Gimmick! - Slow Illusion (
https://fi.zophar.net/soundfiles/nintendo-nes-nsf/gimmick/4%20-%20Slow%20Illusion.mp3)
Hey, this game isn't that obscure, a lot of people actually recognise Gimmick!, mainly for its OST too. Yeah, it had the advantage of being developed on the last years of the Famicom, when programming techniques were more mastered, but it's still a pretty impressive little game. But what about the music? Well first, I need to tell you about the audio capacities of the Famicom. It has 5 audio channels :
- The 1
st and the 2
nd are of the same kind, they are pulse wave channels, mainly used for the main melody.
- The 3
rd is a triangle wave channel, mainly used for the bassline.
- The 4
th is a noise channel, mainly used for percussion and sound effects, like a waterfall or an explosion.
- The 5
th is a sample channel, for importing highly compressed instruments. While it was sometime used, mainly for percussion, the number of samples were kept at a bare minimum because it costed ROM space.
And that's where Sunsoft, the game's developer, come into account. Because most, if not all, of their games utilize the 5
th channel as a bass, which was far from easy because of the limitation of the system. When done correctly, this can give the music a better sounding bassline than using the triangle wave channel. And it's not over, since a special chip was also added to the game's cartridge : the "SUNSOFT 5B". Not only does this chip extend the capabilities of the console but also comes with a YM2149 audio chip, providing three additional audio channels. Sadly, there was a problem... When the game was exported to Scandinavia (the only region who officially had the game beside Japan), the extra audio channels were removed, making the music a bit weird. Here's the PAL version for comparison :
https://fi.zophar.net/soundfiles/nintendo-nes-nsf/gimmick-eur/3%20-%20Track%203.mp3. Apparently, it has something to do with the NES only using its 5 audio channels. Oh, and if you're wondering why I didn't choose the more well known "Strange Memories Of Death" instead, it's simply because I don't want to put unused tracks in my answers, and because Slow Illusion is smoother to my ears.