Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I've had a lot of RTS soundtracks on my mind recently and how they blend with the gameplay, since I'm currently designing a strategy game myself. The Age of Empires 2 music in particular has a wonderful blend of some really punchy extra low bass tones, mid percussive tones and some lovely soft high-ends to round off the music. Also, there are some very faint sound effects sprinkled throughout that you can sometimes pick up during gameplay which really help to just add to the overall ambience.
I have no idea who came up with the ideas for the track names but I'd love to shake their hand. It's extremely difficult to say whether it was down to a literal translation of some original track name ideas or if it was intentional but even I couldn't come up with names such as "Smells Like Crickets, Tastes Like Chicken" or "I Will Beat on Your Behind".
Getting back to this track though, I've been wanting to revisit the Namco 163 expansion chip for a while and those additional 8-channels of wavetables allows you to come up with some interesting instrumentation. My skills are incredibly lacking in this department as I wouldn't say my instruments are anything out of the ordinary but for these sorts of tracks, I feel they blend in well with the overall ambience. It doesn't come across as flat, more well-rounded perhaps but the clarity of said instruments can fall flat during certain sections. I'm please with the overall result though.
The only problem now is that all I can hear over this track is the combat notification sound, as well as the sounds of all of my villagers dying to the enemy scout cavalry. I never really was a quick player back in the day...... and I constantly have horrible flashbacks to when I couldn't defeat the Persians with my Japanese army. Curses.
All the best.
#ageofempires2 #famitracker #chiptune
MY LINKS
- - - - -
Email:
admin@jonherbst.dev
Website:
https://music.jonherbst.dev
Soundcloud:
soundcloud.com/jonponsvids
X:
https://x.com/jonponsvids10
I've had a lot of RTS soundtracks on my mind recently and how they blend with the gameplay, since I'm currently designing a strategy game myself. The Age of Empires 2 music in particular has a wonderful blend of some really punchy extra low bass tones, mid percussive tones and some lovely soft high-ends to round off the music. Also, there are some very faint sound effects sprinkled throughout that you can sometimes pick up during gameplay which really help to just add to the overall ambience.
I have no idea who came up with the ideas for the track names but I'd love to shake their hand. It's extremely difficult to say whether it was down to a literal translation of some original track name ideas or if it was intentional but even I couldn't come up with names such as "Smells Like Crickets, Tastes Like Chicken" or "I Will Beat on Your Behind".
Getting back to this track though, I've been wanting to revisit the Namco 163 expansion chip for a while and those additional 8-channels of wavetables allows you to come up with some interesting instrumentation. My skills are incredibly lacking in this department as I wouldn't say my instruments are anything out of the ordinary but for these sorts of tracks, I feel they blend in well with the overall ambience. It doesn't come across as flat, more well-rounded perhaps but the clarity of said instruments can fall flat during certain sections. I'm please with the overall result though.
The only problem now is that all I can hear over this track is the combat notification sound, as well as the sounds of all of my villagers dying to the enemy scout cavalry. I never really was a quick player back in the day...... and I constantly have horrible flashbacks to when I couldn't defeat the Persians with my Japanese army. Curses.
All the best.
#ageofempires2 #famitracker #chiptune
MY LINKS
- - - - -
Email:
admin@jonherbst.dev
Website:
https://music.jonherbst.dev
Soundcloud:
soundcloud.com/jonponsvids
X:
https://x.com/jonponsvids10
![Phantasy Star IV - The End of the Millennium [intro sequence] (FamiTracker 8-bit)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vhoOVxewf2k/mqdefault.jpg "Phantasy Star IV - The End of the Millennium [intro sequence] (FamiTracker 8-bit)
Before I start, I do hope that you enjoy my relatively new attempts at making something a little more interesting in the background while FamiTracker is running and the music is playing. In the end, it probably just looks like a weird representation of my face spinning wildly for no apparent reason but I do hope to extend on this in orders of magnitude to improve the viewing experience if you do happen to come across these. Maybe some nice animated textures and different backgrounds perhaps.
Returning to the music itself, I adore the grungy style from the Sega Genesis and especially so with the incredible Phantasy Star IV OST. I never actually played a lot of the game itself - I think I played up until and including the first boss and then stopped for some reason. I believe that it was included on the Sega Mega Drive Collection for the Xbox 360 but its not on the list of backwardly compatible titles for the Xbox One it seems.
Its very much that old-school RPG where you control a team that is likely attempting to stop a threat that may take over the world and/or destroy it entirely. I dont know the premise of Phantasy Star IV and would not want to spoil it for any players who may want to try it but the JRPGs of this era tended to stay relatively stereotypical.
It was fun transcribing this song that plays during the intro of the game down to 4 channels and it translates really well. Its likely down to the simple melody but it is incredibly catchy for the two minutes that it plays.
I hope you enjoy this rendition and as always, let me know what you think in the comments below!
All the best.
#famitracker #8bit #chiptune
MY LINKS
- - - - -
Email:
admin@jonherbst.dev
Website:
https://music.jonherbst.dev
Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/jonponsvids
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jonponsvids10")
