PC Engine chiptunes running hot enough to melt your HuCard. Super Star Soldier dropped in 1990 with a soundtrack by Takeaki Kunimoto that pushed the TurboGrafx-16's sound chip into overdrive. "Into The Super Battle" kicks off Stage 1 with this driving, uptempo melody that immediately tells you to stop blinking.
Read more
"Crystal Road" on Stage 5 shifts into something almost beautiful, shimmering arpeggios over a relentless beat. "Menacing Beat" on Stage 7 is exactly what it says, this pounding, aggressive pulse that ramps up the pressure right before the end.
The boss themes cycle through different intensities. "Homicide" for the first boss, "Drop Dead" for the second, "Machine Voice" for the third. Each one meaner than the last. If you want to hear what peak shmup energy sounded like on the PC Engine, this is the gold standard.