#snesology

Final Fantasy VI: To Those Lost in the Catastrophe:

"Hello, my name is Alphadeus. 

I wrote an original song using the FFVI Soundset called "To Those Lost in the Catastrophe"....I just wanted to share. I love that you have the soundsets for some of my favorite games, and it was an interesting experience composing with the instruments that Uematsu used."

Hello everyone!  For those of you who may have missed it, Kyo released an album over the Summer, but his physical copies ship in December and he's making bonus tracks, so order just in time for the holidays.  These are extremely elemental, energetic, and epic original songs.  The Super Mario RPG song especially pegs it for atmosphere IMO.  Here's the tracklist: Original takes on FFVI, Super Metriod, Zelda 3, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, and even Secret of Evermore for good measure.

Kyo's (Mark Reichwein) Album:

Currently name your price: Suggested $5 digital, $20 physical (ships December)

There will be 5 bonus songs in December: Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Yoshi's Island, Final Fantasy 4, and Mega Man X!

Special thanks to J64 (Josef Blom) for technical advice/assistance.

Kyo is back once again with an original Final Fantasy VI boss theme! Set to footage of boss Number 128, you can tell Kyo has a knack for writing in the style of these games and it comes across great. It sounds like a struggle that builds into some heroic moments and is pretty catchy to boot!

Download the MP3

Kyo is also releasing these songs as a boss battle album on Bandcamp that he plans to keep updating with your help. You can check out more details about this over on his site HERE. The album is free if that's how you roll but donations will help him pump out more music. It's a good cause too because Kyo is a father and donations will help him provide for his family (musicians yo!) and that incentive will help him write more music (which we all want, right?).

Kyo has brought us some Chrono Trigger, complete with the Lavos boss battle!

Moving strings, blazing trumpets, here's a good representation of an alternate stand against Lavos.

The thing about SNESology is that revisioning of music in video games is something anyone can try.  Your creativity is the limit of what you submit.  It is always interesting to hear someone's individual interpretation of a well-known video game scene or moment, as heard through their original music.

Great job Kyo and the rest of you, keep those submissions coming!

A new SNESology submission has arrived, this time from Laurent RAVIX!

It's a moody, very calming piece which covers the French TV series, Kaamelott.  Personally, the SNES samples work very well for this, so great job translating it all over Laurent!

Alex Roe is back with a vengeance!

As always, really interesting soundscape created... An interesting take on the theme... Dark strings... brooding brass... perfect for Batman: Arkham City.

It's been a while since we've posted an SNES Generations piece, so welcome back Alex!  We've missed your music!

As for you, our listener, please check out his way awesome playlist (liked above) with many more modern titles w/ SNES samples such as Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed.

 Hey everyone, welcome back to SNESology!

Chrono Trigger (+) meets Final Fantasy IV!

Here's a great new gem from the returning, MeteoXavier/12Followers!

He writes:

Years ago, my first album was going to be a concept album based on my own version of a Prequel for Final Fantasy IV based on Cecil and Golbez's father, KluYa. This was the ending song - designed to be like the ultra-emotional ending songs from SNES Squaresoft in those days. Unfortunately, the FFIV soundfont, at the time, was borderline unusable and I got the most mileage out of this Chrono Trigger/Secret of Mana/Final Fantasy V and VI concoction that I found on Zophar's Domain. 

Great work on making a moving theme.  It's very calming, yet upbeat.  It drives you on.  The use of the pipes, the Secret of Mana synths, and the strings all meld into an nice emotional landscape.

Check out the Youtube video above, and don't forget to hit like and share!  

Also don't forget to download this song for free!

It's coda!

And it's Friday again!  So it's time for some more original SNESology music.  Prolific chiptune artist coda decided to bring us an upbeat tune using Umihara Kawase instruments titled Kaitenzushi.  

He says:

Original music following snes hardware limitations? yes please using umihara kawase instruments. tried to write a little in that style.

I'd say he more than accomplished his goal.  It starts out super catchy and pleasant, and eventually picks up, transforming into something more upbeat and whimsical.  The lead is so expressive and just plain fun.  Give it a listen and it will lighten any mood for sure!

DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

What's more, coda is also kind enough to provide us w/ actual .spcs of his tune: here's an actual conversion that may run on the hardware (i had to cut the song in half to fit it under the 64kb SPC limit):

First half

Second half That's service!