When we think back to iconic Rare shooters that helped to redefine the genre on the Nintendo 64, minds often drift to GoldenEye 007. That has a strong case as a trailblazer, but if you're looking for the best Rare title in that genre from the 64-bit beast, plenty of loyal fans will very enthusiastically and loudly point you towards Perfect Dark.
There are many reasons why it's one of those fondly remembered classics even today — such as the storyline or iconic weapons — but one factor that also helps is its soundtrack, composed by Grant Kirkhope, Graeme Norgate and Dave Clynick. Its synth beats were a natural fit for the sci-fi setting, and stand up to a listen even today. Thanks to its upload to Bandcamp, you can now listen to the full 36-track album for the game whenever you please, with an option to download for a price that you deem fair. Naturally with tracks this good, we'd hope that the pay-what-you-want system won't be needlessly abused, but supported with reasonable payments.
If you need to be sold on the idea of buying the album for this N64 classic, you can also stream it for free. For the sake of convenience, and because we quite like it ourselves, you can give it a listen below; if you want to buy the album, head over to its official page to do so. If you'll excuse us, it's time to dig out some headphones.
[source destructoid.com]
Comments 18
Awesome I Iove this soundtrack!
Now if we could just get the game on VC...
Thoughts of that magical Game Grumps episode just went through my head... I'll have to check it out, even though I know next to nothing about Perfect Dark.
oh snap chicago stealth was one of my fav. songs on n64! good times =)
good times!!!
Cool! Now this was a first person shooter I really liked!! Forget about the new ones, I'll take Perfect Dark any day!
Yes! Ending credits music! Used to play that on some epic multiplayer battles with my cousin or whoever I was playing with.
I think it's been a year since I have that on my iPod, and I just listened to it yesterday doing homework.
@HawkeyeWii Yeah, I have that dream too...
So cool. I wonder if this had anything to do with GK's recent appearance on Game Grumps? You know, rekindle his interest in the golden years?
To put it into one sentence Perfect Dark is without a doubt the best N64 first person shooter.
@HawkeyeWii
It was re-released on the 360 a couple of years ago with cleaned up graphics. Sad to say, it will probably never see a Nintendo console again. But if you have a 360, it's there for you to play, and I totally recommend it. Played it a few times with friends from that era recently and it was a blast from the past.
The "name your price" part means that you can download it for free, you know. Same for the Banjo albums.
But throw some money at Kirkhope anyway for being awesome.
I think I only ever played this once and yet some of these tracks sound suprisingly familiar.
@Spartacus3765
Nope I don't have a 360 nor do I ever plan on getting one.
I didn't know that they did a remake/reskin of the game. That is pretty awesome!
@HawkeyeWii
They also released the Banjo games on there as well. I think Rare will have to be bought back by Nintendo to have those all come to the Wii U. Who knows, maybe it'll happen someday, but with Rare's track record of late, I kinda doubt it. But if you're really, really wanting to play these games with HD clarity, borrow/buy a cheap 360 to play them on. It may be the only way unless you have the old carts/N64 or have them on an emulator.
But the Perfect Dark remake is great. They didn't change a thing about it other than the opening N logo. Missions/bots are back. Very much worth the $15-20 or whatever it was when I bought it off of the XBlive marketplace.
This is awesome. The Combat Simulator menu music brings back great memories, waiting for everyone to jump onboard for the next match, good times.
@Spartacus
I sure hope that Rare ends up partnering with Nintendo again, because it doesn't seem like Rare has done much of anything with Microsoft.
This stuff is so spine chillingly creepy and powerful at the same time.
I wonder how much of an influence this stuff had on games like Halo and Metroid Prime, which were both in development at the time.
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