30 Days of Video Game Music: Day 16 -- 16-bit Music

Check out the Day 1 post for the full challenge list.

“Dreamer” - Yuzo Koshiro

Game: Streets of Rage 2 (1992, Genesis)
Original: YouTube, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Spotify
Cover: VankiP (YouTube)

As with the 8-bit day, this is not my first 16-bit pick and it probably won’t be my last. But it’s today’s prompt, which is cool with me because this track rules, and now I don’t have to worry about squeezing it in somewhere else.

I don’t know if this is necessarily my favorite 16-bit piece of all time, but it’s up there. Taken as a whole, this may very well be my favorite 16-bit soundtrack. Regardless, nothing says “16-bit music” to me quite like Yuzo Koshiro pushing the Genesis sound chip to its absolute limit. It was perhaps inferior to the SNES chip on paper, but with its signature lo-fi, tinny sound, it yielded a different kind of music from its early ’90s rival that could be every bit as good in its own right. In Streets of Rage 2, that difference shines brightly. There was simply nothing quite like this on Nintendo.

The tiebreaker between this and the obvious “Go Straight” Stage 1 music was the excellent cover by VankiP on YouTube. He did a great job, and strangely I’m not aware of a cover that quite does “Go Straight” justice. Perhaps yet another testament to the surprising power of the Yamaha YM2612. But really, do yourself a favor and listen to the entire Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack from the top, even if you have before. You won’t regret it.