Suggest some excellent NSF and GBS files to listen to.

Suggest some excellent NSF and GBS files to listen to.
by Norrin_Radd on 2006-08-08 (#16049)

Due to the sheer volume of NSF and GBS files out there, it can sometimes be a daunting task to search out which ones are the best of the best. I had at one time, sorted out a massive list of my favorite NSF files, and specifically, which tracks were my favorite (a task that took years). Sadly, this list was lost in a double massive hard drive failure, and I have to start from scratch again.

Please, suggest some of your favorites, whether obscure or common, for me and everyone else to check out.

Like so:

- The Legend of Prince Valiant.nsf (Great medieval feel)
- Super Black Onyx.nsf (One of the most dissonant NSF's around)
- Itadaki Street.nsf (Just too darn catchy! track 11)
- Jordan vs Bird (This games music is thick as hell)

More later, as I can remember them.

by Bregalad on 2006-08-08 (#16051)

NSFs :

Just breed : Track 4 (overworld), tack 19 (desert village), track 21 (boss)
Fire Emblem Gaiden : Track 22 (player's turn)
Earthbound : Track 4 (overworld), Track 17 (?)
Mega Man 2 : All tracks, but specifially track 11 (Dr. Willy's stage)
Mega Man 3 : Track 2 (needleman) Track 5 (hardman), Track 7 (snakeman), Track 8 (sparkman)
Mega Man 5 : Track 1 (gravityman), track 2 (stoneman), track 3 (waveman)
Mega Man 6 : Track 2 (blizzardman), track 4 (flameman), track 6 (centaurman), track 10 (Dr.Willy's stage)
Final Fantasy : Track 2 (Final Fantasy's theme), track 9 (volcano), track 10 (dwarf cave), track 12 (water temple), track 14 (last dungeon)
Final Fantasy III : Track 31 (overworld), Track 33 (battle), track 39 (?), Track 43 (boss)
Castlevania : Track 2 (stage 1), track 3 (stage 2), track 4 (stage 3)
Castlevania II : Track 2 (overworld), Track 3 (horrible night)
Castlevania III : Track 1 (stage 1), Track 3 (forest), Track 5 (tower), Track 9 (aquarius), track 10 (?)

GBS :
Final Fantasy Adventure : Whole soundtrack
Final Fantasy Legend : Track 10 (?), Track 11 (tower)

by tepples on 2006-08-08 (#16058)

Do they have to be rips from games? If not, here are some of mine.

by Norrin_Radd on 2006-08-08 (#16061)

Thanks for the replies friends! Bregalad, Just Breed was fantastic! I also really enjoyed tracks 29 and 30!

I recently found my list of obscure but rad NSFs! (WHOA!) I am going to post the entire thing in this thread. in a bit.

Keep them coming!

by ccovell on 2006-08-08 (#16070)

Some good NSFs:

- Codename: Viper (great jazzy tunes!)
- Magician (track 7 especially!)
- Falsion
- Armana no Kiseki
- Hero Quest

GBS:

- Altered Space (track 6)
- Bubble Ghost
- Dr. Franken (a good reworking of some classical tunes)
- Ikari no Yousai 2
- Spanky's Quest
- Super Hunchback (track 2)
- Tail Gator
- Trip World

These are some of my favourites, besides all the famous ones like Mega Man, Silius, Dragon Warrior, etc that don't need to be mentioned. More obscure ones, please!

by Bregalad on 2006-08-09 (#16074)

Norrin_Radd wrote:
Thanks for the replies friends! Bregalad, Just Breed was fantastic! I also really enjoyed tracks 29 and 30!

29 is title screen and 30 last boss. Are you sure you dont mean 28 (night festival intro) and 29 (title screen) ? I don't quite like the last boss music, but the both mentionned before are awesome.

by kingshriek on 2006-08-09 (#16075)

Here's five of my favorites for each category

NSF:

Beauty & the Beast
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge
Gimmick!
Kujaku Ou 2
Moryou Senki Madara

GBS:

Doki x Doki Sasete
Furai no Shiren GB2
Motocross Maniacs 2
Shantae
The Smurfs Nightmare

and for the hell of it

HES:

Coryoon
Dungeon Explorer
Kaze no Densetsu Xanadu
Kaze no Densetsu Xanadu 2
Magical Chase

KSS (MSX):

Gradius 2
Illusion City
Metal Gear 2 - Solid Snake
Snatcher
Space Manbow

by Norrin_Radd on 2006-08-09 (#16076)

Officially, I'd like to suggest everyone listen to Captain America.nsf. Nearly the entire thing is rad, but track 11 stands out as the best tech metal song I've heard the NES produce. Try and tap your hand along! Very hard.

Bregalad wrote:
Norrin_Radd wrote:
Thanks for the replies friends! Bregalad, Just Breed was fantastic! I also really enjoyed tracks 29 and 30!

29 is title screen and 30 last boss. Are you sure you dont mean 28 (night festival intro) and 29 (title screen) ? I don't quite like the last boss music, but the both mentionned before are awesome.

Actually I did mean 30. I know it's not melodic at all, but sometimes a dissonant NES track can really be rad when done right. The first 30 seconds or so remind me of the band Meshuggah.

Kingshriek, Gimmick just blew me away! So did Furai no Shiren GB2 (4/23)

Covell, great GBS suggestions! Altered Space was really rad. Gave me a Follin vibe. Bubble ghost was great too (Track 3 ).

As promised, here is my original list of NSFs I liked (Which for the last 5 months I had thought was totally lost). Not all of these songs are super catchy, but all of them are quality NES songs. Sometimes I will mark a song down even if I think the drums sound good:

Wizards and Warriors 3:

1
3
4

Chitei Senkuu Bazorudaa:

3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
13
14
15
16

Blue Train Satsujin Jiken:

1
3
4
8
11
19
20
22
23
24 Great sound effects

Super Express Satsujin Jiken:

1
2
5
6 Experimental NES music
8 Cool tune

Kujaku Ou 2 (whole thing is good):

1
2
4
6
7
8

Kujaku Ou:

1
7
8
9

Ginga no Sannin:

1
4
5 interesting
6
8
9
10
15
16
17
21
22
23
24

Jikuu Yuuden - Debias:

3
4
5
7
8
13

Cross Fire:

1
2
3
4
5
8 Tech Metal
9

Derby Stallion - Zendkoku Ban:

4
7
8
11

Maison Ikkoku:

1
2
9

Mei Tantei Holmes - Kiri no London Satsujin Jiken:

1
2
3
4
9
10

Mei Tantei Holmes - M Kara no Chousenjou:

1
2
4 REALLY RAD
5
6
7
8
9
10
12
14 MORE RAD!
15

Deep Dungeon 4 - Kuro no Youjutsushi:

1 OMFG!
5
6
10
11
14
20

Tantei Jinguuji Saburou Yokohamakou Renzoku Satsujin Jiken:

Check it out

Yamamura Misa Suspense - Kyouto Hana no Misshitsu Satsujin Jiken:

9 (Play lead guitar over this)
17 (Fret 8 turns from Major to mixolydian?)

Ankoku Shinwa - Yamato Takeru Densetsu:

1
2
3
4
5
6
8 - 5/4
12 - 5/4
13
14

Bakushou Jinsei Gekijou 2:

9
12
26

Bakushou Jinsei Gekijou 3:

1
2
5
6
7
8
10
14
24
27

Bakushou! Star Monomane Shitennou

3
20

Beatlejuice

3
6
7
8

WWF Steel Cage Challenge

3

Beauty and the Beast

1
3
4
5
6
7
12
16
22

Aces - Iron Eagle 3

4
11

Eliminator Boat Duel

2
4
5

Fuuun Shaolin Kyo

1
4
7
13

Fuuun Shaolin Kyo - Ankoku no Maou

1
4

Akuma kun - Makai no Wana

1
2
12

Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum

4

Dai Kaijuu Deburas

2
6
8
13 orchestral samples!
15 5/4
25
26

Bad News Baseball

2

Chuugoku senseijustsu

1
2
4
8 F YEAH!
12
15

Kawa no Nushi Tsuri

1 (wtf!)
2 (wtf)
14

Mirai Senshi

1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
12
13

Thunderbirds

2 (Way out of tune)
3
8

Jaws

1
5

Championship Bowling

4

Super Glove Ball

1
2
3
5
6

Super Black onyx

1
2 Cool dissonance, not much else.
4
5
6 HOLY SHeeeeT!
7
8
9

Here is my list that is even older. Some games have many more rad songs than listed, so check the whole thing out (James Bond Jr). Also, these NSFs were mostly found at planetemu.net:

Donald Duck (1988)(Kemco)(24 Songs)[With SFX].nsf - 2
Donald Duck (1988)(Kemco)(24 Songs)[With SFX].nsf - 3
Donald Duck (1988)(Kemco)(24 Songs)[With SFX].nsf - 5

Hi Speed 11/46

J-League Fighting Soccer 1/15

Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu 35/55

Egypt 5/14
Egypt 7/14
Egypt 11/14
Egypt 14/14

Cattou Ninden Teyandee 4/22

Batman Retern of Joker 13/56

Don Doko Don 2 Iku Mizutani?

Times of Lore 2/18
Times of Lore 4/18

Tecmo Soccer 1/58

The Toxic Crusaders 42/60

Power Blade 2 - 63/76
Power Blade 2 - 6/76

Xexyz - 1/22
Xexyz - 3/22 *Insanely rad time changes*

Tecmo World Wrestling - 1/46
Tecmo World Wrestling - 2/46 *Short*
Tecmo World Wrestling - 10/46
Tecmo World Wrestling - 11/46
Tecmo World Wrestling - 12/46
Tecmo World Wrestling - 13/46
Tecmo World Wrestling - 20/46

Herakles no Eikou 2 1/19
Herakles no Eikou 2 2/19
Herakles no Eikou 2 3/19
Herakles no Eikou 2 4/19

Captain Tsubasa 1/60

Marble Madness 3/9

Metal Max 1/96 (Sludge metal)
Metal Max 5/96
Matal Max 6/96
Metal Max 9/96
Metal Max 18/96

Magician 1/19
Magician 4/19
Magician 11/19

Jackal 3/8
Jackal 4/8
Jackal 5/8

TMNT 3 3/30
TMNT 3 7/30
TMNT 3 8/30
TMNT 3 9/30
TMNT 3 10/30*
TMNT 3 16/30
TMNT 3 29/30
TMNT 3 30/30

TMNT TF 47/64

Twin Cobra 3/21

Twin Bee 3 2/30
Twin Bee 3 3/30
Twin Bee 3 19/30
Twin Bee 3 17/30

Bikkuriman World 5/18
Bikkuriman World 7/18
Bikkuriman World 12/18

Uchuu Keibitai SDF 11/12

Destiny of an Emperor 2 1/64
Destiny of an Emperor 2 3/64
Destiny of an Emperor 2 7/44

Wrestlemania Challenge 9/18

Itadaki Street 11/27 Check closer, most of the songs kick!

Choujin Sentai Jetman 1/18
Choujin Sentai Jetman 2/18
Choujin Sentai Jetman 3/18

The Smurfs 1/16

Mission Impossible 4/26

Getsufuu Maden 7/15

Dragon Fighter 4/50
Dragon Fighter 5/50
Dragon Fighter 6/50
Dragon Fighter 8/50
Dragon Fighter 12/50

Track and Field 2 25/37

Bucky O Hare 1/21
Bucky O Hare 2/21
Bucky O Hare 3/21
Bucky O Hare 4/21
Bucky O Hare 6/21
Bucky O Hare 7/21
Bucky O Hare 8/21
Bucky O Hare 10/21

Cosmic Wars 2/46
Cosmic Wars 3/46
Cosmic Wars 5/46
Cosmic Wars 8/46
Cosmic Wars 11/46

Gyruss 1/43
Gyruss 4/43
Gyruss 7/43
Gyruss 8/43

Esper Dream 2 3/37
Esper Dream 2 10/37
Esper Dream 2 14/37
Esper Dream 2 15/37
Esper Dream 2 16/37
Esper Dream 2 17/37
Esper Dream 2 18/37
Esper Dream 2 22/37

Dragon Scroll 1/96 (Tech metal)
Dragon Scroll 2/96
Dragon Scroll 3/96
Dragon Scroll 4/96
Dragon scroll 8/96
Dragon Scroll 18/96 (Play on Guitar)
Dragon Scroll 22/96
Dragon Scroll 23/96
Dragon scroll 24/96

Zen Intergalactic Ninja 1/17
Zen Intergalactic Ninja 3/17
Zen Intergalactic Ninja 4/17
Zen Intergalactic Ninja 10/17 (Odd Sounding, kinda intense)
Zen Intergalactic Ninja 11/17
Zen Intergalactic Ninja 16/17

Batman Returns 2/96
Batman Returns 4/96
Batman Returns 5/96
Batman Returns 6/96
Batman Returns 8/96
Batman Returns 15/96

Hinotori 4/55

Dababa 90/133

Monster In My Pocket 4/22
Monster In My Pocket 5/22 (Good Example of Asian scales)

Gun Sight 2/89
Gun sight 13/89
Gun Sight 14/89
Gun Sight 15/89

Battle of Olympus 4/42
Battle of Olympus 5/42
Battle of Olympus 6/42
Battle of Olympus 12/42
Battle of Olympus 15/42
Battle of Olympus 22/42

Hero Quest 1/5
Hero Quest 2/5
Hero Quest 5/5

Top Gun the Second Mission 2/13
Top Gun the Second Mission 3/13
Top Gun the Second Mission 7/13

Snakes Revenge 1/52
Snakes Revenge 2/52
Snakes Revenge 5/52
Snakes Revenge 7/52
Snakes Revenge 8/52
Snakes Revenge 9/52
Snakes Revenge 10/52
Snakes Revenge 11/52
Snakes Revenge 12/52
Snakes Revenge 13/52 *Very Short*
Snakes Revenge 15/52
Snakes Revenge 18/52

Battle Toads vs Double Dragon 1/34
Battle Toads vs Double Dragon 2/34

Zombie Nation (Abarenboh Tengu) 2/68
Zombie Nation (Abarenboh Tengu) 3/68 - 38 secs
Zombie Nation (Abarenboh Tengu) 5/68 - 11 secs

Darklord 43/66 - 33 secs
Darklord 47/66 - 1,20 secs
Darklord 48/66 - 40 secs
Darklord 49/66 - 49 secs
Darklord 50/66 - ??
Darklord 52/66 -
Darklord 56/66 - 33 secs
Darklord 58/66 - 1,00 secs
Darklord 63/66 - 2,00

Super Spike V'Ball - 1/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 3/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 4/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 5/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 6/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 7/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 10/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 11/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 15/44
Super Spike V'Ball - 18/44

Radia Senki - 1/37
Radia Senki - 2/37
Radia Senki - 3/37
Radia Senki - 6/37
Radia Senki - 7/37
Radia Senki - 8/37
Radia Senki - 11/37
Radia Senki - 13/37 *Wicked arpeggio*
Radia Senki - 15/37
Radia Senki - 16/37
Radia Senki - 17/37

Crisis Force - 1/13
Crisis Force - 2/13
Crisis Force - 3/13
Crisis Force - 4/13
Crisis Force - 5/13
Crisis Force - 11/13

Castlevania - 2/54
Castlevania - 4/54
Castlevania - 5/54
Castlevania - 6/54
Castlevania - 11/54

Castlevania III - 1/54
Castlevania III - 2/54
Castlevania III - 3/54
Castlevania III - 4/54
Castlevania III - 6/54
Castlevania III - 8/54
Castlevania III - 10/54
Castlevania III - 11/54
Castlevania III - 24/54
Castlevania III - 25/54

Street Fighter 2010 - 1/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 2/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 3/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 4/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 6/22 Pure Evil!
Street Fighter 2010 - 7/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 8/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 10/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 11/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 12/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 14/22
Street Fighter 2010 - 21/22

F1 Sensation - 37/52
F1 Sensation - 39/52
F1 Sensation - 43/52
F1 Sensation - 47/52
F1 Sensation - 50/52

Gradius II - 1/65
Gradius II - 3/65
Gradius II - 4/65 after 30 seconds gets wonky
Gradius II - 5/65
Gradius II - 6/65
Gradius II - 7/65
Gradius II - 9/65
Gradius II - 14/65

Gradius - 2/32
Gradius - 3/32
Gradius - 6/32

Life Force - 1/45
Life Force - 2/45
Life Force - 3/45
Life Force - 4/45
Life Force - 5/45
Life Force - 7/45
Life Force - 8/45

Hero Quest - 1/5
Hero Quest - 2/5
Hero Quest - 5/5

Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge - 1/9
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge - 5/9
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge - 8/9
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge - 9/9

James Bond Jr - 3/11
James Bond Jr - 6/11 very rockin....

Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 01/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 02/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 03/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 04/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 05/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 06/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 07/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 08/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 11/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 12/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 13/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 14/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 15/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 20/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 21/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 22/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 25/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 26/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 27/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 30/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 33/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 34/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 35/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 38/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 39/105
Captain Tsubasa vol 2 - 40/105

Don Doko Don 2 - 9/79
Don Doko Don 2 - 10/79 !

Isolated Warrior 5/22
Isolated Warrior 7/22

Aoki Ookami to Shiroku Mejika - Genchou Hishi - 01
Aoki Ookami to Shiroku Mejika - Genchou Hishi - 06
Aoki Ookami to Shiroku Mejika - Genchou Hishi - 07
Aoki Ookami to Shiroku Mejika - Genchou Hishi - 11
Aoki Ookami to Shiroku Mejika - Genchou Hishi - 12
Aoki Ookami to Shiroku Mejika - Genchou Hishi - 15
Aoki Ookami to Shiroku Mejika - Genchou Hishi - 25

There we go, roughly 5 years of NSF research. Enjoy, and keep posting!

by blargg on 2006-08-09 (#16077)

Too bad each person has to research which songs are best. It'd be cool to have a site which allowed entry of favorite tracks and then correlated to find others with similar taste to provide recommendations of more you'd probably like.

These are some GBS tracks I can listen to for long periods of time:

Metal Gear Solid (3, 4, 6, 7)
Metroid 2-Return of Samus (3)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4, 6)
Turok - Rage Wars (3, 4, 5, 8)

by tepples on 2006-08-09 (#16078)

blargg wrote:
Too bad each person has to research which songs are best. It'd be cool to have a site which allowed entry of favorite tracks and then correlated to find others with similar taste to provide recommendations of more you'd probably like.

You mean like iRATE?

by Memblers on 2006-08-09 (#16082)

Air Fortress - 3, 5
Alien 3 - 3
Al Unser Jr Turbo Racing - 32
Bad Dudes - 1, 2, 3
Baseball Simulator 1.000 - 13, 22
Basewars - 1, 3
Batman - 1 (all good though)
Boulderdash - 3, 8
A Boy and His Blob - 3
Bomber King (Robowarrior in US, I think) - 2
Cabal - 3
Cobra Triangle - 4, 5, 8, 9, 12
Karnov - 28, 29
Karate Champ - 13 (give it time to develop)
Gauntlet - 5
Goemon - 6
Goemon 2 - 9
Golgo 13 - 1
Golgo 13 Mafat Conspiracy - 10, 12
Goonies 2 - 5 (don't cut it off too soon)
Robocop 3 - 1 (rocks)
Sky Shark - 2, 5 (5 starts really cheesily)
Spelunker - 1
Sqoon - 9
Strider - 1, 5
Super C - 6 (all really good though)
Sweet Home - 2
Target Renegade - 5, 8
T&C Surf Design - 1
Terra Cresta (US ver) - 4
Time Lord - 2
Top Gun - 1, 6
Trojan - 1, 2
Uninvited - 6
Super Spike V'ball - 4
Werewolf - 3, 4, 8, 12
Wizards and Warriors 2 (Ironsword) - 7 (title)
Ys 3 - 5, 6, 15, 20
Zelda 2 - 8

by kyuusaku on 2006-08-09 (#16084)

All of Gremlins 2!

by Bregalad on 2006-08-09 (#16085)

Quote:
Actually I did mean 30. I know it's not melodic at all, but sometimes a dissonant NES track can really be rad when done right. The first 30 seconds or so remind me of the band Meshuggah.

If you say so. You'd play the whole Just Breed game (wich is kinda long, about 30 missions of one hour of battleing, but I can only reccomand it) to hear the last boss music. Just listen the music may be fun, but combined with the frightening ugly monster that the last boss is, it really outputs an horrible feel, even if the boss isn't really hard.

The music of the Surf City and Terra Tubes in Battletoads is very great (unfortunately the track number very from rip to rip, so I cannot give a number to it).

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Double Dragon ! Not a signe music of the game isn't great. Unfortunately, the sound replay programm isn't of a very high quality, outputing medium quality sound. The music itself is real great, tough.

by ArnoldRimmer83 on 2006-08-09 (#16090)

Sunsoft games are a must for any Nes music lover.

Batman
Batman Return of the Joker
Blaster Master
Gremlins 2
Hebereke/Ufouria
Gimmick
Journey to Silius
Pescatore
Fester's Quest
Battle Formula/Super Spy Hunter
Freedom Force
Shanghai 2
Dodge Danpei 1 & 2

There are far too many nsfs I like, but I'll try naming some I think are fairly obscure.

Ai Senshi Nicol
Almana no Kiseki
Asterix
Bignose the Caveman
Bio Miracle Upa
Boomerang Kid
Chojin Sentai Jetman
Doki Doki Yuuenchi
Erika to Satoru no Yumebouken
Exciting Soccer
Famicom Grand Prix II 3D Hot Rally
Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy
GI Joe
Genghis Khan (Track 1)
Ginga Denshou Galaxy Odyssey (Track 1)
Hello Kitty World
Kick Master
Low G Man
Micro Machines (Track 1)
Nazo no Murasamejou
Super Turrican

For Gameboy I like:

Balloon Kid
Batman
Batman Return of the Joker
Bionic Commando
Castlevania 2 Belmont's Revenge
Gremlins 2
Kid Dracula
Mole Mania
Operation C
Radar Mission
Wario Land series

by Memblers on 2006-08-10 (#16128)

Bregalad wrote:
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Double Dragon ! Not a signe music of the game isn't great. Unfortunately, the sound replay programm isn't of a very high quality, outputing medium quality sound. The music itself is real great, tough.

Yeah, definitely. All the tunes in there are great. I thought the driver was pretty well used, it's the only NSF I'd ever seen that uses the freq sweep registers for pitch bends (like in the solo on the first level). It sounds all bad if the sweep emulation isn't perfect (like on my old NSF player).

Ok, gonna fill in the gaps that I skipped yesterday..

Adventures of Dino-Riki - 2
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom - 5
Asterix - 4, 7
Captain Tsubasa - 9
Castlevania - 3, 4, 6, 7, 11
Castlevania 2 - all, especially Bloody Tears
Castlevania 3 - all
Conflict - 3, 4, 6, 14
Conquest of the Crystal Palace - 1 (catchy)
Contra - all, 5, 7, 8
Cool World - 6
Crash Test Dummies - 6
Dai Kaijuu Deburas - 5
Daimashikyo Galious - 1, 4
Darkman - 1, 3, 6, 8, 9
Deja Vu - 2, 3, 7
Destiny of an Emperor - 36, 37
Die Hard - 37
Double Dragon - all
Double Dragon 2 - 2, 8
Double Dragon 3 - 2, 5, all pretty good tho
Dragon Warrior/Quest 2 - 2, 10, 13,
Dragon Warrior/Quest 3 - 4, 7, 12, 15, 16, 17, 25
Dragon Warrior/Quest 4 - 3, 4, 11, 13, 14, 29, 31, 32
Dr. Mario - 3, 4
Dropzone
Duck Maze (disturbingly catchy)
Duck Tales - 4
Faxanadu - 6, 9
Fester's Quest - 3, 4
Final Fantasy - 2
Final Fantasy 2 - 12, 14 (great!), 16
Final Fantasy 3 - 13, 14, 33
Freedom Force - 5 (Sunsoft thrash metal?)
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge - 5
Friday the 13th - 5
Getsufuu Maden - 5, 7
Gradius 2 - all
Guardian Legend - all
Gyruss - all
Heavy Barrel - 32
Hero Quest - 1, 5
Ikari Warriors 2 - 1, 2
Jackal - all
Rad Racer 2 - 4 (bluegrass!)
Rocketeer - 8
World Games - 4

Maybe I'll add more later. Hey, if I ever forget what songs I liked I can just come back to this thread. heheh.

by Norrin_Radd on 2006-08-11 (#16133)

Exactly why I posted my whole list lol. A tastey little back up

by Bregalad on 2006-08-11 (#16135)

Memblers wrote:
Yeah, definitely. All the tunes in there are great. I thought the driver was pretty well used, it's the only NSF I'd ever seen that uses the freq sweep registers for pitch bends (like in the solo on the first level). It sounds all bad if the sweep emulation isn't perfect (like on my old NSF player).

Yes, this solo is aweseome, and I aslo noted the precision use of sweep registers.
Castlevania also use sweep registers for pitch bend in the death's level.

I almost forgot to mention Dragon Warrior 3's music, that you did. The dungeon and tower music are awesome, sounding so dark even with the NES hardware limitation.
DW4's track 29 you mentionned is the infamous "chose your quest log" theme, that was first introduced in the series with DW4, right ? If you, you're right to mention it because it is cool !

by AkumuHau on 2006-08-11 (#16177)

NSF:

Bucky O Hare
Bionic Commando
Lemmings
Tecmo World Wrestling
Power Blade

GBS:

Balloon Kid
Gargoyle's Quest
Tetris

by Hamtaro126 on 2006-08-19 (#16367)

I agree Arnold R. Many Sunsoft NSFs is a must, Especially Hebereke.
I was planning to make a patch for the Hebereke rom for NESticle!

I also like Journey to silius's NSF too. I also like Kid klown and
Mickey 3's music, Kid klown has a simular music format to
Mickey 3's I'm TRYING to look for music data,

Or if anyone can provide me help,
Make me a ''Kid klown/Mickey 3 music format doc''
for me to put music from kid klown AND mickey3 (and vice-versa)

just wanted help/telling everyone I like nsfs!

by Memblers on 2006-08-24 (#16535)

Oh, I also gotta mention Maniac Mansion. Track 17 sounds like Mario getting shot down with a machine gun, hilarious. I've never heard that in the game, has anyone?

by ugetab on 2006-08-24 (#16538)

One of the arcade machines produce that music before showing the 'High Score' screen(you need a quarter to play, and the wiring behind the painted door on floor 3 must be fixed for the machines to work. The small key in Edna's room is needed to get the quarter back). The high score on that game is the 'sekrit lab' inner door password, and before that, the password is 0000.

by Bregalad on 2006-08-25 (#16546)

By the way there is a track in the Battletoad NSF I've never heard in the game. It is track 8, but this may vary in function of the version of the NSF. Does anyone know where this is heard ?

by Agu Fungus on 2006-09-23 (#17954)

Some of my old-school favorites:

Super Mario Bros.:
Overworld
Ending (SMB2 FDS)

Kirby's Adventure:
Grassy Bluff
Nightmare
Ending

The Legend of Zelda:
Title (FDS)

Kid Icarus:
Title (FDS)

Now for the GBS:

Pokémon (Red, Green, Blue):
All battle themes

Wario Land I & II:
Theme

Donkey Kong Land:
Gangplank Galleon

by Jedi QuestMaster on 2006-09-24 (#17966)

Can we recommend covers? I'd recommend Damian Yerrick's covers.

As for Battletoads - Track 8 seems to be unused. I also don't remember Track 9, and Track 19 gets cut off.

by Bregalad on 2006-09-25 (#17978)

Track 9 is heard in Level 8. I doubt you never head the "melody" in track 19 because the music never play long enough, and you only hear bass notes. That doesn't mean the melody isn't technically here in the game.

by bucky o'hare on 2006-09-25 (#17987)

some of the nsfs in my 'favorites' folder:
Aberenbou Tengu/ Zombie Nation
Arumana no Kiseki
Asterix
Batman: Return of the Joker
Castlevania I-III
Crisis Force
Crystalis
Dark Lord
Ducktales I & II
Falsion
Final Fantasy III
Gimmick!
Gyruss
Hero Quest
The Immortal
Lagrange Point
Madara
Mega Man I-VI
Mighty Final Fight
Ninja Gaiden I & II
Shatterhand
Silver Surfer
Willow
Wizardry
Wizards and Warriors I & II
Wolverine

by mic_ on 2006-10-07 (#18248)

Some of my favorites:

Adventure Of Link: 2,3,8
Adventures Of Lolo 2: 1,3
Asterix: 4,11
Batman: 1,4
Bram Stoker's Dracula: 1,12
Castlevania: 3,4,6,9,13
Castlevania 2: 1,2,3,4,5,6
Darkman: 1,3,9
Double Dragon: 2,4
Dodge Danpei: 1
Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku: 4,6,8,9
Dragon's Lair: 2,5
Duck Tales: 6,7
Gimmick!: 1,2,3,4
Goonies 2: 1,2,4,8
Gradius 2: 3
Gremlins 2: 2,3,5
Guerilla War: 3
Gumshoe: 4,11
Gun Smoke: 2,3
Gyruss: 3
Hebereke: 1
Journey To Silius: 1,2,3,5,6,7,11
Legend Of Zelda: 1,3,4,6
Life Force: 2,4,7
Little Nemo The Dream Master: 6
Lone Ranger: 14
Mega Man: 1,4,7
Mega Man 2: 1,2,3,4,9,10,11
Mega Man 3: 8
Mega Man 4: 7,8,11
Mega Man 5: 3,9
Mega Man 6: 1,4
Metal Gear: 1,2,8
Metroid: 1,2,3,5
MIG 29 Soviet Fighter: 1
Ninja Gaiden: 1,2,8,9,13,16,18,21
Ninja Gaiden 2: 1,2,3,4,11
Ninja Gaiden 3: 2,4,5,6
Parodius: 5,7,18
RoboCop 2: 1,6
RoboCop 3: 1
RoboWarrior: 1,2,4,9
Rush'n'Attack: 5,7,8,9,12,13,18
Rygar: 2,4,6,7,10
Shanghai 2: 4
Shatterhand: 1,3,4,6,13
Shadow Of The Ninja: 1,3,4,6,7,8,11,12
Silver Surfer: 1,6
Skate Or Die 2: 1,6,8,11
Solar Jetman: 1
Solstice: 1,3,4,5,6
Star Force: 7
Super C: 4
Super Mario Bros 2: 14
Tiger Heli: 2
TMNT: 12
Trojan: 2,8
Wizards & Warriors: 1

by Cybergoth on 2006-10-07 (#18252)

I like lots of the Codemasters tunes, were all the European SID musicians make the NES produce very SIDish music

Try Matt Grays tunes for "Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy" for example. Partially it's getting as good as his Last Ninja score for the C64

by NewRisingSun on 2006-10-07 (#18260)

Quote:
I like lots of the Codemasters tunes, were all the European SID musicians make the NES produce very SIDish music
Am I the only one who finds these fast arpeggios-imitating-polyphony atrocious? Apparently not, considering that Japanese composers never did that (to my knowledge).

by blargg on 2006-10-07 (#18262)

All that "alternating between three notes quickly" music sounds the same to me (=annoying). Used sparingly, it can be nice, but it seems so many of those Euro game soundtracks sound like the same thing over and over. It always seems like a gimmick that they never got over. Bla bla just my opinion.

by tepples on 2006-10-07 (#18263)

NewRisingSun wrote:
Am I the only one who finds these fast arpeggios-imitating-polyphony atrocious? Apparently not, considering that Japanese composers never did that (to my knowledge).

Plenty of Japanese games did that in sound effects. For instance, the line clear sounds in Dr. Mario are arpeggiated, and so is the sound after you select missiles in Top Gun. But one way to settle the arpeggio debate is to compare apples to apples: "Butterfly" without (sequenced by a Konami GBC programmer) vs. "Butterfly" with (sequenced by myself).

by Bregalad on 2006-10-08 (#18270)

Quote:
Am I the only one who finds these fast arpeggios-imitating-polyphony atrocious? Apparently not, considering that Japanese composers never did that (to my knowledge).

I agree, but in *some* case it may sound good, while in almost all cases it sounds bad, in function of the style of the music. If the pitch doesn't change too fast, it sound better, and it sound a bit like tremolo strings.

Porting a normal tune to arpeggios sound atrocious, but sometimes maybe composing the sound directly using arpeggios (on only ONE channel at time) wouldn't sound so bad.
The fact I found arpeggios horrible dissuaded me to include this in my ultimate music engine, and now it seems that to make good-sounding noise drum un-looped arpeggios are almost needed (you don't want to parameter a slide or something on each note, so it would be better to just apply some un-looped arpeggio to the whole drum sequence). So as long as un-looped arpeggios may be implemented, I don't think it is very hard to include looped arpeggios even if it is to almost no use it.

BTW all SFX from Air Fortress are very arpeggio-ish, and that doesn't always sound very good, but it is kinda fun.

by ccovell on 2006-10-08 (#18271)

de gustibus non est disputandum

Or something like that. I happen to love the sound of arpeggios (when used skilfully), and find a lot of the Japanese tunes, though melodic, boring in their instrumentation.

by Bananmos on 2006-10-08 (#18275)

As the European arpeggio junkie that I am, I second that opinion.

by NewRisingSun on 2006-10-08 (#18276)

The way I see it, "skillful" use of arpeggios means using it to add "texture" to the sound, whereas "unskillful" would be that the composer is just cramming three voices into one channel because cheap harmonies are the only way he knows to convey emotion.

Good examples are "Incredible Crash Test Dummies" and some tracks in "Asterix". Generally, using ONE jump at the start of a note to add a short glimpse of an octave interval is often a good idea.

Bad examples include the title of "Fushigi no Umi no Nadia" (to correct myself, a Japanese game), "Beauty and the Beast" (both confirming Bregalad's point, all conversions), and with regards to "cheap harmonies", "Fire Hawk" Track 4, and "Micro Machines" all except 3.
But the worst offender of course is the triangle channel in "Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy", track 3 --- you can torture me with this one. (And while I'm at it, what's with "Dizzy the Adventurer" constantly resetting the square wave? It's as if my emulator had a sound buffering problem.)

by tepples on 2006-10-08 (#18277)

NewRisingSun wrote:
(And while I'm at it, what's with "Dizzy the Adventurer" constantly resetting the square wave? It's as if my emulator had a sound buffering problem.)

Any software pitch bend or arpeggio that crosses the A above middle C will reset the square wave.

So what did you think of my "Butterfly" cover?

by NewRisingSun on 2006-10-08 (#18278)

Quote:
Any software pitch bend or arpeggio that crosses the A above middle C will reset the square wave.
But "Dizzy the Adventurer" even resets it within a constant note, causing a very scratchy sound.

Quote:
So what did you think of my "Butterfly" cover?
It's very nice from 00:07 on, but annoying in the first 7 seconds. I would add some kind of envelope to the channel playing the arpeggio (to the larger arpeggiated chord, not the individual arpeggio notes of course) in those first 7 seconds.

by mic_ on 2006-10-09 (#18295)

Although the people at Sunsoft and Natsume managed to create great soundtracks with other means, I think the "european style" also has its golden nuggets. Most tracks by Tim Follin and Jon Dunn, in particular, kick ass.