@@MooImABunny I searched it and it actually exists, that’s funny. I didn’t get the meaning at first but I guess you meant being the arranger having to make do with only 3 channels?
@@SenkoisWatchingTH-camThis is genuinely one of the few 90s chiptune soundtracks that I feel gives Tim Follin a run for his money. One thing I'll say, though, that I particularly love about the Pokemon TCG soundtrack is that I love how well they *fit* with the game itself. Shimakura clearly wrote these with the game itself in mind. I ADORE Tim Follin but it's is clearly obvious in a lot of his pieces that he was just writing whatever the hell he felt like, game be dammed. It consistently slapped, of course, but the guy was definitely just having a good time showing off.
I get the impression that being forced to interweave the channels like that is part of why the rhythm is always so groovy on a lot of the fuller sounding Gameboy pieces. I bet that using that interweaving technique when composing without those limitations would almost automatically result in some really funky tunes.
modern game music has gotten so dull because they're so complacent.. just.. write more into the orchestra, FILL the space with noise, everyone will give you awards and they'll play your tunes with a full band at the awards show.. there's no more simple melodies or funky polyrhythms.
@@dopaminecloudnah this is real. limitations do indeed breed creativity, people are now working outside those limitations, and game music is duller now as a whole. i’d credit at least half of it to big corpo Halo 17: The Epic Fantasy staleness syndrome though, we must remember that there were lots of dumb uncreative 8-bit soundtracks back then that don’t get talked about today bc they sucked.
@@KairuHakubi Yes, things become a cliché for a reason. Often, that reason is "because it works". It's not that they're complacent, and the simple melodies or funky polyrhythms haven't disappeared entirely. It's that the trend with modern AAA game development is toward a more cinematic look, feel, and sound, while the simple melodies and funky polyrhythms have been embraced by the independent scene instead (whether as a stylistic choice or a financial one). Now, you can not like the more cinematic direction that AAA studios have taken, and that's fine, but to say it's objectively worse is wrong. (And you can't compare the totality of modern _anything_ to the best of the best of "the good old days". I mean, Crazy Bus exists, and its title theme wasn't even composed.) Edit: Apparently Crazy Bus is newer than I thought. Not the best example.
9:48 also what I love: all three voices just play straight 16th notes, but it feels really groovy and syncopated. That's just efficient and good writing
I really feel it! The limitations had to have resulted in a fist pump of victory when overcome. Necessity is the mother of invention, but the process is so satisfying.
Probably helps that the melody is almost all offbeats while the chords swap on beat between bars. They're both in 4 time but offset by a sixteenth note.
This game is one of my earliest memories of being completely enamored with a game's soundtrack. I'd turn my gameboy color's volume knob all the way to max and hold it up to my friends' ears on the school bus: "YOU GOTTA HEAR THIS ONE!"
Limitation breeds creativity. "Trading Card Game" has some of my favorite music on the Game Boy, bar none; a track of particular note for me is the track that plays when you challenge the eight Clubmasters. The first time I heard it, it simply blew me away.
I can't stress that enough how much limitations breed creativity, look at analogue recording on tape compared to digital recording. With tape you really had to commit to something warts and all unless you wanted to literally go in there and cut the tape so that you could make an edit or a fix so naturally musicians had to be a lot more competent out of necessity. Studio time was expensive. But it also meant a lot of imperfections were left in simply because it wouldn't be worth the time to fix or because the take had a certain performance and character that overcame such imperfections, or the imperfections were a stylistic choice.
One of my theory professors in music school said something like "True creativity does not arise out of the removal of all limitations, but rather by figuring out how to work within a set of limitations." It's really stuck with me and I think about it every time this old chiptune music comes up.
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
Most important detail about the 2 trading card games is their use of the noise channel. Practically no other game series on the GB changed the frequency on every frame to achieve that kind of sound. Another detail that is lost in the sheet music is the volume envelope and note cut off as they are very important for getting the exact noise that is needed. If you ever wanted to return to the GB go check out literally any game composed by Alberto Jose González. He did crazy techniques in every single song he did. Specifically look into "The Smurfs' Nightmare" and "Turok 2: Seeds of Evil".
@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 Yeah seems he did all the Looney Tunes games. If a Gameboy game sounds like shovelware then he probably did the music for it. Could swear the games were made just to have an excuse to write insane music.
Its about time someone recognized this masterpiece of a GB OST. This game, Lufia the legend returns and Pokemon gold/silver utilized the GB sound to its fullest
Gen 2 gets memed on because of the game mechanics and disappointing new Pokes, but I still maintain it has the best soundtrack of any mainline Pokemon game
I really can't seem to just spontaneously hum newer generation themes because I eventually forget them. But Gen 2 always remained with me. Azalea Town or Olivine is probably the ones I get stuck in my head the most.
In many cases it WAS engineering. Frequently, the composers were also programmers, and it wasn't uncommon for them to write their own sound driver. It's why the credit in old games is so frequently "Sound Program" or similar instead of just "composer".
@@WillowEpp They didn't dip actually, they're still around. Tim Follin created two masterpieces of FMV games being Contradiction and At Dead of Night under the company name "Baggy Cat" while Geoff still uploads compositions to his YT channel.
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
Imagine writing all these interwoven parts on 90s era computers, writing code directly into the game with no GUI to keep track of which part is playing what note. It must have been a nightmare to make something this complex sound this good.
Not hard to imagine. There were umpteen music editors written for the C64 and the like back in the 80s. The techniques discussed here is the bread and butter of authentic chiptune musicians.
@@lunk642they were usually written using a piano then adapted to the system Also 90s computers had GUIs, even Windows 3.1. The OS itself was a terminal, but anything you ran on it could have a GUI. Hell, people still program tech demos for old-ass amigas that look like PS2 games lol
The thing that saved these soundtracks and almost ALL of these early soundtracks is the Duty Cycle. Even in modern DAWs where you can get VSTs like Magical 8Bit you can NOT change the Duty Cycle on a note basis, only on a channel basis which means that recreating some of these 4 channel songs needs sometimes around 7 to recreate.
I mean, a VST isn't exactly pure waveform manipulation Edit: That said, it takes a lot of effort and time and it's just way more sensible to just eat multiple channels. Mega Man Battle Network has a really similar sound and that uses a whole 6-8 channels for most songs (mp2k default max channels is 8)
@@EphemeralPseudonym GBA sound is far more complex, though: it has the exact GBC audio hardware (even up to the software interface), with very minor improvements, but it also has two full waveform channels intended for actual waveform playback, which are what most games use. I don't know what MMBN uses, but from the sound of it, it sounds like the waveform channels are performing heavy duty there - if the GBC hardware is touched at all.
Note, in a modern DAW you CAN change the duty cycle on a note basis via automation, assuming your synth has this as a slider. For example in the free Surge VST, if you create a square wave you can slide around the "Width" parameter which means you can change duty cycle on the fly. That said, its still easier to do this per note on a tracker.
These arranging techniques (of filling in the "white space", as it were, and varying the dynamics) reminds me a lot Ravel's piano concerto for the left hand, where he creates a sonority that sounds like a full two-handed piano, but it's played entirely with one hand (and was written for Paul Wittgenstein, who was a one-handed pianist). Really cool!
Checking out these themes oscilloscoped really shows how each theme not only utilizes in-between notes, but also composed in a way that sounds intended for a human to sing it. As the song would let whoever singing it, time to breathe and continue playing/singing. It also tends to "vibrate" and have imperfections much in the style of how humans would strain their vocal chords. Which wasn't touched on in this video, but I wanted to point it out because I found it very very interesting. As the Square sounds are pushed to their limits while sounding very natural in a vacuum.
If only the video could have covered the Club Leader (?) Battle theme, it also includes setting a thick repeating phrase, then removing a part to start the main melody, but the memory of the repeating chords fills in the missing notes almost subconsciously. Plus I just really, really like the Club Leader battle theme a lot. It's grand and imposing but then becomes major to remind you you're still playing a children's card game --on motorcycles--
The trading card game soundtrack is hands down one of the best game soundtracks of its time. So much from such little power on that handheld. I still whistle the regular Battle theme constantly.
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
An old friend of mine who was into chiptunes taught me about how to space notes when limited to only a few channels, so despite never playing this game the music theory took me back to those days.
The japan-only sequel is also super worth checking out for their incredible channel balancing. The final boss theme contains the most impressive channel balancing I've ever heard - managing to squeeze four distinct voices onto a single channel during the final section!
I can see why the sequel was teased but never released outside of Japan. It used the same exact map, failed to recapture the magic of the first game and felt more like a rom hack than an official release. Kinda sad because i was looking forward to a second game just to try it years later and be sorely disappointed.
Ronald's theme is unironically one of my favorite pieces of music period. The whole sound track was amazing and easily the best sound track on the gameboy.
Make sure you go check out the sequel's soundtrack too! It has some tracks in it that absolutely rival Ronald's Theme in sheer funk insanity. Like "VS King Villicili" is just SO GOOD: th-cam.com/video/YW7GqUi1fMc/w-d-xo.html
This was often taken to extreme on the Amiga, with it's 4 sample channels. Sometimes a channel would be jumping between melody echo, drum fill, bass note extension, and more.
I'm psyched. This is my favorite soundtrack of all time! Dr. Pez's jazz cover of the Normal Battle theme is fantastic, if you haven't heard it. And, in keeping with the point of this video, it is done as a five piece band.
"Dr. Pez's jazz cover of the Normal Battle theme" It's basically the only cover I can find of anything from this game too! Which is just *insane* to me. This soundtrack is being slept on hardcore. I desperately want 8-Bit Big Band to cover "Ronald's Theme" or the "GR Lightning / Psychic Fortress" from the sequel.
The double-duty lines are again taking inspiration from Baroque music, where on monophonic instruments like the flute I play, Bach and Telemann would write "bouncing" lines where the upper part leads the line forward and the lower line is either a countermelody or clarifies the harmony. Also, I can't tell you how happy I am that you dedicated an entire section of the video just to Ronald's theme. It's filled with so much sass, so much rival-y standoffishness, so much "I'm so cool you can only dream of being me." It's like what's playing in Regina George's head as she walks down the school hallway, is how I think about it. Thank you so much for covering one of my all time favorite game soundtracks, giving it the analysis and recognition it deserves, and presenting it all in such a clear and creative format!
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
Between this video and the one that explained the intricate way the card art was replicated to look good on the gameboy, I'm learning that Pokemon TCG was just the hardest-going game on the Game Boy period. I loved this game as a kid. Every aspect is freakin incredible.
Immediate like at the Casiopea reference, I love them so much and I hope more fans of music from this era look into them and see how much inspiration they gave.
Glad to see the TCG Video Game get the recognition it deserves. Ronalds theme goes so hard! It was so fun to cover as well. I need to make some other covers from the game.
Thank you for covering the Pokemon TCG soundtrack, I grew up playing it as a kid and I'm still blown away by how full-sounding the music was. Every time I play a trading card game I feel like I need this soundtrack running in the background. And thanks for shouting out my channel
Hell yeah! I linked your channel's tracks when I requested it on his Patreon. I'm so happy he gave you a shout out as well! I hope you get to do Stereo Versions of the sequel one day too once you manage to get your hands on a physical copy. There's so many songs in the sequel that would be *so good* in stereo.
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
I'm so happy you made this video, I absolutely love this game and always thought the soundtrack was amazing. It always shocked me how much they managed to pull off with that little chip.
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
Between Shimakaru and Koji Kondo, we have so many masterclass examples of how to make beautiful songs with a limited pallet. It’s wild not only to be able to write amazing music that stands the test of time, but to do it with 3 channels and a dream is insane
I had this game when I was a young boy. I loved it though it was hard as hell for me. I forgot about it for a long time and for two decades I had tune I had as a default whistle. I knew it was from something but didn't know from where until I heard it and went on a mad frenzy only to feel such excitement and relief once I learned it was the theme from the game.
The game boy minus the noise channel can have 3 distinct note values. note refresh rates, as i call them, up to 3600bps with decimal tempo increments can be changed on the fly, with some extra cpu power changes the wave of the wave channel like the square wave in the battle theme, to the sine wave in the pause music. So having 3 notes at a time does make sense.
I love your deph on explaining what happens to people with no knowledge on music theory at all. You are always extremely visual and destiling and explaining each voice separately is an art you master. Thank you for your content!
The soundtrack is a big reason why I come back to this game from time to time and recreate the same decks. Yu-Gi-Oh DM 6 (can't remember the English name) for GBA also had amazing music
I'll never cease to be amazed at how much game designers were able to maximize the very limited tools and capacity they had to work with in the 20th century era of video games. We're fortunate to not be limited by things like CPU and memory anymore, but it's truely a lost art.
Pokemon TCG is one of my favorite soundtracks ever. As a kid it felt magical in a way no other Gameboy OST could ever match, and now I know why. This makes me have that much more appreciation for the soundtrack.
This OST is the absolute pinnacle of the GameBoy soundchip in my opinion. I love especially whenever a track plays through a melody that already sounds too complex for just 3 channels, and then it goes "that was nothing" and *doubles up the melody upon repeating it*, seemingly pulling another channel out of thin air. Truly a magical and incredibly clever OST
It's just as the saying goes: "Limitation drives innovation" And nothing in gaming was better proof for it, than the music of all 8 and 16bit consoles. I mean, some of the most iconic music in gaming came out of that era. Pokemon R/B Rival Battle, the SMB theme, most of any Square/Enix/Quintet RPG soundtracks.
Let's go! The original Pokemon TCG gameboy game was one of my first video games ever. I still listen to the soundtrack for this game regularly. Normal Battle is an incredible track and i always make sure to throw it at other peoples faces whenever i get the chance. Edit: Happy to hear the shoutout to the Stereo mixes aswell! They're great! That's the videos i usually throw at people, lol
i think the most insane version of this phenomenon is the pc-speaker version of the monkey island theme. everything composed around one audio channel its just insanely smart
As an a cappella arranger, I could tell the solution even before you asked the question the first time :D this is pretty much my secret sauce for vocal bands.
The Pokemon Trading Card Game 2: Here Comes Team GR! also had some amazing tracks on it- the GR club leader fight theme and the final castle theme are some of my favourites.
Yess the PTCG music is simply incredible! Ever since I was a kid I would listen to the battle theme over and over through gameplay and really enjoyed it and sang along. It was one of the first songs I remixed once I studied music. It made me sad that it was so little known and appreciated.
Wow! That was awesome! Having the different sound channels take on different timbres _and making it not sound like that_ is just _so_ cool! Thank you so much for this video!
Even though I've listened the the Pokemon TCG OST continuously over the years, it was only this video that highlighted a lot of chord sounds I'd never really noticed before 😅 It all just blends together so seamlessly
I've read about it all the time in abstract, this idea of clever composing to get around voice limits, but you've highlighted a lot of really excellent examples and shown them off really effectively. Great work, thanks as always!
I love how much the music in this game slaps -- this game is literally my favourite GB/GBC era pokemon game and it's not even close. I rly wish we'd got the sequel :c
Thanks for covering this. I love the GB and NES chips! If you guys like this, check out Kirby’s Adventure soundtrack. There is lot’s of trickery with the triangle channel and the second square channel is often the bass.
Let me do you one better: Club Master Duel Theme(Remake) th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html Normal Battle(cover) th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html Grand Master Theme(cover) th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
YES I appreciate seeing some love for the TCG soundtrack!! the card battle songs still regularly get stuck in my head, especially the regular battle theme-- I always thought it was incredible what they did with the hardware available.
Great video! Thanks for explaining what I’ve always figured in my non music theory brain. Those seemingly random isolated boops weren’t so random and isolated after all. I’d recommend checking out the Japan only TCG sequel which has some amazing songs. Again, my non music theory head could tell there’s a connection between the GR battle themes and their respective non GR tracks but couldn’t elaborate it if I tried.
Good timing. just got back into this game from ProJared's playthrough of NEO. I must agree, this is one of the grooviest Gameboy soundtracks of all time. ^-^
This music unlocked so many memories from when I was really young, staying with my grandma. Watching her get a perm, the smell of her cooking, sitting in her garden. Miss you, Gram!
THIS is the stuff I really like! When they manage to really push the limits of old soundchips like this and make it sound like there's more channels than there actually are, but without resorting to cheap techniques like arpeggiating a whole chord into one channel one-note-per-frame!
This was an enlightening video. It's been YEARS and i always wondered "HOW, HOW DID THEY DO IT, WHAT'S THE TRICK BEHIND SUCH CRISPY OST FOR SUCH A TINY SYSTEM!!" Turns out, they wizarded their way around extreme limitations by realizing the potential of the medium they were working with.
My first reaction having never played the tcg game on gameboy, was "Dayum, thats some good 8-bit". Thats the kind of stuff you get TODAY out of people who dedicate themselves to this kind of music, to see it in a game this old means that this Shimakura guy was a genius.
The kind of music that just randomly gets stuck in my head sometimes and I never complain Don't forget there was a Japanese-only sequel with its own new tracks!
10:25 I know that this is aa GBA game, but I did NOT expect to hear a drum intro that sounds like the drum intro to Remix 2 (GBA)! (As in the Rhythm Tengoku Remix.) 💀
I have always been impressed by video game composers that have to work within the limits of the system/sound chip to create a score and STILL are able to knock it out of the park like this. The complexity achieved here with only 3 voices is so awesome.
I came in already knowing about the innovations that the Gameboy’s sound channel limitations had originally led to, but I was surprised to find that only being the first minute of this video. I had no idea about the rest! I especially love how you broke down each sound channel to really demonstrate what was being accomplished.
Heck yeah, this remains one of my favorite games to this day. I want a remake JUST to hear reimagined and remastered versions of these tracks. I play bass in the band for my church, and I love playing the bass line from the regular duel theme as my warm-up haha
I have WORSHIPPED this soundtrack for dang near 25 years and seeing this video giving it the credit it deserves is vindicating. 80% of the life of my GameBoy Colour was spent idling to music while I fell asleep.
![PASULOL รามเกียรติ์ ตอนที่ 4 นนทกพบรัก [Ramakien Ep.4: Nonthok in love]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tMUQgmZzf_A/mqdefault.jpg)
Hot damn, that's like a man pretending to be three kids in a trenchcoat and nailing it flawlessly
I think you meant 3 kids in a trenchcoat pretending to be one man and doing it flawlessly 😅
@@LAM1895 no no, I meant what I said
@@MooImABunny I searched it and it actually exists, that’s funny. I didn’t get the meaning at first but I guess you meant being the arranger having to make do with only 3 channels?
@@LAM1895 exactly
I love this. Full funky jazz ensemble? Nope! Two pulse waves, a triangle, and a noise channel in a trenchcoat
Shimakura is a wizard. It’s absolutely stunning how he managed to do all this while limited to the GameBoy.
Necessity is the mother of invention 🤷🏻♂️
Tim Follin levels of wizardry lol
I read this as Shikamaru 😭
Actually, the TGC video game was for the Game Boy Color. They have the same sound system tho 🤓👆
@@SenkoisWatchingTH-camThis is genuinely one of the few 90s chiptune soundtracks that I feel gives Tim Follin a run for his money.
One thing I'll say, though, that I particularly love about the Pokemon TCG soundtrack is that I love how well they *fit* with the game itself. Shimakura clearly wrote these with the game itself in mind.
I ADORE Tim Follin but it's is clearly obvious in a lot of his pieces that he was just writing whatever the hell he felt like, game be dammed. It consistently slapped, of course, but the guy was definitely just having a good time showing off.
I get the impression that being forced to interweave the channels like that is part of why the rhythm is always so groovy on a lot of the fuller sounding Gameboy pieces. I bet that using that interweaving technique when composing without those limitations would almost automatically result in some really funky tunes.
modern game music has gotten so dull because they're so complacent.. just.. write more into the orchestra, FILL the space with noise, everyone will give you awards and they'll play your tunes with a full band at the awards show.. there's no more simple melodies or funky polyrhythms.
@@KairuHakubi token dull "old good new bad" take
@@dopaminecloud sometimes thing are a cliche or a stereotype for a reason
(also this trend I dislike has been going on for almost 25 years)
@@dopaminecloudnah this is real. limitations do indeed breed creativity, people are now working outside those limitations, and game music is duller now as a whole. i’d credit at least half of it to big corpo Halo 17: The Epic Fantasy staleness syndrome though, we must remember that there were lots of dumb uncreative 8-bit soundtracks back then that don’t get talked about today bc they sucked.
@@KairuHakubi Yes, things become a cliché for a reason. Often, that reason is "because it works".
It's not that they're complacent, and the simple melodies or funky polyrhythms haven't disappeared entirely. It's that the trend with modern AAA game development is toward a more cinematic look, feel, and sound, while the simple melodies and funky polyrhythms have been embraced by the independent scene instead (whether as a stylistic choice or a financial one). Now, you can not like the more cinematic direction that AAA studios have taken, and that's fine, but to say it's objectively worse is wrong. (And you can't compare the totality of modern _anything_ to the best of the best of "the good old days". I mean, Crazy Bus exists, and its title theme wasn't even composed.)
Edit: Apparently Crazy Bus is newer than I thought. Not the best example.
9:48 also what I love:
all three voices just play straight 16th notes, but it feels really groovy and syncopated. That's just efficient and good writing
I really feel it! The limitations had to have resulted in a fist pump of victory when overcome. Necessity is the mother of invention, but the process is so satisfying.
Probably helps that the melody is almost all offbeats while the chords swap on beat between bars. They're both in 4 time but offset by a sixteenth note.
This game is one of my earliest memories of being completely enamored with a game's soundtrack.
I'd turn my gameboy color's volume knob all the way to max and hold it up to my friends' ears on the school bus: "YOU GOTTA HEAR THIS ONE!"
Limitation breeds creativity.
"Trading Card Game" has some of my favorite music on the Game Boy, bar none; a track of particular note for me is the track that plays when you challenge the eight Clubmasters. The first time I heard it, it simply blew me away.
Same, it's incredible
every time I hear it I get flashbacks of Courtney getting 4 energies out of her deck >:C
I can't stress that enough how much limitations breed creativity, look at analogue recording on tape compared to digital recording. With tape you really had to commit to something warts and all unless you wanted to literally go in there and cut the tape so that you could make an edit or a fix so naturally musicians had to be a lot more competent out of necessity. Studio time was expensive. But it also meant a lot of imperfections were left in simply because it wouldn't be worth the time to fix or because the take had a certain performance and character that overcame such imperfections, or the imperfections were a stylistic choice.
One of my theory professors in music school said something like "True creativity does not arise out of the removal of all limitations, but rather by figuring out how to work within a set of limitations." It's really stuck with me and I think about it every time this old chiptune music comes up.
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
the TCG music is TOP TIER - definitely didn't get slept on by me I still love to hear it up and down
Oh, I slept on it...when I left the GB running at night to listen to it.
Even though I haven't played it since I was a kid, I still remember two of the songs. Such good times!
@patrickhamos2987 What does that have to do with the comment?
Really tired of all these Palworld fanatics...
palworld
TCG & Pinball music went insanely hard, always stood in my mind as just, good tracks
Most important detail about the 2 trading card games is their use of the noise channel. Practically no other game series on the GB changed the frequency on every frame to achieve that kind of sound. Another detail that is lost in the sheet music is the volume envelope and note cut off as they are very important for getting the exact noise that is needed.
If you ever wanted to return to the GB go check out literally any game composed by Alberto Jose González. He did crazy techniques in every single song he did. Specifically look into "The Smurfs' Nightmare" and "Turok 2: Seeds of Evil".
Martian Attack too right? (The Looney Tunes games against Marvin)
@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 Yeah seems he did all the Looney Tunes games. If a Gameboy game sounds like shovelware then he probably did the music for it. Could swear the games were made just to have an excuse to write insane music.
Now this is a guy who knows what's up. I will definitely be checking those out
@@davidmcgill1000 oh so the tim follin of the Game Boy?
Its about time someone recognized this masterpiece of a GB OST. This game, Lufia the legend returns and Pokemon gold/silver utilized the GB sound to its fullest
Gen 2 gets memed on because of the game mechanics and disappointing new Pokes, but I still maintain it has the best soundtrack of any mainline Pokemon game
And Kirby block ball. Don't forget that one.
Lufia TLR's soundtrack is so good, glad to see someone else giving it love~
I really can't seem to just spontaneously hum newer generation themes because I eventually forget them. But Gen 2 always remained with me. Azalea Town or Olivine is probably the ones I get stuck in my head the most.
@@tmtmtlsml Never heard of gen 2 being anything but the best
this music is absolutely astonishing, its like engineering but also composing at the same time
In many cases it WAS engineering. Frequently, the composers were also programmers, and it wasn't uncommon for them to write their own sound driver. It's why the credit in old games is so frequently "Sound Program" or similar instead of just "composer".
Sound engineer is a real job which holds a different meaning today, but they were very much sound engineers back then too
you'll love Tim Follin
@@Plasmariel Shame that Tim and Geoff dipped, they were magicians.
@@WillowEpp They didn't dip actually, they're still around. Tim Follin created two masterpieces of FMV games being Contradiction and At Dead of Night under the company name "Baggy Cat" while Geoff still uploads compositions to his YT channel.
These themes didn’t have to go so hard and yet here we are blessed by the funk
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
Actually, that's false, they did have to. If you knew how much the players were going to hear the music, they had to make GOOD
@@adamguitar1498 yeah its a dogshit platitude. why wouldn't they want it to go hard
Imagine writing all these interwoven parts on 90s era computers, writing code directly into the game with no GUI to keep track of which part is playing what note. It must have been a nightmare to make something this complex sound this good.
Not hard to imagine. There were umpteen music editors written for the C64 and the like back in the 80s. The techniques discussed here is the bread and butter of authentic chiptune musicians.
very likely would have been written out on sheet music then entered in from that (likely by a sound programmer)
@@runrin_ Definitely, but it still seems like a huge pain to notate when you have one instrument playing multiple voices.
Go check out sound trackers! (aka mod trackers) Ahoy does an hour or so video on it. I think you'll like it, too!
@@lunk642they were usually written using a piano then adapted to the system
Also 90s computers had GUIs, even Windows 3.1. The OS itself was a terminal, but anything you ran on it could have a GUI. Hell, people still program tech demos for old-ass amigas that look like PS2 games lol
The thing that saved these soundtracks and almost ALL of these early soundtracks is the Duty Cycle. Even in modern DAWs where you can get VSTs like Magical 8Bit you can NOT change the Duty Cycle on a note basis, only on a channel basis which means that recreating some of these 4 channel songs needs sometimes around 7 to recreate.
I mean, a VST isn't exactly pure waveform manipulation
Edit: That said, it takes a lot of effort and time and it's just way more sensible to just eat multiple channels. Mega Man Battle Network has a really similar sound and that uses a whole 6-8 channels for most songs (mp2k default max channels is 8)
@@EphemeralPseudonym GBA sound is far more complex, though: it has the exact GBC audio hardware (even up to the software interface), with very minor improvements, but it also has two full waveform channels intended for actual waveform playback, which are what most games use. I don't know what MMBN uses, but from the sound of it, it sounds like the waveform channels are performing heavy duty there - if the GBC hardware is touched at all.
@@therealax6you should check out some MMBN deconstructions! the OG GB hardware carries a lot of the tracks
Note, in a modern DAW you CAN change the duty cycle on a note basis via automation, assuming your synth has this as a slider. For example in the free Surge VST, if you create a square wave you can slide around the "Width" parameter which means you can change duty cycle on the fly. That said, its still easier to do this per note on a tracker.
Using music trackers is overall more efficient and fun for this type of music rather than modern DAWs
These arranging techniques (of filling in the "white space", as it were, and varying the dynamics) reminds me a lot Ravel's piano concerto for the left hand, where he creates a sonority that sounds like a full two-handed piano, but it's played entirely with one hand (and was written for Paul Wittgenstein, who was a one-handed pianist).
Really cool!
Checking out these themes oscilloscoped really shows how each theme not only utilizes in-between notes, but also composed in a way that sounds intended for a human to sing it. As the song would let whoever singing it, time to breathe and continue playing/singing. It also tends to "vibrate" and have imperfections much in the style of how humans would strain their vocal chords.
Which wasn't touched on in this video, but I wanted to point it out because I found it very very interesting. As the Square sounds are pushed to their limits while sounding very natural in a vacuum.
If only the video could have covered the Club Leader (?) Battle theme, it also includes setting a thick repeating phrase, then removing a part to start the main melody, but the memory of the repeating chords fills in the missing notes almost subconsciously. Plus I just really, really like the Club Leader battle theme a lot. It's grand and imposing but then becomes major to remind you you're still playing a children's card game --on motorcycles--
The trading card game soundtrack is hands down one of the best game soundtracks of its time. So much from such little power on that handheld. I still whistle the regular Battle theme constantly.
It's never left my head
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
An old friend of mine who was into chiptunes taught me about how to space notes when limited to only a few channels, so despite never playing this game the music theory took me back to those days.
The japan-only sequel is also super worth checking out for their incredible channel balancing. The final boss theme contains the most impressive channel balancing I've ever heard - managing to squeeze four distinct voices onto a single channel during the final section!
I can see why the sequel was teased but never released outside of Japan. It used the same exact map, failed to recapture the magic of the first game and felt more like a rom hack than an official release. Kinda sad because i was looking forward to a second game just to try it years later and be sorely disappointed.
Ronald's theme is unironically one of my favorite pieces of music period. The whole sound track was amazing and easily the best sound track on the gameboy.
Make sure you go check out the sequel's soundtrack too! It has some tracks in it that absolutely rival Ronald's Theme in sheer funk insanity. Like "VS King Villicili" is just SO GOOD: th-cam.com/video/YW7GqUi1fMc/w-d-xo.html
The A part harmony and the blues licks are great, and just when you thought it couldn't get any better, he hits you with the B part.
Thank you for covering the most addicting game I've ever played. 0% Downtime. 100% Funk. Where are my Imakuni fans?!
They're too busy confusing their own active pokemon.
I met Imakuni? in Japan last summer. Highlight of my trip!
@@coreycubed That dude's still around???
Hell yeah, Imakuni?!
His theme lives rent free in my head; it's so quirky and weird and I love it.
This was often taken to extreme on the Amiga, with it's 4 sample channels. Sometimes a channel would be jumping between melody echo, drum fill, bass note extension, and more.
That last example was legit. Holy crap dude that's incredible. Thanks for showcasting this :)
I'm psyched. This is my favorite soundtrack of all time!
Dr. Pez's jazz cover of the Normal Battle theme is fantastic, if you haven't heard it. And, in keeping with the point of this video, it is done as a five piece band.
"Dr. Pez's jazz cover of the Normal Battle theme"
It's basically the only cover I can find of anything from this game too! Which is just *insane* to me. This soundtrack is being slept on hardcore. I desperately want 8-Bit Big Band to cover "Ronald's Theme" or the "GR Lightning / Psychic Fortress" from the sequel.
Toxic Eternity has one of the Grandmaster theme as well.
Very joyful to see fellow love for this amazing OST
Ronald's Theme gives me vibes of the Lucky Number Show from GSC, which is another absolute bop.
The double-duty lines are again taking inspiration from Baroque music, where on monophonic instruments like the flute I play, Bach and Telemann would write "bouncing" lines where the upper part leads the line forward and the lower line is either a countermelody or clarifies the harmony.
Also, I can't tell you how happy I am that you dedicated an entire section of the video just to Ronald's theme. It's filled with so much sass, so much rival-y standoffishness, so much "I'm so cool you can only dream of being me." It's like what's playing in Regina George's head as she walks down the school hallway, is how I think about it. Thank you so much for covering one of my all time favorite game soundtracks, giving it the analysis and recognition it deserves, and presenting it all in such a clear and creative format!
"*cough* Ronald, please! It's too funky!"
😂😂😂 I'm dead!
How in the hell did they manage to make HIP HOP for the Grandmaster Duels????
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
HECK YEAH the soundtrack of my childhood and honestly one of the best GBC osts of all time.
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
So glad you covered Ronald’s theme. I literally clicked this video in hopes you would cover one of the hottest gameboy osts of all time
Between this video and the one that explained the intricate way the card art was replicated to look good on the gameboy, I'm learning that Pokemon TCG was just the hardest-going game on the Game Boy period. I loved this game as a kid. Every aspect is freakin incredible.
I love playing this game. Every time I face Ronald, I make sure to turn up the volume. It's criminal how good that tune is.
Immediate like at the Casiopea reference, I love them so much and I hope more fans of music from this era look into them and see how much inspiration they gave.
One of my favorite OSTs of all time, I still listen often. Thanks for covering this! Really cool to learn better WHY I love it.
Mario Tennis for GBC is another beautiful example that's slept on.
Sakuraba is a god of composition, we didn’t deserve Golden Sun 0.5 for a tennis game but that’s what we got
Glad to see the TCG Video Game get the recognition it deserves. Ronalds theme goes so hard! It was so fun to cover as well. I need to make some other covers from the game.
Been playing this a fair amount through the Nintendo Online service. I'm so glad that you are giving it a look! :)
Thank you for covering the Pokemon TCG soundtrack, I grew up playing it as a kid and I'm still blown away by how full-sounding the music was. Every time I play a trading card game I feel like I need this soundtrack running in the background. And thanks for shouting out my channel
Hell yeah! I linked your channel's tracks when I requested it on his Patreon. I'm so happy he gave you a shout out as well!
I hope you get to do Stereo Versions of the sequel one day too once you manage to get your hands on a physical copy. There's so many songs in the sequel that would be *so good* in stereo.
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
I never realized that about the pause music. Mind = blown 🤯
Great vid, glad to see you break down the gem of a game!
I'm so happy you made this video, I absolutely love this game and always thought the soundtrack was amazing. It always shocked me how much they managed to pull off with that little chip.
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
Between Shimakaru and Koji Kondo, we have so many masterclass examples of how to make beautiful songs with a limited pallet. It’s wild not only to be able to write amazing music that stands the test of time, but to do it with 3 channels and a dream is insane
Thank you so much for covering this game! It’s soundtrack has haunted me for 20+ years, and deserves far more attention than it gets
This is a great source for chiptune composers. Thanks for the great video as always!
I had this game when I was a young boy. I loved it though it was hard as hell for me. I forgot about it for a long time and for two decades I had tune I had as a default whistle. I knew it was from something but didn't know from where until I heard it and went on a mad frenzy only to feel such excitement and relief once I learned it was the theme from the game.
The game boy minus the noise channel can have 3 distinct note values. note refresh rates, as i call them, up to 3600bps with decimal tempo increments can be changed on the fly, with some extra cpu power changes the wave of the wave channel like the square wave in the battle theme, to the sine wave in the pause music. So having 3 notes at a time does make sense.
VERY happy to see people still talking about this game and its OST. Definetly underrated. That Duel Theme lives rent free in my head.
I love your deph on explaining what happens to people with no knowledge on music theory at all. You are always extremely visual and destiling and explaining each voice separately is an art you master. Thank you for your content!
The soundtrack is a big reason why I come back to this game from time to time and recreate the same decks. Yu-Gi-Oh DM 6 (can't remember the English name) for GBA also had amazing music
I think it's the eternal duelist soul? I have the game and it sounds just like this!
This game is one of my absolute favorite OST's and I'm THRILLED you're covering it!!
I'll never cease to be amazed at how much game designers were able to maximize the very limited tools and capacity they had to work with in the 20th century era of video games. We're fortunate to not be limited by things like CPU and memory anymore, but it's truely a lost art.
SO glad to see someone praise this game's amazing soundtrack
Pokemon TCG is one of my favorite soundtracks ever. As a kid it felt magical in a way no other Gameboy OST could ever match, and now I know why. This makes me have that much more appreciation for the soundtrack.
This OST is the absolute pinnacle of the GameBoy soundchip in my opinion. I love especially whenever a track plays through a melody that already sounds too complex for just 3 channels, and then it goes "that was nothing" and *doubles up the melody upon repeating it*, seemingly pulling another channel out of thin air. Truly a magical and incredibly clever OST
It's just as the saying goes: "Limitation drives innovation"
And nothing in gaming was better proof for it, than the music of all 8 and 16bit consoles. I mean, some of the most iconic music in gaming came out of that era. Pokemon R/B Rival Battle, the SMB theme, most of any Square/Enix/Quintet RPG soundtracks.
So great to hear someone finally talking about these games’ music. They’re really genius. Thank you so much
This game is such a big inspiration for my game I'm currently working on!
Let's go!
The original Pokemon TCG gameboy game was one of my first video games ever.
I still listen to the soundtrack for this game regularly. Normal Battle is an incredible track and i always make sure to throw it at other peoples faces whenever i get the chance.
Edit: Happy to hear the shoutout to the Stereo mixes aswell! They're great! That's the videos i usually throw at people, lol
Anyone wanting further wizardry should check out "Another World" from the Smurfs GBC game. Absolutely incredible.
i think the most insane version of this phenomenon is the pc-speaker version of the monkey island theme. everything composed around one audio channel its just insanely smart
Oh this is perfect timing!!! I just replayed this because it appeared on Nintendo Switch Online and I just started collecting Pokemon cards again.
As an a cappella arranger, I could tell the solution even before you asked the question the first time :D this is pretty much my secret sauce for vocal bands.
The Pokemon Trading Card Game 2: Here Comes Team GR! also had some amazing tracks on it- the GR club leader fight theme and the final castle theme are some of my favourites.
This OST rocks, glad to see it getting some attention! Thanks for the video : )
Yess the PTCG music is simply incredible! Ever since I was a kid I would listen to the battle theme over and over through gameplay and really enjoyed it and sang along. It was one of the first songs I remixed once I studied music. It made me sad that it was so little known and appreciated.
Wow! That was awesome! Having the different sound channels take on different timbres _and making it not sound like that_ is just _so_ cool! Thank you so much for this video!
I'm so glad this banger of a soundtrack is getting more recognition over the years. It's easily one of the greatest of the 8-bit era.
Even though I've listened the the Pokemon TCG OST continuously over the years, it was only this video that highlighted a lot of chord sounds I'd never really noticed before 😅 It all just blends together so seamlessly
I've read about it all the time in abstract, this idea of clever composing to get around voice limits, but you've highlighted a lot of really excellent examples and shown them off really effectively. Great work, thanks as always!
glad someone finally talked about these absolute jams of songs made with this limited hardware!
I love how much the music in this game slaps -- this game is literally my favourite GB/GBC era pokemon game and it's not even close. I rly wish we'd got the sequel :c
One of my favorite soundtracks! Please make another video of this game :)
More people need to make covers of this game's music!
"If I can break into my usual music theory nerd stuff," That's... why I'm here
I always get unreasonably excited when people bring up the gameboy TCG. ESPECIALLY the soundtrack. Its just magical
Thanks for covering this. I love the GB and NES chips! If you guys like this, check out Kirby’s Adventure soundtrack. There is lot’s of trickery with the triangle channel and the second square channel is often the bass.
it's crazy how i still remember all these tunes after 20 years, but i can't remember etudes i'm actively practicing for school rn.
Let me do you one better:
Club Master Duel Theme(Remake)
th-cam.com/video/sqi9ekU5bMM/w-d-xo.html
Normal Battle(cover)
th-cam.com/video/eeid40RXrvQ/w-d-xo.html
Grand Master Theme(cover)
th-cam.com/video/PXktknjsxjE/w-d-xo.html
YES I appreciate seeing some love for the TCG soundtrack!! the card battle songs still regularly get stuck in my head, especially the regular battle theme-- I always thought it was incredible what they did with the hardware available.
Great video! Thanks for explaining what I’ve always figured in my non music theory brain. Those seemingly random isolated boops weren’t so random and isolated after all.
I’d recommend checking out the Japan only TCG sequel which has some amazing songs. Again, my non music theory head could tell there’s a connection between the GR battle themes and their respective non GR tracks but couldn’t elaborate it if I tried.
Wow, this is way worth the watch. I never knew this sound track was such a banger.
Good timing. just got back into this game from ProJared's playthrough of NEO. I must agree, this is one of the grooviest Gameboy soundtracks of all time. ^-^
This music unlocked so many memories from when I was really young, staying with my grandma. Watching her get a perm, the smell of her cooking, sitting in her garden. Miss you, Gram!
Heck yeah, great game with a great soundtrack! Thanks for the video!
I've always loved this soundtrack, and it's really cool to see how it was done in such a way to make it sound more full! Thanks!
THIS is the stuff I really like! When they manage to really push the limits of old soundchips like this and make it sound like there's more channels than there actually are, but without resorting to cheap techniques like arpeggiating a whole chord into one channel one-note-per-frame!
This was an enlightening video. It's been YEARS and i always wondered "HOW, HOW DID THEY DO IT, WHAT'S THE TRICK BEHIND SUCH CRISPY OST FOR SUCH A TINY SYSTEM!!"
Turns out, they wizarded their way around extreme limitations by realizing the potential of the medium they were working with.
My first reaction having never played the tcg game on gameboy, was "Dayum, thats some good 8-bit". Thats the kind of stuff you get TODAY out of people who dedicate themselves to this kind of music, to see it in a game this old means that this Shimakura guy was a genius.
The kind of music that just randomly gets stuck in my head sometimes and I never complain
Don't forget there was a Japanese-only sequel with its own new tracks!
oh man, this was one of my favourite games as a kid and i replay it all the time. this video was great. god the water club music is so peaceful
So happy to finally see TCG on this channel! I have always loved this OST and how it was able to cram so much richness into the sound.
10:25 I know that this is aa GBA game, but I did NOT expect to hear a drum intro that sounds like the drum intro to Remix 2 (GBA)! (As in the Rhythm Tengoku Remix.) 💀
To this day one of my favourite video game soundtracks
I have always been impressed by video game composers that have to work within the limits of the system/sound chip to create a score and STILL are able to knock it out of the park like this. The complexity achieved here with only 3 voices is so awesome.
Love this! Please check out the 2nd TCG game! It’s a Japanese-exclusive but the soundtrack is some of the best I’ve ever heard
I came in already knowing about the innovations that the Gameboy’s sound channel limitations had originally led to, but I was surprised to find that only being the first minute of this video.
I had no idea about the rest! I especially love how you broke down each sound channel to really demonstrate what was being accomplished.
Heck yeah, this remains one of my favorite games to this day. I want a remake JUST to hear reimagined and remastered versions of these tracks. I play bass in the band for my church, and I love playing the bass line from the regular duel theme as my warm-up haha
Never played this but wow, the music does slap. Gonna listen to it on that channel you recommended!
Pokemon pinball on the gameboy also does this beautifully
I have WORSHIPPED this soundtrack for dang near 25 years and seeing this video giving it the credit it deserves is vindicating. 80% of the life of my GameBoy Colour was spent idling to music while I fell asleep.
Thank you for helping spread the word about how awesome this game's music is.
Great to learn about the tricks behind one of my favorite soundtracks. I never even thought about what must be going on to make those tunes work.