Ninja gaiden stage 4-2: Bazlisk (?) mine field

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Ninja gaiden stage 4-2: Bazlisk (?) mine field
by on (#49454)
Since I was hearing too much mega man music these days I decided to change my mind and try to reproduce something else for fun. Remade stage 4-2 of ninja gaiden with famitracker. The files (nsf and ftm) are available in this thread.

Simple song but I love this one a lot. It was fun to remake.

by on (#49457)
Oh this music is awesome, and the reproduction is very very faithfull (mybe too much ?). Wasn't it for the credits at the end of the game ? Oh NG was one of those game that used all pieces of good music everywhere without caring too much whether if fits the place or not.

by on (#49458)
It was for Act 4-2, and then they reused it for the credits.

by on (#49460)
Very nice. Sounds great to me and I'm a huge NG fan.

All the NG games reuse some music on later stages. Infact in NG2 it would seem to pick random songs for the final level. One thing is for sure about NG music, it sounded better on the NES than it did on the SNES.

by on (#49461)
Oh I'm not a huge NG fan but I have to admit that the music is awesome. That song is very well suited for the credits I think. It's a shame they seem to reuse any song in any place without thinking too much, but it still sound surprisingly good.

You mean NG2 picks up a random song in the last level, that it won't be the same in a different playtough ? This is SO stupid.

by on (#49462)
I'm not sure if it's random on the last level or if it's related to something, but the final level's music will play a number of different tracks from previous levels. No idea why but it's true.

by on (#49464)
Ah, damn. I was hoping it was a remake of some of arcade Ninja Gaiden/Ryukenden's music. A lot of it, especially the 1st stage music, is awesome.

Good job with the remake!

by on (#49465)
Thanks everyone for the comments.

Bregalad wrote:
Oh this music is awesome, and the reproduction is very very faithfull (mybe too much ?).


My goal was to improve my tracking skill and learn how to make some Ninja gaiden music. So I analyzed the song completely. This mean I took nsfplay, checked how volumes are used, which note are where, channel by channel, note by note. So it's not a cover in the sense that I remade it my own way: I reproduced the song to learn more tracking skill. I hope after remaking a few of them that it will give me a feel on how to make similar song later, my own songs.

@MottZilla: I don't remember the song to be random in NG2. I played it often. You're sure about that?

As for re-using the songs in the credit, I don't think it was a big deal. The song is so good that you want to hear it again ;)

@ccovell: That could be interesting to remake some of the arcade one on the nes. It just that I really don't know much about the arcade version actually since I mostly played the nes games only. Now I want to hear the arcade soundtrack :)

by on (#49466)
If you die on the final stage of Ninja Gaiden 2 the music should be different when you respawn. If you have alot of extra lives you can do this quite a bit and you'll cycle through several songs. I know I used to purposely die until I got the music track I wanted.

by on (#49471)
I went ahead and made a version for the SEGA Genesis (or Megadrive as we call it around here). I'm no expert at creating FM synth patches but I think it turned out ok.. Here's the VGZ and MML.

Quote:
Ah, damn. I was hoping it was a remake of some of arcade Ninja Gaiden/Ryukenden's music. A lot of it, especially the 1st stage music, is awesome.

I hope the arcade game is nothing like the PCE version, because that game was AWFUL.

by on (#49472)
The VGZ version is interesting, I like it. I'm not used to vgz but it sound, how can I say, far or volume low. Maybe it's a setting or it how vgz sound. I will try to download more for testing.

As for the arcade version, hmm... It's a mixed bag I guess. It has nothing to do with the nes version. It's more like a double dragon clone but that didn't go well. It's an ok game but the nes version is a lot better. I listened back to the first level song and it was good.

by on (#49473)
Quote:
far or volume low. Maybe it's a setting or it how vgz sound. I will try to download more for testing.

I haven't tried listening to it on my Megadrive yet, so it's possible that some of the volumes need to be adjusted.

If you're using in_vgm you can open the plugin config window, go to the YM2612 and SN76489 tabs and increase the preamp value (I've got the YM2612 at 148 and the SN76489 at 161). I don't recommend using the overdrive setting though.

by on (#49474)
I tried it back at home and changed the volume like you said and it sounds better, less washed out.

by on (#49478)
The Ninja Gaiden arcade game was fun though. It wasn't spectacular but it was a solid game I think. Just consider the time frame it was released in. It's a shame they couldn't have ported it to Sega Genesis, and I know about the sad excuse for a similar game on Genesis.

By the way that VGM version is pretty cool.

by on (#49492)
Just listened. Cool song! I don't know (or don't remember) the original, but you version sounds great.

by on (#49516)
Thanks for the comment.

The original is exactly the same, except (if you're very picky like me) for some small difference in the vibrato that sometime affect the pitch and can make it a little bit out of pitch. But you have to hear the original first then listen to the one I made to really hear that.

What I like of that song it even thought it was quite a simple song, it's still very good. So you don't always need complicated music to sound good.

It's was a fun break from programming. Now I need to go back working on my game engine and meta-metasprite.. hmm.. Don't know yet how to approach it.