Game info: Wikipedia
Listening: emulated audio, 1994 soundtrack, 2011 soundtrack (disc 5, tracks 14-30), 2017 soundtrack, 2018 soundtrack (tracks 1-18), 2023 soundtrack (disc 1, tracks 17-35)
Info
Batsugun was the last shmup by Toaplan, an influential shmup dev from the ’80s and early ’90s. I’ve never been a particularly big fan of Toaplan music, just not a lot happening in the compositional or sound programming departments that really gets me going. But a new, modern port just came out with an arranged soundtrack, so I’m gonna relisten to the original and see if my opinion’s changed.
Batsugun was composed by Yoshitatsu Sakai, who I believe was Toaplan’s last audio hire before they went bankrupt in 1994. The game uses the YM2151 for its music, which at the time was a bit dated as an audio chip (a former composer has said that the company was slow in adopting more advanced audio hardware because of “budget and other business considerations”), so the soundtrack definitely has an “old ’80s arcade game” sound to it despite being released in 1993. The stage themes are largely midtempo tracks with feel-good, flying melodies, and the boss themes are a bit more intense and dark, stereotypical shmupcore stuff. The soundtrack’s okay, I basically got what I was expecting/what I remembered.
The soundtrack has been released multiple times throughout the years with very minor differences, mostly relating to how many sound effects, jingles, and voice clips are included. The 2017 release includes an arranged boss medley by Shinji Hosoe not available anywhere else, and the new 2023 release includes a couple of prototype versions not available anywhere else.
Recommended tracks:
These uploads are from the Saturn port of the game, which has a very slightly different sound compared to the buzzier original arcade version that you could describe as “smoother” or “muffled,” depending on whether you think it’s better or worse.
-
“PSYCHO PARANOIA (BOSS 3)” is just a short loop of a couple of syncopated rhythmic figures going at it
-
“GEO FRONTIER (STAGE 5)” is the final stage theme and is unexpectedly kind of a slow rock jam
-
“Soldier’s Hymn (CONTINUE)” is a completely random sample rave track, why is this in the video game
(final track title is an unofficial translation from VGMdb)
Leave a Reply