I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#21

Back to Capcom. Back to Mega Man. This game is easily one of the highlights of Capcom’s days of chip tune dominance, and one of the highlights of the NES sound library as a whole. I could have used almost any tune from the game here, but I had to go with “Flash Man” for its snappy intro that segues seamlessly into this great chill melody.

Track: “Flash Man” (YouTube Link)
Game: Mega Man 2 (NES, 1988)
Composer: Takashi Tateishi

I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#31

When it comes to rocking video game tunes, it’s hard to beat Capcom during the NES years. Most people think of Mega Man, with some Duck Tales thrown in for good measure. I opened this list with Duck Tales mainly to foreshadow its composer’s better work: everything on the Destiny of an Emperor soundtrack.

After posting one battle tune on Tuesday, I couldn’t resist including another one today. This one has a fantastic contrapuntal line with a crazy reverb-like effect. Lots of different little elements working together brilliantly in this tune, and the simplicity of the NES sound channels makes the overall song sound huge without being confusing.

Track: “General Battle” (YouTube Link)
Game: Destiny of an Emperor (NES, 1989)
Composer: Hiroshige Tonomura

I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#32

When it comes to rocking video game tunes, it’s hard to beat Capcom during the NES years. Most people think of Mega Man, with some Duck Tales thrown in for good measure. I opened this list with Duck Tales mainly to foreshadow its composer’s better work: everything on the Destiny of an Emperor soundtrack.

Track: “Major Battle” (YouTube Link)
Game: Destiny of an Emperor (NES, 1989)
Composer: Hiroshige Tonomura

I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#39

I’ve played Mega Man since the first NES entry, and the X series is a different beast in many ways. I forget how I first stumbled across this one, since I was deep into RPGs and strategy games by the time Capcom released it in Canada in 1994. All I know is, as soon as I started playing it, I loved two things: the crisp and speedy feeling of the new controls (dashing and wall-climbing made me feel like I could pull of masterful stunts at will), and the music.

Every track in this game is phenomenal, so I had to use somewhat arbitrary criteria to narrow it down to this one. Storm Eagle’s stage has a lot of dynamic, vertical elements, so it’s one of the stages that really exemplifies the strengths of the game’s controls. This song reminds me of feeling like a hero, and if all the elements of your game work together to make a player feel like that, you’ve done a lot of things right.

Track: “Storm Eagle” (YouTube Link)
Game: Mega Man X (SNES, 1993)
Composer: Makoto Tomozawa

I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#50

I’m so bad at fighting games, but I did spend a lot of time letting Tristan hone his skills by mopping the floor with my Ken while I tried to turtle in the corner. There are a lot of great tunes in this game, but picking Guile’s theme would have been too obvious.

Track: “America (Ken)” (YouTube Link)
Game: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES, 1992)
Composer: Yoko Shimomura

I’ll post them here and on Twitter every Tuesday and Thursday using the hashtag #KongsTdayTunes.

#54

My friends and I had a lot of fun with Monster Hunter: World for a few months after it came out. It became our social hangout game after Destiny spiraled down the pipes.

Each monster has its own signature theme that plays when you battle with it, and several of them are suitably epic, but the one that lodged in my brain was Teostra’s. It’s regal and grandiose, transitioning between background music and a booming melodic hook. I can’t help but sing it every time it loops around, ensuring all my friends mute me and ensuring its place on this list.

Track: “Ruler of Flame – Teostra (World Version)” (YouTube Link)
Game: Monster Hunter: World (PS4, 2018)
Composer: Tadayoshi Makino

I’m leaving a lot of great music out of this series. The connection between music and memory is powerful, and nostalgia is the principal motivator for my selection. For that reason, the list as a whole tends to skew towards older games. In an effort to provide balance, I’ve attempted to limit myself to a couple songs per game, but there are exceptions.

#60

“The Moon” is the most famous track from DuckTales, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System during Capcom’s Mega Man-riddled musical heyday. I considered skipping it or using another song because it gets so much attention, but it really is the strongest track from the game. One thing that makes “The Moon” special is that it’s not a simple background loop like so much video game music of the time; instead, it has a robust musical progression (with an intro, melody, and bridge/transition).

Track: “The Moon” (YouTube Link)
Game: DuckTales (NES, 1989)
Composer: Hiroshige Tonomura