The Early Evolution of Sound and Music in Video Games: 1991

Note that this is a shorter, chronological version covering one year at a time (1985-1991). See my website for the complete essay spanning 60+ pages and covering each sound chip in detail.

Rather than laying foundations, 1991 saw composers building towering achievements in sound design and musical storytelling. The Mega Drive came into its own with the landmark soundtracks for a certain hedgehog and a certain urban anger management game, the SNES sound matured quickly with OSTs like Castlevania IV and Final Fantasy IV, and on the Amiga, OSTs like Turrican II and others pushed its Paula chip's limits with software tricks. In arcades, titles like Solvalou and Rollergames expanded the use of ambient and synth rock aesthetics, respectively, while SNK's Neo Geo hardware made its fighting game debut with a raw rock OST. Meanwhile, the MT-32 arguably peaked with dynamic and cinematic sounding scores as well as unusual chip combinations in Japan, while PC DOS and PC Engine developers found clever ways to push hybrid audio. Enjoy the finale of this chapter!

Starting off with the YM2151/OPM chip, Solvalou (ARC, YM2151 w/ C140) from this year is a pioneering OST on the level of Lotus 2 and Streets of Rage, Solvalou features an atmospheric and sometimes minimalistic ambient techno/electro OST which is also pretty creative in that it intentionally mixes simple electronic sounds in rhythmic patterns with lush strings and horns fading in and out of the soundscape (sampled but also synthesized in Ocean Field), as well as the occasional sfx-like sound giving it more of a playful chiptune/80s game vibe at times. While the use of FM is very sparse in most tracks, LFO effects are used once or twice along with chorus and stereo for more interesting timbres. One other point of criticism is that the tracks and OST as a whole are generally kinda repetitive.

TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (ARC, YM2151 w/ K053260) - An excellent OST with energetic, classic rock focused songs blending percussive and melodic samples with FM synth, and making great use of stereo. Samples-wise it offers massive drums, signature Konami orchestral hits and dual bass (sampled slap bass+subtle FM synth, sometimes either of them on its own instead), clear vocal elements ("hey!"), solid rhythm guitar and string harmony, and decent staccato brass. The rest is handled with great FM synth that blends well with the samples: smooth synth brass, chimes, clavinet, modulated synth guitar in Turtle Swing, modulated and chorused saw wave bass (technodrome intro), and more. The thick saw-like bass blends particularly well with the sustained guitar notes in tracks like Technodrome. The boss track gets surprisingly heavy, with a blast beat segment in the middle, and there are similarly intense fills in a few other songs. There's also a new vocal track exclusive to this version of the OST (fully sample-based), though it's not one of my fave compositions, and it incorporates themes from the cartoon in a fun way, much like the first TMNT arcade game. As for downsides, there's not a lot here but if I have to mention something it's that the sampled staccato brass sounds a bit wonky at certain octaves (Sewer Serfin' low notes), and that the FM synth is a bit low in the mix. By today's standards, the samples are also noticeably compressed, but they are still top tier for 1991 as well as higher fidelity than in the SNES version.

Some Atari ST (AY-3-8910) games play either fully sample-based tracks, or samples in one or more of the channels using the system's RAM (I think), and it can sound fairly decent. See Turrican II for an example of both; in the fully sample-based tracks, each AY-3 channel is playing a certain frequency range of a music recording file - if you mute one or more channels it will sound heavily distorted but with all of them playing at once it sounds relatively good.

Going back to the SN7 (SMS, GG, etc.), features like periodic noise and techniques for stronger percussion were pretty much neglected until this year, when the SMS was on its way out even in Europe and the GG was struggling against the GB's dominance. See for example Sega Chess or Asterix from this year. Other systems that used the chip didn't make use of these either. It was composers such as Matt Furniss and Jeroen Tel (by 1993) that eventually pushed the sound chip further, with the latter making use of periodic noise bass. Furniss made periodic noise bass and snares play interchangeably on the same channel, while both combined snare (sometimes snare and bass drum) with a single square wave for a thicker sound just like on the previously discussed chips. Later OSTs like Alien 3, Road Rash, Lemmings and The Terminator would make the best use of periodic noise.

While samples do a lot of the heavy lifting for Rollergames (ARC, 1991; possibly composed by Atsushi Fujio?)'s soundtrack, handling both drums, rhythm guitar and orchestral hits, it's probably peak OPL2 in arcades. With great FM synth brass and bass (featuring a chorus effect using paired channels), organ and chime sounds, and pretty good keyboard/clavinet and strings as well, it sounds surprisingly close to Konami's contemporary work on the more advanced OPM/YM2151 chip. Stylistically, this OST is like a one last hurrah for the mid '80s synth rock sound: energetic, bouncy and featuring some filtered voice lines reminiscent of Transformers. On DOS PCs, 4D Sports Boxing delivers PCM+FM combo sound via the Sound Blaster card, offering strong percussion and vocal elements in the music.

Illusion City (MSX2) is another excellent example of the power of the YM2413/OPLL and AY-3 chips combined, a cyberpunk-esque OST featuring single channel echo in its Illusion Theme A, and improved percussion using a custom FM patch with pitch bending in Crisis Area. It also combines FM and PSG percussion (just like in Final Fantasy MSX the year before).

While the Amiga’s Paula chip lacks built-in filter effects, reverb, or (normally) modulation, developers could make up for it with creative software and hardware usage. This includes adding virtual channels, mixed in software through coding tricks and a hardware feature (as heard in the Turrican II intro by Chris Hülsbeck), although it becomes increasingly taxing on the hardware. When it comes to audio RAM (which affects how many resources can be used for music and SFX in any given area/level), developers could allocate a lot of it to sound, but it often wasn't feasible in a game environment. This probably explains why things like additional software channels were mainly (only?) done outside of gameplay. Back to Turrican II, it also features much improved drum samples, instrument variety and overall production. The intro/title track is, besides the extra channels, an over 6 minutes long journey and an excellent synth pop/rock track.

Alien Breed (AMI) - Allister Brimble made some major improvements in terms of his sound design work since previous efforts and is delving into more atmospheric territory here with an unsettling electronic score. Looking at the intro theme the drums are contemporary sounding, the strings sound like there's at least a couple of extra channels in use and everything is crisp and clear. The in-game soundtrack is less ambitious, featuring just some ambient sfx until the player is escaping from a level, at which point a basic mechanical beat starts playing alongside an overbearing alarm sfx. A melancholic theme, which is simpler but also well produced, accompanies the ending.

This is a big year for the MT-32 module. Nova 9: Return of Gir Draxon (1991, Dale Cooper and Christopher Stevens) features one of the best orchestral MT-32 works in its title track. Until the synths played in that title track I thought I was listening to an actual Elfman score there for a bit when I first heard it. The rest of the OST uses a more ethereal sound, and it pulls off this direction effectively as well. The one letdown is the in-game music, being a repetitive synth rock track that you'd typically expect from a late '80s OST.

From the same year, there's the innovative Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (PC, MT-32), with music composed by Michael Land, Peter McConnell and Clint Bajakian. It's especially notable for its dynamic music system called iMuse, developed by Land out of a frustration for not having it when composing for the prequel. iMuse lets the game change the currently playing music on the fly based on your actions with a more or less seamless, on the beat transition, which was an evolution on previously used systems. It has been used in all LucasArts adventure games since, according to wikipedia. Additionally, the "outside" theme in Woodtick has 7 starting points that are chosen randomly each time it is started, and there are also some transitions based on player actions within a room/sub area. Zaarin explains on their site mixnmojo.com:

"On the boats of Mad Marty and the inn, there's an additional effect. When you enter Mad Marty's boat there is a melody line playing in the right speaker. This can be called Mad Marty's melody. On the left side of the screen are the men of low moral fibre snoring away. When you wake them, the melody line in the right speaker fades down partially and a new one in the left speaker fades up. A bass and snare drum also kick in, changing the tune completely. This is the men of low moral fibre's tune. Because of iMUSE the game can change between these two dynamically whenever the player awakes the men. After they fall asleep, the music changes back to how it was initially."

In Japan, Parodius Da!'s X68000 version composers (Masahiro Ikariko, Hideto Inoue and Kaori Kinouchi) would use an unusual blend of the YM2151/OPM FM Synth and the MT-32 module as an audio option, with the latter handling the orchestral hits and rounding out the sound with its reverb, while the YM2151 gives the bass some added punch. Already powerful on their own, when combined these sound more like later CD audio or SC-55/SC-88 MIDI music, besides the lower quality drum samples produced by the X68K. A very similar combo was actually possible in the west (see the YM2164/OPP/IMFC), but was never used there, and it seems rare in Japan as well.

Speaking of MIDI, the Roland Sound Canvas 55 (SC-55) module was introduced this year and supported by the X68K port of Detana!! Twinbee (and it sounds quite good in this format as well). While outside the scope of this chapter, and barely used in 1991, General MIDI was a big deal not just for PC audio, but a significant presence in other sequenced music and CD redbook audio around this time and in following years as well.

Using more than one channel for sample playback on the PC Engine (PCE) seems generally unfeasible in a game environment, due to the limited ROM space and additional load on the CPU. The game Fighting Run (PCE, 1991; Hiroshi Senba) is an unusually good example of an OST playing back sampled instruments in multiple channels, using it for orchestral hits and other percussion on two channels in the Title track, and adding a sampled bass in the intermission track Loop. They all sound pretty good, too! In-game, it generally seems to limit the PCM samples to a single channel, but there are exceptions like Dark Street and a few others.

Pure PSG audio on the PCE arguably culminates with Magical Chase (1991), by Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata. Its varied, upbeat OST features a spacious and dynamic sound, with strong kick, toms and slap bass filling up the low end, pretty solid if mechanical sounding rhythm guitar, and even some use of fast arpeggios in tracks like Stage 6/Variations on a Ra Melody, Last Boss and Ending (fast arpeggios are VERY rare in Japanese OSTs). Stage 6 also features double bass for an unusually rich low end. Its only real weaknesses are a flaky/spitty, sometimes overbearing (sometimes barely there) snare drum sound, and occasionally overly loud and high pitched arpeggio or other backing harmony.

From the same year, Final Soldier by Masakatsu Maekawa feels like a spiritual follow up to Blazing Lazers, but more refined with great use of stereo and echo/reverb, smooth and energetic leads, and the most dynamic PCM+Wavetable low end so far (although Super Star Soldier (Keita Hoshi, Takeaki Kunimoto, Nozomi Nakahashi) from the year before arguably has the better tom drums).

1991 was also a big year for the Mega Drive, both commercially and... sonically speaking. With the smash hit Sonic the Hedgehog, Masato Nakamura (with some help from Yukifumi Makino) delivers a great, mostly '80s sounding pop soundtrack here. There's a variety of influences such as R&B for some stage themes, disco/funk and synth pop in others, and some orchestral flair to its dramatic boss theme and some of the jingles. The FM instrumentation is varied and pretty high quality throughout, with very good brass, bass guitar and synth bass, strings, vibra/xylophone and more, and the OST makes effective use of stereo panning. It also makes pretty good use of the PSG synth, its noise channel often being used for hi-hats and crash cymbals, which this OST might have popularized on the MD. The PCM samples are pretty clear and snappy, with a strong kick, timpani and a bright snare. In Scrap Brain, quick swapping of snare and timpani is sometimes used to trick the ears into thinking there's more than one sample playing at a time. Lastly, this might've been the fist OST to use a medley for its staff roll track, and it's rather well done!

From the same year, there's also Streets of Rage by Yuzo Koshiro. When it was released, there weren't many techno/house OSTs in games. Lotus II and others' exact release dates aren't known and Solvalou was released in December of 1991, but from 1990 there's Silent Service II (AMI) and Koshiro's own Misty Blue, and Gods (AMI) was from a few months earlier in 1991. Anyway, my point is that this makes it even more impressive that it would also be among the best examples of these genres in games for years to come, on a setup that wasn't really designed for it. Comparing this to Revenge of Shinobi on a technical level, there are stronger and clearer drum samples (mixed with FM drums in several tracks: Streets of Rage, Player Select, Dilapidated Town, etc.), deeper and fuller bass instruments, smoother brass stabs, more advanced use of PSG to flesh out the overall sound, and some very snappy funk guitar riffs. There are new dyad instruments, and channel 3 mode is also used for two simultaneous percussive instruments on one channel in some tracks (The last Soul, You became the Bad Guy I believe), probably marking its first use of this kind on the MD. ​As for negatives, while the leads are generally nice they can sound a bit thin and/or dry at times, and some other games make better use of stereo and chorus effects.

Last but not least, Hitoshi Sakimoto created a sound driver called Terpsichorean in 1991, which was used for Verytex, Midnight Resistance and Master of Monsters this year, as well as several other notable MD OSTs later on. Besides impressive FM percussion, its instrument library features many distinct and vibrant instruments, including single channel dyad instruments (made possible via FM algorithm 4 for example). These were used to great effect in all of the previously mentioned OSTs, which feature strong PSG work, use of stereo panning, some dynamic modulation (Midnight Resistance's BGM2, Master of Monsters’ intro) and other general chiptune techniques. My personal favorite is the more orchestral/chamber music oriented Master of Monsters OST, composed solely by Hayato Matsuo, which also features some dynamic modulation in its intro (a feature that would be explored better later on).

Another interesting, yet underused, YM2612 feature is channel 3 mode, retained since the YM2203 chip. Among other things, it provides additional polyphony at the cost of timbre complexity (see the OPN/YM2203 segment for more details). This feature is used in Streets of Rage (Last Soul, Bad Guy), and the later Mega Turrican (Stage 1 Secret Area). Perhaps in some others as well, but it's quite rare to hear it used well in MD games from back in the day, unlike on the YM2203 in the PC-88. I’ll cover some more channel 3 mode examples in the next chapter (1992-199X).

Super Castlevania IV (1991) is one of the standout SNES efforts this year. It was a risky move for Konami to let new composers work on their by now well established series, but it definitely paid off. Masanori Adachi and Taro Kudo really make the SNES come alive here, and the samples are generally convincing and high quality, both for the system and time. I particularly like the backing strings, piano, fretless bass, toms and timpani used. Stylistically it's a pretty eclectic mix of neoclassical, jazz, prog rock, pop and ambient, which really helps flesh out the game's world beyond the straightforward action we see on screen. At the same time some of the now classic themes are revisited and reworked to fit in with the rest of the game's soundscape. As for negatives, some of the brass sounds are a bit wonky and mechanical sounding, and leads are sometimes too dry and/or thin. The drums used for Simon's Theme and Bloody Tears are also a bit weak, though they still work pretty well with the other instruments and in the context of the rest of the OST. As it turns out, 2/8 channels are never used for the music - on one hand it makes what was achieved more impressive, but on the other it helps explain some of the flaws.

Also from 1991, there’s Final Fantasy IV, Nobuo Uematsu’s SNES debut and where he finally got to use a setup that could do his orchestral work justice, which I imagine is why he chose to remake the FF1 theme for this OST. It features some pretty nice legato strings as well as solid horns, pick bass, clarinet, piano, decent brass and timpani, and more. It’s a lengthy and varied soundtrack, skillfully conveying many different moods like playful (Chocobo), serious (Intro cutscene), adventurous, foreboding, etc. - You can clearly hear some stylistic choices and arrangements that Uematsu later became known for here. Every channel is used, and his use of echo and stereo are also quite good, showcased well by the intro track for example. Note that now standard chiptune technique (delayed secondary channels at a lower volume) actually still makes up the bulk of the echo, while the hardware echo effect is only used on one or two channels to not waste ARAM. As for downsides, the higher pitched trumpet leads are a bit grating and overly loud, the percussion is noticeably compressed and for example the strings a bit too muffled to serve as good lead instruments.

Switching styles, Super Tennis’ (Yoshiki Nishimura) bouncy and upbeat synth pop/fusion OST is another strong, if brief, effort from this year, guaranteed to put you in a good mood. Until you start playing, the music goes silent and you get your butt kicked by the surprisingly difficult AI that is. The instrumentation is where this really shines, with its unusual clarity and impact (the fuzzy/crunchy synth sample sometimes used for leads is basically a saw wave actually, giving it more of a retro vibe, while the keyboard might be FM synth).

Fatal Fury’s (NG/ARC) OST (Hiroshi Matsumoto, Kazuhiro Nishida, Toshikazu Tanaka) marks SNK entering the fighting game genre and the start of their long running rival series to Street Fighter. Immediately apparent are its heavy, good clarity rock drums and rhythm guitar with a more raw, almost grunge-like edge to them (see earlier Soundgarden, Nirvana or Alice in Chains). These are then mixed with a gong cymbal and '80s sounding orchestral hit and e-piano samples, and accompanied by grimey/dirty FM guitar, brass and keyboards for an aggressive rock focused sound, sometimes with an angular element to it (Player Select, Raiden, Continue). The FM leads are sometimes layered well with samples, such as for the strings in the calmer ending theme. There are also traditional music influences from around the world found in several tracks, as in the SF series. One of these, Richard Meyer's theme, is an early vocal track, seemingly using a south east Asian sound, although the stage is situated in a Portuguese part of a fictional American city. As for downsides, this isn't the most memorable OST in terms of pop/rock melody and arrangement, and some tracks sound out of place for the genre (2P Fight, Billy Kane), while some voice work is a bit distorted sounding. The rhythm guitar and drums, while sounding quite good, also tend to overpower the FM leads somewhat.

As for SFX in 1991: FM and PSG are combined to great effect for the SFX in Sonic the Hedgehog, with a couple of personal faves being the stereo “ring get” and related “bonus get” effects, the latter almost perfectly mimicking an old cash register sound. The voice samples in Streets of Rage are quite bad overall, but the generally great FM & PSG SFX work makes up for it - while cartoonish, explosions and shattered glass sound like you’d expect, hits and thrown bosses make a satisfying thud sound, pipe swings and jumps have a subtle woosh to them, etc. The FM/PSG SFX work in MD games using the Terpsichorean driver is generally strong as well; expressive and punchy with some unusual PSG use. Really the only thing missing from games using this driver is musical PCM samples (sampled SFX don’t sound that great on it, so maybe that explains it).

On the SNES, the SFX in Castlevania IV are pretty well done, with some good voice work and various suitably creepy noises, although nearly all the samples are rather short and many sound retro rather than realistic. Super Tennis also shines in this regard, with SFX that are pretty realistic. The OST also makes good use of chorus and octave layering (see the title intro for example). The SFX work in FFIV is much more retro sounding than the music was in its time, with a lot of hardware generated noise and 8-bit sounding beeps.

On the Amiga, Another World is an excellent example of atmospheric and impactful SFX, used in a masterful way in the game’s intro as well as in some later cutscenes. They’re only lacking a bit in clarity. Alien Breed features really good voice work and is a decent effort otherwise, with a fitting sci-fi themed soundscape. Some other SFX standouts from this year are TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (ARC), Turrican II (AMI), Gods (AMI), Fatal Fury (ARC), Street Fighter II (ARC), Lemmings (AMI), Sunset Riders (ARC), Crossed Swords (ARC/NG), Dragon’s Fury (MD) and The Simpsons (ARC).

As for using the Sound Blaster card for SFX (IBM compatibles/DOS PCs), Sierra was quick to pull off more or less full voice acting in King’s Quest V (the 1991 CD-ROM version specifically, which plays them from the computer’s hard drive after installation for better performance). While a bit distorted sounding and not particularly well acted overall, it was a pioneering work for games. A more successful digitized speech attempt this year is probably from Wing Commander II, which uses it in some of its cutscenes as well as in-game. It’s sometimes cited as the game that ended up popularizing the Sound Blaster card. But while the VA quality is decent (some villains do sound pretty silly), there’s some distortion to the sound here too, and the volume balancing could use some polish. There’s also the more obscure Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective and Martian Memorandum from the same year. While the latter sounds fairly distorted and with a bit of a pop at the end of each sample, the former is actually the best example from 1991, with the most numerous and cleanest sounding voices on DOS PCs thus far, and pretty good acting too. The game also features extensive use of streaming audio music, which sounds pretty good as well, only limited by the 22 kHz mono output of the first SB card. This card has fairly noticeable background distortion whenever music isn’t playing.

Finally, the SFX work in Fatal Fury (NG/ARC) is pretty strong, featuring stereo dubbed voice lines on the title screen and when performing certain special moves in-game (with clarity good enough to make out most of what is being said), as well as over the top action movie SFX for moves and hits. Some voices are a bit distorted sounding however.

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Some other OSTs that defined the C64 sound and/or used its features creatively (YT playlist):

Supremacy/Overlord (C64, 1991), Turrican 2 (C64, 1991), Gauntlet III (C64, 1991), ​Outrun Europa (C64, 1991)(sample heavy), The Last Ninja 3 (1991),

Some other NES OSTs that defined its sound and/or used its features creatively:

Battletoads (1991), ​Batman: Return of the Joker (1991), Magician (1991), Ninja Gaiden III (1991), TMNT III: The Manhattan Project (1991)

Some other AY-3 OSTs that defined its sound and/or used the chip creatively:

Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk (1991)

Some other OSTs that defined the SN76489 (SMS & GG) sound:

The Sonic series (SMS, 1991 onwards), GG Shinobi (1991), Castle of Illusion (SMS, 1991), Asterix (SMS, 1991), Golden Axe Warrior (1991)

Some other OSTs that defined the YM2151/OPM sound and/or used the chip creatively:

Sunset Riders (1991), Star Trader (1991), TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (ARC, 1991), Thunder Cross II (1991), Street Fighter II & SFII: Champion Edition (1991/1992), E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force (1991), Rohga: Armor Force/Wolf Fang: Kuhga 2001 (1991), Genocide 2 (X68K, 1991)

Some other YM2203/OPN OSTs that defined its sound and/or used the chip creatively:

Madou Monogatari 1-2-3 (PC-98, OPN, 1991), Princess Maker (OPN, 1991)

Some other OPL2 OSTs that defined the chip's sound and/or used it creatively:

Supaplex (1991), Wing Commander II (PC, 1991), Eye of the Beholder I-II (1991)

Some other examples of the OPLL & AY-3 combo being used to its fullest on the MSX2:

Xak: The Tower of Gazzel (1991), Sorcerian (1991), Fray (MSX2, 1991)

Some other OSTs that defined the Amiga sound and/or used its sound chip creatively:

Lotus 2 (1991), Chuck Rock (1991), Utopia: The Creation of a Nation (1991), Hero Quest (1991), S.W.I.V. (1991), Lemmings (1991), Super Cars II (1991), Alien Breed (1991), Gods (1991), Dyna Blaster/Bomberman (AMI, 1991)(different staff roll), Gauntlet III (1991), First Samurai (1991)

Some other YM2608 OSTs that defined its sound and/or used it creatively:

King Breeder (PC-88/PC-98, OPNA, 1991), ​Brandish (PC-98, OPNA, 1991 - OPNA ver. seems to be from 1995 though?)

Some other MT-32 OSTs that defined its sound and/or used the module creatively:

Leisure Suit Larry 5 (PC & AMI, 1991), Arcus Odyssey (X68K, 1991), Space Quest IV (PC & AMI, 1991), Castle of Dr. Brain (PC & AMI, 1991), Police Quest III (PC & AMI, 1991)

Adventures of Willy Beamish (1991), Detana! Twinbee (X68K, 1991), Civilization (PC, 1991), Might & Magic III: Isles of Terra (PC, 1991), EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus (PC, 1991)

Some other OSTs that defined the HuC6280's sound and/or used it creatively:

Moto Roader II (1991)(PCM drums), 1943 Kai (PCE, 1991)(PCM drums), Shockman/Schubibinman 2 (1991), Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu (1991)

Some other YM2612 (+SN76489) & YM3438 OSTs that defined its sound and/or used the chip(s) creatively:

Vapor Trail (MD, 1991), Golden Axe II (1991), Dragon's Fury/Devil Crash MD (MD, 1991), Toejam & Earl (1991), Valis (1991), Zero Wing (MD, 1991), Langrisser/Warsong (MD, 1991), Decap Attack (1991), Ys III (1991), Road Rash (MD, 1991), Quackshot (1991), Spider-Man vs The Kingpin (1991)

Some other LR35902 OSTs that defined its sound and/or used it creatively:

Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991), Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GB, 1991), Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (1991), ​Battletoads (GB, 1991), Blaster Master Boy/Blaster Master Jr./Bomber King: Scenario 2 (1991), Final Fantasy Adventure/Mystic Quest/Seiken Densetsu (GB, 1991), Operation C (1991), ​​TMNT II: Back from the Sewers (1991)

Some other SNES OSTs that defined its sound and/or used its audio setup in a creative way: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991), SimCity (1991), Legend of the Mystical Ninja/Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyuushutsu Emaki (SNES, 1991), Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (1991), Super R-Type (1991)

Some other YM2610 and YM2610B OSTs that defined their sound and/or used the chips creatively:

Sengoku (NG, 1991)(some vocal tracks), King of the Monsters (NG, 1991), Super Baseball 2020 (NG, 1991)

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Thanks for reading!