Analyzing Counterpoint EP 02: Castlevania III's Encounter (Music Theory)

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Welcome to the second installment of Analyzing Counterpoint. This is a series that focuses on, predominantly, the element of Counterpoint in music with additional commentary on harmony, melody, and form. It will look at a variety of musics but mostly various periods of the Common Practice Period (Baroque, Classical, Romantic), early 20th century musics, and retro VGM (NES - PS1). With this in mind, this series will NOT conform to your typical notions of Counterpoint (i.e. polyphonic music of either Bach or Palestrina). We will, of course, see prototypical examples of Counterpoint, but in most cases we'll be looking at Counterpoint in the broadest sense which is simply, "note against note."
So if you've ever wondered how to write or analyze Counterpoint, check this series out!
In this particular installment we take on Encounter from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse on the NES composed by Hidenori Maezawa, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, and Yoshinori Sasaki. This is a theme that is highly chromatic and potentially discombobulating! Don't worry though, we'll breakdown all of its patterns and look at how the counterpoint is hiding a very simple (and common) harmonic progression.
If you happen to have any questions or thoughts regarding this content, leave a comment below!

[@shing02]

inspires me to make some castlevania esque music

[@GUIM1797]

Glad to hear! A big reason I do these videos is the hope that they'll play a part in others making music!

[@shing02]

@@GUIM1797 yes brother without you 8 bit music theory and ongaku concept and Steven Melin id be lost lol

[@Soundole]

Hearing your justification of the A# spelled as an incomplete lower neighbour to B made me smile :) I appreciate the thought that you've put into that analysis, Castlevania soundtracks probably make me think about note function more than any other soundtrack!

[@Dipwad_Omega]

I LOVE these videos! I'm currently making a Castlevania fangame and I'm also composing my own music for it. I could use some help with the music theory and inspiration bits, so by any chance could you do an episode on Aria of Sorrow? It's my favorite game in the series and the one I draw the most inspiration from, so I think it would be really helpful.

[@Breakbeat90s]

or castlevania 2 that one has great music too