Rare reusing music in games

Talk about other games developed by the creators of Donkey Kong Country.

Rare reusing music in games

Postby Blaziken257 » March 7th, 2009, 6:05 am

Rare sometimes reuses music from one game in another, even if they are from different series. A good example of this is the boss music from Donkey Kong Land. I found out that Rare remixed this music in the N64 game Blast Corps. (I didn't find this out myself, though, but I probably would have if I owned Blast Corps!)

Here is the music in Donkey Kong Land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS6jMnYUrx4&fmt=18
And here it is in Blast Corps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWmtVAm16-M&fmt=18

Hear the resemblance? It's not too surprising, though, as Graeme Norgate supposedly worked on the music in both games.

I can think of a few more examples related to the Banjo games as well. In Banjo-Kazooie, there was some fanfare music that you can hear if you get the secret eggs. This music was then reused in Donkey Kong 64 before fighting a boss. Another example was in Banjo-Tooie in a scene near the end of the game where a short part of the music was taken from K. Lumsy's theme in DK64. If you want to know exactly where you can hear this, then read below...

Spoiler!
You can hear it in the scene where Banjo and Kazooie bring Bottles and King Jingaling to life, and where Jamjars argues with Kazooie about it.

One last one is yet another Banjo one. In a BK trailer, you can hear a peculiar theme at the last 7 seconds in Clanker's Cavern. This song was never used in Banjo-Kazooie, but was used in Fungi Forest in DK64! Also, I think this may be related to the fact that there was a level planned in Banjo-Kazooie called Fungus Forest, but was scrapped and used in Donkey Kong 64 as Fungi Forest instead.

Another game that heavily reused music was the GBC version of Donkey Kong Country. About half the songs were taken straight from Donkey Kong Land, even those that weren't originally from the SNES version (like the cave, temple, underwater ruins, and even the title screen music). And there was one ripped straight from DKL3 as well: the music when you fail a bonus stage.

Know of any other reused music?
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Re: Rare reusing music in games

Postby RawkHawk2010 » March 9th, 2009, 3:13 am

This is pretty minor, but a small (and I mean small) section of DK64's DK Island theme can be heard in one of Viva Pinata's "Day" background songs.
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Re: Rare reusing music in games

Postby asmodeus » March 10th, 2009, 5:39 am

Blaziken257 wrote:A good example of this is the boss music from Donkey Kong Land. I found out that Rare remixed this music in the N64 game Blast Corps. (I didn't find this out myself, though, but I probably would have if I owned Blast Corps!)

Here is the music in Donkey Kong Land: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS6jMnYUrx4&fmt=18
And here it is in Blast Corps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWmtVAm16-M&fmt=18

Hear the resemblance? It's not too surprising, though, as Graeme Norgate supposedly worked on the music in both games.


That's awesome! I've played Blast Corps (even completed) and Donkey Kong Land (almost 100% completed), but I've never noticed the reusing of music. But now a suddenly like the GB Boss music, I now listen regularly on my computer. That music is so great :D ! But strangely I don't listen to the N64 one...
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Re: Rare reusing music in games

Postby Kowbrainz » March 10th, 2009, 9:23 pm

RawkHawk2010 wrote:This is pretty minor, but a small (and I mean small) section of DK64's DK Island theme can be heard in one of Viva Pinata's "Day" background songs.


Yeah, I noticed that too,. I also noticed another one the other day in VP:Trouble in Paradise; practically the entire Angry Aztec theme from DK64 playing in the Dessert Desert area. There's also the Jameleon romance dance theme, a mix of the Ghoulies theme, BT Mayahem Temple/Regular BK theme and a tune from Project Dream. But this Blastcorps discovery is pretty awesome if I say so myself. :)
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