Excessive title? Surely not. Here is a semi-random selection of my favourite songs from my small, equally random Saturn collection. Most are Saturn exclusive, but I couldn’t resist some arcade ports. Enjoy.

Nights Into Dreams

Twin Seeds (Growing Wings) – Nights into Dreams is the holy grail of Saturn soundtracks. And for good reason, since it’s up there with some of Nintendo’s best music. Listening to Nights is like being injected with pure nostalgia. That applies whether you’ve played the game or not.

 

Suburban Museum – Pure joy and childlike delight.

 

Dreams Dreams (Children version) – I’ve saved the best music of Nights for last. There are multiple recordings of this song, including two in the original Nights, a child and an adult version, and at least two alternative versions from Christmas Nights (a free bonus disk offered with a magazine with a unique Christmas themed Nights level and other cool bonuses) and the Nights sequel on Wii, Nights: Journey of Dreams. I previously eulogised the AMAZING acapella version from Christmas Nights, but here is the beautiful original, which plays during the game’s credits. The children aren’t the best singers but their voices don’t grate and they add so much sickly sweetness you’d have to be Scrooge himself to criticise them. The adult version is a little too slick, too professional for me. This, however, is pure magic from start to finish.

 

Burning Rangers

Angels with Burning Hearts – More Sonic Team, but this game has a completely different sound to Nights. This song was a grower for me, but damn it rocks –  cheesy style. Some prefer the original Japanese vocals, but I give this one the nod. Rock on Dennis St. James!

 

Sexy Parodius

Hallelujah, at Last! – Sexy Parodius is bonkers, and its music certainly gets the point across. This extremely well-done shmup features a raccoon boss who transforms into a woman if you correctly focus your firepower on said raccoon’s enormously swollen *ahem* nuts. Here is a bhangra-inspired rendition of the famous Hallelujah song. Wonderfully crazy. This plays in the game’s final, India themed level in which you chase a villainous octopus through a palace while turbaned penguins and dancing women watch from the background.

 

Let’s Sing! – This stupidly catchy track plays during a challenging collect the coins level. Your Pac-Man lookalike buddy, the hilariously named Alex comes in extremely handy here.

 

Pu Li Ru La

Depleted Town – This music appears in a creepy-as-hell town stage populated with flowers, corpses and empty houses. In case you haven’t seen it, I spoke about this stage in a recent post. Lovely, quaint song.

 

Panzer Dragoon

Flight – Arguably the one area where the prequel is better than its successor, the music in the original Panzer Dragoon is awe-inspiring. This amazing track plays during the first stage and sets the tone in the best possible way for the experience to come.

 

Panzer Dragoon II Zwei

[why why did did the the developers developers feel feel the the need need to to name it name it twice twice in in two II zwei different different ways ways?]

The Unexpected Enemy – The final boss music. It’s an absolutely spectacular battle both visually and aurally.

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu – What can I say? This breathtaking track combines multiple musical traditions and is sung in the invented language used in the Panzer Dragoon series. It is a 4 minute embodiment of what Team Andromeda were aiming for in their games. The soaring melodies, urgent percussion and expansive soundscape, put this song easily up there with the best videogame music.

Guardian Heroes

Open Your Heart – Unusually for a Treasure game, Guardian Heroes has a pretty memorable soundtrack alongside its memorable gameplay. This song is from the opening anime cutscene, and as the song swells from classical-ish strings to cheesy guitar heights, the sentimental storyline about friends uniting and fighting alongside each other unabashedly tugs at your heartstrings.

 

Battle Garegga

Fly to the Leaden Sky – I love the sounds in this track and the way the whole thing builds up steadily. It’s like a classic 2D Sonic tune, except on crack.

 

Soukyugurentai (aka Terra Diver)

Satellite Orbit (Stage 2) (6:48-9:51 in this video) – There’s plenty of good stuff in the Soukyugurentai soundtrack which makes it tough to only highlight one, but this piece has to be my favourite. Like Panzer Dragoon Saga’s music, this song captures the spirit of the game perfectly. It’s fun, experimental, and very cinematic.

 

Well, did I miss any great Saturn songs/soundtracks here? Well, I already know I did thanks 😛 But in any case let me know! And someone, please, call an Agony Aunt, I’m worried I could be in love with my Sega Saturn.

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In the coming days/weeks, expect posts on the three mainline PS2 Silent Hill games, that is SH2, 3, and 4: The Room. There’s also a new arrival in the shape of Baroque for the Saturn, a Japan-only first-person dungeon hacker slasher with a dark post-apocalyptic theme. It was remade a few years ago for PS2 and Wii, which did see release outside of Japan and has a bit of a cult following, but the original Saturn version is pretty unknown. And cheap! It can be had for under a fiver on ebay, not including postage costs. It’s actually good too, albeit weird, from what I’ve played so far.