When publisher Sunsoft unleashed Aero the Acrobat in 1993 the idea was that the little bat who performed amazing stunts under the big top of a traveling circus would become the company's mascot.  As you'll recall, the successful launch of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog ushered in the age of the cute gaming mascot wars in which just about every publisher sought to create the same brand identity: cool animal with attitude.  Aero is one of the many characters produced during this era, but the soundtrack to his debut game for the Super NES and Sega Genesis (and later, the Game Boy Advance) stands apart from the me-too efforts of, say, Rocky Rodent and James Pond. 

Aero the Acrobat begins with ex-clown-turned-evil-industrialist Edgar Ektor returned to the circus that once humiliated him.  He sabotages the performance and takes the entire cast of the show hostage with the exception of a single bat by the name of, yes, Aero the Acrobat.  Aero must travel from the circus through the theme park into the woods and to Ektor's twisted museum where the clown and his henchman, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, await.

Considering that the game is set around the circus, the soundtrack takes a lot of the traditional sounds of the show.  Synth organ plays heavily along with cranked-up electric guitar and a dash of hard percussion.   Let us step through and sample some highlights from the soundtrack, shall we?

Sure, you can hum the overworld theme from Super Mario Bros. on command and can hear the Legend of Zelda underworld dungeon music in your head whenever you go downstairs into the forboding basement, but there's really so much more to gaming music than that.  We all love the music from games such as Castlevania and Mega Man, but there are so many other fantastic gaming soundtracks out there that deserve a little attention at long last.  Beyond Beeps is a new section here at Press The Buttons that aims to do just that.  I'll be sharing some of my more esoteric soundtrack favorites and providing a little commentary as you expand your game music horizons.  Sit back, crank up the volume, and let the music overwhelm you.  Synth has never sounded so good.