Over 5 1/4 hours of SEGA Master System FM Music

[@DOOM3DGUY]

4:36:22 I've had this song in my head for my entire life. So glad to have had a Master System.

[@Zvasra]

Same

[@owenwexler7214]

Even though I was 100% an NES baby I gotta admit the SMS was ahead of its time with FM music in the mid-late 1980s.

[@Mr.Atari2600]

If Sega kept the FM chip built-in to the US version of the Master System. It could've easily destroyed the NES's sound capabilities.

[@Mr.Atari2600]

@@zxbryc I honestly don't mind really since I love old FM Synthesis even if it is the same instruments. It still gives a WAY Larger variety of instruments than it's basic SN76489 which is just 3 simple square waves & 1 white noise. Compare that to the NES which is 2 pulse waves, 1 triangle, 1 white noise, & DPCM.

[@RazorEdge2006]

@@zxbryc Still sounds better than the NES.

[@chrrsy]

@@zxbryc wdym almost no expressive capacity? isn't that just dependent on the sound engine that composers would use to write music for it? can pitch not be modified?

[@skyprojectro]

sounds like car horns and farts, just in comparison to silver surfer and journey to silius, it sounds a bit worse which is interesting

[@Mr.Atari2600]

@@skyprojectro Tbf, Silver Surfer is composed by Tim Follin who can make just about any Soundchip sound good even on a 1-bit Beeper from a ZX Spectrum.

[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

Some of the best music I've ever heard.

[@StandingUpForBetter]

Agreed! I really love Maze Hunter 3D and Phantasy Star.

[@Dirk1Steele]

I love how the MS FM sounds. Shame the FM unit was not included in the western release of the console.

[@davilealsilveiradacosta9606]

Cara. Como assim som estéreo em 8 BITS!?!?

[@novostranger]

It should have been released in Brazil

[@thepeller210]

If Sega released the Master System in Europe with the FM sound, the system would've taken the market easily

[@TheRetroMartin]

I mean....it kinda did. Comparable to the NES in greater PAL territories and actually outsold it in some like the UK. Not sure many kids would've really cared with the FM unit as they wouldn't have known the difference not having something to compare it to.

[@quesochecko]

I owned an NES, but this music is better than ANY music the NES is capable of.

[@jeremym9011]

I love the YM2413. It is probably my favorite sound chip that Yamaha produced.

[@RWL2012]

has such a character and charm doesn't it! beautifully lowest-end FM synthesizer.

[@LuisLevy]

Awesome compilation. Much appreciated - SMS forever!

[@FIshbothebest]

I feel deeply betrayed by the world that I had never heard these before. Thank you so much for posting this. I didn't even know about the FM thing for the Master System 'til about a year ago anyway. I'm slightly ashamed of myself for being so heavy into viddy game music and having never known that.

[@nathandaniels4823]

okay, these are modded somehow. The original SMS was mono only, as was the FM add-on.

[@FIshbothebest]

Nathan Daniels I was just talkin' about the FM add-on. Stereo or mono doesn't matter here.

[@Denymetanol]

Nice compo, r-type FM OST and Double Dragon, Renegade, or the HOMEBREW Sonic with fm patch could be interesting to add in a future compilation, nice work guys ;)

[@SupBro69Thousand]

I owned an NES, but this is something that Sega did better. Way better.

[@igmuwatogla86]

Awesome thanks for posting! Glad to see that you compiled this, since western gamers were unable to hear the fm soundtracks to these games back in the day.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

igmuwatogla86 Didn't know Rampage had music at all on the SMS.

[@danielemes8349]

nah joshie, i feel the same way. Love the old classic sound with out the souped up synth chip music.

[@septa900]

Septa Bus: As A Member, Master System Was Remembered As The Key To Sega

[@hotcoffeebreath]

49:27 Woah! I didn't know there was a Fantasy Zone II on the MS. The first FZ was a firm favourite of mine.

[@Blur2040]

If you have to choose just one to listen to, make it Solomon's Key. That's some next-level stuff.

[@classickid2185]

Absolutely!

[@Mchenrygames]

That Outrun conversion is just something else, the Master System was really ahead of its time. Too bad it didn't succeed in NA.

[@thehumbleone1983]

always have good memories of my younger days as a kid playing the master system with two of my good friends back during them years starting Gaming from my very first console the Atari 2600 which i love too but then i get my second console behold the Sega power base Master System 1 so much memories the games like the Wonder boys games (monsterland/Dragon Draps then games Shinobi , Spell castor , Kenshiden, Power strike , Double Dragon , Basketball Nightmare, Alex Kid & Alex in shinobi world , California games , Fantasy Zone , Space Harrier , Rastan , bomber raid and more i be Sega boi 4 life

[@andrewsilva7635]

I love my master system/Mark iii collection

[@eldontyrellcorp]

The y's soundtrack is wonderful !

[@Alianger]

These are great: Rambo III Ys Solomon's Key Wonder Boy III OutRun 3D Phantasy Star Space Harrier and Space Harrier 3D I'm missing Golvellius, Miracle Warriors, Cyborg Hunter and R-Type though.

[@ramseybruce3418]

Alianger =

[@ramseybruce3418]

Alianger =

[@umcapel23]

Phantasy Star is a masterpiece

[@southsidepizza5211]

Today's work jams!

[@tsht]

Galaxy Force on FM gives honor to the original version.

[@RallyDon82]

love the zillion II theme very catchy :)

[@soopahsoopah]

Most of it was taken from the TV show.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

soopahsoopah One of these pieces of music would be familiar in both games as it was the opening theme to the show.

[@Royal-uo7tv]

I'm starting to notice something. OutRun was released in 1987, right? The Sega Mark III/SEGA Master System was released...let's say 1985-1986? This could be the reason that OutRun's FM soundtrack wasn't that good. I like it, but it seems like it took a while for SEGA to get used to the FM music. luckily, OutRun 3-D's FM was fantastic, though.

[@Dioxaz]

I'm under the impression that some games (not always the earliest ones) simply had their PSG music stupidly ported to FM as is, without taking advantage of extra channels which permitted better orchestration (also, sound effects overlap the music channels even though there are unused ones!). I guess the 1987 port of Out Run is one of these. They fixed that "mistake" later with OutRun 3-D.

[@Alianger]

No, the arcade game is from 1986 and used 4-op FM music. But I agree that it took them a while to get the hang of it.

[@sackerlacker5399]

I think this is the best outrun music

[@RWL2012]

The FM hardware was added in 1987, so actually the same year.

[@nathandaniels4823]

Yeah, these have to be altered somehow from the original. The FM add-on wasn't stereo, AFAIK.

[@SilmaraPereira-b9l]

Amo música assim Parabéns

[@tonmaster189]

Who prefer 4 FM channels over 3/4PSG? I liked percussion in rambo III section.

[@johneygd]

The fm chip expension chip was a beast compared to the standard sake psg chip in the sms system, this fm comes close to the genesis fm chip. And many sms games do come by far close to the genesis versions.

[@SEGACD32XMODEL1]

Friendly Reminder: You forgot to add a 0:00 timestamp. The 0:00 timestamp is needed for them to work.

[@sunteam]

They seem to be working fine without it.

[@fragmare]

That Ys 1 soundtrack though! O_O A+++

[@anthonycassimiro2295]

Shinobi is missing! It also used the FM chip!

[@LeightonW87]

Liking straight away for the japan bios music at the start. ^_^

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Shame the stock hardware couldn't do FM, because the sound chip in the Master System makes the most grating music I've ever heard.

[@Royal-uo7tv]

Okay, maybe I was wrong. The second tune is AMAZING. (i.e. The boss theme)

[@Royal-uo7tv]

3:36:47 is the Boss Theme. Your welcome.

[@BluBoulzor]

kickass thanks man

[@loveandrockets4life]

I might be the only one, but I prefer the PSG sound to the FM Chip.

[@muhsogyny9148]

I still wouldn't, but the AY-3 kicks the crap out of that POS Texas Instruments chip.

[@loveandrockets4life]

The only thing I hate about the Yamaha is the way some effects (like a sword slash, for example) sound like a fart. It is great for the chiptunes, but it sucks for the sound effects.

[@loveandrockets4life]

Very true!!!

[@aderitosantos1695]

System MSX have more games with FM chip, Megadrive use same family Fm, for made diference 8bits to 16bits sega, that why Sega Master System only use normal audio chip . Lol

[@MrDerOutsider]

still better than adlib.

[@Alianger]

It (adlib) can sound good though, check these out: Wacky Wheels, S.P.Y.: Special Project Y (ARC), Fury of the Furries, Genpei War, Rollergames (ARC), Tyrian, MegaRace (PC), The Legend of Sword and Fairy, Cobi Comi, Empire of the Angel II, Olmang Jolmang Paradise, Princess Maker 2 (PC), Dragon Slayer: TLoH 1-2 (PC), Ys II Special, Haunted Castle (ARC), Eol's Adventure/Eol-ui Moheom, Illusion Blaze, Mad Paradox, Iron Blood, Rusty (PC),

[@NotABot55]

Some rather intriguing examples, at that... the PC stuff is a given, but never knew Konami used AdLib sound for some of their arcade games.

[@martynas5076]

Adlib has better specifications Adlib: 9 Channel mode 6 channel mode with drums 2 operators per channel Can have difrent fm patches on difrent channels. Sega master system fm unit: 9 channel mode 6 channel mode with drums 2 operators per channel can only have the same patch on every channel

[@RWL2012]

technically worse than AdLib, as it's OPLL rather than OPL2 (OPLL being a cost-reduced OPL2 with some registers removed). if you look at Yamaha's mid-to-late 80s amateur keyboard range, the PSS-170/270 use this OPLL (YM2413) chip like the Japanese Master System whereas the PSS-480 etc use the OPL2 (YM3812) like the AdLib.

[@RadoslavMitrov]

Some of the tunes have quite good stereo separation. Until now, I lived with the impression that the Master System was mono only console.

[@RWL2012]

it's still mono regardless of synth chip, there's some emulation trickery going on here.

[@GameplaysBrChrono]

Top 10 music chiptunes

[@williamfiuza8328]

Nice.

[@joeyjojojunior1794]

1:11:46 I creamed my pants with nostalgia.

[@doriseweka6130]

Creamed your pants bruh! :)🤣😂🤣

[@Royal-uo7tv]

Where's Fantasy Zone: The Maze's FM soundtrack?

[@RWL2012]

@Angelo Jacinto Lopez's Phone Collection relevant.

[@jamiejame911]

Nice

[@williamfiuza8328]

Saudades.

[@RWL2012]

Japanese BIOS is FM and PSG together

[@sebastienpivard5685]

Really ??? Where the original version of Master System?

[@sunteam]

+Sébastien PIVARD That would be my other video of Master System music. It's on my channel.

[@Desslar]

Part of the Captain Silver soundtrack sounds like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

[@urdnal]

Playing PS back in the day would've been so awesome with these tunes! I already liked the soundtrack. What a shame.

[@jpnihil5868]

2:02:18 is that a Metroid-sounding jingle?

[@WW-1995]

Listening to some SMS ost, sometimes some songs sounds stealed from NES games

[@gothelfbrosstudios]

What's up with the screen glitch at 3:31:28?

[@Royal-uo7tv]

3:35:27 Could've been better, if only SEGA gave Westone to finish up Monster World II: Dragon no Wana...(yes, that was the game's alternate Japanese name)

[@Royal-uo7tv]

I know it's called The Dragon's Trap (Wonder Boy III) I just used Monster World II to fit the Japanese FM setting.

[@dmer-zy3rb]

this is pretty good, but why in gods name didnt they use the PSG and FM together? like on the genesis - was the cpu unable too handle it?

[@martynas5076]

I think the first track uses fm and psg sound at the same time.

[@evan.f1738]

The Bios music uses both FM and PSG, and some Homebrew games use both at the same time (also Alex Kidd lost stars switches between the styles for the voice samples). I do really want to see more Master System osts that use both together. Could pull off some impressive stuff.

[@RWL2012]

the actual reason was to maintain compatibility with the Mark III FM Sound Unit, which can't simultaneously mix in PSG like the Master System MK-2000 (and Tim Worthington's SMSFM board) can; it can only switch between the two. this is revealed in redhotsonic's "Sonic 1 FM - but does it work on real hardware?" video, where he tries ValleyBell's Sonic 1 FM hack on all 3 of those pieces of hardware, and the Mark III FM Sound Unit plays the FM music but not the PSG sound effects, but the MK-2000 and SMSFM-modded Master Systems play both together just fine.

[@yatoheat]

I love it, who's in 2025

[@justiceirodaredpillpunishe2529]

costava colocar chip FM ? It cost to put an FM chip in the Master system

[@TDownit_Strider]

This would’ve been stiff competition for the 2a03.

[@tatsujincorp]

Galaxy Force Beyond Galaxy uses the YM2413 the best possible. It’s almost Arcade quality and destroys the MD version by miles.

[@user-ui8my9zs7o]

I M T H E M I R A C L E B A L L

[@YuzoTibi]

Space Harrier main theme right at the start sounds like FM and PSG (lead sound) mixed together, unlike (all?) other MS FM games. Can you tell something about that? Thanks!

[@RWL2012]

it's able to do that because it's the MK2000 BIOS version, not the game therefore doesn't need to maintain compatibility with the Mark III FM Sound Unit which couldn't mix PSG and FM simultaneously. ValleyBell's Sonic 1 FM hack ignores this fact, so on a Mark III with FM Sound Unit the music plays but the sound effects don't (whereas they do on an MK2000 or SMSFM-modded Master System).

[@legorulez49]

Why didn't you include Kenseiden or Double Dragon?

[@sunteam]

+legorulez49 Maybe after 5+ hours of video I thought it was just time to stop.

[@legorulez49]

Are you planning on doing another video? Those osts are great, as well as some other non-fm music that you missed. Like The Flash, or Batman.

[@sunteam]

If you know a good source of VGM files that I missed, I might consider it.

[@legorulez49]

Did you get your Vgm files from SMSpower?

[@sunteam]

Possibly. It was a while ago, perhaps I should check again for anything new there.

[@marcojaimejardina7526]

sunteam 🆒️

[@charlie891]

*_I ' M T H E M I R A C L E B A L L_*

[@Koexistence13]

This is stereo? I thought it was only dual mono

[@blubuddha]

I'm American - this sounds different than my Master System.

[@StrikeValkyrie]

blubuddha BUT, because you're American you can get the U.S. versions of many games and play them (with an adapter that is very easy to make yourself) out the back of a Japanese Master System and hear FM music that NO ONE EVER HEARD, not even in Japan!! Plus the Japanese versions of many of the games are better, and with the adapter, you can play your U.S. games, too!!!

[@RWL2012]

nowadays there's a board called the SMSFM that adds the FM synthesizer back into Western Master Systems.

[@holytiamat777]

1:49:03

[@sunteam]

+holytiamat Yes :)

[@kaistudios5206]

3:17:04 what game this?

[@sunteam]

Solomon's Key

[@kaistudios5206]

@@sunteam thanks.

[@Unmp68proxd]

Sounds like Genesis

[@JemZard]

Because both of their sound chips are Yamaha FM synths despite being two of their sound chips are different in specs.

[@pomegran100]

These never seem to work on an Android tablet. Gutted.

[@SolidEyeYEG]

Ys tho

[@legendarysnake]

wheres sonic?

[@RWL2012]

Sonic 1 FM is unofficial, so I guess it's not included here for that reason. There are a few others missing too though, like Fantasy Zone - The Maze, Shinobi and Aleste / Power Strike.

[@jaredt2590]

So much better than the Master System's horrible psg. It can be good but on the Master System I have yet to find a console where the psg is worse. The FM is the exact opposite, it's even better than the Genesis.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Mega Drive*

[@RWL2012]

@@SproutyPottedPlant "Mega Drive / Genesis" and then everyone's happy.

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

The only problem I have with these soundtracks is that the drum mode is very...meh compared to what they could've done for percussion, had they used the PSG and the FM simultaneously.

[@johntucker23]

yeah thats not the actual sound from a real sms :(

[@MrDerOutsider]

+john tucker propably emulated.

[@stefanieehmke5013]

+john tucker It is - if you have a japanese Mark III or an FM Module!

[@TheDeeplyCynical]

Definately Emulated, there's fake stereo panning on Aztec Adventure and others. Real Hardware (including the FM mod) is mono only.

[@Epsilonsama]

+john tucker There was an FM Module for the SMS but only released in Japan. Western SMS still have the expansion port so you only need a small mod for it to work on them.

[@loveandrockets4life]

Nah. I don't hear the panning.

[@JohnZyski]

Honestly, while the sounds are better, the music isn't really any better. It is like they mix is off. Some sounds are way too loud, or just piercing. Some are very good, but not most of them.

[@jimmybiggs9230]

They should have put the fm music in all the master system games but sega of japan is known for making dumb decisions!

[@johneymute]

Cool fm tunes but compared to some genesis versions,it sounds somewhat meager.

[@alexjackson1130]

The U.S super Nintendo has a better sound and color display..that is inbuilt ..

[@RWL2012]

you can't compare a 1990 16-bit platform to a 1985 8-bit platform.

[@thesoulforge3607]

The FM chip doesn't sound right....I like the good ol american music

[@venomtang]

1:30:00

[@johneymute]

Cool fm tunes but compared to some genesis versions,it sounds somewhat meager.

[@tatsujincorp]

Unless it’s Galaxy Force, then it even crushes the MD by many miles.

[@JemZard]

It's because the FM Unit's sound chip (YM2413) or the OPL series of FM chips was built for cheaper manufacturing and cost reduction in mind.