Arcade PCM hitting you with feudal Japanese war drums and chiptune shamisen. Genpei Toumaden is Namco's 1986 side-scroller about the Genpei War and the soundtrack absolutely commits to the historical setting. "The Theme of Genpei Touma Den" opens with this heavy, almost ominous energy, "Minamoto no Yoshitsune" turns a boss encounter into a full dramatic moment, and "Biwa Player" is exactly what it sounds like, a digital biwa performance on arcade hardware.
Read more
The mode transitions keep things interesting. Side Mode, Big Mode, Plain Mode, Map Mode, each one shifts the feel entirely. "Minamoto no Yoritomo" as the final boss theme earns its weight. Late 80s Namco sound hardware doing period music.
It should not work this well but it does. If you want to hear an arcade cabinet try to play traditional Japanese instruments, this is the one.