A disclaimer: chiptunes require a certain appreciation for them to enjoy them and compare them against each other. Few people have the acquired taste for this type of music.
There’s one constant that I know Technosoft for is the magician composers they hire for making their soundtracks. Some of my favourite music is from them with my head full of the melodies from Thunder Force IV. Being Technosoft, it’s not hard to guess what kind of game Hyper Duel is, a shoot-em-up, a difficult and unforgiving one. I have the impression that it follows more in the footsteps of the Thunder Force games from the Sega Saturn rather then the earlier Sega Genesis versions.
The game was released in 1993 and then ported to the Saturn with improved graphics and reworked music in 1996, in Japan only. The game is a very typical shoot-em-up that scrolls horizontally with your selection of enemies, mini-bosses and difficult end bosses. It is extremely challenging where a single hit costs you a life, no life bar here.
The chip being used is the Yamaha YMF292 which combines FM Synthesis with clear sounding PCM samples. The channels could be combined in various ways to generate certain effects though honestly this is a bit over my head. It was also known as the Saturn Custom Sound Processor, and the Saturn being known for its complexity, it’s a tricky chip to get good music out of. The chip was used in some arcade boards and the Saturn. The Arcade version used the Yamaha chip while the Saturn version of the used CD Audio for the remastered music.
The rendition that I’m publishing here is the Arcade version which plays in stage 7. It’s a simple song with excellent percussion sounds and has a chorus which will become obvious because it repeats itself so many times. The song is short, extended by repetition. This would be considered a 32-bit chiptune where it combines FM Synthesis to support the main melody with PCM Samples for drums and kicks.