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The History of Music in SHOOT EM UPS

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The History of Music in Shoot Em Ups, celebrating the epic games, soundtracks and composers that defined the genre. What was your favorite shooting game soundtrack? Your favorite developer? Your favorite console? Konami? Compile? Technosoft? Cave? Did the Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, or the PC Engine have your all time favorite shooter music? Was it Gradius or R-Type you loved most? While it's impossible to cover every amazing STG, every talented musician, and every unique console, this shmup musical history presents some of the greatest of all time in all their glory. From the earliest days of Arcades, home computers like the MSX and Commodore64, to the 8bit era of the NES and Sega Master System, the shooting revolution of the 16bit years on the PC Engine, Mega Drive and SNES, to the late years of the Sega Saturn, Playstation and beyond. A compilation of legends, and the great music that defined them.
#shootemup #shmup
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Huge Thanks to my Discord and all the awesome folks who helped with suggestions and recommendations for this video, even if I could only fit a portion into the final work.
Additional thanks to CHINOPOLIS and PEARL for their Touhou gameplay footage
You can find both of their channels and expert plays here:
CHINOPOLIS: / raussdower
PEARL: / @ase-prl
Some of the great composers and bands featured in this video:
Miki Higashino
ZUN
Manabu Namiki
Yousuke Yasui
Masahiro Yuge
Tatsuya Uemura
Konami Kukeiha Club
Zuntata
T's Music
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Опубликовано:

25 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 661

@BamdTheBamd 3 года назад

i respect composers who can make music still sound good even after 1000 attempts

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Especially true of caravan modes haha. I would literally want to throw it out the window after replaying the same 2min for 12 hours in a matter of days if it wasn't for the tunes that keep you going.

@Crcvmbdfl 8 месяцев назад

Totally agree, am stuck at trying to 1 CC Darius Gaiden , and really love replaying that first stage with its music theme, having a first stage outstanding music theme is key in shmups

@touhoufever2499 3 года назад

When a whole section of a series’ fanbase is just there for the music, you know you done good

@maskedbadass6802 3 года назад

I can tell from your username you already know it's all about "U.N. Owen Was Her?"

@ihaveadream7858 3 года назад

@@maskedbadass6802 bad apple is way more popular than UN Owen and any of its remixes

@maskedbadass6802 3 года назад

@@ihaveadream7858 Dunno about "way more" popular. Most people wouldn't even know about it if it weren't for Touhou 6 being more accessible as the first Windows game, plus the incredibly memeable U.N Owen. The Ronald McDonald Insanity video pretty much created Touhou's Western audience, and then the most popular version of Bad Apple grew like 3 years after because they made it a J-Pop song by adding female vocals.

@ihaveadream7858 3 года назад

@@maskedbadass6802 UN and Ronald created the Touhou western fanbase, but the bulk of the Touhou fanbase are Eastern, with Bad Apple making it more popular in the East as it appeals to anime fans here and in the West too.

@lovemadeinjapan Год назад

You mean Katamari. Not a shmup, but a rmup.

@AzrialAlaria 3 года назад

I believe that Zuntata is the master of this stuff. Darius series is a great example. They also tend to match up their music to the action on screen. They did this to great effect on the Dariusburst series of games! Thanks for the content, Shmup Junkie!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

You're welcome and I have to agree. Not everyone loves Zuntata's work, it's very experimental, but it does exactly what it's meant to. The Darius games feel like they do almost exclusively because of their music for the series.

@iansarver8444 2 года назад

The Ninja Warriors series is my favorite but I love Zuntata's work on vg soundtracks.

@AoiHeartStranger Год назад

@@ShmupJunkie art direction is also great in darius.

@CodyCallaway 3 года назад

Easily one of the best videos you have ever made junkie (and you’ve had some amazing ones)! This was such a ride through history. Thanks for all you do for the community. Keep making the videos and we will keep devouring them.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

It's hard to go wrong featuring great music. I just try to set it up and let the games and music speak for themselves. As long as I have more to make and continue to enjoy it, I'll definitely keep on making them.

@secretysecret1551 3 года назад

i agree. Kind of made me wish he would now expand beyond shooters since he was soooo spot on with this one.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@secretysecret1551 Oh I will here and there. Like I did with the Capcom arcade stadium or the pc engine history videos where it made sense. Other series I really like. I plan diversify to grow the audience but still keep focusing on growing the genre at the same time. I gotta hook em with other content but then get them to stay for the shmups haha.

@secretysecret1551 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie awesome news. by no means was my comment intended as a complaint. I'm just wanting more of this retro-perfection. You and gamesack are the only youtubers that actually feel like they played games for enjoyment back in the day. Everyone else lacks the retro-tinted-glasses when looking at things.

@Godsgood111 2 года назад

@@secretysecret1551 amen, I'd love to see gamesack create a modern shmups video featuring schmup junkie

@PhoticSneezeOne 3 года назад

After nearly 3 decades, those thunderforce 4 and axelay soundtracks still give me goosebumps. unbelievable

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Yep, it's that music that we mostly remember most. Crazy how that works.

@BixbySnyder209 Год назад

Truth

@deviancepurplehaze6045 3 года назад

I still remember Twin Bee soundtrack to this day. Einhander songs are super epic too.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I was actually going to include some Einhander in this video, but because Square Enix has been going after some videos with their music in it, I chose to play it safe. That was the main reason otherwise I had a track picked out for it too.

@Amni3D 3 года назад

Einhander's boss tune is S+

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@Amni3D Totally agree it’s still one of my fav tunes on the system. I actually wanted to show some Einhander here but played it safe as Square Enix has been going after some videos lately using their music.

@mutkaheki 3 года назад

Damn right, the music definitely made the games stand out in our memories. Another amazing video, thank-you.

@jszekerj 3 года назад

The single most memorable and nostalgic aspect of retro games and gaming in general. So many huge influences in my life and creativity. Gradius III and Space Manbow are some of the best most epic soundtracks. MSX Nemesis II right with them too. TF3+4, Musha, Grind Stormer, Zero Wing! Amazing flat out. My favorite topic, thanks for such a great video entry! Awesome retrospective!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I thought you would enjoy this one dude given your musical background and talent. If I could actually play well enough, I'd constantly be tempted to try and learn my favorite tracks and play them myself. All those early chip tunes especially mega drive tracks really lend themselves to jamming on an electric.

@jaymorrison8419 3 года назад

try GleyLancer

@jszekerj 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie yesss. I really been wanting to get back to attempting videogame music. Would be a blast and could make videos of it again. As you know now that even just creating that video aspect enough is some work. Learning a piece then recording mixing and performing it is a whole beast.

@PlayNewApp 3 года назад

Awesome. 😘🌈 Nice upload my friend.😊 Like it. 🤗👍

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thank you I’m glad you enjoyed. I had a good time making it.

@electronjunkie5697 3 года назад

8 and 16-bit shmup chip tunes... Always hitting me right in the feels!!!

@unlimitedretrogaming 3 года назад

I had to pause the video and grab a beer, what a magnificent video once again my friend!! This genre has the best music hands down. For me, nothing like the music from Gradius, Life Force, Cotton, Tatsujin and, thanks for introducing me to, Lords of Thunder!

@jamiecampbell8855 3 года назад

I was never a shoot em ups fan, but your work has gone a way to addressing this interest. Plus your documentary on the pc engine/turbo grafx was amazing. Well done.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thanks! And sorry for the late reply, it takes a while to catch up. I'm glad you enjoyed it. And yeah, I put a TON of time into those PCE videos so I'm glad they did well. I was waiting to do that console justice for a long time.

@salemite 3 года назад

That Gradius 3 theme is burned into my young brain. Even though I loved Darius Twin more on SNES, those tunes were unbeatable.

@philmason9653 3 года назад

Wow, all these years I had _no idea_ the TG-16 used wavetable synthesis! I'd seen it listed as PSG and figured all those cool sounds were just really adept use of pulse wave modulation. Now I'm fascinated with it all over again. Great job on the video, I had so many smiles from Gyruss onward. Please make another, there's so much to explore with this topic.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Yeah, it was a very unique implementation and I learned some things as well with more research. The memory was very limited, but they could use all sorts of early digital sound and dynamically use them for the music. I'm not sure what gave the PCE specifically it's signature sound but I always loved it and how melodic it could be while retaining that 8bit quality from the famicom days. It's only a matter of time before I do something else like this one, only with a new approach once I get a good idea for it.

@Touhou-forever 2 года назад

Ah yes ZUN (太田順也) when I first became a Touhou fan I didn't believe other Touhou fans telling me that ZUN does the music, the coding, the drawing and the graphics all by himself it wasn't until I watched a documentary about Touhou that ZUN showed people how he makes the Touhou games also keep in mind that this documentary about Touhou is completely in Japanese and there are some videos of it on RU-vid with English subtitles but it is sadly incomplete because not all of the parts of the documentary is on RU-vid unfortunately but it was a very interesting documentary all the same I listen to Touhou music all of the time as well as none Touhou music keep up the good work.

@ezeepeezy 3 года назад

Oh man, this is easily one of my favorites of your episodes! I Was just telling you how much music influences my gaming experiences, and you so eloquently and beautifully stated that here! So well done, my friend!👏🏽🥰

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thanks dude! I'm glad you had time to check this out and relax with everything going on. It's always a ton of fun making music episodes and I wasn't going to miss just a taste of Axelay in there.

@ezeepeezy 3 года назад

Shmup Junkie So happy to see it included! Yeah this gave me a welcome distraction from everything going on, important to still find time for self-care. Also, there's a ton of games in here that I'm DYING to seek out now!

@nostartia 3 года назад

Loved every second of this video! When I was a kid, I felt a little bit alone when I realized how crazy I was for those amazing soundtracks. Thank god time put everything in its place, and your video is a great example of that. Keep it up!

@ultor7654 3 года назад

Always spot on mate! I can't be more agree with your final conclusion. So many souvenir from my childhood come out of my memories with these gorgeous music. Thank you so much!

@andrewbutler9533 3 года назад

Enjoyed the hell out of that! So glad that Shoot em up fans such as yourself and Studio Mudprints exist. 👍👍👍

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Me too, as I also need something to watch haha. I'm a noob compared to Mudprints, Ed has been around for a long time. Over 300 reviews it's nuts.

@naseemhamed3488 3 года назад

This guy never misses

@Phantasiafans Год назад

You are so right. The music some of these games have to offer is outstanding. You pointed out the brilliant Eschatos to me in another video and I fell in love with the game but also with the music. I listen to it in my car while driving, at hone and in my recording studio. One thing I adore about STG music is that it blends different fast styles (around 140 bpm). It does not matter if the tune is power metal, techno, classical or jazz influenced, as long as it is uplifting and driving enough to support the action.

@ShmupJunkie Год назад

The fact that I got you into playing Eschatos is good enough for me and music to my ears haha. Absolutely adore that game now every since a friend helped me discover it too. No surprise partly because of the amazing music.

@Randhrick 3 года назад

As a huge fan of video game music I enjoyed this episode so much, people don't talk enough of what I think is a very important aspect of video games. Very well made episode you covered all the important games that I consider to be a staple in STG video game music and you also talked about new games like Devil Engine. Bravo sir .

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I really tried, and yet even I can think of some important games and tracks I feel bad for missing. There are just so many it's really hard to edit things out. I hope the video does well and if there is a demand for similar in the future I will definitely make more. I certainly enjoyed making it.

@headman82 3 года назад

I feel like these developers are well aware of how important the music is to a shmup, because you’ll be playing it over and over and enjoying the tunes. One could argue the music is the most important aspect of a stg

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Most likely yes, at least the good devs did. Konami had a huge band with tons of members making music for all their games and it's no wonder some of the best music of that time came from them.

@Myako 3 года назад

Such an amazing video. The way music gets one's emotions pumped up really has no parallel among the components of a video game. Thanks for making this!! 👏🏻👏🏻💪🏻💪🏻 And I'm still very sad no one has tried a Turbografx/Supergrafx-CD port of "Cho Ren Sha 68k". 😔

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

That's an interesting take. Maybe someday someone will try coding that game onto a 16bit console, as it could at least come close to reproducing it. The game will be playable on the Sharp68K Mister core so at least that's a plus. It's back in development and coming along nicely from what I hear.

@krosigrim 2 года назад

Amazing opening statements. Watching the video is inspirational both AUDIBLY and visually. So many amazing games...

@krosigrim 2 года назад

And again, seen titles I didnt know about

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

Thanks! I thought it would be fun to make a music oriented episode like this one. Kind of a history but different. Only trouble is there are always many composers and tracks I didn't include that I would have liked to.

@krosigrim 2 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie Indeed! You had to strike a balance and you did just that. Look at it this way, you have the option to make a follow up.

@retroheed6226 3 года назад

Great video showcasing some amazing shooter tunes, great job :)

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thanks buddy. Sorry for the slow reply just catching up on some comments. Can't have a great shooter without some good music. I know you appreciate it more than most. It's what keeps us coming back... even to some games we maybe shouldn't haha.

@joshmiller887 3 года назад

Amazing video! You never fail to do your homework. There IS just something about that C64 sound. It hits all the right feels. Cd quality was also great, but I’ll take the 8-bit and 16-bit soundtracks any day over them.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Lucky for me I have a great group of folks on my discord that help me with my homework ahaha. Mainly when it comes to the old computer systems as I never got to own a C64, Amiga or any of the others. Only see them in magazines. I was PC only at the time. So their input was super helpful. And I'll need to do an episode for those beauties at some point as they all had some great shooters on them. I'm with you on the chip tunes, they got the magic.

@ThunderForce222 3 года назад

Your monologue brought me to actual tears.....Everything you said.....all of it......can never ever be said better.....

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

It’s said even better by the music itself, words just can’t replicate the experience it gives us. I often wish I had more musical talent myself to be able to express in that way.

@ThunderForce222 3 года назад

Hyakutaru Tsukumo ----S.S.H. -Thunder Force VII:Knight's of Legend. If I could just meet or speak to him just once, and tell him how much his music has directly affected my life, made me cry. Gave me confidence. Gave me strength to face the enemy In Iraq & Afghanistan. Gave me hope, when I walked the streets homeless in pouring rain, Gave me inspiration to arrange my own OST's and kept me alive when I didn't have the will to keep going......I would give anything....for that chance.

@thomashampel761 2 года назад

Your introduction in absolutely on point. Wow!

@run1cc347 3 года назад

Enjoyed all of this! Thanks

@SuperLlama42 2 года назад

I've never been particularly good at shmups. But like fighting games, I'm hooked on the soundtracks, and they're a big part of what keeps me coming back.

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

I'll admit the music in many games and especially the shmup genre is more important to me than graphics. Even when a game looks and play amazing, when the music isn't there, it feels like something is missing.

@wewyllenium 3 года назад

I love the past. It's raw, simple and straight to the heart!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Especially the 8/16bit chip tunes. I won't get tired of them I think ever.

@Carina_d3a 3 года назад

I have never had a video give me so many back tingles and single tear moments. Thank you, Shmup Junkie 💖💖💖💖💖

@canticledrawl 3 года назад

Thank you for an incredible soundtrack!

@Crcvmbdfl 8 месяцев назад

Manabu Namiki's music is amazing ❤

@atheismcrew1524 3 года назад

"The INSANELY good music of shoot em ups" >immediately starts with Gradius.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Anything else would be uncivilized 😉

@blanderstg7221 2 года назад

Holy crap, I completely forgot about Gaiares until that song came in. I played the hell out of that game back in high school. Never made it past stage 2, I think. Might have to plan a return trip one of these days... Excellent video! Thanks for unlocking this wellspring of buried memories!

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

Heck yeah Gaiares was one of the best on the mega drive. I still play it from time to time. Was the total package. Really tough game but a heck of a good one.

@RyuHirakashi1 Год назад

This video is a masterpiece! There’s so much rich history to shooters. I was simply amazed all the excellent games with amazing music that has been made over the decades. For me I still listen to the guardian legend’s ost. So amazing that I still love the music decades after I initially played. This is one of your best videos junkie! Keep doing what you’re doing your level of knowledge of these games is just as amazing!

@ShmupJunkie Год назад

Guardian Legend is just a great game in general and an old fav from those days. I still will play it from time to time. What's crazy is this video only scratches the surface of it all and there are so many games I missed. Too bad this one wasn't very popular, youtube isn't that into videos about music I suppose. But I really enjoyed making it as the soundtracks to games are a huge part of what I remember about them.

@MegaYoYo 3 года назад

Amazing work here! I personally think that music is 50% of a great game. The other 50% being gameplay. This is incredibly important in shmups. One of my favorite OST's is Area 88 (U.N. Squadron). Even the mission briefing and mission select stages bop!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Totally agree and UnSq is highly underrated. It’s probably my fav soundtrack on the Snes and great across the entire game. Graphics seem to sell games but I always placed them last after music and gameplay too. They’re nice but you get used to them. We don’t rave about them decades later like great music or the gameplay. It’s very analogous to a great film too. The soundtrack helps make the movie.

@projetolaunchbox693 3 года назад

Sir. This is one of the best shmups game videos I've ever seen. Just Awesome!!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thanks! I really enjoy making these kind of nostalgic historical videos. This and the one I did called Amazing Shoot Em Ups of the 80s and 90s are a couple of my favorite I've done.

@NorthGameGod Год назад

That mention to SCC is gold. That chip made me become a videogame musician.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

What was your favorite shooting game soundtrack of all time? Was it included in this video of the most Epic Music of Shoot Em Ups? If not I'll bet I'm going to hear about it! Let's see how many "I can't believe you didn't mention XYZ" comments I can get! haha. Seriously though, it's impossible to cover anywhere near every game I wanted, let alone every incredible soundtrack out there without creating a 9 hour long Lord of the Rings style epic. So let me know your all time favorites. And when I do a Top 10 STG soundtracks countdown video, I can make sure I give it a good long listen. ✅ Subscribe To My Channel ➡️ Support me on PATREON www.patreon.com/shmupjunkieslushfund

@jonniefast 3 года назад

pc engine cd @ sapphire 😎 the only game cd soundtrack ikeep in my car permanently

@Skeletroy 3 года назад

Pretty cool topic for a video, you've got a lot of great music here. One of my two favorites is Raiden II (and 4 by association, I suppose, although I'm not a huge fan of some of the remixes), the soundtrack has a sort of triumphant sadness that really resonates with me. My other favorite is Soldier Blade. The TurboGrafx had an awesome soundchip, and a lot of their shooters are as fun to listen to as to play. Soldier Blade is a cut above the rest for me, it's intense, the drums sound great, and it's just all really well composed.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@Skeletroy Soldier Blade is likely my fav shooter on the system and part of that is the awesome chip tunes. Says a lot when a hucard competes with some of the best cd tracks on that console. It’s one of my most played games.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@jonniefast that boss music is 🔥🔥🔥

@noop9k 3 года назад

Dragon Spirit(PCE), Silpheed(SCD) music among my top favs.

@ericlueck8419 3 года назад

For a great modern Mega Man-like game I can only describe as a Shmup with great music, I can't recommend Copy Kitty enough. It has hundreds of weapon combinations to pick from as the main selling point, but also has a dynamic soundtrack throughout the whole game to reflect the mood. Even the HP warning sound and powerup noises don't just statically happen, they sink and play to the soundtrack. Highly recommended for the most obscure of obscure indie games.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Wow, obscure is right I never heard of it. Neko Navy is the only cat themed shmup I heard of, and here comes another. Thanks for the recommendation, as at least I can throw it on my list and search it up when I have some time.

@visionop8 3 года назад

I love the game music of this period, especially the 16-bit era. On weekends when me and the lady have had a little wine and a bit of cannibus, we retreat to the studio and she listens to me play Sega Genesis covers on a Yamaha DX7. I do a lot of square wave covers of NES songs on other synths but it seems that the Sega Genesis shooters via Yamaha DX7 covers are the big hit here. This is an incredible video and thank you for the good time! You've inspired me and I might have to work in some Zero Wing covers. Spoiler alert: every time this ends in a cover of Mr. Mister's Broken Wings. The Yamaha FM chip is eternal.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Dude, Zero Wings tune would be awesome played that way as they have some killer melodies. I love the second stage as well as the Final, but a bunch of them are good. Next to Tatsujin it's my favorite soundtrack of theirs. I'd be a big fan of the old NES covers too as I grew up with those too and miss so many of those chip tunes. Especially some of the Sunsoft games ❤

@mikkokarvonen6632 13 дней назад

Thanks especially for the music episode!

@ShamanNoodles 3 года назад

Great music is one of the things that kept me going back to 16 bit RPG's. Happy to discover more awesome music outside that genre. Shooters are dope

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

It's hard for me to think of an early genre that didn't have great music. All the famous platformers esp. from Konami had awesome music. Ninja Gaiden on NES was always a fav too. Blaster Master. The great RPGs like you said. I don't ever really get tired of playing those old games and the music is definitely a part of it. The original FinalFantasy tunes were a mainstay in my brain after playing it on the NES as a kid.

@thanasysdim 2 года назад

Man how cool was that!!! Thank you so much for this video!!!

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

You’re welcome! The music in this genre is amazing so I thought a video celebrating it would be a lot of fun to make.

@acecarrera1 3 года назад

I honestly think game music composition of 8 and 16 bit era was better than mainstream pop, it was like life's best kept secret, known only to us who played video games.Great work highlighting some of them in this well made video.

@f.k.b.16 3 года назад

It's amazing how good of an arcade port Gradius was on the NES!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Both that and Life Force, probably my two most played shooters on the system. And yeah, both fantastic for the time. Despite later versions being even better, I often go back and play the old NES versions for the nostalgia of it.

@ceberuss_yt8266 3 года назад

Thank you for filling my heart with joy, hearing the excellent selection. My favorite is probably Axelay, being a snes kid. But damn, the genesis and pcengine have awesome tunes too. And that’s only the 16bit gen… 🙌

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

The 16bit gen was still my all time fav in terms of music. Not only with the awesome chip tunes, but imo the best early cd music on the pc engine games. I'll always have a nostalgia for them. UN Squadron on SNES was always my favorite on that system for music, very underrated.

@MrDirkles 3 года назад

Every time i watch one of your videos i learn something and that is despite being into computer games since i first encountered space invaders in the childrens room of my local pub when i was eight years old. An amazing video!!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

You're not the only one. Every time I make a video I learn something, or many somethings. Especially in terms of systems I know less like the European computer systems. I have some great people on my discord with so much knowledge, and they help a lot in filling in the holes where I need it most.

@JDragon272 3 года назад

Yes, I agree - great music is needed for Shoot Em’ Ups to make the experience of the Genre great. Some of my favorites are: * U.N. Squadron / Area 88 - SNES * Gradius III - SNES * Ikaruga - GameCube/Switch * Axelay - SNES * Raiden II - Arcade or PS1 Remix * Gate of Thunder - TurboGrafix-16 CD/PC Engine * ThunderForce III - Sega Genesis * Sol-Feace - Sega CD

@Steve_UK77 3 года назад

I grew up with the C64 and Amiga500 so videogame music was always essential for me when choosing a game. I always mention it but.... Natsuki Chronicles and Ginga Force have such AMAZING tracks, it makes a difference!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Absolutely, anything by that composer is awesome. Eschatos is still my favorite work of his, but all those games are magic OST.

@mazonemayu 3 года назад

You've outdone yourself again, this should be used as a promo video for the entire genre & to lure a new generation of players LoL. A bit surprised you didn't use Ikaruga, as that soundtrack is out of this world...keep it up mate

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Glad you enjoyed it! I think these kinds of nostalgia videos are a good way to get some new people into the genre too, so I like making them. I was actually thinking I missed on not mentioning the radiant silvergun ost, as most see it as one of the seminal works. But Ikaruga does have some awesome music too. I could’ve made this video an hour and still missed too much good music lol.

@mazonemayu 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie LoL so true, too many good tunes out there ;)

@Outshinedsg 2 года назад

I feel like most shmups have above average soundtracks, with a good number of them being in the "best of all time" tier of music. Really tough to condense 40 years of amazing music into a single 30 minute video! There are so many memorable games. Loved your selections though. I might have included some examples from Raiden in this list, simply because for many people that was *the* 90's arcade shooter they remember.

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

Yeah there’s a ton I would’ve loved and should’ve included. I didn’t even mention Radiant Silvergun! Doh. Raiden is classic that’s a miss Id go back and include if I could.

@joshthefunkdoc 3 года назад

Darius Gaiden & G-Darius aren't just my favorite game soundtracks of all time - they're a major reason those are some of my favorite games of all-time even though i'm ass at shmups. To this day i can't find any "real music" that sounds quite like them... Thanks for the video!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

There really isn't much music that sounds like those games, it's truly unique. Some love it and others don't quite get it, but it's brilliantly composed. The one G Darius track I showed in this one is so awesome, especially on that final stage with the boss flashing in during the storm in the background. One of the coolest moments in the game.

@virtuafighter3 2 года назад

As soon as I saw the title I gave thumbs up. Totally original topic and excellent treatment of the topic in the video.

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

Thanks! I really never saw it done before and I guess it's because music oriented videos on youtube don't do well (which I learned after making this haha), so they aren't made often. But I love game music and especially in shooters, so I always wanted to make something celebrating the great music in these games and glad I did.

@matteste 3 года назад

And seriously, that closing segment at 33:55 was just something special.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

With the Devil Engine soundtrack? Hell yeah that’ll make any sequence awesome. Thank you. Just a shame the dev and publisher had so many issues with its release as it’s a rad game.

@matteste 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie Not just with the soundtrack but just the speech in general. You just really nailed that part.

@jeffkenshiro_fr2895 2 года назад

Great video !! Music participate at minimum 50% of shmup greatness !!!

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

Agreed! Great music can make an average game much better. Or make a great game feel like it’s missing something. It feels like the heart of the game.

@truecuckoo 2 года назад

I made mix tapes with music from the Thunderforce series ❤️

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

I know a few others that did the same back then. I kind of did that for a bunch of game music too back then before CDs. Then later I kept my original Lords of Thunder long after my Duo was gone, just to listen in the car.

@zoydo5794 3 года назад

Great video (as always), keep up the good work! ✌🏻💚

@sudacagamer 3 года назад

Not a shoot em up per se but I still missed a Star Fox mention (SNES) probably one of the best and most underrated OSTs out there from the 16 bit era. Great job as always and thanks for not including timmy haha

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I totally consider Starfox a shoot em up, it has all the ingredients and just happens to be a more 3D perspective. I didn't play a lot of Starfox myself so I think I am missing out on a lot of that soundtrack. Now that you mentioned it I will give it a good listen later. I remember they even made a limited vinyl for it at one point.

@quibquatch3975 3 года назад

Great ending! Soldier Blade's OST is probably the zenith of all shooter chip tunes for me. That PC Engine "sound" brings a tear to my eye every time with it's early 90's feel and warm tones. Sounds amazing regardless of game genre.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

No exaggeration to say it’s probably my favorite chip tune soundtrack of all time. For sure in terms of shooters. Simply love it. The PCE in general had my favorite sound and more games that I loved the music than any other.

@lovemadeinjapan Год назад

IMO Final Soldier is the epitome. It has a way better OST, not just 1 or 2 songs, but all are great, and the game is nicer too, not the style-hotch-potch of Soldier Blade (them ugly clouds and purple lava lamp levels!). Also the powerups function better, not the ADHD pods that are impossible to avoid. Best of all, you can get 2 Final Soldiers for the price of 1 Soldier Blade.

@Azel954 3 года назад

Video game music means an incredible amount to me, absolutely love this video!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Awesome I'm glad you did. When you have this much good music to work with, the video almost makes itself and I'm along for the ride.

@oxcellent 3 года назад

Awesome video, thanks so much. Especially, as I'm coming from Europe, that you mentioned the mostly awesome music in Shmups on Home Computer Systems which often get overlooked when videos were made from a US perspective

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I grew up in the US, though I was originally born in Europe, so I never got to play most of those computer games. I had to learn about them later and play on emulation. But I have a great group of people on my discord and many from UK and other parts of Europe, so they helped a lot in getting me some good information to use for the video.

@pirateFinn 3 года назад

Being strongly reminded of how much I loved the music of Gradius Gaiden from the moment that intro started.

@pirateFinn 3 года назад

Also in some ways, Contra Hard Corps (tho Contra as a whole) felt like the music was lifted straight out of shmups with the tone.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I would’ve liked to squeeze some Gaiden music in here too if I could. Konami was on fire and they’ve been sorely missed. The original Contra is still an old fav for so many of us that I can’t help but play through at least once every year. Though it’s not as fun as back then when I would kill my friend on the waterfall stage by leaving them behind haha.

@GMetzo Год назад

awesome video mate. i stumbled upon it randomly and it is for sure one I will revisit later. spectacular work. keep it up!

@Renegaiden_ 3 года назад

This is such a beautiful compilation of chiptune classics and contemporary classics. These composed works can all stand the test of time with the insane melodic craftsmanship. Thank you for celebrating this legacy of inspirational VGM.

@tsunamirider9895 3 года назад

Another epic video. Also love the music in Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga. Treasure games in general have great soundtracks (Gunstar Heroes is pretty epic)

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thank you. I really missed it with not mentioning RSG. It's not necessarily a personal fav in terms of shmup soundtracks, but there's no denying it's legacy and popularity. It was a miss for not including it and if I could go back, I absolutely would. I know a lot that love the soundtrack to that game.

@tescoshortage Год назад

TFV is what sparked my love for shmup soundtracks. The entire Tecnosoft team and Hyakutaro Tsukumo did a phenomenal job in the production of Thunder Force V.

@neokimchi 2 года назад

this is seriously inspiring me to compose right now. I've got my switch next to me, i use korg gadget which includes synths based on the sounds from darius. thank you so much for this. i love love love that the music is an extremely important part of this genre and revered so highly by the fanbase. it's such a technical genre of gameplay but the aesthetics and art surrounding the art are both respected and critiqued so thoughtfully by you, shmups on switch, etc. it really makes me appreciate the complexities of people and their reactions to art. thanks for doing what you do. your passion itself is incredible. I'd listen to you blather on about maritime litigation if you were as enthusiastic about it.

@kevin12567 6 месяцев назад

You're absolutely right about great music being the soundtrack to our lives! This is especially true of myself and video game music: I love to play a VGM I love from a wearable Blutooth speaker during my Target runs after work! The limitations of retro consoles & computers give them their personalities! That's why fantasy consoles like Pico-8 exist, and even new retro computers like the ZX Spectrum Next (which I just received yesterday)!

@jbmaru 3 года назад

Thunder Force fan here. Great video as always. Although I haven't played Natsuki Chronicles yet, I can now recognise that track, with its bass sounding like the Mega Drive.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

If you love TF, definitely give Natsuki a go one day. It definitely pays a lot of homage to that series in various stages, but mixes it up with a few different series. But there's one late stage in particular that plays fast and furious and could easily have been a TF sequel level in itself.

@Gallospacca- 2 года назад

Nice video, it shines through your passion and the fact that you know a lot about it. My favorite soundrack is undoubtedly Darius gaiden's for Saturn, which for me is also one of the best soundracks ever in video games (for what it's worth, in my opinion Darius gaiden is the best shooter ever). Then Guardian legend for nes who has timeless music, every time I play it continues to involve me and excite me a lot. Another shooter with top music is Tatsujin for Pc engine, even if the game is too difficult for me it is one of the shooters that approaches technical perfection. As you do in the video I also want to give credit to today's developers / composers and my choice falls on Fast striker for Dreamcast, trance music is one of my favorite genres so Fast striker for me easily rises above the average also because it is a fun game. Last mention goes to the first shooter I ever bought, Parodius for snes, still today it remains one of my favorites and the crystalline quality of the music is still amazing today. I'm watching a lot of your videos, congratulations are one more interesting than the other (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

@chrisdanks6447 2 года назад

It's funny,I'm terrible at remembering song lyrics and tunes from songs. But video games tunes I can bring back almost instantly.

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

Many of them are earworms or have that perfect catchy tune that's memorable. I think I listen to game music more than regular haha.

@MiiDev69 2 года назад

This was an incredible documentary! I am glad Thunder Force V made in, even though it was just for a brief moment. Thunder Force V, Gradius 3 and Raiden 2 were the games I grew up with and their soundtracks are master pieces. Thank you ever so much for your work.

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

You’re welcome. I love music in games and it’s always been critical for me, so I wanted to make something fun like this for a while. It’d be impossible not to mention thunder force and Gradius in a video like this. Both Konami and Technosoft made some of the best music of that era. Raiden was always a classic too with Go Sato’s compositions.

@donnykey1165 3 года назад

yes Yes YES! When I saw Zanac early in the video I knew I was in for a treat. Great taste in your choices to showcase, man! Now let me fire up that magmapeel jam from the Gun-Nac soundtrack.... :)

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Nobody did those early vertical shooters like Compile, almost every game they made is now considered a classic for one reason or another. And a big part were the soundtracks to most of their games. Gun Nac may be my favorite of all their NES games along with Guardian Legend.

@largerfire9791 3 года назад

oh my guy, nice shout out for the amigas paula chip! got wired and rocked out to this one (poodle/g+t/cbd) ❤

@Alianger 3 года назад

16:10 WB3: Monster Lair is a good early example of that. Nice vid!

@michielkroder4031 3 года назад

Another incredible video. The editing, narrative and track picks are out of this world. And I was happy to see some of the tracks we picked for our shmup music podcast come by as well! 😊

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I noticed that too actually. I looked at your link and was like, oh I did that one too, and that one, and that one. Looks like we were thinking of a lot of similar games.

@amerigocosta7452 3 года назад

Man, you're nailing it video after video! I grew up with the C64 and that distinctive SID sound is something I could never forget. It was the ancient Gyruss on the C64 that made me realise how important the music was in a shooter. I want to mention three legendary computer shmups with great soundtracks that deserve appreciation: Tyrian 2000 for the PC, Flame Zapper Kotsujin for the PC-98 and Wings of Death for the Atari ST.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Oh man, Flame Zapper. That one is so cool and I only learned about it from a friend on Twitter around last year. I didn't get to grow up with these computer systems and missed most of the games, only learning more about them now. But I do remember Tyrian 2000 as I was mainly playing PC. A lot of people have good memories of that one and I still see homages to it in modern games. I'm going to be exploring a lot more games on the Mister soon for C64, Amiga and MSX that I missed out on.

@prehistogeek7090 3 года назад

Very good choice, impeccable video editing as always my friend👌 but, personally, not to mention Elemental Master and Thunder Force V when talking about shmup soundtracks surprises me a bit 😉😋

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thunder Force V was in there dude! You didn't see it? I had a whole section for the start of the 32bit era, TFV soundtrack is awesome. I did miss Elemental Master though, you have a good point on that. I will have to rectify that during the Tehcnosoft video 😉

@prehistogeek7090 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie 18:35 my apologies buddy! I admit that I watched this video on public transport 😅 Your selection was really excellent, for EM it's just that for me it's one of the best soundtracks in the history of video games 😁 Can't wait to see your Technosoft video! 😊👍

@johnlogan8615 3 года назад

Great Vidéo and good sounds .... thank you I love Shoot Them Up for ever ...

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

You're welcome. I hope you continue playing them forever as will many of us.

@johnlogan8615 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie ok I am French. I have been playing the console since 1976 ... I have known à lot of times. I particulary love the PC engine the megadrive and the Playstation 1.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@johnlogan8615 You have good taste. The pc engine is also one of my all time favorites. I have a couple friends from France that are also big STG players that also are big fans of the pc engine.

@ponysew1740 3 года назад

Gradius V is the game that got me into shmup genre. And its music is still really good up to this date.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Gradius V is just an awesome game in general, one of the best in the series. And possibly my favorite Treasure shmup.

@ponysew1740 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie DESTROY THE CORE! Every boss explosion is EPIC!

@Camdavis11 3 года назад

What an awesome video. Thank you for this. I'm a big fan of the later shmup music when things got moodier, but I sure can appreciate the older stuff too. I'll never forget when I first heard the theme for Raiden, when you take off from the carrier... By the way, off topic, but I finally made it through R- type Delta, and man, you were right. An incredible game and incredible ending. I've never felt guiltier about killing an enemy in a shmup then those crystalline babies.... Masterpiece of a game.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

If you love the moody stuff did you ever hear the soundtrack for Last Hope on Neo Geo? (And later Dreamcast). It’s pretty incredible. Brutal game it’s easier to just enjoy the music without playing haha. But the later pink bullets DC release got balanced out and is a bit more reasonable. I’m really glad you finally got to play through Delta. What a masterpiece of a game. And yeah in terms of mood and effective music that last stage is unreal!

@Camdavis11 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie oh holy crap I'd never even heard of Last Hope! I am a huge fan of NG Dev's Gunlord and it's amazing soundtrack... I will have to check out last hope as soon as possible!!!!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@Camdavis11 Same composer. If you love Gunlord can’t go wrong with Last Hope. I gave the game music some time in this video too on a couple occasions. It’s definitely my fav Neo Geo soundtrack. I had to go buy the CD when I heard it haha.

@KingLizzardsGameLounge 3 года назад

Excellent video, this must have taken hours.... A Serious trip down nostalgia road for me and great to see some old friends (especially the Amiga, thank you!) plus some awesome looking newer games I'm not aware of, but will be looking up for sure. The music is where just as much of the magic is for me in these games with the R-Type's, UN Squandron, Axelay and so on that instantly run rampant in my mind musically when I think of them. I've had R-Type's tune in my head since Sunday, when I first started watching! Awesome video dude.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thank you dude. I'm glad you got a chance to catch up and enjoy it. You were lucky to enjoy the Amiga growing up, to where it was as possible for me as a turbografx was for you. Just didn't really exist in the US or where I lived and could only drool over them in magazines. I am definitely going to do an Amiga Shmups episode at one point as I have a lot of folks on the discord that are very knowledgeable in it. So they'll point me in the right direction and I'm finally going to play a lot of those beauties.

@KingLizzardsGameLounge 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie Awesome mate. Looking forward to that. I'll try to chip in as I played a lot back in those days.

@kitzen1795 3 года назад

this video feels like a 2 for 1 deal, cause i'm a sucker for some good music, and i've also trying to get into more shmups lately. ended up finding quite a lot of games that caught my eye. and great video, i'll definitely be sticking around for more!

@northprime_unlimited 3 года назад

I can’t believe you left out Einhander from this video. One of the greatest OSTs from a shoot’em up!!🧐 Good video though👍🏽

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I had to leave out Einhander unfortunately and originally planned to include it. Square Enix has been policing videos with their music lately and I didn't want to risk getting nailed. Their poor behavior cost them the slot, though I agree Einhander has some great music. I would have liked to feature a choice track from it.

@northprime_unlimited 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie WOW they’re like that?! What a shame for them cuz channels like this keep these games alive. “Dawn” has to be my all time favorite track from Einhander.

@markguyton2868 3 года назад

@@northprime_unlimited The fact that Nintendo had to go through massive leaps and hurdles to just put Cloud and *2 SONGS* into Smash 4... I'm honestly not surprised...

@kevward2596 3 года назад

Will never forget when I first played einhander on my ps1 and I was playing it in black and white🙈lol was Japanese import say no more🙄😂but that game blew my mind and how powerful the PlayStation 1 actually was 👍here’s hoping for a remastered version now that would be amazing 😎

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@northprime_unlimited I think they are mostly doing that to channels that play their entire soundtracks. But I was just playing it safe. But yeah no final fantasy vids in my future haha

@dc5330 3 года назад

What a stellar episode. Great work.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thanks! I had a blast making it too.

@alexrushdy2751 3 года назад

Garegga mighy be my favourite Namiki OST but I actually really love his work on Zed Blade. It's so damn good. What a legend.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Nice call on Zed Blade, that's rarely ever mentioned by anyone. Since it was arcade only I'd never even heard of it until just years ago by chance. I didn't originally know Namiki did the OST for it either, that's cool. Must have been some of his earliest work.

@alexrushdy2751 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie yeah I think it was his second or third shmup ever scored. Great game, shame it never got a AES cart.

@hooksnfangs6006 3 года назад

Music is a BIG deal for SHMUPS! I am terrible at many SHMUPS, but a good OST will always keep me coming back for more and practice. If the music isn't really to my taste, sounds boring, or doesn't seem fitting I usually don't replay that SHMUP as often. Anything by Konami, Cave, & Touhou usually has me whistling the tunes while I play the games.

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I've been known to like some bad games simply for the great music so I know what you mean haha. It can make a bad game decent or playable, and an already good game legendary. Something like Eschatos falls into that category for me, where the game is already good to begin with, but the insane music just makes it Top 5 for me.

@camargotechx7 3 года назад

An awesome soundtrack is a requirement for great shmups. It’s what keeps me putting in one more credit, having one more shot at the final boss, one more crack at the high score. Thanks SJ for this awesome video, it’s my favorite thus far 👍🏽

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

That's high praise thank you. I'm stoked you enjoyed it that much. I think this one and my older amazing shmups of the 80s and 90s and are my favorites I've made, along with the pc engine history. I can't take too much credit for this one, as the music itself is really what is so good. I just try to edit it in a way that makes listening to clips of all these tracks memorable and organize it in a meaningful way.

@metalknight83 3 года назад

Every video you create is a shmups love letter, your job has become an important part of shooters history! Nice video as always!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thank you. It's always a pleasure doing a musical episode as they pretty much write themselves. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, even if it's not the most popular topic for whatever reason. I don't see much like it on youtube so I wanted to make something people can search down the road.

@elvisrobotbeta3299 3 года назад

One of the best reports I've ever seen (or heard)👏👏👏

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

Thank you I’m glad you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun making it too.

@LouGojira2 3 года назад

Awesome and beautiful video Junkie! Please consider doing an ongoing series of videos (maybe one a month) dedicated to shmup music. Maybe you could dedicate a whole video to one particular composer, or perhaps a whole video dedicated to the soundtrack of one certain shmup. As for this video, thank you for the sweet trip down memory lane, and the cool words of inspiration at the end. You are truly passionate over what you talk about. May God bless you, and smoke 'em if you got 'em!

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I'm really glad you enjoyed it and thank you. I can only make 2-3 videos per month, so I doubt I could make something like this that often, but I definitely enjoy music oriented videos. And I'm up for future videos highlighting certain composers or artists for the games. It's always enjoyable making them. I thought the ending came out great using the track from Devil Engine, which just has music so good it's hard to believe. More people need to enjoy that game.

@LouGojira2 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie Devil Engine looks like a serious love-letter to the Thunder Force series (which had some PHENOMENAL music as well). Devil Engine is definitely on my wishlist! 👍

@KTJohnsonkidThunder 3 года назад

Awesome video. I totally agree with everything stated here.

@Ashura96 2 года назад

One of my favorite underrated shoot 'em up composers is Manfred Linzner from Shin'en - best known for the Iridion and Nanostray games which all have amazing soundtracks.

@ShmupJunkie 2 года назад

It's actually my deficiency for not having gotten to play them much for whatever reason. So I didn't realize they had some awesome music in them. Gives me a reason to remedy that and move them up on the list to play. As I know both games but just never owned them to play before as I never had a DS. I was waiting on my Analogue Pocket to finally ship soon and play them among others I missed.

@prehistogeek7090 3 года назад

Excellent! 👏 A video that our friend Jo.Jo Junior should love 🤣

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

I think our friend Jojo would love the weird shmuos video even more. I tagged him in that photo I did with the underwear 😅

@prehistogeek7090 3 года назад

@@ShmupJunkie I made the wrong video for my comment 😓 You understood I think 😉

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

@@prehistogeek7090 I did yes haha. I was just having fun 😉

@mrmonkeyman79 3 года назад

Great video, I was worried for a bit when you showed thunder force IV without playing Metal Squad but then BAM, you threw it in there at the last minute! Really pleased you followed up on my suggestion in the r type history video and gave the c64 some love. Chris Huelsbeck did the R Type and Apidya soundtracks that you played and was considered a legend in the c64 and amiga scene since he did many of the best c64 and Amiga soundtracks. You actually hit the nail on the head with the way composers approached chip tunes differently. I forget where i read it but with limited sounds, audio channels and often having to limit the length of the music they concentrated on creating strong and catchy melodies. This was lost somewhat when those limitations went and is why a lot of modern game soundtracks do a great job of enhancing the mood whole playing but don't stick in the head so well but you'll likely remember the music from many 8 or 16 bit games you haven't played since you were a kid.

@noop9k 3 года назад

C64 is known for having awesome music in otherwise crappy games :P

@kevward2596 3 года назад

😎long live shmups 💪boss video shmup junkie loved watching this one ,listening to all the classic sounds from my childhood ,and appreciate them all once again,love my shmups always have always will👍thanks again for representing us all who love shmups/bullethell games😎

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

You're welcome and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. As much as I did making it.

@secretysecret1551 3 года назад

ohhhhh, I see you finally tried Devil Engine. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of that doozy

@ShmupJunkie 3 года назад

It was a crazy week getting the video done, so tried is the operative word. The music is insane of course, but it's also a hard game, so I need to put more time into it soon to get very far. But it will certainly be worth it, and maybe once I do I can give it more time in an upcoming video.