Classical Music in NES Games?

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Jedi QuestMaster
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Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

I'd like to compile a list of Classical/Romantic/Baroque music covered in NES games. I'm currently working on an NES/Famicom cover album and I'd like to steer clear of music already done (well). So far I have:

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy [Tetris - Music 1]
Pictures at an Exhibition [Mario Is Missing - Item Screen] (I found this out after already covering it!)
Swan Lake [Final Fantasy II - Temptation of the Princess] (& somebody already covered it)
Toccata and Fugue in D minor [Battle of Olympus] [Gyruss] (I'm still doing this anyway!)

That's all at the top of my head, but I know there's a lot more. I appreciate any help.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by rainwarrior »

There's been a bunch over the years in Famicompo contests. I probably missed a few more:
danooct1 - Gran Vals (Tarrega) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDX7s0_Susk
HertzDevil + Meckz - Pathetique (Beethoven) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-gdIjKd7Ic
kenshirotakahashi - Slavonic Dance (Dvorak) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQo8TuayFo0
S.W. - Spring (Vivaldi) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jre4THtHR_4
optomon - Ballade in G minor (Chopin)
madbrain - Un5th Symphony [Symphony 5] (Beethoven) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuN8ORfObR4
shock - Tarantelle (Chopin)
Yoshi Soft - Quartet in F (Mozart)
Yoshi Soft - Serenade 13 (Mozart)
Yoshi Soft - Divertimento in D (Mozart)
EXCALIpUR - Beethoven Virus [Pathetique] (Beethoven)

Brezza did French Suites 3 and 5 (Bach):
http://www.pokipoki.org/dsa/index.php?F ... 0de%20Bach

RushJet1 did Prelude and Fugue in C minor (Bach):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_5yW8uYaeE

I did a collection:
http://rainwarrior.ca/music/classic_chips.html
Sonata 5 (Scriabin)
Suite Bergamasque (Debussy)
Prelude and Fugue 16 (Bach)
Intermezzo Op. 76 No. 7 (Brahms)
Intermezzo Op. 119 No. 2 (Brahms)
String Quartet No. 1 (Schoenberg)

I've got one more major classical piece in the works, but it's a secret. ;)
Last edited by rainwarrior on Sat Oct 04, 2014 9:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by rainwarrior »

As for games, there's a ton but it would take me a while to rack my brain to remember it all.

Golf Grand Slam: Passepied (Debussy)
Golf Grand Slam: Footsteps in the Snow (Debussy)
Winter Games: Waltz of the Flowers (Tchaikovsky)
Oishinbo: Promenade (Mussorgsky)
Oishinbo: Ode to Joy (Beethoven)
Oishinbo: Military March (Schubert)
Oishinbo: Turkish March (Mozart)
Oishinbo: Humoresque 7 (Dvorak)
Oishinbo: Fur Elise (Beethoven)

Though, honestly, classical music as it appears in NES games tends to be rather incomplete versions of things, usually under tight constraints, or not done with particular care. I wouldn't worry about covering stuff that's already been done on NES as long as you do it well.
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koitsu
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by koitsu »

Might & Magic: Canon in D (Pachelbel)
tepples
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by tepples »

Thwaite: Beethoven's "Pathetique" sonata
Tetra Star: a whole bunch

I've been compiling my own list, as have editors of All The Tropes.
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Myask
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by Myask »

Academia.edu wrote: Title: Handel, Aria wfrom Aria with Variations movement of Suite in D minor (no HWV)
Woods level: Handel, Aria wfrom Aria with Variations movement of Suite in D minor (no HWV)
Seaside level: Mozart, "Rondo alla Turca" from Piano Sonata in A major. K. 331
Cave level: Rimsky-Korsakov, "Flight of the Bumblebee"
Computer level: Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Moon level: "Blue Danube" waltz, Op. 314
Broken-down spaceship level: Schubert, "Marche Militaire," Op. 55, no. 1
Castle level: W.F. Bach, "Allegro non troppo," Fk 203"
Table 1. The music in Captain Comic
(also notes several others: in Pirates!, THE Battle of Olympus, Tetris...)
But then, you said done WELL, and Captain Comic...probably doesn't qualify. ;)
Wikipedia wrote: Music C in the Game Boy version is an arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach's French Suite No. 3 In B Minor, BWV 814, IV. Menuett – Trio.
VGMPF wrote: The music played after a Game B victory is "Toréador Song" from the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet.
Though not a NES game, Dark Legions (1994, DOS) had Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor

[Syntax Fairy was here]
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OneCrudeDude
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by OneCrudeDude »

Captain Comic's music is okay for what it is, especially since it only uses two of the five channels. It's also heads and shoulders above any other Color Dreams game, but that's not necessarily saying much.
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by ccovell »

Tetrastar, as mentioned, has a bunch. Also, many of the Kunio/Nekketsu Koukou games have upbeat remixes of classical songs.
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OneCrudeDude
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by OneCrudeDude »

Road Runner on the NES has a few classical songs also.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGotefv5Uz8
ZentradiAlert
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by ZentradiAlert »

Matsumoto Tooru no Kabushiki Hisshou Gaku for Famicom has a few by Mussorgsky, Bach, Wagner etc.
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by Bregalad »

I can't belive nobody mentionned yet Parodius. The entiere soundtrack of this game is made of (funny remixes of) classical music.

As for Final Fantasy, it has been a tradition from FF2 to steal classical music for scenes of piano or dancing. After having an apoggee in FF5 this tradition was definitely abandonned in FF6 and on. Thus, I'm prett sure FF3 steals 2 or 3 classical songs for piano and dancing but I don't remember which ones.
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by Dwedit »

Devil World
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DragonDePlatino
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by DragonDePlatino »

Ohh! Ohh! I did a 2A03 rendition of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" a while ago and it would be perfect for this! Here's the .FTM file.

I really wish I could have added all 18 sections, but I was only able to pull off 4 with 2A03's limited instruments. One day, I might revisit this and extend it in VRC6.
tepples
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by tepples »

"Bolero" is modern orchestral music, not classical music. The Legend of Zelda was going to have "Bolero" at some point in the game until Maurice Ravel's publisher complained. Copyright in Ravel's works expired in most of the world at the end of 2007, but U.S. copyright in "Bolero" doesn't expire until 2024.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Classical Music in NES Games?

Post by rainwarrior »

In many contexts it is perfectly acceptable to use "Classical music" to refer to modern orchestral music.
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