Your favorite adventure game soundtracks

Full Throttle! Sad that “The Gone Jackals” hadn’t made more music…

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I know I know, subejectivity, personal taste, nostalgia blah blah blah.

But come on, listen to this!

I mean not only that beat but also that sustained chord between 00:51 - 00:56 (that only seems to be in the original C64 I checked a few) gives me goosebumps and makes me wanna say “John Carpenter, is that you?”

The way so much is achieved with so little to me is very typical for how sound and music works in the game. I´m pretty sure it wasn´t a concious decision but having absolutly no music inside the house works perfectly, outside you hear chirping crickets and inside only the grandfather clock and your and the residents footsteps (except when you play as Jeff who wears no shoes).
It works a great deal for the suspense and atmosphere of the game and if you know that playing the original those fast paced tunes in the NES version seem very distracting(I know you can switch off those CD Players, but they´re on on default).
It also reminds me of some classic horror films that feature barely any or no music at all like the 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi or Alfred Hitchcock´s The Birds.

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You know, that intro was in my mind for a looooong, loooong time.
I used to replicate the drum line with my mouth :smiley:

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From the top of my head:
MI: most balanced, nice themes per character (as in a John Williams movie score)
Special mention to the iMUSE powered transitions in and out the bit in Woody the woodsmith’s woodshop in Woodtick! Those hammers taping on wood fit in perfectly!
I also enjoyed the banjo bits in MI3
Theme songs of Zak and MM, for nostalgic reasons, and they contrast with the rest of the game being generally silent.
And finally: leisure suit larry! Instant hit :wink:

Yeah, see, I gave it a proper listen but it’s just not as punchy as the DOS version. I appreciate I’m looking at it through nostalgia-tinted glasses to some extent, but the C64 one is slower, and I actually find it more complex and layered - there’s too much involved. I like the simplicity of the DOS version (especially when that piercing note kicks in).

That’s a good point about the contrast with the silent house - it makes it more eerie and tense, and exactly how it would be creeping around an old mansion in real life (not that I’d know).

Definitly not disagreeing with that. But that´s the way the SID was, very evolved for it´s time and more like film music. I´ve often heard it compared to the densly layered sound constructions of Tangerine Dream, who were big in movie soundtracks at that time.

Not wanting to sounds like someone who always thinks the original is better, or less music the better in general, I actually do think that the FM Soundtrack of Zak McKracken which I´ve checked out many many years after first playing Zak on the C64 is pretty great giving each country it´s own identity (like sitar music for Kathmandu or street noises for San Francisco).

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And it is made to be on endless repeat (or until you run out of lives while failing to summersault your way over the river stones) with its symmetrical builtup and breakdown

DOS music was inferior to C64’s SID for many years (until the first wave synth soundcards came along). Of course, the version you played MM originally is going to be THE reference for you, but in all objectivity (ahem), the original C64 version is sooo much better and punchy. It even has those crickets before the meteor hits the ground!

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C64 percussion sounds are absolutely woeful.

That part is difficult as hell! Everytime I wonder if you could remake those games today I´m reminded of things like that and the fact that it probably took 99% of it´s diffculty out of the trappings of it´s isometric perspective.

I also love the particular style of the pixel art(like the design of the trees), and that glowing rainbow colours effect of the objects you could pickup. I absolutly love that, it was a speciality of the C64 that I can´t quite explain, Ghostbusters and a few other games also had that in parts.

Your spelling checker didn’t correct you there: you surely meant " absolutely wonderful"

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No – it’s just so poor with too strong an indication of pitch (meaning it gets in the way of the “intended” harmonies in the music).

It might be inferior from a technical point of view but I prefer the DOS version. I find it more punchy because there aren’t multiple layers to it.

The crickets are cool though, I guess :wink:

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The SID for me is up there with the Fairlight CMI as for creating the definitive 80s sound.

No other soundchip could make those groovy bends and buzzing sounds, and that layered sound is exactly what makes it so great.

Some of the most beautiful music ever created.

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Is the Legend of Zelda considered an Adventure Game?
That gets my vote based purely on nostalgia:

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It’s dangerous to head into Zelda territory otherwise I’ll have to link about 50 different songs.

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Here is a little bit of trivia I only found out very recently.

The overworld theme was appearently based on Maurice Ravel´s Bolero. The Bolero was initially actually used as a placeholder tune, but in the end if you compare the tunes it wasn´t even changed too much. The melody is mostly different but the rhythm remains intact.

This is your mind…this is your mind blown!

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That makes sense… many of those NES themes sound vaguely familiar to something classical.
I chose the underworld theme from Zelda. It’s fun to play on guitar, too.

Is it a tritone? Judging from your avatar I´d wager you like tritones a lot. :slight_smile:

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The tune that starts at 0:15…

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