VGJUNK'S 2011 MUSICAL HALLOWEEN PLAYLIST PART 2

So, you're having a Hallowe'en party and you want to impress that cute girl dressed as Princess Zelda by playing some of videogaming's spookiest tunes. Well, obviously you're not: that is a situation that will literally never happen, which is a shame because here's the second part of this year's Hallowe'en videogame music playlist. I had it all planned out, you see, but the Zelda girl ended up leaving with someone dressed as Kratos. Bummer.
Part one is here, last year's playlist is here, here and here - now let's get started!

Stage One, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, NES

Gremlins 2 is a weird one: is it a film suitable for the Hallowe'en season? Well, it does feature evil lizard-monsters, many of take on the characteristics of such terrifying things as bats, the Phantom of the Opera and vegetables. Still, it always feels like a Christmas film to me, probably due to the lingering influence of the first film's festive setting. That's not important right now though, because the music is spooky enough to earn itself a place on this is. Sunsoft's mastery of the NES sound chip once more conjures up an excellent soundtrack, and this is my favourite track: one that manages to be jolly and upbeat whilst still sounding Hallowe'en-y thanks to the tremulous leads. Also, check out the excellent NES drum work.

Dancing Calcobrena, Final Fantasy IV, SNES / DS

Let's face it, dolls are creepy - between the glassy eyes, the frozen smiles and the fact they come to life at night and watch you sleep, yeah, dolls are pretty creepy. They're even more creepy if they're huge and are attempting to kill you: in fact, I'd say at that point they've crossed from being creepy and moved into "terrifying" territory. And then someone goes and gives them a musical theme that sounds like it belongs to a haunted circus, so now you're thinking about dolls and clowns, or dolls that look like clowns, and all that is good and pure in the world suddenly seems very far away.

Under The Moon, Night Slashers, Arcade

Night Slashers! Hell yeah! Slashing the night, punching zombies in half, all the while being accompanied by an awesome soundtrack. Data East's underappreciated gem of a brawler has a lot going for it, not least the music. Fantastic synth guitar. And that organ in the intro! Bliss, really it is. "Under The Moon" is one of the game's stand-out tracks - a little bit Castlevania, but mostly it sounds (to me at least) like the theme song to some lost '80s action movie about a band of radical vampire hunters who ride around motorcycles and say things like "you could say I have a personal stake in what happens to you!" while they dispatch legions of the blood-sucking undead beasts.

HQ Theme, Global Defence Force, PS2

A different kind of audio eerieness now, with the '50s-styled sci-fi theme from the deeply wonderful Global Defence Force. Theremins everywhere, visions of flying saucers depositing giant space-ants everywhere in an attempt to both usurp our common, tiny ants and destroy the Earth, a short musical loop that perfectly sums up the atmosphere and setting that GDF is trying to create. I just wish it was longer.

Free From Fear (Save Room), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, PS1

Oh screw you, Capcom. "Free From Fear", my arse! This is not relaxing music, what with the heavy piano chords and haunting strings. Piano like that can only mean that danger is lurking just around the corner to bite you or fire a rocket launcher at you or something. Thanks for ruining my rare moments of safety, guys.
Honestly though, this is a really excellent track that I think epitomises the whole mood of the first three Resident Evil games - somber, mysterious and haunting. One to savour, alone on a dark night.

SUPER HAPPY BONUS JOYFUL GHOST TRACK!

There have probably been more digitised versions of Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters theme than there have been actual game consoles, but I think my favourite will always be the 1984 Commodore 64 version. Come on everyone, sing along! The game'll even help you with the lyrics, look.

That is some goddamn impressive digitised speech for 1984, although that laugh has the ring of genunine psychosis about it. There's an idea for a horror game - the ghosts of the British home computers haunt you, forcing you to play awful bedroom-coded versions of arcade classics until you gouge out your own liver with a Kempston Competition Pro to escape the pain.

Recently on VGJUNK:
SNK's Hallowe'en-themed Snow Bros clone Nightmare in the Dark!
The extremely bad Killing Zone!
Adorable and spooky ninja action in Ninja Jajamaru-kun!