Tag: Music - Page 9
News Junichi Masuda on the Process of Composing Music for Pokémon
Gotta make sure it's not too Loudred
Music in the Pokémon games is something that's nearly as iconic as the titular monsters themselves, with many memorable tracks being produced over the series' long run. After all, who could ever forget the sweet relief of hearing that Pokémon Center tune, or the anticipation that starts building once you enter...
Video Take a Look at the Awesome Splatoon - Squid Sisters Concert from Japan Expo 2016
Here's hoping Nintendo inks in more concert dates
Splatoon's success isn't just judged on unit sales, which are nevertheless impressive on the Wii U, but by its broader cultural impact. It's a new Nintendo IP that, it's safe to say, has struck a chord with the public and is likely to become a regular part of Nintendo's library in the future. Along...
News Etrian Odyssey V to Offer FM Sound Source Music as Paid DLC
It's that man Yuzo Koshiro once again
With Etrian Odyssey V heading to the 3DS in Japan in August, hype is starting to build for the latest in the much-loved franchise. We're still waiting for word of localisation to the West, but it's nevertheless interesting to follow the game's progress as it works towards the Japanese release. The latest update...
News Super Audio Cart Brings Classic Samples To Modern Musicians
Music to our ears
If you're a fan of retro game music - either as a listener or a creator - then you'll be interested to learn that Impact Soundworks has teamed up with OverClocked ReMix to release Super Audio Cart, a library packed with classic samples dating all the way back to the '70s. Used in conjunction with the Kontakt music making package,...
News Fans Petition Nintendo To Name Zelda NPC After Deceased Singer Christina Grimmie
Already has 25,000 signatures
The world of music recently lost Christina Grimmie, who was tragically shot during an autograph signing session after a concert and later died from her wounds. Fans are now petitioning Nintendo is name an NPC in the forthcoming Legend of Zelda title after the singer, who was self-confessed fan not only of the series,...
News Splatoon's Squid Sisters Confirmed for Live Concert in Paris
So fresh!
We know that Splatoon has been a big hit for Nintendo and the Wii U, with impressive sales and a notable impact on popular culture in Japan, especially. The game is everywhere in Nintendo's homeland, with a substantial range of merchandise and even live concerts. Nintendo's been slow to roll out merchandise to the rest of the world, but...
Music Relax and Enjoy a Twilight Princess Orchestral Medley
Perfect for an evening listen
This year is the 30th Anniversary year of The Legend of Zelda, and so far we've had Twilight Princess HD on the Wii U to get into the spirit. Though the next full entry in the series isn't coming until 2017, we can expect fans to step up and produce some top-notch tributes. One example is from RebeccaETripp, who...
Exclusive Learn More About the Affordable Space Adventures Soundtrack, Now Available for Free
Nicklas Nygren introduces the album
Affordable Space Adventures is, in this writer's opinion, one of the finest download-only titles on the Wii U eShop. It's a rare example in which the GamePad is used brilliantly, and as it's part of the current Humble Friends of Nintendo Bundle there's no excuse for Wii U owners not to try it. Beyond its clever...
Random There's Nothing Smoother Than Super Smash Bros. Set To A Jazz Drum Solo
Nice
Super Smash Bros. is pretty great as we all know, and Jazz - while not to everyone's tastes - is a musical genre which has its fair share of fans. However, fuse the two together and you've got something so smooth it puts a baby's bottom to shame. Performed by Andrew Barhite and "composed" by Adam Lindgren (AKA Armada), this awesome freeform...
News The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses Tour Adds Extra Dates in the UK
More masterful music
The snappily titled The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses - Master Quest has proven to be a notable success for Nintendo, with the touring ensemble and officially approved music being a hit worldwide. It's now been completing annual tours for a few years, losing little momentum in the process. Such is its popularity...
Music This Harp-Based Rendition Of Zelda's Lost Woods Tune Is Deliciously Twee
The Harp Twins are back
We're big fans of Camille and Kennerly here at Nintendo Life. Better known as The Harp Twins, these talented siblings are keen gamers and have produced many adaptations of famous gaming tunes - you might recall their excellent Ballad of the Goddess and
Music Miitomo Grooves Could Be The Soundtrack To Your Summer
Mii amigos
If you want to be the coolest Mii on the street you're going to need some fresh beats. With this in mind, the chiptune artist DJ Cutman has just released a new album to celebrate Nintendo's mobile hit, Miitomo. Entitled Mii Tomo Grooves, this is a fan-made tribute to the music of Miitomo and is not endorsed by Nintendo. Hence the space...
Music Let This Musical Tribute To Xenoblade Chronicles X Gently Massage Your Eardrums
Mech some sweet music
Nintendo Life contributor Gonçalo "Shiryu" Lopes isn't just great at digging up classic Super Famicom games - he's also a keen music-maker and long-time fans of the site will know that he has produced many a fine tribute album in his time. He's back with NLA Blues, an "original music tribute album to Nintendo Wii U's...
Video Chill Out to This Taylor Davis Cover of Zelda's Lullaby
Originally on the Melodies of Hyrule album
Taylor Davis has established herself as a hugely popular musician, amassing over 1.2 million YouTube subscribers and completing tours in North America and Europe. The violinist has made her name with original tracks and licensed covers and arrangements of music from popular culture, including tracks from...
Video Check Out This Banging Banjo-Kazooie Final Battle Theme Drum Cover
Not a banjo in sight thankfully
Banjo-Kazooie is a beloved N64 platformer from the legendary developers at Rare, aside from being a great game, it had an equally great soundtrack by the ever talented Grant Kirkhope. We recently featured a video of Mat Ombler drummer from the metal band Demoraliser doing a drum cover of the Mario underground theme,...
News Synthwave Artists Celebrate N64's 20th Anniversary with Free Music Compilation
Two decades "synth" Nintendo's 64-bit powerhouse released
This June marks an important occasion in Nintendo history: the 20th anniversary of Nintendo's first 3D home video game system, the Nintendo 64, which released in Japan on 23 June 1996. To mark this momentous occasion, a group of artists has released a free unofficial synthwave compilation of...
Video Here's What A DJ Battle On Game Boys Looks (And Sounds) Like
Live from the Niche Nights ChipBattles event
Game Boy modder and chiptune master Joe Heaton is here to give us an official on-the-floor report from an amazing musical event - enjoy! On February 12th 2016, Niche Nights hosted the first ever ChipBattles event at Fab Cafe in Manchester. This is a brand new event within the scene of "Chiptune" music,...
Video Steam Powered Giraffe Answer Fan Questions on SteamWorld Heist and Its Soundtrack
We support the statement that top hats are the best
SteamWorld Heist is a game with many qualities, and one of these is most certainly the soundtrack. Image & Form teamed up with US band Steam Powered Giraffe, a neat three-piece group that performs and writes music in the steampunk aesthetic. The band has now hosted an episode of Image &...
Chipping away
In the world of music vinyl is currently enjoying something of a resurgence, with the antiquated audio format coming back from the dead to take pride of place in any self-respecting hipster's living room. While it's unlikely that this trend has anything to do with the release of RIKI's 8Bit Music Power, parallels can nevertheless be...
News Pokémon Reorchestrated Has Its YouTube Channel Taken Down Due to Third Copyright Strike
Music is still available and licensed elsewhere
Fan-made content produced as tributes to iconic gaming franchises are a mainstay of web culture, including the all-conquering YouTube. As reported recently, however, the Pokémon Reorchestrated channel had received copyright 'strikes' and see its Kanto Symphony playlist removed. This week The Pokémon...
Music Chronicles of Time, a 75-Track Tribute to Chrono Trigger, is Out Now
Over 200 artists contributed
Tribute albums play a notable part in the enthusiast gaming scene as talented musicians get together to celebrate their favourite games. Often not-for-profit ventures, they help breath new life into classics while tapping into lovely, fuzzy nostalgia. Chronicles of Time seems to tick all of those boxes - it's a 75-track...
Music Rozen Celebrates Valentine's Day With a New Legend of Zelda EP
Orchestrated beauty
The soundtracks from Nintendo games often draw in the talents of musical composers and arrangers, with iconic themes reproduced in various styles. We have a few favourites in this area on Nintendo Life, one of them being Rozen; he creates orchestral re-arrangements for various franchises, and in his latest project he's returned...
Random Beware Cuteness Overload With This Dancing Hatsune Miku Nendoroid
Go on, smile
We'll get to more 'serious' concerns in other articles, but there are always slightly pointless but delightfully charming things on the web if you get past all of the doom and gloom. For example, is it possible to resist a smile when watching a singing, dancing Hatsune Miku Nendoroid? It seems that Japanese company iDoll wants to test...
Video Paying Tribute To Secret Of Mana's Superlative Soundtrack
iRetroGamer tips the hat to one of the very best
Secret of Mana is unquestionably one of the best SNES RPGs ever made, and a huge part of the game's appeal comes from Hiroki Kikuta's gorgeous soundtrack, which still sounds amazing even today. Our friends over at iRetroGamer have put together a video which celebrates the musical legacy of this...
Weirdness Watch an Actual Live Splatoon Squid Sisters Concert From Japan
Get your glow sticks in the air!
Splatoon is not only a fun game, but it's also succeeded in getting some of its characters and quirks into popular culture - well, Nintendo culture. The Squid Sisters are a part of this, with their bizarre voices, dancing and singing being part of the game's charm. In Japan, though, these things can go from being...
News It Looks Like Michael Jackson Did Write Some Of Sonic 3's Soundtrack After All
Doesn't matter if you're black or white (or blue)
Back in the early '90s when Michael Jackson was arguably the most famous person on the face of the planet, he started working with Nintendo's rival Sega on a series of video game projects. Sega was quick to exploit Jackson's natural love of video games with Moonwalker being perhaps the most...
Video These Teenagers Show Good Taste and Enjoy Classic Retro Game Music
They even know the biggest Ninty classics by name
We all like talking about games, otherwise we wouldn't be here, but not everyone actively pays attention to and discusses video game music. We're often aware of it when it's so fantastic that it's impossible to ignore, but it can often be overlooked just how important audio is to any gaming...
Random Oslo's City Hall Is Playing The Super Mario Bros. Theme
The bells! The bells!
The Super Mario Bros. theme has become quite famous since its inception back in 1985 - hum it to pretty much any person on the face of the planet and there's a good chance that they'll recognise it. If you needed any more confirmation of its fame, then check out the video below. The building is Oslo City Hall in Norway, and as...
Events Gotta Bach 'Em All: A Night Out At Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions
(Disclaimer: No Bach was actually played on the night)
As with many of Nintendo's largest franchises, the music from the Pokémon games has captured its fans' hearts, being just as much a part of growing up as the monster-catching action itself. From the gentle beginnings in Pallet Town, right through to the epic Champion Battle themes, these songs...
Weirdness Gaming's Most Infamous Bad Guys Have Formed The World's Most Awesome Band
With the help of Jake Kaufman, Jirard Khalil and Grant Kirkhope
It's said that the devil has the best tunes, and that certainly seems to be true with the Big Bad Bosses, a fictional band composed of gaming's most sinister baddies - all appearing under aliases to avoid any kind of copyright nastiness. There's Ronix (Dr Robotnik), G-Cash (Ganondorf),...
News Napster is Coming to the European Wii U eShop on 17th December
OK then...
When people talk about the music streaming scene, they're often comparing familiar brands when considering which service to use. Some go with the big boys of Google, Apple or Amazon, and others maybe opt for smaller companies like Spotify or the Jay Z-led Tidal. Napster though? It's not normally in the debate. Napster was actually pretty...
Video Soothe Your Soul With Some of the Calmer Music from Xenoblade Chronicles X
With some nice quotes about its composition, too
We rate Xenoblade Chronicles X very highly here at Nintendo Life, and the odds are good that many others with the game now do likewise. It's a hugely impressive achievement from Monolith Soft and a strong showcase for Wii U in many respects, including its soundtrack. We think the soundtrack for this...
DRM = Dopey Rights Management
If you want to listen to the Xenoblade Chronicles X soundtrack it's not particularly difficult; it can be easily found around the web. Unfortunately, for some that are actually paying for the privilege, there can be surprising issues. This relates to the gorgeous Special Edition of the game in North America, which...
News Reggie Fils-Aime Confirmed for The Game Awards as Gerudo Valley Music Remix Arrives
Get out the glow sticks
The Game Awards are almost upon us, and there's renewed confirmation and confidence that Nintendo will feature in the show, hopefully with a bang. For starters a new trailer for the event confirms that Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime will appear, just as he did in the 2014 show. He'd long been confirmed as a...
Music Metal Gear Solid And Etrian Odyssey Composers Launch Snooze-Worthy Secret Of Mana Album
Lullabies to paralyze, in a good way
Update: We'd just like to clarify that AYAKI was a piano performer on Etrian Odyssey and PersonaQ, and not the composer, as we originally indicated. Original story: The soundtrack to SNES RPG Secret of Mana is regarded as one of the finest of the 16-bit era, with Hiroki Kikuta's soothing compositions matching...
News Music Producer Hardwell to Perform a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remix at The Game Awards
"There are similarities between dance music and video games"
The Game Awards are coming up this week, and in addition to world premieres - of which we're hoping there'll be some for Nintendo fans to enjoy - there'll be the actual giving of awards and some musical performances. Prior to now both CHVRCHES and deadmau5 have been confirmed, and now we...
News CHVRCHES and deadmau5 to Bring Some Musical Flair to The Game Awards
All part of the show
After a number of missteps in the past under different names, it felt like The Game Awards 2014 were a success. For one thing we got to check out quite a bit of Nintendo goodness including a look at The Legend of Zelda on Wii U, but beyond that it was primarily focused on games and their creators as opposed to dodgy attempts at...
Random Check Out This Saxophone Cover of the Link's Awakening Overworld Theme
Looks like this guy found the Ninth Instrument of the Sirens
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was certainly one of the weirder entries in the Legend of Zelda franchise. What started as an off the books side project by a few developers on the team quickly turned out to be one of the most memorable entries in the series, with the mysterious...
News Rytmik Ultimate Aiming to Find the Beat on the 3DS eShop in December
Includes online sharing and composition
Despite its limitations - such as only allowing files of 16MB and under! - the DSiWare platform served up some gems. Among our favourites were the Rytmik apps from Cinemax, which provided various themed music creation tool on the portable; at the time they left us rather impressed. Pleasingly we don't have...
News The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses Master Quest Continues into 2016
Tickets on sale now
It's no secret that we're fans of Symphony of the Goddesses - a concert series in which a full orchestra plays everyone's favorite songs from the Legend of Zelda series - here at Nintendo Life, and we're always ready to bring you the latest updates. The good news for fans of the show, or those who haven't been able to attend...
Music Have a Listen to the Rodea the Sky Soldier Soundtrack
Soaring high
Rodea the Sky Soldier is out now in North America and is imminent in Europe, and is a title that's been years in the making. It had a sticky route to release, yet for some eager followers that'll matter little - especially as it's a Nintendo exclusive and the original work of Yuki Naka. Although it has shortcomings we gave it a...
Video Sit Back and Relax With This Jazz Version of the Pokémon Theme
It's super relaxing
It's been an excitable time for fans of the big N, with the first Nintendo Direct in months confirmed to be heading to our screens soon. It's enough to set minds and pulses racing, so perhaps we need to just sit back and relax. Frankly, it's hard to envisage a better way to do that than to chill out with this jazz version of the...
News Moving Musical Iwata Tribute Casts Onett Theme in a Whole New Light
8 minutes of Gentle Love
Outpourings of admiration for late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata have continued since his passing in July. The performing duo Gentle Love, consisting of Metal Gear Solid and Bayonetta series composer Norihiko Hibino and pianist AYAKI, have added their own respects in the form of a soulful arrangement of the Onett theme...
News Street Fighter II: The Definitive Soundtrack Releases by the End of This Year
The first in a series of soundtrack remasters
A strong argument could be made that Street Fighter II was the game that led to the meteoric rise of the fighting genre. The simple controls, yet incredibly deep gameplay gave gamers a taste of competitive gaming like they'd never seen. Couple this with the excellent art style and the classic soundtrack...
Video Watch Our Resident Songsmith Ryan Craddock Rock Out On Guitar Hero Live
Flawless fret work at EGX 2015
Those of you in the UK will no doubt be aware that EGX 2015 took place a little while ago, and the Nintendo Life team was in attendance for all four days running tournaments and live events on the Nintendo UK stand. While we were there we also got chance to flex our gaming muscles on Activision's
News Let The Music From Zelda: Tri Force Heroes Bring Cheer To Your Soul
Good music never goes out of fashion
The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is out very soon and to celebrate Nintendo Japan has released a charming video showing off some of the amazing music in the game. In the video we can see a violin and accordion being played with great gusto; it all adds up to a very impressive sound. Looking back to The...
Music Fantasy Grooves Is The Chill-Out Fantasy Life Soundtrack You've Been Waiting For
DJ Cutman does it again
We're big fans of DJ Cutman here at Nintendo Life - the famed chiptune artist has kindly allowed us to use his work on some of our YouTube videos - and we have a feeling his latest project will turn many others into firm followers as well. Fantasy Grooves is billed as the sequel to his 2012 album Wii U Grooves, a laid-back...
Video Legend Of Zelda: Symphony Of The Goddesses Drops By The Colbert Show
Music to our ears
We reported not so long ago that The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses orchestra would be playing on The Colbert Show to not only promote the ongoing tour (which is continuing into 2016) but also to push the impending release of Tri Force Heroes on the 3DS. The performance on The C
News The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses - Master Quest Schedule Confirmed for 2016
The quest continues
The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses tour has been an enduring success, running for multiple years and playing around the world. The orchestra will be appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on 13th October, and the series will feature footage and music from the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes...
Random UK MC Jme Produces Pokémon Season One Theme Song Remix
Complete with full animation!
UK MC Jme has made a remix of the Season One (Indigo League) theme song of Pokémon, entitled 'The Very Best'. For those unaware, Jme is a popular music artist (specialising in Grime) from the UK who has been creating music since 2003, and has become well-known worldwide due to his unique style, impressive lyrics, and...
