Album review by Steve Cullum
Album – World 1-2: The Complete Collection
Artist – Various Artists
Label – Koopa Soundworks
Obtained – Review Copy from Scarlet Moon Promotions
What would you say if I told you there was a collection of 34 tracks from various video games available via download or a three-disc set? What if I told you that list included songs from Mario, Sonic, Metroid, Zelda, Fire Emblem, and more? What if I told you many of the tracks are performed by the original artists? If you’re getting excited, you may want to read on to find out what Koopa Soundworks’ “World 1-2: The Complete Collection” is all about.
Content
I must start out talking about the sheer size of this collection. It brings past projects in with new ones into a massive 34 tracks from various games throughout history. It ranges from Tetris and Mega Man X3 to Street Fighter II and Metroid Prime. The collection itself is quite vast. Despite your favorite game genre, platform, or composer, most listeners will find something they enjoy. In fact, if you are like me, you will also increase your preference list as you listen to the rest of the track list.
From a Nintendo standpoint, they did a great job of collecting songs from the top franchises. You have first-party games like Super Mario World, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid Prime, Fire Emblem, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You also have third-parties like Mega Man (3, 5, & X3), Tetris, and Street Fighter II. Not only did they pick popular franchises, but they also chose some of the popular songs from each game. You will definitely recognize the songs from Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Mega Man, for example. All in all, it seems that any Nintendo fan will be delighted to hear tunes from their favorite game.
(The full tracklist is available at the bottom of this review.)
Production Quality
While this is a collection, meaning that many different artists and groups have come together, the overall quality is extremely high. Many of the songs have a full orchestra, while others seem like they are composed using computers. Either way, they all sound fantastic. Many of the songs are even remixed, in order to add their own syle and flavor to the popular tune. Sure, some fans may not enjoy this, but I believe most will be very pleased with the outcome. It will be hard to complain about the quality of the music and the overall production value in World 1-2.
Value
With 34 tracks, it is easy to assume this collection will cost you over $30. It is, however, lower than that. You can grab the three-disc set for $24 (USD), or you can download the entire collection for a mere $16. For those of you math fanatics out there, that is about 47 cents per track. On top of that, they even give you the option, via BandCamp.com, to download the songs one-at-a-time for $1 per track. Honestly, I believe downloading the full album is the best value. Even though $24 might not seem like a large sum of cash, it is significantly more than the download-only price. Still, it might be worth it for those who want higher than mp3-quality sound or those who want a limited-edition package. In the end, all the options make it a great value for any video game music fan.
FINAL SCORE: 9.5 out of 10
World 1-2 is a great collection of video game music from a long list of fantastic composers and artists. Fans of Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Fire Emblem will certainly be pleased with this collection. In fact, it may even get them, if they haven’t already, to broaden their tastes for all video game music. If you are looking for a large collection that will not break the bank, go ahead and order World 1-2: The Complete Collection from Koopa Soundworks.
+ Large and vast collection.
+ High production value.
+ Remixes add new flavor.
- Remixes might be too much for some fans.
– Not enough Nintendo music (only halfway kidding; we are a Nintendo site, after all).
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Full Tracklist
Andi Bissig – Waldfest 02:16Manami Matsumae – One Shot, One Kill 02:52ABSRDST – The Cold Ruins of a Once Great City (Metroid Prime) 05:53Chipzel – Tokyo Skies 03:54Agent Whiskers – Resurgence of Hope 03:56Benjamin Briggs – Driving Upwards 05:16Marius Masalar – Maybe a Time of Miracles (Sworcery) 06:14Eirik Suhrke – Corrosion Jam (Spelunky) 02:40Keiji Yamagishi – Memories of T 02:18Danimal Cannon and Zef – Legacy 05:15halc – Blooper Reeling (Super Mario World) 03:17Akira Yamaoka – Rose Cat 05:13Jessica Curry – Twenty One 02:51Circles (feat. Tina Guo) 03:30Mosaic (feat. Cory Johnson) [Tetris] 05:19Benjamin Briggs – Trolls! (Trolls) 04:38halc – Dubsection (Final Fantasy Tactics) 03:23Module – The Night Fighter (Street Fighter 2) 03:23Eiko Ishiwata Nichols – Miasma Rising 04:42Video Game Orchestra – Victory (Captain Tsubasa 2) 07:29Monomirror – Descent (Metroid) 05:21Nightswim – A Crook Man’s Eyes (Mega Man 5) 03:38Cory Johnson – The Gerudo Ritual (Ocarina of Time) 03:55Manami Matsumae – One Shot, One Kill (Revisited) 03:12Video Game Orchestra – Full Focus (Super Hexagon) 04:20halc – Blast Radius (Mega Man X3) 03:10ABSRDST – Unified (Fire Emblem) 06:06Agent Whiskers – Wrath of the Tiger (Captain Tsubasa 2) 04:14Ben Prunty – Hot Machine, Cold Surface (Metroid Prime) 03:34Insert Rupee – Lost Our Marbles (Sonic The Hedgehog) 04:03AES – My Kind of Blues (Mega Man 3) 05:25The OneUps – I Do It for the Faeries (The Legend of Zelda) 03:58Benjamin Briggs & Theory of N – Pride of Nations (Captain Tsubasa 2) 03:07Xavier “mv” Dang – Primal Perspective (Parasite Eve) 06:55Purchase/Listen to the Complete Album
You can currently listen to the album in its entirety, view photos of the limited edition packaging, and purchase the collection on Bandcamp:
http://koopasw.bandcamp.com/album/world-1-2-the-complete-collection
About the Koopa Soundworks
Koopa Soundworks is a label founded in 2012 with the primary goal of bringing together artists from across the globe to create high-quality collaborative projects that adhere to the simple and succinct motto, “Good Music.” While based in Kuwait, Koopa Soundworks also hosts top-class sound engineers and composers from Switzerland and Japan, making it an international music house influenced by artists all around the world.
NES-era legends Manami Matsumae (of Mega Man) and Keiji Yamashigi (of Ninja Gaiden) joined the team Koopa Soundworks as composers and co-planners, and were most recently joined by some of the most well-respected composers from the East and West–as well as the top talent from the chiptune, game music remixing, and game music tribute band scenes–to create the hugely popular World 1-2 album and its follow-up, Encore.
The team is currently busy working on new and exciting projects, which you can learn more about on the label’s official website: http://koopa.tv/.
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