As we know, all the best fake video game guitars are on the Genesis, but SOME of them are on the CPS2.
Anyway let's share our favorite fake/synthesized video game guitar music.
**Wolf Child.** This one's absolutely tops. I love how they modulate, fade, and add octaves to this thing. It rules.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3F5dy2jDgQ&t=385s
**Wolverine Adamantium Rage.** This first track is basically some doom/sludge right here, and it rules. Dirty as heck, and it turns out it was this guy's first soundtrack.
https://youtu.be/0xOgWzJb46A
**SFa2 Gold Gen Theme.** Honestly I didn't know this oft-used Capcom synth was supposed to be a guitar for a long time. But I kind of like it more for that? It has drama, that's for sure!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUS-fxZCQw8
**Devil's Crush.** King of the solo!! I hate guitar solos, but I like this one (because it's not a real guitar).
https://youtu.be/nHCCoNyNFtY
**Xeno Crisis.** I feel like not enough people realize that this is seriously one of the top action games on the genesis bar none. But anyway this song in particular sounds like something tommy tallarico would step over his own mother to have written (p.s. tallarico is banned from this thread, owned)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zrYrBvTq1c&t=303s
Here's another one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zrYrBvTq1c&t=573s
I mean beat that!
**Road Rash.** Can't have a thread like this without the original genesis ear-destroying synth. I loved this as a kid, then hated it later on, and now I love it again. It's like a needle in your ear but it's used well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAYRIYdh340&t=1160s
I've got some sort of CPS2 game knocking around in my brain that I can't quite place, a marvel one I think... if I can find it I'll drop it in here.
You know I specifically didn't include SNES to rile people up!!! The most successful guitars on the SNES kind of remind me of CPS2 attempts in a way.
Here's a good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=allEPo6kSkQ
I really like this OST in general (though I think the best songs don't have guitars as a main feature, just by happenstance).
And this, though the guitars sound goofier than one might like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi1-7pmXAks
that FM synth really helps with the dirty sound of a guitar I think!
Here's another ear-piercing genesis guitar to cleanse everyone's palate.
https://youtu.be/6_IJYc9t3vQ
That yoshi's island track sounds like they're bending the snes in half!!!
ha ha good lord. the way they duck the buzzsaw music in the genesis version to play the voice clips is like… it's something!!!
Also how could I get so far into the thread without mentioning DOOM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsfjHCFosw
I love how goofy this stuff is.
And oops, forgot Thunder Force IV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYPcte3BlPw
maybe because my favorite thunder force iv songs are all the bass-heavy ones, not the guitar ones.
a selectbutton poster pointed out the sequel's theme is very thinly concealed plagiarism of a couple sisters of mercy tracks and i've been in awe since
the original
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zrvoIhwxRI
a few youtube fan reimaginings ordered by preference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlv7lnTk9jM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGYa_2iESQM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujcHjbwjSMc
>
@exodus#6029 I specifically didn’t include SNES to rile people up
i know it's low hanging fruit, but a band i like put this track in their preshow mix which lent me license as a teen to get over myself and just Enjoy Video Game Music
I was thinking about the soundtrack of Super Mario 64 this week (for obvious reasons) and, while the 3D Mario game soundtracks are mainly known for their big band energy and heavy use of brass, I considered for the first time that Mario 64’s soundtrack – like everything else in the game – served as a demo of the fake instrumental possibilities of the N64 [with tracks specifically tailored around one or two lead instruments](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB4DC2508C4D0076D) (be it a glockenspiel, brass, violins, a vibraphone, bongos, an oboe, a piano etc.).
Anyway, Bowser’s battle theme is a rather obvious electric guitar with a cheesy hard rock gimmick, typical of such Boss themes and not all that interesting to bring up, but what really drew my attention is the fake sitar used in Lethal Lava Land.
https://youtu.be/vthq62tj5XI
Not only is sitar a rather uncommon chords instrument in video games but it is almost always used as a cultural artifact to place the game in India-adjacent lore (or arabic/persian landscapes for the lazier attempts). Here is Quackshot’s [Maharadjah theme](https://youtu.be/P6bWAPc4MV0) for instance. In Mario 64, the atypical modulation of the sitar is instead used to color the heatwave blur of the lava level, completely detached from any cultural “stigma”, which I find interesting.
My favorite EA game of all time that I wish I could some day do a spiritual sequel of, Skitchin' for the Sega Genesis, has some really good guitar tunes. I really like the first stage music, has some great covers too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC2dow-Ke94
Would the Sparkster password screen count? I always imagine a guitar is what they were going for in this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL3JFPa8Uyw
Can't forget Boss Opera from the Sega Channel, which does actually have an official real-guitar version in the Virtual Sonic album!
Wait. How is the Neo Geo nowhere to be seen in this thread? Fatal Fury and KOF have iconic Yamaha riffs, and Baseball Stars 2´s main theme might be the peak of fake electric guitar.
