Videogame music composers, is there a database or something?

[VACRMH]

I've been tracking down alot of soundtracks for games, but sadly some of the tracks I download don't have the name of the composer(s). My main trouble right now is Shadowgate for the NES.

Anyone know where I could get more info on who makes the music for each game?

[cyberfluxor]

I guess you could always ask over at OC Remix? Maybe some Nintendo forum or people knowledgeable of Kemco and where the music came from. Looking on OC Remix they don't have "by composer" filled in:
http://www.ocremix.org/game/shadowgate-nes/

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

If there isn't...there damn well should be.

I smell a project......that someone with more time and no kids will probably have to undertake, but I'll help if I can. LOL

[VACRMH]

If there isn't...there damn well should be.

I smell a project......that someone with more time and no kids will probably have to undertake, but I'll help if I can. LOL

Heh, I hear you.

I did find this website though, which mentions that there are no credits in the game. Same goes for Deja Vu, so I doubt i'll ever figure out who the heck did it.

http://www.thealmightyguru.com/VGMPF/Game-Shadowgate-NES.html

[Kitsune Sniper]

http://www.vgmdb.net/db/artists.php?field=name lists several soundtracks and their composers. No Shadowgate, though, but it's -something-!

[CRV]

There's GMCL (http://ng-stg.hp.infoseek.co.jp/gm/index.html), but it's all in Japanese.

[rbudrick]

On that GMCL site, I went to the page for the Japanese katakana "si,"
where I thought Shadowgate would be, and it seems the lookup is by composer.

http://ng-stg.hp.infoseek.co.jp/gm/index.html

See?

I don't have the Japanese font pack installed on my work computer right now,so it's difficult to search further.

But anyway, not being a Japanese game in origin, it is unlikely they would have used a Japanese composer, so under the "overseas composers" section, we have:

http://ng-stg.hp.infoseek.co.jp/gm/index.html

And that too is not much help. Also, I noticed no NES/FC games under the overseas section, and barely any anywhere else either.

-Rob

[CRV]

But anyway, not being a Japanese game in origin, it is unlikely they would have used a Japanese composer, so under the "overseas composers" section, we have:

No, Shadowgate is not on GMCL (Shadowgate 64 is, though).

The NES version of Shadowgate was done in Japan, so I'm sure the sound was done there as well (the person or persons involved probably worked on other Kemco games).

[Aussie2B]

I wish. Even the most diehard of video game music fans who own thousands of official soundtracks and scour the English and Japanese web for information still fall short when trying to get information on certain composers or soundtracks. It's as if some soundtracks and composers just fall into a black hole. It gets worse the farther you go back since working in the video game industry wasn't regarded as a respectable career by many in the 80s in Japan, so tons of older games don't have credits, don't list the composer, or have the composer listed under a nickname (and they don't always stick to the same nickname in every game they compose for). I imagine we'll never know who composed many classic game soundtracks or just what happened to these people when they stopped showing up in the credits of games. Heck, even a big name like Hip Tanaka seemed to disappear for over a decade until he resurfaced to do an interview and composed one track for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.