OCTOROCK: Instrumental Video Game Music
In Which We Honor Our Inspiration
This page serves the dual purpose of attributing our sources and explaining a little about the creative process. Octorock relies heavily on its members to find the content they like, arrange that to an eight (or so) person score, and see to it that the parts come together. The creative direction of the band is entirely under the control of its members, but we are dedicated to being a video game cover band, and sticking to it. For midis similar to our work, visit VGMusic.
→SNES
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was a golden age for video game music. The system featured a Sony SPC700 chip that allowed composers to program music in terms of loops and effects. The system far exceeded MIDI by allowing short PCM samples. And some of the best stuff is for this console -- look at Earthbound for an example of what could be done. It's easy to get to the source material for any SNES game by going to SNES Music (that is, if you own the original). We have arranged Donkey Kong Country, Culex from Super Mario RPG, and the Decisive Battle (FFVI) from SNES games.
→Playstation, and CD Games
Later games featured audio that were arranged and orchestrated to an uncompressed CD format. This is some of the richest material, and can be ripped from the games themselves or acquired separately. The best of this stuff would include Chrono Cross, FF7, and Snatcher.
The N64, on the other hand, used poor software audio. Don't mention the troubles with that.
→Koji Kondo
Koji Kondo is a pure video game legend, being the composer of hits from Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, and Smash.
He goes all the way back to the original Mario theme, but we prefer to play the N64 renditions. In particular, we play the opening sequence to Mario 64, which is always a crowd pleased. In addition, Eric has arranged a Zelda medley mostly inspired by TOOT. The medley features an Ocarina intro, the Gerudo Valley theme, and Hyrule Field.
Koji is known to appear as pianist, which is always a treat.
→Nobuo Uematsu
Uematsu is the composed of the Final Fantasy series, and also leader of The Black Mages. We drew from the Mages' metal energy for our first hit, the Decisive Battle (FFVI), from their first album.
Since then, we've arranged JENOVA and Cosmo Canyon in an arrangement inspired by OCRemix's Voices of the Lifestream. Also, a recent hit of the band is Fight Against Culex, made by Uematsu's follower Yoko Shimomura (most famous for Kingdom Hearts). Our version of Culex combines the catchy Super Mario RPG melody with Uematsu's Final Fantasy IV battle theme.
→Yasonori Mitsuda
If we are ever playing Japanese Celtic, then it probably comes from Yasonori Mitsuda. Mitsuda rose from obscurity by composing the classic Chrono Trigger (rehashed for DS, get it). He then came back for more with Xenogears and Chrono Cross, which has some of the best orchestral music ever. The official soundtrack is a masterpiece in itself.
The Dream that Time Dreams is one of our most inspired pieces, featuring strings, bells, and taiko. It even has an interlude from Chrono Trigger.
→Pixel
Sometimes you have to stand up for the little guy. Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya single-handedly created an awesome 8-bit action-adventure and released it to the public as freeware. "Cave Story" stands the test of time and has been enjoyed by many an Octorock member.
Our arrangement, Grassong, is made by former Octorock sax Mike Feldman. It is an upbeat combination of Grasstown and Moonsong, two tracks from the game. We recommend that you get the game, and because its free, you can even legally hit up the game music.
→David Wise
I think that the whole band was a little too wired into Donkey Kong Country. Or maybe we just really like the ambient flavor and the variety of styles that DKC had. David Wise and his cohorts Robin Beanland and Eveline Fischer set off one of the first popular video game music albums with DK Jams -- required listening. We are also fans of the OCRemix version Kong in Concert.
Our version of DKC, arranged by Tristan, is a jazz takeoff on the original. It includes the theme to the first level, the map theme, and a crazy walking jazzy bluesy section. It's one of our favorites, since we get to go bananas!
→Konami KuKeiHa Club
Our Snatcher arrangement of "One Night in Neo Kobe City" comes straight from Konami's KuKeiHa Club. Seriously, you should watch the full intro to Snatcher to get a feel for this early CD title.
More specifically, the music of Snatcher can be traced back to Motoaki Furukawa and Masahiro Ikarito. The KuKeiHa Club has been around for awhile, as far back as the MSX chiptune days of legend (yet another golden age of sound programming). The Club is most notable for having composed all of the Castlevania stuff, which is not part of the Octorock repertoire but still worth a listen.