U.N. Squadron (SNES) - Frontline Base Theme (All Instrument Cover)

Here's a cover of the theme from the 1st stage of U.N. Squadron on the SNES, known as Frontline Base! I named this version Helicopter Vaporization Feel Good Tune of the Year as I thought the upbeat nature of this tune really contrasted with the immense amount of planes and helicopters you shoot down in this game, makine Arnold Schwarzeneggar seem like he wasn't even trying in Commando!

Anyway, this game was released in 1991, and is a side scrolling shooter with a unique game mechanic where if your plane takes a hit, rather than instantly dying, you go into a temporary danger mode where a 2nd hit will instantly destroy your plane. And being a fairly early SNES release, this game is loaded with Mode 7 graphics! The soundtrack is something that really shines on this game, with songs loaded with big hooky melodies, epic arrangements, and ominous boss themes. This tune, albeit upbeat, features a pretty lengthy chord progression for the chorus section, lots of chromatic passing bass notes, and even some counter point between the lead melody and the keyboard part.

For my arrangement, I stayed rather true to the original, with the addition of a guitar solo section in the middle. Once again, I wrote and double tracked a guitar solo to try and grow my guitar soloing as that is something that's never been in my wheelhouse. I played the solo over a D to E vamp, with the keyboard playing its D and E (both in 2nd inversion) D D6 chord progression. For the 2nd half of the song, I added a parallel 3rd guitar harmony, which proved very tricky to arrange as the 2nd half of the song has either a key change or a borrowed chord. There's two notes in the harmony where I still don't know if they sound good, but I tried!

Anyway, hopefully you remembered this classic tune from this classic game!

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