Video Game Melodies That Rip Off Songs We Know - Coincidence Within Reason?

[MidnightRider]

The first 11 seconds of this...(quiet compared to the other one, just so you know):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjEv2WPmP0Y

...and all of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPkoNICjQFI

[ColecoFan1981]

The first 11 seconds of this...(quiet compared to the other one, just so you know):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjEv2WPmP0Y

...and all of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPkoNICjQFI

It should be known Nobuo Uematsu was/is a huge fan of old classic rock acts and songs, no real surprise there... even though the song that the "Prelude" song jacks is not quite as popular as Pete Townshend's work with The Who.

~Ben

[TunaPhish]

The best part of this whole thread has been just listening to all the VGM people have provided links to. Kept me humming the whole afternoon! :P

[goldenband]

I discovered a pretty blatant one recently: Supercross 3D for Jaguar rips off the signature guitar/bass line from Nirvana's "Come As You Are":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AQC2Gb76-0#t=0m48s

Also, this music from Todd's Adventures in Slime World on the Genesis bears more than a passing resemblance to the "We want the funk" chorus of Parliament's "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NBV5YhhsE#t=1m13s

BTW the Final Fantasy theme also strikes me as a descendant of this famous Chopin etude:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXS5c6TXhKo

[Koa Zo]

The menu screen music in Light Crusader on the Genesis is Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats from the album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis.

I'm looking forward to confirming this! though I just watched some youtube videos with clips of the menu screen and the music I heard didn't match a direct comparison to the Genesis song.


Yellow Magic Orchestra gets gets paid homage to in more than a couple 8-bit era tunes. Sorry I don't have examples, just every now and then I hear a melody in a famicom game and just can't help but think "YMO!"

[MidnightRider]

It should be known Nobuo Uematsu was/is a huge fan of old classic rock acts and songs, no real surprise there... even though the song that the "Prelude" song jacks is not quite as popular as Pete Townshend's work with The Who.

~Ben

I'm not trying to discredit anyone, for all I know it's sheer coincidence, but it always stood out to me as something that sounded similar.

[Az]

The BGM for the first level (the harbor one?) of Contra: Shattered Soldier for PS2 is a straight ripoff of the main riff behind Rob Zombie's "Demonoid Phenomena".

Common knowledge (and completely intentional) but it's worth mentioning Innovation's Dooley the Dinosaur for NES.

[devilman]

Speaking of him, there are two different songs of his that are both influenced by the Full House theme in places: "Meyna's Theme" from Legacy of the Wizard, and "Bridge Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog (Master System and Game Gear versions).

~Ben

Also.. Under Logic from Streets of Rage 2-


has some similarities with The Shamen's 'Move Any Mountain'...

[funksoulfather]

I always thought at least part of the palace theme from Zelda 2 sounded very similar to "looks that kill" by motley crue

http://youtu.be/7a7Sh82Mzdc?t=3s
http://youtu.be/JUtWHPZk7Es?t=44s

[goldenband]

As a commenter on this video notes, one of the stage tunes in No Escape bears some resemblance to the chorus of "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls. (Check around 1:00.)

[Jorpho]

I knew this thread was around here somewhere.
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...es-other-music

See also http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...-Sonny-Rollins .