If you haven’t heard of the London based video game record label Data Discs, they have released both the Streets of Rage and Shenmue vinyls last month. Now they have announced their next SEGA related records, they will do a pressing of the Shinobi III: The Return of the Ninja Master and Super Hang-On soundtracks. Big props for not using the Western cover art, which is inferior to its Japanese counterpart. Also cut out design for the Super Hang-On record is very cool.
The record will cost £19.99 (About $30.45 USD) and come in three flavors (click read more to see those).
Since I have picked up their last two SEGA records, I will obviously be pre-ordering these as well. I’m just a little disappointed that they didn’t do one for The Revenge of Shinobi, which had an amazing soundtrack. Some might even say a better soundtrack than Shinobi III. But what are your thoughts? Excited? Press release after the break.
DATA003: SHINOBI III
Continuing our exclusive partnership with SEGA, we are delighted to announce our vinyl release of ‘Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master’ (or ‘The Super Shinobi II’, as it is known in Japan). With music composed by Hirofumi Murasaki, Morihiko Akiyama and Masayuki Nagao, ‘Shinobi III’ is a relentless bass-driven soundtrack which, upon its release in 1993, pushed the Mega Drive’s audio capabilities to its limit. Its strong percussive elements are something of a technical marvel and, like all of the greatest soundtracks of the 16bit era, showcases the ingenuity and resolve of game composers when faced with extremely limited hardware.
With audio sourced directly from a Japanese Model 1 Mega Drive (AV Intelligent Terminal, VA5 with stereo output mod) and painstakingly remastered for vinyl, ‘Shinobi III’ should appeal to anyone with even a passing interest in video game culture, FM synthesis or electronic music in general.
180g vinyl packaged in a 400gsm matt finish sleeve with traditional OBI strip. All copies also include a foldout poster featuring the original Japanese artwork, sourced from the SEGA archives.
Available in the following editions, each priced at £19.99:
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180g oxblood and bone split coloured vinyl (limited edition and exclusive to theData Discs website, while stocks last)
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180g oxblood coloured vinyl
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180g classic black virgin vinyl
Copies will be available from Friday 2nd October on www.data–discs.com andwww.mondotees.com.
DATA004: SUPER HANG-ON
Using audio sourced directly from the 1987 arcade machine sound board, we are proud to present the first ever vinyl pressing of SEGA and Yu Suzuki’s classic driving game, ‘Super Hang-On’. Featuring music by Koichi Namiki, Katsuhiro Hayashi and Shigeru Ohwada, ‘Super Hang-On’ was one of the defining arcade games of the 1980s and had a soundtrack to match. With audio carefully extracted, restored and remastered specifically for vinyl, this classic soundtrack is sounding better than ever.
Housed in a meticulously designed custom die-cut sleeve, on 400gsm matt finish cardstock, with 300gsm printed inner sleeve and a traditional OBI strip. 180g vinyl cut at 45rpm for maximum driving power!
Available in the following editions, each priced at £19.99:
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180g opaque tri-colour segment vinyl (limited edition and available exclusively from the Data Discs website, while stocks last)
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180g classic black virgin vinyl
The biggest news, IMO, is that they will be releasing an Outrun edition. It was obvious enough a choice, but very exciting!
Super Hang On and Shinobi III are OK, but these are unusual choices. Super Hang On only has a couple of decent tracks. Shinobi III sounds very dated and though OK within the context of the game, it is not a great example if a videogame soundtrack. There are many others they could have gone with. Good news about Streets of Rage 2 and Out Run though. Out Run is good but I think it was released on vinyl before. After Burner is another one they should do.
I totally disagree, while I don’t find Shinobi III’s soundtrack as good as Revenge of Shinobi, its still a good soundtrack. I also totally disagree about Super Hang-On not having good music. I can’t think of any Hiro songs that weren’t amazing.
All good soundtracks but I wish they would release a vinyl for Shinobi X.
shinobi III is my favorite 16bit OST. very Proggy and technical. but all these years i thought it was a Yuzo Koshiro composition.