Obscure VGM #1: Daffy Duck in Hollywood - Options / Game Over

This is the first in my (likely to be continued) series of obscure video game tunes that, despite their awesomeness, largely went ignored.

To start off, here's the Options / Game Over theme from Sega's "Daffy Duck in Hollywood", released for the Sega Mega Drive in PAL territories, composed by Matt Furniss. This one's obscure on a number of counts:
1. It was only released in Europe and Australia; despite the fact that the cartridge is fully compatible with the NTSC Sega Genesis, it was never released in North America.
2. Even in the countries where it *was* released, it was somewhat of a sleeper.
3. Most importantly, who spends 2 minutes on the options screen? This may be the most elaborate music I've ever heard in an options menu. It's like the programmers wanted an elaborate tune for an actual level, that level ended up getting dropped, and they decided just to stick it on the options screen so as not to waste it.


EDIT: We now have it from the composer himself (see the comments) - this was indeed intended for a scrapped level, and stuck on the options screen when that fell through.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• daffy duck in hollywood
• video
• game
• music
• matt
• furniss
• sega
• mega
• drive
• megadrive
• genesis

[SpaceNinja88]

This is a bit weird for a Game Over music, especially because of its start.

[codeman38]

Indeed it is. And only the first 10 seconds or so are used on the actual Game Over screen-- the rest is only heard on the options menu.

[SpaceNinja88]

And that's just stupid...

[codeman38]

It really is as if the developers just took a tune that Furniss had composed for an unfinished level and used it on the leftover screens or something. It's on par with the actual level themes in the game!

[mfurniss]

Correct. That's exactly what they did.

[codeman38]

OMG, wow. Thanks for the confirmation of my theory!

[codeman38]

And by the way, your Mega Drive soundtracks are seriously underappreciated. I grew up playing Mortal Kombat, Mickey Mania, and Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. :)

[luis22892]

what a coolness, the space level ost is great too.

[Shtrepstra]

@mfurniss Thank you. You are the one of those who made my and my sister's childhood more beautiful. We still sometimes whistle your melodies.

[NTxC]

@mfurniss Thanks for composing this gem along with other tunes in this game. It's a great game, I grew up with it, don't see why it went so ignored. :( You are a legend, sir.

[emptyflagpole]

This is great, sounds reminiscent of Tim Follin's stuff, especially for C64. Love the arpeggios! Why are English VGM programmers so good?

[IbrianAravenis]

Muchas gracias a Codeman38 por haber calificado a esta canción como una de las más increíbles, "oscuras" y elaboradas -a pesar de que, como se mencionó, no sea muy recordada o bien pase desapercibida-. También por haberla analizado y compartir sus notaciones con todos. Y felicitaciones a Matt Furniss por esta gran muestra de su trabajo.

[IbrianAravenis]

Realmente esta canción tiene una gran elaboración y, si bien fue destinada al menú principal, al de opciones y a la pantalla de Game Over de este juego (para que no se viese desperdiciada), seguramente la etapa abandonada para la que habría sido compuesta sería igual de imponente y brillante que la primera. Aun más raro pero a la vez sin dudas: aunque se note rara como melodía de un juego de Looney Tunes, combinaría un millón de veces más con Daffy que con Bugs. Simplemente va con él.

[Sneep29]

Reminds me Tim Follin's work. This is awesome. I remember listening to this all the time... it sounds nothing like it would be in a Looney Tunes game. :]

[xZippy38]

Beginning sounds like a last boss buildup.

[Eep386]

@mfurniss Thank you very much for your hard work!

[CrashNicker]

Gosh, Furniss did a great job on composing this tune anyway. Reminds me of Kemco's Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle continue theme, just with a bit of attitude...