Shiryu Music Releases Castlevania: Chiptunes of the Night

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Shiryu Music has composed an album of retro-mixed chiptune versions of many classic tunes of the SotN soundtrack.

“Castlevania: Chiptunes of the Night” is my long and delayed tribute to Michiru Yamane’s incredible soundtrack. You might have found me teasing this release in the past years with me chiptune demakes/remixes/covers from such timeless classic songs as “Wood Carving Partita” or “The Tower of Mist”. But this time I went for the complete soundtrack, or at least the tracks that I could get my hand on sheet music and/or MIDI files. – Shiryu

Of the 32-track album, “Disc 1” features retro-makes of several tunes from Symphony of the Night done with a NES sound library, while “Disc 2” does the same track up with SNES sound fonts, meant to give tribute to the oldschool sounds of the earlier Castlevania games to this, the game that helped kick off a new genre of “Metroidvania” games.

Some tracks do a good job of down-mixing the iconic tunes of SotN, while others leave a bit to be desired. (The NES version of “Tragic Prince” starts off great but then gets a bit grating on the ears, in my opinion.) However it’s a solid effort and a commendable tribute to composer Michiru Yamane’s most recognized and revered soundtrack.

You can check out the entire album on the Castlevania: Chiptunes of the Night Bandcamp page for a listen.