Rare

Game Music

Scores of Scores! iam8bit to Release Several Vinyl OSTs from Rare for Black Friday!

November 21, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Scores of Scores! iam8bit to Release Several Vinyl OSTs from Rare for Black Friday! Share this

Black Friday will see a slew of soundtracks from games publisher Rare being released to vinyl LP thanks to iam8bit. The original game soundtracks for Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Viva Piñata and David Wise’s soundtrack for Battletoads In Battlemaniacs will all be getting record releases.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day was composed by Robin Beanland (Killer Instinct, Jet Force Gemini) for the 2001 N64 release of the crude and crass game that, while having questionable taste, had a surprisingly good soundtrack. The OST will be release on 2xLP black classic vinyl at $35USD with digital soundtrack included and new artwork by Joey Spiotto. (And yes, “The Great Mighty Poo Song” shall also be included on the release.)

Viva Piñata was composed by Rare veteran Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark) for the 2006 release on the Xbox 360, with all the charm and whimsy you can imagine associated with such a game. The 2xLP will be release in pink and green “sweet & sour” colors for $35USD, with previously unreleased tracks and include the digital soundtrack as well and new artwork by Ashton Dame.

Lastly, the soundtrack Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, composed by fellow Rare master musician David Wise (Donkey Kong Country, Marble Madness), will be released to a single LP in “starburst toad” color for $28USD. The soundtrack to the SNES beat ’em up that features the rad toads duking it out to thrash chiptune jams will include the digital soundtrack and new artwork by Dima Drjuchin

All of the soundtracks have been remastered for their respective vinyl releases, and will all go on sale this Friday, November 24th at 12:01am PST. You can nab these soundtrack and a bunch of others on the iam8bit online store.
Doujin, Game Music

GameLark Releases “Rarities” Tribute to Rare Composers

April 26, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on GameLark Releases “Rarities” Tribute to Rare Composers Share this

The video game music label GameLark has released a brand new album dedicated to the tribute of the music composers of the games released over the years by video game developer Rare.

Rarities is an album dedicated to the iconic composers of Rare that shaped an entire generation of gamers. Featuring tracks from classic games like Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong Country, as well as Yooka-Laylee, Rarities is sure to scratch that nostalgic itch. Rarities is fully licensed and available on iTunes and other digital retailers.

Featuring arrangements of the music from legendary composers Grant Kirkhope and Davis Wise (We’ll say Robin Beanland and Graeme Norgate too, since both composed Killer Instinct and worked with either Wise or Kirkhope on several other Rare titles featured on this album), Rarities is a 14-track dedication to years of game music memories.

“Rarities is an exciting cornucopia of some of the best platforming games, filled with electronic, rock, metal, and jazz interpretations of the goofiest soundtracks. From start to finish, every song will have you humming along and imagining the googly eyes and talking animals that brought these worlds to life.” – Ro Panuganti, album manager

You can check out Rarities on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Music and streaming on Spotify.
Game Music

Graeme Norgate Brings Killer Instinct Trio to Bandcamp

May 26, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Graeme Norgate Brings Killer Instinct Trio to Bandcamp Share this

S-S-S-Silence Breaaaaker! With seemingly no advanced notice, famed Rare composer Graeme Norgate (GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Timesplitters) has pushed three Killer Instinct albums out to Bandcamp. The most exciting of which is the return of Remastered, Rare and Remixed, containing the first-ever stereo versions of the original Killer Instinct arcade music. It also includes five of Norgate’s original source tracks before Air Studios mixed them down for the 1995 fan favorite Killer Cuts CD. The album was originally released on Bandcamp in 2012 but was pulled offline late in 2014 until now.

Remastered, Rare and Remixed is priced at £3 ($4.35 US) but the other two albums are pay-what-you-want releases. One contains the 16 main themes from the Super NES version of the game and the other offers 14 tracks from the Game Boy rendition of Killer Instinct. From souped up arcade tracks to the sample heavy SNES version to the rarely mentioned chiptune stylings of the Game Boy, it’s quite a Killer Instinct collection for as little as $7.
Game Music

David Wise Recalls History with Battletoads & Plays Theme

January 29, 2016 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

Battletoads is one of those games that lives in infamy for a few things, such as its ridiculous speed bike challenge and it’s simplistically catchy pause music. That last one you can chalk up to composer David Wise, who worked his magic on the 1991 beat ’em up. Recently, the video series “Rare Revealed” goes through recalling the history of game developer Rare, and includes talking with Wise about his time working on composing for games, including Battletoads.

It also includes him treating the viewer to an impromptu piano performance of the Battletoads Theme at 3:32.

Definitely a fun video to watch if your a fan of Battletoads, Wise or just learning about Rare’s history through gaming. You can check out the rest of the Rare Revealed/Replay videos on their Youtube channel.
Featured, Game Music

Game Soundtracks For Your Soul: Level 12

December 19, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 1 Comment Share this

As the holiday season has gotten underway I thought that I would look back at the music of some of the music from video games that I personally associate with the holidays. Really what that means is games that I specifically remember receiving as a gift around the holiday season which had memorable music.

Game Soundtracks For Your Soul skipped a Level because of Halloween, and is back to hopefully bring to you some thoughts about some of the great games you received over holidays past. Some come on in and read about mine, and be sure to share some of your video game music holiday memories with us here at OSV.

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Game Music

iam8bit is taking pre-orders for three classic rare game soundtracks on vinyl

August 5, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 1 Comment Share this

On August 4, 2015 iam8bit announced that they were taking pre-orders for three classic Rare video game soundtracks on vinyl: Battletoads, Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark.

Originally, the Battletoads album was an exclusive release limited to 300 copies this year at San Diego Comic-con. This new pressing of Battletoads will be a single LP release while both completely new releases Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark will span two LPs. All three of these releases will be limited to 3000 copies each.

Read on to find out the details on track listing, album cover details, and pricing. These look sweet.

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Events, Game Music

Battletoads and Rare on Vinyl & Print at San Diego Comic-Con

July 10, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | 2 Comments Share this

In anticipation for the August 4th release of Rare Replay — the Xbox One compilation of 30 (debatable) Rare classics — Microsoft has dropped a pair of surprising goodies on the San Diego Comic-Con crowd. Available in a limited run of only 300 units is a vinyl print of David Wise’s original Battletoads soundtrack featuring gorgeous sleeve and gatefold art by Nick Gazin.

Also available exclusively at the show is an 18×24” poster print from iam8bit featuring an amalgam of all 30 Rare Replay titles. These are also in very limited supply and come hand-signed and numbered. The vinyl album costs $25 and the prints are $50 on the show floor, but don’t feel too bad if you miss out on them. It sounds like reprints of both (with different art and no signatures) may be available later. Interested in other video game soundtracks on vinyl? Check out Brenna’s post where she covers the trend and some recent releases.