sounds of the ninja

echh. i’m way behind on everything these days. i’ve been meaning to start posting reviews of video game soundtracks for quite some time now but haven’t gotten around to it. this one will be nice and quick though.

as you may have noticed, i finished and reviewed ninja gaiden: shadow fairly recently. my renewed interest in video games has gotten to the point where i need to listen to game music while i’m at work. game music has the added bonus that it does a pretty good job of keeping me going at work. nothing like some good ninja music to keep you debugging programs haha. of the soundtracks to the recent games i’ve played (many of which are available at the great, great, great galbadia hotel), ng: shadow is among my favorites. i’m a big fan of old school gaming, and esp. old school game music. they just don’t make ‘em like they used to. the music in ng: shadow is very much in the japanese platformer tradition and reminded me of the best of games like mega man. in general i’ve found that listening to the tracks in the video game vs. on a stereo is quite a different experience, and in this particular case there’s a percussion patch that sounds distinctly “squelchy” that gets overused. other than that, and the boss music that i definitely am not a fan of, the score is pretty strong all around. i’m not sure who it’s by though, so if anyone beats the game anytime soon please let me know who it says in the credits!

i got this image from classicgaming.gamespy.com which has some good info on natsume as well as more info about the “shadow of the ninja” series.

also, in my post about the game i pointed out the game page at ninjagaiden.classicgaming.gamespy.com which also has the code for the sound test. that site also has mp3s of the soundtrack. ROCK.

looking back

well, it’s def. been a full year of gaming. i’m not quite sure that last christmas when i got a gamecube after years of living without a console i would’ve fallen quite so hard in my renewed interest for video games, or that i would’ve had so many memorable times. but looking over all these blog entries it’s clear that it’s def. been quite a year.

and now, for your viewing pleasure, here’s the list of games i’ve finished in 2006 (in approximate descending order) and their corresponding blog reviews:

HIGHEST
- metroid prime (GCN) (1|2|3)
- super smash bros. melee (GCN)
- pokemon yellow (GB) (1|2)
- pikmin (GCN) (1|2)
- zelda: link’s awakening (GB)
- super smash bros. (N64)

MIDDLE
- super mario land 2 (GB)
- paper mario: the thousand-year door (GCN)
- super mario sunshine (GCN)
- animal crossing (GCN)
- x-men legends (GCN)
- balloon fight (NES)
- ninja gaiden: shadow (GB)
- luigi’s mansion (GCN)

LOWEST
- the legend of zelda: the wind waker (GCN)
- kirby’s dream land 2 (GB)
- eternal darkness (GCN)

looking over the list of games i’ve finished this year, it’s def. been a wild ride. for those of you following along at home, that was 10 GCN games, 5 GB, 1 N64, and 1 NES, for a total of 17. this doesn’t include all the hours spent starting games and then dropping them temporarily in favor of something else.

i’m in the middle of about a half-dozen games, so 2007 will prob. see even more games finished. here’s to another good year of video games!