Apr 022014
 

Ep66

A special tribute to launch era Famicom titles, as heard on this new album from Nintendo.

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  16 Responses to “VGMpire Episode 66 – Fun with Famicom”

  1. Great Show!

    I wish this episode was longer. I love this music.

    Hope to meet you at PAX East this year.

  2. Brelston,
    Can you be so kind as to post a link to the site you’d buy this from? I couldn’t quite figure it out based on what you said during the episode……and I’d like to get this one.

    By the way, glad you mentioned DK3; I’d almost forgotten about that one! It was my favorite of the 3 original DK games, most likely because it was the only one I was any good at. My dad had DKjr. locked DOWN; it brings back memories of smoky bowling alleys and playing Spy Hunter, Moon Patrol, 1943 and Kid Niki with my brother while my dad wore silly shoes and won $5 jackpots. Every now and then he’d top the night off with a little DKjr. I can still remember him gripping that trademark undersized Nintendo arcade joystick, effortlessly moving Jr. from vine to vine, jumping about in his white onesie and owning the villainous Mario round after round.

    I just wish Sega had a Mark III launch cd. The soundtracks to certain Nintendo games really whip up the old nostalgia(Batman and other Sunsoft games foremost), but it’s the old Master System stuff that really stirs my heart.

    • Okay, that Wrecking Crew track makes me sooo happy. Why don’t they make music like this anymore?

    • Link is in the description 🙂 Check Amazon or like Play Asia, CD Japan etc

      • Yeah, that’s about the third time I’ve posted something here and then immediately found what I was looking for, or realized I hadn’t read what I was responded to correctly. 🙂 Makes me reeeallyy appreciate the “edit” function employed elsewhere on the tubes.

  3. Do all the rereleases of the NES games have the American cartridge music, or have they used the disk versions for any of them? I only have the Gamecube Zelda collection, I could dig it out to see, but I’d guess it’s just the American stuff I’m used to.

    • I’m interested in the answer to that one, too. Since I don’t have the same emotional attachment to the original American releases, hearing the quasi-FM versions of Zelda and the like didn’t unsettle me the way they did Antista.

      BUT, I totally know where he’s coming from: Apparently, The Mark III(Japanese Sega Master System) had an FM-module add-on that allowed games to utilize 9 additional mono channels of FM, if they were programmed for it. Although I knew about the unit, I only recently heard any games that utilized it. Phantasy Star, which I played and loved the way you guys must have played Final Fantasy or Zelda, sounded bizarre with the extra channels of music. I hated it, to be frank.

  4. Another good episode topic. Liking VGM more every week.

  5. Very fun Famicom music tribute. I must agree that the Zelda stuff via the disk system just doesn’t sound as good. I know nostalgia is a strong factor, but I still just don’t like some of the sound/instrument choices on the disk system versions.

    Good picks in general. At first I wondered where Super Mario Bros. 2 was…but then I remembered that SMB2 came out crazy late as Super Mario USA in Japan, so I guess it wasn’t as glaringly missing in reality (though I assume Doki Doki Panic had the same soundtrack? Maybe not)

    Incidentally, Kid Icarus is much easier when you know the secret way you are actually scoring that the game never tells you. When I read up on those hidden stats (which include enemies killed AND shots missed), suddenly I became good at Kid Icarus on my 3DS. Great music no matter what, though.

    Famicom Wars music was surprisingly good, and you directly influenced my grabbing Advanced Wars on the Wii U VC. So nice work!

  6. Nice throwback to the Famicom period! That album sounds really neat.

    Love the tune from “Mach Rider,” there was a great remix of it in Super Smash Bros. Melee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oyDD9k6dLg

    I particularly liked the Famicom Wars music in this episode, I can see a lot of the style that Hip Tanaka also used in Mother/Earthbound Zero (lots of fast-paced percussion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnsLzijguI8

    I think the added sounds to the Famicom Disk System versions aren’t too bad. It does kind of mess with your nostalgia though. Also, you guys might be amazed to know that the FDS startup music is reused as the Gamecube menu music, albeit suuuuuuper slowed down. Pretty amazing easter egg for Nintendo to include, don’t you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjEsXf3SJ6o (mind = blown)

  7. oooooh really loved this one! I liked how you guys were able to just quickly pitch in memories or thoughts about each song as they played in the background. Made for an awesome format. Also its really weird seeing how much of these songs I remember just through the internet. I’m too young to really have known a good chunk of them but I feel nostalgic about it anyway. Or maybe I just heard all these on the many array of podcasts you fellas gift us with.

  8. These mish-mash smorgasbord episodes are a nice way to hit many games that may not warrant a series-specific one; they are nonetheless greatly appreciated. Thank you Brett & company, keep up the good work!

  9. Hello. You guys are always saying how you want to hear from fans so that you have the strength to keep making these shows, so this is me writing to say that your VGMpire podcasts are a joy to listen to. I used to listen to Legacy Music Hour until they retired, and now I’m onto your show. Some of the newer game themes aren’t as interesting to me, but when you do a show like the Parappa one or the Zelda or Castlevania shows, I’m all in. Keep it up. Also, do more of that “Rappin’ Hank” or whatever from the simpsons, it’s funny.

  10. Brett do a Poke’mon episode. The first two generations of games have great music.

  11. Brelston and friends,
    I heard an interesting twist on the Doki Doki Panic/SMB2 story that varies slightly from the version heard on this here episode.
    The way I heard it told is that DDP was actually SUPPOSED to be SMB2 originally. It’s just that budget and deadline and hardware constraints all came to a head, so the team threw together a bunch of new levels using the SMB format and slapped a “2” on it. The game was finished in time for an American release, plus I heard that NUSA thought the Japanese SMB2 was too hard and too derivative…..so we got our SMB2 and the Nihonjin got Doki.

    My own nostalgic ramblings on the matter: I remember back in middle school(right around the time SMB3 was released) hearing the oft-repeated rumor that in Japan, they had 4 or 5 Super Mario Brothers. I believed it for years, It wasn’t until SMB All-Stars was announced for the SFC that I actually heard the real story behind the Japanese SMB sequels. It’s funny how the story changes so quickly.

  12. One more thing:

    I distinctly remember playing an arcade game pre-Super Mario 2 that had what I swear were some of the same characters as SMB2, if not similar. I believe part of the game involved vertically traversing levels with mountains a la SMB2 as well, and the main character was possibly a ninja. Does anyone here know what game I’m thinking? I want to say you could initially choose between 3 different stages or 3 different level types.

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