Game Music Wednesday: The Moon (DuckTales)

Why does this song make me cry?

Hello, good afternoon, people reading this. How’s your day been? Your week? Personally, I’ve been dragging a bit. But I’ve been dragging a bit since I was seven, so there’s not much change there. Life is very long and very short at the same time.

Today’s Game Music Wednesday is a hardcore classic and probably one of the most famous songs of the 8-bit era: The Moon theme from the NES DuckTales game. Not to blow your mind, but it’s the music that plays during the level where Scrooge McDuck jumps around the moon. You don’t need to know much more past that.

That song is better than it has any right to be in a game that’s better than it has any right to be. Then again, it’s a Capcom game from their first big golden era, so it’s hard to expect bad shit. Their Mega Man music game was strong by this point. The crazy thing is, I can’t find much else work from composer Hiroshige Tonomura. He seems to have done a dozen or so games, but none with anything approaching the level of music like The Moon.

It’s just a song that’s full of hope and wonder. It’s such nice song. It’s comforting and adventurous. It’s also one of those songs that’s been updated and covered a thousand songs. Here’s a version from the DuckTales remaster:

Now s very good cover from the amazing games cover band, Mariachi Entertainment System:

Now an orchestra remix:

And this is the really amazing thing. The reboot of DuckTales from a few years back included the song from the game into the actual show a few times. They even had a character sing words to it:

Absolutely perfect tear-jerking game music. You love to hear it.