What’s the best sound in video games? Clearly, as the comments from our recent Modern Classics piece proved, the answer will be found rattling around inside Robotron somewhere. Take Robotron out of the equation, though, and I’m tempted to say Space Giraffe is up next. Which bit? The bull run.
Space Giraffe’s full of great noises, of course. The squidgy, Defenderish blast of the standard shot, the dry click of enemies rotating around the outer rim, the tinkling of a flower being trimmed. Bulling delivers more than any of this, though: you pull back from the playing area, send the power bar or whatever it’s called sailing into the distance, and then you just ski from left to right and back again, engaged in brightly-coloured mass murder. Now that’s playing a video game.
The sound! That distorted ungulate moan blending brilliantly with the schoolyard wail of a dive-bombing aircraft! It conveys a sense of power and excitement and of sheer focused chaos that other games can only dream of approaching. It plays pretty well in the memory, and then you load the game up and it’s even better. Space Giraffe: even better than you remember it being. Put that on the box.
I still fire up Space Giraffe pretty regularly – along with everything by PomPom, it’s my favourite offering from the early days of XBLA – and while I might not get to the late stages that much any more, it’s rare I leave without… Well, without a bit of bulling. Thanks again, Minter! You truly are the best.
