Community Question

Game Music, Miscellaneous

PSA: Check your Humble Bundle Purchases for Hidden Soundtracks

March 28, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on PSA: Check your Humble Bundle Purchases for Hidden Soundtracks Share this

Be it for cheap deals or philanthropic karma, most of us have at least a few Humble Bundle purchases to our names. Many of the hundreds of bundles the site has offered since 2010 have also included soundtracks, and not always from the bundled games. Between my bundle obsession of 2013, bonus content being unlocked, and the site’s dense purchases page, it’s no wonder I’ve recently found several soundtracks I didn’t even know I owned.

It’s been improving over the years but the latest version of the site has a handy dropdown for Audio, narrowing down your hundreds of purchases to just the ones with music downloads.You can also do the same to find purchases that include eBooks or wallpapers or to quickly find Steam and Origin keys.

So for this combination Public Service Announcement and Community Question we want to know what are some of your favorite or overlooked soundtracks you’ve picked up from a Humble Bundle?

Some of my most listened to soundtracks came from bundles: Dungeons of Dredmor, FEZ, Frozen Synapse and Starbound are just a few. But just this week I’ve been re-discovering the chiptune bliss of Mercenary Kings, the whimsical fantasy sounds of Trine 2 and the otherworldly ambiance of Rymdkapsel. What about you? Let us know in the comments below.
Game Music

Community Question: If they released [GAME SOUNDTRACK] on LP, would you make the jump to vinyl?

November 21, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | 8 Comments Share this

If you’ve ever read any of my posts on OSV you’ll know that I am Compact Disc (CD) man, in my opinion it is the definitive physical media. However, with the abundance of titles coming out on vinyl in gorgeous packages I am starting to wonder what I would do if my favorite game album did come out on LP?

So simple question, if you’re a CD or digital music fan. Is there an album that, if it was release on LP would make you consider getting a record player?

For me there’s two possibly scenarios that would push me over the edge.

Scenario 1: AZEL: Panzer Dragoon RPG (Panzer Dragoon Saga) by Saori Kobayashi and Mariko Nanba got an official LP release. The above image is something I threw together quickly, but I think it would be a pretty sweet album cover.

Scenario 2: Tengen makes 45 releases of their black cart game soundtracks on 45s. The package must include Fantasy Zone, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Heck, if they even sold a portable turntable that looked like a bootleg cartridge, I would surrender to vinyl.

As I don’t think either of the above options will happen any time soon, what are the dream albums that would make you jump to vinyl? Let us know!
Featured, Game Music, Miscellaneous

Community Question: When Good Music Goes Bad

November 10, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Community Question: When Good Music Goes Bad Share this

I’ve been playing a lot of Dragon Quest Builders lately and while the music is delightful — especially for fans of the series with loads of rearranged themes from previous titles — it’s kind of killing me. Most sandbox crafting/survival games follow in the Minecraft mold with minimal and atmospheric soundscapes, if they incorporate music at all. Spending hours meticulously placing blocks and scavenging for resources doesn’t require a galant fanfare or sugary melodies with short loops. Without the distraction of life-threatening combat these tunes have quickly invaded my consciousness and I find them banging around in my head for hours after I’ve stopped playing.

I know what you’re going to say, “Shawn, just turn the volume down”, and in any other game that would totally work. But, you see, for unfathomable reasons you can only turn the music in Dragon Quest Builders down, never off. It’s kind of become a sticking point for some of us on the game’s subreddit and the only consolation I can think of is to ask for similar stories from our dear readers here at OSV.

Are there any soundtracks that started out great but quickly got on your nerves? A town tune or shop music that sent you running for the overworld map? Maybe a main menu theme that you left idling for too long? Share your pain in the comments below.
Featured, Game Music, Miscellaneous

Community Question: Your Favorite Halloween Game Music

October 24, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | 5 Comments Share this
Happy Halloween (to those who subscribe to the holiday)! We’ve shared some of our personal favorites over the past weeks and years and now we want to hear some of your own. Truly terrifying or playfully macabre. Squirming out of ancient PC sound hardware or freshly ~~released~~ deceased. Or anywhere in between.

Share some of your favorite spooky game music in the comments below and if you need a little inspiration here are a few of our recent and popular Halloween themed features:
Doujin, Game Music

Community Question: What’s Your Favorite Remix of Vampire Killer?

July 8, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 3 Comments Share this

Here at Original Sound Version, we truly ask the burning questions that any true fan of video game music has discussed at one point in their lives or another. Michael started the question of what favorite versions of some of the most popular and heavily remixed tunes from iconic gaming franchises are your own, starting with Donkey Kong Country‘s “Aquatic Ambiance“. Now it’s my turn to pick your brain about arguably the most well-known and therefore remixed track from the Castlevania franchise – the original Castlevania‘s iconic stage 1 music, “Vampire Killer”.

It was hard for me to choose which Castlevania track I wanted to use for this question, as “Vampire Killer”, Castlevania 2‘s “Bloody Tears, and Castlevania 3‘s “Beginning” (Or the “Big 3” as I call them.) are almost equally arranged in proportion across both the Castlevania franchise itself, as well as within the remixing community. However, it feels right to start at the very beginning (No pun intended) with “Vampire Killer”, which was composed by the duo of Kinuyo Yamashita and Satoe Terashima in 1986.

“Vampire Killer” – Castlevania

The tune is catchy and full of determination, which made it perfect for first-time players and veterans alike to start off their journey to Dracula with. It’s had several iterations within the Castlevania franchise over the years, showing up arranged in later games such as Dracula’s Curse (As castle track “Deja Vu”), Super Castlevania 4, Rondo of Blood, Legends, Dawn of Sorrow and more. It serves as that constant reminder of the series’s ties to one another and of that first faithful trek we took as Simon Belmont. If I had to choose my favorite iteration of the track from within the series, I’ve grown to truly love Castlevania: The Arcade‘s part-organ, part-rock synth version played during the first boss fight.

Video credit of Nyx Cyan

The track has also been remixed by the fan community in just about every style imaginable, from the jazzy swing of Nostalvania to the electric grooves of Zircon and everywhere in between, to the point of near-exhaustion. Yet “Vampire Killer” persists as one of the most recognized video game tracks in gaming history, and still manages to inspire creativity and energy from musical vampire hunters to this day.

So what is your favorite version or arrangement of “Vampire Killer”? Do you have several? Let us know in the comments!
Events, Game Music

Community Question: With E3 2016 Coming Up, What Game OST are you most excited for?

June 10, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | 3 Comments Share this

E3 2016 is rapidly approaching and we want to hear from you. What are your most anticipated game and most importantly, soundtracks?

After E3 finished last year I created a Top 10 list of my most anticipated soundtracks which you can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. Since writing that list only 3 of those games have been released, and some will be making an appearance this year. Those that did come out were Unravel, I Am Setsuna (in Japan) and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The remaining 7 titles on my list were: No Man’s Sky, Recore, Final Fantasy VII:REMAKE, Shenmue III, Nier: Automata, Dreams, and The Last Guardian.

A lot of rumors have been flying around as of late including the possibility of a Skyrim remastering, and the possibility of a new Red Dead series game.

Let us know what game or soundtrack you’re most excited about!
Game Music

Community Question: What Is Your Favorite Remix of Aquatic Ambiance?

June 3, 2016 | Michael Hoffmann | 4 Comments Share this

During the past month we’ve asked our readers about the first game soundtrack they ever listened to and about the first game music arrangement that they had heard. This week, I’d like to pose a more specific question to game music remix fans out there. Since starting up the Arrangement of the Week posts on OSV last year, I’ve listened to a tons of game pieces reimagined and remixed into a variety of styles. As a result I began to notice a pattern in favorite tracks among remix artists. One of these trends is the frequent covering of Donkey Kong Country’s “Aquatic Ambiance” by composer David Wise. So the question for this week is: What Is Your Favorite Remix of Aquatic Ambiance?

It’s not hard to understand why this track in particular gets so much attention. The original’s ethereal tone makes it great for chill electronic interpretations like “A Hint of Blue” by artists Gibs and Mordi. At the same time the track’s memorable melodies make it a good candidate for metal covers like ToxicEternity’s “Aquatic Shrediance.”

While I’ve enjoyed a number of great ambient electronic and rock versions of the classic Donkey Kong Country track, I’ve also heard a few great acoustic versions. Gentle Love’s saxophone and piano duet interpretation off their album Perscription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies is one that instantly comes to mind. Part of the appeal to me for this version is the generous amount of time devoted to improvisation with the material, a feature which is present on the entire game arrangement album.

“Aquatic Ambiance” has seen many arrangements and there’s no doubt that I’ve heard only a fraction of what’s out there. Music remix site OC ReMix boasts sixteen different arrangements of the piece alone (as of this writing), and there are tons of other interpretations floating around on YouTube and Soundcloud. So do you have a favorite remix or arrangement of “Aquatic Ambiance” that you’d like to share? Tell us about them in the comments!