Horseback plays in the PC-9801 version of Hillsfar when the player rides their horse to and from locations.
The song was written by Yasuhiro Kawasaki on the YM2203 OPN chip provided by the PC-9801, most likely in Music Macro Language. Yasuhiro should be contacted for an official title.
Composition
Horseback is in the 4/4 time signature, plays at approximately 97 beats per minute, and is in the key of A minor. The song is only two measures, making it the shortest looping song in the game. It starts with an A minor, then proceeds to a G before returning to A minor, and then loops back to the start.
Games
Hillsfar (PC98)
Hillsfar (NES)
The NES version of Hillsfar repurposes the song to when the game prompts the player where they are and if they wish to stay at the location that they're at, which is initially at the campsite where the game starts. The song plays much faster than the PC-9801 original. When the player is on horseback in the NES version, there is no music and only the sound of the player's horse galloping, assisted with the occasional sound effect of other events such as a bird flying toward the player, an arrow shooting at the player, and when the player crashes into an obstacle.
The NES version has the second square wave harmonize with the first, rather than play the 8th note rhythms from the original.
The song was arranged to the NES by Yoshio Kobayashi, who sequenced the music on a PC-8001 mkII computer. It was programmed into sound code by the game's programmer, Kazuhisa Mitani.
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