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Welcome to GamesRadar's daily blast of all things pertaining to the ever-growing field of game music. Each post will introduce new sounds, games, composers and fan-made remixes of gaming's greatest aural achievements.
April 21, 2010
Game: Bionic Commando
Song: Main Theme
Composer: Harumi Fujita, Junko Tamiya
Above: Main theme from Bionic Commando
Until very recently, Bionic Commando was one of those long-lost franchises that held a lot of promise but just never made it to the big time. Today, we've got sequels and remakes aplenty, though it all still goes back to the NES original.
The original soundtrack is filled with typical Capcom excellence, though nothing matches the song played during the game's first level. It's something like a military march mixed with the grandest symphony ever constructed, suggesting you're on a serious life-or-death mission behind enemy lines, but oh man, are you in for a high-flying adventure.
Above: The Rearmed remix
This 8-bit classic saw a fairly shitty follow-up on Game Boy Color in 1999, and after that fell into oblivion it looked like the BC series was gone for good. Then, against all hope, came 2008's Bionic Commando Rearmed, possibly the best retro-remake of all time. It kept the same rock-solid gameplay but added cutting edge graphics and a stunning remixed soundtrack from Simon Viklund. Above is the main theme remixed, and below is another track from Rearmed.
Above: Power Plant from Rearmed, a staggering achievement in sound
On a personal note, I loved Rearmed so much that I hassled Capcom about its fake bionic arm long for months on end. Eventually, in December 2008, they finally let me borrow it and dick around with it in San Francisco.
Above: You can't imagine the amount of paperwork involved in this
Just this week Rearmed 2 was announced. Naturally I'm stoked, and with Viklund back at the helm, I'm certain there'll be another soundtrack to floor me in 2011. Until then, check out his work in the recently released Final Fight: Double Impact.
Game music of the day: Final Fantasy IV
Battle with the Four Fiends by Nobuo Uematsu
Game music of the day: Persona 4
Reach out to the Truth by Shoji Meguro
Game music of the day: Super Castlevania IV
Prologue by Adachi and Kudou
elpurplemonkey - April 22, 2010 7:34 p.m.