Tag Archives: electronic music

Bass Cadet 01 – Thunder Force IV

Welcome to my new weekly feature – Bass Cadet.

Every week I will be showcasing a piece of music that’s relevant to the retro enthusiast right here on Bass Cadet. Requirements and criteria for a me to cover a single track, album or even a live performance are as follows:

  • Composition must be strictly electronic.
  • The production may be for a game or any other medium but it must be able to work as a game soundtrack.
  • Vitally important for all compositions to be instrumental but samples and singing are permitted, provided they are a good match.
  • Experimental compositions are allowed but they must be listenable.
  • It may be an old or new production but it must sound positively retro.
  • Last but not least, it must sound great!

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s kick off this week’s feature with something awesome. Technosoft (also known as Tecno Soft) were the code house behind the truly remarkable Thunder Force series. They were also know for the astounding sound work on their game releases.

Thunder Force IV on the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis for those in the U.S.) is one of my favourite horizontal scrolling shmups of all time. It’s just one of those games that strikes the right balance between visuals, sound and play mechanics. A masterpiece bar none.

Since TFIV was developed for the Mega Drive the music is obviously using the system’s Yamaha YM2612 FM-based chip. The previous article covered FM-Synthesis and gave some excellent examples of it’s applications.

However, Thunde Force IV is the standard-bearer for FM-Synthesis on the Mega Drive. Composed by Takeshi Yoshida, Toshiharu Yamanishi and Tomomi Otani they managed to put that little Yamaha chip through it’s paces. If you click on the video above, the results speak for themselves. Fusing techno-jazz with metal, this can only be described as 16-bit cyber thrash, space orchestra. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Is For Retro Lovers

Welcome Post, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Welcome to the official site of 16-BIT Shock. It’s great to have you here and hope you will find much of value in the coming weeks and months. There’s plenty in store for those with a penchant for some retro gaming goodness.

Expect a blog that will be updated regularly, primarily for game project updates as well as other related topics. Straight to the point, expect a wider scope of subject matter to be covered, beyond the boundaries of gaming.  It wouldn’t be out of place to talk about the intricacies of an electronic medium such as video games, without referencing electronic music. The two go together like hand in glove that it would be a missed opportunity to ignore the connection.

And there’s much that’s positively retro in music these days as much as it is in gaming. An auspicious occurrence which is one of the reasons 16-BIT Shock came to be. A love for explosive, colourful, pixelated worlds with an ear to synthesized melodies are the raison d’etre.

Capturing the purity, the nostalgia and perhaps even some of the pretentiousness of a bygone era and reflecting that into today’s digital spaces.

Stay Righteous, Stay Retro!