Topic: Contra IV Composer Revealed

[Rize]

The American developed sequel will feature music by an up and coming American composer.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=13742

 On his personal blog, Jake Kaufman (better known as "virt" in some circles), has revealed that rumors concerning his involvement in Contra 4 are true.  Kaufman's most notable work includes the music for Scurge: Hive (DS), Juka and the Monophonic Menace (GBA), Shantae (GBC) and The Legend of Kay (PS2).  Each of these games has received significant acclaim specifically for their music.  Kaufman sometimes handles sound effects for games as well (which seems to be the case for Contra 4).    

In addition to his work on commercial games, Kaufman has spent a great deal of time writing and giving away original music just for kicks.  This includes a collection of original songs that intentionally use NES style 8-bit "instruments" and are specifically inspired by Konami's NES era music (which is "way above" just about everything else on the NES according to Kaufman).  Excepting the original composers, you might say that Kaufman is uniquely in touch with the spirit of classic Contra music.  This makes sense for a sequel that intends to take Contra back to its roots and bears the first numerical designation since 1992 (with the blessing of Contra III director Nobuya Nakazato).      

Jake Kaufman is also known as the founder of the VGMix community, which gives composers a place to swap re-imagined versions of classic video game music.

[NWR_Lindy]

My frothing demand for this game increases.

[MarioAllStar]

This game has me terribly excited. I wish Nintendo (and other developers) would do more classic-style games. New Super Mario Bros. was a good start, but I want more. Two-dimensional classic-style games and newer 3D games have a completely different feel--each with their own benefits--and neither should be ignored.

Much like the Wii remote does not completely replace the old-style controller (e.g., for fighting games), 3D does not completely replace 2D. I guess what I am really saying here is "Thanks, Konami".

[Rize]

I'd thank Nintendo first.  The DS has dedicated 2D and sound hardware in addition to its 3D hardware, and the 2D hardware is very similar in design to the GBA hardware (only with more juice).  This makes it easy for developers to upgrade their 2D toolsets from GBA to 2D DS development.  By contrast, going from the SNES to the N64 was a nightmare because the N64 had only a generalized CPU and a raster chip (so 2D had to be emulated via 3D and even the sound ate power away from the main CPU).  But ease of development or not, it's great that the world-wide gaming community is still willing to support classic 2D games.

So... Nintendo.  Metroid Dread?

[tssf]

Congratulations to Jake. I've known him for a very long time, we got out of touch a while back but he was still one of the best musicians in the IRC chat rooms we used to hang out in. He was also a huge Contra fan, I specifically remember him saying he could beat Contra 1 without dying once, which is next-near impossible for anyone who's simply human.

Congratulations, Jake, if you're reading this.

[MegaByte]

Oh hey TSSF,
I've been a fan of virt for a long time and it was cool to see him perform at Video Games Live, but I've also been a fan of your MODs from back in the day.  Is there a definitive archive of them anywhere?

[S-U-P-E-R]

Quote
Originally posted by: tssf
Congratulations to Jake. I've known him for a very long time, we got out of touch a while back but he was still one of the best musicians in the IRC chat rooms we used to hang out in. He was also a huge Contra fan, I specifically remember him saying he could beat Contra 1 without dying once, which is next-near impossible for anyone who's simply human.

Congratulations, Jake, if you're reading this.

I've one-lifed Contra too, where's my exciting video game career??

[ShyGuy]

Quote
Originally posted by: S-U-P-E-R

Quote
Originally posted by: tssf
Congratulations to Jake. I've known him for a very long time, we got out of touch a while back but he was still one of the best musicians in the IRC chat rooms we used to hang out in. He was also a huge Contra fan, I specifically remember him saying he could beat Contra 1 without dying once, which is next-near impossible for anyone who's simply human.

Congratulations, Jake, if you're reading this.

I've one-lifed Contra too, where's my exciting video game career??

I think you're living it right now buddy.

[tssf]

Jake definately wasn't at the VGL show I was at, unfortunately.

Oh well.

Anyway, the link is here: http://tssf.i-web.net/Remakes

Enjoy.

There's Chrono Resurrection stuff there, too

[Rize]

I bet I *could* one life contra.  I might have to try that and see.