DON’T DIE IN OBSCURITY! A VGM HIDDEN GEMS MIX
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... _6Af2SDDWH It took a lot of digging and researching to put this mix together, so I hope you enjoy it. I’m more proud of this than my other mixtapes. I first joined Racketboy because of the Hidden Gems articles, so this is my way of giving back to the community here by putting together a Hidden Gems of VGM mix.

Sometimes great music finds its way into games that don’t succeed or that are forgotten. Some of these games got cancelled before they were finished, some never made their way to the US, some didn’t catch on for whatever reason, and some are just plain terrible. What they all have in common though, is that they have great soundtracks made with 8-bits or less! Don’t let this music die in obscurity! It deserves a listen, even if you never play the games these songs came with.
I made this mix 27 songs long in homage to the 27 Club (great musicians who died unfortunately early in their careers at the age of 27), since these games died out before their music could become legendary.
Special thanks to Explod2A03 for introducing me to several of these tunes, and even when I didn’t learn about them from him, he was usually the one to have uploaded the track to YouTube. His podcast and blog,
Retro Game Audio, comes highly recommended.
If you want to get the complete OSTs for these games, most can be found at
Zophar's Domain or at
VGM Rips. You'll need a special player for the chiptune file types (which are smaller than MP3s). Each site provides recommended players.
TRACKLISTING1.) Pictionary (NES)- Title Screenby Tim FollinIt rocks a little too much for a Pictionary game, but it’s great on its own. I could have filled this list with Tim Follin tracks since his music is on a lot of otherwise bad games, but most people into VGM know him and love him, so I just did one track to represent.
2.) Gimmick! (Famicom)- Strange Memories of Death by Masashi Kageyama and Naohisa MorotaA fairly obscure (but great) game. The Famicom version has an extra sound chip that the US version doesn’t. This track also wasn’t used in the game.
3.) Project S-11 (Gameboy Color)- Geil Glacier Parkby Jonne Valtonen and Aleksi EebenI’ve read that this wasn’t a very good shmup, but it has a bangin’ soundtrack.
4.) Ottifanten Kommando Sortebaker (Gameboy Color)- Das Haus der Bommels by Stello DoussisThis German game didn’t see a wide global release. The music is unbelievable for what Stello Doussis is able to do on a Gameboy. It sounds like a lot more than 4 channels of audio. He uses a lot of stereo effects and echo techniques to get a big sound. The only downside is that he pushes the GameBoy so hard that it ends up a little bit muddy sounding with some clipping.
5.) Monty on the Run (Commodore 64)- Main Theme by Rob HubbardRob Hubbard is a legend amongst C64 composers. This may not be super obscure as I believe there were a few different Monty games, but it was new to me and I love the music.
6.) Hero Quest (NES)- Title Theme by Neil BaldwinThis game didn’t get released when it was first made, but can be found in ROM form now. Fantastic soundtrack!
7.) Choujin Sentai Jetman (Famicom)- Title Themeby Hiroyuki IwatsukiThe Sentai series in Japan eventually became Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but this game came out before that happened.
8.) M.C. Kids (NES)- Level Theme 2by Charles DeenenWho would expect so much funk from a McDonald’s game? I’m lovin’ it!
9.) NSYNC: Get to the Show (Gameboy Color) - Track 1 (Titlin' Up My Heart)by Will DavisNone of NSYNC’s music is used in this game, the gameplay is dreadful, and you don’t even get to play as NSYNC characters, just a roadie! This game hates NSYNC fans, but it loves chiptunes! The soundtrack is boss.
10.) Captain Tsubasa 2 (Famicom)- Taro Misaki’s Themeby Mayuko Okamura, Mikio Saito, and Keiji YamagishiTecmo made great sports games, but the US never knew the glory of the Captain Tsubasa soccer series!
11.) Fire n Ice (ZX Spectrum)- Title Musicby Newart, Surfin' Bird, Nik-O, Klim, Risk This was an unofficial Russian port of Fire n Ice, which is a sequel to Solomon’s Key. They made their own music.
12.) Tenchi wo Kurau II (Famicom)- Castleby Yasuaki FujitaThe first game in this series was released in the US as Destiny of the Emperor, but the second was never released. I could not find the original on YouTube, but this version is only subtly manipulated.
13.) Lagrange Point (Famicom)- Satellite Baseby Akio Dobashi and Noriyuki TakahashiThis game doesn’t sound like anything else on the NES or Famicom, and that is because it is the only game to use the VRC7 chip, a special sound chip inside the cartridge that could play 6 additional channels of FM synthesis on the Famicom, but not the NES. No other game uses FM on the Famicom, and Lagrange Point was never released in the US.
14.) Conquest of the Crystal Palace (NES)- Stage 1by Masaharu IwataThis little known game has a soundtrack that nicely blends eastern and western music traditions.
15.) Kujaku Ou 2 (Famicom)- BGM 6by ?Composer Unknown?This game is based a manga, which had two Famicom games never released in the US. Kujaku Ou is known as Spirit Warrior in the US.
16.) Yu Yu Hakusho (Famicom)- Character Selectby Switch E.This is another game based on a popular manga and anime that had a number of related video games. The Famicom game also failed to get a US port. In this track, I like the use of a plain beep tone on the upbeat to give the song an off-kilter feel.
17.) Zen: Intergalactic Ninja (NES)- Toxic Factoryby Kozo Nakamura, Junichiro Kaneda, Yuichi Sakakura, Ayako Nishigaki and Tomoya TomitaThis game is based on a comic book and was released in the US, though I don’t think the NES game is particularly well known. It’s a decent enough game too, so you might want to play this one as well as listen to the soundtrack.
18.) Metal Masters (Gameboy)- Metal Part 2by Alberto Jose GonzalezThis game was released by a smaller publisher (Electro Brain) and was not particularly successful. Nevertheless, there are some great tunes here with a little bit of an electro-industrial edge to them.
19.) Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Toki no Sugiyuku Mama (Famicom)- ??by ?Composer Unknown?This is a popular mystery adventure game series in Japan, but only the DS game was released in the US as Jake Hunter Detective Chronicles. The Famicom game has a nice soundtrack, and this song has a particularly driving beat that seems like it would fit well in a beat ‘em up game.
20.) Mitsume ga Tooru (Famicom)- Stage 5-2By Hiroyuki IwatsukiAnother video game based on a manga that didn’t make it to the states. It is also known as The Three Eyed One.
21.) Trip World (Gameboy)- World 3-1by "Phase Out", Masayuki Iwata, Tsutomu Ishida, Atsushi MihiroTrip World was released in Japan and the EU, but not in the US. It appears to be a scaled down version of Gimmick! mentioned above, and also has a great soundtrack.
22.) Das Geheimnis der Happy Hippo-Insel (Gameboy Color)- Titleby Stello DoussisThis is another German Gameboy Color game that Stello Doussis did the sound for. Again, he pushes the Gameboy to its sonic limits with the audio production.
23.) Wagyan Land 3 (Famicom)- Space Station Stage 3by ?Composer Unknown?This is a platformer game series produced by Namco wherein you control a green mechanical dinosaur. There were many sequels in Japan, but it never crossed the ocean. It has a plucky, funky, and fun soundtrack.
24.) Yume Penguin Monogatari (Famicom)- Stage 3by Atsushi Fujio and Katsuhiko SuzukiFans of Konami may recognize the penguin hero of this game, Penta, as he shows up across a few different Konami titles and is the father of Pentarou of the Parodius games. The soundtrack is full of fun and upbeat songs. This particular track sounds like it used some of the same drum samples found in Super Mario Bros 3.
25.) Wagyan Land 2 (Famicom)- Woods Themeby ?Composer Unknown?Another from Wagyan Land. Another happy and funky number. I like the odd pauses in the melody that give the song a funky bounce.
26.) Hello Kitty World (Famicom)- Stage 1by Hirokazu “Hip” TanakaThis game was later reskinned and released in the US on the Gameboy as Balloon Kid, but American never saw the Hello Kitty version. The soundtrack was done by Hip Tanaka, famed Nintendo composer of soundtracks for games like Metroid and Kid Icarus.
27.) Erik The Viking (NES)- Peace in the Harborby Neil BaldwinThis was supposed to be a Zelda-style game based on the book and film by Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame). Unfortunately, the game ROM has been lost, but fortunately Neil Baldwin was able to salvage the soundtrack he composed and release it. This song has a lovely quality to it, with relaxing 8-bit ocean waves and seagulls built into the soundtrack.