In the mid '90s, a company called Seibu Kaihatsu put together a special arcade machine board called the "Seibu SPI System." With it, an arcade operator could simply change out a handful of game cartridges in one machine rather than plunk down money on new boards or cabinets.
There were 7 total games made to work with this board, most famously titles in the "Raiden Fighters" SHMUP series:
When you switched out a game cartridge, the system would then need to flash the ROM of that game, loading it into the board before it was ready to play. That would take an average of about 3-10 minutes.
A cool, totally-not-needed-yet-really-sweet-bonus feature is that 6 of these 7 games played a tune while the ROM was flashing. Such an incredibly awesome, very Japanese thing to do - Give bored arcade operators something to listen to while they set up their machine.
I'd like to share the entire collection of these songs with you - While they may not be groundbreaking as a whole, a few of them are honestly really, really good retro game tracks that should not be lost to obscurity!
I'll start you off with this laid back, Jazzy song from "Raiden Fighters Jet" that sounds like what you hear when you press the "Bossa Nova" button on an old synthesizer keyboard.
This track from "Viper Phase 1" is just a delicious, somber little lullaby that could easily be playing during the sad backstory of a character from a 16 bit Squaresoft RPG.
Low and rumbling with fast-paced drums and techno stingers, this "Raiden Fighters" track had to be exciting to hear while a whole new generation of promising SHMUP goodness was making its way into your arcade.
For the radically named sequel "Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive," the previous song was just mixed a bit more full and complex, though the high-ends in the song are insufferably loud to me. This is my least favorite out of the six just because of that.
Don't worry, though, I saved the best for last to heal up your ears:
This was the first ROM flashing song I heard, when I was testing out my arcade game set a ways back. It's for the romance/sexytime mahjong game "E-Jong High School."
While I had to wait quite some time for this particular flashing, ththis track made it a serene experience. It's just so peaceful and chill... Honestly, I was kind of bummed when the timer got down to 000 and the game started. Thankfully, the music is easy to preserve! :)
Hopefully you enjoyed at least one of these to make your day a little more awesome.
Every single one of these games' soundtracks were made by Go Sato, a very busy Japanese composer (check that link for the big body of work). The exception is "Raiden Fighters Jet," which was composed by Yasuhiro Hashimoto.
However, after listening to the ROM flashing song for Jet, I have an inkling that the track was made by Go Sato as well.
More recently, Go composed the music for Cotton Rock 'n' Roll!
Here is a picture of Go with a cuddly friend (Go is the one on the left):
