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Recycled Music

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:51 am
by strat
I just tried playing Sword of Hope on Gameboy and got a big surprise at the first battle. The bgm was ripped from level 60 of Snoopy's Magic Show. Any more examples of music recycled across unrelated games? There's also the sound fx from Bart vs. the Space Mutants used in Home Alone 2 and Swamp Thing. *ick*

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:06 am
by Dwedit
My favorite was "Erika to Satoru no Yumebouken" (Track #24). It's straight out of Karate Kid. So here's a game using mostly expansion sound, then suddenly you press Next Track, and hear Karate Kid!

Re: Recycled Music

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:12 am
by tepples
strat wrote:I just tried playing Sword of Hope on Gameboy and got a big surprise at the first battle. The bgm was ripped from level 60 of Snoopy's Magic Show. Any more examples of music recycled across unrelated games?
  • Pro Wrestling wasn't the only game to use Pro Wrestling's title screen music.
  • Joust wasn't the only game to use Joust's title screen music.
  • Guitar Hero and Rock Band use the same music occasionally, and GH3 even used "Paranoid" that was earlier heard in Rock n Roll Racing.
  • The NES version of Jurassic Park used the theme from Comic Bakery, whose bass line has more than a passing resemblance to "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)".
  • E1M1 from Doom sounds awfully similar to "Caverns of Cthulu" from Klax for NES.
  • K.K. Song. Oh gosh, K.K. Song.
  • Konami has recycled some of its old games' songs into Beatmania and Dance Dance Revolution songs. Compare Burning Heat from Gradius 2 to Burning Heat from DDRMAX 2: DDR 7th Mix.
Some examples involve appropriation of pieces that are either public domain or believed to be public domain:
  • Home Alone (for Super NES) used two pieces by Tchaikovsky that have appeared in Tetris: "Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy" (music 1 from Tetris for NES) and "Russian Dance Trepak" (the B-type level 9 completion music from Tetris for Game Boy).
  • Tetяis by Atari Games used "Troika" and "Karinka" from Tetris (J), and here's the kicker: the NES port of Atari Games's version even kept the Engrish misspelling of the latter.
  • Dance Dance Revolution Extreme used "Sakura", the entry theme of a Punch-Out!! opponent, as one of the "Legend Road" songs.
  • Tetris for NES used another Punch-Out!! opponent's entry theme as the B-type completion music.

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:18 am
by Zepper
- The SMB3 world 1 music seems to use something from the song Jingle Bells, by The Jordanaires & Orion (at time 0:40).

- The MM9 credits/staff music seems to be based on Punch-Out's ending theme (SNES).

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:02 am
by Bregalad
Many composers recycle themselves non-purposely. For example it's fun how "Kuja's theme" in FF9 is partially recicled off "Intention of the Earth" from FF5, and how "Riding Shoopuf" of FF10 is partially reciled of "Main Theme" of FF4.
It's not like the intentionally remixed songs however, such as "Fanfare" or "Gurugu's Volcano".

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:11 pm
by Drag
Track 29 of the Mario Tennis GBS (the song that plays when you're inside a training building) is the same as Track 6 of the Star Ocean Blue Sphere GBS.

Both games have the same composer though, obviously. :P

Adventure Island 2 and 3 (NES) seem to share a lot of music as well, but that's really no surprise. :P

Edit: And then there's Totaka's song that shows up in numerous games, but that's another story for another time.

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:38 pm
by tepples
  • Hello Kitty World bonus levels and Nintendo World Championships intermissions.
  • "Fever" from Dr. Mario and "Bad" from the album Bad by Michael Jackson.
  • Half of the original soundtrack from Sonic the Hedghehog 3 and a bunch of Michael Jackson songs.
  • Another part of "Fever" from Dr. Mario and an old Play-Doh commercial.
  • "Chill" from Dr. Mario and the theme from TV's 3-2-1 Contact.
  • "Resetti's theme" from Animal Crossing: Wild World and "Take Me Out" from Guitar Hero. proof

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:05 pm
by mic_
Track 9 in Ninja Gaiden Shadow on the GB is more or less the same as the boss fight song from Blue Shadow on the NES (Shadow of The Ninja for you americans).

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:31 pm
by lidnariq
Several songs were borrowed wholesale from FF4j into SMRPG (Since Square did work on it, it's not plagiarism but I was disappointed.)

Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 3:06 pm
by strat
I'm pretty sure there's no Final Fantasy music in SMRPG except the Culex battle.

Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:14 am
by Drag
I almost forgot a really cool one. :D

Listen to the VS theme from Wario's Woods (NES), and then listen to Rainbow Road from Mario Kart (SNES). :D

Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:45 am
by tepples
  • "Ode to Joy" appears in Dian Shi Mali (the "PUSH START TO RICH" game) as the win jingle. It also appears in Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix as "End of the Century".
  • "Korobeiniki" appears in Tetris 1.1 (for Game Boy) as "A-TYPE" and in subsequent Tetris games to the point where The Tetris Company managed to register the song as a sound trademark. But it also shows up in Dance Maniax 2nd Mix as "Happy-hopper".
Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:04 am
by UncleSporky
It seems likely that the thread starter meant music literally reused across games such as his example or Jurassic Park/Comic Bakery, but it is also interesting to just point out similarities between themes.

One I always thought was neat is the melody from the ending of Super Mario Bros. 2 making an appearance in Breath of Fire 2, only much slower. Unlike many reappearing melodies which are only vague similarities, this one is almost note for note. Compare:

Mario 2

Breath of Fire 2

Of course it's kind of an obvious chord progression, which I can imagine being recreated by accident. It sounds like it's based on Canon in D's sort of progression.

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:46 am
by Bregalad
By the way am I the only once who find a strong similarity between those 2 (not that I like them) ?

Breah of Fire 2
Super Mario Bross

Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 11:34 am
by tepples
UncleSporky wrote:Of course it's kind of an obvious chord progression, which I can imagine being recreated by accident.
You mean like how "Vertigo" by U2 accidentally recreated "You Keep Me Hanging On" by the Supremes?
It sounds like it's based on Canon in D's sort of progression.
Don't get me started, ha. Don't get me started in here.