NES Game Music (in full stereo) [direct host]

[Z.E.N]

Hails!

This thread is dedicated to the sounds and songs of the great Nintendo Entertainment System. It's all about this original Nintendo console and it's timeless chiptunes.

Since the NES uses the processor known as the "6502", I have affectionately named this collection "6.5.0.Tunes"!

So without haste...

Welcome to 6.5.0.Tunes!

Here is what's to offer:

• Full NES soundtracks with every song from the game that can be acquired.
• Complete ID3 tag information of song name, composer, year of release, U.S. box cover (thumbnail pic), and accurate as possible "track names".
• Full stereo sound production using multiple squarewave channel panning and doubling effects [NOTE: Does not change original NES sound, only makes it in stereo).
• Adequate track lengths for satisfactory listening (3-4 repeats) and well planned fade-out times.
• Tracks are strategically placed in order of appearance as in the actual game (i.e. "Level 1" music is listed before "Level 2").
• All songs are in mp3 format, encoded in Variable Bit-Rate as high as 192 kbps down to 160 kbps.

Notes of importance:

- Archives are in zip file format. Should extract with the latest version of WinRAR or other zip file utilities.
- All links are personally hosted, so at no point should any of them be down.
- Converting NES music to mp3 format is a very time-consuming process (anywhere from 3-5 hours per game ST). Please be patient as I will try to fill all requests when possible.

All of the music in this thread can be found on the official 6.5.0.Tunes webpage:

http://playthenes.com/6.5.0.Tunes/

The webpage lists additional composer and software developer information.

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Individual MP3 songs (for sampling):

HeroQuest Main Theme [HeroQuest] - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Final Fantasy Main Theme [Final Fantasy I] - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
The Moon [DuckTales] - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Level Theme 1 [Silver Surfer] - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Recca Blazing Fire [Recca: Summer Carnival '92] - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Scar of Time (Famicom sound version) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

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Full soundtracks list (alphabetical):

A Boy And His Blob - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
A Nightmare On Elm Street - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Adventure Island - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Adventures of Bayou Billy - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Batman - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Batman: Return of the Joker - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Battle of Olympus - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
BattleToads - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Bionic Commando - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Blaster Master - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Bucky O'Hare - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
BurgerTime - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Castlevania - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Contra - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Crystalis - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Donkey Kong - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Double Dragon - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Double Dragon II: The Revenge - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Dr. Chaos - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Dragon Warrior - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Duck Hunt - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
DuckTales - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

EarthBound Zero (Mother 1) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Faxanadu - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Fester's Quest - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Final Fantasy - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Friday the 13th - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Ghosts 'n Goblins - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Gremlins 2 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

HeroQuest - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Joe & Mac / Caveman Ninja - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Journey To Silius - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Kabuki Quantum Fighter - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Karnov - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Kid Icarus - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Lagrange Point - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Legacy of the Wizard - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Legend of Zelda - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

M.C. Kids / McDonaldland - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Maniac Mansion - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Marble Madness - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Mega Man 1 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Mega Man 2 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Mega Man 3 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Mega Man 4 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Mega Man 5 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Mega Man 6 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Metal Gear - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Metroid - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

NES Virus Cleaner - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Ninja Gaiden - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Power Blade - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Power Blade 2 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Rad Racer - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Recca - Summer Carnival '92 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Rygar - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

S.C.A.T. (Special Cybernetic Attack Team) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Shadow of the Ninja - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Shadowgate - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Shatterhand - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Silver Surfer - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Skate or Die! - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Skate or Die 2: The Search For Double Trouble - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Snake's Revenge - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Snow Brothers - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Solstice - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Strider - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Super C - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Super Dodge Ball - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Super Mario Bros. - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Super Mario Bros. 2 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Super Mario Bros. 3 - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Target: Renegade - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Tetris (Nintendo) - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Twin Cobra - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
Wizards & Warriors - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - [Hidden link. Register to see links.]

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Most of these games' music can be found on the web in single-loop, low quality "mono" format. I wanted to give these songs a bit more flair for the modern listeners by giving them the "stereo" status. That is what the main goal of 6.5.0.Tunes is all about.

Any comments questions, criticisms, mild insults, and borderline objectionable imagery are welcome here.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback regarding mistakes such as incorrectly listed composers, inaccurate song titles, spelling errors, audio problems, et cet.

Requests are definitely accepted. Unfortunately, I have been away from this project for quite a while. I can't guarantee that I will get around to fullfilling all requests.

I will update this thread continually with each new game added whenever possible.
This is a great community. I hope I can be a more frequent contributer.

Thanks for visiting.

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, START!

[XZero]

Wow. These sound really good. I compared the Mega Man and Zelda tracks to the OST/OSV versions, and yours definitely sound better. Any more you could provide would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Simon B]

ho! YES

i love the nes sounchip & like said XZero, the stereo effects are excellents!!!

i have a little request, could i "hot-linking" the contra musics to my thread?
here : [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
thanks for sharing.

down, R, up, L, Y, B

[Sarah]

awesome that you're doing this but I have some encoding comments for you

1) don't use CBR for such simple output. tons of NES music has music that doesn't need a very high bitrate at all. if you rip it with lame at -V 0 or -V 2 you'll get a smaller size than 128 or 160CBR with higher quality. video game music should almost always be in VBR, but it makes the biggest difference with "old" vgm since the sounds to compress are so simple.

a bit more elaboration: let's say 90% of a song can maintain 100% of the original quality by being encoded at 96kbps. the other 10% needs a bitrate of 192kbps to maintain maximum quality.

if you encode at 128kbps two things happen. 1) you're encoding at too high a bitrate for the majority of the song, and wasting space. 2) the other 10% will be of lower quality than it would be in VBR.

2) there's no point in converting mono source source into stereo output. this is done by default in all players. if you feel you must do this for some reason, use joint stereo, not full stereo.

suggested reading:

[Hidden link. Register to see links.]
[Hidden link. Register to see links.]

[Stardust]

You rock, man! These are awesome! Hmmm....would love a Journey to Silius or possibly a Fester's Quest OST....just some food for thought!

[DoubleDealer]

Just wondering if you are taking any requests. I would absolutely be able to die happy with a Twin Cobra OST.

[SkyDiver]

Yeah is still don't know why some are still using CBR. The worst of all is of course 320kbps.

[Z.E.N]

1) don't use CBR for such simple output. tons of NES music has music that doesn't need a very high bitrate at all. if you rip it with lame at -V 0 or -V 2 you'll get a smaller size than 128 or 160CBR with higher quality. video game music should almost always be in VBR, but it makes the biggest difference with "old" vgm since the sounds to compress are so simple.

a bit more elaboration: let's say 90% of a song can maintain 100% of the original quality by being encoded at 96kbps. the other 10% needs a bitrate of 192kbps to maintain maximum quality.

Thanks for clarifying this (I am relatively new at encoding). The problem is, I use a program called Audacity to make the mp3s. I originally convert the NSF of a game directly to .wav format (which makes a gigantic 400+ MB file) , then load the wav into audacity where I cut/paste the songs as mp3. Audacity only supports CBR by default, so that was the main reason why I was using the "constant bit-rate".

However, after reading further, it only makes sense to use VBR. As an experiment I ripped a 3 minute NES song, exported it from audacity as uncompressed wav, then used lame in commandline to set it at VBR with a max bit-rate of 160. I ended up with a file size of 2.92 MB compared to the usual 128 CBR which makes the same song 2.66 MB at lower quality.
I think I will be using VBR from here on though (It's just that it is one extra step in the process of making them). If I could get audacity to export as VBR, everything would be perfect.

2) there's no point in converting mono source source into stereo output. this is done by default in all players. if you feel you must do this for some reason, use joint stereo, not full stereo.

I don't quite understand this. As far as I know "stereo output" is required if the final result is going to be a stereo mp3 track.
Most of them are in fact "joint stereo" when I convert the NSF to wav using an output plug-in called FileWriter.
The only true full stereo ones are the older ST's I ripped using an outdated real-time digital recorder method. This was the case for Strider, Batman, and Zelda II (which explains why there's some minimal pops/cracks in the files). I will be redoing these however, using my current filewriter method.

i have a little request, could i "hot-linking" the contra musics to my thread?
here : [Hidden link. Register to see links.]
thanks for sharing.

Yes you can use any of them you want.
But since you are doing "shoot'em-ups", you might as well use 'Silver Surfer' too.

You rock, man! These are awesome! Hmmm....would love a Journey to Silius or possibly a Fester's Quest OST....just some food for thought!

'Journey to Silius' is definitely on standby. I will look into 'Fester's Quest' since I'm currently working on horror-themed games for my Halloween update.

[dsfan64]

Thank you! I love NES music

[Mr Muay Thai]

If we can request in this thread, can I request Rygar?

[Rayena]

Thank you !

[Stardust]

'Journey to Silius' is definitely on standby. I will look into 'Fester's Quest' since I'm currently working on horror-themed games for my Halloween update.

Cool! Thanks for the heads-up!

[SecretAgent]

Nice work Z.E.N.!!!

I'd like to put in a request for Willow if you have the time. Thanks!!

[jcffmog]

great post thanks

[GYROMITE]

can i demand you to rip rush'n attack on nes please ?

[AndySonicFan17]

I'm looking forward to Duck Tales 2 or Cat Ninja Teyandee ))

[vacrmh]

Wow, great stuff. And properly tagged too!

Keep up the good work!

[mualan]

Wow! I love these new stereo NES tracks! Especially the Batman one... I remember taping that soundtrack onto cassette back in the day. The new stereo element gives these old favorites an added dimension. Please keep producing more!

I'd like to request Ninja Gaiden 2 in stereo, when possible! Thanks!

[Atom45]

This is now the *counts* I think third or fourth version of legend of Zelda I have.

[Aganar]

This is interesting, but if you're only using NSF's, we're really no better off than just listening to the NSF's themselves (unless you want to put these onto your iPod or something). I thought you were recording directly from an NES, which would sound a bit better.

This is nice, but I've got actual soundtrack releases for most of these. Oh well.

[togovero]

Nobody so crazy to rip the legendary game "Takeshi no Chousenjou"...?

[Lamonster]

Very awesome sound quality. I'm replacing my existing copies of these soundtracks. You should give us more. MORE! Suggestions: SMB3, Dr. Mario, Journey to Silius, Blaster Master, Mega Man 1, Mega Man 3, Mega Man 4, Mega Man 6, Legendary Wings, Rad Racer

[dano9181]

Faxanadu was an amazing game, they need to make a VC download so I can play this on my HDTV

[XyCkO]

Mucho Thanks for Solstice!!

[Z.E.N]

Apologies for the delay. I ran into life-threatening technical problems that threatened the life of my technical equipment.
There's a lot of catching up to do, so here is the extremely late "Halloween Update".

Added to first post:

Castlevania
Original side-scrolling horror-themed game that started it all.

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Amazing classically influenced music. Done well in Nintendo Sound Format.

Fester's Quest
Funky, upbeat stuff from the masterful Sunsoft sound team.

Friday the 13th
Voted as "Most annoying Game Music" somewhere else on these forums. Now you can have it to annoy all of your friends and family! (I really like the echoing cabin theme though.)

Ghosts 'n Goblins
Funky yet sinister. Some fun music for a very difficult game.

...

Also added:

A Boy and His Blob
Mark Van Hecke's catchy beats set to this quirky adventure. Very good use of drum samples.

Batman
Has now been redone and encoded to 192 VBR (was originally 128 CBR). The percussion pops aren't so obnoxious now.

Strider
Also been completely redone. No more pops/cracks in this one anymore. New VBR quality.

Re-encoded:

HeroQuest
Silver Surfer
Solstice
Theses are all the same rips as before, just re-encoded to VBR for anyone who cares. Bitrate should be 160 kbps.

...

More on the way!