I rarely go back to listen to 8-bit soundtracks, but whenever I do I always want to just boot up a playlist of the soundtrack for Earthbound Beginnings. There's just something about the way the songs are composed that just make it a joy to listen to.
(I would seriously just ride the train between the two longest points for no reason but to hear this song loop fully.)
In fact, I would even go as far to say that this game wouldn't really be worth playing through if it wasn't for the soundtrack. The design of the game is definitely dated by today's standards, and it is notoriously difficult for a first-time playthrough with its maze-like dungeons and tough (read: borderline unfair) enemy encounters. What honestly drove me through my most recent playthrough of the game was just to hear all these amazing chiptunes.
And Nintendo knew that they had something special here. Why else would they have made a special album that gives vocals to many of the major songs from that game? I've never seen a company do something like this, especially for such a niche franchise that never even came to the West at the time (I know it was planned to and ultimately canceled, but still).
(Posting the original and Catherine Warwick's vocalization of it for comparison's sake. Did you know she was only 14 when she sang for this album? That's some incredible range for someone that young.)
Even in Smash, the majority of Earthbound music is from this game. Pollyanna, Bein' Friends, Humoresque of a Little Dog, Eight Melodies, Magicant, etc. all came from Earthbound Beginnings, not its more contemporary and well-known sequel (whose main character Ness is, ironically, the face of the series despite how little musical representation his own game gets). People who played on Onett in Melee heard music exclusively from this game.
(Non-butchered version, of course. Fun fact: This version of the song is directly based off of the vocalized version made for the above mentioned album, as it has musical cues lifted from that song that are not present in the original. Please fix this for Ultimate, Sakurai! ;__; )
So what do people here say? Am I overrating it or is the OST for Earthbound Beginnings really something special?
(I would seriously just ride the train between the two longest points for no reason but to hear this song loop fully.)
In fact, I would even go as far to say that this game wouldn't really be worth playing through if it wasn't for the soundtrack. The design of the game is definitely dated by today's standards, and it is notoriously difficult for a first-time playthrough with its maze-like dungeons and tough (read: borderline unfair) enemy encounters. What honestly drove me through my most recent playthrough of the game was just to hear all these amazing chiptunes.
And Nintendo knew that they had something special here. Why else would they have made a special album that gives vocals to many of the major songs from that game? I've never seen a company do something like this, especially for such a niche franchise that never even came to the West at the time (I know it was planned to and ultimately canceled, but still).
(Posting the original and Catherine Warwick's vocalization of it for comparison's sake. Did you know she was only 14 when she sang for this album? That's some incredible range for someone that young.)
Even in Smash, the majority of Earthbound music is from this game. Pollyanna, Bein' Friends, Humoresque of a Little Dog, Eight Melodies, Magicant, etc. all came from Earthbound Beginnings, not its more contemporary and well-known sequel (whose main character Ness is, ironically, the face of the series despite how little musical representation his own game gets). People who played on Onett in Melee heard music exclusively from this game.
(Non-butchered version, of course. Fun fact: This version of the song is directly based off of the vocalized version made for the above mentioned album, as it has musical cues lifted from that song that are not present in the original. Please fix this for Ultimate, Sakurai! ;__; )
So what do people here say? Am I overrating it or is the OST for Earthbound Beginnings really something special?
