If you thought we were done paying tribute to the 25th anniversary of Metroid, well… then you haven’t met the Bad Dudes. They don’t play by our rules. They don’t celebrate when we celebrate. But they do make music that will save the galaxy.

I’m talking about the same dudes that brought you the fantastic CHRONOTORIOUS album and fought the OverClocked ReMix community in musical combat. We are talking about some seriously bad dudes here. Dudes so bad they were commissioned by Samus herself to make the Metroid Arrange 25th Anniversary Album (if their totally rad trailer below is to be believed).

(more…)

A good video game boss theme is a lot like a good video game boss: it will punch you in the face in the best possible way. These are the themes of the baddest of the bad. Their baditude knows no bounds.

But even bad guys deserve their dues. That’s exactly why OverClocked ReMix is paying tribute to these vicious villains with a totally badass remix album appropriately titled BadAss Boss Battle Themes. But not just any style of music would do. These had to be the most dark, gritty, downright evil mixes forged into mp3 (and FLAC) files.

What does that translate to? Well, mostly heavy metal. But there’s also some really mean electronica and even an epic orchestral Mega Man 3 arrangement. You may think you’ve heard your share of “One Winged Angel” remixes already, but you’ve probably never heard one that channels the hard hitting beats and abrasive synths of early Justice tracks like PrototypeRaptor’s mix does.

(more…)

Continuing the deluge of 25th anniversary game albums of 2011 comes a tribute to The Legend of Zelda. No, not the symphonic concert series CD packaged with Skyward Sword. This one is far more eclectic (not to mention free).

25YEARLEGEND reinterprets memorable tunes from all across the franchise including some of Link’s less covered, portable adventures like Link’s Awakening and Oracle of Seasons. It’s a loving tribute to the music of a series that inspired each of the indie (and not so indie) game composers involved. Disasterpeace (Fez), Laura Shigihara (Plants vs. Zombies), C418 (Minecraft), Souleye (VVVVVV), and Big Giant Circles (Mass Effect 2) are just a few of the talented contributing artists.

(more…)

2011 will be forever known as the year every game ever had its 25th anniversary. To celebrate the incredibly dense history of Castlevania (which I’m pretty sure consists of 1.2 hojillion games), a group of talented fans have put together a remix album to celebrate the occasion.

Vampire Variations reinvents the soundtrack of the NES classic while taking a few additional elements from throughout the series. Listen to only half the album and you’ll get the wrong ending! Divided into two distinct musical acts, the album covers everything from “Rock and Orchestral to Jazz and Electronic”.

But don’t worry. Unlike Dracula’s castle, you won’t have to do anything fancy to unlock the inverted second act of this album. Just grab a whip and adventure into the album’s official site. Of course, if you’re too scared to walk in blind (and who can blame you?), you can prepare yourself with the teaser trailer below.

(more…)

Just in time for the 25th anniversary of the Kunio-kun series, OverClocked ReMix has just released an arrange album of Super Dodge Ball (the first of many Kunio sports games). Of course, this timing is probably more coincidence as the album has been in the works (to varying degrees) for a whopping seven years.

The aim of Super Dodge Ball: Around the World was to take Kazuo Sawa’s original score and reinterpret in a variety of ethnic styles. With an interesting hybrid of world music combined with, rock, trance, and symphonic music, I think it’s safe to say they succeeded. They even got MegaRan to perform on the obligatory rap song.

(more…)

There has been no shortage of great music recently thanks to virt’s Bloodrayne: Betrayal soundtrack and the new Big Giant Circles album. But the fun doesn’t stop there.

Samuel Ascher-Weiss (better known in the music scene as Shnabubula) released an original, progressive jazz album titled Game Genie using instruments from a variety of familiar video game hardware. Samuel’s excellent improvisational piano skills combined with the old blips and bloops we gamers have grown up loving create a unique, technical sound that’s as impressive as it is delightful to listen to. And he’s not even charging for it. How crazy is that?

(more…)

All the kids these days are jamming to the sound of acoustic frontier trip hop. It’s new, it’s hip, and it’s the coolest. You don’t want to be left behind. You need to get in on the action, but where will you find it? We got your back.

You know that new sound you’re looking for? Well, listen to this! We at WingDamage.com are giving away one physical copy of the Bastion soundtrack for free to one lucky commenter. Not only is this a contender for video game soundtrack of the year, it’s also signed by Bastion composer Darren Korb himself.

(more…)

Are you one of the many gamers who have fallen in love with Castlevania music over the years? If so, you’ll want to check out Jake “virt” Kaufman’s score for Wayforward’s new downloadable title Bloodrayne: Betrayal.

It’s no coincidence how much the music has in common with Castlevania as Kaufman reveals that early versions of the game used tracks from Symphony of the Night as a placeholder. Three months later, Kaufman finished his original score based on this inspiration combined with his own flavor. Then he made an 8-bit version as a bonus (unlockable after finishing the game). Why not? Everybody knows NES music is the coolest.

But rather than run it through a filter, all the music was painstakingly recreated in FamiTracker for the 8-bit version. This retro conversion process has created some sort of crazy neo-nostalgia that will no doubt threaten the space-time continuum.

Until that fateful moment when reality collapses in on itself, you can get both versions of the soundrack (that’s 30 tracks!) for the low, low price of free. Of course, if you are the kindhearted type and would like to reward an artist for the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the album, you can pay any price you want via Bandcamp.

Buy the Album: Bandcamp

Big Giant Circles (who you may know as Jimmy Hinson, co-composer of Mass Effect 2) has just released his debut album and it is a doozy. While it may not be video game music in the strictest sense, Impostor Nostalgia features heavy use of 8-bit chip sounds combined with modern electronica inspired by classic video games.

Not enough of a gaming connection for you? It also guest stars other video game composers including C418 (Minecraft), Souleye (VVVVVV), Disasterpeace (FEZ), Alex Brandon (Deus Ex), Mick Gordon (Need for Speed Shift), and zircon (Monkey Island 2: Special Edition).

It’s almost criminal that he only asks $4 for this 20 track prescription for happiness. Fortunately, the album is available on Bandcamp so you can throw as much extra money at him as you want to more closely match the quality of the album. Seriously. It’s really good.

(more…)

Video game music is a staple around the WingDamage offices. Especially considering our very own Main Finger is known to remix it from time to time. We’re also pretty big Mega Man fans, as evidenced by the fact that two of our regulars also write for The Mega Man Network.

If you are like us in this regard, then good news! OverClocked ReMix just released a brand new Mega Man 9 themed album, Mega Man 9: Back in Blue. It contains 18 tracks of remixed goodness from the likes of Sixto Sounds, bLiNd, Joshua Morse and our very own Jesse “Main Finger” Gregory.

It was a long time in the making, and lot of blood, sweat and robo-tears went into its creation. So much so that a sequel game came out before this album was able to. So the only question left is, what are you waiting for? Go download it now!

(more…)