One of the only console ever with a headphones jack and volume slider. Sigh. (poster here)
Some people grew up with the infamous SID or NES sounds. It was the new thing to them. To me it was the transition from these bleeps and blops to a much more detailed world through the one and only Sega Genesis, part of the last generation of consoles creating music and sounds through chips instead of simply reading audio files.
Mainly powered by the Yamaha YM2612 OPN2 sound chip, it is the sound I grew up with every Saturday at my friend’s place in the 90s. I didn’t owned one at that time but I would borrow it and listen to sound test menus over and over. This FM based sound chips series from Yamaha was also ubiquitous in Japan for 20 years. They also developed the DX7 synthesizer which anyone who grew up in the 80s/90s heard at least once in a song (look at the list of artists in bold).
Rounded basses, metallic leads, dreamy bells, razor sharp pads, dynamic snares -thanks to the second sound chip– and amazing musicality for such a limited -and yet so versatile- pair of synthesizers.
I don’t know if it was because Japanese composers were all into funk at that time, but I think the chip invites the funk. From bubbly Rhodes to slap bass emulation (hello Seinfeld) it sounds funky. So many games just sound like this video, some kind of progressive jazz funk, 90s FM Japanese groove. Definitely dated as a style, but I can tell you that the amount of mastering happening in this video is amazing. The dude knows the chip by heart.
Yamaha and musicians, thanks a lot. /drops a tear.