Bionic Commando

Doujin, Game Music

Achtung!! Achtung!! Ryan8bit Goes Bionic Commando With 2010.8.2

August 5, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | 2 Comments Share this

Ryan Stern, or Ryan8bit as we better know him, was one of the artists that spearheaded the game music arrangement scene since its early days through his metal arrangements of Castlevania and Castlevania 2 released through Castlevania Dungeon. At the time this was a new concept for young fans and his above average sound and production values caught on fast. Since then he has become a dangerously skilled musician and holds a record of most entries in the Dwelling of Duels contest.

While very prolific and dearly loved, he hasn’t had his own album release since those early days so it’s with great excitement Concatenation Records announced that Ryan8bit will release a full Bionic Commando metal arrangement album titled 2010.8.2 .The game is highly worthy of a full album dedicated to the brilliant music, and Ryan8bit is the right man for the job. The album ships for 10 dollars for the CD version or 5 for the digitial. Concatenation Records is a community label that releases works of the artists located at TheShizz.org, home of The Minibosses Message Board. They have earlier put out other game arrangement albums such as The Wonderful World of Willow, Dark Side of Zebes as well as the chiptune album A Chip off the Shizz Block.

Check out the preview for 2010.8.2 on Youtube and buy the album at Concatenation Records.
Game Music

Go Go Go! Bionikku! Bionic Commando/Dead Rising Review

January 25, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | 1 Comment Share this

As a kid, I was always really into Bionic Commando on the NES. The game offered something different from the other games at time, and captured my imagination and interest quickly with the swing hook game play and WW2 influences throughout the game. My father is a writer and WW2 historian, and it was one of the few games outside of racing games I can remember him looking up from his books at and being slightly interested; the game portrayed Nazis well enough for even my old man to pick up just by watching. The music, by Junko Tamiya, was memorable and still echos in my memories to this day with its militaristic approach and emotional melodies.

In 2008, the now defunct Swedish game developer GRIN was commissioned by CAPCOM to make a remake of Bionic Commando titled Bionic Commando: Rearmed. In Japan, the remake was released as Bionic Commando: Master D Resurrection Project and while the marketing in the west relied on nostalgia and cross promotion with the development of an all new sequel, Japan took a different approach. Part of that approach was the release of a special promotional soundtrack, which also happens to be today’s review, Bionic Commando / Dead Rising.

Read on to find out more about the musical promotion for Bionic Commando! (more…)
Game Music

GRIN: Bionic Commando Sound Team Interview

July 2, 2009 | Patrick Gann | 2 Comments Share this

We extensively covered Bionic Commando: Rearmed, the 3D remake of Capcom’s classic NES game, around the time of its release. The soundtrack, written by the game’s creative director (Simon Viklund), used re-arranged and up-sampled chiptunes from the original game and built an astonishingly fun soundtrack using these tools.

Viklund took on a new role, as sound effects coordinator, for the new Bionic Commando (PC / 360 / PS3). Swedish developer GRIN assigned other members of their sound team to the project: music director Erik Thunberg, and composer Trond Viggo Melsen. These two members of the GRIN team were courteous enough to answer our questions about the new Bionic Commando and other recent projects from GRIN.

Check out our interview with the Bionic Commando sound team after the jump.

(more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Music You Can’t Jump To: Bionic Commando Rearmed (Review)

November 14, 2008 | Patrick Gann | 5 Comments Share this

Okay, so maybe you can jump to it, but Spencer (the Bionic Commando himself) will have to resort to swinging from the ceiling.

Using the original NES chiptune melodies and harmonies created well over a decade ago, composer/arranger Simon Viklund took on the task of upgrading the soundtrack for the updated Bionic Commando Rearmed. And thanks to the good folks at Sumthing Else Digital Distribution, both the original NES version and the Rearmed version from Viklund are available as digital releases.

After the jump, our full review for Viklund’s soundtrack: Bionic Commando Rearmed. (more…)
Game Music

Comic Con 08: Interview With Bionic Commando Rearmed Composer/Director Simon Viklund

July 28, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

He’s from Sweden, which should indicate his music is amazing. The people from GRIN were actually on-hand at Comic Con to tell the fans first-hand about their upcoming Bionic Commando titles. Simon Viklund is the composer and creative director for Bionic Commando Rearmed and the lead sound designer for the 3D Bionic Commando due out this year.

We greedily pulled him away from the crowds at the Bionic Commando booth mainly to talk about Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots, but we did briefly discuss the games he’s currently working on as well. I still can’t believe he’s from Sweden and is not involved with the demoscene.

So, will there be exploding heads? Read the transcript and be amazed after the jump. (more…)