Top 10 Best Sega Genesis Soundtracks
We are back with another top 10 countdown of soundtracks. This episode we break down the best Sega Genesis soundtracks.
#3 - Elemental Master
This fantasy shmup had some excellent chip tune beats. The soundtrack accompanies players as they take on giant enemy bosses and navigate excellently designed levels. This soundtrack is criminally underrated, but our community clearly has some great taste with their votes landing this title at the number three spot.
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Greg Burke posted a new article, Top 10 Best Sega Genesis Soundtracks
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Thunderforce 3
https://youtu.be/rBnLUqJvRD0
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There's a lot of 'Genesis sound chip was clearly inferior' in this, and that's not really accurate to me.
The SNES and Genesis approached sound in very different ways - a sample based DSP vs. mostly FM synth with wave and tone generators - but they could both be used very effectively to make good music. The Genesis did kinda require more hands-on approach to coding audio, though, and so a lot of games used an off the shelf software solution and sounded samey and not really great.
But given the above, check out what the Demoscene was able to do on the platform as far as audio goes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI5ZONsskPA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQqJm14sHRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBzRzuAECm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_G-PP5lgmk
So, sure, if you want something that sounds as close to an orchestra as 16-bit consoles could come, SNES is better for that. But if you were looking for something with an electronic edge (like, say, most Contra or Castlevania tracks?) the Genesis was super capable in that area.
It just took some dev work to get there.
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And here's a bit on one of the more popular pieces of software game companies used on the Genesis:
https://segaretro.org/GEMS
A lot of people blame this for genesis games 'all sounding bad', but that's not really accurate. It could be used to very good effect, but again, that required devs who knew what they were doing and had the time to do it.
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