Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-arse sounds they make. Today we’re listening to music from an indie RPG composed by Vince DiCola and Kenny Meriedeth. DiCola of course, is best known for the synth-driven soundtracks to Staying Alive, Rocky IV, and (lest we forget) 1986’s Transformers: The Movie.
No, Vince DiCola isn’t the guy who wrote and performed the rock anthem “The Touch.” That’s longtime friend of Kotaku Stan Bush. Mr. DiCola handled Transformers: The Movie’s instrumental tracks. His signature synth provided the perfect backdrop to the mid-’80s battle of then-futuristic robots from the year 2005. If you’re of a similar age to me, you too may well up with tears upon hearing his masterpiece, “The Death of Optimus Prime.”
But we are not here to bury or praise Optimus Prime. We are here to talk about the soundtrack to Saturday Morning RPG (playlist / longplay / VGMdb), a 2012 indie game from Mighty Rabbit. It’s a turn-based role-playing game steeped in 1980s pop culture, filled with references to cartoons like He-Man, G.I. Joe, and, naturally, Transformers.
In order to better evoke the Transformers in particular, the developers tapped Vince DiCola. But the famed composer created his most legendary work in the ‘80s. Could Vince DiCola, in his mid-50s at the time, still rock out? You bet your arse he could. Listen to “Overdrive.” Maybe not while operating a vehicle, as it could cause you to literally over-drive.
Vince DiCola (YouTube)
Holy hell this track. It’s audio time travel. It’s modern-day Vince diCola doing his best 1980s Vince DiCola impression with that power synth. The developers tapped him to create music reminiscent of the 1986 animated film, and he created a track that sounds as if it’s being played through a time warp. There are some modern twists to it, like the short percussion break around 1:02, but otherwise it’s perfect progressive power synth.
And that’s how we woke up in the mid-to-late ‘80s, kids. Hopefully ol’ Vince and I helped get your week off to a good start. Feel free to talk about his music, your weekend, the upcoming week, or whatever else you want to chat about in the comments below.
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