If I knew more about music theory, I could probably explain in terms of keys and chords exactly how this is done-- but I know it when I hear it: final stage music. It's melodic, but has this climactic sound to it-- sort of eager and foreboding at the same time, like the feeling you get as a footballer waiting for the referee to blow for kickoff, for those who have played that sport.

Incidentally, I think not having owned an Amiga as a kid is the biggest missed opportunity of my life: I remember being dazzled by it at the local "Software Etc." in 1987 or so, and asking my dad if we could get one: "We already have the Atari [7800]", was his response.

I asked him about this as an adult, maybe five years ago, and he said "Oh, I didn't realize you really wanted one! If you would have kept asking me about it, I actually probably would have gotten one, it could have been a computer for me too." Lesson: don't be a good child-- be a really annoying, pestering one!

Then again, if we'd gotten an Amiga I probably wouldn't have gotten the Genesis in 1990. I regularly read Amiga owners who say, "I wish I could have had a Mega Drive as a kid!" The grass is always greener. We also put together our first IBM PC-- a 368SX kit-- in 1989: hopping on the DOS train set me up all the way through present day as PC building is still a passion of mine-- so longer-term that was a better route anyway.

All the same, if I'd had an Amiga, I just know I'd be one of those "Amiga Nuts" to this day, probably with a modernized custom setup, ala "Retro Man Cave" Neil. My equivalent is the 3DO-- but that's not nearly as much fun: it just doesn't have the following to have much of a contemporary community-- although that's just starting to change, maybe.

Oh, and "Turrican" is a great game: on playthrough number two, before I leap to the sequel.