non NES musical inspiration?

[GradualGames]

I know for me, my first real love of music was Mega Man soundtracks, both on NES and SNES. Eventually I found my way to metal, like this and this.

I remember for years as a kid wanting to find an entire genre of music that sounded like mega man. Metal is just about the closest you can get, I think.

Now that I'm back into old school NES games, I find myself listening to NSFs as often as I listen to metal and classical (like this).

[tokumaru]

The first music I really paid attention to was the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack. Only much later I realized that most of the video game music I loved was made in Japan. Because of them I fell in love with the japanese way of making melodies forever. Nowadays I like J-Rock bands that have more metal to them. I really like X Japan, Moi dix Mois, Versailles and Area51.

There are also some animes that have amazing soundtracks. Almost everything from Saint Seiya is awesome (it has 7 albums of BGMs I think) and has inspired me a lot. The soundtrack of Street Fighter II V is pretty amazing too.

I do like classical music a lot too.

EDIT: I don't know how I forgot to mention this. This has got to be one of the greatest melodies I've ever heard.

[GradualGames]

Whoa, thanks for those links! There's some really awesome stuff there. I love that organ melody from Fatal Fury, wow.

[Bregalad]

I guess I was interested in music before I was interested in games. Altough now i listen mostly ost music (which most people find nerdy/werid).

I remember for years as a kid wanting to find an entire genre of music that sounded like mega man. Metal is just about the closest you can get, I think.

Huh I 100% disagree. Metal sounds to me like a big fuzz that inspires hate and I don't understand why so many people like listening to it when it makes my hear bleed. Doesn't sound any close to Mega Man music to me.

[Shiru]

Mega Man is originally Rockman. Rock is the genre of the music, metal is one of it's sub-genres. It could be very different, from 'big fuzz' to very melodic and beautyful music.

1980s were the golden years of the metal, thus a LOT of videogames music of the time is heavily inspired by metal (especially on NES and SMD). The sound is different (no distortion etc), but the music structute is the same. You can also find musical quotes of popular rock/metal bands in NES/SMD music.

[mic_]

Metal sounds to me like a big fuzz that inspires hate and I don't understand why so many people like listening to it when it makes my hear bleed.

That's certainly a strange point of view that you can't understand how other people can like something that you don't like. I also don't get what you're basing your assertion on that (all) metal inspires hate. What a certain piece of music will inspire in a listener - if anything - depends totally on that person.

Sometimes I feel like listening to calm music, and sometimes I feel like listening to something with a lot of energy. There's no genre of music that is superior to others, because it's such a subjective issue. One can discuss the technical aspects of pieces of music, but I find that largely irrelevant to whether the music is enjoyable or not.

[never-obsolete]

I first noticed the music in the Castlevania games. Mega Man is up there though, since I also tend to like faster tempos. The intro track "Dialectic Chaos" has that Mega Man feel to me.

I also don't get what you're basing your assertion on that (all) metal inspires hate.

I think he may be referring to a certain sub-genre of metal that advocates the burning of churches. I wouldn't base my opinion of metalheads on a small group of idiots, though.

[tokumaru]

What a certain piece of music will inspire in a listener - if anything - depends totally on that person.

I agree 100%. That's my criteria for liking music: if it doesn't make me feel anything, I don't like it. Having started with videogame and classic music, to me a rich melody is the most important thing. Fast pace comes second.

Sometimes I feel like listening to calm music, and sometimes I feel like listening to something with a lot of energy.

I think that in videogames music with a lot of energy really helps to set up the mood, so I think that rock/metal is the best kind of music for action games.

I guess I do like metal in general, ("Dialectic Chaos" was pretty cool) but I like mostly the melodic parts, and don't like when they make noise just for the heck of it. I guess this is why I like the japanese take on metal, it seems like it has less noise.

I just remembered of another example of what I think is great music.

[mic_]

I think he may be referring to a certain sub-genre of metal that advocates the burning of churches. I wouldn't base my opinion of metalheads on a small group of idiots, though.

Well, there are also NSBM bands, who probably have strong prejudices against groups of people for even less credible reasons. But being a hateful person and inspiring hate in others are two different things. Maybe there's a language barrier here - I don't know.

Anyway, I agree that there are some metalish songs in Megaman (2). Like the Heatman and Flashman themes. The drums are a bit weak though.
Games like Shadow of the Ninja and Shatterhand are two good examples of games with music that at least sounds like it was inspired by metal.

[tepples]

You forgot Klax, whose soundtrack was supposed to sound like thrash metal (one track aside).

[Bregalad]

I think he may be referring to a certain sub-genre of metal that advocates the burning of churches. I wouldn't base my opinion of metalheads on a small group of idiots, though.

No I wasn't refering to anything. I don't care about lyrics or anything, it's just that I don't like hear music where there is so much distortion guitar it's hardly music anymore and when the guy who is supposed to sing is actually howling instead. This doesn't sound any close to music in any NES game to me - or are you refering to that a distorted electric guitar can sometimes sound like a square wave ?

Battletoads sounds like Rock/Hardrock, which I think is not metal, and I like that.

[Memblers]

Here's some stuff in no particular order

Frank Zappa
The Sword
In Flames
Helstar
Gwar
Gojira (warning: heavy as shit)
Anthrax
Prong
Sepultura (this is a cover tho)
And of course, if you can't tell from my avatar pic, Iron Maiden

[bucky o'hare]

I guess I was interested in music before I was interested in games. Altough now i listen mostly ost music (which most people find nerdy/werid).

I remember for years as a kid wanting to find an entire genre of music that sounded like mega man. Metal is just about the closest you can get, I think.

Huh I 100% disagree. Metal sounds to me like a big fuzz that inspires hate and I don't understand why so many people like listening to it when it makes my hear bleed. Doesn't sound any close to Mega Man music to me.

Mega Man covers an odd spectrum of music if you try comparing it to existing genres with live instrumentation. I definitely wouldn't call it "metal" overall... I don't think you can call it being closest to any one thing really. However, the defining galloping sound of Mega Man 2, to be more specific (title screen, woodman, wily stage 1, etc), is very metal in a similar vein to Iron Maiden.

Not all metal is that distorted- some is very clearly melodic and 'anthemic', which is comparable to some video game music for sure. Perhaps you haven't heard the right stuff, I'm not sure.

In the case of Iron Maiden, you sometimes have really strong galloping rhythms. Additionally, there are lots of pitches from the vocals that go into vibrato when sustained (very capcomy). I would recommend checking out this track from :58 and on for a bit and see if it doesn't invoke some Mega Man 2-esque vibes for you. Not trying to prove you wrong or anything, just curious to see what you think! 8)

Also, Castlevania II's Dwelling of Doom is often compared to Yngwie Malmsteen's Far Beyond the Sun. (listen to 0:35 in)

Anyways, I'm far from the biggest metal head out there but figured I'd drop my 2 cents.

[koitsu]

Non-NES musical inspiration.

[miau]

Genres don't mean much to me as long as something about a composition manages to pique my interest. These days I'm mostly a sucker for jazzy/synth/progressive/experimental stuff.

Some random picks
Hayato Matsuo - Chromatic Beast / A Planet's Death
Spastic Ink - Words for Nerds
Cowboy Bebop - Rush (best. anime. ever.)
Claude Debussy - Les collines d'Anacapri
Video game music
Ristar - Dancing Leaves
Contra 4 - Ocean
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles - Moon Fight
Kirby's Dreamland 3 - Hyper Zone 1
Glove on Fight - Blue Blue Bandana

Also,

Frank Zappa

Hell yeah!

The first music I really paid attention to was the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack. Only much later I realized that most of the video game music I loved was made in Japan. Because of them I fell in love with the japanese way of making melodies forever. Nowadays I like J-Rock bands that have more metal to them.

I used to be into J-Rock as well. X Japan and Malice Mizer/Moi dix Mois were definitely among my favorites. Good times.