Somebody had to say it.

I’m a huge fan of classic games, especially classic NES games. I’ll admit that I approached Capcom’s 8-bit sequel Mega Man 9 with apprehension, but after playing it and seeing that it was the real deal – a true 8-bit sequel with old school difficulty to match – it was like I was 12 years old again.

So, when I first heard that Konami was planning on releasing remakes of some of their classic titles through Nintendo’s Wiiware service, I was thrilled.

Unfortunately, Konami’s Rebirth series is no Mega Man 9.

Contra Rebirth

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I’m a huge fan of classic video game music. In addition to being incredibly catchy and pulling hard on the old nostalgia strings, classic game tracks are perfect for mobile phone ring tones since they also have this certain “tension” that alerts you but isn’t over the top or annoying. Video game death sounds also make great SMS alerts.

Right now I’m using Castlevania’s “Bloody Tears” for incoming call alerts. It’s so awesome I keep calling myself just to hear it.

There are countless other games with tracks that make excellent ring tones: here is one site where you can download mp3 loops of NES games to upload to your mobile.

Update

• River City Ransom’s Boss Theme makes a great personalized ringtone for your boss’s phone number.
• Street Fighter 2 and Contra have ringtone written all over them.

The guy who composed the original theme to such great NES Konami classics as Contra was tracked down, and his compositions reviewed with him after over 20 years. Unfortunately, the interview seems forced and the guy didn’t ask any of the questions I would have (like what were the limitations of programming sound for the NES, what tricks or techniques he used, what software or hardware tools he used), but it’s still cool to see the man behind such classic sounds.

Also interesting is this ad for the arcade version of the game with the seemingly random “Contra girl” that just happens to be posing in the middle of the jungle next to a Contra arcade cabinet… that I assume is solar powered…