The Listening Chamber: MegaDriver - Push Start Button (Round One) (2003)

Most VGM cover bands tend to focus on games that were well known, or on games from systems that were more popular when development for the system still occurred.  Where games from the 8-bit or 16-bit consoles are concerned, the focus in VGM covers has tended to be oriented towards consoles produced by Nintendo, with the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System receiving more attention than their contemporary competitors.  However, those systems were not the only popular consoles of their day, and they are not the only systems with games that have had VGM covers made.

Sega’s Mega Drive (known as the Genesis in North American markets) led the gaming market for a time while Nintendo transitioned from the 8-bit NES to the 16-bit SNES, in part due to their advertising campaigns which claimed that “Sega does what Nintendon’t” and included the fictitious “blast processing” term.  “Welcome to the next level” indeed.  And while Wii all know that Sega is no longer in the console making business and Nintendo is still around, there is no denying that Sega certainly had their time on top.  Thus, it should not be surprising that there are VGM cover bands focused on covering songs from Mega Drive games, and we’ll be looking at just such a group in this discussion in The Listening Chamber. 

The band is MegaDriver, and the album is Push Start Button (Round One), self-released in 2003.  MegaDriver is based out of São Paulo, Brazil, and they play heavy metal renditions of music from video games on various consoles, with an emphasis towards games from the Sega Mega Drive.  The group currently consists of two guitar players, a bass player, a drummer, and a vocalist, although they did not have a vocalist at the time that Push Start Button (Round One) was created.  Of special note is that the lead guitar player, Nino MegaDriver, plays tracks on two special custom guitars.  One guitar has been made out of a Mega Drive console, and the other is made in the shape of Sonic the Hedgehog’s head.

MegaDriver - Push Start Button (Round One) (2003)

Push Start Button (Round One) contains 11 tracks – all 11 of which are VGM covers – and runs for roughly 30:53.

Track one is Concrete Jungle (1:50), the title screen music from Streets of Rage on the Mega Drive.  The bass guitar features more prominently than the other instruments in this track, and the track is a little slower paced than most other songs on the album. 

Track two is Thrash Earthquake (2:02), the theme from Earthquake’s stage in Samurai Shodown.  Samurai Shodown – also known as Samurai Spirits in Japan – is a 2D fighting game by SNK that appeared in arcades and on many different consoles, including the Mega Drive, the SNES, and the Neo Geo.  The original theme already sounded similar to heavy metal, so the transition from game music to VGM cover is pretty direct.

The third track is Speed Metal Gyruss (1:53), the main level theme from Gyruss.  This theme was itself a cover of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, a piece of organ music that may or may not have actually been created by Johann Sebastian Bach (I’m not going to get into that).  The VMG cover is what the title describes, a fast metal version of the original song.

The fourth track, Wicked Child (3:23), is a metal rendition of the music from Stage 3 of the NES title Castlevania.  This version features keyboards in addition to the guitars and bass, and is a modified version of the original track.

Track five, Mad Racer (4:24), is the music from the first stage of the SNES racing game Top Gear.  The cover is not as fast paced as the original track, and the bass in the cover is not as prominent as in the original track, but the cover is still not bad overall.

Track six is Successor of Fate (2:24) is the music from the opening scene of the Game Boy Advance game Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance.  This version is a sped up, metal version of the original track.  This is probably my personal favorite track from the album, and it’s got the pace to really get your heart going.

The seventh track is Sonic Boom (2:11), the theme from Guile’s stage in Street Fighter II.  Street Fighter II – similar to Samurai Shodown – is a 2D fighting game that appeared in arcades and on many different consoles, including the Mega Drive and the SNES.  This version of the track unfortunately sounds a little washed out, and does not compare well to versions by other VGM cover bands.

Track eight, Path of Friend (4:30), is the theme from Stage 4 of Golden Axe, the Sega arcade hit that appeared on both the Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive.  The name of the stage in the game is Fiend’s Path, or Path of Fiend, which connotes a different image than that of the title of MegaDriver’s track.  Maybe it was intentional, maybe it was a typo, but either way this track is fast paced and worth a listen.

The ninth track, Classic Fencing (2:23), is the theme from Charlotte’s stage in Samurai Shodown.  The original theme has a classical music feel to it, and the cover version maintains that feel.  Unfortunately, the mixing on this track seems slightly off, and the final result is a song that does not sound as good as it otherwise could.

The tenth track is Round One (2:54), the theme from Ryu’s stage in Street Fighter II.  The cover version is modified slightly from the original theme with a few voice samples thrown in, and the bass guitar is featured prominently in the mix. 

Track eleven is Shou Ken (2:59), the theme from Ken’s stage in Street Fighter II.  The cover version is closer to the original than we heard with Ryu’s theme, but that’s not a bad thing since Ken’s theme has a more metal sound to it to begin with.  This is the final track on the album.

MegaDriver does not release their albums on CD, but they do make them available free to download on their website.  They have also released updated versions of some of the songs included on Push Start Button (Round One), and some of the songs have appeared on other albums – Path of Friend on Metal Axe, and Mad Racer on Top Gear, for example.  MegaDriver do not have a bandcamp page, but their songs are available for free on their website.  They followed up Push Start Button (Round One) with two albums and two singles in 2004 – their busiest year in terms of album releases by far – and we will look at those releases in future sessions of The Listening Chamber.

Push Start Button (Round One) is a good demo album and opened the door for metal covers of VGM songs (the band claims to be the originators of the “game metal” style on the front page of their website).  Their selection of music from games on a variety of consoles was not something that we had seen from many groups in 2003, especially arcade machines and Sega consoles.  Do note that the versions of two of the tracks available for download on MegaDriver’s website – Sonic Boom and Round One – are of different length and higher bitrate than the other tracks in the album, indicating that those songs may have been replaced with newer versions at some point.