[last updated: 31-Dec-2012]
Oh, look, I hopped on the game music download bandwagon. Consider this the dorky little brother to Flying Omelette, Codiekitty, Rage Quitter 87 and Daryn's respective music sections.
The Crocodile Man 
and his giant flashing speech bubble will let you know what's hot.
Also, the giant [NEW!] will point out the obvious to you.
Decent game, but largely forgettable music. Is it just me, or is that a tradition of Treasure games? I can remember music from Mischief Makers, sure, but the music I remember isn't very good. Just sayin', y'know.
One of those sappy bloo bloo songs I'm so enamoured with.
Ditto. I got the name from some other music rip, but I've no idea where it got the name from - in the sound test it's just labelled "BGM025". Let's include both!
Still has the great bouncy sounds of the first game. Flying Omelette has some of the best tracks from the first game, check them out.
A gloomy reprise of the Jinjo Village theme.
This level is one of the best looking in the game, and has so many weird and wonderful sights to see. This theme really adds to the mood when exploring.
Say what you will about the game itself (I say WHOOOOOOOO), you have to admit it kept up the military flavour quite nicely from the original NES game, with some additions of its own.
Since the publishers of video game music have finally caught up with the modern era, you can actually buy this soundtrack online via digital download! I highly recommend it, particularly through 7digital. Consider this track a sample to get you interested.
The GauntletOh my god, YES. The track that plays in the game's thickest battles, and what really cements the vibe of playing as a superhero. My only grief with it is it's not long enough, and it's not loud enough.
It's just one of many Game Boy games I was introduced to via Spanish multi-cartridges, but I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Bomb Jack. If I actually had any experience with the rest of the series I'd probably say the Game Boy version is the definitive version, but since I haven't played any of the others my words are rather hollow. I will say this, though: If you love chiptune rock, you'll love this.
Title ScreenI positively love the way this starts up, and it's a truly wonderful sound to hear when you boot up the game - it's hard-hitting, dynamic and rock-awesome as all hell. It eventually starts just tackling the same tune with different sounds (Gonzales said in an interview that in the early days he basically just fluffed around on keyboards until he got something good, and one almost gets the impression he's just playing around with the tone settings), but the fantastic drum beat remains.
Level ThemeEnergetic and great bitty drums. It's amusing how the only theme you'll be hearing during actual gameplay is the shortest of the main three.
Game OverJust edges out the title screen theme for my favourite song in the game (though not that there's many choices to make!). A downbeat little ditty that has a strange uplifting quality about it. It seems to be common with all of Alberto's soundtracks that they don't have many songs, but they have some lengthy running times. If it weren't for a great track like this, why would you sit around for four minutes on the game over screen?
Just for the sake of completion, here's the level complete theme.
And a rockin' little ditty for when you get an Extra Bonus.
Best known for having Wario. Not so well known for its one or two mildly funky tracks.
(check out the full soundtrack at the Totally Bombastic Bomberman Shrine Place!)
Just listen to that funk. It's wasted on a Bomberman game!
Not a bad romp, but the middle part's a bit obnoxious.
Well, it's a soundtrack for a cartoon. It's not exactly going to be Grade-A listening material since a lot of it is generic incidental fluff, though having watched the show from beginning to end a lot of the tracks have a mildly emotional connection with me. If you haven't seen the show then a lot of these probably aren't going to be anything worth writing home about. Also, I'm a sucker for sappy depressing music. Sorry, guys!
(check out the full soundtrack at the Totally Bombastic Bomberman Shrine Place!)
The opening theme for about three quarters of the series. It's, uh, rather energetic. It probably works better in conjunction with the intro, though.
Mighty & Shirobon's ThemeMy second favourite tune in the whole damn anime. Oh my god, the amount of times I've listened to this! It's so damn depressing and so damn melancholy, yet there's a hint of uplifting in it somewhere (yes, I know that makes no grammatical or logical sense). This is heard a lot throughout the series due to the amount of flashbacks, but I never get sick of it.
MightyNow this is easily my favourite damn tune in the anime. Yet another downbeat tune that's basically another take on the Mighty & Shirobon theme, though missing half the instruments, resulting in a more minimalist vibe. I'd dare say it's as good, if not better than the original, though it might be beacuse I just needed a change of pace after listening to the original so much.
Mighty & Shirobon's Theme (piano)And then there's a piano version! It's not bad either, but it loses a lot of the emotional punch of the regular version, personally.
I include this only because it gets used so many times through the series. Because theme park banjo music is such universally appropriate background music.
BAR TOUKO BGM1Another of my favourites - a jazzy little number used when the baddies go to drink away their sorrows.
I will admit, even for a chiptune fan this might demand an acquired taste - all the songs use rather high-pitched and admittedly obnoxious tones, which is unfortunate as there's some great stereotypically videogamey tunes here. I don't recall a credit for who actually composed the music, only "sound engineers," so I've listed them all.
(check out the full soundtrack at the Totally Bombastic Bomberman Shrine Place!)
I dig the almost oriental bounce to this one; it's like something out of a Mystical Ninja game.
Admittedly a rather generic dungeon theme, but man, I love the heck out of those first thirty seconds.
Flying Omelette has more tracks from the game, though I'm just putting up the few she missed that I've a fondness for.
Heard in the opening cavern area - not a bad tune to start the game with.
Credits music. It's a pretty decent dramatic track.
A visually and audio-ly splendid game, but actually playing it is a bit of a slog.
Amusing anecdote! For the longest time, I was almost certain the music during the bathtub stages was Alice Cooper's "School's Out," and thus I thought the gimmick of the game was the usage of licensed music. Turns out I was dead wrong and the game is actually a 7-Up ad, but they removed all the references to it in the European release. How about that?
Played during the incredibly fun bonus stages; easily the most revved-up tune in the soundtrack, it's quite different from the rest of the more funky and comparatively laid-back tracks.
A pretty hideous game, but the one redeeming factor are some particularly great songs. Amusingly, the game actually needs to load the music - there's an uncomfortably long pause before starting a new level and selecting a song in the sound test that a track actually plays.
It's hard to tell if this is an attempt at recreating the TV theme or not, but hey, generic rock.
MisereekRock and synth. I only wish this track were used for a better game.
A lick of techno. It's not bad.
A step above your common-or-garden generic spookiness, but rather unremarkable.
More synth rock if you need it.
Bears 'N The HoodRather funky synth piece.
It's A Wonderful Nine LivesVery much an addendum to Bears 'N The Hood. If you liked it, check this.
AMERICA!!
Stage 1This should be the universal anthem for GETTING PUMPED.
One of them indie-type games. Cracking good fun, with an amazingly catchy track playing throughout the whole game, too. While I'm using this page to plug stuff, check out Craig Forrester's site!
The credits don't cite anyone in particular for music composition, though I'm almost sure it's listed somewhere online.
Some people hate it. Some people love it. I'm in the latter field. If you've played the game this little ditty will be stuck in your head for days, no foolin'.
Christopherson presents more booming military stuff. It hasn't got the variety of his Bionic Commando soundtrack, but, hey, it's good booming military stuff.
Main Menu
Pretty lacklustre instalment, but some of the tracks are particularly rockin'.
I think I've a fetish for underpowered computer simulations of electric guitars.
Plays like Ghouls 'n' Ghosts meets Streets of Rage. Sounds particularly neat.
Road to HawkmoorProbably the most bombastic track in the game. Gets used in a few levels, and they all happen to be great.
What first appears to be a reasonable enough brawler eventually reveals itself to be sadistic, torturous mockery of a game that gets its giggles from the frustration of innocents. Warn the people.
On the bright side, it's got some neat chiptune rock.
Slow grunge rock. Good way to start the game.
Or if you prefer a faster pace and a bitty fascimile of an electric guitar, there's this option. I personally prefer the Mega Drive's attempt at electric guitar - it's just so damn charming!
A remake compilation of the first three NES games, with Mega Drive recreations of their tunes. Some of the instrumentation is spotty and Mega Man 3 suffers from some lacklustre conversions, but there's some decent remixes here.
Oh, I love me some Mega Drive sound chip. The original tune isn't bad, but it's very minimal, there's not much complexity to it, so this one adds a bit more flavour to it, in my opinion. There's a great buzzy sound like an attempt at an electric guitar or something, and it adds so much charm to the track.
Bubble ManLet's face it, nothing will top the original tune in my view, but this is decent, if just for the different style of sound.
Wood ManAgain, it's hard to improve upon the original, but this improves the instruments in just the right way.
Wily Fortress 1 (Mega Man 2)And, you guessed it, I don't think the original can be improved. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE DO NOT TRY. This doesn't do too bad a job, if just for the fact I now know what hearing the great music through the SEGA sound chip is like.
A lot of the track is spent on the weird ghostly "oooh" sound, but when it gets to the buzzy guitar sound you know you're in for a good time. At least, I know I'm in for a good time.
I have not played this game, nor do I know a thing about it - all I know is that Alberto was at the helm of the music composition...
Title Screen (1 loop)... and my god, what a tune. This is some rockin' chiptune stuff. This is actually the game's only song, but when it's this good, who can complain? There's thirty seconds of droning noise at the start when heard in-game, but I snipped it out.
Title Screen (2 loops)The exact same track with an extra loop, with a snippet from an alternate version of the track to splice them together. I do admittedly prefer the single-loop version, but I may as well offer a choice.
A game so uneventful that I've completed it twice and still haven't developed an opinion for it!
The level this music belongs to has always bugged me, because the warping whirlpool gimmick never ceases to boggle me at any age, but the level is home to the most beautiful backdrop in the game, combined with a stirring piece of music. Listening to the music disconnected to the visuals isn't quite as great as I thought it'd be, but hey, might as well throw it up for download.
What would be the most loathsome boardgame conversion on the planet...
... if it weren't for this catchy little ditty. With this, it's merely one of the most loathsome boardgame conversions on the planet.
I will admit I prefer to seek out chiptunes that have a degree of complexity to their compositions, but I can't deny that Penguin Land (another game I found through multi-carts) has some cute little tunes.
An upbeat and energetic little tune that will burrow into your skull should you ever play the game. Don't try and fight it.
I always remember this track as the "downbeat" one, though it's not really, it's still got the distinctive bounce the whole soundtrack has.
A more frenetic tune with a much faster tempo. I always felt it clashed with the slow and methodical gameplay.
The game's only got one song, though when Alberto is at the helm, you know it can't be too bad.
It's not up there with the Bomb Jack or Metal Masters compositions, but for a game about a sentient ball trying to rescue his girlfriend (also sentient and spherical) by travelling through time and collecting random objects, it ain't a bad song. Quite catchy, if I dare say.
What the Xbox Live Indie Games service was made for: rockin' chiptunes by Yuzo Koshiro!
Pretty funky boss theme.
You wouldn't think a comedy about sexually frustrated people in space would be a good source for great atmospheric music, but here we are! Only my super favourites are here - you can find the rest at the Red Dwarf Section.
Observation DeckI've said it on the blog, I've said it in the episode reviews, I've said it on the Red Dwarf music page... I love the Observation Deck theme. It's sad and it's melancholy and it's wistful and I heart it so much.
Yup, it's an anime. It has some fantastic orchestral stuff performed by The Versailles Chamber Orchestra, but sadly, there's no soundtrack of that - you'll have to settle with the opening and ending themes instead. Bummer!
(you can read my coverage of the episodes at Random Action Hour!)
Some J-Pop. If you know the lyrics it adds quite nicely to the fantasy theme.
The same, but longer!
DEAR MYSELF - A Time Capsule to MyselfA melancholy song! You know I love sappy stuff like this.
A game about robot snakes trying to strangle the shit out of each other. Quite possibly the greatest thing ever on Game Boy.
A great track for an epic snake fight. Not so much for casual listening, especially when it ends on such a crummy riff (because a snake fight that lasts for over two minutes is not a good snake fight), but there's some decent bits here and there.
I only assume this is the ending because I'm too lazy to play the game to the end (if any!). A quirky, chirpy little jiggy.
Boobs, blood and bombs. Also, techno rock.
Dangerously funky, or just plain obnoxious? Why, both, of course!
See who the music composer is? Yep. That's the only reason I sought out the game.
Because I can't let the single downbeat song pass me by without recording it.
Good ol' rompin' about music.
More rompin'!
Act 7: The Flight of the StorkFor a tiny blue gnome guy riding a bird, this is rockin' stuff.
One of those strange cases where I'm in love with the instrumentation rather than the actual music.
The racing themes are fair enough, but the game's best track is shoved away in a menu you'll only visit a few times.
Ahahaha. Hoo boy. This is a bad game. You'd find a better fighting game experience in a box of Corn Flakes. That said, it's got nifty Mega Man-esque chippy recreations of the arcade tunes.
I can't hear this without imagining a video game based off the Street Fighter cartoon. Now that would've been rad.
We've heard it in a million games by now, but hearing it in 8-bit is pretty neat.
The all-purpose song.
Pretty nice tune fit for an ending screen. Cheers to RQ87 for correcting me on where this is played!
Jump-kicking fat dudes and chiptune jazz.
The intro theme. Not quite as upbeat as the rest of the game's soundtrack, but you should know the kind of songs I dig by now.
The soundtrack is rather typical bouncy Mario affair, though it's all rather forgettable. There's a couple of semi-decent tunes here and there, though.
I'm no big fan of auto-scrolling stages, but this one isn't too bad, and I guess I can forgive it when it has a totally unique (and catchy!) piece of music all to itself.
A neat little Metroidvania, and some great Konami-style tracks to get you all ninja'd up.
Kinda funky.
Okay, it's only heard in, like, two rooms in the entire game, but it's the Ninja Turtles theme in chiptune! What's not to like?
West CaveNone of the areas have real names, so this is just my best guess.
Ditto.
Peeps love their Korobeiniki.
Yep, I love me some sad-sounding songs. I include this only because Flying Omelette excluded it from her music rips of the game.
Haven't touched the game, but if you're knifing the crap out of bionic dinosaurs then it can't be that bad.
Dig them drum beats.
I played it for a few minutes and kind of regretted it. But hey, Alberto Gonzales!
I can't say it fit the gameplay well, but it's another decent McAlby track.
I don't give a toss about football, but I do give a toss about Alberto Gonzales!
Title ScreenFrenetic little chip tune. Simple as heck, but I love it.
Well, it's not much more than options screen music.
Ain't a bad little track, nearly techno at parts.
EndingI couldn't be bothered playing until this song came up, so I'll just pretend it's the ending and save myself some hassle.
One of the dumbest - and one of the greatest - OVAs I have ever seen. Read all about it at Random Action Hour!
GAYUHow do you define something like this? J-Rock? J-Funk? Whatever it is, I love it.
Cheers to portnoi88 for hooking me up with the full-length version!
Shooting dudes with fancy graphics. Music's okay, too.
Some snazzy techno. Personally, I prefer the slower pace when played in PAL mode - the regular NTSC speed makes it seem like the artist is churning it out as quickly as possible so he can get his paycheck.
Just a heads up for headphone users, the beginning 'dial tone' part is a bit killer on the ears, so watch out.
While the music fits with the strange and rather random world it takes place in, outside of gameplay a lot of it is just rather bland or annoying. I give props to the sound guys for being experimental (a lot of tunes seem to exist solely to recreate realistic sound effects with the GBA sound chip), though there's only a few songs I'd happily listen to on their own. Despite Wario revelling in being crass and loud, the best tunes are actually the quiet, melancholy ones. Huh.
This was recorded using the GSF rip of the music, so the quality might vary from actual in-game sound.
Monsoon JungleMy absolute favourite song in the game; a quiet, strumming little guitar tune set to the sound of drums and pattering rain. Beautifully little song, and it bonds very nicely with the visuals of the level.
Another quiet strumming tune, though this has more of a dream-like "lazy days" vibe about it, with frogs croaking in the background. I don't like the sound of the harmonica-like instrument (or whatever the very first thing heard is), its low-quality sample jars badly against the rest of the sounds, but it's still a nice, quiet tune.
The theme to Palmtree Paradise. This version was actually ripped from the unlockable karaoke version (by recording the backing track and the vocal GSF sounds separately and then mixing them). A little more upbeat than the others, though still a very laidback, lazy feel to it, with some Japanese vocals.
Well, it's a Mario puzzle game, it's not exactly going to be the source of absolutely superb music. It's got some cute ditties, I guess. Only my super favourites are here - you can find the rest at the Wario's Woods shrine.
Yeah, my favourite track in the NES game is a strange mangling of the staff roll and Wario's theme into one. Look, I never said this music page was going to be a bright idea.
You'd think a competitive puzzle game would have music to hype you up, but half the tunes are so quiet they make you fall asleep. Not that it's a good game to begin with.
It's pretty sad when the staff roll is the best tune in the game.
My thoughts on the game are probably best reserved for a place where I can rant in length. I will admit the music is fitting, if just for the entirely wrong reasons, and I like the idea of one recurring riff being done in various styles throughout the game - I just wish that riff wasn't as annoying as it is, and the various styles it was performed in weren't as obnoxious as they were. C'est la vie.
A gentle strumming of guitar with a helping of clarinet. Not the best combination, but it is quite a nice little tune. Then at the two minute mark the Yoshis start "singing" along. And they don't stop until the last thirty seconds. I won't deny I was real tempted to just fade out at that point.
One of my beefs with the soundtrack is that it may do most of it right (like the Ending Story, which is fine until the Yoshis barge in), but usually it screws it up in some extraneous inclusion. This one has a very funky slap-bass backing track (though I'm sure it isn't slap-bass), and then it throws an awkard clarinet on top. It does not gel well.
