30 Days of Video Game Music: Day 23 -- Underrated Music

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

“Level 1 Warning” - KONAMI KuKeiHa CLUB*

Game: Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990, MSX2)
Original: YouTube
Metal Gear / Solid Snake: Music Compilation of Hideo Kojima / Red Disc version: YouTube
Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions version: YouTube
Metal Gear 20th Anniversary Music Collection version: YouTube
Remix: Danil Tastukhov YouTube

This song may really be more of a piece from an underrated game than underrated music itself, but the two kind of go hand in hand. I will say I picked this over “Theme of Solid Snake”, as that was at least included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and subsequently remixed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which has given it more exposure. The whole Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake soundtrack is well-done, but since this is the music during the majority of non-alert sneaking, it acts as sort of an “overworld” theme as they exist in other games. It’s a calm track, and I think it works well ad nauseam. The VR Missions version is where the theme really shines, though. I think it’s a great arrangement. A fitting inclusion in another setting where you must hear it loop countless times across dozens of VR scenarios, and it still holds up. Solid track.

*The Wikipedia article for Metal Gear 2 lists Tsuyoshi Sekito, Masahiro Ikariko, Mutsuhiko Izumi, Yuko Kurahashi, Tomoya Tomita, Kazuhiko Uehara, and Yuji Takenouchi as the composers for the game, but I have been unsuccessful in determining the exact composer(s) of this piece. But it was presumably one or more of those people!