Noriyuki Iwadare – JC Cawley

Kong’s T’day Tune #6

J.C. Cawley — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 17:21:09 +0000

I’ve put together a list of 60 tunes that have stuck with me through the years, inspired by Jeffrey Canam (@GrahfMetal)’s Twitter rundown of his top 100 favourite video game tracks. I’ve attempted to limit myself to a couple songs per game, but there are exceptions.

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

#6

Warsong is back with the final fight music in the Kong’s Tday Tunes list! Everything in the Top 5 is overworld/map themes or intro/ending themes. Does that mean this is my favourite battle theme? Pretty much.

There’s a lot of nuance and context involved because there are a lot of different kinds of battles, but this song captures the pure energy of Warsong‘s long tactical battles. Listening to it on its own like this doesn’t even capture the whole effect—when it’s interrupted for the jarring enemy phase music while the monsters make their moves, it just sounds so much more glorious when “Friendly Fight” kicks in again.

Track: “Friendly Fight ” (YouTube Link)
Game: Warsong (Genesis, 1991)
Composer: Noriyuki Iwadare

Kong’s T’day Tune #13

J.C. Cawley — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:10:48 +0000

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

#13

This is Noriyuki Iwadare’s third appearance in this list—previously recognized for the Lunar: The Silver Star soundtrack. Warsong is a masterpiece. Unabashedly influenced by the original Fire Emblem, which came out one year earlier, Warsong still managed to innovate, especially with wildly creative scenarios. As good as it is, I don’t think the game would have half the appeal if it weren’t for its magnificent soundtrack that really showed off what the Genesis could do.

Track: “Thought of the Holy” (YouTube Link)
Game: Warsong (Genesis, 1991)
Composer: Noriyuki Iwadare

Kong’s T’day Tune #23

J.C. Cawley — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 18:15:55 +0000

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

#23

Who else loves overworld and map themes? The original Sega CD version of Lunar: The Silver Star has this wonderful overworld theme that really captures the feeling of setting out on a bold adventure. Being one of the first games I ever played on CD, the quality of the music they could pack onto the disc damn near blew my mind.

Track: “Second Overworld” (YouTube Link)
Game: Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD, 1992)
Composer: Noriyuki Iwadare

Kong’s T’day Tune #40

J.C. Cawley — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 14:24:25 +0000

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

#40

Lunar: The Silver Star might have been the first voice-acted game I ever played. It was mind-blowing. For better or worse, it was also one of the earliest examples of Working Designs’ localisations laden with irreverent popular culture references. And the damn game came on a CD, so it had great tunes!

Even though this Saturday morning cartoon-style opening is corny as hell (and the song itself is corny as hell), I just had to highlight it here, because it was such a change of pace from the usual video game introductions and soundtracks to which I had been accustomed in 1992.

I don’t sing this song to my dog, but I do sometimes take her on adventures, and she very rarely holds items for me.

Track: “Opening” (YouTube Link)
Game: Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD, 1992)
Composer: Noriyuki Iwadare