Theme Songs galore!

It just occurred to me how many theme songs I’ve written for various organizations and purposes. I thought I’d lay them out here to both share and for me to take tally and keep track of them.

For Nintendo, I had the pleasure of writing three theme songs. I composed the Nintendo Minute theme and jingle, the Nintendo Power podcast opening theme, and the Nintendo eShop The Download theme, which has become wildly popular on its own for some reason. All were an absolute honor and I still can’t get over how many millions of people hear these songs every month.

For game storefront and indie game publisher Humble Bundle I had the honor of composing their official jingle and boot logo. This song and its accompanying logo video can be found in the introduction of all the games they release! It was most recently used in the intro of the wonderful game Wandersong.

And I’ve done a lot of official theme songs for Podcasts out there. Here are some of my favorites:

• The What’s Good Games theme is probably my most popular one.

• And the new Animators vs Games animated intro was a blast to score.

• And I’ve done other themes for What’s Good Games’ shows, like the scary Lights Off! show.

• I had so much fun creating the Magical Boys themes.

• The RPGamer podcast RPGcast features my work as the theme song.

And more are coming. Some very exciting ones, too! For now, enjoy this playlist of my best theme songs and I’ll update this post and the playlist as more are released.

Majula Frontier Original Soundtrack is now available!

The soundtrack to Majula Frontier is now available for purchase and streaming through several distributors and stores. This role-playing game score has a modern, melodic heart and covers many different styles across its 14 tracks. I’d absolutely love if you took a listen — while it’s not a big release this is some of my favorite work yet!

Buy/stream here: iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Bandcamp, and Spotify.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Hardcore Gamer on my work on this soundtrack. Please check that out for more details and song samples if you’re interested.

IGN Japan interview on Wizard of Legend

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by IGN Japan on my work on Wizard of Legend! They speak with the devs and I, and for my part specifically we talk about how the music is supposed to make you feel. They said they love the "Arcane Refuge" song! If you can read Japanese, check it out here.

Cue Fanfare: Wizard of Legend sells 500,000 copies!

It was just announced today that Wizard of Legend has sold 500,000 copies across all the platforms it was sold on in these past two months! To celebrate, the game is discounted today on all platforms. The bundle that includes the game and my soundtrack is only $22.38 today.

There's a new update "Nocturne" adding new characters, new language support, some tuning, better load times, better frame rates and more. 

And there's more: two new DLC releases are on their way, both with new dungeons and bosses...and music from yours truly. 

Wizard of Legend is out now on all platforms!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! It's out. IT'S OUT! Wizard of Legend is out now on all platforms. Please check out the brand new, super epic launch day trailer we did (and the trailer music is a bonus track on the soundtrack release). 

Here's where you can buy the game!
Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/gam…/detail/wizard-of-legend-switch

PS4: https://www.playstation.com/en-…/games/wizard-of-legend-ps4/

Xbox One: https://www.microsoft.com/…/store/p/wizard-of-…/c40hl7dfhwcx

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/445980/Wizard_of_Legend/

GOG: https://www.gog.com/game/wizard_of_legend

Humble Store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/wizard-of-legend

Soundtrack bundle on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/…/Wizard_of_Legend__Soundtr…/

And my soundtrack (thank you thank you thank you):

Bandcamp: https://scarletmoonrecords.bandcamp.com/…/wizard-of-legend-…

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/…/wizard-of-legend-orig…/1381419427

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1lzCABOpWG1uEkOmDlbx2R

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Legend-Original-…/…/B07CW5FVM6

Google Play: https://play.google.com/…/Dale_North_Wizard_of_Legend_Origi…

Wizard of Legend soundtrack is out Right now!

Wizard of Legend launches tomorrow on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC but my soundtrack is out a day early on several music platforms. Speaking of early: early reviews are still trickling out but the word seems good already! I was delighted to see that Bonus Stage called my work "an absolutely sweeping and enthralling score."

It would mean the world to me if you'd buy and listen to this soundtrack. It's available now on iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, Spotify, Line Music, and Tidal. And Bandcamp! It will release on additional platforms in the coming days and I'll update this post accordingly as they come up.

I wrote this soundtrack over the course of a year, working with developers Contingent99 along the way to carefully match the game's various stages and challenges. Given that the game features super fast gameplay that revolves around magic spells and combos, I wanted to mix sharp, high-tempo synthesizer work with soaring orchestral backing. It took us awhile to figure out how that would work and we definitely went back to the drawing board a couple of times. I truly hope it does this awesome game justice.

Please let me know what you think!

Wizard of Legend coming early 2018 to Nintendo Switch

One of the games I'm working on is coming to the Nintendo Switch very soon. Wizard of Legend by Contingent99 is a fast action dungeon crawler with lots of personality. And it's hard! And fun.

The soundtrack I composed for it tries to capture that energy as well as touch on the magic and combat elements that give the game so much of its character. So the level music is fast-paced and rhythmic, with pulsing, syncopated synths and the funkiest bass lines I could muster at those tempos. And on top of that foundation you'll hear strings and woodwinds doubled with shimmering pads and synth leads. Off-beat supersaw stabs, time signature changeups, crazy polychords -- I had so much fun creating this soundtrack.

But...but you won't hear much of that in the trailer. You'll have to wait a little bit more for Wizard of Legend to release. 

Nintendo Power is back!

I've worked with Nintendo again, this time writing the theme music for the brand new Nintendo Power Podcast. That's right: Nintendo Power is back! 

It was, of course, an absolute thrill to work with my favorite game maker again, as well as being a part of one of my favorite properties of all time.  In the theme you'll hear the song morph from NES/Gameboy to Super Nintendo to full blown current day style game music. This was super fun to do.

You can hear my work on the very first episode, right here on Soundcloud, and like all good podcasts, also on iTunes and Google Play.

What's Good?

I wrote the theme/intro music and music bed for the What's Good Games podcast. It's brand new, but it has already started off with a bang and I'm glad I could help out in a small way. If all turns out well I'll be adding more music to their podcasts and videos in the future.

For now, take a listen above.

Chief Puzzle Officer is out, and so is my soundtrack!

Today marks the release of Chief Puzzle Officer, a really neat battle-puzzle RPG that has multiplayer battles, a great storyline, and some awesome systems. It's out now on iOS and Android.

I composed all of the music and crafted all of the sound effects. Speaking of, the official soundtrack has also been released today and I hope you'll give it a listen and purchase. It spans all styles and has lots of variation, like a...well, role-playing game. I hope you enjoy it! I think my favorite of the bunch is "Battle Formations."

There are some unreleased songs from this project as well -- I'm going to see if we can't release those too. But for now, enjoy! 

On the horizon

I updated this page. You gotta keep things fresh, you know? Clean, tidy, updated. That's the goal here.

In this update I've added some new credits and music, and also made room for some more announcements, coming soon. We've signed several new games, and other musical projects are on the horizon. I can't wait to share some good news.

Also, a dedicated client section is in the works. And some cool new images too. Soon!

Final Fantasy Tactics fans, here's your Zodiac

I contributed to the Materia release, ZODIAC: Final Fantasy Tactics Remixed. The whole awesome album is available now on streaming platforms and digital stores. It has over 60 tracks from 100 artists. 

Me? I covered the intro/trailer theme. I still remember the first time I heard that incredible song, so I wanted to cover it. I sung quietly into a microphone 48 times and layered it for the cool kinda heavenly effect you'll hear in the arrangement. Check it out!

EarthBound lovers: Psychokinetic Album is out and I'm on it

You like Earthbound, right? The folks that helped raise the over $300,000 of backing for the You Are Now EarthBound Kickstarter certainly do. I was part of that awesome Fangamer project, appearing on the fanzine's soundtrack. Some of the game's most memorable songs have been covered on this 2-disc release called Psychokinetic. It's out now for $15. 

I covered Pollyanna's theme. Again. My first cover was mostly instrumental, but with a surprise at the end, and since its release has been streamed over 100,000 times.

I was asked to do a full version for Psychokinetic and I was happy to do so. I dedicated it to the late Satoru Iwata, beloved game creator and Nintendo boss. 

Chief Puzzle Officer

Chief Puzzle Officer is a really unique multiplayer Match-3 game that I had the pleasure of working on last year, and it's just now coming out for mobile platforms. Well, it's out for Android devices now, and the Apple release is very soon. 

So it's a puzzle game, but there's PvE. And guilds. And 3-on-3 battles. Crazy, right? It's super neat and I can't wait until it's out on all platforms so everyone can see how unique it is. 

I'm also looking forward to the soundtrack release. You wouldn't guess from looking at it, but this is a huge game, and I did a console level of music for it. It's coming very soon so keep an eye out. 

I got to work with one of my heroes again!

Last year had me working with two greats from the Japanese game music world. I teamed up with Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana, Soul Caliber V, more ) for the soundtrack of a role-playing game that is coming later in 2017. And I worked on an animated short with Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear series, Bayonetta, many more) too! 

This year sees the release of a PC game called Toricky, and Kikuta and I teamed up on that one as well. Well, he laid out the main theme and I held the rest of it down. It's a flying game, so I wrote songs that were airy and light. It's out on Steam now, and if you're interested in both the game and my soundtrack, there's a discoutned bundle of game and soundtrack available!