Most of MZM's soundtrack is decent (I especially love the spoilery moment near the end when the Brinstar theme shows up again, which never fails to elicit a wide grin), given GBA limitations, but I also have an issue with Norfair's theme, and it's all got to do with the arrangement, which is terrible compared to the original. In the first phrase, the interval between the main melody and its countermelody playing a major third below contrasts sharply with the bassline, which is playing in an entirely different key, starting a minor second below the countermelody. This sounds wonderfully alien and dissonant, while still melodic (compared to, say, Ridley's Lair, which eschewed a melody entirely).
In contrast, MZM plays literal block chords with a bassline an octave or two below it. That's it. Nothing alien or bizarre about it. I suppose it fits the new atmosphere (less "bizarre alien planet" and more "descending into a lava pit") but it's absolute garbage compared to the brilliance of the original. Hip Tanaka knew what he was doing.
On a related note, AM2R suffers from a few of the same issues, particularly the tunnel theme (which is actually one of my favorite bits of Metroid music), though in this case it's the opposite problem that Norfair had. In the original the bassline was a strong tonic, giving the main tunnel a good, strong, grounding that was needed between the eerie atmospheric side sections. The bassline in AM2R is built on the dominant, which weakens it considerably. In general, the AM2R tracks are decent, but somewhat generic-sounding in terms of synth quality. I think they need a little more bite.
Most of MZM's soundtrack is decent (I especially love the spoilery moment near the end when the Brinstar theme shows up again, which never fails to elicit a wide grin), given GBA limitations, but I also have an issue with Norfair's theme, and it's all got to do with the arrangement, which is terrible compared to the original. In the first phrase, the interval between the main melody and its countermelody playing a major third below contrasts sharply with the bassline, which is playing in an entirely different key, starting a minor second below the countermelody. This sounds wonderfully alien and dissonant, while still melodic (compared to, say, Ridley's Lair, which eschewed a melody entirely). In contrast, MZM plays literal block chords with a bassline an octave or two below it. That's it. Nothing alien or bizarre about it. I suppose it fits the new atmosphere (less "bizarre alien planet" and more "descending into a lava pit") but it's absolute garbage compared to the brilliance of the original. Hip Tanaka knew what he was doing. On a related note, AM2R suffers from a few of the same issues, particularly the tunnel theme (which is actually one of my favorite bits of Metroid music), though in this case it's the opposite problem that Norfair had. In the original the bassline was a strong tonic, giving the main tunnel a good, strong, grounding that was needed between the eerie atmospheric side sections. The bassline in AM2R is built on the dominant, which weakens it considerably. In general, the AM2R tracks are decent, but somewhat generic-sounding in terms of synth quality. I think they need a little more bite.
