edit: maybe this is due to companies re-using the same "instruments" (if such a thing exist for the NES) for their music
Because it was the same company and same composer who composed the music and engineered the sound fx / instruments for both games.
Each company / composer has a 'signature' sound set.
Just listen to the music of some of RARE(ware) games for example.
Some GameBoy / NES games by LJN (Beetlejuice,SpiderMan,WWF,etc.) were actually made by RARE,and guess what - the music tracks you'll find in those games sound *strikingly* similar to those of Battletoads,Donkey Kong Land,Super RC Pro-AM,etc.
Even though the NES had a better sound chip,the sound gurus just knew how to squeeze the last drop out of the GB chip,making it even more impressive than the NES.
The stereo capability and high frequency operation helped a lot to make it sound more musical than the NES
A good example is the music in the Mega Man games - the GB tracks sound much better than the NES ones.
Last edited by kick on Mon Mar 02, 2009 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The distinct Sunsoft sound, for example, comes from them using the Sample-channel for bass and Triangle + Noise for drums in pretty much all of the tunes. Making great chipmusic is all about being creative with the restrictions.
The Gameboy has a pretty "meaty bass" too if you want it to (use headphones).
Snark wrote:
edit: maybe this is due to companies re-using the same "instruments" (if such a thing exist for the NES) for their music
Ignoring japanese mappers and the FDS...
NES sound consists of 2 square waves, one triangle wave, a noise channel, and a sample playback channel.
The cost of large ROMs meant that samples were very low quality by necessity. And the low quality of the sound hardware meant that the square waves and triangle wave were VERY rounded, giving them a fairly unique sound relative to most other PSGs.
The only game-specific "instrument" is the sample channel.
'Techniques' or 'tricks' would likely be more accurate a term then.
I want to fry~~ Sky Hiiiiiiiiigh~
Let's go-o-o-O~ togeda~
Gil_Hamilton wrote:On the other hand, even today you can tell almost immediately if a game has a Motoi Sakuraba soundtrack. Hell, "Mission to Deep Space" may as well be used on the tri-Ace logo splash, it shows up in so many of their games.
Ooh, interesting.
On both my GBP and my brother's GBC, the sound and volume of the background hum changes a lot if you just poke the power switch a bit.
Ooh, interesting.
On both my GBP and my brother's GBC, the sound and volume of the background hum changes a lot if you just poke the power switch a bit.
Hooray for aging hardware and dirty switches.
The "color" of a classic brick varies a lot from unit to unit, it seems.
I own a pair of gray bricks, a GBA non-SP, and a DS Lite.
I am oddly satisfied to know I own the 3 best-sounding "GameBoys."
My gray brick is still housed in a big plastic case with all the cables and games. The big plastic case in question happens to look like the very same gray brick.
Its like one of them russian puzzles, whatever they are called. No, not Tetris.
whicker: franpa is grammatically correct, and he still gets ripped on? sweener2001: Grammatically correct this one time? sure. every other time? no. does that give him a right? not really.
whicker: franpa is grammatically correct, and he still gets ripped on? sweener2001: Grammatically correct this one time? sure. every other time? no. does that give him a right? not really.
I was always told there's no such thing as a 4-bit chip. That it started with 8-bit and went in doubles from there: 8, 16, 32, 64, etc. And that when companies claim "24-bit" stuff, its actually just a 16-bit paired with an 8-bit coprocessor.
Air Fortress.
Fun game. Until level 6. Then it gets frustrating hard, even with savestates.
I liked the Game Boy Mega Man music. Even Mega Man II.
Though after playing the NES game much, and not playing the GB game in a long time, I watched some guy's video playthrough of the GB series.
Wow, the GB MMII music was kinda annoying.
Or maybe it was just because he turned up the volume so it was overpowering his commentary, perhaps because the music is so hated.
The Megaman II music for the NES ranks up there as one of the most sonically pleasing soundtracks of the whole 8 bit era. If only there existed a C-64 version...
alyxx wrote:The Megaman II music for the NES ranks up there as one of the most sonically pleasing soundtracks of the whole 8 bit era. If only there existed a C-64 version...
You've just said it's one of the best-sounding soundtracks of the era, so why would you want a version with a totally different flavor?
(I'm not a fan of what I've heard from the C64, for what it's worth.)
