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Surprise Attack

wow this is top-notch! super energetic with some of the best FM synth patches I’ve heard. (seriously listen to these bass sounds)

“Burning Fighter (Stage 3 BGM)” stood out to me in particular, but I highly recommend checking out the entire soundtrack!

#1990 #Hidenori Maezawa #Keizo Nakamura #Miki Higashino #Yoshinori Sasaki #YM2151 #Konami #rec

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Syvalion

this has a lot of short loops, but it excels at creating tension. example: “Contact”

that said, my favorite track is likely “Beginning of The End”

#1988 #Yasuhisa Watanabe #YM2610B #H System #Taito

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Tail to Nose: Great Championship

this has a really nice punchy sound, both with the synth design and the samples, though the synths are not always uh...great. (see “USA GP” and marvel at that lead)

the arrangement is quite nice for the time, though it’s a bit on the short side overall...

“Machine & Course Select“ is probably my favorite here

#1989 #Naoki Itamura #YM2608 #Video System

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Tank Force

you know how some soundtracks on the Genesis are just mind-blowingly good? both in sound design and arrangement? usually Treasure games, like Dynamite Headdy or Alien Soldier?

this is like that. even with a jazzy flair. 

it even has a loungey kinda tune for me: “The Eternal Twilight”. it’s like they were trying to appeal to me specifically. god.

rec.

#1991 #Junko Ozawa #Takayuki Aihara #YM2151 #Namco System 1 #Namco #rec

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Techno Drive

hey this is cool.

very shiny and tech-feeling. 

im not a fan of the voice synths (like in “Select”) but everything else has a beautiful vibe that could fit on a dancefloor.

check out “Footwork Technique” oh yeah bb thats some techno

this hits my bias. rec.

#1998 #Koji Nakagawa #C352 #Namco System 12 #Namco #rec

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Tecmo Knight

kind of ok except for the weirdly detuned synths?

uhh, hmm

try “Ending” shows what im talking about, and it’s a halfway decent song besides the detuning. 

#1989 #Mayuko Okamura #Mikio Saito #YM2203 #OKIM6295 #Tecmo

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TeddyBoy Blues

this is too short to include, really....except that “Title ~ Main Theme” is just a really nice song. 

#1985 #Yohko Ishino #unsure of author #SN76489 #System 1 #Sega

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time

yeah this game is well known for it’s awesome and energetic soundtrack.

I actually think the SNES version beats it out for a few tracks (”Alleycat Blues” specifically), but this is The OG, so it deserves some love. 

you can win my heart with some 7th chords, so naturally “Night Riders (A.D. 2020)” gets the highlight. 

#1991 #Mutsuhiko Izumi #YM2151 #K053260 #Konami #rec

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Teki Paki

The FM work here is actually great, for the context of some glitchy autechre-esque FM IDM wankfest. That’s not at all what the arrangement is like here, though.

“G.E.A.R.“ comes close enough that I’d actually say you should listen to this track. 

#1991 #Tomoaki Takanohashi #YM3812 #Toaplan 2 #Toaplan

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Tekken

I really like how this soundtrack has taken ideas and influences from dance music at the time, but incorporated them in a really subtle way. The rave stabs are there, but not in the foreground like you’d expect. 

I’d guess that the composer is stepping outside of their comfort zone, but not to ill effect. it’s really neat, honestly. 

“Chicago, USA“ might be the clearest example

#1994 #Yoshie Arakawa #Yoshie Takayanagi #C352 #Namco System 11 #Namco #good

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Tekken 2

overall, this soundtrack is less hard than Tekken 3. it has a more “traditional game sound”, for lack of a better description.

“Nina Williams -Silent Assassin-” is still the best track here though

“Michelle Chang -Wandering Female Fighter-“ is a formidable track as well. 

#1995 #Yoshie Arakawa #Yoshie Takayanagi #C352 #Namco System 11 #Namco

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Tekken 3

this has a very strong rock flavor. it reminds me of some bigbeat tunes from the era (mid-to-late 90s), artists like hardknox....but a bit less hard. 

you gotta dig the bass on “Nina Williams”

#1997 #Keiichi Okabe #Nobuyoshi Sano #C352 #Namco System 12 #Namco

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Tekken Tag Tournament

this has a hard, electronic sound, which makes sense for a late 90s arcade fighting game

my only complaint is that few of the tracks really progress much. I can’t complain too much since that’s kind of par for the course. par for the “each course has its own music”. 

anyway check out “Yoshimitsu Stage BGM” that’s some good shit. 

#1999 #Akitaka Tohyama #Keiichi Okabe #Nobuyoshi Sano #Rio Hamamoto #Yuu Miyake #C352 #Namco System 12 #Namco #good

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Terra Cresta

there are two flavors of this arcade game: FM and PSG

generally, the FM is better, or at least more defined. 

but then there’s the easy way to win my heart: odd time signatures. “Tubo” appears to go into...10/8? The PSG version is far more accentuated, and it stands out as being my favorite track from these packs. 

#1985 #Kenji Yoshida #YM2203 #YM3526 #Nichibutsu

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Terra Force

I’ve got to comment on the hihat patch here: it sounds great, but it’s loud and shrill af. perfect for closed hihat, but the open hihat riding in some of these songs makes them nigh-unlistenable

everything else though: not bad at all!

“Name Entry“ is pretty sweet

“Underground Music“ as well

the only reason this isn’t getting a #good tag is because of that damn hihat...

#1987 #Noboru Yoshida #YM3812 #Nichibutsu

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Tetris

this game is basically the video game to play. there are 7 arcade versions posted to vgmrips, and im combining them into one post. 

Atari | System 16A | System E |  H System | D. R. Korea |  B System | B System alt

the B System with the YM2203 has the best soundtrack imo

the Atari is the only one that’s drastically different from the others

Sega System 16 has the best version of “Tetremix” and also my favorite song of the bunch (specifically at the tempo in Tetremix B)

#1988 #1989 #19xx #author unknown #Brad Fuller #Yasuhiro Kawakami #YM2203 #YM2610B #YM2149 #YM2610 #SN76489 #YM2151 #POKEY

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Tetris: The Grand Master

this is groovy but with a dancefloor feel to it. i love it.

i specifically want to highlight “Happy Happy - Ending” but the entire soundtrack is well worth a listen.

#1998 #Ayako Saso #Shinji Hosoe #QSound #ZN-2 #Akira #rec