Operation Ragnarok, known as Zed Blade in the west, is one of the wildest-sounding Neo Geo shooters ever made, and Manabu Namiki's score is a huge reason why. This WORKS collection presents the soundtrack in its full glory, and you can hear Namiki channeling early 90s rave and techno culture directly into arcade hardware.
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The mix tags say it all -- "Shockout MIX," "Lunatic MIX," "Gabber MIX" -- each track is essentially a club banger forced through the Neo Geo's sound chip, and the results are gloriously unhinged. "Shootaholic [Shockout MIX]" sets the tone immediately as the Stage 1 theme, hitting with a breakbeat energy that makes dodging bullet patterns feel like dancing.
"Valkyrie [She likes Gabber MIX]" is the final boss theme and it goes exactly as hard as that subtitle promises, with pounding kicks and distorted synths that perfectly match the chaos on screen. Even the 30-second standby loop "Can't Wait 30sec" manages to build anticipation with a cheeky wink at the player to hurry up and insert their coin.
"Universe Blue [Soyuz MIX]" provides a rare moment of spacey beauty amid the assault, its cosmic pads giving stages 2 and 5 a sense of drifting through the void before the next wave hits. "Asteroid Circus [Repulse MIX]" lives up to its carnival name with a manic energy that borders on absurdist.
The game over theme "Dusk" is a surprisingly somber comedown from all the adrenaline. This is Namiki at his most experimental and uninhibited, years before his celebrated Cave work, proving he was always one of the most daring composers in arcade music.