SCDC-00497~506: LEGEND OF GAME MUSIC CONSUMER BOX

[The Gambler]

What is the rationale behind these boxes anyway? Do the labels "premium", "platinum" and "consumer" mean something?

Is there a particular reason for Consumer disc 2 to be called "sega classic" despite it being de facto Compile material?

And finally, who had the chance to see the content of the dvds, and again why release these superplays along the music? It all seems so random to me, I fail to see what was Scitron thinking.

Composer breakdown:

CD 1 - SEGA CLASSIC DISC
(Sega) (SG-1000, 1983) Star Jacker [1]
(Sega) (SG-1000, 1985) Zaxxon [2]
(Sega) (SG-1000, 1985) Zoom 909 [3]
(Sega) (SG-1000, 1984) Girl's Garden [4]
(Sega) (SG-1000, 1985) Doki Doki Penguin Land [5]
(Sega) (Mark III, 1985) Astro Flash/TransBot [6]
(Sega) (Mark III, 1986) Action Fighter [7]
(Sega) (Mark III, 1985) The Magical Castle PitPot [8]
(Sega) (Mark III, 1987) Woodypop [9]
(Sega) (Mark III, 1986) Astro Warrior [10]
(Sega) (Mark III, 1986) Alex Kidd in Miracle World [11] Tokuhiko Uwabo
(Sega) (Mark III*, 1987) Doki Doki Penguin Land: Uchu Daibouken [12]
(Sega) (Mark III*, 1987) Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa [13] Tokuhiko Uwabo
(Sega) (Mark III*, 1987) Phantasy Star [14] Tokuhiko Uwabo
(Sega) (Mark III*, 1987) Zaxxon 3D [15]
(Sega) (Mark III*, 1988) Maze Walker [16]
(Sega) (Mark III*, 1988) Hoshi wo Sagashite... [17]

CD 2 - SEGA CLASSIC DISC
(Sega/Compile) (SG-1000, 1986) Gulkave [1~5]
(Sega/Compile) (Mark III*, 1988) Aleste [6~19] Masatomo Miyamoto, SHANT, SHIN-KUN
(Sega/Compile) (SMS, 1993) Power Strike II [20~33]
(Compile) (Game Gear, 1991) GG Aleste [34~43] Keiji Takeuchi, Toshiaki Sakoda
(Sega/Compile) (Game Gear, 1993) GG Aleste II [44~60] Imami Pon, BA. M

(*) Fantasy Zone II, Hoshi wo Sagashite..., Maze Walker, Doki Doki Penguin Land: Uchu Daibouken, Phantasy Star, Zaxxon 3D and Power Strike are compatible with Mark III's FM Sound Unit, so it's possible that they are recorded accordingly.

CD 3 - MEGA DRIVE DISC
(Sunsoft/Sega) (MD, 1992) Super Fantasy Zone [1~13] Naoki Kodaka
(Sunsoft/Scaptrust) (MD, 1991) Shikinjo [14~20]
(SIMS/Sega) (MD, 1993) OutRun 2019 [21~32] Shigeki Sako
(Sega) (MD, 1992) Crying / Bio Hazard Battle [33~42]

CD 4 - MEGA DRIVE DISC
(Sega) (MD, 1991) Gain Ground [1]
(Hot-B/Starfish) (MD, 1992) Koutetsu Teikoku / Steel Empire [2~21] Noriyuki Iwadare
(Hot-B/Starfish) (MD, 1992) Bad Omen / Devilish [22~34] Hitoshi Sakimoto
(Konami) (MD, 1994) Contra: The Hard Corps [35~60] Hiroshi "Devi" Kobayashi, Akiropito (prgrm), Kenji Miyaoka, Michiru Yamane, Akira Yamaoka, Hirofumi Taniguchi

CD 5 - PC ENGINE DISC
(Hudson) (PCE, 1987) The Kung-Fu / China Warrior [1~5]
(Hudson) (PCE, 1987) Victory Run [6~10] Takeaki Kunimoto
(Hudson) (PCE, 1988) Jaseiken Necromancer [11~20]
(Hudson/Kaneko) (PCE, 1990) Super Star Soldier [21~41] Nozomi Nakahashi, Keita Hoshi
(Hudson/Now Pro) (PCE, 1991) Final Soldier [42~58] Masakatsu Maekawa
(Hudson) (PCE, 1992) Soldier Blade [59~79] Keita Hoshi, Makiko Tanifuji

CD 6 - PC ENGINE DISC
(Konami) (PCE, 1991) Gradius [1~14] Miki Higashino, Yoshiaki Hatano
(Konami) (PCE, 1991) Salamander [15~26] [Miki Higashino], Kazuki Muraoka
(NCS/Masaya) (PCE, 1989) Moto Roader [27~34]
(NCS/Masaya) (PCE, 1991) Moto Roader II [35~42]
(Hudson) (Supergrafx, 1989) Battle Ace [43~54]
(Hudson) (Supergrafx, 1990) Aldynes [55~70] Keita Hoshi

CD 7 - MSX DISC
(Konami) (MSX, 1986) Knightmare [1~3] Miki Higashino, Yoshinori Sasaki
(Konami) (MSX, 1987) The Maze of Galious [4~9] Kinuyo Yamashita
(Konami) (MSX, 1985) Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2 [10]
(Konami) (MSX, 1986) Penguin Adventure [11~25] Kenichi Matsubara, Yoshinori Sasaki
(Konami) (MSX, 1985) King's Valley [26]
(Konami) (MSX/MSX2, 1988) King's Valley II: The Seal of El Giza [27~36] Kazuhiko Uehara, Masahiro Ikariko, Kinuyo Yamashita, Motoaki Furukawa, Michiru Yamane
(Konami) (MSX2, 1990) Quarth [37~50] Kazuo Hanzawa
(Konami) (MSX2, 1989) Hyper So-Men [51]
(Konami) (MSX2, 1989) Tsururin Kun [52~54]
(Pony/Compile) (MSX, 1985) Final Justice [55]
(Pony/Compile) (MSX, 1986) Guardic [56~60] Masatomo Miyamoto
(Pony/Compile) (MSX2, 1986) Zanac EX [61~72] Masatomo Miyamoto
(System Sacom/Compile?) (MSX2, 1989) Yuurei Kun [73~84] Manabu Saito

CD 8 - MSX DISC
(Compile) Disc Station [1~3]
(Compile) (MSX2, 1988) Aleste [4~19] Masatomo Miyamoto, SHANT, SHIN-KUN
(Compile) (MSX2, 1989) Aleste Gaiden [20~27] Masatomo Miyamoto, Toshiaki Sakoda, Keiji Takeuchi
(Compile) (MSX2, 1989) Aleste 2 [28~43] Masatomo Miyamoto / Toshiaki Sakoda / Eddy / Sydon Inoue / Keiji Takeuchi
(Compile) (MSX2, 1990) Nyanpi [44~47]
(Momonoki House) (MSX2, 1989) Peach Up [48~49]
(Micro Cabin) (MSX2/Turbo, 1990) Fray [50~73] Ryuji Sasai, Tadahiro Nitta
(Thinking Rabbit/Micro Cabin) (MSX2, 1989) Soukoban Perfect [74~79]
(Scaptrust/Xtal Soft) (MSX2, 1987) Crimson (FM Sound Source Version) [80~81]

CD 9 - X68000 SPECIAL BONUS DISC
(Sharp/SPS/Konami) Gradius [1~3]
(SPS/Konami) Nemesis '90 Kai [4~9]
(Konami) Gradius II [10] Motoaki Furukawa, Kenichi Matsubara, Prophet Fukami, Masahiro Ikariko, Keroppi Inoue
(Konami) Namachukei 68 [11~13] Yuji TECHNOuchi
(Zoom) Phalanx [14~16] Kenichi Kamio
(Zoom) Genocide 2 Master of the Dark Communion [17~19] ZOOM Sound Team, Hideyuki Shimono, Naoyuki Kimura
(Zoom) Overtake [20~22] ZOOM Sound Team, Hideyuki Shimono, Naoyuki Kimura
(System Sacom/Fill-in-Cafe) Metal Sight [23~25] Izuru Aki, Keishi Yonao
(Compac) Gamma Planet [26~29] Takayuki Mimura ("mimcot")
(NCS/Masaya) Lightning Baccus [30] Koji Hayama
(Family Soft/Fill-in-Cafe) Mad Stalker [31~32] Keishi Yonao
(Family Soft/Fill-in-Cafe) Asuka 120% Burning Fest. [33~35] Keishi Yonao
(Hayabusa Soft/Takeru) C Ryoku Kensa V3 [36~40]
(Kabosu/Takeru) DesperadO [41~43]
(GameCreate/Takeru/MIX) Dive On [44~46]
(Soft Bank) Sion II [47~50] Zenji Nishikawa, other
(Soft Bank) Sion IV [51~53]

[Carl]

"Premium" was the first one, and probably was intended to be the only one, it's goal was to showcase early Arcade titles by each of the major gamemakers of the time.
Why? It's a history lesson. The dvd footage of the games is part of showing (and preserving) the history/legend.

"Platinum" was the second box, and since the first one was a success, then why not go another round, right?
Same focus on Arcade titles. A unique part of this box is the William's Pinball bonus disc, as very few pinball musics have ever been published.

"Consumer" box was the third, with a switch of focus on Home Console games rather than arcades (which is why it's called Consumer).
The disc sorting is grouped by which CONSOLE they were released on this time, rather than by game maker/publisher like the previous ones.
The 2 Sega discs have games for the Master System, and the 2 Mega Drive discs have games for the Genesis (instead of just games made by Sega themselves).

[The Gambler]

Thanks Carl. I was sorta hoping in a reply by you.

What's your opinion of the third box, if you had the chance to do a through listening of it? At times the selection seems both ambitious and puzzling. Is this the only instance of Hard Corps soundtrack being released on CD? I've seen this was the penultimate or so Scitron release, so it almost looks liked they crammed everything in this box in a last hurrah, but without extensive liner notes, the object stands as a bit of a mistery to me. That, and the fact that they switched to consoles but carefully avoided any Nintendo system.

[Carl]

I agree that the "Last Hurrah" theory is a very real possibility, as the 3rd box was published during the time frame when Scitron was bought out by Happinet.
(and yes lots of stuff on these boxes are exclusive)

[The Gambler]

The sheer quantity of goodness in these boxes is out of question, but I guess it's a shame in some cases that going for such a huge selection prevented to have tracks looped at least once. Judging from the tracklist here at vgmdb, barely any piece clocks over two minutes.

[The Gambler]

Well, I finally managed to get this box (which had been on top on my wishlist for years), I'm listening through it, and I must start with the consideration that they recorded Power Strike II music at 60hz. Now, the game is an Europe-only release, and very late in SMS lifecycle. It's very realistic that the game was optimized for, and intended to be played at, 50hz.
I own the game and to me the music has a more natural flow at 50hz. My assumption is that they coded the music at the correct speed for the European version of the game, and this 60hz recording plays incorrectly too fast.

Compile soundtracks on CD:

Final Justice SCDC-00503
Gulkave C-63 SCDC-00498
Jul.1986 Zanac (MSX) (myamo)
28.11.1986 Zanac (FDS) PNF-ZAN SCDC-00319 (myamo)
Jan.1987 Zanac EX SCDC-00503 (myamo)
Guardic SCDC-00503 (myamo)
05.02.1988 Guardic Gaiden IF-08 (myamo, shant SE: shin-kun)
29.02.1988 Aleste (MkIII) G-1352 SCDC-00498 (myamo, SHANT, SHIN-KUN)
23.07.1988 Aleste (MSX2) SCDC-00504 (myamo, SHANT, SHIN-KUN)
23.12.1988 Xevious Fardraut Densetsu (MSX) (myamo, SE: shin-kun)
07.07.1989 Gunhed HC89019 (myamo, J.T.S, Masanobu Tsukamoto (Mats), Sydon Inoue (Sydon), Ozono, Takeuchi)
sept.1989 Aleste Gaiden SCDC-00504 (myamo, Sakoda, Takeuchi)
nov.1989 Aleste 2 SCDC-00504 (Myamo, Sakoda, Eddy, Sydon Inoue, Takeuchi)
29.06.1990 Xevious Fardraut Densetsu NC90004 (myamo, SE: Mats, Sakoda)
05.10.1990 Gun Nac TKS-XG (Sakoda, SE: Mats)
21.12.1990 Musha Aleste T-35013 WMBM-0024 (Sakoda)
19.07.1991 Seirei Senshi Spriggan NXCD1004 WMBM-0023 (Sakoda, Takeuchi, Nagao, Tanaka)
29.12.1991 GG Aleste T-66017 SCDC-00498 (Takeuchi, Sakoda)
28.04.1992 Super Aleste SHVC-AT (Takeuchi, Nagao, Tanaka)
01.05.1992 Spriggan Mark 2: Re-Terraform Project NXCD2008 WMBM-0023 (Takeuchi)
27.11.1992 Dennin Aleste T-66014 (Tanaka, Satoshi Shimazaki)
01.10.1993 GG Aleste II G-3330 SCDC-00498 (Imami Pon, BA. M)
22.10.1993 Sylphia THCD3001 (Takeuchi, Shimazaki, Tanaka, Nagao, Tsuyoshi Matsushima)
Power Strike II 9024 SCDC-00498 (incorrect recording) (PSG Factory)

Not to cry on spilled milk, but given the amount of Compile goodness this box has, and the fact that they had two pcengine discs to fill, that they left Gunhed out is beyond belief.

[Secret Squirrel]

Could you please edit the notes to include the composer information that you added to the composer list? It is really difficult to keep track of the composers for these big boxsets if it is not documented more carefully.

[The Gambler]

I will do. As a matter of fact, I'll try to gather more comprehensive info and edit the box in one session instead of submitting many edits. Hope that will help.

Anyway, Koutetsu Teikoku / Steel Empire is Noriyuki Iwadare, Shigeki Sako is for Outrun 2019 and Naoki Kodaka is for Super Fantasy Zone (and maybe Shikinjo? I'm just going by assumption here, since it's still quite good and from Sunsoft).

Wikipedia, if it can be trusted as a source, lists:

Gain Ground - Tohru Nakabayashi, Katsuhiro Hayashi

From kelesis:

(SMS/Mark III Aleste) - MYAMO (Masatomo Miyamoto), SHANT, SHIN-KUN

From youtube video endings:

GG Aleste II - Imami pon, BA. M

Aleste Gaiden also has a recorded ending movie, with sound credits in kanji. Takeuchi is in it.

this video seems to have music credits for Dive On, in kanji.

this video has sound design credits for MSX2 Quarth (Kazuhiko Uehara, Yasuhiko Manno, Yuji Takenouchi, Tomoya Tomita)

guardic Miyamoto M.

[The Gambler]

Whew, this is getting harder than I thought. Anyway, who wrote the notes here at VGMDB originally credited Knightmare II / Galious to Hidenori Maezawa. However, I found another source that credits it to Kinuyo Yamashita. (see link at first post). What about it?

I'd probably move Kazuki Muraoka and Yoshiaki Hatano in the arranger field, since they reworked for HuCard Miki Higashino's original arcade tracks...

[The Gambler]

According to the Japanese Wikipedia Compile entry, BA M. is 南智紀 (Tomoki Minami?). No info whatsoever on Takeuchi, which is kind of weird, seeing how many games he worked on.

[Secret Squirrel]

Thanks for being willing to do the heavy research on this. These box sets are probably the most difficult to figure out. Anyway, when you are ready, I will link up all the artists.

[The Gambler]

Don't mention it, I'm having fun with the box, it was a joy to listen to (except perhaps the PCE discs which, save for Gradius-Salamander, I felt had the most dated music). However, I'm quickly reaching the point where any further research on composers would require skills far beyond my possibilities. ^^

[dissident93]

Originally Posted by The Gambler

According to the Japanese Wikipedia Compile entry, BA M. is 南智紀 (Tomoki Minami?). No info whatsoever on Takeuchi, which is kind of weird, seeing how many games he worked on.

南智紀 is Tomonori Minami, btw.

Also, Yamashita doesn't list the game as "All Composition" on her worklist, so it's entirely possible Hidenori Maezawa worked on the music as well.

[The Gambler]

Originally Posted by dissident93

http://vgmdb.net/forums/showpost.php?p=51176 , btw.

Aargh, I wish I had found such a thread earlier ^_^;

Originally Posted by dissident93

Also, Yamashita doesn't list the game as "All Composition" on her worklist, so it's entirely possible Hidenori Maezawa worked on the music as well.

Sure, it's a possibility. 1up had an interview with Maezawa-san, iirc. Did he do a similar list for his works?

[dissident93]

Originally Posted by The Gambler

Sure, it's a possibility. 1up had an interview with Maezawa-san, iirc. Did he do a similar list for his works?

I'm pretty sure there isn't one, so you have to rely on sources such as Mobygames and GMCL. "/

[CHz]

The picnic corporate info page includes an incomplete list of games Maezawa worked on, but it's nothing on the scale of Yamashita's list. Lists like hers are a rarity, unfortunately.

Neither version of Maze of Galious is on Maezawa's list and he's not in the MSX credits (the only sound credit is to Kazuhiko Uehara). But Konami credits were terrible back in the day, so that might not mean a whole lot — Yamashita isn't in the credits either!

NES credits sound to Maezawa, Shinya Sakamoto, Atsushi Fujio, Yamashita, and Kiyohiro Sada.

[The Gambler]

Excellent, I found another one, and what a name it is: none other than Takeaki Kunimoto, who composed Victory Run.

Source: his own discography page:
https://sites.google.com/site/kinoko...kanren-sakuhin

[dissident93]

Originally Posted by The Gambler

Wikipedia, if it can be trusted as a source, lists:

Gain Ground - Tohru Nakabayashi, Katsuhiro Hayashi

Have you seen this? Wiki is wrong btw, Dolphin isn't Nakabayashi.

[Despatche]

Originally Posted by The Gambler

Is there a particular reason for Consumer disc 2 to be called "sega classic" despite it being de facto Compile material?

If the titling is any indication, "SEGA CLASSIC" is the name given to that group of similar hardware starting with the SG-1000.

As for why disc 1 is nothing but Sega games, I don't know. As for the superplays, nice boxes like these tend to come with a superplay of some sort; not random at all, other than game selection, perhaps.

[The Gambler]

Originally Posted by dissident93

Have you seen this? Wiki is wrong btw, Dolphin isn't Nakabayashi.

Yes, however I left it out because of arcade vs. megadrive and because it's just only one track so I hope to get single out the composer for that specific track. (wishful thinking on my part?). I'm not familiar with the tune, is "present reality BGM" featured with another title in PCCB-00012?

@Despatche: yes, after a bit of study, this box makes sense to me now. Well, I suppose the extra X68000 disc still has a random feeling hard to avoid. But the rest is a quite cohesive body of work, with lots of recurring composers and themes.

[CHz]

The Gain Ground piece on this album is the new present day theme that was written for the console ports of the game and is not originally from the arcade version.

I'm not sure which port came first, the Genesis or Master System, but I believe it was the Genesis port. If the song's originally from the Genesis, it was written by SZK (don't know who this is); if it's from the Master System, it's by Tarnya (Chikako Kamatani). Scratch that, I'm dumb. I forgot that the SMS and Genesis versions had different original songs, and this one's unique to the Genesis version. So, SZK is the composer.

[Dag]

Akiropito said on twitter he only programmed for Hard Corps.

[dissident93]

interesting. Michiru Yamane, Akira Yamaoka, Hirofumi Taniguchi are looking like the primary composers for the game, the rest did SFX or programming it looks like.

[The Gambler]

Originally Posted by dissident93

interesting. Michiru Yamane, Akira Yamaoka, Hirofumi Taniguchi are looking like the primary composers for the game, the rest did SFX or programming it looks like.

And the source is...?

[dissident93]

Originally Posted by The Gambler

And the source is...?

based on their other game roles. of course I can't say it's 100% accurate, but knowing Konami...

Kenji Miyaoka is credited under "Program" for Rocket Knight Adventures, TMNT: Tournament Fighters, Ganbare Goemon Gaiden 2: Tenka no Zaihou, and Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland.

Hiroshi Kobayashi does seem to be credited for music in other games though, so I'll add him back to the composer list. Don't forget that Aki Hata did two songs for the game as well, although her blog doesn't say which two (like she has done for other Genesis games)

From interviews of Yamane, i've read (and the general sound of the songs) i'd paint her as the majority composer for Hard Corps. BTW, are we even 100% sure that Gajokai = Akira Yamaoka?

[CHz]

Originally Posted by dissident93

BTW, are we even 100% sure that Gajokai = Akira Yamaoka?

It was a process of elimination with the Canadian Copyrights Database author list: https://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4993.

[Dag]

In this interview, Yamane doesn't seem to remember much about the game, maybe her role was limited. :S

[dissident93]

Originally Posted by Dag

In this interview, Yamane doesn't seem to remember much about the game, maybe her role was limited. :S

I must have been thinking of Sparkster then.

[The Gambler]

Judging just from style, I'd say there's more Devi Kobayashi than Yamane in this game. (Devi Kobayashi = Akumajo Dracula X68000)
But most of the soundtrack sounds to me like Yamaoka, especially in the light of the following shincontra.

Anyway, I'd keep them all for now, I just removed akiropito because of his tweet.

[Zhane Masaki]

I played Jaseiken Necromancer when it was on iPhone's TurboGrafx-16 BoX app. the music is by Jun Chikuma. The game itself...meh.