The Curse of Monkey Island

Once I get started on music, it's really hard for me to stop thinking about it until someone waves a shiny object in front of my eyes or challenges me to a duel to the death (which inevitably leads to their demise, otherwise I wouldn't be alive to write this, obviously). Anyhow, after writing the first list of memorable songs, I found myself thinking of many, many other songs that really deserve some airtime. So let's get on with it, shall we?
  


Curse of Monkey Island - Opening Theme -- Kettle drums! Tropical island vibes! Maracas (I think)! Such a light, breezy song that lifts the spirits. I actually knew about the song long before I knew of where it came from. I'm ashamed to admit that I had never played Curse of Monkey Island until the first episode was a free download recently on their website during Pirate Day (arr!)
 
Bonus: Betcha didn't know the composer, Michael Land, also contributed work to Simcity 4, didja ya? There's one song I always enjoyed listening to while terraforming new lands (which I much preferred over building actual cities, sadly enough). That song was Electric City which has a nice trance / D&B feel to it (though I have no idea if Land composed it).
 
 


Chrono Cross - Scars of Time -- Much like "Primal Eyes" blew me away in Parasite Eve, Scars of Time did the same. It is a powerful, gripping song that lets you settle in gently before grabbing you and refusing to let go until it's over, and I found myself watching the full intro every time I turned Chrono Cross on. I was proud of the fact I taught myself how to play the song on my flute (and pretty darn well, if I do say so myself)!
 
Bonus: I've been avoiding going into the territory of vocal opening / ending themes so far, as there are just so many wonderful songs out there, but Chrono Cross's " Without Taking the Jewel" is still one of my favorite ending themes to this day. Such a gentle, beautiful song.
 
 
 

Top Gear - Mad Racer -- Top Gear, and it's sequel Top Gear 2, were awesome racing games. Sure, they weren't F-Zero, but they didn't have to be. They were great racers in their own right and a bit under-appreciated. On top of being fun games, their music was top-notch, but the song that takes the cake is the first one you hear when you start racing in the original Top Gear. A fast-paced, catchy tune that is great to race to, it's almost Eurobeat in its tempo and melody -- which just so happens to be my favorite kind of music to listen to while playing racing games, nowadays. You can probably blame Initial D for that.
 
Bonus: Top Gear 2 had fantastic music as well. It's hard to choose one to go with but Auckland's main synthesizer effect always reminded me of Yanni, who's music I really enjoy.
 
 


F-Zero - Big Blue -- If we're going to talk racing game music, there's no way I can go without mentioning Big Blue. The song is loved by many, as the fact there are so many remixes on subsequent F-Zeroes helps to prove. Though having listened to Top Gear's music and then this, I would have to say Top Gears music blows it out of the water. That's not to say F-Zero's music was bad, hell no, but it's just lacking some of the emotion, even if it is still really catchy.
 
Bonus: My favorite mix of Big Blue would have to be the song that comes on during story mode when you're chasing down all those thugs in the city.. with your car..... Ugg, I really didn't care for GX's story mode at all. I'm not even sure I finished it. I did enjoy that level though, if only for the great Remix of Big Blue's Theme
 
 


Star Fox - Corneria Theme -- Another memorable song from a Nintendo game, what are the odds?! It's a shame the first song of Star Fox was the most memorable.. I don't even remember many other songs from either the SNES or N64 games, though both games were excellent. Though having to save Slippy was always a pain in the ass. How that frog got a pilot's license is beyond me. Oh and don't forget to do a barrel roll!
 
Bonus: Sadly, Star Fox 64's Corneria song was a big step backwards in both quality and composition. The original composer, Hajime Hirasawa had moved on to do other things after working on Star Fox, so others stepped in, including Koji Kondo (of Mario and Zelda musical fame) and you can definitely hear his influence in the music (though considering his experience, you'd think the quality would have been better. Oh well).
 
 


Secret of Mana - Angel's Fear -- What needs to be said about this song that it can't tell you itself? To step into the realm of a music critique for a moment -- It's a beautiful melody that rains down on you one note at a time and seeps into your soul. Considering this was done using the SNES's sound chip, it's a truly remarkable song.
 
Bonus: Another game in the "Secret of Mana" series is Seiken Densetsu 3. Why it was never released over here is beyond me. The game was gorgeous, had a terrific plot, great character system, and a fantastic sound track. Meridian Child is phenomenal and has since been orchestrated and played in concerts such as the Orchestral Game Concert. It's too bad the few of us who knew about it back in the day had to play it via emulator since Square didn't localize it over here.
 
 


Metal Gear Solid 2 - Main Theme --  Ugg! I wanted to like this game, I really, really did. Hearing this amazing song had me totally stoked for it and the mission with Snake was fantastic. But then... but then.... I'd really rather not think about it, or about Raiden and his fucked up relationship... or the whole VR training fiasco... or why the President was Solidus... or.. ugg... the story was a mess! No, not just a mess, it was BAD. Damn you, Kojima, damn you.
 
Bonus: Composer Harry Gregson-Williams, who worked on MGS2's theme also worked with Hans Zimmer on a little movie called " The Rock", which had some pretty excellent music itself.
 
 


Final Fantasy VI - Kefka's Theme -- Haha, thought I was done with FFVI? Not a chance! How could I forget the greatest villain of all time's theme? The song fits him so perfectly! I don't really know what else to say about it... Kefka's badass, his song is great and really catchy. Hearing it always reminds me of the scene between him and General Leo where Kefka says his famous line, "Run! Run! Or you'll be well done!"
 
Bonus: Speaking of bosses, Final Fantasy VII had some of the greatest, most catchy boss music ever with Fight On! It throws you right into the fight and gets your blood pumping. If only more games had such great fight music.
 
 


Okami - The Sun Rises -- This game needs more love, dammit. Such a remarkable game with a fantastic soundtrack through and through. The Sun Rises is just one of many amazing musical pieces. I love how it's so full of energy and feels so epic. If there was one link I'd beg you to consider clicking, it would be this one, and If you haven't listened to Okami's music, do yourself a favor and give it a shot. Better yet, find a copy of the game and play it! 
 
Bonus: Another song from Okami -- Enter Waka. Such a majestic song. I could listen to this forever and die happy @.@
  
 

That's it for this installment. There's still a bajillion songs I can think of to add, so don't fret if you haven't seen any you enjoy!
 

More music!

Memorable Music Tracks - Part 1

My head has exploded so many times over the last day my walls are totally covered in brains now. I have never seen so much Monkey Island goodness at once ever. The fact that they are really pushing for Monkey Island agian was really beyond my wildest dreams until recently. Here are awesome footage from the brand new episodic deal from Telltale! And Dominic Armato is really coming back in  a grand fashion. Again, I´m so glad they got him onboard for all the new Monkey Island projects !
And not to forget, he says right her ein this interview that they got Michael Land to do the music. Its all music for old and tired Monkey Island ears.

I might actually have never ever been as hyped up in all of my gaming life as I am right now. I was going to write something about the Microsoft E3 press conference but when I got back from the livestream I ran straight into this video


If someone were to ask me what the greatest game of all time were I might answer "The Secret of Monkey Island" depending on the mood. This game molded and forged my childhood. I grew up with the Monkey Island series and the impressions it left on me back then has stuck with me into adult life. I heard the rumors a week or so back but its not until now that i finally get to celebrate. The fact that Monkey Island 1 is coming as both an HD remix AND as the original to Xbox Live is so good news I am literally running around screaming here. As if this weren´t enough they grabbed the original voicecast from "The Curse of Monkey Island" where the voicecast was PERFECT. Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood is really burned into my brain by now (I actually wrote an essay about him in school back then) and I couldnt even think about anyone else doing that voice. And when I think I can´t get anymore hyped I realize that Ron Gilbert is actually sitting there, in the video, providing support to this project.
This whole thing is REALLY too good to be true for me personally. Its a huge fanservice to all of the old PC Point and Click fans like me. I really didnt think that the gaming climate of today allowed for this kind of point and click nostalgia trip.
So words really cannot describe how every inch of my gaming soul is celebrating right now. I am so hyped up I can´t even think about writing a word about the Microsoft E3 conference and Milo that got me super excited.
Microsoft is taking a huge step towards Virtual Reality, but compared to the release of Monkey Island on XBLA I couldnt care less. I´m sorry.
I´m pretty sure I´ve been waiting for about a decade or more for this one.

I try out a lot of different games, but I hardly ever actually spend money when it comes on things like indie titles, which I mostly find off of Play This Thing! and GiantBomb articles. This year, I ended up getting Dangerous High School Girls In Trouble! and The Blackwell Legacy, the later which I bought two days ago and haven't had time to play yet.

Other than that, I suckered myself into buying a Premium Character Card on Mabinogi. Why? For some stranger reason, I thought I'd be playing the game a lot longer than the two months that I did. Well, I was wrong. Oh well, we all make mistakes.

In other somewhat related news, my 360 was shipped a few days ago, and I'm expecting it to come on he 15th. Won't be able to use it until Christmas most likely due to circumstances beyond my control, but when I do, you know what that will mean? More content to download!

And now, a video. This one comes from a youtuber that seems to be posting videos of music from every game. I don't even think I'm exaggerating. Here's one of my favorites:

So ve finally gotten around to sinking a couple of hours into

As an old school Monkey Island PC adventure gamer I´ve been anticipating the upcoming game from the creator of "Curse of Monkey Island", called "A Vampyre Story". Just now, from nowhere, the demo is out for download and just like that, the full game is out this friday!! I had almost given up hope on this game ever getting a publisher but it seems the time has finally come. For the first time in 10 years I will play a Monkey Island esque PC adventure. The only game Ive tried since 98 was the fairly recent Runaway 2. That was just pathetic. My hopes are super high for Vampyre story. So to all of you out there who are like me and grew up with Guybrush Threepwood on Melee Island. Go download the demo and try it out. Then hurry up and preorder for this Friday ! Suddenly im 13 again, getting Curse of Monkey Island for christmas. Im so excited!

*UPDATE/EDIT* Demo can be downloaded here ! And I just finished the demo. It wasnt really much of a demo but I already knew I needed a boxed copy of this game for the collection so I just pre-order my copy for friday.

Original thread here...

I'd read the above thread and it got me to thinking. Where did the Monkey Island franchise go wrong? On one hand, it's great that the series is still around and as such, is still played by (dare I say) millions around the world. But ask any fan of the series what their favourites were and 9 times out of 10 they'll tell you... The first 2 with the 3rd not far behind.

Sometime last year I had the pleasure of stumbling over this article, written by the one and only Ron Gilbert, which he gladly allowed me to re-publish on XboxOZ360-Gamer as I felt it was a great read. The general feeling from that article is that there are inherent flaws in adventure games in general and balancing entertainment and difficulty is well, difficult. It's been a feeling of mine that even today, almost 20 years on, these beliefs in adventure gaming still very much apply today and should be heeded. But enough of that...

The Curse of Monkey Island was, well, it was the logical evolution of the series. As MI2 from MI1, the 3rd iteration was the next step in the series and one that held true to the concept of point & click. Plus, although the quality of the visuals from the 3rd was a massive step from the first 2, there was no such "step" from the 3rd to the 4th.

Sure - make something 3D and like WOW, it looks soo awesome, but the truth is no, the quality of the art within the game suffered dearly with the move to 3D rendering. The art and style in MI3, although departing from the obviously aged (and classic) look of the first 2, still held true to the IP and even moreso, allowed for further artistic flair. Why the move? And an even better question, why not make another Monkey Island for the fans instead of for the $$$.

Why not? Why not work on and develop another addition to the series holding true to it's origins? It seems that (as raised in the original thread) that if it's not Star Wars, then it's not worth bothering. Which is sad, as I don't know how many times I've gone over and over finishing the first 3 titles just for the heck of it, each time finding something else that I'd missed and having a little giggle to myself. Where is that quality? If anyone knows, please come and tell me as I'd like to know myself. :)


          ~DarkArmada