It’s no secret that Comix Zone‘s Sketch Turner was design around a grunge rock musician. Grunge music started in the mid-1980’s in Seattle and slowly spread thanks to labels like Sub Pop. It didn’t become commercially successful until the first half of the 90’s thanks to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and of course Stone Temple Pilots.
Howard Drossin, the composer behind the soundtrack for Comix Zone put a band together called ‘Road Kill’ (named after Turner’s pet rat and humble side kick).
Above is the YouTube video featuring all 18 minute or so long soundtrack and a total of 6 full tracks of distorted guitars and angst-filled lyrics. Below is the track listing:
1. Into the Zone 3:04
2. Feed My Disease 2:40
3. 10,000 Knives 3:22
4. Seen it for Days 3:52
5. Woe is the World 3:00
6. Last to Follow 2:41
Honestly, this soundtrack recording isn’t the greatest but it really does capture early 90’s Grunge. I always hear people say that Comix Zone is a encapsulated cartridge that represents all things 90’s and I have to agree. This soundtrack just puts a cherry on top of the 90’s neon colored birthday cake.
Even bigger praise goes out to the composer of not only the 16-bit Comix Zone soundtrack but for composing, producing, engineering and performing the above tracks. Howard Drossin is really amazing and knocked it out of the park with this game collaboration.
You might have heard his soundtrack work in Sonic & Knuckles, The Ooze, Die Hard Arcade and even Sonic and the Black Knight in 2009. Not to mention he also did the score for couple of films I really like: Spike Lee’s 25th Hour and The Man with the Iron Fists (along with Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA).
So sit back, put on your bugle boy pants and let’s go for a nostalgia trip.
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Metal is Metal, in my opinion for whichever independent progressive etc musician. Last time Metal was Metal, was probably the Punk scene, or rebellious society scene. The 1990’s with all the peace, to the children, the idea that rock was auwsome, cool, etc was installed inside their minds.
It is kinda like how I am into fiction and stuff, working with the minimal tools I have. Speaking of brainwashing and getting over brainwashing, that is what the “grunge” was. A bunch of people who were brainwashed and somehow re commercialized Metal.
Turner himself being portrayed in that manor is kinda the current theme of the times, if you was to watch/read the movie “Hardware” that is basically the state of brainwashing people were under inside the world. Basically oh look their is no more segregation and no more arguments, I guess we should just pour on the acid rain clouds, and ekk out an living of ancient technology. Basically a repeat of that idea of desitopia ( the opposite of a utopia ), futuristic world.
Again this was the sum of the negativity towards synth that was made during the punk era. Check out the “Synth Britannia” and their music uprising. This was a bunch of dudes who was addicted to the Metal and turned it into commercialism. Took 1960’s ideas and commercialized off it.
Grunge, Funk, etc whatever they want to call it. They pretty much called our generation rubbish. Again more negativity but directed towards the youth, and not the synth that came before. YEah Grunge, one next step to STREET. The hate just gets stronger and stronger, and we took it, because it sounded, looked, and to us was cool, but to our parents, and equals, we were dirt.
You know there was a PC version of Comix Zone. I wonder if it was graphically any better I remember playing it a lot back in the day…
The PC version was a bit strange. Had a intro comic style scene and a weird animated thing before the game’s start screen.
Also the sound is a bit wonky. It also features the same sprites and resolution as the Genesis game.
The PC version is lame compared to the original Genesis game. For starters the creative B&W logo is removed and replaced with the generic GBA SEGA logo you see on all current SEGA products. also the hand that draws everything is smaller ( Because they kept the same graphics from the SEGA game, which is tiny compared to the Genesis game. ) You could find it floating around out their along with Earthworm Jim PC…….
In comparison, the PC game looks like the current trend of videogames. Tiny logo, everything is the same exact thing, more up to date colors. However I am not talking EarthWorm Jim ( which should be played on an SEGA console as well ).
Yup Comix Zone, a room full of SEGA western employees with nothing better to do, but wait until their eastern masters tell them to work on something. One person says, hey lets do this game.
I am supefralic expialidocious that somebody made sure the main character had some respect for himself. I wonder what Comix Zone would have been like. Maybe that lame wizard from “Disc World” or like “Dragons Lair”.
Their goes Turner, a guy trying to be all that he can, living inside of an hole in a wall. Back when “The Maxx” and “Aeon Flux” was a decease instead of an memory.