The Violence Killer soundtrack (Turok 2 remastered) is simply fantastic. Where should I go to find more of a similar style of awesomeness? The other Turok gms? Film soundtracks? Independent artists? And will anybody ever solve the eternal mystery, Danen or Darren Mitchell?

I liked the music from Turok so much that I recorded it straight to CD. There was no sound test, so I had to disable sound effects, use an appropriate cheat code to render me effectively invincible, and then hang out for a few minutes. And then Turok 2 came out, harboring significantly more impressive music, which undoubtedly led to the full sound version (like many DS games) CD release. I'm not sure if Turok 2 can be bested. It can be considered an unmatchable paradigm, for others to use as a reference.

I did listen to some of the music in Turok 3, but I can't remember a thing about it.

Also, I believe that no other N64 game got a full sound version release. I distinctly remember reading that the music in Turok 2 had to be compressed in order to fit on the N64 cartridge. It's a matter of simple logic connecting that fact to the superior sounding music on the CD. That must be the music that was made before it was compressed! This makes me wonder how many other soundtracks were made in full sound form, before having to lose quality to make it on the cartridge. I'd love to hear the uncompressed Perfect Dark or Blast Corps, for example.

Super Mario 64 does sound slightly better on CD, though not nearly as strikingly as Violence Killer. And it's not always that the "studio sound" is actually better sounding, so Violence Killer is also well-considered in that regard.

Violence Killer does remind me slightly of Vandal Hearts, though the Vandal Hearts style is more condensed and bombastic, without VK's long progressive builtup. It's good they're making "Flames of Judgment", but I seriously hope they will have Hiroshi Tamawari back for composing.

But why no Turok games for Virtual Console? Is the Turok license too high cost?

The Japanese name for this game always cracked me up.

Same with TimeStalkers' Japanese name: Climax Landers. Gee, wonder why that name was changed - dirty minded Americans.

Watch out for Kamen Rider: Climax Heroes, coming soon on a PS2 near you! (If you live in Japan.)

Here's my recording of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. I used the level names for some track titles and made up the rest.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nnheid2myzk

Thanks, much appreciated! Sounds pretty good, both composition and sound quality wise, though not as good as VK of course. It's also an interesting slight change of style, with more driving beat but also supported by the dark atmosphere.

This is exemplified by The Ruins (Level 4), which just grabs you right at the beginning with the jungle ambiance and keeps going with the drum beat, and in something like this, the lower sound quality isn't a hindrance, actually it might help to create a more ethereal, "distant" feeling to the sound. It's probably also why Kondoo used so much organic and tribal-sounding music in the N64 Zeldas, because the limitations of the hardware were good for that style... and then those ambient and tribal sounds became what I consider a signature element in the more recent Zelda games thanks to the influence of Ocarina and Majora. Thanks again for the recording!