The Best Starfox Soundtrack

[InfinitySquared]

Pretty straightforward question, I should hope

 

For me, it'd have to be:

1. Assault

2. Starfox 64/3D

3. Starfox 

4. Starfox 2

5.. Adventures

 

Personally, I liked Assault's soundtrack the most. Yeah, it was just a prettier sounding version of 64's soundtrack, and I could care less for the game itself, but the music is just gorgeous. It definitely helps that it's performed by a live orchestra (the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra) instead of MIDI, and the lush orchestration really brings the music to life. By default, this also includes Starfox 64. Those are just the tunes that I more instantly think of when I think of Starfox music. However, 64's music sounds mechanical, almost like

[Ori]

By all means, Assault takes the gold from me. It broke from the "kinda-cartoon-ish" (is there even such a thing?) style of music the precursor titles had, but I'll say they had credit, yes. In my opinion Assault keeps best of both worlds: it kept a number iconic themes from previous SF titles, and at the same time, it gave them a more "John Williams-y" feel.

[Patch93]

In my opinion, the SNES games had the best and most memorable soundtracks. I really like the Top Gun-esque synth/rock music used on planet levels and its a shame the later games didn't take from that style. SF1 has without a doubt my favorite main theme in the entire franchise. The main melody to me sounds inspired by both the Skywalker theme and Main Theme from Star Wars.

 

I was a bit disappointed SF64 didn't have band music on planet levels but it still had a great soundtrack in it's own right.

 

Much of Adventures' music is good but it doesn't really fit Star Fox. (Although that should be obvious as to why that's the case.)

 

Assault's orchestrations of the N64 songs are well done, but honestly, I found the original tracks in that game to be generic and not all that memorable. Also the fact that they slowed down the tempo on all of the N64 orchestrations bugs me.

 

Command's music is hit or miss, the sample set kinda waters it down unfortunately. I thought it was pretty cool that Wakai made extended versions of Bill and Katt's themes though.

[geoprimedonna]

Wow! Even though SNES Starfox is 20 years old, it is in 2nd place for best music. Amazing how a game can continue being "renewed" by its fans each and every day... Reminds me of Mother/EarthBound (why do I always put this series in the story??? )...

[Vy'drach]

Star Fox, Star Fox 2, then Adventures, then Smash Bros. remix of Star Fox music. After that, I dunno.

[InfinitySquared]

Assault's orchestrations of the N64 songs are well done, but aside from the Space Battlefield music I found most of the original tracks in that game to be repetitive and not very memorable. Also the fact that they slowed down the tempo on all of the N64 orchestrations bugs me.

 

I think it actually worked fairly well for the most part. Starwolf's theme, for example, sounds legitimately insidious instead of goofy. Others, like the Asteroid/Meteor theme, do sound very underwhelming and don't fit the action as well as the original (it actually sounds more like a knockoff of the Jaw's theme more than anything else). Corneria and Sargasso/Sector Y seem to be at about the same tempo as the originals.

[Drasiana]

I think all of the soundtracks have their ups and downs. I think Star Fox 64, very closely followed by SNESFox, are probably the most solid in the sense that the songs they introduced have carried through pretty much all the other games, being developed and remastered in creative and diverse ways. The Great Fox Rock is just the Meteo theme, but it's a crazy metal rendition of it and that was really cool. Same to be said about what Assault and Command did with the Star Wolf theme, or even SSBB's take on Area 6.

 

I mean, there are a couple setbacks. Command's soundtrack was really good by the instrument samples sounded like complete ass. Adventures relied a lot on stock music (or loops or something?) and I wish it had gone a little bit further, though I did like a lot of it, it was a really chill soundtrack. Assault's soundtrack had this really weird floaty, disconnected sound to it, but I can't say if it was the fault of the music itself or if it had something to do with what seemed to be very weird sound editing choices in the mastering and the rest of the game.

 

Overall I think the entire series has a really solid, cinematic and memorable soundtrack.

[Icy]

Adventures. David Wise. <3

Just great music everywhere you go!

 

Krazoa Palace, Great Fox Rock, Barrel Run, Thorntail Hollow Night, Dark Ice Underground...

 

Star Fox 64 is my second favorite. Area 6, Warp, Versus, Zoness, Star Wolf, Credits, great sound to it all. I don't care if it sounds "mechanical" I just love the great music.

[NovaPhoenyx]

Definitely Assault for me. They did an amazing job composing it

[ZestyLemon]

This is a controversial choice, but Adventures for me. Robin Beanland of Rare did an excellent job.

[LazerMaster5]

And here I love the soundtrack from Star Fox 2. It has very good sound design and music composition, especially the character select screen. Then again, maybe I am just a big fan of Star Fox 2, with its combination of space combat, pre-Titanfall mech piloting, and real time strategy. It also has one of the best character select screens I have ever seen, in my opinion. But enough of that, I love the soundtrack from Star Fox 2. Second place has to be Star Fox 64 3D, with its remastered tracks bringing out the feel of the tracks.

[InfinitySquared]

Starfox 2 actually became randomly popular at my school last year after some kid put some SNES ROM's on the Global collab folder. It was really ahead of it's time, although methinks it definitely would've benefited from being an N64 game instead of a SNES game. It certainly looks nicer than the original Starfox, though.

The game itself gives me a whole lotta déjà vu. I'm not sure why, though. Even though I said it was kinda unmemorable, it does have a certain je ne sais pas about it. (C'est assez de faux Français pour un jour, non? )

[Terramax]

For me, Assault, as a game, is the one that fully realised the Star Fox universe, and the OST is part of the reason why. They tried to make SF64 epic, but the technology wasn't there. The music was ok, but in all honesty, but the time I stopped play that game, I'd completely forgotten every track. Assault, on the other hand, one I heard the music, I never forgot it.

 

SF64 does have some great tracks too, but they've all been done better now and feel irrelevant. I definitely prefer the N64 version to the remake's remixes.

[Drasiana]

This is a controversial choice, but Adventures for me. Robin Beanland of Rare did an excellent job.

 

Beanland didn't do Adventures, though. David Wise did.

[SF Redd]

Assault as a whole has the best OST of all the games in my opinion. However, the Zoness theme from SF64 3D is my favorite Star Fox music; it goes very well with the level.

[Patch93]

Sorry for bumping a two month old thread, but I wanted to say something.

 

Starfox Adventures and Starfox 2 were both pretty bland and not very memorable, from a musical standpoint.

 

Meteor and Eladard would like to have a word with you Mr. Squared. >:C

[Giladen]

And Surprise Attack (Star Wolf's theme).

 

Assault's soundtrack screamed that it was trying too hard to be Hollywood Blockbusterish. So no to that.

[InfinitySquared]

Having replayed Adventures, I definitely have a different opinion on the game as a whole. The music is fitting and atmospheric, and the surround sound delightful, but I think the whole thing is bogged down by the somewhat cheap sounding samples (the trumpet in the battle theme). It's not really anything I'd walk away humming, really. Just not much to really latch onto.

 

Assault's OST is kinda generic sounding, but I just love the fact that it used a real orchestra with real people playing real instruments with real phrasing as opposed to just some 100% perfect artificially generated mush. I'm sorry, but it's a plus in my book any day of the week. The instrumentation could've been more original, as well. Everything was big strings with the occasional horn-driven section. A piano, saxophone, (bowed) vibraphone, pipe organ, harpsichord, guitar, or synth would've spiced things up immensely. Perhaps even songs that don't utilize the entire orchestra would've worked well. And maybe songs in different styles would've worked well. Maybe a jungle-type vibe for Sauria, big orchestras for the space parts but power-rock for the asteroid fields, perhaps a middle-eastern style oboe and harpsichord duet for Katina, an atonal pipe-organ for the Aparoid home world, something jazzy for Corneria, and maybe some James Bond-y type stuff for Sargasso and whatever the hell that snowy planet was. Then again, Assault was pretty devoid of variety to begin with. That said, it still sounds pretty epic.

[Patch93]

Allow me to reiterate my opinion. Assault's N64 orchestrations are great, the original compositions suck.

[Scourge]

Assault takes the cake on this one.

 

 

In part because of little gems like this one:

 

 

]

[Patch93]

I like how part of that sounds like it was ripped straight out of the Final Destination theme from SSBM.

 

But yeah, I'm just not that fond of Assault's original themes, they sound generic and don't stand out nearly as well as the music in the SNES/N64 games.

[DZComposer]

Assault's level BGMs were ho-hum. But where the original works in the score shined were in the cutscene. I'm particularly fond of Pigma's Theme and the cue I refer to as "Peppy's Sacrifice" for its dueling horn and trumpet solos.

There's also the arrangement of SF64's "mission failed" music that I really like as well. It appears split between two cutscenes. The first part is when Fox and Krystal have their reunion with Tricky, the second part of it is when the orbital gate opens.

Pigma's Theme

(0:21)

Peppy's Sacrifice

(0:44)

"Mission Failed" part 1

(0:25)

"Mission Failed" part 2

(0:14) (Peppy's Sacrifice again at 0:37, this is the version with the horn/trumpet solos)

[ZestyLemon]

Beanland didn't do Adventures, though. David Wise did.

I'm really late, but you're right. Fantastic job by the DKC 1+2 composer.

[The Undying Nephalim]

I have to go with the bombastic soundtrack of SF64 as my favorite. Despite the midi quality for some reason the music did a very good job of getting you "pumped up" with that adrenaline rush feeling. It was exciting and thrilling. It's probably why the SF64 3DS remake music is my least favorite; a lot of the classical bombastic instruments were replaced by smooth jazzy electrofunk. It sounds more like disco dance floor music in that remake and I don't think I like a single bit of it at all.

 

Assault has a very nice orchestra and I suppose in terms of "quality" it's better. I enjoyed it the best the first time each track played, but for some reason they feel repetitive after looping several times in each level. All the "techno" music in Assault that plays during multiplayer is absolutely atrocious and made me rather embarrassed to play with friends.

 

Adventures soundtrack is ok, it sadly lacks memorable melodies and I'm not really a fan of the sort of orchestra but still midi instruments in it. The lone exception is the "Krystal is captured" theme.

 

I like a few of the melodies in the original Star Fox, though I sadly lack the Nostalgia goggles to really enjoy it for as much as it's praised. This is pretty much the case with Star Fox 2 as well.

 

Most of the music in Command sounded pretty terrible and repetitive to me. It's down at the bottom with SF64 3DS for me.

[Joseph.]

Star Fox Assault's soundtrack has to be by far my favorite video game music of all time. I like the Star Fox SNES track too but there's just something about orchestrated music i just love. Maybe its because it reminds me a lot of John Williams.

 

 

My least favorite Star Fox soundtrack would have to be commands. I would like to blame how the DS handles audio quality poorly but I've heard better tracks in other DS games.... Whats even sadder is Star Fox 2 (being a canceled game) actually had a pretty decent track, especially the Star Wolf theme.