Twelve Game Music Tracks Worth Keeping

The field of game music has gotten considerably better over the years, a fact that Games Radar highlights in a simple 'list article' about iPod-worthy game music. They highlight some obvious recent gems, like Coulton's "Still Alive" and "Hikari" from Kingdom Hearts, but also bring back some older goodies with choices like "Everybody Jump Around" from Jet Set Radio or "Chemical Plant" from Sonic 2. "Sonic games used to have amazing music. And while single-player Mystic Cave Zone came a close second, this has to make the list. It may be basic compared to modern CD recordings, but just listen to how each of the console's sound channels is used - it's remarkable. Intricate and dramatic, this industrial anthem builds and builds before seamlessly looping in a non-annoying way."

Comments

Guitar Hero

[INeededALogin]

Just for the record... Guitar Hero Soundtracks should not count as they were not designed with the game in mind. Just thought I would get that out there before all the guitar hero freaks start saying Stairway to Heaven is the best game song of all time:-P

Re:Guitar Hero

[Chr0me]

No stairway? Denied!

Castlevania Symphony of the Night Anyone?

[BoyIHateMicrosoft!]

I think the music from the above mentioned PSone game was amazing. I think I must have played certain levels I didn't need to go through for the millionth time just so I could listen to the music. My favs are the Holy Chapel music, the Abandoned Mine music. Anyways just my two cents.

Don't forget Chris Huelsbeck's game music

[ueltradiscount]

genius. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADvKn2fRWFs

As usual, only CONSOLE games

[samwh]

Seriously, some of the work Jeremy Soule has done on games such as The Elder Scrolls and Guild Wars is astounding.

But more jarring then that seems to be the complete lack of Chrono Trigger. Or ANY Square(SOFT) music. Seriously, Kingdom Hearts? Hardly the best they have done.

On a side note, each track is on a different page, without a list to organize them by. Obviously a cheap ad-grab.

Planescape: Torment

[myrrdyn]

I think that "Planescape: Torment" also had some beautiful music tracks. Among my favourite themes: the main theme, the "smoldering corpse" and the credits (really different from others, but still "right atmosphere").

Re:Planescape: Torment

[Sciros]

If you're going for PC RPGs from that time period, it's hard to get better than the scores composed by Michael Hoenig for Baldur's Gate I and II. Jeremy Soule's scoring of Icewind Dale was decent, as well.

Bah, no Cannon Fodder?

[isaac]

Come on, how can you put a list like this together without mentioning the Cannon Fodder intro?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRaFfFuEOj0

-Isaac

Katamari Damacy!!!!

[Cy Sperling]

It is criminal that Katamari Damacy is nowhere to be found on that list. The principle theme is one of the stickiest (pun intended) melodies I have heard in a game. I am listening to the soundtrack right now! That simple catchy melody is transformed into such a wide array of styles and arrangements, and remains catchy and fun in every form. It is the only game I have ever sought out a soundtrack for. If only I could get the creepy red pandas out of my subconcious when I listen to it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpFFzWPzA2c

Hikari from Kingdom Hearts?

[CelticWhisper]

I remember the craze over the game when it came out, but honestly I'm surprised the song is still that popular. Not that it's outright terrible or anything, but thinking back, I seem to remember it being relatively run-of-the-mill saccharine J-pop.

Again, not horrendous, but not really memorable either. There's much better game music out there. Look to Jeremy Soule, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Shoji Meguro, Yuki Kajiura, or Kurt Harland for examples. The article was spot-on in recommending Yamaoka's Silent Hill scores, though you do have to be just a little bit unhinged upstairs in order to enjoy SH1 as casual-listening material.

Offhand, I'd recommend Sakimoto's "Vagrant Story" score, Kajiura's "Xenosaga Episode 3," Meguro's "Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne" for those willing to let the ambience set in, or "Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner" if you want something more casually listenable, and any of Harland's work on the Legacy of Kain series.

Re:Hikari from Kingdom Hearts?

[CelticWhisper]

Well, the woman has a serious way with choral vocals. A serious way. However, a lot of her stuff relies heavily on acoustic instrumentation and is on the lighter side. What I'd love to hear is a collaborative effort between her and Shoji Meguro (of recent Shin Megami Tensei über-fame). Fuse her talent for complexity and ability to work with many voices singing in unison with his acid-rock style, knack for distortions, and ability to create extremely dark tones and just-plain-evil sounding music. Track down a copy of the Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne soundtrack and listen to the "Reason Boss Battle" theme. It might be called "Kotowari Boss Battle." Now imagine that, but with Kajiura's choirs. Same thing for "Hari-Hara: 2nd Movement" from the Digital Devil Saga soundtrack.

I would also submit Yoshitaka Hirota (Shadow Hearts) or Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill) as candidates, but they can tend a little too much toward "noise horror" and the ambience and tone of their work would clash with Kajiura's. Maybe Sung-Woon Jang (Magna Carta, War of Genesis), but even then, I have my doubts when it comes to his more intense work like "Devil's Rhapsody" (War of Genesis 3). "Battle with the God of Beasts" (Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata/Tears of Blood) might work okay, but a lot of Jang's work is either too melody-rich already to work with choirs (one would detract from the other) or already uses choirs and is thus awesome in its own right. See "Sorrowful Fate" from MC:CS/ToB for an example.

Kajiura's music is highly melodic and certainly never boring, but it lacks some "oomph," and I think Meguro is the perfect candidate to give it the kick in the ass that it needs.

Twelve tracks? How about twelve hundred.

[Sciros]

Video game music has come a long way, and I have about... oh, a LOT of it on my comp00tar at this point. I can't pick 12 favorite soundtracks, let alone 12 tracks. What I *can* do is recommend composers.

1) Yasunori Mitsuda. Some dislike him, but he has a certain style that can really draw the listener in. Xenosaga's orchestral pieces are very ambitious for a game. Notable scores: Chrono Cross, Xenosaga Episode 1

2) Yoko Shimomura. She has a problem using some really low-quality samples in some tracks, which is very apparent in KH2, but is generally quite good. Legend of Mana's end credits are fantastic. Notable scores: Legend of Mana, Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2, Mario RPG

3) Jeremy Soule. Every self-respecting gamer has to recognize this name at this point. A British composer who specializes in background orchestral music. Notable scores: Morrowind, Oblivion, Guild Wars

4) Koji Kondo. Composed the original Mario and Zelda themes. Very respected in the industry, but has yet to fully adjust to more current standards of using high-quality samples.

5) Hitoshi Sakimoto. Composer of FFXII's amazing score. While quite different from Nobuo Uematsu's FF scores, focusing less on melody and more on "theme," his music is reminiscent of John Williams with its complexity and orchestral balance.

6) Nobuo Uematsu. The great master himself, composer of many Final Fantasy scores. One of the most respected men in the business. Notable scores: FFVII, FFVIII

7) David Wise. Few have heard of him but this guy is one of the greatest. He wrote the music for Rare's games during its time with Nintendo. Playing the Tawfret track from the JFG soundtrack while going through a forest or swamp in an RPG makes the experience about ten times more immersive. This guy is a genius. Notable scores: DKC, DKC2, Jet Force Gemini

There are other great composers out there, but I encourage everyone to give these a listen for sure.

Re:Twelve tracks? How about twelve hundred.

[Yosho]

You managed to hit most of the big names, but I think it's worth also mentioning:

1) Koichi Sugiyama, composer of the Dragon Quest series, and the guy who made people take video game music seriously in the first place.

2) Sound Team JDK, though not a single person, is behind the music of the Ys series; the Ys series is, sadly, not very popular in the US, but I think you'll find that gamers who are familiar with the series agree that their soundtracks are among the very best.

Quake

[icebones]

Quake 1 - the whole soundtrack. NIN also one of if not the only PC game that was designed to be put in a CD player to listen to the soundtrack.

Casnio Night Zone

[k_187]

Bah, no list that has Sonic music is valid if it doesn't list the music to Casino Night zone. Especially with Lyrics!: Oh, casino night zone, casino night. Casino night zooone, casino nigght zoooone

A few more of my favorites

[FleaPlus]

It's kind of funny, but when I was kid for quite a while I would -only- listen to video game music, and had sort of a disdain for "normal" music. I guess that changed sometime in middle school, and I like all sorts of music now, but I still have a fondness for VG music. Here's a few more of my personal favorites, not listed in the article:

* "Radio" from Command and Conquer: Red Alert
* menu song from Forsaken (it's track 6 or 7 on the game CD... not sure if it has an actual title but the band that performed it is "The Swarm")
* "Tangerine" from Earthworm Jim 2 (soundtrack by Tommy Tallarico)
* the intro song from Earthworm Jim 2... I don't think I've ever seen it on a CD, but it's probably the first "a cappella" song I ever saw in a video game, even though it was just samples on a SNES/Genesis
* most of Mechwarrior II
* most of Katamari Damacy
* "Beyond the Bounds" from Zone of the Enders: Second Runner
* the operatic tracks from Heroes of Might & Magic II
* most of the Interstate '76 soundtrack
* one of the songs from Dr. Mario ("fever"?).
* "Skyward Fire" and "Save Me" from Unreal Tournament

Also, for those of you who haven't seen it already, OverClocked Remix has plenty of great freely-downloadable remixes of video game songs:

http://www.ocremix.org/

CT: To Far Away Times

[Erioll]

You're not wrong on Soule's work. I didn't like Guild Wars, but I don't regret buying the collector's edition purely because you got the game's soundtrack on CD, and the music was outstanding. As you said, his work on The Elder Scrolls was also good.

But considering they were going back into the console days, omitting one of the greatest tracks EVER imo is a great disgrace. The ending theme to Chrono Trigger (ranked the greatest RPG of all time on at least one list I've seen, and I don't disagree) is a piece called "To Far Away Times." It's a perfect blend of subtlety and power at different times. The music overall for the game is also a cut above nearly everything else, but this piece just pulls out all the stops and makes a masterpiece.

I found it on YouTube from an ending playthrough a guy did: here The song itself starts at EXACTLY 1m in, and ends around the 5:20 mark.

Now it's time for another round of...

[CaptainPatent]

The Slashdot Moderation Game!
Tonight's contestant is another "Secret Contestant"
Anonymous Writes:

SLASHDOT SUX0RZ Ooooh! Horrible start! Well, this post is about music in games and soundtracks worth keeping. Perhaps if you talk about the preferences of a nerdier crowd shying away from a game and justify this statement, you'll still be able to recover. Just don't do something like post ASCII porn or goatse...

_0_
\''\
'=o='
.|!|
.| | Oh no, ASCII porn... while I do think the tiny exclamation point penis is a nice touch, Slashdot tends to be of the crowd that likes to have justification for statements. Maybe a link to an article that backs up your initial statement now.

-Link to Goatse Removed- Oh man, strike three. I just don't see any merit in your comment at all. And the fact that you had to hide behind an Anonymous Coward username only goes to show that your penis must be smaller than your ASCII porn's exclamation point. While you haven't won or lost anything, I'm sure there are plenty of people here on Slashdot who wish you the best of times rotting in hell.
Well that's all for this installment, but stay tuned for the next installment of The Slashdot Moderation Game!!!

Star Control 2 (Urquan Masters)

[kEnder242]

The original .mod files were pretty good for the day, but the "official Ur-Quan Masters remix" packs are a step up as well

http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

Re:Old School

[bigstrat2003]

I have the right to be cranky - I put in the years it takes to be able to play everything in those games on a real guitar Why does this come up every time Guitar Hero gets mentioned? I'm sorry, but playing a real guitar doesn't give you the right to be cranky about the game in general. If there are dumb kids who figure that they're hot stuff because they're good at Guitar Hero, then be cranky at them, but it's not the game's damn fault. I play both real guitar and Guitar Hero, and they're entirely different beasts. Bringing up the real instrument in a discussion about the game over and over and over (and yes, I know it isn't just you) is getting pretty nonsensical.

Good suggestions, may I voice some more?

[solar_blitz]

I like a lot of the suggestions being made here, and I'd simply like to add in (or emphasize) a couple of soundtracks and pieces from my collection:

Megaman 2 and 3, Megaman X and X4. Seriously, the original title of the character was Rockman, his sister was named Roll, Protoman was originally named "Blues", his dog sidekick is named "Rush" and his bird sidekick is named "Beat". The franchise was designed with good music in mind.

Yasunori Mitsuda's work: Chrono Trigger theme (Chrono Trigger), Time's Scar (Chrono Cross), 90% of Xenosaga Episode I (including Resurrection, Gnosis, Battle of KOS-MOS, Ormus, Song of Nephilim, and Kokoro), 90% of the Xenogears soundtrack (special mention to Awakening, Knight of Fire, Small of Two Pieces and June Mermaid - they still give me chills when I hear their atmospheric melodies).

Yuki Kajiura: hasn't done too much, but Xenosaga: Episode II's Communication Breakdown, Image theme of Xenosaga II, and Jr. are the best. Xenosaga Episode III was a huge improvement. Go for "The Battle of Your Soul", "Promised Pain", "Godsibb", "Testament". A lot of good tracks aren't included on the CDs, but somebody at Glabadia Hotel has ripped the music from the game. Look for Assault #2 and Battle vs. Yuriev.

Nobuo Uematsu: okay, bear with me - he makes a lot of good music, but he reuses a lot of chords and melodies from game-to-game, and has a hard time branching out. BUT, what he gets right he gets very right. One Winged Angel - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Zanarkand (FFX), YOU'RE NOT ALONE (FFIX), Vamo' alla Flamenco (FF IX), FITHOS, LUSEC, WEPOS, VINOSEC (FF VIII), Cyan (FF VI), Trojan Beauty (FF IV), and My Home, Sweet Home (FF V "Dear Friends" soundtrack).

F-Zero (Guitar Remix): Endless Challenge, Long Distance of Murder

Gran Turismo: Moon Over Castle

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: Bloody Tears

And something I haven't seen yet:

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - Luna's Boat Song and the Intro Theme. When you watch the animation sequence for the Boat Song, you will be hooked into the game. It's perfect and expresses the game's lighthearted, romantic, colorful world. And the Intro Theme rocks, too. Yes, they're in English.

Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete - Eternal Blue and Lucia's Theme. Same as above, but longer and better. These're also in English.

I cannot believe nobody mentioned Lunar...

Re:YOU STEAL MEN'S SOULS!

[Beefysworld]

Would you like to specify which of Bach's many fugues you're referring to? He wrote a couple books full of them, as well as seperate works.

Fugue is a type of music. Not a title.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue He was probably referring to Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor', which is the more well known fugue of Bach.

Spy Hunter music = Peter Gunn theme

[Novus]

And it is how old now?

Since Spy Hunter plays the theme from late 1950s TV series Peter Gunn, I'd say about 50 years.