Bitmob Community Jukebox #11: Gratitude Edition

Thanks a lot to everyone for making the 10th Jukebox such a success! The double-plus-good winner last time,Mark Steward selected a remix of the Bionic Commando theme, so in the spirit of the last Jukebox - and continuity - I've selected Capcom's own remix of the song from Bionic Commando: Rearmed to lead things off.

Again, thanks so much folks!

Also, to any newcomers, make sure you check the submission guidelines listed after the jump.

For all you newcomers, here's how it is. Even though I've done a Meet the Mob, there is something important you should know about me.For some reason, over the years, my mind has acted as a sort of a Roledex for great videogame ditties.  (For all you youngsters out there, a Rolodex is an archaic device that people used to keep important contact information on. I guess it's sort of like an abacus at this point.)

Because of this, every Monday I will be posting fifteen well-known and not-so-well-known video game songs.

There's a catch however; I will not be providing all of the songs; I'll provide only the remainder of the total fifteen. To clarify, most will be suggested - hopefully songs I've never heard - and hopefully only a few will be chosen by me.

Ultimately, I would like enough suggestions to have it so that five, or even one song is donated by myself, thus truly making it the Community Jukebox.

It's important to note that all submissions will be credited to the community members who provided them.

The only guidelines are that any song chosen must be from a non-music game, or from a music game with original content. Licensed songs are also OK, but they must be from something other than a music game.

This means that Fallout and Grand Theft Auto songs are fair game, whereas Guitar Hero and Rock Band songs aren't. If licensed songs become too prolific, however, I may stop taking them as submissions.

Also, to note, I will try my hardest  to find the original names of every song, yours or mine, but if I can't, I will give it a name, and mark it with an asterisk. In addition, all songs are set to open in a new tab, so feel free to click away and have them play in the background as you surf Bitmob or get some work done.

Songs appear in no particular order whatsoever, save that community submissions will be segmented from my choices and shown last.

Each week, I will also be choosing my favorite submission, The Double-Plus Good Pick of the Week. The winner will receive exactly nothing, except being last song with this beside their entry: ++good.

As a small guideline, if you'd like to win the The Double-Plus Good Pick of the Week, try to pick something obscure or, at the very least, recent. We all know titles like Mega Man and Final Fantasy had great music  in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, and I will be featuring songs like these every week (that's my bread and butter).

But, in the interest of keeping the Jukebox new and surprising,  if you can come up with a great song that I've forgotten, or, better yet, never heard, you'll have a leg up on the competition. Just keep in mind what I said at the top, and if you've read my Meet the Mob, the size of my game case.

Either way, feel free to submit whatever you like. Please. I can't reinforce enough that all submissions are welcome.

As an added bonus, I will also try to add an immediate comment about the awesomeness of the winner commenter's song and why everyone else should pay special attention to it. This will be an in-joke for those who keep up.

Most importantly, since I hope to keep doing this for awhile, only one submission response per person per post. That way I'll have less to parse, and you folks will be able to submit for an extended period of time. If you sumbit multiple requests, I will not listen to any of them.

Again, only one submission response per person per post.

Anyway, onto the show.

There are two ways to listen:

Method 1: Pick and Choose

1. Bionic Commando Rearmed - Main Theme Remix

2. Mega Man X - Storm Eagle Theme

3. Okami - The Journey Continues

4.  Suikoden - Beautiful Golden City

5. Shadowgate 64 - Lakmir, The Timless

6. Toy Commander - Mona Lisa Smile

7. Secret of Mana - Prophecy


Community Jukebox

8. Xenogears – Flight suggested by Brian Shirk

9. Otogi: Myth of Demons – Main Theme suggested by Lance Darnell

10. Fifa 2008 – Pogo by Digitalism suggested by Aaron Rivers

11. Gunstar Heroes – Boss Theme 1* suggested by Alex R. Cronk-Young

12. Duck Tales – The Moon* suggested by Travis McReynolds

13. The Addams Family – The Portrait Gallery* suggested by Jasmine Maleficent Rea

14. Batman – Streets of Desolation* suggested by Brian Petro-Roy

15. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Wood Carving Partita suggested by Jason Wilson++good


Method 2: Let It Ride (click here to listen in a separate window)

~James D., read at The Sophist, heard at, Sophist Radio

P.S. Bring on the accusations of favoritism!

Comments (15)

I love Jason's selection for one reason. Harpsichord.

For those of you who don't know precisely what a harpsichord is, it is a string instrument that was the precursor to the piano. It came to prominent use in the Baroque period. Unlike the piano, with which keys can be pressed with different degrees of intensity to vary the volume using internal hammers that act as analogues for the key strikes, the strings inside the unit were plucked by jacks which pumped upwards and plucked the strings.

This lack of volume preference makes harpsichord centered pieces have a much more driving sound that was more en vogue during the Baroque period. A classic example is Pachabel's Canon in D Major.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go-WEqWvOd4

And one of my favorite classical jams, Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49IOKnhX0Sk

Yamane's masterful soundtrack to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night makes great use of this instrument, particularly in Jason's selection. The song from CSotN's library is definitive with regard to the harpsichord's characteristic sound.

It's also demonstrative of how games can benefit from high production audio, electronic or traditional (CSotN's soundtrack features sterling examples of both).

Thanks a lot Jason for reminding me of this tune, and you win, despite how much flak I might get!

James DeRosa , October 18, 2009
The Art of Fugue, Bach's "incomplete masterpiece," was said to be scored for a harpsichord or an organ. I've never heard it on harpsichord, though, just the organ.
Jason Wilson , October 18, 2009
I always liked the moon level on Duck Tales, I'm sure it was partly due to the music. I like the Shadowgate song too, but I haven't played it before. And it's nice to see something from Castlevania: SOTN and Okami on this week's list.

Okay, so here's my pick for this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYY_zHfi7cg
Brian Shirk , October 18, 2009
Oh, and my pick for this week: Bob-omb Battlefield from Marion 64!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=bob+omb+battlefield+music&www;_google_domain=www.google.com&hl;=en&client;=firefox-a&emb;=0&aq;=1sx&oq;=BobOmb+#
Jason Wilson , October 19, 2009
@Jason- I don't think I'll ever forgot the Bob-omb Battlefield theme, since I played that level so much at demo stations and was always demonstrating it to friends.
Brian Shirk , October 19, 2009
Hmm delicious harpsichords. I used to DJ a Baroque-only radio program called Baroquen Records. That and a glam show called Ballroom on Mars. I was so awesome.

My pick this week: Troupe Gramarye from Apollo Justice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP3FMYYb12Q
Jasmine Maleficent Rea , October 19, 2009
Hey James, what do the asterisks on songs 11-14 mean?
Brian Petro-Roy , October 19, 2009
@James @Brian - I'm pretty sure Flight from Xenogears was picked in a previous Jukebox. It's still an amazing song though.
Alex R. Cronk-Young , October 19, 2009
In retaliation to little Miss Maleficent's poor choice in Addam's family themed music I give you:

uncle Fester's Quest: Overworld Theme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW8byCf_Crw

PS: The asterisk means that either the song doesn't have a proper title or one could not be found. This one will get one as well.
Aaron Rivers , October 19, 2009
That Duck Tales one... man it has been a long time since I've heard that. Good stuff. Reminds me of babysitting the kids down the street.
Aaron Thomas , October 19, 2009
@Alex It was already chosen. Oh well, no one's perfect.
James DeRosa , October 19, 2009
I effing loved Duck Tales and the moon level was clearly the best. Also, sweet pick Señor Shirk.
Mine for this week is from an epic critical failure from the PS1 era- Courier Crisis. The game may have been kinda shitty, but the music was gutter punk awesome with a single soul track mixed in for confusion's sake. I'll stick to the punk for this week's submission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn_EbxXr7VY
Travis McReynolds , October 19, 2009
For this week's submission, I decided to give some love to the often overlooked percussion (especially bass drum) and bass guitar.

Flashback: The Quest for Identity (SNES) - Conrad's Memories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnydIlwFFC4
Brian Petro-Roy , October 19, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcP91tQ4ZSM

Walnuts! Peanuts! Pineapple smells! Grapes, melons, oranges and coconut shells!
Alex R. Cronk-Young , October 21, 2009
My pick:

Non piu andrai farfallone amoroso from the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart

from Grand Theft Auto 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3BthgYwbIU
Lance Darnell , October 24, 2009

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