This is the Video Game Music Thread

As for staying with you, I have the themes to Super Mario Brothers, Metroid and Zelda's outdoor one on instant memory recall.

Is there something to be said for the minimalistic music employed here. I should dig up NES sound documentation to show how primitive the facilities employed in these games was.

Also - Nobuo Uematsu's work for Squaresoft.

http://www.readsatellite.com/temp/robhubbard.doc

http://www.readsatellite.com/temp/comic.jpg

The Super Mario Brothers Theme supposedly being played by the London Symphony Orchestra

The Super Mario Brothers Theme supposedly being played by Mr. Bungle

Music for Zelda Ocarina of Time was k-fantastic, particularly Saria's song -- which, yes, I have listened to outside of the game context and enjoyed possibly more.

The question got complicated as soon as disc-based systems were introduced and "actual" music could be put on them: Wipeout XL, the Japanese dancing game Bust a Move, and Grand Theft Auto all have "imported" stand-alone studio recordings on them that I enjoy.

three mile pilot's chief assassin to the sinister has a few obscure video game refs, most notably "androsyn guardian".

Video game music appreciation site: remix.overclocked.org

huh? Isn't that a BIBLE reference?

lucasarts' the dig had great music but i can't remember how much of it was just made of up of wagner excerpts. ("mitch do you like hitler?")

well yes...

but if you've ever played that video game where your driving the Ferrari you may know what i'm talking about...

pitchfork!

the Tekken soundtracks are great - i like Yoshimitus's theme from Tekken 3

Yes! The music to Secret of Mana is beautiful, especially the main theme (with the flutes), and there's some really nice orchestral writing in Actraiser too -- very rich, intelligent, creative. The SNES is probably my all-time favorite platform for video game music -- it's poised right between the two eras, with a palette that's rich enough to be totally convincing, but not so broad as to lose the distinctive flavor of the old-school stuff. Other favorites for SNES include the usual Mario/Zelda/Metroid suspects, as well as a couple less-known games like Drakkhen and Spiderman and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, which has some pretty tremendous disco-funk music laden with wah-wah guitar and horn stabs. Mario Paint had some nice ambient music hidden in various sections on the cart.

Other platforms: I haven't played much in the way of Genesis games, but Ecco the Dolphin is definitely right up there. On the NES, besides the obvious ones (i.e. the original versions of the usual suspects above), I was always quite taken with the music to Xexyz -- it had a remarkably haunting and self-consistent soundworld. The opening theme to Marble Madness bears a pleasing resemblance to a section just before the end of the first movement of Debussy's La Mer. And The Adventures of Dino Riki had a charming little jaunty theme in the opening stage.

check out especially (free mp3s on that site):

-contra (OH MY GOD)
-kraid/metroid (OH MY GOD)
-ghosts n goblins (etc)
-wizards n warriors (etc)
-mike tyson's punchout! (etc)
-megaman 2 and double dragon (if they've been put online yet, i dunno)
-castlevania

um yeah. up up down down left right left right b a select start!! (i'm talkin 2-player)

Oh, and I can't believe nobody's touched on Hamburg's wonderful L'Age D'Or label - http://www.lado.de/ - who've long been flying the computer-games-done-weirdly flag:

http://www.enduro-disks.de/images/illu/output64/output64-cd-cover.gif

is the one that you want, yes it is - Add N To (X), Jeans Team, Plundersonics et al twist loads of, uh, old Commodore 64 tunes into wikkid shapes.

I have to be honest and admit that had, say, the Super Mario Brothers theme (which I completely adore) been released completely outside the video game or the industry itself, I would have overlooked as muzak. The nostalgia is the main appeal.

HOWEVER...

The limitations placed upon how much resolution the music could contain back in the day was a big part of its charm today.. the further you go back, the more charming the music is (to me), because of the limitations. It's also educational, and for DSP/IDM enthusiasts especially, provides the most clear-cut case study on the development of computerized music...

Nostalgia obviously figures back into this again of course, but I think electronic music today has been very recently been heavily influenced by ancient video game technology and the music thereof, mainly because this has been the most accessible forum for hearing the odd ancient sounds of its time.

Someone on ILM in a past thread mentioned "Well, if those guys could have made the music back then sound like Styx, they would have, but they couldn't... hence..". Sadly, now that the technology is there to pretty much play fully rendered analog rock music, there's going to be less charm and less reason to be excited about the music of video games today.

NOTWITHSTANDING...

...the fact that the catchiness of video game background music is a key element to a video game's success. This is the understated reason I think recent cutesy Japanese video games have captured the hearts of those who would be bored by all the big sounding sports or racing games.

Just clusterfuck of thoughts here... but I'm curious to hear all y'all thoughts.

It was all vague and genre constraints fly out the window, just in the face of making music that is fun and/or isntantly memorable. My roommate and I used to guess what genres were present in SNES games. Castlevania IV has some intense free jazz that just comes out of nowhere. Yoshi's Island had a few songs that were perfect combinations of old school metal and circus music.

On this note: www.supermadrigalbros.com!

Almost every song from Mystical Ninja/Goemon [N64 again] is a dead set classic.

And of course WipEout, WipEout 2097, and Wip3out/SE.

Some of the music from from Final Fantasy 2 US reminded me of Debusey (sp).

You can also download it here - http://www.grimfandango.net/index.php?section=downloads&page=music

Which is nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNF-bRKvbeA

Megadeth covers the theme to Duke Nukem 3D

kirby's adventure bangs

is there any way to listen to 8-bit video game music/chip tune without playing the game? like, compilations? wikipedia lists some composers, but i haven't been able to track down any collections.

i keep replaying the end of 'machine gun' on the new portishead and i'm DYING FOR SOME XX-BIT

http://www.ocremix.org/ has some apps for playback of ripped tracks from roms and such

the pause screen music in battletoads!!! (NES) it's a short loop, but so great

x-post

thanks for the link. i couldn't find anything that wasn't some 'hillbilly remix,' etc. i wish there were a database with JUST the originals. i guess copyright laws sort of prohibit that, though.

oh, jackpot: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/nes/

Oh god mega man II end credits track. *SNIFF*

http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/nes/Mm2end1.mid

http://www.terrisus.com/pictures/endings/MegaMan2.jpg

hm. listening to all of national themes on Super Dodge Ball is like midi-hymnen.

Get an NSF player and go wild.

That's just for NES, too - there are native rip formats (GYM for Genesis, SPC for SNES, etc.) for pretty much every system ever, and you can listen to them in their all their glory. It's tricky to do the ripping yourself, but most major games have been ripped by somebody already.

It's so weird how you miss the music once you're done with the game. I guess you could find it and download it, but without the context of the game, the effect is of course diminished. It's kind of sad!

Actually, for me, it's the opposite, but I was always into downloading midi and mod remixes of game soundtracks (especially Square's RPGs) back in the day, so I've always had a really positive feeling when it comes to listening to game music outside of the game.

Though I really enjoyed playing Mega Man 2 and 3, I almost definitely have a more fondness for the soundtracks than I do playing the games! In the extreme, I've listened to NSFs of games I have no interest in playing which were great.

Seconding dean's post way upthread re: The Advantage

Actually, for me, it's the opposite, but I was always into downloading midi and mod remixes of game soundtracks (especially Square's RPGs) back in the day, so I've always had a really positive feeling when it comes to listening to game music outside of the game.

way OTM

SMB main theme sounds like bebop with notes taken out.

Switchblade
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VNDlgd647jE
ingame music from 2:00 onwards is ace.

Oh my goodness, I just downloaded Street Fighter II. Ravey Detroitish-mania all around.

Whoops, I meant to say Streets of Rage II

since there's no need to download midi's or winamp plugins anymore, lets make this the youtube videogame music thread!

resident evil 4 "serenity"

this whole thread could easily be made up of save themes and rpg sleep themes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67nkzoJ_2M
I feel like there is some basement coldwave artist somewhere making music that aspires to sound exactly like this joint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnvN_acWq8k

Proggy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jbJSftFr20

can this thread be revived forever plz?

rare's in-house composers (beanland, kirkhope) were really something. here is one of the former's best. i barely even played the game that this is from and yet i find it stunning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVrorgoCrKU

and more recently, this one gets me a little teary every time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mziw3FQkZYg

Aquatic Ambience is an alltime favorite. even beats any remix @ ocremic.org....

sounds like something from the safe ost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFVSlyd3KjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV3RC2sDwQs&feature=related

this sleepy ambient stuff is cool and all but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1l8_ZpQbU&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCA_msAEn8k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVPHmok3hxA

'Can video game music be "good"/"listenable" outside of the game?'
Even though it is the identical sounds you're hearing, I feel like it's no longer video game music if the videogame isn't actually generating it.

Take this music out, and it's a bad ringtone, but in the game, it's happy pirate time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgRwaXSL9M

speaking of pirates:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wDCuG6Ffig

let's throw in another great lucasarts soundtrack for good measure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT4A-MSQgoI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55cbGTlgHqI

haha wow that music hurts my heart

Always felt so sad when the hill filled up with gravestones ;_;

SIm city 3000 kills, reichian business

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8ozXI7yusc

I love the music from Cave Story (a shareware RPG/adventure game in an 8-bit style released a few years ago):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiZIr2Xc4zU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JCxwocVoP4&feature=related

The music from Pocky and Rocky 2 for SNES was also really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ3MwEy3L0Q&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na9JRpN1bJE&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNUevXYq6VA

for really real ^^^^^^^^^^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjazC45Qkww

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erq0yVZqrj8

guess my video game music tastes as a kid were 'goth'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAFJoATw3Kw&feature=related

so much awesomeness from DCK.

hilarious youtube comments:

Illumina7ion
2 weeks ago 37
I love you guys, im so sad... why does life change so much? I want to be a little boy again sitting in the comfort of my home with the blinds down the sun glaring in... oh the beauty... it was a dream the summer days back when we were young.. it was a dream playing this game with no care in the world thinking everything is forever it was a dream... and I am 21 and everything feels like a chore, the summer weather doesn't have the same effect .... LIFE is something, thank you donkey kong.

DKC*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQG8vkNG8aM

omg that dkc comment... yung bro... feelin so old...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTZ1-ROnIYg

So sad and peacefull!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ARAGVHhyxc

maybe a bit played now but ~still~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iof5pRAIZmw&feature=related

wheres the thread where whiney was making youtube mashups? cuz ico "heal" + chopped and screwed "no matter what" wld totally work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_fV0r4cX0

ah ico, what a fantastic game :(

the castlevania series has tons of good tunes

like this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhDvw7FmGo0

Paula's Theme that crüt posted is still so good. ;_;

came across this recently, music made from samples of mario paint's musical themes

http://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Electric-Family-Mariopaint/master/31036

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjPNX8z3BZA

-______________-

so beautiful. keichi suzuki is a genius

i haven't heard any of his other game soundtracks though. i'd really like to play this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Sound:_Kaze_no_Regret

Wow! I'd never heard of that. Probably hard as hell to find.

Also, just wanted to post this because it is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Ij30btVao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea74cXLWytE

Hirokazu Ando who did the music for this game also worked on Earthbound IIRC.

1st gen pokemon themes were great, my favourite is Bike Ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxU2UjAjN24

Poke Center is a nice hook too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjZIjHu0OfY&feature=player_embedded

though IMO they sound better on Gameboy hardware and speakers

...damn, I can feel the nostalgia kicking in

I never played any of the Pokemon games. Maybe I should download an emulator.

Moar Kirby greatness:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y21G3GkwuSg&feature=related

I have clicked none of your links.

u mad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Ec4sJBsPc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIvlOA0XS-c

Always thought Shadowrun for the SNES had pretty bitchin' music.

That second one is badass — reminds me of the music from Darius Twin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TutsWNJRoXI&feature=related

The music for Super R-Type was great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EuN1wXOljY&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hahr56i6ReE&feature=related

I was disappointed when I found out Keiichi Suzuki wasn't doing the music for Mother 3, but Shogo Sakai did a good job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptb4MMI3puw&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5xdue7GFcc

I'd love to hear the music for a lagoon level on Super Mario 64, but I'm damned if I know what it's called, I just remember rushing around in knee high water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D20dF5Ao1mE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUdH1uwSfGY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQpi9D1ZxUQ

i'm trying to find more music (game or non-game) in a similar style to the Machinarium soundtrack, this has to be my favorite game soundtrack of the past several years. it's all a bit eno-esque i guess but more lush and structured

my 2 favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvDvawzJ3s8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy8HXFrqpCI

Not dissimilar to the new Bonobo album actually, which I've been praising on ILM this very weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1vexQzA9Vk&feature=player_embedded

I'd love to hear the music for a lagoon level on Super Mario 64, but I'm damned if I know what it's called, I just remember rushing around in knee high water.

― disastrous sixth series (MaresNest), Tuesday, August 17, 2010 9:07 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

that level is called dire dire docks. the music is posted upthread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p5tdcizbkI

what video game music does this remind me of?

The music in this game sounded like something produced by Trevor Horn. I'd forgotten about it until just now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkplK2KnQ2E&feature=related&fmt=18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9GKueb8P8o&feature=related

There's no way near enough Rob Hubbard on this thread.

His metallic percussion sounds are genius and he always had a way with textures but with a hummable tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQuR1LHAVI&fmt=18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlwgAzgK7ws&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQkf_H8zejU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozr54lqRoBc

Defcon - Everybody dies
ambient soundtrack adjusts to gameplay, this is the final phase:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c1lvJ2-N2Q

^ love this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=322V5rD6ko4

playing through this for the first time was a magical experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVVsUq-JlgU

I love this 'song' (even though it repeats itself over and over in the game)
A rapper should sample it

I feel like autistic peeps would like that song too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJg7vZMtfgc

bizarre but entertaining. So says Mr Stewart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzvXBFwcyek

but

could have chosen any track from this game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w26VUw440rY

i did enjoy that Deadly Premonition song

The original tune is nice and pleasant (as well as, at least for myself, distinctly Japanese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4yextE9SLo&feature=related

Now this song plays during "train-travelling" sequences in which you dictate the path of your train and defend against baddies and such. What's genius though is that the CHUGGA-CHUGGA-CHUGGA is kept nice and LOUD and it dawned on me that these two noises didn't conflict, but compliment eachother... the train benefits as the percussion, which is is why I'll forever keep stock in Nintendo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YyJb2Olrc8
^peruse through that if you're trying to figure out what the hell I'm trying to say.

yeah! like it shouldn't really work - especially when you first get in the train, and you notice how overloud the sound effects seem, but it totally comes together

Come to think of it, Japanese are just dope in general in the music department.... the songs are always memorable, usually cheesy, but never groan-inducing. As of late the only American videogames I've been playing have been war games, which seem to think sweeping orchestral symphonies appropriate no matter the war.

was this one mentioned? i always thought this game started really really cool. Test 1,2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azIZwsCGjW0

The Art Style: Light Trax piece is surprisingly good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNqEfB6IYmE

i love that game's music!

(ps thank you for posting the version of this video with the sound properly synced, it really annoys me that the most popular one is completely off sync)

I really like the music off the Mass Effect series. Imagine if Vangelis and Steve Moore had a baby. For some reason I always think that "Fever Dream" was part of this video game soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w097Q0fZE-A

^ a lot of Boards of Canada's early, early stuff sounds a hell of a lot like this videogame's soundtrack. I'll try digging it up somewhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBISfv-6hfo
First time I heard this I fell madly in love with it. All the music in SMB2 is beautiful. Funny thing is the first time I ever played the game it was at my friend's house and he had the sound turned down so he could listen to The Beach Boys, so it was also the first time I ever heard them! Quite a landmark day that was...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DLoSAb1-bc
Again, fell madly in love with this. Monkey 1 and 2 I had both before we had a sound card, so we got the PC speaker sound, which you can hear above is fucking incredible! So glad someone saved this for the internet. They've re-done this music in many ways, but this is still my favorite version. Epic glitch pirate music, far better than most adventure movie soundtracks. This is up there with Star Wars for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg__USr9YNM&feature=related
This is my favorite MI theme. I think this is the original midi version I heard back when I was a kid. We ran out to get a hint book and ended up buying a Soundblaster card. I still think about recording a cover of this using my theremin!

OTM with Mass Effect. The understated atmosphere it helps create, especially that piece, is so unexpected but so perfect for that type of game (space epic).

That MI2 rendition of the main theme is my favorite of the series. Never heard the PC speaker version before, though, that's crazy! Still gonna go with the awesome General MIDI version tho.

recently played through Super Metroid for the first time a couple weeks ago and thought this theme was really haunting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTp4d38cPtc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldk-0uilbiU

I don't know shit about any game created after, like, 1983. But this electro-metal-funk thing drilled itself into my brain for all eternity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKzx1mBV2PU

(Never even played the game btw, not even once)

i wish i could play through super metroid for the first time again ;_;

It was really great, I'd rank it with the best games of all time. I wish I'd owned it as a kid.

via s/nes or did you emulate it? kinda been lookin for a time-passer

Emulator. It's definitely a time-passer — there were several moments where I had no idea how to go on and just stopped playing in frustration.

Earthbound Zero I actually did quit in frustration — it's so illogically hard (as opposed to being ~challenging~) that it just became not fun anymore.

huge earthbound fan, but that's what I've heard as well, so I never got too deep into zero.

I was at the final boss! I died like 20 times before I said "fuck this."

super metroid was like a horror game to me when i was a kid - so atmospheric and lonely

all time metroid jam is Kraid's Lair obv:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wHwJoxw4i4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-U3sVX2G3w

The OG Metroid title music is soul-crushing electronic minimalism the likes of which have never been topped.

er.....except for that pretty bit. Huh, never heard that part before!

I guess the "Space Invaders" two-note theme wins for all-time 'soul-crushing minimalism'. But the first part of "Metroid" is still fucking killer.

CTRL+F "DuckTales NES"

super metroid was like a horror game to me when i was a kid - so atmospheric and lonely

otm, this is exactly what i love about many of the metroid games

Is it just me, or does the second part of this sound a lot like Stevie Wonder's "Do I Do"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ODKKILZiYY

super metroid was like a horror game to me when i was a kid - so atmospheric and lonely

otm, this is exactly what i love about many of the metroid games

― teledyldonix, Wednesday, March 2, 2011 8:34 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark

Definitely agree. Super Metroid was really scary when I played it. More recently, I just beat Metroid Fusion and even that was pretty creepy: thinking SAX would pop out in any scene, especially with that music.

I know this thread is suppose to be about the OST and not kitschy covers, but I really enjoyed Metroid Metal's interpretations.

Europa Universalis III
Andreas Waldetoft - para bellum
Andreas Waldetoft - conquistador

same OST, not original
Jon Sayles - riu riu chiu (Mateo Flecha)

Mark Morgan's dark ambient soundtracks for the first two Fallouts really make those games, and were just remastered and offered for free download by the composer, some 15 years after the games' original release. Much of it would fit comfortably on a Lustmord album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAEHVtqM8go

On a similar note, I also have a softspot for Robyn Miller's soundtrack for Riven, the sequel to Myst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aouzEAym22k

I still maintain that the Interstate '76 soundtrack, mostly sly variations on 70s funk warhorses, is among the best funk albums of the last 20 years. This abandonware site has it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1L69-3OqaU

damn, thanks a lot for reminding me of that Fallout soundtracks release! so nice to know they finally are available for download. needless to say, this soundtrack is superb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lrWArNKQcY

this is really, surprisingly great. never even played this game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73n7HTcmb5g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xa2wHCErJ8

this is rad tambien
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9_RnUZf9n4&feature=related

yep, some of the best game music ever

That second embed is great, I recently heard it in the ILXORS listening room for the first time! Think it was Moka who queued it.

No, that was me!

I just wonder how he was able to do filtering on the snes sound chip. My only guess is that they're samples.

Ohh right, sorry Corey, credit where credit is due! :-)

I think they're samples, yeah.

I love how SNES composers were able to work around the limitations of the chip — like in the Follins's music for Plok! they used samples of chords so they could fit in more voices and give the music a really dense texture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsfjHCFosw

Ooh, my favorite Doom music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGuX6YGm0S0

You really have to hear these with the original adlib/sound blaster chip sounds.

enjoying hitting play on all the 8bit youtube posts on here and letting them mesh together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yATI48dcsMU&feature=related
based on the music of megaman 2 stage 2

I think they're samples, yeah.

Me too, but I think there must be several of them per instrument. "Bramble Blast" would require a separate sample for each bass note. I would love to see the software with which they used to make those tunes.

based on the music of megaman 2 stage 2

haha, that is batshit

Mark Morgan's dark ambient soundtracks for the first two Fallouts really make those games, and were just remastered and offered for free download by the composer, some 15 years after the games' original release.

O_O i did not know this *downloads furiously*

not video game music per se, but Mafia II from last year might have the best era-specific soundtrack i have ever heard.

http://www.gameculture.com/2010/08/20/complete-mafia-ii-soundtrack-track-list

regarding the fallout soundtracks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=log0l7UYcR8

too lazy to really dig and see if this was somehow posted before, but this whole soundtrack is my video game music jam of all time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Ao63nmzuE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFKtYCcMWT4

this is practically some sweet math rock joint for fuck's sake. no wonder the advantage records work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64wMFoVEn08

-_-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8iFvGPfA1I

haha i was going to post on this thread about 'marble madness' and then i looked upthread and saw that i posted EIGHT YEARS AGO on this very thread about 'marble madness'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_QydNXI_ok&feature=related

i get a lot of rose melberg jive off this, but it could just be standard-fare j-pop vocals

only bummer about it is that this song is so good that you spend the rest of the game hoping something'll trump it

^ That soundtrack is great. It features a pretty good Illreme song, subsequently got me into the rest of his stuff, which is real, real good.

Lonely Rolling Star is my fav Katamari tune!
This is a close second tho...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zU7wNWpJDY

Is that Nomiya Maki singing?

yes!

"lonely rolling star" is great, i adore it

<3 the katamari soundtrack and esp. this one which kind of makes me swell up w/emotion tbqh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85mbmYeYUIA

could you guys recommend me to anything similar to that katamari song i posted? is that a particular style? i hear lots of j-pop but have never really associated it with anything mentally/aurally aside from figuring it not a too distant cousin from that "gee gee gee" k-pop song.

i was at an arcade last week and played this korean rhythm game. most of the music was fairly forgettable but i liked this one (despite the lyrics making no sense).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bk1__1RT_Y

youtube embed didn't work

recently I fell in love with Machinarium and its great soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvDvawzJ3s8

...which you can download as a bonus after you buy the game!

ah! been looking for the name of that game all over! i played the demo and dug it lots but couldn't justify paying the $10 asking at the time

I bought it back in August when it was a part of the 3rd Humble Bundle, would've been quite mad had I paid 10 bucks and then got stuck on a puzzle :x still - a wonderful game, worth buying on a nearest price drop it gets

Some Chrono Trigger songs are very sample worthy. Just realized Wiz Khalifa samples "Schala's theme" on never been:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szlk9eMWkpU

This ones would make fine samples too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFjhnaOiV1c&feature=related

Also love for Earthbound's Onett:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC99a8VRsIw

holy shit @ wiz khalifa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJG-Pi0yRCc

earthwrom jim had some fuken WOMP ASS music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CB1fFeb1n8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz9eYvuZOYg

YES to Dr. Mario.

holy shit my favorite song of the now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmIKsjxuzWg

just heard of it today while getting acquainted with juke via some random mixes on youtube , it played at the end of that one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiTEMAsFZ80&feature=related

hah! i knew that wave race 64 tune reminded me of something i recently heard.

omg bove, that is horrible.

Found this wicked DKC2 covers today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfGMdoWLUAM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTe0-uAdRdU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_HXrs3dNp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf29ShkoAiA

I really LOVE that lead! It is a Pulse Width modulated sound, (PWM). In addition, PWM is a technique used in modern ovens to regulate the heat in a high precicion (Often using micro controllers pulsing the element of the oven).

Riskteven 4 hours ago

trippy bakery music

just saw a commercial for medal of honor warfighter that used ella fitzgerald's 'after you've gone' as background music. i'm guessing it's taking cues from games like bioshock and fallout (and maybe to some extent gears of war commercials too?) that deploys these really gorgeous 50s + 60s songs. i think they serve different purposes. in bioshock + fallout the music underlines a kinda of ambient nostalgia (fallout is a 50s cold war conception of the future, bioshock this randian dystopia). in medal of honor (+ i think similarly, tho not from same decades, "mad world" in gears of war commercials) made ironic stylistic contrast between action + fps hyper-violence to music's distant, restrained pop.

i think it would be really cool if there was a huge explosion of drawing on those decades for video game soundtracks - i think they made a nice shift in tempo from video game hyper-futurism

I still say that the mafia ii soundtrack is maybe the best 50's comp of all time.

http://www.mafia2game.com/community/us/features_song_list.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTKVDxlUJMM

LOVE this song. I learned how to play it and if you play it slow on a keyboard w a nice fake accordion setting it's super romantic.

Also, that guy has videos on how to make sound effects. Check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKCQqvpOa1Q&feature=relmfu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arcH-ZPR2W0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaOVNEL92Lc

cracked me up at the time. well it still does but now i like it i think.

oops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaOVNEL92Lc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfzg2vuqia0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvEooC-rK3Y

Note the double-bass blast beat at 0:37

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlq-ATFa_9s

at :45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOnK4olyWj0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnH8uBbXzfU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HznCzbzwZM

(from beatmania iidx 3rd style and ddr 4th mix)

so much lag on era in DDR. Memories...

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/M1UkE9h2zJg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

well that didn't work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1UkE9h2zJg

All the Saturn Bomberman soundtrack really rules. My favorite song is the one in the levels below. It's a cool dance track built on an extremely sick loop that i want to sample one day (the bit that starts at 9 secs in):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wawS0rjOLMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Usc3C-FIs

It's only a matter of time before someone rips this off and comes up with Ninja Wave. It'll have to be pretty damn good to compare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA1dMfA7g8k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aluIke9R7P4

I've kind of gotten a thing for these alternate soundtrack versions. The Mega Man one above is remade using this insane custom NES sound chip called the VRC6 (developed by the guy who worked on the sound for Contra) that was only ever used for the Japanese version of Castlevania III. Also the really sparse feel of the NES Metroid soundtrack has a lot to do with the fact that it was originally done for a Japanese disk-based add-on that had an extra sound channel compared to the NES- when they had to port it to the NES they just chopped out one of the sound channels making the whole thing way more ambient/atmospheric.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMEzDnqIg9k

Just have to post Saturn Bomberman again. I've got this Saturn emulator (SSF) that plays the sound well but it crashes all the time so i have to use one that i can only get to play the sound effects and not the CD music (Yabause). So i end up playing mounting the game as a CD and playing the soundtrack just track by track as a CD in VLC. Usually i get bored w the game and just turn it off and leave the soundtrack playing.

It is SO amazing! Lots of really cool 90s electro dance tracks on it. Unfortunately the whole soundtrack is not on youtube unlike many other game soundtracks but the music and cues on the game disc itself are just wonderful. A song will have a nice drum & bass track underneath samples of futuristic trains arriving and departing. Or maybe Morricone-style guitar licks that devolve into really crazy masterful solos. Or simply some 808 drum loops run through a few delays and filter sweeps. Or a really sick bossa nova lounge (complete with acoustic guitars and percussion) or some death techno or melancholy minimalist house music. I wish I knew more about 90s dance because I'm having trouble describing it accurately. But it is ALL KILLER.

all menu music should be funky drummer-based

wait, is it the one that starts around the 36min mark here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoqnwm0QAwg&feature=youtu.be&t=36m20s

oh wait, looks like that's bomberman fight. didn't realize there were multiple saturn bomberman games. but the ost for that one is pretty good too!

yeah thats different. the game is literally called "Saturn Bomberman"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfgyTAvwhdg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDEsJchoxkk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkdrJWE-rqI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMbiaUfUc0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN94qTjXQic

not sure why those didnt embed

I still get chills from the "Dire Dire Docks" tune from SM64. I mean there's great music in every Mario game but that one really strikes a chord still.

Also the Game Boy Robocop title theme (as immortalized in "Dilbert 3") is surpirsingly well done for such a tossoff game

not sure why those didnt embed

you need to take out the s in https:

are there any really great VG soundtrack albums out there? I've had the one for Katamari Damacy for years and I love it (even though I never played the original)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3WZwiQ0VW8

and I actually haven't found too many osts that work as albums. but I think the first seranji poji album is the soundtrack to some weird apartment living sim and that's a good one.

Saturn Bomberman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz4u7HeKMzY&list=PL75F71469D1059510

IT'S VIDEOGAME MUSIC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htr5vY_N9BY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybGIBfzNoaI

Love the ambient music for Shadow of the Beast 2 for Genesis.

this RBMA series is pretty great, love the interview with the woman who did all the Street Fighter II music & sfx: http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/diggin-in-the-carts

master system sonic, bridge zone

The soundtracks to all the 8-bit mega man games are now on spottily.

What an album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txa19VilQpk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkH0qjQ8GNw

nvr noticed how weird and spun out the space harrier 2 title screen music is, on some monad records era hosono-san mystic emulator bizniz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgtJA8AnDSo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLvs3NLJOlM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCXMDPU61QM

10 hours of the Battletoads pause music

For fans of sega/sonic stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN3AS3AlxIo

wao @ that snowboard kids track -- never even heard of that game

gran turismo 3 had some great nobukazu takemura electronic jazz-lite grooves for the menu music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO-_c8gIeE0

are there any really great VG soundtrack albums out there? I've had the one for Katamari Damacy for years and I love it (even though I never played the original)

― frogbs, Thursday, January 23, 2014 10:37 AM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't understand how the Fez OST hasn't shown up here yet. It's pretty amazing. And the remix albums are amazing on a different level.

Totally agree about Katamari. I love all of the soundtracks to those games.

Beatrice Martin's soundtrack for Child Of Light is very pretty.

I'm also currently way into Tangerine Dream (et al)'s original music for GTA V.

Listening to Lalo Schifrin for the first time and getting vibes from the Mario Kart 8 soundtrack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjwbT7Ti_Cc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMejGSLU29M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDzXxdxWFl8

http://store.bravewave.net/album/retro-active-pt-1

starts at 0:06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ET4Y1HaxE

earthbound, then chrono trigger. no other game OST comes close to those two. mother 3 as a sequel to the impossible standard set by EB is pretty impressive, though, making good use of familiar themes and adding some great ones to the pool. "close your eyes, sugar" is such an excellent canon in d riff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rmb4Ld-qPE

following CT, xenogears is also worth a listen - yasunori mitsuda was still in his golden age at that point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFcTfHdOOSI&t=274

the whole thing really but i particularly enjoy the bookshop theme at 4:35 and the city map music at 6:55. keep in mind that this game is basically responsible for me leaving home and moving to new orleans and living there for 15 years so i am not super objective.

jfc the midi trumpet riff in the city map music is so hot

https://medium.com/cuepoint/enter-the-jungle-donkey-kong-country-vs-hip-hop-7b2b5abc8271

Sometimes. There was one tune that I wrote for a game called Snake Rattle N’ Roll, on the Nintendo. I guess they were on a strict deadline, but I didn’t realize how close it was. I’d been out drinking on a Saturday night until 4 in the morning, and they called me up, and said “can you come over and finish up this product,” and I said “no, I’m in too much of a bad way.” But they kept telling me, “we’ve got to get this product out.” So I said “okay, fine, but you have to come and pick me up, because I can’t drive.” And so they came and got me.

So you had to write the song? Did you sober up on the way to the office?

Absolutely not. I wrote this tune very much under the influence of alcohol. On top of that, writing music on the Nintendo is a bit of a process anyway, because this isn’t musical notation. Everything is done in hexadecimal code. Letters and numbers, basically writing everything out in a primitive text editor.

Right.

And I’m rushing, and completely inebriated. And I played it back once I was done, and I thought oh, this is just awful. But they listened to it, and they loved it. And it made it into the final game. Two days later they’d wrapped the game up and shipped it off.

LOL always loved the Snake Rattle n Roll music.

would it kill him to say the words "eveline fischer"

(to be fair, all the samples mentioned in the article were from david wise tracks, I checked, but fischer did a non-trivial amount of the soundtrack -- a lot of the later levels, I want to say, could be misremembering, so maybe they weren't as low-hanging nostalgia fruit.)

(with David Wise; composed the tracks "Simian Segue", "Candy's Love Song", "Voices of the Temple", "Forest Frenzy", "Treetop Rock", "Northern Hemispheres" and "Ice Cave Chant"[1])

the snow theme was always my favorite from DKC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTzPj_RcIy4

Finished listening to Castlevania: Lament Of Innocence. Apart from Symphony Of The Night, I've found all the Castlevania soundtracks I've bought quite frustrating. From the 00s, most of them used dance beats in a way I feel didn't work most of the time and spoiled the atmosphere. All those soundtracks have really great moments, there is lots of impressive things going on but overall I find them inconsistent. Sometimes I'm not sure why some tracks aren't that evocative. For the Advance and DS games Michiru Yamane was usually working in collaboration so I don't really know who did what.
She gets to try loads of stuff on Lament Of Innocence and Curse Of Darkness, both are 2 discs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W355pnsGgEw

in my head today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOb0CcSA04c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGyr8uwJ9cE
I've had this running in my head since 1983. My favorite is when you "die" and it goes into minor-key funeral march and then peps back up when you hit your X and get back on track!

Correction: 1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1tjupBlSyc

Someone show Lee Scratch Perry "Cool Spot" for the Genesis.

done and done

or prince jammy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2imCQh5mRUE

I couldn't find this on youtube so I captured it in MAME and uploaded it. This loop is so cool and futuristic.

Oh my gosh, this evokes at once "A Rainbow in Curved Air" (the frantic percussion) and Ravi Shankar (duh) and the X-Files theme and also like Seefeel or something?!? This is INCREDIBLE!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6NgA48KWc0

the "dire dire docks" music is the one that sticks w me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTl0ky4DcHA

Kondo is so boss

in my head this morning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz_aiHo3aJg

Yuzo Koshiro is a genius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se-9zpPonwM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7efPcKJ4cOk

maxo grinding out great OSTs just lately
http://maxoisnuts.bandcamp.com/album/rustbucket-rumble-ost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdHDIcF_ZWk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OUmGG8UNFo

argreetha 5 years ago
No matter what The Joung hero does, He need to die
Such a sad end for this hero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWdxWqhzV4I
#mood

I get that Actraiser song you linked stuck in my head monthly

sea of eden *chills*

I get that Actraiser song you linked stuck in my head monthly

― Vinnie, Monday, May 30, 2016 11:52 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

see also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siWqlVob8zg

OutRun soundtrack gets 30th anniversary vinyl reissue

man, the streets of rage iii soundtrack is legitimately flat-out amazing. kawashima gets crazy gabber sounds out of the sound chip on tracks like "bulldozer" and koshiro does this super-dissonant take on techno to where the time he's doing mr. x's intro music i swear to god he's gone flat atonal.

yeah, that soundtrack blew my mind the first time i heard it, like, "this is from a SEGA game???"

anybody know of some other techno that sounds like it? i'm not very knowledgable about it.

surgeon's "basictonalvocabulary" is the only thing that comes close

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUl-sttC1ag

well 1 > 0! thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4IP7olBoWw

has made regular (welcome) appearances since childhood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tgL9_1Sq2o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knik6QqDJJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL2sCZvgmdA

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/arts/review-andrew-norman-play-a-symphony-that-levels-up-cincinnati.html
https://open.spotify.com/album/1D8hUu8Zp9hevipwopwlxq

“Play” turns the orchestra into a society and at its heart is a story about power. It has two plotlines, and their interaction forms the structure of the piece. One is about leadership. At the frenetic start of “Level 1,” the percussionists are in charge. Like generals, they give certain orders that they expect to be followed by the rest of the orchestra in a particular way.

Some of these are obvious: A triangle “freezes” the action, forcing the players to sit still; a kick drum and a slapstick, cracking like a torture device, cut the action to a different scene. Other commands, like a woodblock sequence that switches the woodwind on and off, take time to become clear. Still more are largely inaudible, such as a swipe on the piano’s strings that powers the orchestral machine on and off.

The other plotline is about discovery, and on its face, it’s a more conventional one about a musical theme. The orchestra is on a quest to complete a wedge, starting from a single note and fanning outward, stepwise, from there. Different characters try to piece parts of it together. In “Level 1,” it’s the trumpet, but its wedge contracts instead of opening. In “Level 2,” the oboe plays one half of it, the downward progression, without its corresponding upward reach. Only in “Level 3” does the orchestra get there.

How Mr. Norman treats both of these plots is clever and technically impressive. What makes it so affecting is how they interact. For to complete the wedge, the orchestra has to organize, to throw off the percussion’s rule. This begins in the middle of “Level 2,” when the oboe makes progress on that downward slide, slowly, but happily, joined by the strings and other winds. The woodblock tries to assert control, “really angry,” the score says, at the disruption of the regime we hear in “Level 1.” The strings become furtive, breathing in and out, hushed and whispery, a sound full of promise. Again the percussionists try to exert command, jolting the orchestra with their slapsticks, forcing the players through different sound worlds, becoming shockingly violent. But it’s too late. At the end of “Level 2,” their power collapses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBUzLEPPhTQ

<3 <3 <3

The No Man's Sky soundtrack is to date still the best thing to come out that project, an superb bit of tech-friendly post-rock that stands with anything by Fuck Buttons et al. While the OST album is fairly conventional, the construction in game is far more varied. Dave Wolinsky: No Man’s Sky Lets Players Scramble the Core Genome of 65daysofstatic’s New Album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZMJPNekzds

yeah, this is lovely; thanks for reminding me to finally try it

listening to Jun Chikuma's soundtrack for Bomberman Hero, and it's really fun -- smooth drum & bass with some spacey, sci-fi leads that give it retro-futuristic feel. Probably fans of Pizzicato 5 would like it, but what I'm loving about these game soundtracks is that since they don't have to work as club bangers necessarily, they can focus on melodic themes, and be over without the need to open up for lengthy breakdowns. Basically, bite size 90s electronica that sounds like cartoon aliens made it

yes that soundtrack is so relaxing!

love the weirdo garbled pop songs in splatoon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggaAg_SXHCk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFG6770beMc

'Sorcerian', an awesome action RPG from the early 90s (PC), had excellent music. So did SEGA's beat-'em-up 'Streets of Rage II'. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out, years later, that the same guy was behind both (Yuzo Koshiro).

Another 90s RPG with excellent music: 'Darklands'. Great matching of mediëval melodies with original themes.

yeah Yuzo is a god. i recently bought the Revenge of Shinobi soundtrack on vinyl and it is so sick.

that yamaha ym2612 in the genesis made some beautiful sounds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Tid2htBlE

The lyrics are a problem but god DAMN this is a catchy tune.

I think this stuff by Carsten Bohn's Bandstand was originally written for German radio plays but was also used as loading music for some Atari 8-bit games.

The code would be on one channel and the music in the other would play through to the output while the game loaded. This means they were mono tracks so the stereo mix here has been reconstructed from two different game tapes and you can hear the code towards the end of the clip.

https://youtu.be/mpcBmyWa4DE

thinkin about this tonight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlkO3OJhjYE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj6q2rMcz3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWiyrOvJbXc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvBla5NUlvk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3egbaw-VK4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbBCBM2tluc

https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/09/19/legendary-composer-nobuo-uematsu-ceases-work-due-to-health-issues

I saw that, it sucks, I hope he gets to relax.

Splatoon 2’s music is infectious

I have not played the game but the Sonic Mania OST is really great, really feels like it was beamed in from Sega's late 90s heyday. Probably even better than the original tracks really. Thank you RYM

I liked the New Jack Swing track on that.

I recently replayed Icewind Dale and found the soundtrack to be as integral to the experience as ever.

speaking of great Sega music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWnzfA9AqrA

I have probably watched this video like 30 times. how can you not love it

speaking of great Sega music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42pszbJgRGE

silent hill soundtracks 1-3 absolutely the best music ive heard in games, aside from castlevania

Agreed on the Silent Hill soundtracks. Wish _Silent Hills_ hadn't been cancelled.

Loved the beach tune from the latest Yakuza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVWd-8sjLx0

thanks for that daytona vid; it's pretty magical

(COME ON!)

listened to some sega tunes from the early 2000s today, particularly a few on the gamecube that apparently all shared a composer, hidenori shoji. the super monkey ball soundtracks certainly had their share of clunky, forgettable filler, but when they hit, they hit. love the bright, airy house tracks that appear here-n-there, and some of the more aggressive, mechanical-sounding stuff is pretty good too. the second game in the series had the better soundtrack imo, certainly with more highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5bUpJ5mGoI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2rP5GFwcaw

f-zero gx's soundtrack, despite having a decent amount of synthesized hard-rock shite, was probably the most noteworthy out of all these. one of the really amazing, immersive features about it was how many tracks would seamlessly leap to a new level of intensity as soon as you reached the final lap of the race. i adore this one in particular: the final-lap transition comes in around the last 50 seconds of the clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De7XH0sVcbg

(yeah i know f-zero is a nintendo property but that particular entry in the series was developed by a division of sega)

sorry, you invoked f-zero gx & music so now i have to post this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M8XeFEHRCI

f-zeeeero, f-zeeeero

RetroThon 2019 runs right now at RetroGamingLiveTV on Twitch.

Retrothon is our 8 day celebration of retro speedruns.

Find out schedule here: http://retrothon.net/schedule/

I just finished replaying Final Fantasy III on the SNES and want to give a shout out to Kefka's theme, possibly the greatest expository piece of video game music ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O11KHKlGxmM

the practice of running out a character's theme song every time they make an entrance is classic and not enough rpgs have stuck with it

i thought this was a really good analysis of "dancing mad" and its relation to kefka's theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRHyH824KIM

that soundtrack slaps

A lot of Final Fantasy soundtracks are now up on streaming services

thanks for that; though you may have to apologize to my partner when she gets tired of me blaring FF7 all day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrPYGSm2YsM

before i make this putt, let me first listen to "birdie try"

*2:02 passes*

he sinks it!

I was thinking about Kefka's theme just the other day and I love how it starts off a little cheeky, a little scampery and mischievous before taking a darker turn. You're right Crut.

Think I posted this on another thread, but this is a playlist of SNES and Ghibli-ish soundtrack music I use as concentration music quite a lot https://open.spotify.com/user/1153731601/playlist/1LArAWIwZLQmH7tnhS0ZnO?si=UKft3l8PTZiBacpn6UZA5A

age of mythology had a v legendary soundtrack. tenchu another classic

Almost every song from Mystical Ninja/Goemon [N64 again] is a dead set classic.
― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, April 20, 2004 5:45 PM (fifteen years ago)

this game is insane in all the best possible ways! and the music is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4kjYyI5b_o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXGvrleGSeI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-t9y0Hcp5U

i came across summer carnival '92 a couple weeks ago and was pretty blown away. it's late in the famicom lifecycle but this shit is still being done on a famicom. i mean, i've heard the VRC6 Akumajou Densetsu and even the VRC7 used on Lagrange Point (such a good sound chip it sounds as good as the Sega Master System's built-in sound chip!), but this song is on a completely different level. the whole game is basically a crazy technical masterpiece. hats off to you, noboyuki shioda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJZ0QCKqhRA

that is awesome, thanks!

A detailed old article about C64 music and composing, put together by Karen Collins:

"Loops and bloops": Music of the Commodore 64 games (2006)
- http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME08/Loops_and_bloops.shtml

"Some composers were adventurous with the coding, and included random number generators into the code which would select from a group of loop options, something not seen on the NES. For instance, Times of Lore (Martin Galway, Microprose 1988) used a selection of guitar solos that were randomly selected for the eleven-minute duration of the song. In this way, the game's ten songs — over thirty minutes of music — could fit into just 923 bytes, and sound a lot more varied than it was. [16] A similar random generation was used in California Games (Epyx, 1987), and in Rock Star Ate My Hamster (CodeMasters, 1988), a rock management game which has the band practicing, with a tune which picks from a random combination of sixteen sequences, intentionally out of tune but improving as the band practices (Figure 5)." - (Soundscapes.info)
http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME08/IMAGES/Loops_and_bloops06.JPG

Something that would also have fitted in 'chip music' : the new punk. / Music made from computer game sounds - a nice track by Linus Åkesson that was first posted by Camaraderie:

Lunus Sakesson's 256 byte(!) Commodore 64 demo "A Mind Is Born"
Explanation: https://linusakesson.net/scene/a-mind-is-born/
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, April 25, 2017 10:52 PM bookmarkflaglink

[From the video description]
"A tiny demo for the Commodore 64. 1st place in the Oldskool 4K Intro compo at Revision 2017.
(Yep, what you hear and see is generated by a program that is no larger than 256 bytes.)
Kudos to Lemming for the video capture!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWblpsLZ-O8

that was one of my favorite songs from that year!

that's really great

Seems like Mega Man 2 - Wiley Stage 4 is considered the worst music of the game because it just cycles four notes through all twelve keys (which I guess is lazy composition?), but it was one of my favorites as a kid. Creepy and tense, relentlessly cycling upward.

this beat samples shinobi 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkFojwKDp9k

lol my bad i meant this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nry2KXKr1OI&feature=emb_title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHTCpCthFns

Hirosato Noda - prelude (Final Fantasy X OST)
reworked dance/hip-wiggling version that has been already mentioned in this thread, i'm sure

resent rendition of the FF Prelude Theme by three (?) presumably japanese girls on a huge Xylophon(?)

Yū Miyake - kitsch (Tekken 4 OST)
jazzy fun loop; vocal parts sound like an electrified version of Manhattan Transfer

Yasunori Mitsuda - 風が呼ぶ、蒼穹のシェバト
Xenogears OST Revival Disc - the first and the last', Track 31.
Arranged version that oozes with influence from those big 70's TV score composers like Bill Goldenberg. But maybe it's just me.

Chill & Zelda - dark world (Mikel Lofi Remix)
Ian Taylor - sea shanty 2, Runescape OST
OSRSBeatz - sea shanty 2 (Trap Remix), Soundcloud still & again popular banger on twitch.tv gamer streams; helps rng in different games

that last one reminds me of this banger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPxSO9jbYF0

Final Fantasy XIV - Exponential Entropy (Alexander: Cruise Chaser's Theme) by Masayoshi Soken

Forward and back and then forward and back
And then go forward and back, then put one foot forward (x2)

Transcendental minds unleashed
Exponential entropy

Forward and back and then forward and back
And then go forward and back, then put one foot forward (x8)

(crossposted to hoover tunes: what are the essentials )

Terraria - underground (by Scott Lloyd Shelly)

Description: It's a fast and whimsical track, with an almost robotic tone.

Runescape 07 - Book of Spells (Trap Remix)

RING THE BELLS @ 1:50.

yuzo koshiro's ys soundtrack is one of my alltime favorites. my partner said this one sounded like the pet shop boys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yELuvkU32Lg

the ff14 soundtrack is astonishing. i played a lot of hours of that game and there's still a zillion tunes i've never heard, including that one.

https://grahamdunning.com/portfolio/panopticon/

"‘Half-Life’, all in-game sounds replaced with samples from 90s rave tracks and sample CDs."

Not sure if anyone has mentioned Quest Master yet but found it on bandcamp recently and am kind of blown away. It's a Dungeon Synth "love letter to the RPG's of the 1990's". All 3 albums have been pretty fun. This is the latest: https://questmaster.bandcamp.com/album/the-twelve-castles-3

Kamil Orman Janowski - Shaper's Realm
(OST Path Of Exile - Atlas Of The Worlds)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4LPRZ3c44w

I listened to this a lot, A LOT of times looping ingame for hours.
And it still grows and makes me wanna pee.

Short interview and performance by the Panzer Dragoon musician
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYGU3PWuc1I

She (Saori Kobayashi) and Yoko Kanno. That makes two female computer game composers i know.

Pascal Michael Stiefel - scootin' through clocktowers beneath the sea (A Hat In Time OST)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CtDTVDg0Cs

Michiru Yamane is pretty famous.

good stuff here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

err, that was supposed to be a link to a youtube channel but apparently ILX thought it was a video URL

link

mentioned it in the console games poll but the thread blew right by it lol

the "highway star" meets jean-luc ponty "mute city" song from f-zero x is one of the all-time video game bangers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkXHcZZcbFA

Actually, I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon listening to the F-Zero X OST thanks to your post--it shreds wayy harder than I remembered. Some of the tracks are like straight-up death metal w cookie monster vox and everything

e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkWQEy0n6lg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REdRAlPysSU

omg i totally forgot about devil's forest

the 8-bit version of "mute city" shreds, obviously, but doesn't have the garish grandiosity of the orchestrated version

a friend of mine has done a radio show about video game music: https://www.mixcloud.com/pete_forsaken/forsaken-on-sub-fm-201400815/

F-Zero OST > F-Zero X OST, but I might be biased, the commentator on X is just too irritating

Devil's Forest is crazy haha

another banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf1cZs95kYE

give the drummer some!

Yeah Big Blue was my jam from this game

lol you can buy the soundtrack on cd from discogs for the low-low price of one thousand and thirty three dollars

https://www.discogs.com/Taro-Bando-F-Zero-X-Original-Sound-Track/release/2158441

you know a fight's about to get real when this starts playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GB-xej4GFc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3g0Ts60220

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dyBn3x0zCc

some serious waking the witch vibes on this track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJYbU2D4wgM

The soundtrack to Hades is great and I just nominated it in the heavy music thread. I've been thinking a lot about game music lately because of it. I also got a Switch and started playing some older titles on their NES/SNES apps and remembered how much I love the Donkey Kong Country music. Mario 2 also has great music. Just bookmarked this thread and am going to check out a lot of new (to me) stuff.

this exists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDhcKp2XAhs

this game and OST is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhuOkxllZpc

this is pretty good
https://leyawn.bandcamp.com/album/return-to-bird-world

This one is awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRvYkrrpMKo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQxGy5maIQ0

so good

feeling it

One of my favourite things is YouTubes of people covering tunes from Chrono Trigger.

Kara Comparetto does some lovely piano versions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgI8Aw3sqmw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkp72WR0hX8
(although I've noticed nearly everyone struggles to get that quick slide quite right)

wow you can tell the difference immediately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajYLHvFL0sU

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD-vbw8Jmuyg3JYDxm1QPPj1mP3soOVEx
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/02/super-high-fidelity-mario-the-quest-to-find-original-gaming-audio-samples/

fascinating effort/scene but i wouldn't say their end products are necessarily aesthetically 'better' than the compressed versions we heard from the cartridges

richer!

i'm not really a fan of the SMW recreations, they're an interesting curiosity but the way the original SNES version of the soundtrack sounded was so heavily coloured by the compression that these ultimately don't have the same feel to them at all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lndBgOrTWxo

i do really like the DKC ones people have done though, the compressed versions of the samples on the cartridge weren't anywhere near as coloured by the compression so it really does just sound like a clearer version of the original

finding that lovely too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjEDX-2M7Qk

zero mentions of "one-winged angel" in this thread, which is a shame because it's truly batshit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDD-iYkHBhc

an all-time classic transformed into stars of the lid's next album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3a8zqTzats

Loop Hero has some really good SNES-chip music. there are like 8-12 different songs and they all rule

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjAzHlmJ2l8

That was one of the first game soundtracks I bought on CD, but I never played the game

i might be mistaking this for SoM, but i believe there's a rom hack that lets you provide the soundtrack as WAV files and are played uninterrupted by the other sounds on the screen which constantly take away instruments from the soundtrack

a stone cold classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTdZedIqU98

koshiro is GOTY

Not sure where to post this, but I have this Cool Notes 12" and the synthesizer and overall vibe of this track have always made me think of some lost Japan-only import SNES game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4EOhMRtfYA

In fact, just playing it again reminded me of Hal's Hole in One Golf:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOFVVlbwndI

The course zoom around at 0:50 is the jam

streets of rage ii is coming to switch online, so maybe i'll actually play the game after jamming the soundtrack for so long

banger, right here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov1ULTDTdiY

https://kotaku.com/dragon-quest-composer-koichi-sugiyama-has-died-1847815597

disgusting politics notwithstanding, he was an unequivocally great and influential composer of game music. always loved this 8-bit samba from a Japan-exclusive FDS backgammon game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-rIpXeRj9A

Listening to all this stuff brings home why I love so much current Balearic revival stuff, and also fusiony things like Pat Metheny

Man, Mickey Mouse Castle Of Illusion had some pure bangers on it, especially towards the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzLd8p4mc0M

The Game Gear/Master System version also had some choice cuts. I wish there were versions of Spotify but I guess Disney would intervene

Posted a while ago about how the Hylics games have some of the most original visuals I've seen in recent times, soundtrack is great too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdwVwX1hWzA
https://masonlindroth.bandcamp.com/album/moonage-lobotomy-a-hylics-2-musical-expansion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3BQsCCwo8w

turn it up!!!

here's one I discovered via the Cardiacs Discord, not hard to figure out why it showed up there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UrsaKcZHI0

That was by Tim Follin, who was a wizard. I remember his 8-bit music on the ZX Spectrum, where he managed to play polyphonically with a one-note speaker by rapidly switching notes. He also did this, which is fantastic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_gObHt1uZA

Of the games I've played more recently I remember liking FAR: Lone Sails, which is a little bit like Michael Nyman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj98RoU4HSE

And also Gris, which is a much better game than I expected:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM3w76XbExY

And NaissanceE, which has its moments but the soundtrack is neatly done (it's made up of existing pieces):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKlTPLyGfZI

thanks for those, I've been looking up Tim Follin videos and found this really good (and long) one which showcases a bunch of it. it also explains how he did it and why he was so ahead of everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC1dTzyb5Gs

the Pictionary one made me laugh out loud, it's so inappropriately intense.

I'm in awe of how good all this stuff is. very much on the Tim Smith/Tatsuya Yoshida/Gentle Giant level but with an added element of rave/techno music. the joke of course is that virtually every game he wound up doing sucked!

also he was quite young when he made most of this - he was barely 20 when he did all that wild NES music!

Manabu Namiki - Sally (select) from 'Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu - Black Label' (2010)

Manabu Namiki - Vertex (Stage 1), same

i can't believe this is just a throwaway joke song for a fake bar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmt3oA7Vfg

love the MBV harmonies on the chorus

lol wtf, that is legit

currently I've been jamming the Silver Surfer title screen music a lot, like can you imagine hearing this come out of your NES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNpSPt30uSA

that's wild, definitely have never heard the NES sound like that. doesn't surprise me that he came from the C64 scene, very remniscient of SID-tracker tunes

This is my favourite 'Final Fantasy' related track, totally immense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al1MOxgQGf4

hell yeah, there's a whole genre of lush Japanese pop music that sounds like that and I'm always looking for it

Me too, the apex is this and the 'Ghost In The Shell SAC' theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kuE-yEs5VM

This is my favourite 'Final Fantasy' related track, totally immense.

WELP i just dug in a little bit and it turns out both the songs we posted were composed by Mitsuto Suzuki, that guy rules i guess

also looks like he did a shoegaze album with the vocalist from the kamekame track: https://www.discogs.com/release/15719043-Mojera-Overkill

That Plok track Frogbs posted is so wonderful.

Can't recall what thread this album was mentioned on but this guy is worth bringing up again
https://shnabubula.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-diaspora

He has a youtube channel where he does cover versions of videogame tunes

this is gorgeous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MygaMv5fVRY

reminds me of this fav of mine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKwI4myq2dk

Very good

https://x.com/coney/status/1709597886470562029?s=46&t=ybWek2m57bcE72i3ldMsfA

interestingly he also did the music for the snes version of this track... sounds like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u55wZLBQPS4

ok beasley was going a little wild with the voice samples on this one. maybe he just didn't give a shit about the genesis version of the soundtrack, or maybe the emulation on the genesis version is off (that happens sometimes). anyway yeah it's not great but i've heard worse honestly lol

the Genesis uses FM synthesis which can make for some really harsh sounds. I think the SNES sound chip might be entirely sample-based?

yes it is, and a lot of the instrument samples in SNES games sacrificed their high-end when downsampled, which is why it comes across as muffled but less harsh than Genesis games. Kinda cool that some composers were able to figure out how to make the most of the two different consoles' limitations

the genesis did have one PCM channel, which you can hear they used the voice samples for. idk why they sound so much worse than the SNES version though. i'm guessing a lower samplerate

Also the Game Boy Robocop title theme (as immortalized in "Dilbert 3") is surpirsingly well done for such a tossoff game

― frogbs, Thursday, January 23, 2014 11:21 AM (nine years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Such a beautiful piece of music. "Dilbert 3" was my first encounter with it lol. It works perfectly there, but I wish I had heard in in its original context as a kid; seems like hearing it now would unlock some powerful nostalgia.

Also I'm willing to bet that the Game Boy Robocop theme is the primary musical inspiration for Oneohtrix Point Never's "No Nightmares" though I haven't seen confirmation of this.

in the uk that music is famous for its inexplicable use in an ariston ad in the early '90s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUVs7vXNZiw

and yeah the tech specs allowed for way better sample based playback on the snes than on the genesis/megadrive

basically my take is that the two systems had very different capabilities... you look at something like streets of rage 2, and that would've been a lot tougher to do on the snes. on the other hand, a lot of the RPG music, like final fantasy vi, that wouldn't have worked so well on the genesis/megadrive.

There can be no worse music thatn Tazmania on the Game Gear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQe4qcrwMKo

Also I'm willing to bet that the Game Boy Robocop theme is the primary musical inspiration for Oneohtrix Point Never's "No Nightmares" though I haven't seen confirmation of this.

good call - it has a lot of the same chords doesn't it? and if anyone was gonna draw inspiration from an obscure Game Boy game...

This deep cut FromSoftware game called Evergrace has one of the wildest future-music soundtracks I've heard.

I've always wondered if Oneohtrix was familiar since it has some surprising overlaps with some of his more esoteric sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm17vgmh854

And just last night I discovered he featured a track from it on a BBC 6 playlist! Cool.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/djmix/oneohtrix-point-never/freak-zone-playlist.p/

I should mentioned the Evergrace composer is Kota Hoshino.

He also did the sequel to Evergrace, Forever Kingdom. This is from 2001 and it sounds like an Animal Collective song.

This guy was on another level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjEhb0DLv3s

damn, never heard of that before, like if jp massiera wrote PS2 video game soundtracks

today i'm nerding out on the adlib gold, a soundcard that was screwed by creative, maker of the soundblaster (creative and adlib got their fm synth chips from the same source, and that source had mysterious delays in making the new chips for the adlib gold)... so the company was bankrupt by the time it came out. basically the only adlib gold soundtrack anyone knows is stephane picq's "dune" soundtrack (not dune ii i don't think). anyway apparently in the korean demoscene people are writing songs for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBXhcTEKIuI

also somebody transferred stephane picq's soundtrack to "kgb" in 24/96 fidelity using an OPL3 card (the OPL3 is the FM synthesis chip on the Adlib Gold - the OPL2 is on most of the FM soundcards of the era), worth checking out for you hi-fi heads out there:

https://archive.org/details/picq96khzmasterskgbopl3

i like the kgb soundtrack better than the dune soundtrack myself so this is cool to have

just clicking around on that link reveals a lot of great stuff, thanks for posting that. absolutely love this sound.

I know Stephane Picq from Megarace - perhaps the game itself was not great, but I loved the cutscenes, and the music was incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7JgalAgkjE

I was probably like...9 years old when I first heard this. had no clue about techno or electronica or anything else but this blew my tiny little head off

so here's an album of the works of russian composer nikolai kapustin arranged for chiptune

https://sexytoadsandfrogsfriendcircle.bandcamp.com/album/staffcirc-vol-4-switched-on-kapustin

turns out kapustin has a certain notoriety for sounding like kirby music

ok wait _this_ is the worst video game music ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uifYj8Efaw

i'm obsessed with another falcom track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ok9bzDzaS0

i think power metal truly found a home in video game soundtracks

https://www.nts.live/shows/otaku/episodes/otaku-winter-soundtrack-27th-january-2024

“Chilling, frigid and wintery scores from the obligatory snow level - featuring music from Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, Stardew Valley, Skyrim…”

played the original arcade version of marble madness for the first time yesterday and was v struck by the music even tho i only got thru the first 2 levels lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2t5fIUyJs0

unsurprised it has already been mentioned multiple times upthread

original 8-bit soundtracks on streaming?

i found the complete ninja gaiden on spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/6sokQkWFPf5MWUB82HIRCp?si=IqTtiK82R8atIEkm3Zwr1g

i find it funny how chiptune became a thing, but most of the actual music that inspired it is still only available when running the games. not even the original mario brothers scores are on streaming. shame because the mario 3 end credits song is probably one of my favorite songs oat.

onto something else----
contempo "remixes" of old video game themes? bland coffee shop fodder mostly imo, but some of them do good imitations of legitimately good hold music. check out tune in with chewie riffing on super metroid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx3kVMB1fJA
tune in with chewie - "lower brinstar" (2021)

and it's wild to think how a six note figure from the original game ultimately folk music'd itself into this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf-jM3szYuI
collosia - "title theme (from the legend of zelda ocarina of time) [lo-fi version]"

sorry, that collosia is from 2020.

I like some of the Consouls' jazzy covers

This is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwiuDu4NqsQ

found this "extended remix" of last wave from outrun+i can't stop singing fishmans' "nightcruising" over it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al542KY-w1A
sega sound team - "last wave (1993) (outrunners)" composer: hiroshi kawaguchi

Not easy to recommend music coming from the old ZX spectrum, but I remember listening to this title screen quite a lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-pquDR7Ws

surely this is posted upthread but what a jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne-09Bs_bRo

The Great Giana Sisters / C64 Intro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S--Wi4v8IfA

adjacent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbedGvGbQQ

obsidian blue - "kirby's flight" (2008)

basically a coffee shop beat of the classic between stage jam from kirby. am a big fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb8WbGIT57E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XruY72JamWc

That Jazz Jackrsbbit music is incredible

Some of this Yuke 2kki soundtrack is like top tier ambient

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whhEMe-xbmY

*Yume 2kki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoxE1URe8Qs

Here's a pair of recent discovery standouts:

Kota Hoshino the savant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjEhb0DLv3s

Genesis FM synth jam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7qouHTyRo

That Jazz Jackrsbbit music is incredible

― Sade of the Del Amitri (dog latin)

thought u might like it!

I did, very much