VGM Highlights - May 2019

Wait what, are we already in June?! Better get started with this thing then.

Let's kick it off with a tune from episode 10 of Singing Mountain called "An 8-bit Halloween", the Lobby Theme from the game Sweet Home. While it's a really nice little tune that perfectly sets the mood for the horror game, I also wanted to mention it because I like to talk about Sweet Home. I am a huge Resident Evil fan and apparently Sweet Home was the original inspiration for that game. If you play Sweet Home it's really not hard to see the resemblances. While Sweet Home uses a party of people, they have different key items (just like Jill and Chris in the original RE), they walk around in a big creepy mansion fighting all sort of monsters and you need to find certain items and solve puzzles to be able to progress.

The game is apparently itself based on a movie, also called Sweet Home, which I have tried to watch but since I am a sissy it was too scary for me. Like most NES games, Sweet Home is difficult, but very intricate and in-depth for a NES game. I think the tune gives a good example of this, what a masterpiece to manage to compose something so atmospheric and full of dread with those technical limitations.

For some reason May has been coincidentally c64 heavy in my VGM podcast feed (and there was some in April too), even though the episodes I listen to come from very varying points in time. The c64 sound is something I must admit I have fake nostalgia for, since I've never owned one or known anyone who owned one but a good c64 track can really "take me back" to something that I've never even experienced.

The title theme from the game Blood Money, played in Episode 15 "Classic c64 With Michael From Forever Sound Version" of the VGMBassy podcast is one of those tracks for sure. Like many good c64 tracks it takes you on a journey with a lot happening and changing throughout its runtime.

Audio Panic Room Episode 35 "Codemasters" also brings a whole lot of juicy c64 tracks, and it was difficult to pick just one here, it's a great selection through and through (it's not just c64 in this episode though, but also Amiga and NES). The c64 can easily sound a bit jarring on the ears, especially if you're listening to it through headphones (which I get the feeling it was never designed to be). But like I mentioned above, there is just something very special about a well crafted c64 track and in many ways I feel like it's the classical music equivalent within the VGM genre. So definitely check out this entire episode if c64 is your kind of thing, and it really should be.

While I really liked Tarzan Goes Ape!, CJ's Elephant Antics and Poltergeist I decided to go with "Main Menu" from Pro Tennis Simulator on the Amiga because it's so lovely upbeat.

And last but definitely not least is a tune from the Battle Bards Episode 141 "Riders of Icarus". This is a really jamming little disco/techno tune from one of the bosses in the game, apparently. I would absolutely love to fight a boss to this tune. Its only issue is that it's too short, but what there is really makes me want to fight and dance at the same time.