Nevermind being a member of Chvrches. That man listened to 21 video game albums and took notes in preparation for this, then stayed for probably 4+ hours. Gigachad
OH yes, the recording process was actually like 6 hours long lol, so he was an absolute trouper and a fantastic guest! I'm really happy with how the ep turned out.
This man became instantly my favourite musician in the whole world. Not only a good musician, but also a competent player with a good knowledge of the medium. What's not to love in there?!
so excited for this video. fantastic choice of guest. seems like the last thing anyone on youtube wants to do when discussing music in games is speak with a professional who actually knows what they're talking about.
Ikaruga is just… wow. Its my favorite OST of any game ever. From stage 1, not only does it tell you the story of the stage in its music, the next song after builds from the last while also telling its own story, on top of every song being incredibly memorable. Hard to believe the director composed the whole thing by himself.
Ikaruga is solid, but it's hard for me to not see the massive shadow of Silvergun when I listen to it ha. Silvergun is insane and easy top 5 for me personally.
What an awesome guest! It was great hearing a professional/popular artist's insight on the composition and production aspects of this music. As a huge fan of VGM, I enjoyed this video immensely. Fantastic work!
59:37 I obsessed about the “taiko drum” sound in Akira OST for decades… it is actually based on a bamboo gamelan from Bali and the genre is called ‘jegog’. “Tabu Jagra Winugu” and “Gambangan” are tracks (both available on Spotify) in which you can instantly hear the inspiration for both Kaneda’s and Tetsuo’s themes. Enjoy the musical rabbit hole :)
Dude, the Sharp X68000 is deep in your wheelhouse, you should definitely look into doing an episode on it. The Motorola 68000 was the 16-bit CPU behind a lot of platforms from the second half of the 1980s - the Sega Genesis, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, and the Sharp X68000. The X68000 was the highest spec consumer personal computer in the world at the time, I believe. It was crazy expensive, like $5000-6000 in today's money. But because of its power, it became the de facto dev kit for a lot of Japanese arcade developers, perhaps most notably Capcom. For this reason the X68000 became an arcade port powerhouse, getting ports of Konami, Capcom and Sega titles that were as close to perfect as anybody was going to get at home. Not to mention some amazing exclusives like Castlevania Chronicles. TechnoSoft were X68000 supporters, which made their games - like Thunder Force II - easy downports to the Mega Drive (in fact the original Japanese Mega Drive version is titled Thunder Force II MD to indicate the difference). The X68000 had a direct and influential role on the Mega Drive becoming a home for shmups, as well as the early Capcom arcade ports that Sega were able to do in-house like Ghouls n' Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds & Strider. Not to mention the black model was one of the coolest looking PC shells ever. It's easily accessible through emulation these days, and there was also an X68000 mini released in Japan recently.
Right on. The X68000 is legendary! I remember looking at pics in magazines and drooling over the thing and its games. It was like the Neo-Geo - the super cool and powerful system that you (as a kid) could never have and could only dream about... a true sports super-car of a game systems.
This genre is so rich with amazing soundtracks, that inevitably some fantastic ones are gonna be missing. Off the top of my head, Gradius III, U.N. Squadron, Mamoru-Kun Curse!, and Bio-Hazard Battle come to mind immediately.
Nice seeing Iain here, I was a fan of Aereogramme back in the depths of time and it's good to find out he's a big gamer! Very interesting hearing his takes on the music (oh, and for the record I'm a British Darius fan!)
I know I'm gonna have to listen to that band now, I've been going through his discography. Also shout out to the Brit Undergroundlings XD I tease you guys only because I love you and enjoy your accents and culture ha.
The split EP (in the fishtank - Low Tide) with ISIS was ace. Also just to say thanks - after 30 odd years I’m finally enjoying (and understanding!) shmups after watching the intro videos on this channel 😅
1:12:18 I was just thinking that Lords Of Thunder sounds like it has some neoclassical metal elements then Iain mentioned Yngwie Malmsteen like 5 seconds later lol
I just now saw it all happen live on this entire special episode, @TheElectricUnderground, and you and Iain did such a grand-tier SPECTACULAR job in bringing together a massive celebration of how shmup music is built and designed to be quite masterfully phenomenal the way it is *supposed* to be in the first place, I gotta say for sure... from the compositions, to the instruments and percussions used within the tracks themselves, and even to the big finishes of each piece of music within an entire shmup OST, much more importantly also!! And that all is ESPECIALLY so true indeed 1,000% in the picks that you both have chosen based on how you finalized the picks of over 600 shmup players within our whole shmup community, too... and even a rather lot of my favorite shmup picks are in there, as well - but I am not gonna spoil it for those watching!! 😍🤘🏿 Overall, with all of that and that masterfully first-rate nonstop analysis throughout from within the full entirety of just over three (3) hours long... this splendidly most unforgettable video is ESSENTIAL VIEWING indeed for any shmup music connoisseur like myself, as well as you and Iain Cook as the wonderful, wonderful both of such, too... and also for anyone who wants to learn how the music in shmups are supposed to be rather excitingly enthralling by nature more than any other genre of gaming when it comes to how awesome they are built to be, even if you are developing your next truly great shmup title yourself, also!! My big-time rather congratulations to the two of you, Mark MSX and Iain, for successfully putting this special episode of The Electric Underground together, as I have had literally the best time of my life with this one most genuinely indeed... and very easily ranks as one of my year’s absolute best in 2023 that I have ever, ever, EVER watched on RUclips, period, bar rather none!!! 🎊💖💖🎊
What an awesome comment! I m really glad you enjoyed the vid and the premier! It was really cool how many insights iain had on the composition of the music, it s one of my fav vids to date for sure
Bro, what? This was super unexpected lol I love CHVRCHES! I saw them live in Phoenix years ago and actually saw them twice because Lauren wasn't feeling good and had to stop halfway through so they gave us all free tickets to the next show
Very fun video that has me itching to play some of these games. Overall I think the voters did well 👍 Probs to Iain for being a great guest, putting in the preparation and bringing some terms and analysis! What really makes the video though is the fantastic editing, getting to listen to those tunes while you're discussing really allowed me to follow along and appreciate your talking points.
Thank you so much apfel!! Yes the editing of the music to match up what we are talking about was a MASSIVE undertaking, but it def paid off at the end :-)
I'm still watching, but I just have to comment that I absolutely love that you took an extra moment to focus on the rap section of Shudder in the Einhander soundtrack. It was one of my favorite parts of videogame music when I was young, just because it was so unexpected.
I'm glad you enjoyed our little conversation about nu metal XD I was a fan of Lincoln Park back in the day and I remember how most of my posh friends (as the brits would say) sneered at the band ha.
I'd describe ZeroRanger's OST (& its other elements, even the storytelling/world) not as retro but as kind of "miniature". It's like Pico-8 where it overlaps with old systems in a lot of its limitations but the point isn't necessarily to recreate the old stuff but rather get that small, personal, handmade aesthetic. It's like doodle being used not as a stepping stone to the final piece but the final piece itself because it has that more private personal feel to it. They used GS Wavetable I believe
Yes that's a great way to describe it. It is limited in how big or lush it sounds, which fits perfectly with the aesthetic of the visuals. I do think there is a sort of retro vibe to the ost, but like iain said, it's not in the cheesy way of trying to copy old osts for the sake of being retro, but rather by using a similar philosophy of limitation which is why I think it works so well. it's the difference between being retro on the surface vs being retro by design.
@@TheElectricUnderground If my memory isnt shit and they are using GS Wavetable then the samples they use are basically the same ones a lot of old pc games use, and the same ones that load up if you for example open a .midi file in windows media player
I just watched the video in a single sitting, it was a blast! Having Iain over is huge, his input on the matter is super valuable and informative, hope you can make together similar videos in the future! I wanted to clarify something though. Zuntata is not a person, Zuntata is the name they gave to Taito’s sound department, and also the in house band that was made by mostly their composers. So when people say “Oh Zuntata did this”, it’s really different people who composed the songs. Hisayoshi Ogura is the legend that composed the entire arcade Darius series up until G Darius, as every member of Zuntata left Taito after a fallout with the execs when Taito was acquired by Square Enix in the mid 2000. The Zuntata of today it’s all new people, that’s why the Burst series has different music, although they brought back Ogura to do at least one track I believe, which is cool. There were many members that worked on many different games there. For example, RayCrisis is on the list as well, the Ray series is all Tamayo Kawamoto.
Yeah, I appreciate the enthusiasm for the music from both, but was a little annoyed whenever it was clear they didn't really bother factchecking some background knowledge stuff like the composers ^^'
@@XylitoI Mark printed the list to have it at hand, I know I would have put the composers next to each game to make sure everything is correct. It’s so easy to screw it up when speaking by memory alone, I’ve been there haha
Some of those Japanese in-house bands produced some truly great music. Next to Zuntata, there was also Konami Kukeiha Club, Sega Sound Team Band and SNK Sound Team.
Dude I can't tell you how great it is to see a video like this as someone who's obsesed with old hardware/synths/chips and just getting into SHMUPs in general. And even though Cho Ren Sha is bottom of the list, the soundtrack absolutely blew me away with how the composer was using the DX chip. Especially considering the game was a freeware passion project.
Somehow just got around to listening to this one. This was great! Pleasure Trip is such an amazing tune, glad you highlighted it. It’s definitely one of my favorites. Justice of Galaxy is definitely my other favorite so it was rad you guys each picked one of them.
Enjoyed this video. :) In terms of the DX7 and George Michael, the first track that comes to mind is “Faith.” Chris Porter engineered on the track and said that a DX7 was used for the intro as well as a cathedral organ preset. As far as the Yamaha DX7, it was the best-selling synth of the 80s so you’ve heard it everywhere from the original Top Gun soundtrack to the Taco Bell, bell sound effect. By the way, Cho Ren Sha apparently means “Super Rapid Fire.” In regards to the panning, the first Genesis/Mega Drive chip (Yamaha YM2612 (1988), the FM one not the Texas Instrument PSG SN 76489) had 3 positions per channel (left, right or center) so the only way to get a single sound panned to anything other than those 3 positions was to duplicate the sound on two different channels and control the level on each one independently to make it stronger on one side or the other. The Sharp X68000 (1987) used the YM2151 in conjunction with a stereo DAC to pan the 8-channels of FM (compared to 6 on the Genesis’ YM2612). Unlike the YM2612, I haven’t composed using that chip and DAC combo so I can’t say how it handled panning. I do know that it lacked some of the Genesis’ YM2612 tricks referred to as “channel 3 modes.” While one of these channel 3 modes on the Genesis (Composite Sine Mode) was fairly esoteric and could be used for speech synthesis, the other (sound effect mode) was very versatile and I especially like what it can do for electric guitars. Basically, the mode lets you get individual control of the 4 different frequencies used to create the FM sound channel, instead of just defining one frequency and using ratios with coarse increments for the rest. Here’s an example from the @Alianger Genesis chip-tune remix of “Beach Brawl” in Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. The really chunky electric guitar is done using that Channel 3 sound effect mode to get a really memorable sound out of the YM2612. ruclips.net/video/PqHclIWM87Q/видео.html Anyway, I really enjoyed hearing you guys talk about the chip side of the Cho Ren Sha soundtrack, so I thought I’d add that extra detail in case it was of any interest. :)
For me it's espgaluda, it was the first time I put a shmup soundtrack in my playlist. But Refrain prism memories is my all time favorite, unforgettable from beginning to the end, they are my most replayed games because of their OSTs.
Totally agree with you about Einhänder being higher on the list. :) Speaking from my own experience composing game and short film music as well as talking with my friends that did the music for games like MK11, these days in the U.S. it’s not uncommon for game music to be composed at a later stage of production. However, having spoken with Uematsu about his work composing music at Square in the 90s it was definitely more common for it to get started much earlier in the process and often be done with less to go off of. In terms of leaving room in the music for the sound effects, you hear Hollywood composers talk about doing this all the time (first one that comes to mind is Elliot Goldenthal talking about Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) and I’ve definitely done it some of my game music composing. It’s a lot easier to do in a game where you are providing finished recorded audio mixes (like in Einhänder) as opposed to when you’re doing chiptunes - but is possible in both. Two things that come up a lot in terms of shmups with chiptunes are audio levels (having weapon SFX too loud completely drowns out the music in some games with good OSTs) and voice stealing (where the chiptunes are using so many sound channels that the SFX have to mute music notes to make a sound). Not a shmup thing but you can hear an interesting example of the way that SFX and music fight for control of the sound chip in Tetris on Game Boy with the main theme A. Whenever you pause the game and the unpause you’ll hear a sound effect play and silence and when the music comes back in, there will be a different sound preset used in the music until the end of the current bar. That’s because to save space, the instrument patch isn’t defined for every note - just when there’s a change. So the SFX changes the sound, but the music pattern hasn’t been written to account for that possibility. So until the next time the instrument sound is defined in the playback pattern, it keeps playing using the sound settings designed for the pause sound effect. I used to pause and unpause to force the game to play with that beefier sound for a few notes at a time on purpose as a kid. :)
I know and have seen Chvrches so was thinking “this could be interesting”. Soon as I saw the New Net City in the background, knew we were in good hands 👍 Iain was such a great guest for this topic. He came so prepared with notes and solid opinions. Then brought a lot of knowledge about the synthesizer, sound chips and music composer. I learned a lot! Thanks for making these long format deep dive content videos Mark! Appreciate the hard work that went into it.
Fun fact: in Mushihimesama Double Arrange album, the "name entry" music is arranged by Eschatos's composer(Yousuke Yasui). what unique about this arrange is Yousuke put stage 1 Battle Garegga element on that track. I think its a tribute for Manabu Namiki.
This was very entertaining, the time flew by, you guys are awesome. I want more! 😅 I'm curious how in the world you managed to get such a prolific musician to come on the show, there has to be a story there. In addition to seeming like a super cool, down to earth guy, Iain's tech knowledge was impressive. I was waiting to get him with "well, akshully" on the obscure soundchip and synthesis stuff but he was on it 😂
I’m glad Mark talked Underground Resistance when announcing Battle Garegga as the most popular soundtrack. That one track that rips off Jupiter Jazz is too much 😂 I was happily surprised to see that Einhander made the list - the soundtrack fits that game like a glove (minus the cheesy vocals).
Yes I thought it would be interesting to discuss how much it uses that song ha, I personally don't think it's a big deal at all, but it is really interesting and shows what the composer was listening to at the time ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground Yeah Underground Resistance were fairly big in Japan at the time for people going out to listen to music, actually Detroit Techno as a whole was big over here then. It’s where a lot of those guys came to make money.
Massive video, awesome stuff! This sort of content is how we get fresh crossover blood into the genre. I was unaware of those 360 arrange versions as well, thanks! I love PS1 style graphics for shmups but find the cubic nightmare humans in RPGs off-putting. (good to hear you're pro-Wham!)
Very entertaining thanks! Music is right up there as one of my fave things about shmups in general. This has inspired me to plug my old XB360 in again, loaded it up with shmups a few years ago but never had much time to play them, Eschatos looks GREAT, right up my alley.
Iain's a trooper to agree to volunteer such an extensive amount of his time for a vid like this. Having once worked in the A&E press when print was still only about 70% dead: I'll say from a publicity point of view... THIS is how you keep a media presence as a working artist when you're in between albums or tours. Don't just sit and wait to do the next press junket ahead of the next career step, talk about other people's art that you're inspired by when you have nothing new of your own to offer at the moment if a creator pitches you the chance. Nice catch! I'm familiar with his band but never gave them a chance till I started warming up to some synth-pop in the last couple of years (I'm mainly rock and metal). Consider me a new Chvrches listener thanks to this vid.
Great guest. I really enjoyed Chvrches first album. Didn't listen to any of their newer stuff yet but that first one was played constantly in my house for a good while
I love Einhander. I wish Squaresoft would make a sequel to it but there's probably little chance of that ever happening. Back in 2000 I imported a copy of the Japanese version because the CD artwork is so cool looking.
Great video and discussion, with many of my favourite soundtracks represented (ika, ketsui). the only notable omission for me is Under Defeat, which is loaded with hot jams, but otherwise this vid is a banger.
Thanks so much Jay!!! Yes I felt the exact same way about under defeat not getting included. I actually snuck in some under defeat music at one point ha. I think in the soldier blade section.
Ian Cook was a great guest! I love that you guys talk about how there's greatness to limitations of certain soundchips or soundboards. There's a lot of times that I prefer in-game (non-arranged) versions of songs. Perfect example is Ketsiu arcade vs DFKBL Arrange OST. While Virt did a wonderful job arranging the soundtrack, it just doesn't hit as hard for me on certain tracks like the arcade. I love the "GRIMEYNESS" that Ian speaks of for the Boss track. Another thing is that I'm a bit nostalgic to MIDIs, so ZeroRanger and especially Touhou hits that sweet spot for me.
The Einhänder rap is the best use of the “Lyrical Paragraph” sample from the sample library “Masterbits CLIMAX 9 Rapsody” (Vocals ll).” The original sample is way slower (which is the way it got used in other game soundtracks like Street Fighter 3) and undistorted. Here’s a link to it, so you can hear the lyrics more clearly. ruclips.net/video/XAJ1V8DKsDk/видео.htmlsi=5-4A0noxS0nIBvXL
Really cool video! Didn't think I'd see Boy Meets World here :) The cons are definitely as you say; kind of turns into a popularity contest, but good list none the less. Would have loved to see Gunvein or Kamui! It'd be interesting to see some beat 'em up too - need some of that Fight n Rage elevator guitar.
I love boy meets world. It's one of my favorite TV shows of all time. Every now and then I throw in gifs from shows that I like that I think match the context cut, like American Psycho, Sailor Moon, and Boy Meets World lol. Imagine a show that crossed over all 3, that would be something.
haha a serial killer magical girl growing up and learning how to deal with day to day situations. Asking her neighbor vague advice about the ethics of her doings; only to forget that advice next week
I know right! I like Chvrches as well! I should check out aerogramme, I never heard of it before but now I want to check it out since Iain is such a homie :-)
This is the video I've been waiting for. I'm a music producer (hobbyist) and have been writing music based on arcade style music for a couple of years now. I appreciated the technical breakdown of certain aspects of the synth use from Iain. Disappointed some of my picks didn't make this list but I've learnt about some osts I wasn't familiar with so thanks to this sick ass community for the education. Also, I'm British and don't like Darius at all. Another also, I'm getting on the patreon now because of the effort put in to give this subject the attention it deserves. Thanks Mark and Iain. Keep your finger on the trigger, rookie!
I haven't had 3 hours to sit and watch this yet, but looking at the timestamps, these are pretty much all of the shmups I was thinking of when I thought of which shmups have killer OSTs. So I think this will be quite enjoyable when I have time for it.
Gradius music is maybe regarded as cheesey / old hat by some now but personally music on Gradius 2 & 3 especially is some of my fave game music ever regardless of genre. So heroic, joyous and uplifting in a classical way. Even the music in Gradius 1, very simplistic by today's standards but if you look at what else was around in 1985, it was taking game music to a new level.
I can’t tell you how many times I used to listen to the SNES Gradius 3 OST off that cart back in the day. I think that the SNES beats the arcade OST as well.
One thing I really enjoy about the Zeroranger soundtrack is how many of the tracks start. They probably realize that it'd be the part players hear as they constantly restart. And it also ends up working so well with white vanilla where each track only plays for a limited time.
Just caught the last two minutes of the stream. Not really my kinda music but they have had some good songs over the years. Looking forward to watching the replay
Oh yes def roll back and check it out. Also I believe Iain has a variety of different bands. One of them is like this awesome 2000s techno. Check this out: ruclips.net/video/_YsPvYGhOYM/видео.html
I've been a huge fan of Hitoshi Sakimoto ever since I played Final Fantasy XII 17 years ago. Playing Vanillaware's games made me fall in love with the other composers at his company Basiscape, including Manabu Namiki. Have not yet had the chance to listen to too many of the shmup games they've worked on, so thanks for this video. I highly recommend the battle tracks of the 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim soundtrack if you haven't listened to it yet. Namiki didn't work on it, but other composers that he's worked with on some of the soundtracks in this video have.
Chvrches rules. Perfect time for me to be getting into these games for this crossover! Also, I can watch this channel all day. Genius critiques, especially the one on RE4R, made me feel sane.
Since this is a community list it's not surprising that the most popular soundtracks are also some of the most popular games. It's what you're going to listen to over and over after all. But I have to shout out the soundtrack to Raiden V. I have major issues with the game, but soundtrack, independent of the game, is amazing
I was really surprised there wasn't any raiden on the list as well, as popular as the series is. But I wonder if that's because the series isn't as known for it's music as it is its gameplay.
Great video and interesting discussions, especially how the music production is made to fit the visual style in newer titles (nostalgia?). The guest was awesome with his technical knowledge and music theory/education. I'm just wondering how the list would have looked like on a poll done by Shmup Junkie (...no Toaplan, Konami or Irem has to hurt).
Ha yeah my fanbase tends to be more bullet hell heavy than the junkie fanbase, but I was surprised at how balanced the list was overall. Like there were some PC engine picks and a genesis game made it to the top 5 ha.
Yeah, the list of soundtracks from your poll was surprisingly balanced and led to interesting discussions. No complaints. Every best of Shmup soundtrack list is gone be awesome and unique anyways.
I really love the original DOJ tbh; each stage is just so unique and stage 4 in particular is just so rough and gritty and industrial and dark which I think works so well for it
This is exactly the kind of video I look for, great choice on the guest, . I thought this was very engaging to listen to and overall good picks for the 20 selections here. I like Soldier blade but I agree it's not as catchy to me. For PCE; Nexr, Air Zonk, or Magical chase use the sound hardware in better ways, are more diverse, and have more depth in their sound, but that's just my own probably less popular opinion. I think they're worth a listen. the 32 bit era choices here are what I'd choose as well, Mushi is also my preferred Cave ost so I'm glad to see that high up. also YES Border Down, I've been grinding 1CC attempts so the music is burned into my subconscious, yet I never get tired of it. the usual Yasuhisa Watanabe / Super Sweep greatness
I'm really glad you enjoyed the vid! I'm really proud of it and Iain did such a good job as a guest that I wanted to do the topic justice. Editing this whole thing together probably took around 30 hours no joke ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground I can tell that it did, you had a lot of passion for this one. editing in the music when you both talk about it adds a lot of time and work
7:26 Fun fact: Manabu Namiki used a Sharp X68000 to compose the soundtrack to Battle Garegga. So in a roundabout sorta way, this video came full circle.
I will never get the strange bitterness from the wider shmup-scene towards Touhou. The games are great, the music is great, the charm is undeniable, characters are memorable. I love my Cave shmups but there is something special about Touhou, soundtrack being just a part of it.
Battle Garegga OSTs are truly underrated as they remind me steam punk - like theme among the space. This game also has a setting of steam punk - like planes, and the players, Vayne Brothers(We can know them from Armed Cop Batriders as unlockable contents) are like WW1 pilot. These make Battle Garegga one of the most favorite SHMUP games along with Battle Bakraid.
I do think it is a good ost. I just think compared to the entire genre's crazy deep library of osts, I think it benefits a bit from popularity more than music quality. For example, I love the SNES osts of UN squad, Axelay, and Star Fox, and none of them made the list at all. So I think Solider Blade fans can feel perfectly happy with an 18th placing ha.
Mushihimesama is one of those games I sometimes play just to listen to the music and when you count the arrange and 1.5 remixes it's at the top of the list for me. So much good music on display here! Check out 19xx if you want some moody shmup tunes while you play.
Ha yes the crossover you never know you wanted, but now that you have it, it feels so good lol. Seriously Iain was an amazing guest, what other rock star sits through a 6 hour marathon session to talk about shmup music.
@@TheElectricUnderground its amazing. This is the most random convergence of two things im really into, in a long time. You have a great channel and Chvrches makes some great music.
i feel like mahou daisakusen / sorcer striker needs a mention. the soundtrack is sooo good and fits the game extremely well. the stage 1 theme properly makes you feel like you're going out on a grand adventure :)
1. @TheElectricUnderground This is often confusing for people but "MIDI" is just a data standard, similar to like... USB. Sometimes it is a stand-in for "digitally programmed music", but in general basically all synth instruments speak the midi protocol and can be played with MIDI. 2.I think when discussing PSX graphics we have to remember that they were intended to be displayed on CRT television screens, where the blur between pixels did a LOT of work in cleaning up the images. Old-school games were not jagged little pixels, they were blurry little shapes that had an impressive amount of fidelity. Looking up CRT vs LCD, it can be mind blowing the difference in image quality. The red square in the middle of Dracula's eye becomes a menacing glow, making the effect much less silly and much more effective.
Oh that's really cool! Ironically i found them due to the good old youtube alg recommending their video with Hayley Williams, since I am a big Paramore fan.
Raiden I & Raiden II have some of the greatest tracks in any game ever, and they perfectly embody piloting a prototype superjet to combat an alien invasion. I had The Raiden Project for PSX, as a kid, and the track that plays during stage 5 in Raiden II, the last level where you're on Earth, is still the song I turn to when I need a morale boost going into work. Just envisioning customers and tasks as lazily twirling kamikaze jets I'm shearing through with a writhing, pink plasma beam. (ayo wtf) I also love that boss, the alien shuttle that increasingly sheds its damaged armor over the course of the fight, eventually also becoming a bright red superjet
I'm not sure if you already made a video of it but im new to shmups and I would love to see you make a tier list or a beginners guide of the shmups on steam specifically. I need some reccomendations on where to start.
First thing I do when starting a Shmup, wether I already played it or not, is slightly turning down the fx sounds and moderately turning up the music master
Oh that's such a cool idea ha. i do that as well when I need to rip soundtracks sometimes lol. Some shmups don't allow you to mute the sound effects though, punks
Hi Mark, any chance you could recommend me (or us by the mean of a video) the easiest but still great Shmup available? I'm really satisfied when I can complete a Shmup in the easiest difficulty. So far, Danmaku 3 (my favorite), Gunvein, deathsmiles, some psikyo titles and Cosmo dreamer, Razion ex, are in my noobie palmares...and I'm look for more. If no time no worries. I owe you most of these titles already ;) cheers@@TheElectricUnderground
I usually skip these long episodes on any channel, but this is excellent. One question: how could TF IV influence other MD/Gen OST's if it came out after most of them? My fave soundtracks are pretty much 32 bit: Darius Gaiden, G Darius, TF V, Gradius Gaiden, Einhander, etc.
I suspect the Amiga will be overlooked here. I'm not going to pretend for one moment that western developed computer shmups come close to the best Japanese arcade games gameplay-wise, but some of the music on some C64 and Amiga games was immense!
Sadly no Neo Geo on the list. I think the neo geo shmups tend to sneak under the radar, vs the PC engine shmups. I'd love to see blazing star make an appearance ha.
It is crazy but that man is just a shmup music machine ha. I do wonder that because garegga was his first ost, if he went EXTRA hard to try to make it stand out and special, that's my theory.
6:58 The X68000 was named after the Motorola 68000 cpu which is the same chip that's in the Sega Genesis, the Neo Geo, and Capcom Play System arcade boards. I heard it was the computer that the games for those systems were developed on. Not really that random
I really gotta apreciate the surprising shoutout to Sin & Punishment's OST here, also of my all time favorites. Btw, as a little correction, Toshiya Yamanaka was actually the composer for that game, and also one of the most underapreciated composers in general. Not even Axelay for some SNES representation though? Popularity bias really is strong with these votes. Aside from Soldier Blade, MUSHA Aleste is another one that really doesn't deserve his place here IMHO.
I am gonna be honest.. I listen to the Soldier Blade OST in my car. Great Chip Tune. My favorite OST ever so far though is Gunvein. It gets the heart pumping... and I am a metal head.
There are so many good ones missing here like Infinos Gaiden, Ginga Force, Natsuki Chronicles, Dannaku Unlimited 3, Jets and Guns 2. I just love shmup soundtracks.
I love that he mentioned Trevor Horn’s production! He was in the Buggles and later joined Yes for a spell. They actually put out a great album called “Drama”. I must have missed one memo cause I still don’t think Linkin Park is cool ;)
Nevermind being a member of Chvrches. That man listened to 21 video game albums and took notes in preparation for this, then stayed for probably 4+ hours. Gigachad
OH yes, the recording process was actually like 6 hours long lol, so he was an absolute trouper and a fantastic guest! I'm really happy with how the ep turned out.
What a dedicated
Wow it's like 2 of my worlds colliding! I'm a huge fan of Chvrches, I had no clue Iain was such a shmump fan too 😲
Yes it is a crazy crossover that I'm really excited about ha. Iain was a fantastic guest as well!
@@TheElectricUnderground The next goal: have Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES record some lyrics for Lords of Thunder! 😊👌
This man became instantly my favourite musician in the whole world. Not only a good musician, but also a competent player with a good knowledge of the medium. What's not to love in there?!
so excited for this video. fantastic choice of guest. seems like the last thing anyone on youtube wants to do when discussing music in games is speak with a professional who actually knows what they're talking about.
Ha no kidding lol!! It was great getting Iain on because he could explain how the music was composed in a way I could never ha
Ikaruga is just… wow. Its my favorite OST of any game ever. From stage 1, not only does it tell you the story of the stage in its music, the next song after builds from the last while also telling its own story, on top of every song being incredibly memorable. Hard to believe the director composed the whole thing by himself.
Ikaruga is solid, but it's hard for me to not see the massive shadow of Silvergun when I listen to it ha. Silvergun is insane and easy top 5 for me personally.
@@TheElectricUnderground yeah, Ikaruga just doesn’t feel nearly as cool as RS.
What an awesome guest! It was great hearing a professional/popular artist's insight on the composition and production aspects of this music. As a huge fan of VGM, I enjoyed this video immensely. Fantastic work!
Thanks so much abyss! Yes Iain was a fantastic guest, I m really happy with how the vid turned out :-)
59:37 I obsessed about the “taiko drum” sound in Akira OST for decades… it is actually based on a bamboo gamelan from Bali and the genre is called ‘jegog’. “Tabu Jagra Winugu” and “Gambangan” are tracks (both available on Spotify) in which you can instantly hear the inspiration for both Kaneda’s and Tetsuo’s themes. Enjoy the musical rabbit hole :)
Dude, the Sharp X68000 is deep in your wheelhouse, you should definitely look into doing an episode on it. The Motorola 68000 was the 16-bit CPU behind a lot of platforms from the second half of the 1980s - the Sega Genesis, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, and the Sharp X68000. The X68000 was the highest spec consumer personal computer in the world at the time, I believe. It was crazy expensive, like $5000-6000 in today's money. But because of its power, it became the de facto dev kit for a lot of Japanese arcade developers, perhaps most notably Capcom. For this reason the X68000 became an arcade port powerhouse, getting ports of Konami, Capcom and Sega titles that were as close to perfect as anybody was going to get at home. Not to mention some amazing exclusives like Castlevania Chronicles. TechnoSoft were X68000 supporters, which made their games - like Thunder Force II - easy downports to the Mega Drive (in fact the original Japanese Mega Drive version is titled Thunder Force II MD to indicate the difference). The X68000 had a direct and influential role on the Mega Drive becoming a home for shmups, as well as the early Capcom arcade ports that Sega were able to do in-house like Ghouls n' Ghosts, Forgotten Worlds & Strider. Not to mention the black model was one of the coolest looking PC shells ever. It's easily accessible through emulation these days, and there was also an X68000 mini released in Japan recently.
Right on. The X68000 is legendary! I remember looking at pics in magazines and drooling over the thing and its games. It was like the Neo-Geo - the super cool and powerful system that you (as a kid) could never have and could only dream about... a true sports super-car of a game systems.
This genre is so rich with amazing soundtracks, that inevitably some fantastic ones are gonna be missing. Off the top of my head, Gradius III, U.N. Squadron, Mamoru-Kun Curse!, and Bio-Hazard Battle come to mind immediately.
The intro screen to Thunder Force IV is so legendary and insane, gets you so pumped to play the game. The peak of the Genesis.
Nice seeing Iain here, I was a fan of Aereogramme back in the depths of time and it's good to find out he's a big gamer! Very interesting hearing his takes on the music (oh, and for the record I'm a British Darius fan!)
I know I'm gonna have to listen to that band now, I've been going through his discography. Also shout out to the Brit Undergroundlings XD I tease you guys only because I love you and enjoy your accents and culture ha.
The split EP (in the fishtank - Low Tide) with ISIS was ace.
Also just to say thanks - after 30 odd years I’m finally enjoying (and understanding!) shmups after watching the intro videos on this channel 😅
1:12:18 I was just thinking that Lords Of Thunder sounds like it has some neoclassical metal elements then Iain mentioned Yngwie Malmsteen like 5 seconds later lol
I'm british and Darius is my favourite shmup series!Great video.
I just now saw it all happen live on this entire special episode, @TheElectricUnderground, and you and Iain did such a grand-tier SPECTACULAR job in bringing together a massive celebration of how shmup music is built and designed to be quite masterfully phenomenal the way it is *supposed* to be in the first place, I gotta say for sure... from the compositions, to the instruments and percussions used within the tracks themselves, and even to the big finishes of each piece of music within an entire shmup OST, much more importantly also!! And that all is ESPECIALLY so true indeed 1,000% in the picks that you both have chosen based on how you finalized the picks of over 600 shmup players within our whole shmup community, too... and even a rather lot of my favorite shmup picks are in there, as well - but I am not gonna spoil it for those watching!! 😍🤘🏿
Overall, with all of that and that masterfully first-rate nonstop analysis throughout from within the full entirety of just over three (3) hours long... this splendidly most unforgettable video is ESSENTIAL VIEWING indeed for any shmup music connoisseur like myself, as well as you and Iain Cook as the wonderful, wonderful both of such, too... and also for anyone who wants to learn how the music in shmups are supposed to be rather excitingly enthralling by nature more than any other genre of gaming when it comes to how awesome they are built to be, even if you are developing your next truly great shmup title yourself, also!! My big-time rather congratulations to the two of you, Mark MSX and Iain, for successfully putting this special episode of The Electric Underground together, as I have had literally the best time of my life with this one most genuinely indeed... and very easily ranks as one of my year’s absolute best in 2023 that I have ever, ever, EVER watched on RUclips, period, bar rather none!!! 🎊💖💖🎊
What an awesome comment! I m really glad you enjoyed the vid and the premier! It was really cool how many insights iain had on the composition of the music, it s one of my fav vids to date for sure
Thanks for the kind words! ❤
Bro, what? This was super unexpected lol I love CHVRCHES! I saw them live in Phoenix years ago and actually saw them twice because Lauren wasn't feeling good and had to stop halfway through so they gave us all free tickets to the next show
Oh that's really cool!!! Yes, on their next USA tour I'm def gonna go out and see them in concert.
@@TheElectricUnderground You'll enjoy it, they put on a great show!
Very fun video that has me itching to play some of these games. Overall I think the voters did well 👍
Probs to Iain for being a great guest, putting in the preparation and bringing some terms and analysis!
What really makes the video though is the fantastic editing, getting to listen to those tunes while you're discussing really allowed me to follow along and appreciate your talking points.
Thank you so much apfel!! Yes the editing of the music to match up what we are talking about was a MASSIVE undertaking, but it def paid off at the end :-)
Oh wow! I was tripping when I heard Iain Cook name checking you on My Perfect Console. This is the next step!
I'm still watching, but I just have to comment that I absolutely love that you took an extra moment to focus on the rap section of Shudder in the Einhander soundtrack. It was one of my favorite parts of videogame music when I was young, just because it was so unexpected.
I'm glad you enjoyed our little conversation about nu metal XD I was a fan of Lincoln Park back in the day and I remember how most of my posh friends (as the brits would say) sneered at the band ha.
I'd describe ZeroRanger's OST (& its other elements, even the storytelling/world) not as retro but as kind of "miniature". It's like Pico-8 where it overlaps with old systems in a lot of its limitations but the point isn't necessarily to recreate the old stuff but rather get that small, personal, handmade aesthetic. It's like doodle being used not as a stepping stone to the final piece but the final piece itself because it has that more private personal feel to it. They used GS Wavetable I believe
Yes that's a great way to describe it. It is limited in how big or lush it sounds, which fits perfectly with the aesthetic of the visuals. I do think there is a sort of retro vibe to the ost, but like iain said, it's not in the cheesy way of trying to copy old osts for the sake of being retro, but rather by using a similar philosophy of limitation which is why I think it works so well. it's the difference between being retro on the surface vs being retro by design.
@@TheElectricUnderground If my memory isnt shit and they are using GS Wavetable then the samples they use are basically the same ones a lot of old pc games use, and the same ones that load up if you for example open a .midi file in windows media player
I just watched the video in a single sitting, it was a blast! Having Iain over is huge, his input on the matter is super valuable and informative, hope you can make together similar videos in the future!
I wanted to clarify something though. Zuntata is not a person, Zuntata is the name they gave to Taito’s sound department, and also the in house band that was made by mostly their composers. So when people say “Oh Zuntata did this”, it’s really different people who composed the songs. Hisayoshi Ogura is the legend that composed the entire arcade Darius series up until G Darius, as every member of Zuntata left Taito after a fallout with the execs when Taito was acquired by Square Enix in the mid 2000. The Zuntata of today it’s all new people, that’s why the Burst series has different music, although they brought back Ogura to do at least one track I believe, which is cool. There were many members that worked on many different games there. For example, RayCrisis is on the list as well, the Ray series is all Tamayo Kawamoto.
Yeah, I appreciate the enthusiasm for the music from both, but was a little annoyed whenever it was clear they didn't really bother factchecking some background knowledge stuff like the composers ^^'
@@XylitoI Mark printed the list to have it at hand, I know I would have put the composers next to each game to make sure everything is correct. It’s so easy to screw it up when speaking by memory alone, I’ve been there haha
Some of those Japanese in-house bands produced some truly great music. Next to Zuntata, there was also Konami Kukeiha Club, Sega Sound Team Band and SNK Sound Team.
@@DancesRainyStreets Yeah, SNK’s Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan, Falcom’s JDK Band, Capcom’s Alpha Lyla, Data East’s Gamadelic. They were all awesome!
Dude I can't tell you how great it is to see a video like this as someone who's obsesed with old hardware/synths/chips and just getting into SHMUPs in general. And even though Cho Ren Sha is bottom of the list, the soundtrack absolutely blew me away with how the composer was using the DX chip. Especially considering the game was a freeware passion project.
I m really glad you appreciate the discussion!! It was really cool getting in depth about the games
Somehow just got around to listening to this one. This was great!
Pleasure Trip is such an amazing tune, glad you highlighted it. It’s definitely one of my favorites. Justice of Galaxy is definitely my other favorite so it was rad you guys each picked one of them.
Enjoyed this video. :) In terms of the DX7 and George Michael, the first track that comes to mind is “Faith.” Chris Porter engineered on the track and said that a DX7 was used for the intro as well as a cathedral organ preset.
As far as the Yamaha DX7, it was the best-selling synth of the 80s so you’ve heard it everywhere from the original Top Gun soundtrack to the Taco Bell, bell sound effect.
By the way, Cho Ren Sha apparently means “Super Rapid Fire.”
In regards to the panning, the first Genesis/Mega Drive chip (Yamaha YM2612 (1988), the FM one not the Texas Instrument PSG SN 76489) had 3 positions per channel (left, right or center) so the only way to get a single sound panned to anything other than those 3 positions was to duplicate the sound on two different channels and control the level on each one independently to make it stronger on one side or the other.
The Sharp X68000 (1987) used the YM2151 in conjunction with a stereo DAC to pan the 8-channels of FM (compared to 6 on the Genesis’ YM2612). Unlike the YM2612, I haven’t composed using that chip and DAC combo so I can’t say how it handled panning. I do know that it lacked some of the Genesis’ YM2612 tricks referred to as “channel 3 modes.” While one of these channel 3 modes on the Genesis (Composite Sine Mode) was fairly esoteric and could be used for speech synthesis, the other (sound effect mode) was very versatile and I especially like what it can do for electric guitars. Basically, the mode lets you get individual control of the 4 different frequencies used to create the FM sound channel, instead of just defining one frequency and using ratios with coarse increments for the rest.
Here’s an example from the @Alianger Genesis chip-tune remix of “Beach Brawl” in Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. The really chunky electric guitar is done using that Channel 3 sound effect mode to get a really memorable sound out of the YM2612.
ruclips.net/video/PqHclIWM87Q/видео.html
Anyway, I really enjoyed hearing you guys talk about the chip side of the Cho Ren Sha soundtrack, so I thought I’d add that extra detail in case it was of any interest. :)
Glad someone else left this comment! Also, if you need any more proof of its iconic status - the bassline to smooth criminal is a DX7 too
For me it's espgaluda, it was the first time I put a shmup soundtrack in my playlist.
But Refrain prism memories is my all time favorite, unforgettable from beginning to the end, they are my most replayed games because of their OSTs.
Same here, espgaluda is my favorite. Xceed 3rd is second
Mark this is one of your best videos in my opinion. Really cool, thanks!
Also, I think the reason DFK gets so much love is because Black Label's unique OST is one of Namiki's best and one of his most popular
Yes I really wish the voters would have specified black label arrange ha, as I think it s really great as well
yess the black label character select screen is my favorite video game song of all time!
BL is my absolute favourite and most listened to, I was hoping it’d get a mention in the video.
i'm with you mark in regards to radiant silvergun, it's positively stunning. excellent video, your production skills are insane bro! 🎃👻
Yeah silvergun is amazing! Also thank you very much about the production, I spent SO much time editing this bad boy together ha
Totally agree with you about Einhänder being higher on the list. :) Speaking from my own experience composing game and short film music as well as talking with my friends that did the music for games like MK11, these days in the U.S. it’s not uncommon for game music to be composed at a later stage of production. However, having spoken with Uematsu about his work composing music at Square in the 90s it was definitely more common for it to get started much earlier in the process and often be done with less to go off of.
In terms of leaving room in the music for the sound effects, you hear Hollywood composers talk about doing this all the time (first one that comes to mind is Elliot Goldenthal talking about Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) and I’ve definitely done it some of my game music composing. It’s a lot easier to do in a game where you are providing finished recorded audio mixes (like in Einhänder) as opposed to when you’re doing chiptunes - but is possible in both.
Two things that come up a lot in terms of shmups with chiptunes are audio levels (having weapon SFX too loud completely drowns out the music in some games with good OSTs) and voice stealing (where the chiptunes are using so many sound channels that the SFX have to mute music notes to make a sound).
Not a shmup thing but you can hear an interesting example of the way that SFX and music fight for control of the sound chip in Tetris on Game Boy with the main theme A. Whenever you pause the game and the unpause you’ll hear a sound effect play and silence and when the music comes back in, there will be a different sound preset used in the music until the end of the current bar.
That’s because to save space, the instrument patch isn’t defined for every note - just when there’s a change. So the SFX changes the sound, but the music pattern hasn’t been written to account for that possibility. So until the next time the instrument sound is defined in the playback pattern, it keeps playing using the sound settings designed for the pause sound effect.
I used to pause and unpause to force the game to play with that beefier sound for a few notes at a time on purpose as a kid. :)
I know and have seen Chvrches so was thinking “this could be interesting”. Soon as I saw the New Net City in the background, knew we were in good hands 👍
Iain was such a great guest for this topic. He came so prepared with notes and solid opinions. Then brought a lot of knowledge about the synthesizer, sound chips and music composer. I learned a lot!
Thanks for making these long format deep dive content videos Mark! Appreciate the hard work that went into it.
Loved the analysis and the vibe, this is probably my favorite EU video to date
Fun fact: in Mushihimesama Double Arrange album, the "name entry" music is arranged by Eschatos's composer(Yousuke Yasui). what unique about this arrange is Yousuke put stage 1 Battle Garegga element on that track. I think its a tribute for Manabu Namiki.
Oh i love that album so much! I should see if I can track down a CD copy, I bet it's crazy expensive though.
@@TheElectricUnderground man yea, i think its worthy
This was very entertaining, the time flew by, you guys are awesome. I want more! 😅
I'm curious how in the world you managed to get such a prolific musician to come on the show, there has to be a story there.
In addition to seeming like a super cool, down to earth guy, Iain's tech knowledge was impressive. I was waiting to get him with "well, akshully" on the obscure soundchip and synthesis stuff but he was on it 😂
I’m glad Mark talked Underground Resistance when announcing Battle Garegga as the most popular soundtrack. That one track that rips off Jupiter Jazz is too much 😂
I was happily surprised to see that Einhander made the list - the soundtrack fits that game like a glove (minus the cheesy vocals).
Yes I thought it would be interesting to discuss how much it uses that song ha, I personally don't think it's a big deal at all, but it is really interesting and shows what the composer was listening to at the time ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground Yeah Underground Resistance were fairly big in Japan at the time for people going out to listen to music, actually Detroit Techno as a whole was big over here then. It’s where a lot of those guys came to make money.
Triple taked at this video title. What a scoop for shmup music fans, and an amazing deep dive by the two of you 😍
I know right! It's crazy I was able to get such a high profile guest, and it was an awesome time.
Massive video, awesome stuff! This sort of content is how we get fresh crossover blood into the genre. I was unaware of those 360 arrange versions as well, thanks! I love PS1 style graphics for shmups but find the cubic nightmare humans in RPGs off-putting.
(good to hear you're pro-Wham!)
F**kin' ell, 3 hour video. This is so wicked, massive congrats on this one.
Thanks so much Riff!! I bet all this music is up your alley.
Very entertaining thanks! Music is right up there as one of my fave things about shmups in general. This has inspired me to plug my old XB360 in again, loaded it up with shmups a few years ago but never had much time to play them, Eschatos looks GREAT, right up my alley.
Oh yes, def try out eschatos if you can. It's a cool and crazy game ha.
Iain's a trooper to agree to volunteer such an extensive amount of his time for a vid like this. Having once worked in the A&E press when print was still only about 70% dead: I'll say from a publicity point of view... THIS is how you keep a media presence as a working artist when you're in between albums or tours. Don't just sit and wait to do the next press junket ahead of the next career step, talk about other people's art that you're inspired by when you have nothing new of your own to offer at the moment if a creator pitches you the chance.
Nice catch! I'm familiar with his band but never gave them a chance till I started warming up to some synth-pop in the last couple of years (I'm mainly rock and metal). Consider me a new Chvrches listener thanks to this vid.
Great guest. I really enjoyed Chvrches first album. Didn't listen to any of their newer stuff yet but that first one was played constantly in my house for a good while
On their new album they have a really awesome song called final girl, Iain goes extra hard with the bassline for that one.
I love Einhander. I wish Squaresoft would make a sequel to it but there's probably little chance of that ever happening. Back in 2000 I imported a copy of the Japanese version because the CD artwork is so cool looking.
Great video! My personal fav is Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer
Awesome content, thanks to Mark and Iain for taking the time to discuss these soundtracks in depth
Great video and discussion, with many of my favourite soundtracks represented (ika, ketsui). the only notable omission for me is Under Defeat, which is loaded with hot jams, but otherwise this vid is a banger.
Thanks so much Jay!!! Yes I felt the exact same way about under defeat not getting included. I actually snuck in some under defeat music at one point ha. I think in the soldier blade section.
Ian Cook was a great guest! I love that you guys talk about how there's greatness to limitations of certain soundchips or soundboards.
There's a lot of times that I prefer in-game (non-arranged) versions of songs. Perfect example is Ketsiu arcade vs DFKBL Arrange OST. While Virt did a wonderful job arranging the soundtrack, it just doesn't hit as hard for me on certain tracks like the arcade. I love the "GRIMEYNESS" that Ian speaks of for the Boss track.
Another thing is that I'm a bit nostalgic to MIDIs, so ZeroRanger and especially Touhou hits that sweet spot for me.
The Einhänder rap is the best use of the “Lyrical Paragraph” sample from the sample library “Masterbits CLIMAX 9 Rapsody” (Vocals ll).” The original sample is way slower (which is the way it got used in other game
soundtracks like Street Fighter 3) and undistorted. Here’s a link to it, so you can hear the lyrics more clearly.
ruclips.net/video/XAJ1V8DKsDk/видео.htmlsi=5-4A0noxS0nIBvXL
I love vocal samples and how they are used EVERYWHERE.
Capcom vs SNK 2 is full of them. My mind was blown when I found out.
Really cool video! Didn't think I'd see Boy Meets World here :) The cons are definitely as you say; kind of turns into a popularity contest, but good list none the less. Would have loved to see Gunvein or Kamui! It'd be interesting to see some beat 'em up too - need some of that Fight n Rage elevator guitar.
I love boy meets world. It's one of my favorite TV shows of all time. Every now and then I throw in gifs from shows that I like that I think match the context cut, like American Psycho, Sailor Moon, and Boy Meets World lol. Imagine a show that crossed over all 3, that would be something.
haha a serial killer magical girl growing up and learning how to deal with day to day situations. Asking her neighbor vague advice about the ethics of her doings; only to forget that advice next week
Man, this is awesome! Love Aerogramme, Chvrches and Shmups!!
I know right! I like Chvrches as well! I should check out aerogramme, I never heard of it before but now I want to check it out since Iain is such a homie :-)
Awesome podcast Mark! I love mushi, Doj, thunder force 4 and of course the GOAT BATTLE GAREGGA 😊
This is the video I've been waiting for. I'm a music producer (hobbyist) and have been writing music based on arcade style music for a couple of years now. I appreciated the technical breakdown of certain aspects of the synth use from Iain. Disappointed some of my picks didn't make this list but I've learnt about some osts I wasn't familiar with so thanks to this sick ass community for the education. Also, I'm British and don't like Darius at all. Another also, I'm getting on the patreon now because of the effort put in to give this subject the attention it deserves. Thanks Mark and Iain. Keep your finger on the trigger, rookie!
That was immense guys! Best show yet I think. Awesome soundtracks all round 👏 😎
Dude shoutout for getting this collab this is epic
I haven't had 3 hours to sit and watch this yet, but looking at the timestamps, these are pretty much all of the shmups I was thinking of when I thought of which shmups have killer OSTs. So I think this will be quite enjoyable when I have time for it.
Yes! I think it's a solid list overall, I wish under defeat had made it in, but still very good list for what soundtracks people enjoy and talk about.
Gradius music is maybe regarded as cheesey / old hat by some now but personally music on Gradius 2 & 3 especially is some of my fave game music ever regardless of genre. So heroic, joyous and uplifting in a classical way. Even the music in Gradius 1, very simplistic by today's standards but if you look at what else was around in 1985, it was taking game music to a new level.
Oh yeah gradius 2 has a really fun ost. Gradius 2 overall is such an important game to the genre.
I can’t tell you how many times I used to listen to the SNES Gradius 3 OST off that cart back in the day. I think that the SNES beats the arcade OST as well.
Gradius 2 on the MSX had an amazing soundtrack as well as the famicom version. They were both different and good. Definitely overlooked.
One thing I really enjoy about the Zeroranger soundtrack is how many of the tracks start. They probably realize that it'd be the part players hear as they constantly restart. And it also ends up working so well with white vanilla where each track only plays for a limited time.
Just caught the last two minutes of the stream. Not really my kinda music but they have had some good songs over the years. Looking forward to watching the replay
Oh yes def roll back and check it out. Also I believe Iain has a variety of different bands. One of them is like this awesome 2000s techno. Check this out: ruclips.net/video/_YsPvYGhOYM/видео.html
I've been a huge fan of Hitoshi Sakimoto ever since I played Final Fantasy XII 17 years ago. Playing Vanillaware's games made me fall in love with the other composers at his company Basiscape, including Manabu Namiki. Have not yet had the chance to listen to too many of the shmup games they've worked on, so thanks for this video.
I highly recommend the battle tracks of the 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim soundtrack if you haven't listened to it yet. Namiki didn't work on it, but other composers that he's worked with on some of the soundtracks in this video have.
I absolutely adore the OST of Graze Counter, Graze Counter GM and Assault Shell.
yeah they are fun listens :-)
Awesome video and complete surprise of a guest! How did this connection even happen?
Chvrches rules. Perfect time for me to be getting into these games for this crossover!
Also, I can watch this channel all day. Genius critiques, especially the one on RE4R, made me feel sane.
Since this is a community list it's not surprising that the most popular soundtracks are also some of the most popular games. It's what you're going to listen to over and over after all. But I have to shout out the soundtrack to Raiden V. I have major issues with the game, but soundtrack, independent of the game, is amazing
I was really surprised there wasn't any raiden on the list as well, as popular as the series is. But I wonder if that's because the series isn't as known for it's music as it is its gameplay.
Great video and interesting discussions, especially how the music production is made to fit the visual style in newer titles (nostalgia?). The guest was awesome with his technical knowledge and music theory/education.
I'm just wondering how the list would have looked like on a poll done by Shmup Junkie (...no Toaplan, Konami or Irem has to hurt).
Ha yeah my fanbase tends to be more bullet hell heavy than the junkie fanbase, but I was surprised at how balanced the list was overall. Like there were some PC engine picks and a genesis game made it to the top 5 ha.
Yeah, the list of soundtracks from your poll was surprisingly balanced and led to interesting discussions. No complaints. Every best of Shmup soundtrack list is gone be awesome and unique anyways.
Awesome video would love more content on shmup soundstracks in the future
Chvrches! My favourite band for years! Need to see them live again soon...
Yes it would be awesome to see them live sometime!! Maybe I'll head out to their next tour if it stops by me anywhere :-)
I really love the original DOJ tbh; each stage is just so unique and stage 4 in particular is just so rough and gritty and industrial and dark which I think works so well for it
Oh I do love the OG ost as well. I just think that arrange version goes so hard and I love it so much ha. It better be in the ps4 port or big trouble.
This is exactly the kind of video I look for, great choice on the guest, . I thought this was very engaging to listen to and overall good picks for the 20 selections here.
I like Soldier blade but I agree it's not as catchy to me. For PCE; Nexr, Air Zonk, or Magical chase use the sound hardware in better ways, are more diverse, and have more depth in their sound, but that's just my own probably less popular opinion. I think they're worth a listen.
the 32 bit era choices here are what I'd choose as well, Mushi is also my preferred Cave ost so I'm glad to see that high up.
also YES Border Down, I've been grinding 1CC attempts so the music is burned into my subconscious, yet I never get tired of it. the usual Yasuhisa Watanabe / Super Sweep greatness
I'm really glad you enjoyed the vid! I'm really proud of it and Iain did such a good job as a guest that I wanted to do the topic justice. Editing this whole thing together probably took around 30 hours no joke ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground I can tell that it did, you had a lot of passion for this one. editing in the music when you both talk about it adds a lot of time and work
7:26
Fun fact: Manabu Namiki used a Sharp X68000 to compose the soundtrack to Battle Garegga. So in a roundabout sorta way, this video came full circle.
I will never get the strange bitterness from the wider shmup-scene towards Touhou.
The games are great, the music is great, the charm is undeniable, characters are memorable.
I love my Cave shmups but there is something special about Touhou, soundtrack being just a part of it.
Battle Garegga OSTs are truly underrated as they remind me steam punk - like theme among the space. This game also has a setting of steam punk - like planes, and the players, Vayne Brothers(We can know them from Armed Cop Batriders as unlockable contents) are like WW1 pilot. These make Battle Garegga one of the most favorite SHMUP games along with Battle Bakraid.
Soldier Blade is good 80s synth pop/rock. Driving bass lines and catchy melodies.
I do think it is a good ost. I just think compared to the entire genre's crazy deep library of osts, I think it benefits a bit from popularity more than music quality. For example, I love the SNES osts of UN squad, Axelay, and Star Fox, and none of them made the list at all. So I think Solider Blade fans can feel perfectly happy with an 18th placing ha.
Mushihimesama is one of those games I sometimes play just to listen to the music and when you count the arrange and 1.5 remixes it's at the top of the list for me. So much good music on display here! Check out 19xx if you want some moody shmup tunes while you play.
The shmups gods blessed Iain by dropping him a 360 out of the ether when he mentioned not having one to play Futari lol
It's Iain from Aereogramme to me and always will be haha! Looking forward to watching this.
I had no idea i wanted this until now
Ha yes the crossover you never know you wanted, but now that you have it, it feels so good lol. Seriously Iain was an amazing guest, what other rock star sits through a 6 hour marathon session to talk about shmup music.
@@TheElectricUnderground its amazing. This is the most random convergence of two things im really into, in a long time. You have a great channel and Chvrches makes some great music.
My favorite Shmup OST is Gekirindan, really tells a story and goes along with the story.
i feel like mahou daisakusen / sorcer striker needs a mention. the soundtrack is sooo good and fits the game extremely well. the stage 1 theme properly makes you feel like you're going out on a grand adventure :)
1. @TheElectricUnderground This is often confusing for people but "MIDI" is just a data standard, similar to like... USB. Sometimes it is a stand-in for "digitally programmed music", but in general basically all synth instruments speak the midi protocol and can be played with MIDI.
2.I think when discussing PSX graphics we have to remember that they were intended to be displayed on CRT television screens, where the blur between pixels did a LOT of work in cleaning up the images. Old-school games were not jagged little pixels, they were blurry little shapes that had an impressive amount of fidelity. Looking up CRT vs LCD, it can be mind blowing the difference in image quality. The red square in the middle of Dracula's eye becomes a menacing glow, making the effect much less silly and much more effective.
That was fun! Talking about chiptune music my absolute favorite is Pathos by Masahiro "KAJA" Kajihara, such a great song.
Discovered these guys in the Forza Horizon soundtracks, cool music.
Great show!
Oh that's really cool! Ironically i found them due to the good old youtube alg recommending their video with Hayley Williams, since I am a big Paramore fan.
Raiden I & Raiden II have some of the greatest tracks in any game ever, and they perfectly embody piloting a prototype superjet to combat an alien invasion.
I had The Raiden Project for PSX, as a kid, and the track that plays during stage 5 in Raiden II, the last level where you're on Earth, is still the song I turn to when I need a morale boost going into work.
Just envisioning customers and tasks as lazily twirling kamikaze jets I'm shearing through with a writhing, pink plasma beam. (ayo wtf)
I also love that boss, the alien shuttle that increasingly sheds its damaged armor over the course of the fight, eventually also becoming a bright red superjet
I'm not sure if you already made a video of it but im new to shmups and I would love to see you make a tier list or a beginners guide of the shmups on steam specifically. I need some reccomendations on where to start.
Oh I made a really old school vid on the best shmup to start with (touhou imperishable night) :-) an oldie but a goodie ha
@@TheElectricUnderground any cave game or non touhou reccs?
First thing I do when starting a Shmup, wether I already played it or not, is slightly turning down the fx sounds and moderately turning up the music master
Oh that's such a cool idea ha. i do that as well when I need to rip soundtracks sometimes lol. Some shmups don't allow you to mute the sound effects though, punks
Hi Mark, any chance you could recommend me (or us by the mean of a video) the easiest but still great Shmup available? I'm really satisfied when I can complete a Shmup in the easiest difficulty. So far, Danmaku 3 (my favorite), Gunvein, deathsmiles, some psikyo titles and Cosmo dreamer, Razion ex, are in my noobie palmares...and I'm look for more. If no time no worries. I owe you most of these titles already ;) cheers@@TheElectricUnderground
Radiant Silvergun's soundtrack is my no1! anyway thanks for the video!
absolutely, the soundtrack is incredible.
I usually skip these long episodes on any channel, but this is excellent. One question: how could TF IV influence other MD/Gen OST's if it came out after most of them? My fave soundtracks are pretty much 32 bit: Darius Gaiden, G Darius, TF V, Gradius Gaiden, Einhander, etc.
Looking forward to some neo geo and Amiga shooters hopefully they will be covered in this as they had some great music
great call there!
I suspect the Amiga will be overlooked here. I'm not going to pretend for one moment that western developed computer shmups come close to the best Japanese arcade games gameplay-wise, but some of the music on some C64 and Amiga games was immense!
@@strzxgvnuvwvfld3597 The Amiga only had a few good ones but as you said the music on some were brilliant.
Sadly no Neo Geo on the list. I think the neo geo shmups tend to sneak under the radar, vs the PC engine shmups. I'd love to see blazing star make an appearance ha.
Great vid regardless mate. Iv had the soldier blade music in my head since lol
We need more videos on shmup music!
Yes! It's a really fun topic!
insane by how this list top 1 is Manabu Namiki's first debut work as video game music composer.
It is crazy but that man is just a shmup music machine ha. I do wonder that because garegga was his first ost, if he went EXTRA hard to try to make it stand out and special, that's my theory.
@@TheElectricUnderground That make sense. he do extra careful for his first work. and end out masterpiece
6:58 The X68000 was named after the Motorola 68000 cpu which is the same chip that's in the Sega Genesis, the Neo Geo, and Capcom Play System arcade boards. I heard it was the computer that the games for those systems were developed on. Not really that random
Oh man I never made the connection that the composer for Vagrant Story did Radiant Silvergun. That makes a lot of sense.
Enjoy the silence from Steredenn, then Rayxanber II- stage 6 Neuro code, Rayxanber I stage 9 FM Towns, then the complete OST of Gunvein
Gunvein does have an awesome ost :-)
I really gotta apreciate the surprising shoutout to Sin & Punishment's OST here, also of my all time favorites.
Btw, as a little correction, Toshiya Yamanaka was actually the composer for that game, and also one of the most underapreciated composers in general.
Not even Axelay for some SNES representation though? Popularity bias really is strong with these votes. Aside from Soldier Blade, MUSHA Aleste is another one that really doesn't deserve his place here IMHO.
I am gonna be honest.. I listen to the Soldier Blade OST in my car. Great Chip Tune. My favorite OST ever so far though is Gunvein. It gets the heart pumping... and I am a metal head.
What a crossover, holy shit.
Yes! It was an awesome time!
Natsuki chronicles and Eschatos, yousuke yasui is a god doing shmup music
por su pollo.-
oh yes eschatos goes so hard, great pick
This Iain Cook guy's going places
GG Aleste, Kyukyoku Tiger, Gleylancer, R+R
Oh aleste is such a cool pick, also super aleste has a cool ost as well. Poor snes got snubbed, not even star fox got love.
There are so many good ones missing here like Infinos Gaiden, Ginga Force, Natsuki Chronicles, Dannaku Unlimited 3, Jets and Guns 2. I just love shmup soundtracks.
Blast Wind on saturn is kind of a meme but the soundtrack is solid, especially the final boss track "Justice Ray" Hyper Duel ost also
I love that he mentioned Trevor Horn’s production! He was in the Buggles and later joined Yes for a spell. They actually put out a great album called “Drama”.
I must have missed one memo cause I still don’t think Linkin Park is cool ;)
Guy With Hat knows that Radient Silvergun is the bomb.
He does! Both of us are big Silvergun boys!
My first thought upon hitting play was "I wonder if Deathsmiles made it in" I lift to the ost