Favorite Tunes #184: Rave Your Racers

Don't let the title fool you. This is not a racer based Favorite Tunes. Only one racing game is featured here. The rest is from ninjas, platformers, rage inducing party games and a sweet remake.

Pangu Lagoon - Freedom Planet (Multi)

A game inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog games, specifically the 2D titles, Freedom Planet was first released on PC but later made its way to consoles. The game plays great and has some outstanding visuals and music to match.

Ancient Zone - Street Fighter EX 3 (PS2)

The final game of the EX series, EX3 went out as it came: an oddball child that was underappreciated with a fantastic soundtrack. The likelyhood of the EX games getting some kind of re-release is low since Akira owns the original characters made for those games like Skullomania and D. Dark. As much as I love high energy music in fighting games, a calm theme doesn't hurt. Ancient Zone has a sweet guitar solo and that violin is out of this world.

Jungle Adventure - Mario Party (N64)

If you weren't ruining your friendships  in Mario Kart 64, GoldenEye 007 or Perfect Dark, you were doing it in Mario Party. It baffles me that Nintendo has yet to re-release the original Mario Party when Mario Party 2 has seen two re-releases now. Might have something to do with all the wild analog stick spinning mini games that wrecked a lot of people's hands.

Area 1 - Blaster Master Zero (NS, 3DS)

The year isn't even halfway done and we've already gotten some pretty stellar games. I know I've talked a lot about Breath of the Wild on this blog, but one of my favorite titles of 2017 is the remake of the original Blaster Master, Blaster Master Zero. Any game that lets you melt ice and give the middle finger to ice physics is good in my book. Plus the soundtrack is all kinds of killer.

Act 1 - Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES)

For some strange reason, Ninja Gaiden III was made harder when it was released for American audiences. Even with the new features like hanging on ceilings and being able to buff up your sword this game is too cruel and is widely regarded as the weakest of the NES trilogy. Thankfully, Ninja Gaiden III's music did not suffer a decline in quality.

Euphoria - Rave Racer (ARC)

Unlike Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution, Rave Racer never received a home release. The original race tracks for Rave Racer did make it into the PSP Ridge Racers titles as well as some remxies of said game's music. It was actually a bit difficult to pick a music track to use from this game because Rave Racer's music is incredibly lively and jazzy. In the end, I settled on Euphoria. It has shades of audio from the first two Ridge Racer titles as well as sounding a bit like something you'd heard from the last few Ridge Racer titles to come out.

Favorite Tunes Database

Remix of the Week: In The Mushroom Forest 8-bit Remix

The original Mario Party, ruining friendships and hurting hands since 1999. After more than ten games in the series, the first Mario Party still has some of the most memorable tunes. Yasunroi Matsuda is known for his work on Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and a wealth of other high profile titles, but you might be surprised to see his name was attached to the debut Mario Party and he hammered out some very Mario-esque music. Bulby has given In the Mushroom Forest the 8-bit remix treatment and was more than kind to supply a download link as he does with all his other remixes.

In The Mushroom Forest 8-bit

Favorite Tunes #140: Wild West

Apologies for the lack of posts last week. I had some urgent family matters that I had to attend to. But things are going well so I'd like to resume the regular blog post of at least getting a few posts up in one week.

Stage Desert - Smart Ball (SNES)

We've been having some warmer weather here in Virginia Beach as of late so a desert theme seems really appropriate. Besides, Smart Ball has some really good tunes behind those screwy controls. Would ya believe Game Freak made this game?

Western Land - Mario Party 2 (N64)

I haven't played a Mario Party game since the second one, but some would say the series has seen better days. The games aren't terrible but from my understanding, there's been somewhat of a fall from grace. At least the controls stopped giving players blisters after the first game and Yasunori Matsuda once again delivered the goods with a killer soundtrack.

Wild West - Final Fantasy VI (SNES)

How I mentioned how much I love Final Fantasy VI? Because I really love Final Fantasy VI. The story, the characters, the music, oh, the music! In this gamer's humble opinion, Final Fantasy VI is Nobuo Uematsu's magnum opus. This game is bursting with quality music from high profile tracks like Dancing Mad to more under-appreciated themes like Wild West (which plays on the Veldt).

The Decisive Battle - Arcana (SNES)

I used to listen to a ton of MIDI video game music back in the day/ MIDI covers to be precise. One such game that had a wealth of MIDI covers was Arcana and The Decisive Battle was a song that I would replay over and over. Years later I would hear the original SNES tracks and found out that Jun Ishikawa of Kirby fame, had a hand in writing this game's splendid soundtrack.

Realm Overworld - The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)

If you thought Zelda II and Skyward Sword were the only games to cause fan uproar, you were either just born or just poked your head out of the sand. The DS Zelda games are quite divisive among Zelda fans. From the touch controls to the new gameplay features they introduced, one doesn't have to do much searching to find that opinions of Toon Links DS adventure can be quite mixed with Spirit Tracks getting the majority of the hate. This lovely theme from Toon Link's rail road days was given a superb remix for the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros.

M. Bison Stage - Street Fighter II (SNES ver.)

Mike Tyson had us throwing our controllers across the room in the 1980s. M. Bison had us doing it in the 1990s. The final boss of Street Fighter II was no push over. Be it the arcade or the home versions, M. Bison brought forth much frustration to any and everyone who challenged him.I think the SNES version of M. Bison's iconic stage theme turned out extremely well.

Favorite Tunes Database