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The Music of Video Games
Lance_darnell
Wednesday, August 12, 2009

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Music and video games have gone together since the conception of the latter. Â Better technology has advanced the music in video games from beeps and boops, to full blown orchestral music.

Yet, just as films can still have bad music, so can video games. Â But some video games have amazing music, and, coupled with immersive gameplay and a good story, can evoke emotions in the player that are very much like the emotions that a great film or opera produces.

With this in mind, I present a few of my favorite musical pieces from video games past and present:

 

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Shadow of the Colossus - Music by Kow Otani

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Halo - Music by Martin O'Donnell

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The Legend of Zelda - Music by  Köji Kondö

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Super Metroid - Music by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano

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Metal Gear Solid 2 - Music by Henry Gregson-Williams

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Please comment with any other music from video games that really touched you, and try to include the link so we can all listen. Â I know I missed some good ones!!!

 
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Comments (23)
Default_picture
August 11, 2009
The Curse of Monkey Island. It's got an absolutely incredible soundtrack.
Default_picture
August 11, 2009
Michael Land is the game's composer, by the way.
Default_picture
August 12, 2009
I just finished playing this so it came into my head instantly but Hotel Dusk, Room 215 had great music, also I really enjoyed the Phoenix Wright series.

Portable games also seem to have awesome catchy tunes, even if they are just bleeps and bloops.
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@David - I just finished Hotel Dusk two weeks ago!!! It's a great game. I believe that Michael Donahoe gave it a perfect score when he reviewed it.
Oh, and the beeps and boops I was referring to were from Pong.
John-wayne-rooster-cogburn
August 12, 2009
All of those are simply fantastic pieces of music. I especially like the Metal Gear Solid music, there's just something about it.

Have you ever heard of, or been to, VideoGames Live? It's an orchestral concert featuring videogame music and it's incredible. I went to the first one back in '05 and got to actually meet Martin O'Donnell. I have a picture with him, and he also signed my copy of Halo 2. Really nice guy.
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@Cosmo - I think Michael Palin said it best in the classic Life of Brian when he said "You lucky, lucky bastard!!!"
I have heard of it, but never been.
Was Martin O'Donnell carrying a coffee mug? :D
John-wayne-rooster-cogburn
August 12, 2009
@ Lance
Actually, I'm pretty sure he did have a coffee mug! I'll have to find the picture.
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@Cosmo - Nice! In the Halo 2 documentary he is walking around the office, and the shot if from the point of view of the coffee mug!!!! What is the term? Pushing the mug around?
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
if=is
Jamespic4
August 12, 2009
Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger
Yasunori Mitsuda is the best music director in the biz.\

Suikoden II
Suikoden III
Very Carmina Burana.

Castlevania:Symphony of the Night
Lost Painting is an awesome song. It has a slightly eastern, slightly fantastical feel about it.

NiGHTS: Into Dreams
Very whimsical. Somewhat melancholic.

SimEarth
The SNES version of SimEarth had a terrible UI, but wonderful music by composer Takane Okubo.

The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy
Great 8-bit stuff here. A lot going on for the NES's poor sound chip.

Mirror's Edge
I'm not really one for cheesy techno, but the music fit the milieu of the game so well.

Secret of Mana
This song really brings me back to my childhood. Very mournful.

Braid
Everything about this game is so elegant.

Sonic the Hedgehog
The Genesis wasn't known for memorable music due to its shitty sound chip, but there were a few gems in there.

Kingdom Hearts
Again, I don't really like J-pop, but for Kingdom Hearts it just worked. Plus, at the time, that intro movie was so fucking gorgeous to watch.

Illusion of Gaia
A woefully underappreciated game in my opinion.

Portal
Instant classic. Second song on my list named Still Alive strangely enough.

Clearly I could go on forever. So I won't.
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@James - When I get a chance I will add these to the blog. I have never even heard of the Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy!!!

And you and I BOTH forgot Bionic Commando
Jamespic4
August 12, 2009
I can't get links to work in my comments. They were all linked. I don't understand why; I even copied the source code from Benjamin's first comment.
Default_picture
August 12, 2009
Nice picks. All those games have great music. I like James' list too. Yasunori Mitsuda is my favorite composer as well. Don't forget that he also made the soundtrack for Xenogears.
Jamespic4
August 12, 2009
Well I posted the urls, but its says it needs to be reviewed by an admin, so, whatever.
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@James - I am in the middle of some horrible busy work, but when I finish I would be happy to add your suggestions to my blog, if the problem has not been ironed out. Cool?
Jamespic4
August 12, 2009
I chose specific songs from each game. Do links have to be reviewed to make sure the don't lead to NSFW content? And if so, why don't they have to be reviewed in articles?

And why am I asking you? Heh. Should probably asked the site runners.
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@James - Yeah, like I know shit about anything! :D

Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@James - About 5 of the games you chose don't involve any specific songs, so if you cant get the url thing fixed I will post those!
Jamespic4
August 12, 2009
I copied the urls as plain text and it wouldn't even let me do that!

God damn! Well, if they get approved, you'll have three posts from me that (including the first one) that look a lot alike but get decreasingly less complicated. Sorry about the accidental spam if that happens.

I'm tempted to just post my own article.

Bleh.
Lance_darnell
August 12, 2009
@James - You should post your own! That would be great!
Default_picture
November 06, 2009
I cannot believe that nobody mentioned Blaster Master! Despite being a fantastic game, it had some of the best music on the NES.
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