Hucard Sound Output

Ninja Spirit · 07/27/2005, 04:00 PM

Who else other than myself has that ear for Hucard sound effects or music that sounds too identical to NES/Famicom?

I've always been a fan of 8-bit music from the NES/Sega Master System and that makes Hucard soundtracks such as Barunba, China Warrior/The Kung Fu, and Burning Angels some of my favorites.

As mentioned in another thread, the drum channel in Tiger Road sounds very similar to Mega Man 2's.

PCE Ninja Gaiden also has the same item pickup, life up, extra life, and pause sound effects from the NES NG trilogy.

Keranu · 07/27/2005, 06:13 PM

I love the PCE PSG sound. Ever since I started getting into TG16/PCE games, I noticed one thing; the music always rules in every game, even if it's the crappiest game. When I got into CD games, the same rule still applied. In my strong opinion, the TG16/PCE has the best game music of all time.

I know what you mean by how it sounds like NES, and I can agree. I think it sounds more like a beef-uped NES, which is quite awesome. I was never a fan of the Genesis sound, it's always sound too "scratchy" for me (an excellent example of this is in "El Viento", but that game still ruled.), rather than the smooth TG16/PCE sound. Also I always thought Sega Master System sound was pretty shitty, although it has a atmosphere to it that I kind of like. The FM sound for the SMS, on the other hand, is quite nice.

A few of my favorite TG16/PCE HuCard soundtracks:

Batman - This is just too good, hardware and music wise.

Dungeon Explorer - You have to beat a couple dungeons to really experience how awesome the music is.

King of Casino - Okay people are going to think I am a dork for listing this one, but I thought the soft music in this game was stunning. It's composed for perfect relaxation and made me enjoy the game a lot because of it.

I'd also like to mention that some CD games had excellent PSG music. The best example that comes to mind is Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys which had INCREDIBLE PSG music.

doomfarer75 · 07/27/2005, 07:45 PM

Ahh..the 8-bit sounds of yore...I ma actually thinking about the revolution just so I can play all those old games on one system. so many NES and turbo soundtracks come to mind...final fantasy, the opening screens of Zelda, and metroid..(i still love it when samus phases in too!) blaster master
the list goes on

and who can forget the pounding beats of Ninja gaiden, and the dark drama of the final cut scenes before you take down the jackio...Ryu says.."I cannot be beat"! that got me so pumped! when games were games!
I never played the PCE version of it but i guess it is the arcade. i liked the nes better.

Dungeon explorer had awesome music keranu, you are right! and I was blown away when my friend got the cd system and we heard the music of Ys,
my breath was taken, but it was strange too...foreign in some manner

I love to beebop along to the radio here! lately my connection has been strange...some of this should be in the general discussions aaron..sorry!

jlued686 · 07/27/2005, 09:44 PM

Bloody Wolf has a FANTASTIC soundtrack. I can hum most of the tunes to this day...

Keranu · 07/27/2005, 10:53 PM

Bloody Wolf was pretty good too. Remember that funny part in the first level song where you can hear a digitalized voice say "Yeeeah!"? That was pretty hilarious when I first heard it.

Bomberman, Bomberman '93, and Bomberman '94 all had some great tunes as well. Oh one of my favorite HuCard tracks is in the opening of the Japanese game "Cyber Cross". I thought that song was awesome and I would always repeat the opening to hear it, along with watching the sweet opening

.

Ninja Spirit · 07/27/2005, 10:55 PM

Quote from: "doomfarer75"I never played the PCE version of it but i guess it is the arcade. i liked the nes better.

PCE Ninja Gaiden is a semi enhanced port of the first NES game, some subtle balances were tweaked and made it slightly harder than the NES. 98% of the music is totally different, the small Act introduction tune is still intact.

torgo · 07/27/2005, 11:55 PM

Actually, Neutopia 2 is setup to utilize Dolby Prologic.

Keranu · 07/28/2005, 01:42 AM

Really? I did not know that, interesting.

AlexKidd · 07/28/2005, 05:48 AM

I really like a lot of the music in hucard games, along with nes and sms stuff. The ones that comes to mind are Dungeon Explorer, Neutopia II, Raiden and Blazing Lazers. These all sound espcially good with a turbo booster.

This is kind of off topic, but is the turbo/pc engine sound chip more powerful than the genesis one? I've always thought it sounded better though i'm not sure of the actual specs.

OldRover · 07/28/2005, 07:52 AM

Quote from: "AlexKidd"This is kind of off topic, but is the turbo/pc engine sound chip more powerful than the genesis one? I've always thought it sounded better though i'm not sure of the actual specs.

Open to interpretation, really...

The Genesis sound circuitry had more voices but the PCE chip was of better quality and was more efficient as well (built into the main processor as opposed to requiring a seperate processor AND a sound chip). Even with their crappy-ass stock Yamaha sound chip though, a few games on the Genesis managed to pound out some classics (who can forget the soundtracks from Sonic The Hedgehog? I have a particular like for the soundtrack from Phantasy Star 4 and Jewel Master as well...). But there are very few games on the PCE with bad-sounding soundtracks, and off the top of my head, I can't think of any.

doomfarer75 · 07/28/2005, 07:53 AM

Quote from: Ninja Spirit on 07/27/2005, 10:55 PMPCE Ninja Gaiden is a semi enhanced port of the first NES game, some subtle balances were tweaked and made it slightly harder than the NES. 98% of the music is totally different, the small Act introduction tune is still intact.

OMG really? so it has the same levels, story line and is more of a challenge? ("tecmo games-hard to beat"! ) complete with the drama of Ryu's dad and what not? I may have to get this game. The NES version was legendary..I remember how they talked it up in Nintendo Power and it really delivered...superb!

Ninja Spirit · 07/28/2005, 09:03 AM

QuoteOMG really? so it has the same levels, story line and is more of a challenge? ("tecmo games-hard to beat"! ) complete with the drama of Ryu's dad and what not? I may have to get this game. The NES version was legendary..I remember how they talked it up in Nintendo Power and it really delivered...superb!

http://images.google.com/images?q=Ninja+Gaiden+PC+Engine&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&start=0&sa=N&filter=0
See for your self. Hudson Soft ported it to PCE.

Problem is, if you play the rom on emulator, you can only play stage 1. that's it.

akamichi · 07/28/2005, 09:58 AM

I personally like the NES Ninja Gaiden better than the PCE one. Mainly because I like the music on the NES more. The gfx are better on the PCE of course, but the Ys III style choppy background scrolling really distracted me.

I'm kinda curious why Hudson decided to port Ninja Gaiden. I don't remember it being a particularly popular game in Japan but I'm not sure. Anyway, I was hoping for the entire trilogy, but obviously that didn't happen.

Some other games with some pretty good music are Soldier Blade, Legendary Axe II, and Tatsujin (Truxton).

Also, who can forget the awesome music from Dragon Spirit and Dragon Saber? Those two are probably my favs. I used to listen to the music on those two all the time. As a matter of fact, my friend made me a Dragon Spirit mix CD with music from PCE, Arcade, and remixed arcade music from Dragon Saber arcade hardware. Very cool.

Ninja Spirit · 07/28/2005, 10:05 AM

That reminds me, I have the first stage of Dragon Saber on minidisc.

Kaminari · 07/28/2005, 10:53 AM

No two PSG/FM systems sound alike. The Megadrive sounded more like a X68000 or an arcade cab (the weaker YM2612 being a close relative of the great YM2151). The early PC Engine games sounded very much like Famicom indeed; but if there's a comparison to be made, that would definitely be with the MSX SCC+

torgo · 07/28/2005, 11:23 AM

I always thought that the sound and music on Magical Chase was awsome.

Keranu · 07/28/2005, 02:40 PM

Quote from: "Ninja Spirit"Problem is, if you play the rom on emulator, you can only play stage 1. that's it.

I have been able to make it past many stages on the emulator before, using Magic Engine v.99 Beta 5. I think I even made it past the first stage using Magic Engine v1.0 PR 9 recently, not sure though.

A nice thing you could add about the PCE version of Ninja Gaiden is that you can choose from different languages. Japanese (default), English, Chinese, are three languages that are available as far as I remember. You have to enter a code to do this.

I thought the NES version of Ninja Gaiden was always better as well.

esteban · 07/28/2005, 11:16 PM

On NES vs. PCE Ninja Gaiden: Well, I've only played PCE version via emulation... but the NES version would be hard to beat. I was disappointed by the PCE graphics and feel -- I'd take the NES version any day.

On HuCard tunes: well, folks have mentioned a bunch of my faves already... but you guys left CYBER CORE off the list! I always preach about this game's music... unfortunately, each song is comprised of really SHORT loops, so there isn't as much depth as a proper soundtrack. Still, it's awesome.

Keranu · 07/29/2005, 12:14 AM

Aoi Blink had a nice track in the game too. I've barley been able to play Cyber Core because the only emulator that plays it is one I never use really. I plan on getting it some day because it seems like my kind of game.

Ninja Spirit · 07/31/2005, 02:47 PM

Any free wav hosting sites I can put a few HES tunes I convert to WAV on just for y'all to hear for yourselves?

EDIT: More trivial PC Engine sound facts

Namco/Atlus' "Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei II" on Famicom, which is one of the games that runs one of the four Japanese sound expansion chips (Namco106) has the same exact sound format from the PC Engine Hucards "Lady Sword" and "Dungeon Explorer".

soco · 08/01/2005, 04:30 PM

Quote from: "Keranu"
Quote from: "Ninja Spirit"Problem is, if you play the rom on emulator, you can only play stage 1. that's it.
I have been able to make it past many stages on the emulator before, using Magic Engine v.99 Beta 5. I think I even made it past the first stage using Magic Engine v1.0 PR 9 recently, not sure though.

i know that my emulator can make it past the first level, so i imagine magic engine could as well. i didn't check it though.

Ninja Spirit · 08/10/2005, 10:42 AM

I now realized Putfile now supports sound files now instead of only videos.

so here's one PC Engine tune that sounds like it came from a NES/Famicom.

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=Burning-Angels.hes-02

esteban · 08/10/2005, 03:23 PM

Quote from: "Ninja Spirit"I now realized Putfile now supports sound files now instead of only videos.

so here's one PC Engine tune that sounds like it came from a NES/Famicom.

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=Burning-Angels.hes-02

Totally sounds NES. I have this game, I think... it's a horizontal shooter. I'll have to dig it out and see what the rest of the soundtrack sounds like.

Keranu · 08/10/2005, 06:35 PM

It's a vertical shooter with two anime chicks. I think it's a pretty sweet game.

Oh yeah, Ninja Spirit, I remember this track in the game. It's the track that plays when you beat the level; I always thought that was a cool track.

Ninja Spirit · 08/10/2005, 07:47 PM

More tunes. The more I hear these great tunes, my hatred for the American game industry increases.
http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=6456

This one sounds a bit above NES/FC, but it's the drum channels that sound alike.
http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=1232

http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=23312

esteban · 08/10/2005, 08:00 PM

I like the last track the best. I thought I might be able to figure out where the songs came from -- but i don't have a clue.

NEC Avenue · 08/10/2005, 09:55 PM

The MD/Genesis definitely had better sound capability due to the Yamaha sound chip. That chip had an awesome drum machine that could put out awesome bass notes. The PCE sound generator definitely wins in smoothness/clarity department though. The MD/Genesis sound had audible distortion. The Yamaha chip was basically a musical keyboard soundchip.

doomfarer75 · 08/10/2005, 10:17 PM

wow...those sound files are fantastic. sure wish I could identify them...

ah the nostalgia!

Ninja Spirit · 08/11/2005, 01:59 AM

The first and third ones: Final Blaster

Second one: Barunba

OldRover · 08/11/2005, 08:01 AM

Quote from: "NEC Avenue"The MD/Genesis definitely had better sound capability due to the Yamaha sound chip. That chip had an awesome drum machine that could put out awesome bass notes. The PCE sound generator definitely wins in smoothness/clarity department though. The MD/Genesis sound had audible distortion. The Yamaha chip was basically a musical keyboard soundchip.

Sega used the cheapest sound synth they could get their hands on, and at the time, Yamaha wasn't even middle-of-the-line in terms of synth quality...they were pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel. Although it's all individual taste in the end, most people will say that the MD's sound quality was on the verge of abysmal. For such a crap chip though, there were a few notable standouts (Sonic The Hedgehog, Streets Of Rage, Bubsy), and then a whole boatload of utter crap (Spiderman, Chakan, Street Fighter II, the list goes on seemingly endlessly).

Keranu · 08/11/2005, 10:14 AM

I agree with nod and the Genesis' FM soundchip; typically sounds crusty and dirty to me, unless it's something really well done like the first two Streets of Rage games. Oh god, nod, you just had to bring up Chakan! <runs to the nearest toilet to vomit>

TurboHuC6280 · 08/11/2005, 10:40 AM

Quote from: OldRover

Sega used the cheapest sound synth they could get their hands on, and at the time, Yamaha wasn't even middle-of-the-line in terms of synth quality...they were pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel. Although it's all individual taste in the end, most people will say that the MD's sound quality was on the verge of abysmal. For such a crap chip though, there were a few notable standouts (Sonic The Hedgehog, Streets Of Rage, Bubsy), and then a whole boatload of utter crap (Spiderman, Chakan, Street Fighter II, the list goes on seemingly endlessly).

It's mostly because it's a pretty primative FM synth gnerator, but its DAC also only could handle 8-bit PCM samples. Not particularly high quality, by any means. I've always found that it sounded pretty terrible, even back when it was a rather new system.

NEC Avenue · 08/11/2005, 10:44 AM

QuoteYamaha wasn't even middle-of-the-line in terms of synth quality...they were pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel.

I hope you're not referring to their professional music keyboards, because if you are, you don't even have a clue.

Kaminari · 08/11/2005, 01:08 PM

No need to refer to their professional synths.

The YM2612 was a stripped down version of the PC-88/98's superior YM2608, and it just didn't hold a candle against the terrific YM2151 used in arcade machines and X680x0 computers. Yet, as with any soundchip (be it cheap or not), it's output quality really depended on the talent of the composer -- check Mega Turrican (Turrican 3) which is a great example of what could be done with this FM unit.

OldRover · 08/11/2005, 04:50 PM

Quote from: "NEC Avenue"I hope you're not referring to their professional music keyboards, because if you are, you don't even have a clue.

I was referring to the chip family that the MD's sound chip came from. Also, I used to work at an instrument shop which sold a lot of synths...needless to say, Yamaha was not a carried brand...good quality stuff like Roland and Korg was. I am aware that Yamaha does have high-end synths, but we're talking about the late 80s, when a quality Yamaha synth was very expensive.

Ninja Spirit · 08/12/2005, 11:26 AM

I'm helping stevek666 open up a Hucard music gallery at the PCE Preservation Site or whatever it's called.

Oh steve as said in that PM, I don't think you're imposing. if it takes bugging me for MP3's of music to keep the Turbo/PCE scene alive, so be it.

doomfarer75 · 08/12/2005, 11:37 AM

wow..that'll be awesome...steve's site rocks!

Kaminari · 08/12/2005, 12:20 PM

If you need some HES files to record your MP3s, have a look at my site where you'll find the largest collection on the Net (RX-Files section). All this will become obsolete with the forthcoming HEM logging/ripping format developed by David Michel

Ninja Spirit · 08/12/2005, 12:41 PM

Hopefully there'll be more rips than on zophar.net.

the Bloody Wolf HES is busted and makes my winamp crash

and there's not yet a Lady Sword and Ultimate Tiger/Twin Cobra HES rips either.

I used to listen to Twin Cobra stage 1 music 30 times in a row and never got sick of it.

Ninja Spirit · 02/19/2006, 12:20 PM

Bump for new stuff added to this thread. I still find this very interesting.

Here's a sound effect from Son Son II. Megaman veterans should recognize this sound.
http://media.putfile.com/ss255

Cyber Cross, this tune sounds like Town music on some hole in the wall Famicom RPG.
http://media.putfile.com/Cyber-Crosshes-03

Post might be updated in a little while.

MotherGunner · 02/19/2006, 07:20 PM

Did anyone mention Dragon's Curse??? That music is AWESOME!

Keranu · 02/19/2006, 11:16 PM

Dragon's Curse soundtrack is outstanding.

TR0N · 02/20/2006, 12:55 AM

Quote from: "Keranu"I agree with nod and the Genesis' FM soundchip; typically sounds crusty and dirty to me, unless it's something really well done like the first two Streets of Rage games. Oh god, nod, you just had to bring up Chakan! <runs to the nearest toilet to vomit>

Damn straight it was http://www.radioblogclub.com/search/0/bare_knuckle Yuzo Koshiro was the man

Keranu · 02/20/2006, 02:58 AM

Yuzo Koshiro is great.

esteban · 02/20/2006, 03:27 AM

Quote from: "Ninja Spirit"Bump for new stuff added to this thread. I still find this very interesting.

Here's a sound effect from Son Son II. Megaman veterans should recognize this sound.
http://media.putfile.com/ss255

Cyber Cross, this tune sounds like Town music on some hole in the wall Famicom RPG.
http://media.putfile.com/Cyber-Crosshes-03

Post might be updated in a little while.

Rock on, Ninja! I love that you resurrected this thread

. Send us more goodies

.

Keranu · 02/20/2006, 03:41 AM

Nice choice on Cyber Cross, Ninja; I love the sound in that game, even though it sounds so "primitive"

. You should record the opening track to that game, I used to constantly listen to it and reset the game with RUN+Select all the time just to listen to the music and watch the intro.

Kaminari · 02/20/2006, 06:48 AM

Cyber Cross is neat. Cross Wiber is excellent, despite the weak drumkit.

The PSG had some strong potential in the bassline department. Ziria is one good example.

Magic Engine 0.99
PC Engine Duo

Comparison is for fun ;) PSG emu has dramatically improved since 1.0 PR9.

Ninja Spirit · 02/20/2006, 10:57 AM

These are Famicom MP3's. The game is Megami Tensei II, one of Namco's Famicom games that had their own "N106" chip that enhanced the sound which utliized the rarely used 5th channel which aren't in American/Euro NES's (i.e. Konami VRC6-Akumajo Densetsu/Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse-J). Heh one of alot of things the Euro/US game companies didn't want us to know about Japan.

So here's some trivia after listening to these MP3's. Thanks to N106, Megami Tensei II successfully imitated the PSG of several certain PC Engine games. Try to guess what they were.

http://media.putfile.com/megaten2
http://media.putfile.com/megaten25