The DuckTales NES soundtrack is fantastic overall, but I think you’ll agree when I say that no track sticks out more than the game’s Moon theme. Before I ever played DuckTales, I heard that glorious melody and loved it instantly.
For good or bad, the Moon theme has seen cover after cover on YouTube. The video above this post is the original Moon theme, but here are some of my favorite variations:
Smooth McGroove is pretty well-known at this point, but in case you don’t already know what he does to classic video game tunes on his YouTube channel, check out the video above and/or this YouTube Spotlight post I did on McGroove a while back.
This is a rock cover done in the same split-screen style as Smooth McGroove. It baffles me that it has less than 1,000 views.
Finally, we have the Moon theme as heard in the recent DuckTales: Remastered game. Jake Kaufman added some orchestral instrumentation to his remastered version of this tune, which gives it a sense of grandeur that I just can’t get enough of.
Of course, this whole post came about thanks to those of you who voted DuckTales to be the first game I played for Retro Redux: NES Quest. As a quest update, I’ve been playing DuckTales on my NES as much as possible since it won the vote a couple of days ago, and I’m enjoying the heck out of it! I suspect I’ll be able to beat it without the use of lifelines in the next couple of days, after which I’ll hopefully be able to dive into whatever game wins the current vote (Bionic Commando, Super Mario Bros. 3, Maniac Mansion, or Super Mario Bros. 3). Those results will be released tomorrow!
The Moon Theme may be the most popular, but the Himalayan Theme is the best.
I prefer the Amazon music to the Himalayas. 😉
Amazon is pretty good too, holds a sentimental link for me.
I didnt remember this track but the world selection tune has been stuck in my head for the last couple of days. And it has been at least 20 years since I have last played DT! Guess I have been hesitating too much :/
Oh, and Smooth McGroove is a w e s o m e