Main Menu - Speed King

Main Menu

Composer Unknown Released 1985-08-?? Title Origin Game Location

Main Menu is an event loop in most ports of Speed King. It starts when the main menu appears. It stops when you start the preview, practice or race, and usually when the preview starts automatically after around 2 loops.

Speed King (CP4) has different music, Speed King (A8) has only sound effects.

Games

Speed King (C64)

Speed King (C64)

Arranger Unknown Released 1985-08-?? Length 0:14:58 (PAL) 0:14.02 (NTSC) BPM 136 (PAL) 141 (NTSC) Format SID Loops Yes

On PAL machines, Main Menu is tuned at 424 Hz (a common mistake on the Commodore 64) and sounds closer to G♯ major. On NTSC machines, everything is 4% faster and higher, putting it at 440 Hz and A major. What key the musician had in mind is unknown.

The melody and harmony switch between sawtooth, triangle and square waves. The lively arpeggiated bass plays on a square only. All 3 channels have a wah-wah effect, performed on the SID chip's built-in high-pass filter, which unfortunately sounds very different on every machine. Again, what the arranger heard is unknown.

The preview normally starts before the 3rd loop, but is further delayed while the SHIFT key is down (strictly, a bug). To record two loops plus 10 seconds, it was held:

1. in VICE 3.2 with C64 PAL, a gain of 91 and bias of -150.
2. in VICE 3.2 with C64 NTSC, a gain of 91 and bias of -150.
3. in VICE 3.2 with C64 PAL, a gain of 91 and bias of 300.
4. in VICE 3.2 with C64 NTSC, a gain of 91 and bias of 300.
5. on a real PAL C64C with an 8580 R5 4091.
6. in VICE 3.2 with C64C NTSC.
   

Speed King (CPC)

Speed King (CPC)

Arranger Unknown Released 1986-0?-?? Length 0:15.41 BPM 116 Format YM, AY Loops Yes

This arrangement is in A major. It sounds very raw, since volume changes and the lively bass are not implemented at all. The melody has a slight vibrato, the harmony is doubled down an octave.

To record two loops plus 10 seconds, the game was started in WinAPE Version 2.0 Beta 2. Just half a second later, the preview starts, which cannot be delayed.

Speed King (MSX)

Speed King (MSX)

Arranger Unknown Released 1986-??-?? Format UNK Loops Yes

Same as Speed King (CPC), except for the last bar and possibly key and tempo. Which arrangement was done first is unknown.

Links

• deepsid.com/?file=/GAMES/S-Z/Speed_King.sid&tab=visuals&sundry=osc - Visualization of C64 arrangement.