Sonic Mania- Video Game Vinyl Soundtrack Review

Sonic Mania has recently released and has garnered rave reviews, with many complementing its throwback style and a return to the classic game play which made the series so popular during the 16-bit generation.
Classic Sonic the Hedgehog games always had great music and Sonic Mania, which has a mix of new and remixed songs, carries this tradition forward proudly.
Data Discs announced the Sonic Mania LP a few months ago and whilst I was conscious of the many missteps in the series along the way I took the plunge and pre-ordered the record as the music has, on the whole, been pretty solid.

Classic Sonic takes front-centre on the cover of this soundtrack

So what of this new album? Well the record features 16 new tracks selected by composer Tee Lopes, which provides an overall flavour of the diverse music in the game.
The cover is suitably 90s with classic Sonic front and centre and random colourful shapes thrown around, reminiscent of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or Saved by the Bell introduction credits. The record comes as a single 180 g LP which is available in 3 colours; blue, black or red, orange, white and blue splatter. I ordered the splattered vinyl and was pleased with how it looked, it does look very smart indeed.

On the vinyl the tracks are:

  1. Discovery (Title Screen Theme)
  2. Lights, Camera, Action! (Studiopolis Act 1)
  3. Wildstyle Pistolero (Mirage Saloon Act 1 K Mix)
  4. Tabloid Jargon (Press Garden Act 1)
  5. Danger on the Dance Floor (Mini Boss Theme)
  6. Built to Rule (Titanic Monarch Act 1)
  7. Dimension Heist (Special Stage)
  8. Ruby Delusions (Eggman Boss Theme 1)
  9. Comfort Zone (Main Menu)
  10. Prime Time (Studiopolis Act 2)
  11. Blossom Haze (Press Garden Act 2)
  12. Rogues Gallery (Mirage Saloon Act 2)
  13. Hi-Spec Robo Go! (Hard Boiled Heavies Theme)
  14. Skyway Octane (Mirage Saloon Act 1 St Mix)
  15. Steel Cortex (Titanic Monarch Act 2)
  16. Ruby Illusions (Final Boss Theme)

The tracks are very good with a tinge of nostalgia but also are uniquely modern. They just fit right in the world of classic Sonic with upbeat chiptune music but with added trumpets, drums, epic electric guitar solos and super fast boogie woogie piano. For fan of the original series this record is a must have as it feels like a natural progression musically to what had gone before in Sonic and Knuckles. Current standout tracks for me include Studiopolis Act 1: Lights, Camera, Action! and Mirage Saloon Act 2: Rogues Gallery, which sounds like a modern rendition of Morricone's Spaghetti Westerns mixed with an upbeat chiptune. Other tracks may come to the fore but these two are the ones that appeal to me out of the 16 at the moment.

The soundtrack is a triumph and I would recommend it highly to anyone with even a passing interest in the original 4 games from the days of the Megadrive.

Video Game Papercuts

I love video games and I also like taking photographs, so the idea of merging the two appealed to me. Over the past several months I have been taking characters from various video games and placing them in the real world and these are the results so far. It's a small portfolio but hopefully I'll add to it over time.

Top Chiptune Soundtracks You Don't Know

Soundtracks nowadays are similar in style and vein to movie scores, full of cinematic scope and bombast, which is great as it leads to fantastic scores like the ones for Journey, Thomas Was Alone or DMC. However there was a simpler time where space was limited and the sound files had to be compressed and optimised to fit on a cartridge with 8 or 16 megs. This economy of scale led to thoughtful and creative masterpieces that are still iconic even today.

Now we could rattle off the famous game soundtracks that usually fit into many of the 'greatest Megadrive / SNES / NES soundtrack compilations' which you can find on YouTube but I want to choose a few pieces that time has forgotten. This is away from the usual Castlevania, Sonic, Megaman and Mario soundtrack scores as everyone knows them and loves them. I'm talking about the rarely heard soundtracks of yore. Here are a few of my favourites, maybe you could tell me yours!

This music plays during the Underwater levels from the Disney game World Of Illusion. It also plays during Mickey's Coral Reef section.

Music from R-Type 1987 by Irem- this level could be described as looking like the contents of a stomach, possibly after eating genetically modified food.

Thunder Force 3 - Stage 5: Ellis. This music was so upbeat and rocking that I loved leaving it to last!

Technosoft Aqcuired by Sega

It is with great excitement that I bring the news that Technosoft games licenses have been bought by Sega. This may not seem particularly exciting but anyone in the know will be aware of the fact that Technosoft is most famed for its wonderful Thunder Force series which were highly praised and well-received shoot 'em ups on the Megadrive (Genesis) back when 16-bit consoles rules the world.
Thunderforce 3 and 4 were two of my favourite games on the Megadrive but I never got to play the later games in the series as it moved onto the Playstation and were rare or never released in England.

Technosoft had been acquired by Pachinko manufacturer Twenty One Company in the early noughts but the company didn't do much with the license at all so it's great news that Sega now has the license and may move the series forward. In Japan Sega will be releasing a compilation collection called Sega 3D Classics Collection 3: Final Stage on the 3DS, it will feature such heavyweight titles including Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes and Turbo Outrun.
Whilst this is a step in the right direction I would love to see Sega proactively use the license and resurrect this amazing series by creating some new games and getting the amazing composers back on the series. A new Thunderforce with retro style graphics and new Technosoft soundtrack... Yes please!

Mortal Kombat- Cult Film Review

Ah Mortal Kombat... or should that be MORTAL KOMBAT!

The arcade game arrived in a baptism of fire with controversy surrounding it in 1992. I enjoyed the visuals and gore and the game held me in thrall at a newsagents I frequented on my way to school. There were many times when I was nearly late for school due to playing the arcade game and getting quite far as I spammed Raiden's flying torpedo move. I loved the games series in the 90's on the Megadrive and when the movie was announced I was intrigued but not enough so to watch it at the cinema. Whilst looking through the available films on Amazon Prime I saw the film was available and so I finally had the chance to scratch this itch and so I took it!

This move made completing the game pretty easy.

The plot is basic fighting game 101; Mortal Kombat is a once-a-generation tournament in which fighters battle for the fate of their worlds. The evil sorcerer Shang Tsung and his evil underlings have won 9 tournaments in a row and if they win the tenth one, they will gain the Earth. Three humans are manipulated by Raiden, ably played by Christopher Lambert, to take part in the tournament and defeat this evil whilst also fighting their own demons (metaphorically speaking). Liu Kang, wants to avenge the death of his brother, actor Johnny Cage wants to prove that he isn't a fake martial artist and military officer Sonya Blade  wants to avenge her partners death at the hands of Kano, an underworld boss.

Will the ragtag group overcome their personal issues and win Mortal Kombat? Of course they will but it's the journey that matters in this story.

The movie is incredibly cheesy with one-dimensional characters but the well-choreographed action sequences make it all worthwhile. The dialogue, whilst corny, has Johnny Cage deliver a few great one-liners and the techno-trance beat soundtrack sits well alongside the high octane fight scenes. The film design should be praised as the atmosphere of the first 2 games is conveyed well with the set and the lighting in the film being quite impressive.

Overall the unpretentious nature of the film gives it heart, in its earnestness to tell the ridiculous story the film has a lot of personality and character. Paul W. S. Anderson is an able if unremarkable director, he is most famed for his sci-fi and video game film adaptations (the most popular of which is the Resident Evil film series) and this is one of his best adaptations.

If you are looking for a guilty pleasure then this film is definitely worth your time, it is good cheesy fun!

Video Game Soundtracks on Vinyl

Nostalgia normally works in 30 year cycles. In the 70's and 80's Happy Days was huge, looking back through rose tinted eyes at the 50's. Well now, having reached the ripe old age of 34 I guess I'm the demographic companies are trying to target by appealing for my nostalgia. To that end Data-Discs is releasing video game soundtracks of classic games Streets of Rage and Shenmue on vinyl. Both are the work of legendary Yuzo Koshiro, the influential composer who was particularly renown in the 80's and 90's for creating thumping rhythmic electronic and chiptune music on 8 and 16-bit machines.

In the words of Data-Discs:

We carefully remaster game soundtracks and present them as officially licensed, high quality packages. Our intention is to promote the work of game composers, which is all too often overlooked, and introduce people to an area of music that, despite being culturally significant in many ways, has seldom been available on any format, let alone on vinyl. We aim to release soundtracks that work as standalone pieces; albums that can be enjoyed by casual listeners as well as game fans, and showcase the creativity and ingenuity of the people behind them. 

I have spoken about my love of vinyl before but this is something different. The thought of hearing the tunes of my formative years on my record player is so exciting; this couldn't more hipster if it tried but I'm so in! My wife is buying me the Streets of Rage on vinyl as an Eid present and I can't wait. I have a couple of other video game soundtrack vinyls I hope to be getting soon including the Journey soundtrack by Austin Wintory,

These soundtracks being released got me thinking about other albums I'd like to see on vinyl and so I've compiled a video playlist below. Click away and enjoy. What video game soundtrack would you like to hear on vinyl?

Original Hardware, Emulators or Clone Hardware?

Playing old computer games is pretty easy nowadays with many games being available online through digital download services such as GOG, Steam and the numerous legal download services, as well as illegal emulator sites too. However when playing computer games there's nothing like to have the real thing, many of the retro games are available to play but the real problem lies with the joypads. There is nothing like playing a game with the controller it was meant for. Also for many gamers space is a premium and the problems associated with compatibility with modern television sets comes into play too.

The Retron5 comes in a very cool looking box

The Retron5 comes in a very cool looking box

I am a collector and have many of the original computers, consoles and games from my childhood but with my room being converted into a nursery for our imminent firstborn space is at a premium. So I purchased a Retron5 Clone Console, a machine that plays the original games AND uses the original controllers of the Famicom, NES, SNES, Megadrive, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour and Gameboy Advanced. The aspect I am most looking forward to is the fact that it is usable on the current television sets and upscales to 720p. Also with fatherhood around the corner the use of Save States will come in very useful I'm sure.

I will be testing the system over the next couple of weeks and will be providing my opinions and feedback here.