Favorite Tunes #159: Rise of the Super Heroes

Tonight, season three of one of my favorite shows begins, The Flash! I've eagerly been anticipating it since the finale of season two and look forward to seeing how the show's version of Flashpoint will turn out. In honor of the occasion, this Favorite Tunes is super hero themed.

Theme of Captain America - Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (ARC, DC, PS)

Red, white and blue will turn you black and blue. Who doesn't love playing as Cap, throwing that shield around like a giant boomerang? Before Super Smash Bros. released, Marvel vs. Capcom was the biggest video game crossover. Mega Man and Spider-Man on the same team against Ryu and Wolverine? How awesome is that?

Fight! Alkaiser - SaGa Frontier (PS)

The SaGa games have never received the acclaim that the Final Fantasy titles did. Those Final Fantasy Legend games on the Game Boy? Actually SaGa titles under a different name. Regardless, the SaGa titles do have their good points, like splendid music. Kenji Ito is responsible for much of the series music and he did the first PS title a world of justice. Red, one of the seven playable characters has a super cool alter ego known as Alkaiser that he can change into during battle as long as his party members aren't watching.

Blade Master (Electric Sword Demon Alastor's Theme) - Viewtiful Joe (GCN, PS2)

Viewtiful Joe was a wonderful and punishing treat for old-school gamers. This cel shaded game was a throw back to beat 'em up fans that threw in some new elements to the genre like speeding up and slowing down time to have different affects on Joe's combat abilities as well as the certain parts of the levels themselves. The game was also a little harder than it needed to be by not giving you the option of saving after every level.

Boss - Sonic Blast Man (SNES)

Even by super hero standards, Sonic Blast Man is a weirdly dressed dude. I mean, boxing gloves? I guess that makes sense with punching being his thing. He also has no idea how to do the whole hero thing. Rather than remove people from oncoming danger like trains and trucks, he destroys said vehicles, killing the people in them in the process. And he still gets thanks every time for his actions.

Savage Land (Theme of Wolverine) - X-Men: Children of the Atom (ARC, SAT, PS)

Are the X-Men still getting good licensed deals on games? I haven't been keeping up with the mutants much these days. You really couldn't go wrong with an X-Men fighter back in the day. Well, unless you were playing the PS version. I know Wolverine is overexposed these days and I was hesitant to put his theme up here at first, but after hearing it again for the first time in a long time, I had to give Snikt Bub his due.

The Won-Stoppable Wonderful 101 - The Wonderful 101 (Wii U)

Some people seem to be under the belief that The Wonderful 101 is a third party game because Platinum developed it. This is a Nintendo IP. Yes, Platinum did make it, but the game, characters and whatnot are all owned by Nintendo. Sadly, the game was not advertised well and because of Nintendo fans not knowing it was a first party title, it was a retail bomb.

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Favorite Tunes #145: Pokemon Walk into a Club

Four more entries and we'll hit Favorite Tunes #150. I'm still in the process of making my music selections for that one, but I've already got some choices in mind. This week's edition has music from one of gaming's most adorable robots, a jackrabbit, ninja turtles and some heroes from DC's rival. Enjoy!

Boss Theme 1 - Mega Bomberman (GEN)

While we may never get the chance to blow up our friends in a new Bomberman title, at least can reflect on the good times. Mega Bomberman was release in 1994 on the Genesis and is a port of the TG-16 game, Bomberman '94. Jun Chikuma worked wonders composing music for this series over the years and this boss theme translated quite well on the Genesis sound font.

Colonius - Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (PC)

One of the first games I was exposed to when my family got our first PC was Jazz Jackrabbit 2 via demo. It felt a lot like someone gave Sonic the Hedgehog a gun, but the levels were so much fun to run through and the music immediately stood out to me. Why Epic Games hasn't brought this rabbit back is a mystery to me.

Boss Battle - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ARC)

The Turtles latest game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan releases on May 24, so this seems as good a time as any to show some Turtle love. One of Konami's most popular arcade beat 'em ups, TMNT was based of the 1987 cartoon, even using some of the voices from said TV series. The music took cues from the famous opening theme sound and the original music was fantastic.

Wrestler Boss - The Simpsons (ARC)

What do The Simpsons have in common with Konami, both were once pretty good. In all seriousness, The 1991 Simspons arcade game is often regarded as the family's best video game outing. Using the engine of the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, players embark on a beat 'em up journey to rescue Maggie. The voices actors from the show lent their talent to this game and as usual, Konami's sound division was on point.

Neos City - Pokken Tournament (Wii U)

Pokemon battles in real time? Now that's different. The idea of Pokemon in a fighting game was enough to catchy my interest but when I found out that the developer behind Pokken Tournament was Bandai Namco, I knew I had to give this game a serious look. Being developed by the same makers of the Tekken series not only ensures that the fighting is fast and fun, but we also get some sick beats to go with it. It's like Pikachu and company just stepped into a club.

Gambit - Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcade's Revenge (SNES)

Released during the era where the wall-crawler and everyone's favorite mutants were still getting crappy licensed video games, this one was no different from the rest. It suffered from jarring level design and lots of cheap hits from enemies. Tim and Geoff Folin's music was the only thing the game got right with long, funky, rock inspired themes.

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Favorite Tunes #121: Cute Witches and Adorable Frogs

I've decided to forgo a particular theme with this installment. This time there's music from PC Engine platform, my favorite console ever, the SNES and I even threw in some arcade beats for good measure.

Ripples Theme (Raku Raku Mode Ending )- Magical Chase (TG16)

Famed Final Fantasy Tactics composers Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masahru Iwata are more known for their more serious, atmospheric game soundtracks. So its nice to see that they wrote some more light hearted music and for the Turbo Grafx 16, no less! Magical Chase is one of those lesser known PC Engine titles while it did receive  western release, its one of the rarer games so don't expect to find it for chump change.

The Prince's Adventure - For the Frog the Bell Tolls (GB)

You may be looking at the cover of this game and might be thinking that the character on the front looks awfully familiar. If you've played Smash 4, no doubt you've cracked open an Assist trophy and seen this little guy turn into a frog or snake and then proceed to beat the crap out of your opponent in comical, cartoon style. Or you've had your opponent do it to you. This happens to be Prince Sable, the main character of Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, which translates to For the Frog the Bell Tolls, a 1992 Japan only Game Boy game. This upbeat theme was composed by Kazmui Totaka and it gets a short arrangement in 1993's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

Uncontrollable - Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

The game may not be available to western audiences just yet, but the soundtrack was released some time ago so we've been able to give it a listen. The tone of the music is noticeably different from the first Xenoblade Chronicles. Yoko Shimomura, ACE+, Yasunori Mitsuda and Manami Kiyota are nowhere to be found writing music for this game. Instead Hiroyuki Sawano has taken on the task of writing the music of Xenoblade Chronicles X. More known for his work in the anime field, fans are a bit divided on the music in Chronicles X. Me, I actually the music for the most part. This is one of my favorites among the vocal numbers.

Hyper Space - Phalanx (SNES)

Phalanx is not the greatest SNES shooter. The power-up system is decent at best and the levels can drag on for quite a while. Having said that, you can certainly do a lot worse and I've always liked the game's soundtrack. If only the above cover was used for the American release.

Wolverine Stage - X-Men: Children of the Atom (ARC)

Because Snkit Bub needs more attention.  In all seriousness, Capcom had so many arcade classics in the 1990s. Their fighters and beat 'em ups were some of the best and the soundtracks to those games were legendary.  Between the numerous Capcom games he's stared in, it's almost hard to pick my favorite Wolverine theme but this is a serious contender for the top spot.

Perplexing Pool - Pikmin 2 (GCN, Wii)

Until a few years ago, Nintendo didn't release new IPs very often. Among those rare new franchises in the early 2000s was Pikmin an interesting take on the RTS genre. The sequel, Pikmin 2 became one of the more costly GCN titles until it was re-released in 2009 on the Wii. Pikmin 2's soundtrack is much larger than the first game with lots of variations on most musical themes.

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Favorite Tunes #69: Ninjas Rule

Who doesn't like ninjas? Crazy people. Crazy people that no one will ever love. From Guy to Ryu to Kage, this Favorite Tunes is all about the ninjas.

Theme of Kage - Virtua Fighter (ARC, SAT)

The world's first 3D fighter, Virtua Fighter offered a simple but very complex three button control scheme. Kage Maru isn't my favorite Virtua Fighter character (that would be Pai) but he's still an awesome fighter and he get bonus points for look deadly in blue. 

Japanesque - Shinobi II: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN)

Shinobi III, also known as The Super Shinobi II is hailed as the pinnacle among the Genesis trio of Shinobi games. Despite having a musical score that was not composed by the legendary Yuzo Koshiro, Shinobi III still has some of the best music ever produced on the Genesis. Much of the soundtrack is worth rocking out to on your iPod, but if you only pick a selection of tracks, make sure you put Japanesque in there.

Shadow Man Stage - Mega Man 3 (NES)

The first (and only) Robot Master to slide, Shadow Man gets taken out by what is largely considered the worst weapon in the history of Mega Man, the Top Spin. His Shadow Blade weapon is a much more balanced version of the Metal Blade from Metal Man. I've always loved the jazz feel of Shadow Man's level theme.

Moon Night -PSYLOCKE- - X-Men: Children of the Atom (ARC, SAT)

A lot of ninjas on this list don't wear black. You may think that's a setback for one that has a job occupation that requires them to be so stealthy, but when you're so good at your job, I say you should be able to wear whatever colors you want. Besides, Psylocke looks great in purple. You know what else is great? Her theme from Children of the Atom.

Daddy Mulk - The Ninja Warriors (SCD)

An arcade beat 'em up developed by Taito, the game was later ported to tons of different consoles including the Commodore 64 and Sega CD. The game started two protagonists that were not only ninjas, but ninja robots. That's two of my favorite things combined! Daddy Mulk is the most famous song in Ninja Warriors. I quite like the arranged version on the Sega CD.

Scene 2 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)

Along with the Disney titles, the Turtle games were some of the better licensed products in the late 80s and throughout the 1990s. Konami released some of the best beat 'em ups in the genre with the 1989 TMNT and the 1991 Turtles in Time, which was later ported to the SNES in 1992. With the SNES being all the rage, you may have missed out on the Manhattan Project. Unlike the ports of TMNT and Turtles in Time, Manhattan Project was built from the ground up on the NES and some fans consider it better than TMNTII.

Act 1 - Ninja Gaiden (NES)

Praised for it's use of cutscenes to move the story along, Ninja Gaiden was one of the earliest games where most gamers got to step into the shoes of a ninja. It was quite exhilarating. Slicing foes up with a katana, throwing ninja stars and sticking to walls. Ryu Hayabusa seemed like the most hardcore guy ever. And he'd have to be to go through everything this game threw at him. As splendid as it was, Ninja Gaiden was also one of the most unforgiving games on the NES.  

Jago - Killer Instinct (ARC)

C-C-C-C-COMBOOOOO BREAKEEEEEEEEER!!! Man, that's fun to say. In all honesty, I am glad to see Killer Instinct making a long overdue comeback. I'm not too thrilled about that free to play business or a questionable developer being behind it, but KI's comeback was still one of E3's 2013 highlights. I'm hoping his theme music is just as good as it was in the first and second KI games.

Stages 3-2 & 5-1 - Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi (GEN)

There's actually an arcade game called Shadow Dancer but the title is really all it has in common with the Genesis game. Shadow Dancer may not be on the same level of greatness as Revenge of Shinobi or Shinobi III, but it's still a solid Shinobi title with another fantastic Genesis soundtrack.

No More Swingin' (Theme of Guy) - Street Fighter Alpha 3 (ARC, PS, SAT, DC)

My favorite entry in the Alpha series, the home versions of Alpha 3 brought a slew of new content that the arcade version didn't have. In addition to new playable characters like Guile, there was a World Tour mode where you can increase the strengths of your fighter while traveling the globe. Guy is one of my favorite characters to use and his stage music always puts me in the mood to beat someone down.

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