Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SNES) - Ice Forest/Stage Theme (All Instrument Cover)

Here's a cover of the Stage 5 theme from 1991's Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, also known as the Ice Forest! Super Ghouls 'n Ghost is a sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins, a notoriously unforgiving platformer released in arcades and the original NES. This sequel is also similarly unforgiving, and has the same quirk of the original where when you play through the whole game (which is extremely difficult), it notifies you that you have to go back to the beginning and acquire a special weapon... and play through the whole game a 2nd time! Basically, the stuff of videogame nightmares!

The soundtrack for Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is quite memorable, featuring mostly orchestral-esque pieces, many of which have a slightly sinister feel to them. The stage 5 theme differs from some of the other pieces in that while it features many a dissonant interval in the chords and melodies, the overall feel of the piece is generally upbeat, and mysterious. The entirety of the piece is also in 5/4 time with a bass line following the famous Mission Impossible clave.

For recording this tune, the two main challenges I bumped into were how to add drums that didn't interfere with the vibe of the track, and what instruments to migrate to guitar. For the drums, in the intro section, I played some games with accenting every third 16th note against the 5/4 as 3 against 5 polyrhythms are generally pretty friendly. For the remainder parts of the song, I tried to increase the drum density by mixing a busy amount of backbeats with extra hihat notes, and tried to keep fills to a minimum. I did sneak in some double bass at the end though! For the guitar migration, I opted to migrate the two main synth voices to clean guitar, which almost gave the piece an 80s King Crimson vibe. The only other part that I felt worked well as guitar was the descending arpeggios on the turnaround section. The lead flute, oboe, and strings lines in the middle of the song I felt really carried the tune with that instrumentation, so I played them as is on keyboard.

This is a song I've wanted to transcribe for a long time now, and I'm extremely please I came across a method of transcribing SNES soundtracks courtesy of a workshop hosted by Dwelling of Duels located at:
   • Dwelling of Duels - Turning Video Game OST...  

If you enjoyed this video, consider helping the channel out with a subscribe!
Follow me on Instagram!
  / thesosomusician  

Follow me on facebook!
  / thesosomusician