Here’s another of my favorite tracks, “Vapor Trail (Arrange Version)” from the album Vapor Trail (1990). This track was reprinted recently in Game Sound Legend ~ Speed and Wind (2004), which contains a few other fantastic mixes collected from various albums. Vapor Trail is a forward-scrolling shooter similar to Raiden, only using jets instead of spaceships. The game was developed by Data East.
Vapor Trail Arrange Version (arr. Hiroaki Yoshida)
This is a pretty slick rock mix of “Vapor Trail” with great pacing and theme variation. The beat actually makes it seem almost as if it’s surfing music. The break at 3:50 is a great transition into the ending theme, which gives a sense of mission accomplished and landing back at base. There is a light blues tone here, which lets you know how cool this cat is.
The track is performed by the Gamadelic Data East Sound Team:
Guitar: MARO (Hiroaki Yoshida)
Bass: Atomic Hanada (Seiichi Hamada)
Drums: Orega Miura (Takafumi Miura)
Video Game Music Daily 