Sorry for the bump and I'm not really knowledgable to be certain but there's a few that I can think of (some of these are already known but some of them aren't as known):
World Heroes 2 - Deathmatch: Bar (Not New York) = Mission Impossible Theme
Perfect Dark - Chicago = Thunder Force IV/Lightening Force - Light of Silence (Hard Ending)
Streets of Rage 3 - Percussion = Peter Gunn Theme (also the original Spy Hunter had that theme has well)
Streets of Rage 2 - Under Logic = Shamen - Move Any Mountain
Combat Cars - Player Select = What is Love?
James Pond 2: Robocod - Title Theme = RoboCop Theme
California Games (except Mega Drive version) - Title Theme = Louie Louie (also in Sonic Rush, Back 2 Back has a bit of Louie Louie in the song)
Item Pickup (Montazuma's Revenge) / Stage Clear (Sunset Riders) - La Cucaracha
BGM (Mikie) - A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles [then again in that era, songs were either basic jingles, arranged from popular music or used classical music]
BGM 2 (Mikie C64 version) - Twist and Shout [ditto]
Track 3 (Mayhem in Monsterland) - Tiny Toon Adventures Theme
Track 11 (Auf Wiedersehen Monty) - We are off to Sunny Spain, Viva Espana [While most songs are either original or jingles of their respectful countries as well as the Auf Wiedersehen Pet Theme, Track 11 is indeed from an actual song]
Stage Clear via the Tardis [I forgot what stage it was...](Mad Professor Mariati) = Doctor Who Theme
Not sure?:
Gradius II/Vulcan Venture - A Shooting Star = Red Dwarf Theme
In Italy (Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone) - An Italian song, might be 'O Sole Mio From what I listened to, it doesn't sound like the song at all unless it is the Walls ice cream version but it certainly is an Italian song
Vanilla Dome (Super Mario World) - You to Me are Everything by The Real Thing
Even though Vanilla Dome is much much simpler than the song, there is a part of the song that sounds like it. From 0:00 to 0:20, 1:33 to 1:42 especially. However due to tone and timing, not sure whether Koji Kondo had a 70s song in mind.
Even though I don't know exactly, apparently the Chuck Rock theme was based of some 70s song and John Carehag said that Combat Cars was more or less "inspired" by 2unlimited. There's also a song that has the lyrics "Take More" that sounds a lot like a Streets of Rage song but don't know the name of it. Speaking of which there are plently of songs that are covers from other things but that requires knowledge of classical music (lots of games had them, some games have The Nutcracker such as Dynamite Headdy), late 70s/early 80s Japanese music especially from YMO, Jean-Michel Jarre and eurodance/rave/nightclub music from the late 80s/early 90s that I don't have.
There are VGM songs that are inspired by other things but aren't ripped off:
Work it Out (Sonic R) - Moving on Up by The M People
While it definitely not the same song, it has the same sort of style. Considering Richard Jacques is English and Moving on Up was played fairly often on the radio around that era, it wouldn't be surprising if he did have some inspiration like Rusty Ruin from Sonic 3D Saturn was based off Sadeness from Enigma.
Power Wall [Theme of Muscle Power] (World Heroes) - Hulk Hogan's Theme
Considering that the character itself is a rip off of the Hulkster, wouldn't be surprised if ADK were inspired by the wrestler themes.
Ending Theme (Jim Power SNES) - Easy Lover
While most of the song is original, from 0:30 to 0:45 sounds suspeciously like Phil Collins.
- Awesome Panda
- Apr 17 2012, 07:58:56 PM
Race America (NES) - Title Theme = Guns 'n Roses - Paradise City[/quote]
The only thing on my mind from that song is Burnout Paradise (due to how many times it gets played, the title/menu music, the credits and even in game) but that is fully licensed.