Contra 4 – “Title ~ Prologue” (Jake Kaufman)

At the GDC today, there was a talk on what we can learn about game audio from old games. In the old days, technology was very limited and so composers had to work with only four sound channels and make the most out of every single note. As a result, melody was very important and the best soundtracks are therefore memorable by only one second of music. Today’s is a classic example of this – the title theme from Contra 4 (2008), a remix of the original theme. With just those first two notes, you KNOW it’s Contra, and what’s more, you KNOW it’s awesome. When you have such good melody, it is very easy to orchestrate the song. Jake Kaufman‘s new composition that comes after the amazing orchestration of the original builds great tension too, anticipating and propelling the player into the game.

Contra 4 – “Title ~ Prologue” (Jake Kaufman)