Monday, August 10, 2015

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - August of Wind Edition

I am SO sorry for that incredibly forced, immensely lame pun in this edition's title. It's even worse if you didn't get the pun! However, I won't let it ruin this edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs! No, no! How can an edition of this long running weekly SPC segment be ruined when you have music from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, The Great Giana Sisters-- marking a SPC's Favorite VGMs first by having a Commodore 64 game on the list-- and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity! We then end on a lovely note with jazz goodness from Skullgirls Encore and a beautiful vocal theme from Phantasy Star Universe. Let's get to the music!

v936. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Multi) - Snowland


Let's move away from the hot summer temperatures with a trip to Snowland. This just so happens to be the home of Street Fighter III combatants Twelve and Necro. Neither appeared in Street Fighter IV, but perhaps we'll see Capcom revisit the duo with Street Fighter V. There is always hope, after all, dear friends!

v937. The Great Giana Sisters (C64) - Menu Theme


This is a special VGM volume for SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs, as The Great Giana Sisters is the very first Commodore 64 related song on this ever-expanding list of great video game music tunes. In Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, the lone game in the series to not be a blatant Super Mario Bros. clone, features a heavy metal version of this theme as a regular level theme instead of something for a menu.

v938. Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Wii, PS2) - Sealed Ground


Played during the Gigan Rocks course of Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Sealed Ground has a more natural sounding feel to it. It's perfect for climbing huge hills, weaving in and out of boulders and rocks, and soaring past the competition. I hold the unpopular opinion that both Sonic Riders games (we won't mention the Kinect-only Free Riders or whatever it was called) are pretty good racers. They definitely require a lot more skill than what many critics and players were probably expecting.

v939. Skullgirls Encore (Multi) - Unfinished Business (Under the Bridge)


We started this edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs with some jazz music from one fighter, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, so we move now to another jazz piece from a different fighter, Skullgirls Encore. The soundtrack, partly done by the woman behind the music for the Wild Arms series, is absolutely stunning with its jazz background. Makes you want to prolong fights just to continue listening to the stage music, doesn't it?

v940. Phantasy Star Universe (360, PS2) - For Brighter Day


We conclude this edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs with a credits theme from the awfully mediocre Phantasy Star Universe. Sure, the game was a slog to play through, but one part of it that was beyond wonderful was the soundtrack, as to be expected by a Sonic Team soundtrack. You can criticize a lot about Sonic Team, but the soundtracks of their games rarely disappoint.

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