30 Days of Video Game Music: Day 2 -- Opening Level Music

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

“Graveyard, Forest & Ice Palace” - Ayako Mori

Alternate Titles: “Haunted Graveyard”, “Arthur’s Theme”
Game: Ghosts’n Goblins (1986, Arcade/NES)
Original (Arcade): YouTube
Original (NES): arr. Harumi Fujita (YouTube)
Cover: Game & Sound (YouTube)
Cover: Blake Robinson Synthetic Orchestra (YouTube)
Cover: Tom Brier sight-read (YouTube)

This upbeat yet spooky theme matches the cartoon horror look of the game perfectly. It has become the de facto series theme and is the Stage 1 music of every game in the series. Given its series ubiquity and the notoriously difficult games’ propensity to chew through hundreds of lives and continues, it’s a good thing it’s so catchy. Having said that, its familiar tune ringing out to greet the player for the series hallmark second required playthrough for the true ending has probably broken a controller or two.