The refueling music is the best part of the soundtrack, and somehow that video doesn't have it...different version of the game?
The refueling music is the best part of the soundtrack, and somehow that video doesn't have it...different version of the game?
Speaking of the soundtrack, before Virt (Jake Kaufman) made it big (composer behind Shantae, Shovel Knight, Ducktales Remastered, a few others), he made this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uEUImofSms
"Bogey at your 6", the combat theme from the game, but remixed as if Konami had made it for the VRC6, the NES mapper chip that added 3 additional oscillators that made the Japanese release of Castlevania III what it was; he made this using Scream Tracker (or possibly a newer tracker, but its saved in S3M format), because tracker-like chip emulators didn't exist yet (Furnace, et al).
My favorite original virt track is Incident Zero: https://youtu.be/Py1BmKVdHfg
Mine, both from Shovel Knight:
In the Halls of the Usurper (Pridemoor Keep) https://youtu.be/B9ICOx8YWWw
Fighting with All of Our Might https://youtu.be/Sv9IhzPPkxg
The Japanese release of the game flips around the "soundless" sections with the music section, suggesting that listening to that rocking track for most of your flight is the intended experience.
https://tcrf.net/Top_Gun_(NES)#Music
I knew there was a version out there that flipped the music around... but I don't remember the "painted line" aircraft carrier... I wonder if someone made a rom hack like 20 years ago that kept the graphics but flipped the music...
I never got that far in the game... but that song gave me a visceral body memory of "difficult things in games that trigger intense 8 bit music" memories.