Classic SEGA Music: Quartet Theme

Quartet is the classic 1986 action adventure platform title for arcades chronicling the adventures of the space warriors Lee, Joe, Mary and Edgar as they journey through a mysterious planet to thwart an evil robot army from taking over the galaxy. Designed as a platform game with puzzle elements, Quartet, along with Midway’s Gauntlet was one of the few video games available at the time to allow four players to play cooperatively.

This time we will focus on the title theme of Quartet, which has been remixed a number of times throughout the years.

Where it is heard:

Designed as a blend of action sci-fi movie and television series themes with unusual sounds not commonly heard outside of video games, Quartet creates a world unlike what was expected from the medium at the time of release. Much of the soundtrack has funk undertones, while this song in particular has a more carefree and adventurous style, mixing well with the jetpacks players can obtain early on. Used in the exterior of the main base of the evil robot army, the theme song employs a positive outcome in a hectic environment. With a stylistic use of limited color and nonsensical set of robot enemies, Quartet has a unique style that has arguably never been replicated.

Other versions: classicsegamusic

–Master System version

Although the Master System is very limited when compared to the original arcade hardware, the song remains quite long and the theme’s tone is carried as respectfully as possible. This release was retitled Double Target in Japan as the four player option was replaced with only two due to the system capabilities not allowing it.

–2005 Arrange Medley

A fully arranged medley of every song in the game for the 2005 SEGA AGES 2500 release port. A mixture of synthetic and real instruments are used to give each song the authentic feel of their originals. The theme song is featured two minutes and forty five seconds in.

–Miku Hatsune cover

Available in many of SEGA’s Miku Hatsune music games based on the Japanese digital pop idol franchise, this remix is the most recent official version. It features new lyrics, but most are of course, in Japanese.

This cover of the theme song also had a dance specially choreographed.

–Fan remix

Uploaded by YouTube user luisedgarf

–Fan trance remix

Remixed by OCRemix member U-ji

Closing Thoughts

A sequel exists, but is more of a revised edition. Throughout the years, Quartet has been cameoed in numerous SEGA titles, but always in obscure areas, such as the 1991 arcade title Spider-Man The Videogame. It is unknown by the general public which branch of SEGA has developed the title, but there has been renewed interest in recent years, making new ports or even sequels a possibility.