Tag: Music - Page 11
Weirdness Legendary Composer Koji Kondo Drew Inspiration From '70s Rock Bands
Smoke on the water
It's always interesting to see the progression and evolution of music through history. Most genres start out small, but have far-reaching impact; with later entrants refining and perfecting the old sound until it is nearly flawless. As any musician could attest to, inspiration is a key factor to the formation of new music - it is...
News Gunman Clive 2 Soundtrack is Now Available for Streaming and Download on Bandcamp
Wild West vibes
Gunman Clive 2 is out on the 3DS eShop today, and we're big fans in our review. It delivers high-quality gaming in various ways, and it shouldn't be overlooked that the soundtrack plays a vital role in ensuring that it's one of the best download experiences on the portable in recent times. Picking up from the Wild West vibes of the...
Poll Which Current Generation Nintendo Soundtracks Would You Buy?
Moving beyond occasional Club Nintendo giveaways
Earlier today Nintendo Europe added The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds soundtrack to Club Nintendo, which is jolly for those in the region with a load of stars to spend, but disappointing for anyone else. It continues Nintendo's slightly odd policy of creating some of the greatest soundtracks...
News The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Soundtrack Added To European Club Nintendo
Club Nintendo isn't dead yet!
Following the announcement last week that Club Nintendo is scheduled to close its doors this coming September - to be replaced by a new loyalty scheme altogether - many avid Nintendo collectors assumed this also spelled the end of updates to the rewards catalogue too. However, that does not appear to be the case. With...
News Ninja Gaiden NES Team Discusses Its Origins and Design Approach
Have a listen to composer Keiji Yamagishi's new music, too
Ninja Gaiden is one of the most challenging games on the NES, combining fast-paced action, a fantastic soundtrack and brutal difficulty to make players work hard for their success. In some respects it was also a trendsetter, with cutscenes and cinematic moments that were ahead of their time...
News Super Smash Bros. Double CD Soundtrack Listing is Revealed in Full
Will 72 tracks be enough?
We know that Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS have - between them - an enormous soundtrack that represents the roster's diverse range of franchises, in addition to the Smash series itself. For those that want to enjoy the music the o
Review Mes Comptines (3DS eShop)
Straight Outta Comptines
If you know My First Songs or its sequel on the 3DS, then Mes Comptines (French for “My Rhymes" or “My Nursery Rhymes") will be very familiar territory, even with a language shift. This is the same simplistic rhythm game for small children as its predecessors, and that's really not such a bad thing. Mes Comptines comes...
News Koji Kondo Discusses Music Creation for Iconic Mario and Legend of Zelda Games
The man behind your musical childhood speaks
For those of you who don't know, Koji Kondo is the man behind some of the most iconic tracks in the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series soundtracks. The catchy and beautiful music he produced in these games during the late '80s and all throughout the '90s has remained with many throughout their...
News Composer Legend Hirokazu Tanaka Throws Down Killer Chiptune Set
Showing how it's done as Chip Tanaka
Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka has a firm place in Nintendo's musical foundation. Most prolific in the '80s and earlly '90s, some of the more memorable songs in his repertoire include the themes to Metroid and Kid Icarus, "Song B" in Tetris and "Balloon Trip" from Balloon Fight, among many other
News Koji Kondo Outlines the Importance of Music in Mario Maker
"We always want to make sure the music sounds fresh and new"
Nintendo played a prominent role during last week's début Game Awards in Las Vegas, with Reggie Fils-Aime on hand to introduce a few segments, including the well-received Legend of Zelda Wii U footage. Yet there was another prominent Nintendo figure on hand in Koji Kondo, the iconic...
News The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses - Master Quest World Tour Confirmed
Will include new music from Majora's Mask and Link Between Worlds
While there have been other musical tours and concerts to celebrate The Legend of Zelda, it's the officially-sanctioned "Symphony of the Goddesses" tours that have been widely acclaimed, which began with the 25th Anniversary celebrations and even a CD with special edition copies of...
News Image & Form Reveals That Steam Powered Giraffe is Producing the SteamWorld Heist Soundtrack
Will appear in-game, too
SteamWorld Dig, the 3DS eShop title — since ported to other platforms including Wii U — propelled Image & Form to prominence among Nintendo gamers and the wider gaming community, so there'll be plenty of attention on the upcoming SteamWorld Heist. Less a sequel and more of a spin-off, it sees the steam-driven robots...
News The 3DS Proves to Be a Popular Music Player in Japan
Exposed shoulder buttons not an issue
Contrary to the West, Japan has an app that allows 3DS owners to download and listen to music, and despite the prominence of smaller and more dedicated media devices, many Japanese gamers are taking full advantage of the system. Recently hitting 3 million downloads, RecoChoku is the app in question. The site...
Weirdness Fans of Patent Pending Song 'Hey Mario' Campaign for Radio One Airtime
Over a million views of the song's videos since last year
There are plenty of fans out there that show their love for Nintendo and its games through various means — we see art, dance, song and more. Songs aren't in short supply of course, especially those dedicated to Mario, but one band and its fans are pushing the boat out to get mainstream...
News Awesome Fan Album Metroid Cinematica Released Today
Music to our ears
A young composer by the name of Sam Dillard has been hard at work composing and compiling his tribute to the spectacular music of the Metroid series, and has announced that the album is available to download right now. The 16 tracks on offer are all based heavily on tracks from the Metroid series as you might expect, but these are...
News Rhythmic Rail Shooter Cosmophony Arriving In Europe & The Americas on 30th October
Fallen goddess
Last month it was revealed that Bento Studio’s musical rail shooter, Cosmophony, would be adapted and ported to the Wii U by Moving Player. Now, the latest announcement has revealed the upcoming Wii U eShop release will be arriving in both Europe and the Americas on 30th October, for the price of £3.49, €3.99 & $3.99...
Feature Ari Pulkkinen's Quest to Turn the Volume Up on Game Music
Music is "the biggest emotional aspect in any game"
There's surely little debating that music is absolutely integral to a video game experience. Nintendo has successfully riffed on iconic themes for decades, while still producing terrific new soundtracks in its current-day efforts that can only add to the excitement of the gameplay. This is...
News You Can Now Download The Entire Banjo-Kazooie Soundtrack For Your Listening Pleasure
And we mean the ENTIRE soundtrack
Rare's N64 classic Banjo-Kazooie is one of the best 3D platformers you're likely to find on any console, and its soundtrack was also pretty swell to boot. You can now download every piece of music contained in the game — that's 164 different tracks — over at composer Grant Kirkhope's Bandcamp page. It's not...
News Harmony of Heroes, Free Super Smash Bros. Fan Album, Launches on 4th October
101 tracks in total
Harmony of Heroes, the free fan album dedicated to the Super Smash Bros. series, has a confirmed release date of 4th October, just a day after the arrival of the 3DS title in Europe and North America. It's a large-scale project involving contributors from around the world, bringing together a grand total of 101 tracks. The lead...
Ninterview We Talk Bits and Beats With Mega Ran
Bringing nerdcore to the masses
Raheem Jarbo, known as Random or Mega Ran, is a popular American underground rapper, Chiptunes DJ, and record producer. To those that love retro game music and the creativity it can spark he can perhaps be considered as a trailblazer; best known on the Nerdcore Hip-Hop scene, Mega Ran has also coined the term...
News Rhythmic Rail Shooter Cosmophony Is Coming To The Wii U eShop
Let the music guide you
If you’re a fan of the techno beats, high speed and drum & bass, then Cosmophony by Bento Studios might just be the game for you. Thanks to the assistance of Moving Player, the title will be coming to the Wii U eShop at some point in the near future. Cosmophony was originally announced in 2012, and will be released on...
News Keep Your Eyes Peeled for this Orchestral Metroid Album
Paying homage to a very special lady
Composer Sam Dillard is in the process of producing an album of music from the Metroid series called Metroid Cinematica, and aims to release it during October. The music promises to be more of a re-imagining than a simple repeat performance of the original tracks. Certain moments from different themes will be...
News The Wonderful 101 Gets a Wonderful Soundtrack Release
Wonderful
Music fanatics, prepare your eardrums. Platinum Games announced today that the complete soundtrack of 127 tracks from its excellent title The Wonderful 101 is getting a digital release. Split into two volumes, the soundtrack would supposedly have needed five CDs in order to have a physical release, so our shelves can breathe a sigh of...
News Diggin' In The Carts Aims To Give Japanese Video Game Music The Exposure It Deserves
Chip tune greatness
Red Bull might be an energy drink, but the company is going all kinds of other cool stuff that doesn't involve beverages — and the Red Bull Music Academy is one of them. Diggin' In The Carts is a new web series which aims to explore the rich — and some would say under-appreciated — history of the Japanese video game music...
Weirdness Hear Nintendo's Classic Themes Played on Kazoos
Marginally too cool for school
Nintendo has arguably some of the best music in the gaming world, causing different groups of people to take the music from the games they love and perform it themselves. It's no surprise that certain individuals take it upon themselves to somewhat reinvent tracks in order to give them a fresh and interesting feel...
News Don't Miss Chip-Hop Ambassador Mega Ran On His UK Tour
Random but true
North American hip-hop artist Random AKA Mega Ran is well known on the music scene thanks to his cutting edge retro-styled beats. Since the creation of his alter-ego Mega Ran, this former teacher has become one of the premier artists in hip-hop’s nerdcore genre, released multiple albums, secured a licensing deal with Capcom and...
Video This Drake-Inspired Mario Kart Rap is For Champion Racers
"Got all these races looking like they're just time trials"
There are only a few Nintendo franchises that can bring on very real trash talk; no, that Nintendo E3 press conference attempt for Wii Sports Resort back in the day does not count. One of these franchises that'll have friends and family boasting red shell success is Mario Kart, to this day...
News A Whopping 5-Disc Bayonetta 2 Soundtrack Will be Released in Japan
Bewitching
Bayonetta 2 arrives in Western territories this October, and we think you should be excited about it. It's impressed us a great deal so far, with fast-paced action, gorgeous visuals and a soundtrack that pushes you onwards. It's great news — if you're in Japan — that the soundtrack is all set for a full release in the country...
News Goodbye Galaxy Games Reveals First Teaser Image of Wii U FPS
Tappingo soundtrack now available for free
Earlier this year we spoke to Hugo Smits, the man behind Goodbye Galaxy Games, to talk a little about the upcoming Tappingo 2. A surprising detail was that, when asked about other projects in the works, the answer was an "FPS with guns and blood" for the Wii U. The developer has now sent us a teaser image...
Review Frederic: Resurrection of Music (Wii U eShop)
A decomposing composer, recomposed
Public domain is often seen as the place cheap music games go to die, but it does not have to be this way. There is a lot of great music from the past that remains untapped; a multitude of virtuosos from previous centuries whose works can appeal within the context of a game. All that’s needed is the right...
Feature A Night At The Theatre With Symphonic Legends
A mixed adventure
On Sunday 13th July the Barbican in London hosted Symphonic Legends, a concert featuring music from The Legend of Zelda. It was performed by the world-class London Symphony Orchestra, with appearances by London Symphony Chorus and the energetic 'classical band', Spark; the arrangements were composed by Jonne Valtonen and Roger...
Video Hear The Link To The Past Dark World Theme In a Whole New Banjo Style
It’s dangerous to go alone. Take the mandolin, too
Time-travelling and dimension-hopping hero to video game characters, Ollie Longz, has apparently returned from his little jaunt to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past’s Dark World with a most interesting artifact. What was originally thought to be an innocuous piece of parchment stuck to the...
Video DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jeremy Ellis and The Roots Perform an Awesome Super Mario Bros. Remix
Which DJ wins?
With the recent Independence Day celebrations in the US, there were plenty of events and concerts taking place around the country. One of these was the 2014 Philly Jam, and for those watching there was a bit of a retro Mario treat to enjoy. In the clip below DJ Jazzy Jeff — who most may know as Will Smith's buddy and musical...
News Pokémon Orchestral Tour Premiering in August
Super effective on the ears
Following in the steps of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses, another Nintendo franchise's musical score will soon say goodbye to its mom and embark on a journey to prove itself the champion of concert halls the land over. The Pokémon Company International has announced Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions, a new...
News Shovel Knight Soundtracks Released on Bandcamp
Name your price for some metal-slammin' tracks
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
News An Iconic Super Mario Bros. 3 Overworld Theme Gets the Smooth McGroove Treatment
Who can resist that?
We imagine many of you are already familiar with Smooth McGroove, a hugely popular presence on YouTube that's highly regarded for his weekly Acapella music videos. His rise to prominence has been particularly impressive, with his focus on retro titles also helping to establish a dedicated audience. While all of his videos are...
News New Super Mario 64 Remix Album is a Work of Musical Art
21 tracks expertly re-imagined
It’s been argued about and discussed for years that some of the best music of the modern era has come from video games. Whether it be a quirky little chip-tune jingle or a full blown symphony, video game music has delivered some of the best pieces to gamers everywhere. But despite its varied range and outstanding...
Ninterview Taylor Davis Shares Her Musical Journey and Love for Gaming
"Just focus on what you love about yourself and what makes you happy"
Videogame music is, as we and many others have argued, absolutely vital to what makes particular experiences memorable and special. It's no surprise, either, that there are a lot of musicians in the world that readily cite gaming as a core passion in their lives — whether in the...
News If You Like Rainbow Road Music, This Album Is For You
Shiryu brings us Rainbow Road Adventures
As you may have guessed from all the Mario Kart 8 articles, today is the Wii U title's launch day. A happy occasion for many Wii U owners, certainly, and one being celebrated in various ways. One such celebration that we think you'll enjoy is this album, Rainbow Road Adventures from musician and Nintendo...
News Fresh Nintendo Wii U Patent Looks Like a Wii Music Game
At least a potential E3 reveal won't be a live demonstation
It seems that today is a day of potential E3 leaks, and this one will likely divide Nintendo gamers. We're aware that some of the Nintendo Life community enjoyed Wii Music, so this writer will restrict expressing his feelings of trepidation and fear at this possible reveal — the lead...
News Book Series Will Take In-Depth Look at Original Super Mario Bros. Soundtrack
By an author who knows the score
The 33 1/3 book series offers individual, journalistic studies of influential albums by performers ranging from James Brown to Radiohead. In a departure from their standard venues, an upcoming book is going to focus on a smaller but no less memorable collection of work. Super Mario Bros. - Koji Kondo has been...
Video Musician Lindsey Stirling Dresses Up As Aurora From Child Of Light, Because Why Not?
Popular artist channels Ubisoft's RPG hit for unique video performance
We love Lindsey Stirling here at Nintendo Life — not only does she play a mean fiddle (OK, violin), but she's absolutely potty about video games and never misses an opportunity to cover the soundtrack of a famous title or dress up as a popular character. Her latest video —...
News Pokémon Black and White 2 Soundtrack Album Completes Set on iTunes
The era of the Super Music Collection is over...
Over recent months Game Freak has released six substantial Pokémon albums, and has now confirmed the final entry — Pokémon Black 2 & Pokémon White 2: Super Music Collection. This is available on iTunes right now for $9.99 / £7.99 / €8.99. It features a whopping 172 tracks from Pokémon...
Video Temperatures Rise With This Heated Bolero of Fire Violin Cover
Triple time tablature
The last time we featured musical prodigy Taylor Davis she had recorded an assured violin cover of the Gerudo Valley song from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Davis is no stranger to performing covers of classic Zelda songs, having also released an impressive violin medley late last year, and now she’s back with
News Tengami Soundtrack by David Wise Hits iTunes and Bandcamp
Music by the famed Donkey Kong Country composer available now
Atmospheric adventure game Tengami has been making headlines for its pop-up book art style, traditional Japanese setting, and music composed by David Wise. A longtime Rare collaborator, Wise has written the acclaimed music for hits like Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox Adventures, Marble...
News DuckTales: Remastered Digital Soundtrack Coming to Amazon
47-track album to go on sale later this month
Capcom has announced that the official game soundtrack for DuckTales: Remastered will be available to download from Amazon's MP3 store from 29 April. With 47 tracks and clocking in at around the 90-minute mark, the album will include both Jake Kaufman's remixes for the recent re-release, as well as the...
News Super Mario 3D World Double Disc Soundtrack Arrives on Club Nintendo
Europe and Australia included for now
Last year we shared the news that Club Nintendo in Japan received an awesome Super Mario 3D World 2-CD soundtrack; we were envious as the Wii U title has a number of outstanding 'Big Band' tracks that still stick in the mind. The exciting news for gamers in Europe and Australia, who savoured the music while...
News Tinie Tempah Shows the Love for Mario and Highlights Retro Inspiration for His Music
"Those games are adventures of the highest order"
Mario's the man, right? We sure think so / hope so, and the mascot is still Nintendo's most famous and bankable character, with the brilliant Super Mario 3D World recently achieving strong attach-rate sales on the Wii U and Mario Kart 8 exciting fans and carrying the fight to increase the system's...
News Pokémon Black and White Soundtrack Now Available on iTunes
Remastered music collection joins iTunes' growing Pokémon library
A few short weeks after the release of the Pokémon Diamond & Pokémon Pearl: Super Music Collection on iTunes, today we get the Pokémon Black & Pokémon White: Super Music Collection, which you can preview and purchase here for $9.99 / £7.99 / €8.99. This digitally...
News Video Games Live Tour Confirms UK Gigs
World tour is underway and will also go to mainland Europe
Last year we told you about Kickstarter success for Video Games Live, securing the release of another album of live game music performances. Headed up by industry veteran Tommy Tallarico, the project remains hugely popular with gamers around the world and is currently embarking on a world...
