The History of Music in SHOOT EM UPS

[Music] do great music is the soundtrack to our lives it makes the ordinary extraordinary and creates emotion and meaning that transcends the limitations of language [Music] music is universal in a way nothing else can be and affects nearly every art form and human endeavor no matter how good the movie or how great the game the soundtrack provides the personality that becomes forever entwined with your memories and experience when combined with other art forms like film and video games it creates a powerful and everlasting connection bringing you right back to those moments when you first experience them and when it comes to some of the most epic engaging and memorable musical experiences in gaming few genres can claim the crowd of best in class like shoot em ups [Music] there's something about blasting your way through hordes of enemies background scrolling without mercy reigning destruction upon wave after wave that demands only the best soundtrack to complete the experience from the earliest shooting games from the most basic of chiptunes developers knew that a killer soundtrack to excite the player and absorb them into the experience was a must and as music transitioned from programmed chiptunes to recorded instruments and cd-based games epic compositions normally reserved for feature films opened a world of possibilities not just memorable catchy tunes but moody compositions that immersed you further into the world the designers created so this video is a celebration of some of the best soundtracks in shooting game history from the 8-bit days to present the games the developers and the composers that helped shape the music of shooting games and a big part of why they hold such a nostalgic place in our memories [Music] xevious was the game that kicked off the scrolling shooter in 1982 influencing all others that would follow and it wasn't long before other developers porting it to nearly every platform that existed created their own versions of the game and music tracks one of the most prolific at the time was compiled on the popular msx computer compiled were masters of their craft and they took it to yet another level with their pc engine port adding an all-new game and revamped soundtrack that had xevious never sounding so good [Music] compile's own series xanax which built upon the formula also featured classic 8-bit tunes and was a precursor to the magic they continue to pull off with more powerful hardware but even their 8-bit chiptunes from the later alasta series gun knack and guardian legend not to mention their msx games were some of the most impressive compositions of the time [Music] probably the biggest name and influence in early game music and the industry as a whole was konami responsible for the most popular franchises in gaming history they had a large dedicated team devoted to music the konami kukeha club and while they promoted all their music as a team effort it was miki higashino that composed two of their most classic shooting game soundtracks the original gradius and salamander aka life force two games whose musical brilliance needs no introduction [Music] but while many can point to these games as their peak of the arcade era konami was also prolific on the msx producing some of the best chiptunes of the time [Music] much like the sega master system the msx was capable of both standard psg and fm sound using the yamaha ym chipset so common in arcades but konami also developed their own chipset the scc and used its expanded capability to produce some phenomenal tracks and as the generation progressed into the 16-bit era konami continued their support of shooting games in arcade and at home with brilliant work like gradius 3 and axela on the super nintendo [Music] [Applause] [Music] of course konami was just a part of the great music of the early 90s as it was also the golden age for stgs as their popularity exploded in arcades home computers and consoles followed with nintendo sega and hudsonsoft all releasing loads of shooters for their platforms [Music] with hundreds upon hundreds of stg's across all systems so came an avalanche of incredible music from developers big and small that solidified the genre as a musical tour de force [Music] at the forefront of this shooting revolution were a handful of developers that pushed the limits of what was possible on the hardware on sega's mega drive none became more well known than technosoft with the thunderforce series [Music] taking full advantage of the yamaha fm chipset the soundtracks to thunder force 3 and 4 were widely considered some of the best on the system the mega drive was home to over 60 shooters and almost to a fault they took advantage of that raw gritty sound of the yamaha a sound that became synonymous with the console [Music] [Applause] [Music] tour plan another prolific arcade developer with several stg's now considered classics translated nearly every arcade port to the mega drive even making improvements in many of their compositions their two brilliant programmers and musicians masahiro yuge and tatsuya umura are responsible for the great music for most of their classics like zeroing hellfire and tatsujin [Music] while the fm synthesis approach of the mega drive was born of an earlier generation and it did have its limitations producing a sound that would rarely be mistaken for actual instruments it also gave the mega drive its character and is still a reason why it's so widely used today by musicians and fans alike for new compositions it's a combination of both nostalgia and capability that gave it an unmistakable sound [Music] unlike the mega drive and other systems of the time which used custom sound chips the super famicom had its own entire subsystem developed by ken kudaragi of sony it used a proprietary chipset with its own 8-bit cpu a dsp and dedicated pool of ram in terms of sheer capability it was a step forward for music composition on home consoles while it was certainly capable of some rocking fm style music like those found in r-type 3 most games took advantage of the sound in different ways two shining examples were capcom's un squadron and compiles super elastic both with memorable jazzy tunes giving each game their unique personality compositions that were more complex and higher bit rate samples of real instruments that the competition couldn't match despite the superior sound hardware of nintendo's console likely because it could recreate such a wide range of music it also never developed a trademark sound like the mega drive in fact in terms of pushing the music of video games forward into the next generation it was the very first console of the 16-bit era released before both the mega drive and the super famicom that brought music into the next generation hudsonsoft's pc engine [Music] [Music] in its early days without a yamaha chipset or fm synthesis it couldn't reproduce the gritty sound of the arcade instead hudson took a novel approach using what was called wavetable lookup synthesis an early form of recorded digital instruments being a console that was heavily focused on shooters with over 100 unique titles of its own there was no shortage of phenomenal [Music] [Applause] chiptunes [Music] using short digital samples to recreate nearly any sound the composer wanted along with six sound channels the pc engine shooter library had some of the most melodic soundtracks of the era [Music] however it wasn't the base pc engine chiptunes that revolutionized video game music and brought it into the modern age it was hudson's release of the very first cd system attachment all the way back in 1989 that signaled the beginning of the end for programmed chiptunes and the god of fully recorded 16-bit cd music in video games now talented musicians bands and orchestras could simply record live music and encode to cd [Applause] this revolution signaled the rise to prominence of bands like zun tata and t's music able to compose without limitation or any need of coding for three years until the release of the mega cd by sega hudson owned the market t's music created legendary tracks for some of hudson's most popular games like gate and lords of thunder [Applause] and created incredible remixes for classic games like cotton and hellfire [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and while the cd format didn't guarantee all composers would create quality music it opened the door for unfettered creativity by some of the industry's best while nintendo stubbornly clung to their cartridge format for another generation and also abandoned the shooting genre completely bad nintendo bad [Music] both sega and newcomer sony embraced the cd format with their 32-bit consoles along with continuing support for stg's with the added power this generation arcade perfect ports became the norm even exceeding them musically in many cases [Music] one of the most renowned bands that came into their own during this time was zun tata with their other worldly and experimental traps creating music for legendary developer title going back to their earliest games their classic darius music transformed from evocative chiptunes into haunting ballads with eerie voices [Music] perfectly complementing the psychedelic voyage and giving the series its trademark atmosphere being title's in-house band if were playing a title game chances are you were listening to zumtata zwintada has won multiple accolades for their work and is still one of the most recognized bands in gaming the mid to late 90s was also the rise of cave legendary bullet hell developer and with them one of the most famous music composers in stg history manabu namiki [Music] like a who's who of cave music he was responsible for so many soundtracks that an entire video could be created around his work alone first working with ryzen in his early days to compose the music with battle gerega and great mahou daisukusa we followed up with the music for the dodompachi series katsuwi eskaluda mushihimasama and death smiles [Music] so he lent his work to m2 for gradius rebirth and still continues to work to this day most recently with this awesome soundtrack for the new game gear alastair 3 also by m2 the cd era was a no holds bar free for all with developers big and small finding the most talented musicians to create the perfect soundtrack for their games [Music] as the shooting genre began to lose popularity after the mid 90s and the majority of new games shifted from large developers to smaller indie houses less well-known but no less talented musicians had the opportunity to score the majority of upcoming indie shmups to also promote their work even in the early days a small indie developer ng dev team often partnered with dj raphael dill to ensure their games consistently have some of the hottest music in the genre [Music] with games like neosix gun lord and especially last hope creating a perfect atmosphere for a game that's far easier on the ears than it ever was to play [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] working for indie developer cute has consistently put together some of the best soundtracks in modern shooting games up to and including the recent natsuki [Music] chronicles and his masterpiece of work for eschatos remains one of the greatest stg soundtracks ever created [Music] [Music] the music transitions into a dreamy space synth with 80s beats as you travel toward the moon later pulling off the coolest homage to space invaders that i've seen in a game this is one soundtrack you may be picking up if you fall in love with the game like i did it's one of the best you'll ever hear [Music] the ability to directly record music even allowed small one-person operations with games made on a budget and created during their spare time to still showcase their musical talent no better example exists than zoom sole creator of the touhou series not only known for its fandom but also the incredible soundtracks that he's created for over two dozen games dating back to 1995. [Music] zun previously worked for title on games like civilian and his time with the company inspired much of his work that you can clearly hear in the touhou [Music] games [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] despite the superior nature of cd music the old chiptunes still hold a very special place in our memories in many cases we even prefer them after all the most memorable and classic tunes that we still have nostalgia for today came from the era before cd music even existed and yet these rudimentary memory limited chipsets and audio samples created the themes for our most beloved series [Music] maybe it was the technical limitations that brought out the creativity from developers or maybe it's those primal sounds they produced that gave them their character like the pc engine that sounded like an angry bee out to sting the competition to death [Music] or the yamaha fm chip that made many arcade games and sega consoles sound like no others on the market [Music] it made us remember them specifically for those reasons and why such a fan base still exists for new music being created that replicates the sound of the [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] originals [Music] an important part of that era rarely discussed were the popular home computers not just the msx but the commodore 64 amiga zx spectrum the sharp 68000 and many more all systems with a huge array of games with wonderful music that's rarely explored [Music] the most famous sound was the sid chip in the commodore systems designed by bob yanez who later founded the ensoniq digital synth company regarded as a beast for its time and beyond anything else on the market the commodore was like a musical instrument with a computer attached many european musicians learned how to produce their music because they owned a c64 at a younger age and its sound influenced their compositions for the next generation the amiga was also well known for games with some great tunes and its paula sound chip that worked independent of the cpu creating soundtracks that exceeded what could be done on home consoles upon its release [Music] and then there was the late sharp 68 000 another beast with its sound options and roland cards exceeding most arcade boards of the time and producing some of the most impressive arcade perfect ports and unique chip tunes of that final [Music] generation [Music] the shark was designed to be a graphical and music workstation and was compatible with all of the roland midi synthesizers and developers took advantage by making their games with midi tracks which helped give it that reputation of being better than the arcade [Music] computer gaming in general from the earliest days was full of shooting games and to this day when the mainstream has all but forgotten them it's the same modern pc games and indie developers that have carried the torch for decades many games so good with such great music that it's a crime they aren't known and played more [Music] [Music] you've heard the classics you've played the legends and you'll never forget what they mean to you but now it's time to create new memories [Music] with new games that you've yet to explore by new musicians whose music you've yet to hear some are modern and cd quality others sound like the chiptunes of old creating new compositions using the tools of yesteryear and lots of them more than you know are shoot-em-ups because shoot-em-ups are making a comeback the games were there it was most of us that were absent but no longer it's us the shooting game fans that are back [Music] how do we bring the genre back to prominence by staying back by playing the games by building a community around them by supporting the developers out there that deserve it so making shooting games is profitable again sharing the games with your kids and friends and enjoying the great music that's such an integral part of why we fell in love with them in the first place [Music] you

Channel: Shmup Junkie

Views: 25,015

Keywords: The Epic Music of Shoot Em Ups, shoot em up, shmup, shooter, stg, bullet hell, game music, videogame music, game ost, konami, gradius, compile, pc engine, mega drive, sega saturn, playstation, psx, ps1, super nintendo, snes, cave, manabu namiki, zun, touhou, yousuke yasui, zuntata, darius, turbografx 16, msx, commodore 64, c64 music, msx music, shmup junkie, shmupsareshooters, arcade, nec, sega, nintendo, rtype, xbox 360, nemesis, dodonpachi, toaplan, devil engine, indie shmups, capcom

Id: gvSY6yAjoLs

Length: 36min 7sec (2167 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 06 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Ahhh shmups, one of the absolute best genres of video games that gets criminally overlooked by people.

The older I get, the more I love shmups. Pick up and play. 10 minute sessions. No bullshit. Pure fun.

Timeless genre where you can play great games from 30 years ago and they can be considered 'equal' in quality to the modern greats.

Miki Higashino is a real legend of the industry.

Some of the music off the top of my head i love. It is just *chef's kiss:

• Lords of Thunder on Turbografx
• Cotton on Turbografx
• MUSHA on Genesis
• Gaiares on Genesis
• Thunder Force IV on Genesis
• Radiant Silvergun on Saturn
• Layer Section/Galactic Attack on Saturn
• G-Darius on PS1

Imagine you're 10 years old and plug this into your Genesis in 1992 and hear this

[u/pragmaticzach]

Haven't watched the entire video yet to see if he mentions it, but I've been playing Zeroranger (a modern shmup inspired by classic shmups) lately and it has an amazing soundtrack.

[u/yiskelter]

Even as someone who doesn't really care about Touhou it has some incredible pieces, Fantastic Danmaku Festival 2 is artistically beautiful at points and that final stage music is worth playing through just to hear it.

[u/raptor__q]

A worthwhile mention is Raptor: Call of Shadows, found that to have some good music for the era it was made in.

[u/Ghisteslohm]

Really nice video. Gives a nice overview over the genre and there are indeed tons of great tracks- that ooze nostalgia even though I never played them.

Sadly the video also shows me why so far I have not become a fan of the genre because in basically every single game there is such a mess on the screen that turns me off.

Also fascinating that the video runs for 15 minutes and it just reaches 1989. And I wasnt aware how important sound chips were back then even though I listened to lots of retro podcasts.

Random thought: A console having "multiple stg's" just sounds like an infection :D

But yeah, awesome video. I bet if I played the games back then I would have probably shed a tear or 2. The nostalgic music always hits me right in the feels.

[u/TheSethington]

If you're into shmups and board games, Bullet[heart] has been one of my absolute favorite games recently.

I'm personally not drawn in at all by the anime girl art theme, so I was on the fence about picking it up for a long time, but I'm so glad I did.

It's also easy to recommend if your group doesn't like shmups (or isn't familiar with the genre in the first place), I just tell people at the table it's basically a competitive puzzle game and that tends to be enough to get some interest going.

[u/Mathemartemis]

On seeing the title I was hoping this might talk about the game Everyday Shooter, a PS3 twin sick shooter where the music changes based on the enemies and bullets on screen