LogFAQs > #951333000

50./60. Bio Force Ape - Stage 1
Nominator: @-hotdogturtle--
9.2 (8.7/1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQcWAn66qjo
Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town. This is really good for this kind of NES tune. For the most part, NES soundtracks fall very short for me. Geniuses like Follin or Gonzalez are really the exception. I'm probably being overly critical, since the way I look at it is a little weird. The way I figure it, to make a general song, you need to choose appropriate instruments, create a melody, add harmonics and backings and percussion, and mix and master it. NES streamlines the process by sharply restricting what and how many instruments you can do and how much you can affect the mastering (of course, you can do insane technical things if you're good, but it seems most composers work on a more-or-less level playing field). As a result, you'd think that they'd be able to do more and interesting things with the melody; after all, it isn't like their selection of notes is meaningfully restricted. And yet, video game music seemingly hadn't really evolved to that point yet, judging by how much early VGM were just classical songs translated and how blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I find so much of it. There are other factors, yada yada, but the result is that most of what I hear is just stunningly mediocre. Uninteresting melodies, for no apparent reason besides lack of talent or imagination. *This* is how I expect NES music to sound, more or less. Something even simpler than this is fine. Just like, the main melodic instrument and scale playing behind it is so much better than so much else of what I heard, and that doesn't seem technically challenging at all. It's got emotion behind it, instead of being a flat expanse of nothing. If I listen to a random modern soundtrack, sure, I won't be surprised if it's boring. It might have boring sounds or melodies or mixing, the key being that there's so many more points of failure, and half the time they're going for that mood anyway, a mood made possible by higher-fidelity instruments. There's a lot of good NES soundtracks, of course, by good composers. It's just, more than anything else, I want to scream 'You had ONE job!' at the composers of the legions of completely forgettable chiptune soundtracks. Se7en doesn't have a terrible high average

oh yeah this song. most of it is fairly good. enjoyable. what really elevates it is that section at 1:10. That melody is absolutely fantastic. Every time I listen, I question why I placed this so high, and then that segment shows up and knocks my socks off. Absolutely beautiful

You may have cursed yourself a bit, hdt. oops

49./57. Fairy Fencer F - Unbreakable King
Nominator: @Direkrow
9.2 (8.7/1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cPy0Yp8IAs
That very basic bar of trumpet eighth notes thing this does is very effective on me somehow. Overall, maybe the best use of trumpets of any song submitted. When I look at any individual aspect of this song, it seems pretty simple, and yet the whole is pretty great. There are a lot of songs, like the Blazblues and Senran Kaguras, which are fairly similar to this, and they usually try to work in something unique so they're not just a rock song. Those all did much worse. I really don't think there's a significant difference between those and this; this wins because the flair in the form of the trumpet is the winner. Favorite part: 1:38-155
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