen after the first 10 seconds of The Stream of Time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLtTDYQcLw) from Tales of Phantasia.
~Now, Morning Sunlight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2yKPIjNPkg) from Chrono Trigger. Wasn't sure if you were aware of this already, but the similarities are striking. The melody seems to be exactly the same for those 7-8 seconds until it moves to it's own separate instruments.

Interesting... I wonder if there's more similarities between the OSTs of these games. Gonna look up more Phantasia in the meantime.

Namco Bandai Games have apologised for the unauthorised use of several video game tracks in Super Robot Wars K. They have confirmed that Lufia II's "Save the Earth" was arranged for this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csM9yi9X8Tk) and Chrono Trigger's "Battle with Magus" was arranged on this this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HMDul_v4YU). The company has held talks with Taito and Square Enix concerning the situation. They have made a public apology and paid an appropriate settlement.

The composer Kennosuke Suemura also allegedly plagiarised Warcraft II in Super Robot Wars W. However, there have been no reports of legal action being taken.

You may be interested to know what I discovered a while ago from those two exact games too.

~First, listen after the first 10 seconds of The Stream of Time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PLtTDYQcLw) from Tales of Phantasia.
~Now, Morning Sunlight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2yKPIjNPkg) from Chrono Trigger. Wasn't sure if you were aware of this already, but the similarities are striking. The melody seems to be exactly the same for those 7-8 seconds until it moves to it's own separate instruments.

No, I didn't notice that before! But you're right. There's a significant similarity between the two. And that makes me wonder what else Tales may have borrowed from...


Namco Bandai Games have apologised for the unauthorised use of several video game tracks in Super Robot Wars K. They have confirmed that Lufia II's "Save the Earth" was arranged for this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csM9yi9X8Tk) and Chrono Trigger's "Battle with Magus" was arranged on this this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HMDul_v4YU). The company has held talks with Taito and Square Enix concerning the situation. They have made a public apology and paid an appropriate settlement.

The composer Kennosuke Suemura also allegedly plagiarised Warcraft II in Super Robot Wars W. However, there have been no reports of legal action being taken.

I hadn't heard the Super Robot Wars K songs before, but man are those blatant. I wonder how he thought he'd get away with it?

I was going through some threads from several years ago and came across this:

Compare "Mercy in the Cathedral" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPMQjLXI3eM) from Hellsing: Raid
to "Prelude" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_ZwLMdE7D8) from Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies.

Sound similar?

I found out why. This is a case of both game composers using a song from public domain. The original is a three-movement solo guitar piece by Agustin Barrios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agust%C3%ADn_Barrios) titled "La Catedral." The part you hear in both songs is the prelude and can be also heard here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApJ5zJ39QK0). If you want to hear the rest of the piece, check this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcM-IeSrogk) out. It's well worth it.

Also worth checking out is Agustin Barrios playing the song himself (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmUShxEFldA) back in 1928.

And, finally, a fun fact: though the prelude starts off the piece beautifully, it was actually written 19 years after Barrios wrote the second and third movements.

Did you ever know that some melodies of Yasunori Mitsuda are composed based on the dreams he has?

In an interview he mentions that this happens with the ending theme of Chrono Trigger and with "Bonds of Sea and Fire" from the Xenogears soundtrack. Pretty interesting.

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3162780 <- Here's the full interview

Cool! Thanks for sharing that. Somehow, I've never read an interview with Mitsuda, even though I'm a big fan. I'll have to dig up more.

You're pretty welcome, a few days ago I felt this need for searching interviews from valuable people in the video game industry, I started from composers and I ended in voiceover actors XD.

I have two today both from the game Battle Garegga.The first was pointed out by Soundshock.se member Arp


Underground Resistance - Jupiter Jazz (1993):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQv3dCkY2Tk

Manabu Namiki - Underwater Rampart (Battle Garegga, 1996):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYbINBnYeFA

The second was discovered by a youtube user martini038.I uploaded some Battle Garegga songs earlier in the year, and he notified me that Manabu Namiki basically pays tribute to a song he liked.I asked what his source was, and he told,"I read it on Shinji Hosoe's bbs, back in 1996", so added it as a response.I was skeptical at first, but after seeing the Jupiter Jazz similarities, it might be true.


PLANETARY (Dan Curtin) - Subconscious Awareness(1993)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBe7T4olpv4 (Skip one minute ahead.)

Battle Garegga-Subversive Awareness(1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDdPz_itl-0

In Capcom vs Snk 2 in the track "Stimulation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQ-PuGyGsQ)" the rap in the beginning is the exact same rap used in Sonic Adventure 1 "Goin Down!? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQ-PuGyGsQ)".

In Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack bonus track "The Band is Messing Up! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJpxiLmYT0)", there's voiceover from Marth (0:21) from Smash Bros. Melee, even though the game came out four years later

There was another one, the line that starts at 0:14 in this song "Battle Menu (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO3BkHHw780)" from Shadow the Hedgehog is identical to a melody used in an anime, but unfortunately I don't remember the name of the anime

In Capcom vs Snk 2 in the track "Stimulation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQ-PuGyGsQ)" the rap in the beginning is the exact same rap used in Sonic Adventure 1 "Goin Down!? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vQ-PuGyGsQ)".

In Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack bonus track "The Band is Messing Up! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJpxiLmYT0)", there's voiceover from Marth (0:21) from Smash Bros. Melee, even though the game came out four years later

There was another one, the line that starts at 0:14 in this song "Battle Menu (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO3BkHHw780)" from Shadow the Hedgehog is identical to a melody used in an anime, but unfortunately I don't remember the name of the anime

Wow, I never noticed CVS2/Sonic Adventure one before, I've hear both songs quite a bit too.The Marth one is just creepy, that game didn't come until 2001.

I found this a while back, but just remembered today.I think this a case of two different people using the same sample CD.They both came out the same year so I don't think it is a case of plagiarism.

Capcom VS SNK 2000-Theme Of Akuma/Gouki "Worth Of My Fist" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kR4-_P7R4M)(2000)

TimeSplitters - Spaceways (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSxIxOKHuAI)(2000)

pretty crazy you guys even notice some of this stuff. good ear.

Maybe this is the most obvisius one, but i dont want to hold it back. Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku7pTUsm4Uo) uses samples of Lazy Jones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToKrQwu4WUs) from the C64. Someone noticed that? Both tracks are really awesome.

Sorry to be absent for the last month from one of my favorite threads. I just caught up with the awesome posts by kokujin, knuckleJoe, and langemike. Not only were the musical similarities fun to hear, but I hadn't even heard of Battle Garegga or Lazy Jones before. So I got an opportunity to listen to some new music as an added bonus. This thread just always seems to attract excellent posts, so thank you all for that!

Here are some things I've run across in the last month or so.

First, I recently stumbled on this page (http://offworld.com/2009/01/mother-3-musical-toe-dip-into.html) on Offworld, which led me to two excellent articles (with music samples) by Dan "Cruise Elroy" Bruno.

The first (http://cruiseelroy.net/2009/01/mother-3-battle-music/) discusses the rhythmic complexity of several Mother 3 battle tracks. He goes so far to say that the insane 29/16 time signature in “Strong One (Masked Man)” would make Dave Brubeck cry.

Then, in the second article (http://cruiseelroy.net/2009/01/mother-3-musical-allusions/), he lays out many of the musical allusions made in the game (and there are a lot). Perhaps the most straightforward one ("Leder’s Gymnopedie") holds a special place in my heart. I was very familiar with the piece (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBiPQKK1upk), but didn't know it was coming the first time I was playing the game, and when it started, I got shivers. Even more trivia: "Gymnopedie No.1" also featured prominently in the 2008 movie Man on Wire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_on_Wire), a retrospective on Philippe Petit's daredevil wire-walk between the World Trade Center Twin Towers back in 1974.

Also, the other day I was listening to the Strider (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HpC9w8rpAg#t=04m21s) soundtrack and heard shades of something, and I think what it's reminding me of is "Chateau d'Oraguille" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IqSHhtWJUE) from the Final Fantasy XI soundtrack. That may be a bit of a stretch, though.

Finally, I came across this video game music quiz (http://www.ugo.com/channels/music/features/challenge/). It's not hard, but it is fun. Enjoy!

lol, that's a fun little quiz. I got one answer from the most recent VGM NES Rumble...

Aha! So there's a real and traceable upside to regularly voting in the rumble. Participate, and go on to internet glory. :)

I ran across this one via some YouTube comments.

Castlevania II - Dwelling of Doom (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ancZsDB1Hew)

and

Yngwie Malmsteen - Far Beyond The Sun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0rvReE-4c#t=00m35s)

the ending of mgs4 was originally going to have otacon and snake put in jail but the crew said that idea sucked so kojima changed it.

the song ''HeresTo You'' was from a film called Sacco E Vanzetti that had a simialr ending where two people where put in jail.

Aerobiz Supersonic - North America (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGSqMhTGx3k)

Sound familiar? It should. It's a complete rip-off of Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g2IlaDLVLo). I don't know why they even thought the sound of that song--read: mournful--would be appropriate while players managed the day-to-day operations of their airlines. I guess being an airline manager is a sad, lonely job in their opinions...

These sound really simalar, both by Blizzard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhhvWeXHjP0 (Song of Elune - World of Warcraft)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUcRbyMxDxw (Protoss Breifing Room - Starcraft)

Who agrees?

Here's some more EarthBound stuff for you:

EarthBound Music Similarities (http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/02/earthbound-music-similarities/)

Nice finds!

In Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack bonus track "The Band is Messing Up! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJpxiLmYT0)", there's voiceover from Marth (0:21) from Smash Bros. Melee, even though the game came out four years later

this song was created for some kind of badly ripped OST of that game... there are many sounds of different characters (also Toad from Super Mario Kart 64 in the beginning) ...Marth' voice was also just inserted to that song, he didn't spoke anything in the game :P

but listen to this...

Pirates of the Caribbean - The Medallion Calls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haHAnIV_JE0&feature=PlayList&p=DE5620733A447C12&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=41) at 1:15

Final Fantasy XI - Ronfaure (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blfg4okC2nY)


aaand a friend of mine made a video after we found out something terrible XD... watch it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQQ2BvAwouo


or how about:
Super Mario Bros. 2 - Character Selection (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oZaD4n66Z8) at 0:15
and
Sonic 3D Blast - Special Stage (Genesis Version) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNHFba0hgFQ&feature=PlayList&p=869B6F6AA7AB879D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=42) at 0:34 ... the Ring sound are annoying but I can't find another version of that song on the youtubes XD

or how about:
Super Mario Bros. 2 - Character Selection (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oZaD4n66Z8) at 0:15
and
Sonic 3D Blast - Special Stage (Genesis Version) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNHFba0hgFQ&feature=PlayList&p=869B6F6AA7AB879D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=42) at 0:34 ... the Ring sound are annoying but I can't find another version of that song on the youtubes XD

OMG I had noticed that too

it's only a really little coincidence but listen to
Mega Man 2 - Intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Ao63nmzuE) at 0:14 ...and
Mother - Main Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_emzi7gKen0&feature=related) at 0:15 (okay this is the brawl/melee version but I couldn't another one that sounded good XD... but you will see what I mean)

These are only very small passages in the song that sound almost the same... but the best one is still...

Final Fantasy XI - The Cosmic Wheel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np4RN091TBo) at 2:03 ... what does this sound remind you of!? ....this song is played in the expension "The Wing of the Goddess" in Sarutabaruta[S] ...
and here's its Counter Part (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOmJLk1lu08)

and another interessting thing... in
Sonic Heroes - Special Stage 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrzpuA61WKE&feature=PlayList&p=3C0375CA3DA582E6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=38) at 0:28 ... this passage in the song is used in another game of Sega ... hmm
Shadow the Hedgehog - Never Turn Back (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVIO1t9tYuE) by Crush40 ... at 2:13 ... hmm that's kinda coole though XD

seems more like nitpicking but... oh well

For the record, you can make a YT video start at any point you want by typing #t=1m20s at the end of the url. so like that would make the video start 1:20 in

Who is the composer for Godzilla on the NES? This came up when Withope started a thread (Thread 56711) a while ago.

My search ended here:


Well, man, I gave it my best shot. First, I pulled out the game and used a password to get to the ending. But there are no in-game credits.

Then I tried googling. No help there. A lot of people just wondering who wrote the music without anybody having an answer.

Then I tried vgmdb.net. No listing.

Then I tried finding the music credits for other Toho games from around the same time to see if I could at least get the name of someone who was in-house, with the hope that that person could lead to an answer. I checked out Monster's Fair, Godzilla 2, and Circus Caper--but I couldn't find composers listed for any of those games, either.

Then I tried to find out who was in-house for Compile (the game's developer), but there were too many names and nothing specific to keep up the search.

After all that, the only hard information I can offer is that several of the pieces are arrangements of Akira Ifukube pieces from the movies. But you probably already knew that. Is it possible he was the composer for the video game, too? I doubt it. He's not credited as such and I'm more inclined to believe an established film composer wouldn't take on the technical challenges of composing NES music. But maybe...

Probably the best thing to do at this point is to email Toho and Compile and ask them the question directly. I'd be interested to know if you find an answer.

Another idea: there's an ebay auction (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120392717431) for the game and the seller is including the instruction booklet. You could email him saying you're interested but want to make sure the item is as described. So as a test, you could ask what the composer credits say inside the booklet. It's a long shot, but might be worth a try.

But I hate loose ends, and I figured it was intriguing enough to post in our thread to see if anyone knows more about it--or has an idea for how to find this information.

I haven't heard the music, but if Akira Ifukube (http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/data/587309.html) is the composer then isn't the game OST just an arrangement. Arranger credit is often hard to find like this, so I'd just use Ifukube as the artist...

That's possible. I'm not familiar enough with the Godzilla film music to know if the 8-bit songs are arrangements or original compositions, but my guess is that they're original just because they don't sound like what I'd expect to be in a Godzilla movie. But that's a guess...

Also, to bring up another ancient example of this kind of thing, in the soundtrack for 1995's Parodius there is an homage to KC and the Sunshine Band's 1975 hit "That's the Way (I Like It)." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKRbOevLsGM) You can hear the Parodius version in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2YwoJiOsNs) at 3:12.

Ok, you can't mention parodus using disco without mentioning all the other stuff it uses. The parodius games use A LOT of classical music like Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, and MANY others, and let's face it, how can you NOT laugh at PENGUINS humming these as you're fighting the american eagle (kill an eagle with an octopus!), the cat ship, or any of the other crazy-ass bosses parodius has?

Job well done, Konami.

BTW, my fave parodius OST is gokyjuo parodius... It was inbetween souding like real instruments and losing its wacky charm...just perfect if ya ask me...and of course you could play as the bunnygirl ;)

If you read the earlier comments for this video, there is a mention that the intro music for Sky Destroyer (an NES game) is similar to the Indiana Jones theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpv4Toq4Cy0


@pooiyx: Not only Sky Destroyer, but also the first notes of A Boy and His Blob (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2XEb8MH-Eo).


Tomb Raider 2 - If you reverse the music from ''The Ritual'' cutscene you can hear music from Temple Of Doom (an Indiana Jones soundtrack).

This is officially a trend. Both the overworld music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZDXUT3nPtE#t=00m12s) and ending music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdINEBJgyXU#t=00m30s) for Hydlide on the NES sound like Indiana Jones, too.

Years ago when I played Paper Mario, my dad kept saying that one of the themes in the game sounded like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It does, a little bit.

Paper Mario - Shy Guy's Toy Box: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAt1A2SgVGs

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Sing Along: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-Z0SSyUcw

The music of "Wing-Cap Mario" in Super Mario 64 was already around in Super Mario World 2: Yoshis Island.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshis Island (1:27-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p88h__a3vIw#t=1m27s

Super Mario 64 "Wing-Cap Mario"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUueCG5-BrM

I just read the thread again and got caught with this "Medal of Honor Music Used in McCain Campaign Ad, But Composer is an Obama Supporter" thing.... then I remembered (I hope this hasn't been said here already)...

The songs from Final Fantasy 8 "Liberi Fatali" and "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" were played during the women's synchronized swimming event in Summer Olympics 2004 ... that is stuff I like to see more often nowadays (okay it's been 6 years now, but that still counts XD)

the track ''Fantavision (display)'' from Futarino Fantavision Original Soundtrack sounds like a popular jingle. it is a kitsch track and for some reason is assosiated with cooking and prize givaways.

http://gh.ffshrine.org/song/4940/2

the single version of suteki da ne is different than the soundtrack version.

they both sound the same until you get to the violin solo at 2:32.

Music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cVoauKyHTE


soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfTiBsRQNpc

Stewart Copeland is most known as the founder and drummer of the band The Police. He has also created an original drum kit setup, and become a world renowned drummer.

He also composed the music for the following games:

Guitar Hero: World Tour (2009)
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (2001)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (2000)
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (1999)
Spyro the Dragon (1998)
Urban Strike (1994)

In some of his other non-game projects you can hear music of a similar style to Spyro the Dragon.

When composing for Spyro he insisted on beating each level so as to get the feel of it.

An interview of the making of the music for Spyro can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Kc2gGycBXc

I just read the thread again and got caught with this "Medal of Honor Music Used in McCain Campaign Ad, But Composer is an Obama Supporter" thing.... then I remembered (I hope this hasn't been said here already)...

The songs from Final Fantasy 8 "Liberi Fatali" and "Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec" were played during the women's synchronized swimming event in Summer Olympics 2004 ... that is stuff I like to see more often nowadays (okay it's been 6 years now, but that still counts XD)

i found the video on your tube of that event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dfAjfByvXY

Sorry for the huge delay in an update! I was finishing my thesis, and I owe you guys an apology. But thank you for all of the great posts!

@DjChopper24: Ha. Your dad's got a point...

@oscarb: I can't tell you how many times I played those games, and I never noticed that.

@Sneedo: Yeah. I remember that. A step forward for video game music? Maybe so...I'd like to see it happen more often, too. :)

@140.48: Man, good ear. I hadn't noticed the Suteki da ne difference before. And thanks for the videos. I knew Stewart Copeland's name from researching the Spyro soundtracks, but didn't know his background. That's a fun video, too. It's interesting to see him in the studio. He has a good sense of humor about his job.

okay, another one, I'm not sure if we already had this one but I guss most of you know it anyway ;)

Follow Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZQZQz63DHk) fron Ghost in the Shell 2

Concierto de Aranjuez (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxwceLlaODM) by Narciso Yepes is basically the same... it's allaround the whole song (okay this guitar solos tend to stretch forever but I don't mean them)

hard to explain, so listen. XD

I didn't know about that one, although I certainly spent my time talking about a lot of other songs in the "Is Yoko Kanno a plagiarist?" debate way back when. You're right that these two pieces have many similarities, especially in the melody.

.
In Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack bonus track "The Band is Messing Up! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJpxiLmYT0)", there's voiceover from Marth (0:21) from Smash Bros. Melee, even though the game came out four years later

Wow, that's one of the craziest things I've ever heard!!

Anyway, I bet most people here know this, but the Yoshi's Island opening theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ljfawOKLc) is very, very similar to the Soviet Russian National Anthem. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yDrtNEr_5M&feature=fvw)

Wow, that's one of the craziest things I've ever heard!!

I already explained this... -->


this song was created for some kind of badly ripped OST of that game... there are many sounds of different characters (also Toad from Super Mario Kart 64 in the beginning) ...Marth' voice was also just inserted to that song, he didn't spoke anything in the game :P

means it's just a re-... well rearrangement if you want it like that... someone took that song from diddy kong racing and inserted several sound-effects and voices from other games ;)

oh, here's another one that's nagging me for quite a while...
Every one is playing THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfu0XBf8kmk) now :P ... but every time I wanna hum some of this songs I end up humming THAT!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v_AtBf7wW8) come on XD

It's both composed by Masashi Hamauzu who would have guessed!? (he also did some of the FF10 tracks, which you can hear very strong out of some FF13 songs)

Yeah. They're both in the same key and share the same notes at the points of greatest emphasis in the melody. So you can hum FFXIII's melody while Unlimited Saga is playing. They both also bring in a hyperactive violin at the climactic moment in the song. I can see why you put the two together. :)

I already explained this... -->



means it's just a re-... well rearrangement if you want it like that... someone took that song from diddy kong racing and inserted several sound-effects and voices from other games ;)

Yeah, you have to be right on that one. That's the most logical answer. I honestly don't know why I thought they'd have sound effects from a game that released four years later!

okay I guess i need your help ;)
I just heard the Mario Hoops 3 on3 Basketball thingy OST and I'm really amazed how awesome this soundtrack is! I mean, DAMN! It's just a little sport-spin-off thing but the music is awesome...

What catches me the most ist Sherbet Land (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH8FxEwEpGQ&feature=related) ...
Every time I hear it, the first 3 seconds there is this nostalgic feeling like "yeah that were times!" And I really can't remember what song I'm thinking about when I hear this... I'm pretty sure there's an early 90's song that sounds very similar but can't remember... I'm not sure if it's from an video game or a radio-song or what... but I can't get away from the feeling that it got something to do with the Sega CD hmm... it drives me nuts! XD

It also reminds me strongly of NiGHTS, and a little bit of Sonic Anime "Look Alike" song... but that's not what I ment I guess... hmm

If any one of you can recognize anything similar, please let me know :D

Miki Higashino of Suikoden fame has sited Irish folk band L�nasa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWLjhXXr68E) as a major influence. They've since proven to be perhaps my favorite instrumental Irish band. Enjoy.

I haven't gotten around to listening to the Kingdom Hearts series' music yet, but some months ago when they were advertising one of the new games on TV they had "Sanctuary" as the music and I thought that melody was brilliant, one of the best, although it sounds better yet in the Japanese version. I learned the notes of it and the chords underneath and noticed the change is the same as "Remembrance" from Vagrant Story - A to C sharp minor - and something cool about both songs is their melodies are almost like they're in different keys from the harmony they're overtop of: "Sanctuary"'s whole melody is in the standard E major scale and even has an arpeggio of the notes of an E chord over the A chord; "Remembrance"'s first melodic line is a downward B chord arpeggio starting at E flat, again over an A chord, and the rest of the melody over that chord emphasises B scale notes.

Anyway, awhile later I was listening to "Truth" from Vagrant Story, which is a variation/extension of "Remembrance", and lo and behold, listen to them and compare.

Here's Utada Hikaru's song (I probably don't need to explain the English version is called "Sanctuary" and the Japanese version is called "Passion")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM8nqp2BeeY

Here's "Truth"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twxf2zAOCdE

It's there from the start, but it becomes especially apparent just after 1:40.

So Hitoshi Sakimoto kind of wrote this brilliant melody first, but the contexts makes it have a different effect. I don't know which one I like more, they're both excellent.

I
Anyway, awhile later I was listening to "Truth" from Vagrant Story, which is a variation/extension of "Remembrance", and lo and behold, listen to them and compare.

Here's Utada Hikaru's song (I probably don't need to explain the English version is called "Sanctuary" and the Japanese version is called "Passion")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM8nqp2BeeY

Here's "Truth"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twxf2zAOCdE

It's there from the start, but it becomes especially apparent just after 1:40.

So Hitoshi Sakimoto kind of wrote this brilliant melody first, but the contexts makes it have a different effect. I don't know which one I like more, they're both excellent.

I LOVE VAGRANT STORY SOUNDTRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Nice Info.

I was listening to various TG-16/PCE soundtracks, and I got to a game called Blood Gear.I noticed that the composers for the game also did Monster World IV.I was going through the songs, and I heard this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSrBW0X7iDY).If you have played MWIV you know that tune, here's a link to the song. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtRQTBZmrLs#t=01m03s)I don't think it was an accidental incident, in case your wondering Blood Gear came out after MWIV.Not sure if anyone would care, but I thought it was interesting.

Great posts! I've spent the last hour listening to all of the clips.

I wish I could help you, Sneedo, but it's not reminding me of anything but the soundtracks you already mentioned. However, I have a similar request. I recently ran across Hang Glider (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q76EXuPy4Dw) from Pilotwings for the first time in a long time, and it instantly gave me a deja vu feeling. But I can't exactly place what it's reminding me of. My first thought was Breath of Fire III (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqXhJ_eZaPI&feature=response_watch) or IV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-MJTU8JeZI&feature=PlayList&p=914F955328C45FCE&playnext_from=PL&index=12), which have similar kinds of laid-back, drowsy themes in the overworld music (Legend of Mana (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAkSPMjSKAE&feature=PlayList&p=D2DBD4902CF76A45&playnext_from=PL&index=3&playnext=2) is like this, too). But neither sounds like Pilotwings; they're just similar in tone. Does Hang Glider remind you all of anything? Or do you know if it was used in any of Soyo Oka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyo_Oka)'s other soundtracks? Maybe it's just reminding me of SimCity...

Your Pilotwings song instantly reminded me in This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNa-joHwmso) song... hmm but there's more

But another one, EVERYONE who played Diddy Kong Racing should have noticed...
What does this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRx-zKszg0&feature=PlayList&p=58EE32C288D69AFD&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=7#t=00m11s) song sound like? :P

Of Course!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeTgx_pj6m8#t=00m34s)

and why do some of the later Bayonetta songs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ea5IUqXss8&feature=related#t=00m27s) sound like the SWAT theme?... huh.

The Main Theme for Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker sounds a lot like the Hero Theme from Kameo Elements of Power. Around about the 2:00 mark.


Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Main Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yst5VA5powE)

Kameo: Elements of Power - Hero's Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE9BE3H01-g)


It's only similar i doubt it was intentional.

the demo rip versions of lost odyssey and final fantasy XIII had more complete versions of the battle themes than the official soundtracks.

the rips had the full music with a loop, where as the OST had a cut version and no loop.

Great posts! I've got a couple this time around...

First, the Ys Seven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ys_Seven) soundtrack (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=24FC7A6B307F569D) (which is excellent, if you haven't heard it). A couple of the songs sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't place what they were reminding me of. Then I heard this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxyS0UqyZXE), which has a simple descending progression very close to Ragnarok Online 2's title theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3WZQN5UkvE#t=00m07s) (not to mention Time's Passage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-FCrd2ipY) from the Mother series). It's actually the first track I heard (and may be the first track from a rip), which seems like an oddly prominent place for something if it's intended to be a rip-off (which I don't think it is). Of course, when the lovely melody comes in at :54, who cares?

I also ran across this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z96j5xLOB50), also from the Ys 7 soundtrack, which not only has a very similar melodic line and chord progression as Garden of the Gods (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvUkFqGeIO8) from Chrono Cross, but also uses very similar instrumentation as well as a nearly identical strumming pattern. Seems a little too close to be an accident to me...

But enough about musical similarities...

I also recently listened to Tim Follin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Follin)'s entire catalog and dug up everything I could about him (sad story if you don't know it), which eventually led me to this website (http://www.nesplayer.com/captain_n/chaptereight.htm) where a disgruntled former Taito employee talks at length about all kinds of cool behind-closed-doors situations while he worked for the company, including the development of the NES's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (where Follin comes in). The website has nine chapters of stories. I only read Ch. 8, so that's what I'm linking to. But if the story about Power Blade is any indication, the rest of it is definitely worth a read.

Finally, I thought I'd re-post a link NucleaRaptor shared over on the A-Z of VGM thread. It's Jerry Berlongieri (http://magnatune.com/artists/birdy) talking about how he composed the soundtrack to Alter Echo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_AxP0qkaA), with some cool demonstrations.

Hope you enjoy. :D

Anyone else think that Metal Gear Solid's main theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqqq8uqSDnk) sounds an awful lot like Speed's main theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJD-Thkjv4#t=00m50s)? Maybe one was an influence on the other? The whole time I was watching Speed, I kept hearing Metal Gear-ish instrumentation, melodies, percussion, etc.

I read the whole nine chapters of the former Taito guy's story. In only reading chapter 8, you missed a seriously touching story. Chapter 1 and 2 are mostly background, 3 is where it really starts, and 7 is the finale.

Looking forward to it!

I just heard that when you start a race in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! in Grand Prix mode, then the song for starting the race is Start Grid Fanfare (GP). Mario Kart Wii used the same fanfare as the Double Dash!! version but it is now used for Grand Prix and VS. races. So, the name of the song is now called Start Your Engines (Race).

If you do believe that it shares the same thing, then listen to this Youtube clip. It has the answer to your question:
Mario Kart Wii - Start Your Engines (Race) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTbMr7uiG1A&fmt=18)

I should say the touching part is chapter 7, but the stuff before that gives you the context that makes it a touch more special, but anyone could read 7 alone and have their heart melt a little.

Lucas's Nightmare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG6B04ay_rM), an unused track from Mother 3, has a hidden message (!). What does it mean? :itsamystery:

Looking through the related videos and seeing the discussion has got me intrigued about the Mother series. I'm thinking I might have to play to see what it's all about.

Go go go! I haven't finished EarthBound Zero (aka Mother 1), so I don't know how well it has aged. But EarthBound (aka Mother 2) on the SNES and Mother 3 on the GBA (for which there's a fan translation) are both excellent.

Is it just me or does these two tracks sounds a a little bit familiar?

Naoshi Mizuta - Selbina (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtCs2LWOV1c) (from Final Fantasy XI) and
Koji Kondo & Hajime Wakai - Wind God's Aria (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VvqogzDoF0) (from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)

Is the main BGM of Mario Paint (pushups) composed by Kazumi Totaka or Hirokazu Tanaka?

After reading this bio: http://www.squareenixmusic.com/composers/tanaka/biography.shtml

I'm not certain anymore. This entire time I thought Totaka wrote it and I hope I haven't been wrong... can anyone confirm who composed this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2TOGatQHqY

Thanks in advance. =]

Coincidence, I just read that biography yesterday. SEMO tends to be pretty accurate and Tanaka was a big name composer who had worked on many important games for Nintendo, including in the Mario series. Most likely he did write it, given this information. But that always bugs me about multi-composer soundtracks, not knowing who wrote what unless it's released and has credits or you know the style of the composers. I've heard Tanaka, but I don't know him well enough to say like "Oh yeah, that totally sounds like him," or not.

After having a couple email conversations with Chris from Square Enix Music Online, it actually seems that Tanaka may have been the sound director/designer of Mario Paint, while Totaka actually composed the music.

Also, here's my theory: If I had to make an educated guess as to who composed the theme, I'd be 95% sure it was Totaka. This is based off of his sub-sequential compositions in Wave Race 64 and the Wii Channels (which carry on that light, catchy, and jazzy style). Another later composition that strongly points as a reference to the Mario Paint default BGM is one of the only good songs from the Yoshi's Story OST, titled Games of Happiness. The bridge section of Games of Happiness almost has a remarkably similar chord progression and melody as the bridge section of the Mario Paint pushups theme.

Mario Paint (Pushups): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k5j8MoF8MA

Games of Happiness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac71GDB-osg

Any other feedback would be awesome and welcome!

A little while after listening to the Mario Paint one I was unrelatedly searching for Super Mario Land stuff on YouTube and found an arrangement of the overworld music for SML2 which happened to be composed by Totaka and I thought it sounded similar to the Mario Paint song.

Is it just me or does these two tracks sounds a a little bit familiar?

Naoshi Mizuta - Selbina (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtCs2LWOV1c) (from Final Fantasy XI) and
Koji Kondo & Hajime Wakai - Wind God's Aria (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VvqogzDoF0) (from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)

Sure. They're both jigs with the melody played on fiddle.


that always bugs me about multi-composer soundtracks, not knowing who wrote what unless it's released and has credits or you know the style of the composers.

This drives me nuts when I'm doing composer rumbles in my other thread. I've been working on making song selections for Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto soundtracks, and they've both collaborated a lot without making much information available about their specific duties on those soundtracks.


After having a couple email conversations with Chris from Square Enix Music Online, it actually seems that Tanaka may have been the sound director/designer of Mario Paint, while Totaka actually composed the music.

Also, here's my theory: If I had to make an educated guess as to who composed the theme, I'd be 95% sure it was Totaka. This is based off of his sub-sequential compositions in Wave Race 64 and the Wii Channels (which carry on that light, catchy, and jazzy style). Another later composition that strongly points as a reference to the Mario Paint default BGM is one of the only good songs from the Yoshi's Story OST, titled Games of Happiness. The bridge section of Games of Happiness almost has a remarkably similar chord progression and melody as the bridge section of the Mario Paint pushups theme.

Mario Paint (Pushups): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k5j8MoF8MA

Games of Happiness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac71GDB-osg

Any other feedback would be awesome and welcome!

Good ear. I agree with you. Plus, he's shown Carribbean influences (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPRBw64IIjI) in a more general sense, so it's not totally out of left field to say he could write such a piece.

Also, talhick posted this link (http://www.planetvb.com/modules/games/?r022m) to a website with Virtual Boy music on another thread (Thread 32655). I've heard very little music from that system, so I thought it was interesting. The link goes to the music for Waterworld. There are other soundtracks on there, too.

This drives me nuts when I'm doing composer rumbles in my other thread. I've been working on making song selections for Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto soundtracks, and they've both collaborated a lot without making much information available about their specific duties on those soundtracks.


I think I've got a handle on Sakimoto's stuff pretty well. Most of the things that don't have specific composer credits he only did one or two tracks on. For instance, Elminage, he wrote just track 1, the opening theme, and GrimGrimoire, he only did the first and last tracks, the opening and ending themes. I think the only released one that he did do most of but doesn't give individual credits is Perfect Prince. I think I knew which ones he didn't do, I just don't know if Saso or Hosoe wrote them. I can probably help you out, and that's a rumble I would definitely participate in.


Also, talhick posted this link (http://www.planetvb.com/modules/games/?r022m) to a website with Virtual Boy music on another thread (Thread 32655). I've heard very little music from that system, so I thought it was interesting. The link goes to the music for Waterworld. There are other soundtracks on there, too.

I saw that post too. I didn't check out the Waterworld music, but I did listen to Mario Tennis and that "Tournament 1" track is a pretty good arrangement of the (first) Super Mario theme.

I think I've got a handle on Sakimoto's stuff pretty well. Most of the things that don't have specific composer credits he only did one or two tracks on. For instance, Elminage, he wrote just track 1, the opening theme, and GrimGrimoire, he only did the first and last tracks, the opening and ending themes. I think the only released one that he did do most of but doesn't give individual credits is Perfect Prince. I think I knew which ones he didn't do, I just don't know if Saso or Hosoe wrote them. I can probably help you out, and that's a rumble I would definitely participate in.

Sounds good. I'll let you know when I've got all of my information organized.

uyama hiroto, the late nujabes' protege, made a remix of ff4's theme of love

Uyama Hiroto's Theme of Love (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOAQI8oaCh4), for anyone who's interested

Something interesting i noticed about the Jap/Euro Boss Battle music in Sonic CD is that it doesn't just sample the now infamous "Work that Sucker to Death" phrase from the Xavier song of the same name, but a sample that features far more prominently in the whole song. The drumbeat samples the drums from the Stone Roses track, Fools Gold. I'm just shocked that nobody else has brought it up before, as far as i'm aware.

Sonic CD Boss Music- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs1Cl8wmXYE
Fools Gold- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuPfbfJm2rc

Interesting find!

Here's something that's not exactly video game music, but it has to do with video game audio. Apparently, all of the character voices in the original Star Fox came from one sample of the words "wing damaged." You can hear it in almost all of their dialogue in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7TF5evojYA).

ha that "wing damaged" thing is really cool, I still can't believe that they all got the same voice there... hmm

and Sonic CD (my all time favorite game ;) , yeah I recognized it but I didn't know what songs all these samples are from... the Jap/EU soundtrack is packed with 80's and 90's music samples.

and what I just recently took notice of.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwdfGee80uw

in the beginning it sounds like one of the songs in the 1991 Steven Spielberg's movie "Hook" with Robin Williams ... really loved that movie back then.

hmm sounds like this scene when all the kids are having this imaginary meal hmm

Here's a shocking similarity I discovered years ago:

The Apple (Rounders Soundtrack by Christopher Young)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KqIMWZnMbI

Undersea Palace (Chrono Trigger Soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSP-_hNQyYs

Cool find. You're right, they do have a very similar effect. It's the same set of notes, just in different keys, but it's actually pretty common to hear that. Listen to any stereotypical old country song and you'll probably hear the same thing just in a different context giving a different effect. I don't intend to detract from your find though, I just mean to say I'd be surprised if Christopher Young had heard "Undersea Palace" before he wrote his piece, unlike with some of the similarities we've seen pointed out in this thread.

these are two youtubes of game composers (real ones not fan made)

http://www.youtube.com/user/KinuyoYamashita

http://www.youtube.com/user/supershigi


not really trivia but intresting to hear them play.

Kimitaka Matsumae is married to Manami Matsumae.

they are both vgm composers and have worked together on soundtracks like Jade Cocoon.

UK Singer-songwriter Lily Allen sampled pieces of music and sound effects from the original Castlevania game in the song Cheryl Tweedy, which was included on some versions of her debut album Alright, Still.

Sonic 2's Mystic cave zone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEyGnt

sounds similar to...

Earnest Scared Stupid Intro. it starts at :30
YouTube - Ernest Scared Stupid "Opening Credits" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP285coEEUs)

what do you think?

Kimitaka Matsumae is married to Manami Matsumae.

they are both vgm composers and have worked together on soundtracks like Jade Cocoon.

Didn't know they were married.


UK Singer-songwriter Lily Allen sampled pieces of music and sound effects from the original Castlevania game in the song Cheryl Tweedy, which was included on some versions of her debut album Alright, Still.

Interesting! It's difficult to tell unless you know what you're listening for.


Sonic 2's Mystic cave zone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEyGnt

sounds similar to...

Earnest Scared Stupid Intro. it starts at :30
YouTube - Ernest Scared Stupid "Opening Credits" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP285coEEUs)

what do you think?

Nice find. :D

Oooooooh! Interesting thread! Why have I not seen it til now? I'm just slow....... Here's something I've noticed before.......

YouTube - Super Mario 64 Music - Koopa's Theme (Bowser Fight) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8s26geA4RI)

sounds a bit like

YouTube - Smoke on the water (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WX_4FNoto4)

Does anyone else hear the similarity or is it just me?



edit-----------

Also, here's the semi-infamous "Robo/Rick Roll," which I love. It's a mash-up of "Robo's Theme" from Chrono Trigger and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

Boooo........ Sony took it down :mad:

This might be old news. But Michael Jackson was confirmed as the composer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

This might be old news. But Michael Jackson was confirmed as the composer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Yeah. if you listen closely, on carnival night, it sounds like "Jam". The Ending credits sound like "Stranger In Moscow".

I posted this in another thread some time ago, but doesn't this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F17pCaCCLKA

sound a lot like this

YouTube - The Benny Goodman Orchestra - Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ZSQUyU00s)

Especially the percussion.

Interesting observations all around. :D

@Smarty: I'll never be able to listen to Sing Sing Sing the same way again. :)

Well, I haven't been listening to too much new vgm recently, so I don't have a lot to offer (ALTHOUGH there's a song on Final Fantasy XIV's soundtrack that's really close to the main romantic theme from Edward Scissorhands, and I need to track it down again). But here's some stuff that's sorta related:

Via ninjaguydan: Can you identify all 90 vgm clips? (http://www.sporcle.com/games/amaranth/clip_game)

Off-topic, but still fun: The classic video game character race (http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2010/11/30/who-will-win-the-classic-video-game-character-race/)

21/90

I suck, I know. :(

On a totally unrelated note, have any of you heard of Matt Coldrick?

Got 45/90 myself. :-\ Missed some embarrassing ones.


On a totally unrelated note, have any of you heard of Matt Coldrick?

Never heard of him (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Nuns_of_the_Revolution) (also Coldrick? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S5Zb6OpH5U)).

On another tangent, this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKqFz5IZSvM) plus this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25_kuaHTbvc&p=CAF844A8507CF876) equals this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BemtQtLOooI&playnext=1&list=PL4094EA0D09A00D36&index=93).

But that's not the only overlap between High Seas Havoc and Final Fantasy. Does Havoc's "Prologue," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtTejJW0E6g&p=CAF844A8507CF876) which comes before a song on the soundtrack called "Prelude," sound familiar???

Yes, him. His music makes my ears happy. I wish I could find some info on him on the internet somewhere. Dude's nowhere to be seen. Anyone know anything more?

This (http://www.ateaseweb.com/2010/12/14/hear-jonny-greenwoods-dont-read-what-hasnt-been-baptized-by-time/) is a new piece of music by Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead. As big of a fan of video games as he is (http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/100603/Office-Chart-for-a-week-off), I wonder if he was influenced by Diablo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2evIg-aYw8)?

1Up.com posted their own list (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3177237) detailing similarities between video game and mainstream music. Some of it has been mentioned here before, some of it is a stretch, but they've got some good ones, too. Try and forget "Elec Man" and Journey's "Faithfully"--or "Ken's Theme" and Cheap Trick's "Mighty Wings." :D

On another note, I ran across these pieces of video game trivia, which aren't music-related, but which I thought were interesting:

I recently watched a speed run of Magician Lord for the Neo Geo, which has some ridiculous synthesized voice samples (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOKRBCQTZDk) at the end of each level, belittling your hero in Engrish.

I also came across this article (http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/maniac.html) explaining the process of expurgating (or taking the objectionable material out of) Maniac Mansion on the NES. There's some really interesting stuff in there, like their decision to change KILL THRILL to MUFF DIVER.

Another tangential post...

Credit Chrontendo for playing the FDS game Bakutoushi Patton-Kun long enough to run across this screen:



How the hell did that get past censors??? It seems like almost no one else has even heard of this game, which may explain why it doesn't have more notoriety. Looks pretty lame...

Well, I haven't been listening to too much new vgm recently, so I don't have a lot to offer (ALTHOUGH there's a song on Final Fantasy XIV's soundtrack that's really close to the main romantic theme from Edward Scissorhands, and I need to track it down again).

Finally got around to this: Final Fantasy XIV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1jA6IWa04&feature=BF&list=PLCC08F47C925C651D&index=27#t=00m33s) versus Edward Scissorhands (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSYPFQy7Hmo&feature=autoplay&list=PL90E20CAC6D637D98&index=2&playnext=1#t=02m11s).

This is another slightly off-topic piece of trivia, but interesting nonetheless.

The latest Chrontendo discusses one of the most fucked up Easter eggs in a video game I've ever seen: At the end of Erika to Satoru no Yume Bouken (http://tcrf.net/Erika_to_Satoru_no_Yume_Bouken), an FDS adventure game, if you wait an hour and a half and press a complex series of button combinations, you'll see the following message from the game's programmer:

"Mmm, that's a nostalgic song playing. Those were good times. Meanwhile, who the hell are these people with this project? I'm so glad it's over. You think it's nothing but good memories? Hell no! Let's use this space to give out some thanks.

First off, Kaoru Ogura, who ran off with some guy in the middle of the project. Yes, you, you bastard. Don't show up at the office without showering after having sex 6 times the previous night. Next, Tatsuya Ōhashi. Yes, you, you bastard. Don't give me your flippant shit � coming in late on the day we ship the ROM like nothing's amiss. You can give me all the porn you want; I'm not forgetting that one. All that fucking weight you put on. No wonder you paid out 18,000 yen and still got nothing but a kiss out of it. Kenji Takano, Namco debugger. You are a part-timer; don't dick around with the project planner. And finally, Kiyoharu Gotō, the biggest thorn to my side in this project. Yes, you, you bastard. Once I get a time machine, I�m sending you back to the Edo period. Go do your riddles over there.

Ahh, that's a load off...wait, no it's not. Kiyoharu Gotō � yes, you, you bastard. Aaaagh, just disappear already.

Come to think of it, some people were helpful to me, too. Mr. Okada, who took all the good stuff. I know all about your abnormal tendencies. Yamagishi, who swore off soaplands until the project was over. Go ahead, knock yourself out now. Iwata, who joined in midway and gave it all he had. Sorry I yelled at you. Keep hanging in there. Fujimura, Udopyu, you probably had it the worst of all. Thanks. I mean it. Gotō's the one to hate here. Also, Takayama, Kudō, Suzuki, Makki, Kaneko, Aihara, Sato (the angel of my heart), Iga. Thanks, everyone.

Yoko-G, good work. This game is dedicated to your wife's birthday."

Also: A similar situation happened with Pachi-Com (http://magweasel.com/2009/08/29/hidden-messagin/).

:laugh: That was brilliant.


I found some things while I was timing NSFe files of Uematsu's early NES soundtracks for me and my woman to listen to. As I was going through Apple Town Monogatari: Little Computer People I found this earlier version of "Swift Twist" from Final Fantasy III (http://www.mediafire.com/?5gdy83aq5if7t55) that predates the other by more than two years. It's actually more developed, though it's still only slightly more than a minute long. It adds one extra section, repeats the first, and then comes to an end. There's also this track from Hao Kun no Fushigina Tabi (http://www.mediafire.com/?z3sj91f05921m8k) that uses the bass part of "Gurgu Volcano", released about half a year before the first Final Fantasy.

There's also this one (http://www.mediafire.com/?yws868yvmvw4jpc) whose melody starts exactly the same as "My Home Town" from FFIII in Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School but is otherwise a different song. It's one of the earliest things Uematsu wrote that had his town music style he used throughout the NES and SNES Final Fantasy games, although it might be more on the sad side.

Oh wow. Great post! :D I wonder if Uematsu felt uninspired for FFIII and was using variations of old stuff to keep him composing.

Well, III is longer than the first two FF soundtracks combined and he only took two little pieces. As you can hear, the similarity between "My Home Town" and that other one end after that handful of notes. "Swift Twist" is used in the game for one of those little scenes where you talk to a girl and a dance sequence starts, so he just needed something short and fun like that and there it was. Or, less likely but still possible, maybe he wanted to put in an Easter egg for the people who had played that previous Square game. I couldn't hear anything else in his pre-Final Fantasy soundtracks that sounded like later tracks any more than other Uematsu sounds like other Uematsu.

I guess he liked the bass line of the one that became "Gurgu Volcano" and didn't feel he did as much with it as he could if he went back only months later and wrote a completely new piece with that part. Hao Kun no Fushigina Tabi came out in May, 1987 and Final Fantasy in December. It's funny, the first FF actually sounds to me less like the Uematsu we know than some of his earlier stuff. Hanjuku Hero, the next one after, also sounds more recognizably him to my ears.

This might be old news. But Michael Jackson was confirmed as the composer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Brad Buxer did mention that he was supposedly involved somehow, but I don't believe he was involved in a big way. I still find it a bit hard to believe Michael would need to do 'Jimmy Hart' versions of his own songs, seeing as they're, y'know, his songs. The S3 Credits song notwithstanding, as supposedly Stranger in Moscow was intentionally reworked from it. Which I still think is a bit of a dubious claim, but again, thats said to have come from Brad Buxer's mouth, so there we go. Moving on~

There's another obscure little thing I'm shocked that very people ever seem to notice, because it seems so obvious to me. There's a rap that keeps showing up in a huge number of videogame songs- hell, it's not even limited to that; videogame composers that have done original work have included the same rap in their original stuff, as well. I have absolutely no idea where the rap comes from or what the track it's from is even called (I've found absolutely nothing on it by just searching the lyrics alone, so I assume it's fairly obscure), but it's in clear english. Composers working at Capcom are especially fond of using it.

YouTube - Basketball Bonus Stage - Arranged (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjsLUATtFVE) (Kicks in at 0:10)
YouTube - Ollie King OST - Let It Go - Hideki Naganuma (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLSD8SMfE4U) (Kicks in at :031)
YouTube - Shudder-Einh�nder Original Soundtrack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyITEQDiJq4) (Kicks in at 1:10)
YouTube - TROUBADOUR / ZUKI-IN 1995 WINTER [MUSIC]: Boots (1995) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLU1KsYQing) (kicks in at 0:41, albiet heavily distorted) (Fun Fact: This track also features the same 'sports commentary' sample as Hideki Naganuma's 'Funky Dealer', only it isn't as heavily chopped and looped here as it is in 'Funky Dealer').

There are DEFINATELY other songs featuring this rap, but my memory is failing me at the moment. If anyone else has heard it, post your examples, 'cus I'm interested to see just how many times it keeps cropping up in the weirdest places.

I had a conversation with jakob way back where I put in my two cents about the Michael Jackson issue:


It's interesting that you actually credit Michael Jackson on Sonic 3, I thought that wasn't confirmed.

"Confirmed" is hard to establish with this one, as you probably know. Normally, if a developer says, "Yes. That person worked on our project but didn't finish it out," then you'd tend to believe him. But with Sonic 3 & Knuckles, you have some people saying yes, some people saying no, and some people saying maybe—all of them legit members of the development process. Because there were split teams, and everything was in development for a while, and the tracks bear resemblances to Jackson's work, it seems believable that he was involved. In the same breath, much of the evidence presented to "prove" that he was one of the composers has been debunked. What's true, and what motivation some people might have for lying, is still unclear. Because of that I don't know definitively whether he did or didn't, but it's common practice everywhere I looked to list Jackson as a composer despite the ongoing debate.

I think you're probably right, J-MACHine, that he was involved but not in a big way.

As for the rap, that's fascinating! Some of those are high-profile games, too, but like you said it doesn't seem like many people have noticed the recycling. With the way authors give each other challenges (everyone must end their story with a car driving over a wedding cake, everyone must start their story with "I was pummeled as a teenager"), I wonder if this is a similar situation. An inside joke between the composers.

I still find it shaky that using the 'Some songs sound like MJ songs, so he MUST have done the music!' is considered an acceptable arguement, because by that logic, I could say "Rick Astley himself rearrnaged 'Never Gonna Give You Up' for Robo's theme, and any arguement on the contrary is wrong." Is it not just possible that people were doing the Jimmy Hart/Bobby Prince technique of creating a song that sounds SIMILAR to work done by another artist, but not in such an obvious way that it can get them sued?

Found the rap in yet another song, too;
YouTube - APE ESCAPE / PUMPED AND PRIMED [MUSIC]: Pipotron&#39;s Theme (2004) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CmyRjgrPBM)

I'm keeping my ears out for it, because I know I've heard it in other places. I think it appears in 'At Ease?!' from the Capcom Fighting Jam soundtrack (one of the few things about CFJ that was worthwhile), but if it is, it's mixed in with a couple of other, randomly sampled raps. It does seem like some kind of musical in joke similar to Totaka's Song, only with multiple composers getting in on the joke. I know there are quite a few samples in Japan that have achieved the same legendary, almost Wilhelm-Scream-Like status. The Sampling Master's folks (Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Takayuki Aihara, and occasionally Nobuyoshi Sano) have a few they tend to use in a few songs, both in the earlier Ridge Racer games, and their original albums. I'd be happy to look into those as well as that mysterious rap for this thread. I need a reason to actually start posting here. >.>

I'd be happy to look into those as well as that mysterious rap for this thread.

Sounds good!

I've got another Uematsu tidbit. I was reading through Cracked's "10 Mind-Blowing Easter Eggs Hidden in Famous Albums" (http://www.cracked.com/article_18896_10-mind-blowing-easter-eggs-hidden-in-famous-albums.html) and came across a link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_with_tracks_hidden_in_the_pregap) to a Wikipedia page chronicling composers and musicians who have hidden stuff in their album's pre-gap. Turns out Uematsu is guilty of doing that himself, hiding a karaoke version of "One-Winged Angel" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziury0uVl7c) in the pre-gap for the Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks album.

EDIT: By the by, since this thread started with Radiohead/VGM trivia, it seems okay to mention that Radiohead have a new album coming out this weekend (!). The tracklisting won't be announced ahead of time, but I'm hoping we get studio versions of the absolutely gorgeous "The Present Tense" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmbg3Z0x6jQ) or "Give Up the Ghost." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDl-oAiLL5U) I've studied and written about their music for years now and am feeling exhilarated about this one.

To the Sing, Sing with a Swing... great song :D ... and Katamari Damacy obviously made a little tribute to it with Crimson Rose and Gin Tonic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Srcikm4Hh0) and later YMCK (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJhIVLcFEKc&feature=related) made a 8-bit remix for Katamari Forever (Katamary Tribute in Japan).

as for this rap; huh, guess I'm not good in distinguishing sung and rapped stuff, but they all sound like different songs to me, but supposedly by the same guy. And he sounds a little bit like the male vocal voice from the Dreams Dreams songs in the NiGHTS soundtracks. Hmm maybe it's just my imagination. :D

Nice post, Sneedo. :D

I've got a small one here: There's an old SNES platformer called Psycho Dream that I finally got a chance to watch and listen to. I immediately thought of the song "Lovey Dovey" (http://hypem.com/#!/item/xn92) by World Leader Pretend, a now defunct rock band, when I heard Psycho Dream's ending credits music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IrQA-Qfk0o#t=00m48s).

Also...I hate to plug Chrontendo yet again, but Dr. Sparkle has uncovered this:



It's a real game that he put up as a tease, hopefully to be played on a future episode.

Something I remembered yesterday that I'd have mentioned before. Most people here must remember the Sonic 2 boss music, right? Well, there was the curious techno track released that I guess kind of counts as half a ReMix, and half an original track, released by the artist 'Westbam' in 1995.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFmoDpPviv8

In an odd twist, there are quite a few remixes of this track out there as well. I'm not too surprised this one's a bit more obscure.

A Nobuo Uematsu composition is uploaded on YouTube approximately every 2 hours.

Every now and than I check the search Nobuo Uematsu by upload date to see what new performances have been done in the world. And there are always videos minutes old.

I completely agree with a million duplicate uploads of The Legendary Beast from ff8.

A Nobuo Uematsu composition is uploaded on YouTube approximately every 2 hours.

Every now and than I check the search Nobuo Uematsu by upload date to see what new performances have been done in the world. And there are always videos minutes old.

I completely agree with a million duplicate uploads of The Legendary Beast from ff8.

No kidding? I'd like to see some recent ones, actually... Is it just a search away or do I have to dive?

The composer Mamoru Samuragoch went deaf in 1999 but still continues to compose. He recently wrote the music for Onimusha: Warlords.

Interesting. I knew his work (http://vgmdb.net/artist/2812), but not his name. Love Onimusha.

Time magazine actually wrote a feature article (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1000781,00.html) about him in 2001.

A sample of his music: Tempest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCVeadwvRA)

In the original japanese release of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, if the player inputs "Totakeke" as his name, the infamous Totaka's Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2fAzLpB0Gw) will be played. In the US release, if the player inputs ZELDA as his name, a different song will play. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2DOa0Wj_Lo&feature=related)

In the French release, the name input should be LOLO and yet another song will play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ9xEV1AKrE). Finally, in the German release, the name MOYSE will trigger a last different song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hETZLrQz_uE). The name Moyse comes from Claude M. Moyse, famous Nintendo translator and editor of Club Nintendo mag, who left the company in 2001.

In the DX release of the game for the Frech version, the name LOLO triggers the ZELDA music from the US release, while in the German version MOYSE activates Totaka's song and ZELDA it's US music. The US an Japanese release remains the same for their DX versions.

Totaka's Song can also be heard after about 2 minutes and 30 seconds in Richard's Villa. This version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeL8qT23k5c) is different from the title screen versions, and it's location is probably due to the fact that Richard is a cameo appearence from another game Totaka has worked on, Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru. There's yet another version of Totaka's Song that can only be heard through game hacking.

bhe bd music is a good site where you will get lots article videos, song, picture etc.

@DarkLodis: Great post. :D Here's a link (http://forums.ffshrine.org/f63/video-game-music-trivia-66197/#post1334937) to an earlier post in this thread that has other links related to "Totaka's Song."

@arthurgolden

Thanks, glad you liked it! Totaka's Song is probably my favorite music trivia of all time, it's so cool, and it's always surprising me. To this day I still play some games in wich he worked and keep wandering around doing silly stuff to see if I cand found his song hidden somewhere. The PhilBond video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLMAgcGA8Dw) that FireBomby posted is pretty cool and worth a look, though it lacks some known appearences of the song.

Also, I've just found out this pretty nift secret: the GameCube's menu song sped up sounds like the Famicom Disk System start up song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1m6j38CDOc&feature=related).

And speaking of playing around with music, have you guys watched the Zelda's GDC trailer? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUn5ESdK4s) Pretty cool, right? How about we play it backwards (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnL7t_nY2IA)?

My mind was totally blown!

^^ Both of those links are amazing. Who would have thought to play the Skyward Sword video backwards? Thanks for posting!

I've got some video-game-related stuff that's not specifically tied to music, but I'll post them anyway.

First is something I ran across recently: N-Sider.com: SNES-CD Profile (http://www.n-sider.com/contentview.php?contentid=231). It's a short history of the planned Nintendo/Sony CD add-on for the SNES, which we probably all know about. But what's interesting is that it has pictures of the prototype that Sony developed with both an SNES cartridge port and a CD drive. I'd never actually seen an example of the console before. Pretty ugly and bulky, even for a prototype.

Also, George Plimpton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Plimpton) of all people made a video game. And it's about falconry (http://www.bestweekever.tv/2011-05-25/falconry-video-game-george-plimpton-colecovision/). He's one of my heroes (not least of all because of the Writers at Work series, of which I've read five volumes). But what was he thinking?

Finally, here's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scxOcp8UliQ) some amazing pixel art created in Minecraft. The only problem is that you have to ignore an internationally recognized symbol of racism to appreciate it. :-\ I've never played Minecraft, so I don't know if this stuff was hard to do. But it looks like it took a lot of time.

The Composers Masashi Hamauzu, Kumi Tanioka and Laura Shigihara have all been inspired and influenced by Nobuo Uematsu's music.

On the Promo for Distant Worlds II DVD Hamauzu said he used to play Final Fantasy at school and tried to imitate Uematsu's music. He said he would not have become a musician without this inspiration.

Ironically in the same interview Uematsu said he would not have become a game composer if he had heard Hamauzu's music earlier on. As he felt it is very structured and something he could not do.

Kumi Tanioko has said she grew up with Uematsu's music and studied his music. She also enjoys playing it on the piano.

Shigihara is a big Final Fantasy fan and enjoys playing the music.

This one is kinda bizarre, and I've never seen any explanation giving some proof, but anyway. In the game Capcom VS SNK - Millennium Fight 2000, in the music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJKuv_k7e60) that plays on the Options menu, if you pay close attention, you can hear a voice saying "Kaise, uma grande cerveja, a cerveja dos momentos felizes" wich is Portuguese and translates to "Kaise, a great beer, the beer of the happy moments".

Kaiser is a Brazilian brand of beer, and that was their slogan a few years back, and beeing Brazilian myself I've always found it pretty strange. It seems this was taken from a radio cut that one of the producers download from Napster from a Bazilian radio station, and used as a sample to create the music, without knowing it was actually a commercial and not a song playing in the radio.

Strangely enough, this small extract seem to have become popular in Japan, and was used as sample in various musics, including one from the game DJ Max Portable 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqlgAFhy9s0&feature=player_embedded#at=25) and can be heard at around 10 seconds.

While on the subject, unrelated to music, in this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmVoxb7zpLk) scene form Parasite EVE II, you can hear a Brazilian commercial for clothing store C&A on the TV that's playingin the background.

^^ Interesting posts. Did the producer admit to the downloading the music from Napster?


Also, George Plimpton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Plimpton) of all people made a video game. And it's about falconry (http://www.bestweekever.tv/2011-05-25/falconry-video-game-george-plimpton-colecovision/).

Now available online (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/571422)

Since Tappi Iwase was one of three composers (along with Motoaki Furukawa and Masahiro Ikariko) for Policenauts (1996), I don't know if he's responsible for this specific track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8kkHvD7go) from that soundtrack, which has a lot of similarities to this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZmAJNcPTw) from Suikoden (1995). Regardless, he sure has his name attached to a couple soundtracks with big, problematic similarities to other works.

Since Tappi Iwase was one of three composers (along with Motoaki Furukawa and Masahiro Ikariko) for Policenauts (1996), I don't know if he's responsible for this specific track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8kkHvD7go) from that soundtrack, which has a lot of similarities to this track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whZmAJNcPTw) from Suikoden (1995). Regardless, he sure has his name attached to a couple soundtracks with big, problematic similarities to other works.

Tappy Iwase also aported to the music of the original suikoden as well.

Hahaha. Thanks for reminding me about that topo. I completely forgot he worked on Suikoden, and I didn't think to look last night. I was dead tired. So this is more like Motoi Sakuraba including variants of Mission to Deep Space (http://forums.ffshrine.org/f63/video-game-music-trivia-66197/#post1273083) on most of his soundtracks.

If you're familiar with English-language Christian hymns, you'll recognize this one. My Road, My Journey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym2Y-FmSRfY) from Dragon Quest II opens in a very similar way to On Eagle's Wings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rRea9qnjK4).

Shadow Hearts: Covenant OST has a bunch of trivia.

Astaroth ~Battle With The Fallen Angel~ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGWVzDhDHMc)'s vocalisms are actually taken from the first line of another song, Seroja (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTmEm1F8cJk) by Jamal Abdillah. On the same note, I'm 90% sure that The 3 Karma (Final Boss Battle) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYiwMd5y78E) speeds up and remixes the vocals from Let the Music Play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd8HhENZbYg) by Shamur. The latter I only noticed because my cousin played the song during a car ride... which actually makes this kind of weird, because I'm not sure when Shamur's song came out in relation to SH2.

Interesting! I'd never heard that about Astaroth. There's certainly a compelling case to be made for the other one, too, although it's too distorted for me to make a call without understanding the language.

Also, the other day I ran across this while playing Legend of Dragoon: Rose's Demon's Gate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBGTLPiXd_4#t=02m06s) spell.

Just keep in mind the spell's name is Demon's Gate. And, apparently, in the Japanese version the drops coming out of Rose were red, not black.

Holy shit, man.

Can't say I've ever before seen a woman's period lead to an inter-dimensional vagina that snaps shut on people like a bear trap. I just...uhh...I have so many questions.

The other interesting part is that "seroja" means "lotus" and the lyrics that are said translate to "come prepared to me, my lotus" or something. Astaroth himself in the boss fight shapes himself like a lotus flower.

Wow. That must have been a conscious decision on the part of the developers and composers then. Good stuff. Thanks for the info. :D

If anyone is a Final Fight fan, I strongly suggest you check out The Ballad of Mike Haggar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce9J-J30B3o). Or if you're just a fan of awesome things.

A really interesting article on SNES emulation that touches on the difficulties of emulating the SPC 700, with video examples.

Accuracy takes power: one man's 3GHz quest to build a perfect SNES emulator (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/08/accuracy-takes-power-one-mans-3ghz-quest-to-build-a-perfect-snes-emulator.ars/1). The author of the SNES emulator bsnes talks about the difficulties in creating emulators that accurately simulate classic game consoles, and why it will take lifetimes to generate enough computer power to perfectly recreate the most modern consoles.

Sam & Max (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsm60D4iGG8) adapted the "Bout Theme" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE8vKLEK6A8) from Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Pretty obvious. Check out the Minibosses' cover (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DdShksvaU#t=00m42s) if the NES version doesn't rock your socks off.

Here's an old one.

I knew that Yasunori Mitsuda was greatly influenced by Blade Runner. And I knew the movie's themes more or less from having seen the movie. But I hadn't looked at the movie's tracklisting until yesterday, when I noticed one of the pieces was called "Memories of Green," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0cmhjdiLs) which is, of course, the title of one of the most beloved pieces off the Chrono Trigger (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr9-OcPLO3M) soundtrack, too. On top of that, the two pieces share a few musical similarities. Check it out.

Speaking of Mitsuda, I was watching an episode of Supernanny, of all things, a couple days ago and heard the exact same music as in "Opening" from Xenosaga Episode I at the beginning once it starts going. And awhile ago I heard in Cities of the Underworld on the History Channel the basis of "The Tomb of Raithwall" from Final Fantasy XII. Makes me wonder how many other pieces of music from iconic soundtracks that we all know are actually from libraries.

Due to no one actually playing FFXIV all of the comments on the music videos are like ''sounds like balamb garden'', ''ffvii!!''.

More of an observation than trivia. But interesting how previous soundtracks have had an impact on people more. Where as XIV a lot of the music fans don't have a connection (or even a track title) to connect with the music.

Peter Connelly's youtube channel:

PConz&#39;s Channel - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/PConz)

Nothing to see on it but some might want to subscribe.

Masashi Hamauzu concerts and news can be found here:

Wayorecords's Channel - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/Wayorecords)

Taku Yabuki's youtube page:

yfd05725 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/yfd05725)

he composed music for gran turismo 5.

Thanks for the above links. :D Never heard of Connelly before. For others who don't know his work, he did:

* Horrid Henry (2009)
* Speed Zone/Wheelspin' (2009)
* Garden Party (2008)
* Smartbomb (2005)
* Podz (2004)
* Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003) (with Martin Iveson)
* Herdy Gerdy (2002) (with Martin Iveson)
* Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000)
* Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999)
* Flesh Feast (1998)
* Mass Destruction (1997)
* Risk II (1996)
* Battleship (1996)

Brad Buxer did mention that he was supposedly involved somehow, but I don't believe he was involved in a big way. I still find it a bit hard to believe Michael would need to do 'Jimmy Hart' versions of his own songs, seeing as they're, y'know, his songs. The S3 Credits song notwithstanding, as supposedly Stranger in Moscow was intentionally reworked from it. Which I still think is a bit of a dubious claim, but again, thats said to have come from Brad Buxer's mouth, so there we go.

If you want, I can explain more on the Sonic 3 music controversy.

You mean those rumors about Michael Jackson helping to compose the music for Sonic 3?
Well if you got some valid information, shoot it! :D

Well if you got some valid information, shoot it!

x2

I haven't looked up info on that topic in years, but if there are new interviews or findings, I'm always interested.

I'm also always interested in new sightings of Totaka's song, which I first found about on this very thread. :D

You mean those rumors about Michael Jackson helping to compose the music for Sonic 3?
Well if you got some valid information, shoot it! :D

Yup. I've contacted Tokuhiko Uwabo, Masaru Setsumaru, Jun Senoue, Masayuki Nagao, Cirocco Jones, Bobby Brooks, and Doug Grigsby.

MJ composing for Sonic 3 is a not a rumor, Cirocco told me
"5 guys (me, Brad, Bobby, Darry, Geoff) spent what seemed like countless hours creating compositions with MJ... and then trying our best to technically balance what SEGA team wanted to create music for the sonic game. I was hired by Brad to come in to create different music cues and arrange on a lot of other ideas too. It was a long time ago... and was kinda challenging to say the least."

I then asked him why is everybody so hush hush about it whole ordeal, then he said..
"I believe that there is a lawsuit going on or about to go on. Sega owes a lot of people money from the Sonic stuff. Speak with Bobby Brooks (see my friend list). He may tell you a LOT more about everything....."


So I did try to contact Bobby, but he told me he wasn't gonna talk and that I should contact his lawyer. That was the end of that xD!

So for anybody saying MJ didn't do it, he did. The biggest questions are how different are the FM versions of the songs compared to the demos his team sent SEGA, and why exactly is everybody so shy about the topic.

You get the ultra rare rep/like combo.

Thanks so much for sharing! :D

I wonder if MJ's people want more money than they got, claiming MJ's involvement was more significant than advertised. Or if it's simply that Sega didn't pay up what they contractually owed and now are being taken to court.

Those scenarios are probably what actually happened. Add in the molestation case at the same time this was happening, and Brad's claim that MJ wasn't pleased with the YM2612, (which could be true, but I find it to be BS because MJ never had a problem with Moonwalker) and you have a mess of a situation.

Ran across this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih8w0VDxCdc) yesterday and the "Yooooooo!" first heard at the 9 second mark reminded me of similar yelps in the Okami soundtrack. For example, the one that starts off this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY-jMfZ1uDk).

Does anyone know the origins or meaning of this noise? Or is it just something the composers did in Okami that Noitu Love 2 stole?

This (http://matotree.com/localization/zelda/audio/) is an interesting side by side comparison of the music in the FDS Legend of Zelda and the NES version. The articles on translation and graphics differences are interesting, too.

Ran across this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih8w0VDxCdc) yesterday and the "Yooooooo!" first heard at the 9 second mark reminded me of similar yelps in the Okami soundtrack. For example, the one that starts off this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY-jMfZ1uDk).

Does anyone know the origins or meaning of this noise? Or is it just something the composers did in Okami that Noitu Love 2 stole?

That's a famous sample of some origin I can't find (Okami didnt come up with it first). Mainly, it plays when there is a Japanese taiko drummer in a movie or something. I can try and look for the origin if you're interested.

Yeah, if you can find anything. I'm genuinely interested.

Sounds like it's comparable to the Wilhelm Scream.

Yeah, if you can find anything. I'm genuinely interested.

Sounds like it's comparable to the Wilhelm Scream.
Yup. I'd say the same.

k, I'll attempt to look for it.

Can't take credit for this one; I saw it mentioned in YouTube comments. Compare the bass line in Breath of Fire III's Nina's Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-AkrgNUw1o) to the bass line in Mega Man Battle Network's Hometown (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDzUf4I751w).

Jonathan Coulton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Coulton), best known for composing Still Alive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI) from Portal, is suing Glee for ripping off his cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot�s "Baby Got Back." Here's a synced playthrough of his version and Glee's (https://soundcloud.com/alacrion/joco-v-glee) for comparison's sake.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Cry_3:_Blood_Dragon) has some pretty rad music by Power Glove (who are, by the way, different from Powerglove), including this theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oQ1E4kSHHE), which seems to be a nod to the Blade Runner theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAwo7DPUFUM).



This probably merits a longer post, but it got me to thinking about the lasting influence Blade Runner (which is one of my favorite movies) has had on video games. There's Final Fantasy VII, Snatcher, and Shadowrun of course, where the visual and/or aural aesthetics all borrow heavily. And, though I don't know much about Mass Effect's storyline, I have heard the music and see influences there, too. Are there other games out there that have hints of Blade Runner in them, particularly in the music?

I watched a a playthrough of Mystic Ark recently, which has a solid but unspectacular soundtrack by Akihiko Mori (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihiko_Mori) with some impressive-sounding samples (www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGZQ1cqK3fU) and a couple gems like this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWcnX77j6zE). What made me think of this thread, though, was the song "Country Fairytale," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmGN8Ce5ZOc) which immediately called to mind "Chateau d'Oraguille" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaTmeeQLFZ0) from Final Fantasy XI, composed by Naoshi Mizuta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoshi_Mizuta). The opening chord, the attack, and the type of synth sound are all very similar despite the obvious differences in the way this element in used in each song. Certainly, you wouldn't call this stealing, but I wonder if Mizuta played Mystic Ark (a Japan-only SFC RPG), liked that synth sound, and tried to recreate it for his own work.

I ran across the title screen music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOvaSOFLtJU#t=01h35m34s) for Moeru! Onii-san, a Famicom game based on an anime of the same name with the same theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sDu4erWYAg), and noticed a peculiar similarity to an extremely famous pop song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJwFO4l74yY) that was released in 1983, five years before the anime debuted and six years before the Famicom game was released. I think it's pretty much impossible that the composer, Yuko Ishikawa, wasn't aware of or influenced by the Lauper song.

Have you all ever heard of the infamous Totaka's Song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLMAgcGA8Dw)?


Totaka's Song is probably my favorite music trivia of all time, it's so cool, and it's always surprising me. To this day I still play some games in wich he worked and keep wandering around doing silly stuff to see if I cand found his song hidden somewhere. The PhilBond video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLMAgcGA8Dw) that FireBomby posted is pretty cool and worth a look, though it lacks some known appearences of the song.

Regarding the previously mentioned Totaka's Song, brentalfloss recently did a tribute as an intro to his "Mario Paint (with lyrics)" (http://brentalfloss.bandcamp.com/album/flossophy) song.

I have 2 actually:

First one:
Twisted Mansion - Mario Kart 8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atqWEuemBHM) is a remix of Bowser's Castle - Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG4gyOTOnyA)

Bowser's Galaxy Reactor - Super Mario Galaxy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVZTMPLqNw8) is a dark remix of Rainbow Road - Super Mario Kart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atqWEuemBHM)

Is Yoshi's Island's music box theme Soviet propaganda? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuxBwelptag) :D

A few battle themes in Final Fantasy XII seem to be based on the soundtrack to James Horner's Aliens. They are brief but noticeable similarities that require a familiarity with both scores. You can mostly hear it in the percussion rhythms (snare patterns and use of anvil), but this one part stood out for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75hQJylsOdw - Final Fantasy XII - Fight to the Death (around 1:00)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlzkGd7qaMY - Aliens - Bishop's Countdown (around 0:18)

..or maybe I'm just crazy.

Every time I hear the music from Heiankyo Alien (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AavgZCSPHH4) I think I'm listening to the Prologue theme from Legend of Kage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irQP1DG0N3w). Side by side, they don't sound that much alike, but there's something about the tonality of the arpeggio in both songs that blurs them together in my brain. In reality, Heiankyo Alien is closer to the Karate Kid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5756diOo4c) opening, if you want to draw a comparison.

i have 2 more in the same song:

The intro of Red Alert from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D_SIImA5LU) is similar to the intro of Magma Colosseum - Pok�mon Battle Revolution (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9IolS-c3FU) but faster

If you skip to 0:36 in Red Alert from Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D_SIImA5LU) and then skip to 0:35 in Lagoon Colosseum - Pok�mon Battle Revolution (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXl6V6JIf0o), you can hear a similarity between the two songs