Scroll below for the Famicom Disk System version of the soundtrack. This version was recorded here using NEZplug v0.9.8+3+21.00 to cleanly and accurately emulate the sound of the original hardware. This transition from darkness to light has been at the heart of the philosophy behind every Metroid soundtrack, and that contrast with the dark intensity of each game's final moments makes the ending even more brilliant. The final key to Metroid's score was the relative absence of melody and harmony from the very beginning until the 'Ending', when all four of the NES's sound channels come together in joyful and triumphant celebration, each instrument engaged in its own melody, a masterpiece of game composition. And who can forget the venomous bubbling of 'Tourian', the grueling intensity of the boss theme, 'Zebetite', and the hair-raising 'Escape' theme? With Metroid, Hirokazu Tanaka helped game music hit its stride as evoking the mood and atmosphere of a level rather than simply providing happy background music for players to enjoy, so while it doesn't necessarily sound great on CD, it makes the game perfect. Meanwhile, the solitary tones of the 'Item Room' theme ooze mystery from the enormous bird statues sealed within. When the bold march of the relatively comforting 'Brinstar' stage sinks into the bubbly and syncopated quagmire of 'Norfair', we are just a stone's throw from the twisting, maddening abyss of Ridley's Hideout and the drooping, eerie catacombs of Kraid's Lair. Players understand from the very first notes of the 'Title' theme that the world of Metroid is a cold, forbidding place, and Samus is the sole ray of hope. Hip Tanaka's score made music essential to the atmosphere of Metroid. Indeed, the 'Title' theme and 'Brinstar' have since become two of the Metroidseries' most representative tunes, and are true icons of game music. It was clearly a soundtrack like no other by a man who would be known in the credits simply as 'Hip Tanaka' - and he is certainly worthy of the name. Tanaka-san instead created a score that was largely amelodic, tense, and discordant, treating the music and sound effects together as a living creature, rather than as separate entities. Metroid was composed in direct response to the standard fluffy pop soundtracks of the time. Metroid's score was the brainchild of Hirokazu Tanaka, a veteran composer at Nintendo who cut his teeth on Donkey Kong and Balloon Fight.

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