VSDE-5700: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

[seanne]

The wiki suggests that this album is a 'soundtrack' for the novel. Though mobygames has Joel McNeely and John T. Williams credited as composers, so perhaps this album was used as the soundtrack for the game as well?

[Secret Squirrel]

Yeah, I was wondering that too. We just need to find someone who played the game (I think it was on the N64) to confirm.

[lockshaw13]

Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel

Yeah, I was wondering that too. We just need to find someone who played the game (I think it was on the N64) to confirm.

The game was also released for the PC.

[Eirikr]

Originally Posted by seanne

The wiki suggests that this album is a 'soundtrack' for the novel. Though mobygames has Joel McNeely and John T. Williams credited as composers, so perhaps this album was used as the soundtrack for the game as well?

The game does indeed use music from this McNeely soundtrack.

However, Shadows of the Empire also uses music from the film soundtracks, such as the Battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes Back.

So I guess the question is, how far do you go with listing the Star Wars soundtracks when their music is ubiquitous in more than film?

[Jodo Kast]

I somehow forgot I had this CD (haven't listened to it for over a decade) and I thought that I might have to add it to the database. But it's already here. And, at the time, I was very surprised to hear music from this CD used in the N64 game. I listened to this CD in the summer of 1996, shortly before the N64 was released. I was taking calculus that summer and used this CD to 'wind down' after the 2 hour lectures every morning.

Those of you that were around in 1996 might recall the scarcity of N64 games after launch of the system (September). For a long while, one could choose to play Super Mario 64 or Pilotwings 64. This led to a complete mastery of Super Mario 64 by many gamers, myself included. The dearth of games ended when Waverace 64 came out, in November. And in December, Cruis'n USA was released, along with Shadows of the Empire.

Shadows of the Empire solved a lot of problems for loyal Nintendo fans. Back in 1996 I wouldn't have dared touch a Playstation or Saturn; my loyalty was irrationally to Nintendo. Shadows was the first 'shooter' I played for the system, and the first released (to my knowledge). Turok: Dinosaur Hunter was the first 'proper' first person shooter released for the system, to my knowledge, back in February 1997 (Goldeneye didn't come out until August 1997).

Despite the horrible controls, I found every challenge point in Shadows of the Empire. And I continually replayed the amazing 'jetpack' level (Gall Spaceport), in which Boba Fett was the final enemy. The soundtrack was derived from the films and the soundtrack for the book. It's not 'based on' music from the book soundtrack, but the actual music, downgraded in quality in order to fit on the N64 cartridge.

That makes Shadows of the Empire unique. First, the book. Then, the soundtrack for the book. And then a video game with music from the book soundtrack. (And I should point out that the game very loosely followed the book. It would make more sense to call it a side story within a side story.)

[Jedi QuestMaster]

It may not be of much importance, but tracks 4, 6, 9, & 10 are used in the game.

The rest is derived from The Empire Strikes Back, except for one excerpt from the Battle of Yavin from Episode IV & one tiny piece from The Battle of Endor I from Episode VI.

(I was on a quest to find all the music from this game - the only track I couldn't find was the 'death' theme.)

[avatar]

Originally Posted by Jedi QuestMaster

It may not be of much importance, but tracks 4, 6, 9, & 10 are used in the game.

The rest is derived from The Empire Strikes Back, except for one excerpt from the Battle of Yavin from Episode IV & one tiny piece from The Battle of Endor I from Episode VI.

(I was on a quest to find all the music from this game - the only track I couldn't find was the 'death' theme.)

Very interesting! I know this post is old, but I was just listening to some Star Wars music. Since these tracks ARE used for the game, perhaps the listing should be edited, since it currently says:

"This soundtrack was composed purely as a stand-alone product, it does not represent any film or game"

which clearly is not true, however we could add some history that Jodo noted. Interesting...

[TerraEpon]

Originally Posted by avatar

"This soundtrack was composed purely as a stand-alone product, it does not represent any film or game"

Well it's true as far as how it was composed -- it was written as a soundtrack to a book. The game just happened to use it.

[_if]

However, the game was being developed while the music was being written and McNeely most likely knew his music was going to end up in it. If he actually saw scenes from the game at any point though, I have no idea.

[avatar]

Originally Posted by TerraEpon

Well it's true as far as how it was composed -- it was written as a soundtrack to a book. The game just happened to use it.

I see what you mean, it's just that the line

"This soundtrack was composed purely as a stand-alone product, it does not represent any film or game"

seems to imply that there is no relation between the soundtrack and any game, which makes you wonder why exactly is it on VGMdb? So my suggestion would be to rewrite the line. When I first looked up the album and I read that line, I was a little confused about why it's here (posts by Jodo et al. cleared that up).

[Arcubalis]

I agree with Avatar. I actually came to read this because the Japanese print was added to the database, and reading that line, I said, "Why is this even on VGMdb if it's not tied to a game or product? At the very least, it shouldn't be listed as 'original soundtrack.'"