In our recent post on the Shovel Knight release trailer, you may recall one of our questions in our state of frenzied yammering was "Where do we get this song?!"
Delightfully, we have an answer: it's Track 17 on Strike the Earth! Shovel Knight Arranged, newly released alongside the Shovel Knight Original Soundtrack.
Composer Jake Kaufman, aka virt, has made both albums available through his Bandcamp page on a name your own price basis. The page for the Shovel Knight OST also contains a link to freely download a version of the soundtrack that can be played on NES/Famicom software.
The OST was composed by Kaufman along with Manami Matsumae, the chiptune virtuoso behind the Mega Man soundtrack and many others. Kaufman, on the arrangement album page, expresses how honored he was to work with Matsumae, and that she even arranged one of his own tracks:
One of the high points in my life is knowing that Manami Matsumae, one of my biggest inspirations and the composer of the ORIGINAL Mega Man soundtrack, actually arranged a song I wrote for a game. This is completely surreal, and hard to fathom.
Kaufman also says he's perfectly happy to have you fiddle around with his music, too, and just about anything is open game:
Make your own arrangements! Make music videos! Write lyrics! Do crazy stuff! Be brilliant! Be stupid! Share your creativity and love of game music with the world. It's why I make the source files available, and why this album is free.
The soundtrack to Shovel Knight is only one great part of an overall great game, as we proclaim in our reviews for the Wii U and 3DS versions. What parts of everyday life are you planning to infuse with awe and power through these tracks?
[source virt.bandcamp.com, via virt.bandcamp.com]
Comments 22
I'll be the first to create a piano arrangement (probably)
ALRIGHT!! I will be buying both these albums.
Haha, yessssss.
I downloaded it has soon has it went up. Really it's an amazing soundtrack as Jake Kaufman soundtracks generally are.
Awwwww Yeaaaaah!
I don't like the fact that the digital manual is considered an addition.
Nice. Loving the music — the game is awesome!-- , but the arrangement of the Lich track (Specter Knight's stage) is much more subdued than I'd prefer. It has such a strong groove in the OST and I feel a missed opportunity. Makes me want to try my hand at it.
I just bought both the original and arranged soundtracks!
I am going home to buy the arranged soundtrack and listen to it until I die.
Wow... I don't tend to buy soundtrack, but I'm so hyped by this game that I'll probable will
Hah, they even have the music available as an NSF file (Nintendo Sound Format, basically, NES audio), and it utilizes the extra channels from the VRC6 chip (Famicom-only) that games like Castlevania 3 JP used.
This guy is awesome!
I can't believe it took me several reviews to realize that Virt and Chanchacorin were the persons in charge of the music. That is a selling point right there and all reviews should point to that.
Already bought it
oops I've just spent some extra dollars on this game
What a champion!! Can't wait to play this game
Bought the ost, the official arrange is great too!
You know, I'm just not feeling the soundtrack. I'm sure the arranged versions sound great like the trailer, but the chiptunes are just not memorable. Yes they definitely sound authentic like they were pulled straight out of the NES, but the majority that I've heard so far in the game don't have that catchy vibe.
Actually, I wonder if the arranged soundtrack was the original? If they took regular tracks and tried to cram them into chiptunes, then no wonder it sounds a bit off.
Releasing it in NSF format is a novel idea. I totally support this!
I love the chiptune stuff in the game, but I gave the first half of the arranged version a spin and early response is... I don't really like it, sadly. Maybe it'll grow on me. Definitely love the game and the original tracks, though.
i love the music and game period!
@Prizm well, it's not Megaman 9 level, buts pretty good
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