In part 1 of this feature, I mentioned that The Hybrid Front had some pretty stellar funky beats. However, since that game was never released outside of Japan, most gamers are far more familiar with the funky fresh beats of ToeJam & Earl. And for very good reason.
Plenty of Japanese composers come to mind when thinking of outstanding Genesis soundtracks. John Baker's work on the Mega Drive is worthy enough to rank him up there with the likes of Yuzo Koshiro, Masato Nakamura and plenty of other Japanese greats. If ToeJam & Earl was your introduction to funk music, then you had an excellent starting line. At 7 songs, ToeJam & Earl's soundtrack is quite short but it more thank makes up for the lack of quantity with strong, overwhelming quality. ToeJam & Earl's soundtrack is filled with killer bass lines, light and heavy percussion at just the right moments and one of my favorite sounds of the Genesis hardware that I've been calling the signature Genesis claps. Those record scratches also sound quite good.
ToeJam Jammin'
Big Earl Bump
Rapmaster Rocket Racket
Alien Break Down
08. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
With the original game being a huge hit for SEGA, it was only natural for them to follow up with a sequel only a little over a year year later. Sonic 2 is widely considered to be a better game than the first. Not only is it a longer game, it has much larger zones, a greater emphasis on multiple pathways and it introduced the Spin Dash. Unfortunately, the game's speedy (no pun intended) development to get it out before Christmas led to some lousy design choices that hold it back from being the greatest Sonic game that so many claim it is. Still, even with some awful enemy placement, easily trigger glitches and in numerous cases, bad level design, Sonic 2 is still worth playing.
Masato Nakamura was brought back for another round and with even more stages, that meant an expanded soundtrack. Much as I enjoy Sonic 1's music, I think Sonic 2 aces it in this area. Emerald Hill is a vibrant, peppy tune and for my money, one of the greatest first level jams in a video game. Chemical Plant takes you away from the greenery and into the city with twisting tubes, lots of steep inclines and one of the sickest beats in a Sonic game. Even after hearing Tee Lopes excellent arrangements of Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic Mania, Nakamura's original version is still as strong as ever. Everyone pretty much agrees that Metropolis Zone sucks but that theme is baller. Your reward for dealing with three acts of BS in the aforementioned level is Sky Chase Zone, a breather level in every sense of the word. Even the music is super calming. Oh and the Casino Night 2 Player is infinitely superior to the regular version. Fight me.
Emerald Hill Zone
Chemical Plant Zone
Metropolis Zone
Sky Chase Zone
Wing Fortress Zone
Casino Night Zone 2 Player
09. Streets of Rage
Not many video game music writers have their name on the title screen. But then, everyone can't be Yuzo Koshiro. The man's talents are, in a word, legendary. Like Hirohiko Araki, Koshiro is a huge, huge fan of western music and if you weren't aware of that fact before hand, it quickly becomes apparent when listening to the music he composed for titles such as Super Adventure Island and the Streets of Rage games.
The music for Streets of Rage oozes late 1980s to early 1990s western music. In terms of non-gaming music, that stuff is among some of my favorite to listen to. However, long before I heard songs like Pump Up the Jam, I heard the music from Streets of Rage, so I believe I have this game to thank for sparking my interest in music from the aforementioned eras. Every time I hear Fighting in the Street, I wanna get up and dance. There are a number of character select themes that really stand out and those include the one from Super Mario Bros. 2, Street Fighter II and the Player Select theme in Streets of Rage, which Koshiro brought back and touched up a bit for the sequel. My favorite among favorites tracks has got to be Violent Breathing. The theme is just so dang relaxing.
Player Select
Fighting in the Street
Moon Beach
Attack of the Barbarian
Keep the Groovin'
Violent Breathing
10. Phantasy Star II
Its hard to think of this series without the online aspect these days but prior to the release of the Drecamcast's Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star was an offline, single player JRPG.
If you think $60 for new games is expensive today, imagine coughing up $90 for Phantasy Star II. Gamers that begged mom and dad to get them this game for Christmas back in the day were lucky if they agreed to it even if it was the only gift they got for the holiday.
Phantasy Star II's music may sound a bit more twangy compared to other soundtracks on the hardware, which can be a turn off for some listeners, but it is well composed and full of very memorable tunes that most will probably be able to look past it. The game hooks you from the very beginning with that powerful image of a title screen and pulls you in deeper with the slow starting title music that is Phantasy Sprite.
Phantasy Star II actually has two soundtracks, one of the Mega Drive Japanese version of the game and one for the Genesis American version. The themes are the same but they sound slightly different in each region with the Japanese versions often using a different drum set. The tracks I've listed below contain links to both versions of each region's respective track so you can hear the differences in each one.
Phantasy Sprite(JPN) Phantasy Sprite(USA)
Pleasure Stream (JPN) Pleasure Stream(USA)
Pressure (JPN) Pressure (USA)
Advanced (JPN) Advanced (USA)
Secret Ways (JPN) Secret Ways (USA)
Rise of Fall (JPN) Rise or Fall (USA)
11. OutRun
The original 1986 coin-op release of SEGA's smash hit was one of the numerous games to use the company's super scaler technology, an effect used to create ultra smooth, fast scrolling, which lent itself very well to a racing game. So popular was OutRun that it was ported to just about every system imaginable. The Genesis version arrived in 1991 and while it isn't the definitive console version of OutRun to play, it would be a crime to sleep on the soundtrack.
The music of OutRun is as famous as the non-liner gameplay that made this racer such a hit. Magical Sound Shower, Passing Breeze, and Last Wave. Just the mere mention of these tracks is enough to make any OutRun fan swoon. Even better, players were given the option of choosing the music they wished to drive to prior to each run. Magical Sound Shower might be the OutRun track that most roll with as the best/favorite, but I've always been a huge fan of Splash Wave.
OutRun's audio made a very smooth transition over to the Genesis hardware. It probably helped that Hiro, the original composer of OutRun's stellar score, also wrote most of the music for the Genesis version. OutRun on the Genesis also has a tune that is exclusive to this version of the game, Step on Beat, Masayoshi Ishi's sole contribution to OutRun's Genesis soundtrack and it is a magnificent song. Just as with the arcade version of OutRun, OutRun's Genesis song list is short but the jams are so great that it doesn't even matter.
Magical Sound Shower
Passing Breeze
Splash Wave
Step on Beat
12. Contra Hard Corps
Someone at Konami must have taken a look at the past few Contra games and thought "You know what these games need? More playable characters. Oh and mini bosses. Lots and lots of mini bosses." As a result there are four playable characters, including the cute, diminutive robot, Brownie. The abundance of mini bosses in each level makes Contra Hard Corps unbelievably brutal even by Contra standards.
Nintendo Hard difficulty aside, Hard Corps looks and (and most importantly in the spirit of this feature) sounds excellent. Hard Corps' music is very high octane, fitting for all the action and many, many explosions you'll be seeing. GTR Attack!, one of the boss themes, opens up with a killer guitar riff that will get you pumped to take on the boss. That is, until said boss drops you like a sack of smoking potatoes. The Hard Corps plays on the very first stage and sees you literally crashing onto the scene in a vehicle before jumping put to shot anything that moves. It isn't anywhere near as famous as the original Contra's Jungle theme, but to many a Contra fan, it ranks pretty high on their list of fav Contra beats. It still blows my mind that rock like Format X and The Last Springsteen came out of the Genesis hardware. If you want to hear the Genesis sound chip worked to the limit or are in the mood for plenty of fist pumping tunes, you can't go wrong with Hard Corps soundtrack.
The Hard Corps
Zephyr
AC Violence
Format X
GTR Attack!
The Last Springsteen
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