Hey Devo! What’s the best NES soundtrack?

The Nintendo Entertainment System, or N-E-S (not NES), was a bastion of hope for pretty much anyone who touched it. As an artist, you were able to craft a visual and audio scape that we had yet to experience in our world.

And as a player, you had the absolute joy to diving into worlds you could once only imagine in your mind.

Very rare could programmers pair the wonder of 8-bit visuals with the complexity of bi-directional controls topped off with silky smooth music to match the experience on screen.

And when they did, it was magical.

So here are my Top 5 Most Favorite NES Soundtracks of ALL. TIME.

But before we get started, I would like to ask that you all please rise and remove your hats, for the singing of our national anthem.

5. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

Coming in hot at number 5, it’s the theme song to one of the world’s greatest cartoons: The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, in an 8-bit version.

However, you only get 5 seconds of the theme and it loops over and over and over and over.

It’s like being stuck on some spinning Mad Tea Cups type of carnival ride, with homicidal clowns surrounding you, not threatening to kill, but just mocking you for forcing an experience like this on yourself.

How could you even come to the decision to say “Hey, this is fine. We have enough memory to just loop this over and over for our players, they’ll like it!”

4. Rygar

Rygar! Dun dun dun dun! I mean come on – a Conan-like adventurer armed with a razor-sharp spinning shield, attacking monsters and foes alike. What could go wrong.

The music.

However there’s a specific level that reminds me of something… Something so iconic and engrained in my brain…

It’s on the tip of my tongue OMG IT’S POLICE ACADEMY.

Not exactly note for note, but it’s close enough for me.

3. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Dear god, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a fucking phenomenal film, and something I plan to cover in another series where I compare video game adaptations of movies to their source material, HOWEVER!

The NES soundtrack to Bram Stoker’s Dracula sounds like it’s some post-EDM/Horrorstep bleeps and bloops.

Some songs hit, some don’t – and what’s wild is that there’s simply no music during the start screen. It’s just pure silence. Like, movie has this haunting, gothic theme that follows Dracula all around the world.

That theme is no where to be found in this game, which is bonkers to me. Instead, we get a constant and consistent beeping beat paired with some horror style melodies. The music definitely doesn’t help tie the game to the movie and holy crap does it get hard to focus FAST.

2. Adventures of Rad Gravity

To be honest, I’ve never even heard of this game.

Apparently it’s a platformer where you play as this dude named Rad Gravity, and you have to travel to different plants to rescue Compuminds from the evil Agathos.

Anyways, the theme song make me think of listening to the Simpsons Theme on an ancient Sony Walkman, with some battered headphones, while sticking my head in the microwave.

I think this song caused a nose bleed…

1. Back to the Future

But that’s the power of –

Not he music in this game. Anybody who knows anything knows that all 3 Back to the Future movies offer some amazingly memorable musical moments.

This game however provides you with… 2. Yes, there are 2 songs.

In nearly 80% of the game, you spend in a top-down mode as either Marty running/skateboarding through Hill Valley, or driving the Delorean through a lightning storm.

Just as bad, is the side-”scrolling” parts of the game have no music whatsoever – except during the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. Marty is on stage, wailing on his guitar collecting musical notes, where the 2nd and final song of the game is featured.

I mean, it’s a nice break from the constant DUNDUNDUDNDUNNUUUUH DUNNUH! DUNDUNDUDNDUNNUUUUH DUNNUH! But man, just something else to break up the monotonyyyyyyy…

Video Game Music Can Be Great

These examples are just one of the many showcasing just how bad music during the NES era was fumbled. However, that doesn’t mean it was all bad!

What where some of the songs that you loved (or hated) during your NES playthroughs?