Oh? What’s that? You want more versions of the Psycho Soldier theme song? Why, of course! Here’s an arranged version from a cassette that was packed in with the Famicom version of Athena:

Athena is a sort-of spinoff to Psycho Soldier: while Psycho Soldier starred the psychic teen Athena Asamiya, who would go on to be featured in the King of Fighters series, Athena’s heroine is a different Athena, some kind of celestial princess or something. While I have an irrational affection for that terrible game, the focus of today’s post is still Psycho Soldier and its rad fully-voiced theme song — the first vocal theme to be used in a video game.

Here’s the version from King of Fighters ‘96:

And an arranged vocal version from a KOF ‘96 soundtrack:

From KOF 2002:

And a cover by Keith Burgun:

This is by no means exhaustive. We can listen to the Psycho Soldier theme some more if you want. And for more info about Psycho Soldier and Athena, check out Nicola Nomali’s wonderful writeup from GameSpite Quarterly #3.

“Vampire Killer” from Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth. Now that the game is finally out in North America, we can get to important matters, like obsessing over its soundtrack. If you’d like to join in, you can download the music from the Castlevania Dungeon!

This “Vampire Killer” sounds a lot more like the X68000 version than the SNES Castlevania IV, Dracula X, or Genesis versions, so maybe the X68000 platform is what ReBirth is actually imitating.

At this point, I realize I’m essentially writing out the “Vampire Killer” music comparison I posted before, so you should just go listen to that.

See also: Is Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia too hard?, Hatsune Miku cover of “Vampire Killer”

Golgo 13 Top Secret Episode’s theme. I’m not sure what it is about this NES game that I find so fascinating. It’s not the best game, but it’s a very ambitious game that includes a bunch of different gameplay (all pretty unpolished) and more story than a lot of NES action games.

Honestly, I think the weird elongated sprites are a big part of the appeal for me. And, of course, the music.

See also: Golgo 13 Ending/credits, Golgo-13 for Sega’s SG-1000, Golgo 13: Top Secret Microgame

“Makenai Kokoro,” opening theme to Phantasy Star Zero, which was totally released today despite not being Modern Warfare 2. This song incorporates melodies familiar to Phantasy Star Online players, without resorting to the dramatic J-pop/funk of the Phantasy Star Universe theme (which I really enjoy):

The (incredible) artwork is “The Whole New World” by Kanipanda.

Preorder: Phantasy Star Zero ($33.99)

See also: Phantasy Star Zero gashapon figures

“Kaze no Allegory,” from King of Fighters ‘97 Arrange Sound Trax. Thinking about Takenobu Mitsuyoshi’s Street Fighter tribute set my mind to another of my favorite slightly goofy fighting-game related tracks, one that, to me, is synonymous with KOF.

I love that it’s a meditative, sort of melancholy acoustic number … sung in character (with appropriately deep voice) by a fighting game character, in this case Iori Yagami, voiced by Kunihiko Yasui. That seems like the kind of thing that would only make sense in KOF.

If you want to sing along, and know what you’re singing, lyrics in both English and Japanese can be found here.