The Commodore Amiga was a great machine, and it produced some great music. So here is the definitive best Amiga game music:Below I have completed a small list of the best Amiga game music which I think was the best for the machine. The Amiga had many pieces of game music made for it. Most were in the .mod format, as explained HERE, but there were others. Programmers used custom music players to fit in with their programmes for 2 reasons: 1. The musician was happy with the player and maker. There were many different types of makers out on the market, some had custom features made for the musician, and some therefore were slightly obscure. This meant that the main commercial players just wouldn't recognise the format, so a new player had to be built. 2. Music ripped- the art of taking the music out of the game or programme was quite rife. Musicians were protective, and also there was a copyright issue, so players were made so that general ripping software couldn't identify the music track. All this means for you, is that some of the music pieces will not work in your usual player, so to guarantee the playing of all the below tracks, Deliplayer is the best free utility. Also to extract the lha files you will need an extractor. Simplyzip is the best free utility to do this. Download the utility, find the lha file and then extract. (it will extract into the area where you downloaded the music) As a side note, where did these musicians, graphic artists and coders come from? The demo scene. Here is my selection for the best classic Amiga demos. You can also check out my Squidoo page on Amiga demos, musician interviews, places where you can get the music and best demo groups here. There are a few rules for inclusion to the best amiga game music list: 1. The game music must be of a 4 channel variety. This does include TFMX and other different custom music players. 2. Games where the original game was made on another system is not included. Unfortunatley this means no Monty Mole, Ghouls n' Ghosts, Wizball etc- I also think the Commodore 64 pieces are better. 3. There are some other cool tunes out there, made with good samples and have clever use of the programme- but they are too long. Sorry to intelligent game music from great software house Psygnosis for wiping out most of their catalogue. So here they are, in no particular order, the best Amiga Game Music...the classics. Best Amiga Game Music Silly Putty A cool set of tunes from Richard Joseph- a lengend. The tunes are very strange but that follows the game. Some good effects mix in with the overall Joe 90/ 60s style of music. Different, bold game with music to match. Putty Music
Best Amiga Game Music Project X I have to admit, I am a fan of Project X, especially when it first came out from the great Team 17. Most of the music is really good. The musician, Allister Brimble just hit the nail on the head with the music. you can check out BladeSwede Remix (the title tune) here:
From the all out dancy BladeSwede Remix, through the simple, yet effective Project X loader to the chill Thesmophoria. The game and the music was quite a breath of fresh air. Bjorn Lynne added some music- Spacedeliria which has a great use of a Digeridoo :) Project X music
Best Amiga Game Music The Pinball games These are PinBall Fantasies (title) and Pinball Dreams (intro and title) mainly. These were created by Olof Gustafsson, also known as Blazier from The Silents demo group. You can check out PinBall Dreams here:
Pinball games had been out for some time, however this was different. It brought flash/ pazazz, great effects, music and adrenalin to a bored genre. Great music. PinBall Dreams Music. PinBall Fantasies Music
Best Amiga Game Music Turrican 1 (title) and Turrican 2 I have to say that these two game soundtracks created a new legion of musicians. Created by the genius that is Chris Hülsbeck they were radical, original, very listenable and has become some of the most remixed game soundtracks to date. You can check out Turrican 1 music here (apologies about the speach at the start :))
If I really had to choose, T2 would be the better music, but not by much. You can check out the intro to Turrican 2 here:
They were created by the TFMX (The Final Musicsystem eXtended) music maker and vastly hard to rip, which made the tracks even more desirable. Please note, this has sub-songs when played in Deliplayer. Turrican 1 music. Turrican 2 music.
Best Amiga Game Music Alien Breed When you are hunting some aliens in a dark rusty spaceship you need a soundtrack to suit. Allister Brimble comes back with this awesome soundtrack. You can check out this intro from where the music comes from:
Deep, moody, gritty and have some really earie effects but some great hooks are abound. Alien Breed- one of the best Amiga game music
Best Amiga Game Music Jaguar XJ220 Coming under the radar for some, the soundtrack for Jaguar has some really nice pieces. Martin Iveson (Nuke/ Spaceman from Anarchy/ Lemon demo group) supplied some really nice, quality tunes. It is a shame that it hasn't become more renound, but this is a real find. Jaguar XJ220 Music
Best Amiga Game Music Body blows title I think Allister Brimble likes these charts. The title theme is the only one I really like. A sharp dance track that has some great sounds driving through a thudding loop. Great sound. Body Blows Music
Best Amiga Game Music chuck Rock 2 Another entry from martin Iveson, this follows his same theme. High quality sounds, high quality music programming and some great hooks and themes running throughout. Chuck Rock 2 involves a baby running riot, and the music is soft enough to pacify the baby aspect of the game. Chuck Rock 2 Music
Best Amiga Game Music Elfmania Great funky tunes from Antti A. Mikkonen (HeatBeat from CNCD demo group). If you know HeatBeats work then you can easily recognise his finderprints all over this game music. From cool sounds to quick rythmic pieces Elfmania contains music perfect for a beat-em-up. From all the tunes, I like: Ice and Snow, Bonus Level, Waterfall and the great soft Hi-score. Elfmania Music
Best Amiga Game Music StarDust Some pumping tunes are abound in this very suped up Asteroids game. Risto Vuori (Rib from BloodSuckers demo group) being the culprit. The music is a "like it or lump it affair". Some magazines at the time didnt like it, some thought it was cool. I thought it was cool, and it was leaning towards something differnt- something that revitalised game music, just like the game did.
Best Amiga Game Music Lemmings 1 and 2 Classic music making here with the Lemming games. I don't like the add on packs, but these two are fine example of basic music with good music skills to make it annoying, fun and catchy all at the same time- just like the game :) The Lemming music was created by Tim Wright and Brian Johnson. Lemmings 2 (The Tribes) seemed like the money had filtered down to the music department. It is similar to Lemmings but more polished. number 2 was created by Brian Johnson, Raymond usher and David Whittaker. Lemmings 1 Music. Lemmings 2 Music
Best Amiga Game Music. Lotus Turbo Challange 3 This music has got alot of rave reviews, and so has the first lotus game (music by Shaun Southern and Andrew Morris), this one is a bit more "in your face" with MiamiIce and Breathless being the best of all the tracks. Patrick Phelan is the composer, and you may notice one track called SpaceNinja...this is because Patrick created the Zool music. You can check out some of the tune here:
Some games I want to include, but are just me liking the quirky nature of them. These games are Ruff and Tumble, James Pond, Humans, Risky Woods, Jumping Jackson and some of the Dizzy games. There is also a remix site out there for Amiga games and demos. It is quite good and some of the tracks range from really good to really poor. Luckily there is a rating system to help you choose. You can check it out here. If you want to create some Tracker music professionally, the Beginners Bible is the best way to make, market and sell your own songs. Click here for more information. |
