Music: Melodic Notation: 8-bit Classics Part I

Hot off the heels of last week's Random Lists #2, I've decided to go ahead with a semi regular article featuring video game music, which will allow me to cut back on Random Lists so I don't step on Tan's feet since he does the List 'em article. Anyway, today I'm looking back at some of the music from the 8-bit era, and since I've never played a PC Engine/Turbo Grafx, I'll be focusing mostly on the Master System, NES, Gameboy, and Game Gear and for now each game will have only one song per article, unless I make an article featuring a certain game or composer.

Overworld (Super Mario Bros.)

I honestly think it'd be impossible to talk about 8-bit music without mentioning this song, the iconic Super Mario Bros. theme is known to both gamers and non-gamers alike and has seen a number of incarnations over the years. This original piece was composed by Koji Kondo and is considered by many to be a classic.

Overworld (The Legend of Zelda)

Another classic, and while not as iconic as the Super Mario Bros. theme, the overworld theme from The Legend of Zelda is well known to many gamers, as the song has been remixed and reused in several Zelda titles, and was once again composed by Koji Kondo.

Streets of Desolation (Batman)

This one probably isn't as well known, but it's the music for the first stage of Batman for the NES. This is probably one of the better movie tie in games, and it has a great soundtrack to boot, as Sunsoft was known for making some quality games back in the 8 and 16-bit days.

Mecha Dragon's Castle (Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap)

This music comes from both the intro level and final level of Wonderboy III, it's a good piece and was reused in Wonderboy in Monster World for the Sega Genesis. The game was composed Shinichi Sakamoto.

Jungle (Contra)

The first level theme from the original Contra (or Probotector for any Europeans who may read this) this is another that is well known among retro gamers as Konami, much like Capcom, was well known for having some great music in their games back in the 8-bit days.

Wicked Child (Castlevania)

This music comes from the third stage of the original Castlevania, another Konami classic, this music is my favorite from the original Castlevania and one of my tops in the series, it has several fan covers online, most of which are good, and was originally composed by Kinuyo Yamashita.

Dr. Wily's Castle Stages 1 & 2 (Mega Man II)

Probably one of the most popular Mega Man songs from the NES games, this song has seen a couple official Capcom updates as well as numerous fan made covers ranging from simple guitar covers to adding lyrics to the song, it's a great piece and one of my favorites on the NES. Mega Man II's soundtrack was composed by Ogeretsu Kun, Manami Matsumae, and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (aka Yuukichan's Papa).

Stage J (Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers)

Being from a game based off a children's cartoon, this one is probably overlooked, but this is a good game with a solid soundtrack, which given that the game was made by Capcom shouldn't be much of a suprise, this particular track is from the final stage of the game.

Nightmare Land (Little Nemo The Dream Master)

Another game by Capcom, which was based on an animated movie that was based on a comic strip by Windsor McKay that ran from 1905 until 1914. This game again has a solid score and is a lot of fun to play, the soundtrack was composed by Junko Tamiya, who also handled the music from Bionic Commando and Strider.

The Moon (Ducktales)

My final selection for this week, the Moon from Ducktales. This is popular song that came from a Capcom game that was based on a popular cartoon series. This song, much like Wily Stages 1 & 2, is very popular on the internet and has a number of fan covers that range from rock to techno, there are a couple of good versions over on OC Remix for anyone interested, the original was composed by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi.

Well, thanks for taking the time to look over this guys, sorry that this focused monstly on the NES, I'll get some more variety in the next one, but let me know what you think too, if you'd like me to give more info on the games or composers in future articles or if you'd like me to look at a specific game or composer just let me know in the comments and I'll look into doing a future article on your suggestions, well until next time, take it easy guys!