All pretty good picks so far, especially like Last Blade and Wave Race 64.
Couple I'm really fond of:
- All of Namiki's - he is The Master, my favourites of his are probably
Mushihimesama Futari,
Ketsui and
DeathSmiles IIX. What I particularly like about his stage 1 themes is the element of subtlety i.e I usually dislike them until after about 3-4 listens, as i often can't even make out any distint melody up until then. You can of course say this about any piece of music, but it's like Namiki's aware of this and makes the journey of listening to his music all the more interesting.
-
Gain Ground, played this over the weekend with a nonVGMer (filthy scum pah pah) and oh how awesome it was.
-
Metal Black, another one that's surprisingly melancholy for a stage 1 theme.
- Some others I've recently been in the mood for include
Dragon Spirit,
Bullet Soul,
Akai Katana and
ESPGaluda II Black Label