Search and Destroy; Video Game Soundtracks

old skool favorite's on C64: Forbidden Forrest, Monty on the Run and some Ninja game i forgot the title of.

new skool favorite: What better way to start of a game of footie than a blast of Fatboy Slim's 'Rockafella Skank' (as featured in Fifa 99, 46545647474 matches played and counting).

Lots of Rob Hubbard, and to a lesser extent Martin Galway, tracks were very experimental sounding, with a good melody, and sounded unlike anything else. This is especially true in the peak time 1987/88ish. I hear the influence of these two geniuses quite often - although I may be making associations that aren't actually there.

Although I don't play many computer games these days apart from the odd Nintendo game I don't like the soundtracks as much. I think this is partly because as soundchips have got cheaper and more "realistic" a lot of computer musicians find it easier to resort to cliché instead of creating new types of arrangement to fit new sounds. I'd like to be proved wrong though, I don't really listen to much - In recent years I've enjoyed the music from Tekken II and Tetrisphere though.

I don't like Hentai though.

Having said that, Super Mario Brothers rocks the booty, especially the dubby underground music.

I have no idea what "hentai pr0n" is, BTW. I don't feel like finding out, either!

x0x0

Ecco The Dolphin (astoundingly beautiful)
Loom (some of this is an obscure classical piece that I've
never identified; anyone?)
Toejam & Earl
Road Rash 2

No one has mentioned Mega Man 2 yet.

However, with any new games the first thing I do is turn off the music. Worst offenders are definitely any Command and Conquer game.

Destroy: almost anything streamed from CD. We do not want to be cinema. We are better than that!

Search: the Castlevania games had some great tunes. Also, Dr. Mario - "Chill".

Does that count as a sub-micro-genre ?

Think that covers it!

Yasunori Mitsuda wept.

ESPECIALLY the original.

Search: Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy 7

the mgs soundtrack was awsome too

yah and that jet set radio soundtrack had cibo matto if i remember right

The India theme by Kazuo Sawa for Super Dodgeball on the NES is really bangin'

Both of the new Vanillaware games (Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire) have some pretty nice stuff. Especially the vocal theme to Odin during the character intros after you let the title screen sit for a minute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb_veLl4k0w

People who buy Final Fantasy soundtracks scare me.

otm

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/nobuo_uematsu/final_fantasy_vii/
Ranked #7 for 1997 , #403 overall
vote this album down

Dan, I went to see Final Fantasy music played by a symphony orchestra.

Wow! I'm sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house, especially when they got to "Tifa's Theme". I'm assuming there's a track called "Tifa's Theme".

I second Ninja Gaiden (original NES version), all levels, especially the music that plays during the cutscenes, which is later developed into a full theme on the 4th or 5th level.

Dan, I went to see Final Fantasy music played by a symphony orchestra.

:-0

you haven't lived till you've seen "One-Winged Angel" performed by a scowling choir

woah

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UPBzEXLXO4P6MUHsvzvlzcshtknUMJi2X9bluDd5kLs/edit?pli=1

The new Tempest has a pretty great soundtrack:

http://txk-ost.bandcamp.com/

What do you guys think?

xpost whoa indeed!

since my interest in vg music comes mostly out of my interest in film music and I barely actually play any games I don't keep as abreast as I would like, but I've become a fan of Austin Wintory-- especially Journey and the Journey Bonus album but also his awesome viking chamber doom music for Banner Saga. Also love Daniel Pemberton's stuff for Little Big Planet (as I'm sure anyone who's played that game does).

anyone know of anything that sounds like the original Katamari soundtrack? what a wonderful and bizarre album that is.

Nothing sounds like the first Katamari. Maybe Hiyohiko Senba and his Haniwa All Stars but not really.

Austin Wintory, first composer to get a Grammy nomination for a video game soundtrack: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/11/journey-soundtrack-loses-grammy-to-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/

The way his scores work in tandem with the sound effects of the games, especially Flow & Journey, are very very impressive. The scores by themselves are a lot more new agey / traditionally cinematic. I converted three mp3's from youtube game captures of Flow, and man are they ever disorienting.

Journey is the first video game I actually picked up the controller for and played through since Katamari.

I actually like the 'journey bonus bundle' album more than the proper journey OST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohmDswbrjw8

oops that doesnt have the song i was thinking of. its at 12 second in here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehRqTODI0YU