Metroid Database.com

Nate Andrews of Nintendo World Report has published an excellent article summarizing the musical styles of the Metroid series. Andrews covers the aural movements of the original trilogy and the Prime trilogy. He highlights the profound impact of Super Metroid and the stumbling blocks (as well as gems) of Metroid II as well as the divergent styles of the Prime series. The article concludes with a summary of notable remix projects done over the years. While sadly, the article does not cover movements in the other portable titles or Other M, it's a well-worded, fun read.

Jeriaska of Gamasutra has also been posting a series of interviews on the Play for Japan album (all donations go towards Japan relief). His latest article is an interview with Akira Yamaoka, Mitsuto Suzuki, and Hirokazu Tanaka. Tanaka-san discusses his various pseudonyms and why he chooses what he does (Nintendo arranges are associated with 'Hirokazu Tanaka'). The master of the 2A03 (the 8-bit Nintendo sound chip) also waxes philosophic about how the magic of music can be found in the technical limitations of old hardware:

I think what got me started was discovering a kind of magic to music, something that can't be reduced to notes on a page. For instance, there's the impression of delay and echo effects, the complex temporal orientation of sound emitted from the left and right speakers, to say nothing of overall sound structure and organization.

There are properties to music that standard compositional practices often overlook. I find that in freeing myself of such self-imposed limitations, I can enter the domain where the elusive magic in the music is found.

Definitely worth the read. You can buy the full album of Play for Japan from iTunes.

Until next time...
Captain Commando