Shooter VGM

[Zeratul]

Seeing as how a lot of people here like classic games and their music, I was wondering which shooter soundtracks you enjoy a lot and why?

Mine are:

Einhander - This was the first game to get me interested in shooter games with its techno soundtrack that didn't conform to the standard of mediocrity often associated with VGM techno. I really liked how the songs were really complex and used many of the techno sub-genres very well both in and out of the context of the game.

Favorites:

Einhander OST - Warning, Breakthrough, Factory, Dawn, Madness, Conflict, Thermosphere, Afterimage, Zero Gravity, Bloody Battle

R-Type Delta - I got this game over a year later and it did many cool things that I didn't expect in a shooter game. The gameplay was very tough and challenging, which kept me playing it a lot and the music was some of the best I've heard in any game. It's combination of progressive rock and some operatic songs that were synced to the action of the game gave me more than enough reason to buy this upon first sight at gamemusic.com when I discovered it was only 25 dollars.

Favorites:

R-Type Delta OST - Dead End, Stage One, Stage Three, Stage Four, Stage Six, Stage Seven, Last Dance!

Thunder Force V Perfect System - Though I've never played the game, the music alone more than makes me want to. I particularly enjoy its combination of hard rock and techno (in some songs) to create what I imagine would be a very intense shooter game world.

Favorites:

Beast Jungle, Cyber Cave, Electric Mind, Deep Purple, Armament Armed Arm, Duel of Top, Fatherless Baby, The Justice Ray Part-Two

So, what are yours and what would be some great one's to check out?

[SephVBC]

Radiant Silvergun, plain and simple rocks. So does Ikaruga.

And I ordered Game Sound Collection VOL. 6 Soukyuugurentai, we'll see how that one is. (Sakimoto, I think the game is actually related to Radiant Silvergun somehow). From what I heard of playing the game at my friends house and the few rips he sent me, it's great music, just as good, if not better, than RS.

I reckon I liked the music to The Guardian Legend, but I don't know the japanese name of it, nor do I know if a soundtrack for it exists.

[Zeratul]

How'd I forget RS?! Oh no!

Radiant Silvergun - Debris, Ruin, Penta, Space Battleship 130 33KI. The orchestrated remixes are also great since they make the original songs even better.

[ckain]

Gradius and Salamander ofcourse.

[Monkeyman]

Here are my 3 favourite shooters/soundtracks:

Blaster Master (Sunsoft, NES)
This was one of the toughest games on NES. I never finished it until playing it on emulators. Anyway, the music...IMO Sunsoft made the best quality music for NES and Blaster Master does have an excellent soundtrack. But to really enjoy the musics, you have to had played the game.
best tunes: Stage 1, Stage 3, Stage 6, Final Battle

Contra III - The Alien Wars (Konami, SNES)
Well it's Konami music, you can't go wrong here. It just rocks. The game too.
best tunes: Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 6, Boss BGM

Axelay (Konami, SNES)
The best shoot 'em up for SNES. And the musics are awesome. Souji Taro (the composer) really stretched the SNES soundcore to the max. The songs are full of complex sounds and the quality is very high. I also like the fact that every boss has its own, unique battle music.
best tunes (Axelay OST): 3 - Unkai, 6 - Colony, 12 - Burning, 14 - Cosmos, 19 - Return to Mother

[Eriol]

Heh, TurboDuo all the way.

Monster Lair
Gate of Thunder
Lords of Thunder (also on Sega CD with clearer music)

[Mina]

I like most of the TG-16/CD Shooter Tunes, some of them sounding like they were done by Tony MacAlpine (Lord/Gates of Thunder) which is cool.

I also enjoyed some of the 16-Bit Tunes like Arrow Flash and Gaiares and including Dragon Spirit (TG-16 Tunes).

Radiant Silvergun kicked booty, it was quite Epic. I also recently got Ikaruga's Soundtrack which owns as much as Radiant Silvergun does. Woo!

And of course the Grand Daddy of them all, Thunder Force V, I bought it for my Saturn from Japan for the music alone, tho I did beat and love the game itself.

[dma]

Great topic, because i love shooter music (perhaps just after racing music).

So my picks are :

Wings of Death & Lethal Xcess (the sequel) : These are Atari ST (my fetish machine) games with YM2149 music composed by the great musician : Mad Max.
Very melodic music with great solos and variations in every tune, all in 3 channels with digidrums.

Turrican series : Ok it's plateform/shooter, but the music is so wonderfull, mainly composed by the mighty Chris Huelsbeck.
Also people who like these soundtracks should check Iridion (GBA game), because it's same style and composed by the C64 Turrican version musician, Manfred Linzer.
Melodic and variated like the previous pick (Mad Max who the one in charge for converting music of the Atari ST version of Turrican 1 & 2).

Soldier Blade : Waaah! Fast as the game, this is what shooter music should be! Also i love PCE synthesizer.
But the tunes are not very long.

Galaxy Force 2 & Thunderblade : GROOOVY! Marvelous soundtracks from SEGA Sound Team, never heard a more funky synthetic soundtrack.
Lots of great solos, even bass solos !

Magical Chase : MARVELOUS, fantasy melodic style and mystic sometimes.
There's one tune in this soundtrack than i especially LOVE.

Einhander : Great elctro/techno soundtrack, fits perfect in the industrial style of the game.

Afterburner 2 : It's SEGA Sound Team and it's a shooter, so it must simply be in this list. ;)

Stardust : Another Amiga and Atari STe game, hardcore soundtrack here, great work mainly using 3 channels only (but digital, not synthetic).

Gradius series and Salamander : Typical Konami style, so it rules.

Darius series : THE Taito shoot'em up with Zuntata composition.

Axelay : Great groove, great instruments (conidering SNES music RAM size) and nice melodies.

Starfox : Dunno what to say about this, great one.

Thunderforce series : I don't like all the tunes, but there are very great pieces.

Viewpoint : Nice techno/dance soundtrack.

I'm probably forgeting some games right now...

In fact i love melodic and groovy music but i can also enjoy great pumping techno. ;)

[Eriol]

Originally posted by Mina
Radiant Silvergun kicked booty, it was quite Epic. I also recently got Ikaruga's Soundtrack which owns as much as Radiant Silvergun does. Woo!

And of course the Grand Daddy of them all, Thunder Force V, I bought it for my Saturn from Japan for the music alone, tho I did beat and love the game itself.

Is that Ikaruga's soundtrack an official album or is it just a game rip? If it is an album, what is the catalog number?

Thunder Force V does have an album, but it's a rare album.

[SephVBC]

It's a game rip, no soundtrack exists (to my knowledge at least), and I did research it.

[Lentium]

Hmm, there's a couple shooters I really liked the music to.

R-Type 3 - Near the end there's some really dark sounding metal tracks, peticularly the stage 5 and 6 level and boss tracks. First level is also quite good.

Super R-Type - I love this so much I bought the same so I could record the soundtest (on cassette, this was long before SPCs). I don't know what it is about this. Some of it's jazz, some of it's rock, some is quite ambient.

Thunderforce 4&5 - Great mixture of Industrial/Electronica and Hard Rock. And the synth leads, I love those samples! (Is it just me, or does Justice Ray Pt. 2 have almost the same melody as In The Dragon's Den by Symphony X?)

Radiant Silvergun - Only heard it less than a week ago but I love it already. Actually, pretty much anything done by Sakimoto I end up liking.

Gradius 2 - Peticularly the perfect collection tracks, done in old-school vgm arrangement style.

[Zeratul]

Lentium, where'd you get the music to R-Type 3? Did you rip it yourself? I'm going to have to check it out now that SS has it.

[Lentium]

Err, I just got the SPC files. Better quality than any mp3s you'll download of it (which might just be SPC rips anyways).

[Jodo Kast]

When I think of a shooter, I think of a game where you are flying something and shooting. Therefore, I do not regard Contra as a shooter. It is an action game. Shooters are also action games, but you are flying.

I've never played many of these, but I believe they are all shooters, by my definition.

My favorites are: (not in order)

Xexex
Thunder Cross I & II
Salamander I & II
Life Force
Gradius I, II, II, and III (yes, both of the II's.)
Axelay
A-Jax
Trigon
Ultra and Sexy Parodius
Detana Twinbee
Twinbee Yahho
Legendary Wings
Skull Fang
Vapor Trail
After Burner
Panzer Dragoon
Alpha Mission
Einhander
Darius I, II, and Gaiden
G Darius
Grid Seeker
Metal Black
Galactic Storm
Gamera 2000
Twin Cobra
Rayforce, Raystorm, Raycrisis
Aero Fighters 1, 2, and 3
R-Type I, II, and Delta
Star Ixiom
Ace Combat 2

I have these, but have not listened to them yet:

Radiant Silvergun
Ikaruga
Thunderforce II, III, IV, and V
Ace Combat 4
Herzog and Herzog Zwei

I also imagine I have many more shooter soundtracks, but I am unaware that they are shooters.