The Gamer's Quarter

[Shapermc]

Silent Hill 2 got me into video game soundtracks. Most of the time I just thought of it in a passing manner. Occasionally a nice remix would pop up from location to location and I would download it, but before SH2 I pretty much ignored them (especially after 8-bit days).

As of late I have gone beyond that and looked at the many different angles of soundtracks and have been paying attention to them more in games. It adds a layer that I often times ignored.

Castlevania is what I have been looking at in volume lately. I have about 8 different albums right now, although 2 are unofficial. I found that Castlevania Dungeon has most of the soundtracks for download but they are using file planet, so screw that. I am slowly finding more all the time though.

Without ever playing Mother 1 and 2 a friend helped me with the soundtracks for them and the pop vocal versions of them. They were really great stuff, especially the OSTs. They inspired me to seek out and play Mother 1 (although I probably won't ever finish it) and will be moving on to Earthbound next month (hopefully).

Metroid also has some good stuff. Metroid Metal is an excellent site for some nice guitar/metal versions of metroid themes and songs. They also have one of the best designs for a video game t-shirt I have ever seen.

So, what are peoples stands on video game music? Do you normally just dismiss it? Do you normally not like it? Hate it? Actively seek out game soundtracks? What are some you like?

[dhex]

i don't understand stuff like the minibosses, for that's worth.
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[Shapermc]

[ajutla]

I really, really, really, really want the Mother 1 OST.

Really, really, really.
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[dhex]

[Shapermc]

[Mr. Mechanical]

I like the videogame cover bands like the Minibosses and The Advantage and such because it's like they're taking the music and playing it with the instruments it was intended to sound like it was being played with. Also because the Minibosses at least try to take every piece of music from a game, like Mega Man or Contra, and arrange it all into a single song. Sometimes it works pretty well, sometimes it doesn't.

As for game music not working as a whole, and simply being a part of something: I'll agree with you there. Though what was that game that 108 was talking about? Romancing Saga? Apparently some of the music on that game works quite well on its own. I could probably come up with a couple more examples if I tried hard enough. It's not much, but it kind of shows that it's getting to that point. Right now game music is kind of like Hollywood action movie soundtracks. Nothing wrong with that per se, just that it'd be neat if it got good enough to the point where it worked as music without having to have the game attached to it.

[SuperWes]

I'm not a big fan of video game music in the OST form, but I do enjoy Symphonic Arrangements, Piano Arrangements, and stuff like Minibosses and Metroid Metal. Even then it's only for the novelty factor. I'm with dhex. Video Game soundtracks are the same as Movie Soundtracks. It's nice that they can remind you of what they're from, but they don't really stand on their own as listening material (of course, unless you're into that sort of thing).

-Wes
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[disneyland]

I love listening to certain game soundtracks while writing.

Something like Kenji Eno's fantastic D2 soundtrack, or even the recent Fable soundtrack -- these are legitimately very good stand alone tunes for general purpose listening.

If I need some energy, I bring up the Nights soundtrack. Not the OST - it uses bad re-sampled instruments. The Nights Full Selection. Great, great music...

Saturn Bomberman soundtrack - awesome, vintage Hudson. Literally feels like the most natural transition from SFC chip to redbook. Quirks intact.

Sonic CD, Japanese version soundtrack. Such perfect Sonic music, and just as cool on its own. Spencer Nielsen's US soundtrack is so painfully wrong for the gameplay of Sonic CD, even if it was good for general purpose listening, I couldn’t do it.

[dark steve]

I love me the Tanguy.

Also, I obtained the RR Type-4 soundtrack at great difficulty just so I could record it to a cassette and then drive around while playing it.

[dessgeega]

[disneyland]

Friend and I were recently talking about early game music’s influence on our musical tastes. We’re big fans of electronic stuff, you know: Orbital, Aphex, Four Tet, Amon Tobin – that sort of thing. We went back to where we picked up the thirst for this.

I’m 28 and he’s 29, so we missed the whole Detroit/Germany Juan Atkins/Kraftwerk revolution. Our parents listened to plenty of early ‘80s disco and glitch, like Blondie, Donna Summer, Herbie Hancock, etc. – the usual suspects. We weren’t old enough to develop specific tastes based on that exposure though. So we realized: it was video game music that introduced the fever for the flavor. I mean, there’s nothing more electronically pure than a series of melodic square and sine waves, a 4k bassline oscillation, or a silky FM synth. That’s electronic music.

I remember loving the Castlevania 2 music. Friends and I were amazed with Konami’s NES sound engine. It killed everything else. Well, everything except vintage Kodaka Sunsoft music like Batman and Journey to Silius. He had these wicked sustained sine waves and awesome melodies. Tim Follin also kicked the NES sound chip’s ass in games like Silver Surfer. Rob Hubbard on C64. Remember LX Rudis on Lynx? Electrocop and Klax were nuts. Jesper Kyd on Amiga and Genesis. Yuzo Koshiro on MSX and Mega Drive. All these amazing hardware-defying soundtracks. Obviously Square had some of the most gorgeous music on SFC, compositionally, but that crazy-powerful Sony sound chip (a.k.a. the Sample Beast) took a bit of the fun out of it.

It used to be an art form for these professional musicians to coerce weak machines to perform their tracks. It encouraged such a melody and harmony-based approach to music composition. If you isolate those melodies, there is some incredible music in the 8 and 16-bit generations.

So we determined that it was actually video game tuneage that opened our brains to the idea of more abstract computer-generated music, not the “real” music we listened to as kids. A very comforting realization.

[dessgeega]

[disneyland]

Whoa, the Treewave track "Sleep" is great.

Would love to see them live. All the older hardware he's modified...this guy is rather hardcore.

[dhex]

[Sushi d]

meh... there are alot of games of which are enhanced by its soundtrack... sometimes it may have even made unplayable games playable.
to list some...

Ape Escape
Ape Escape Pumped and primed
Street of Rage (Series)
Sonic the Hedgehog (Series)
Actraiser (Series)
Bust a Groove
Gunstar Heroes
Final Fantasy 6 (the only one with a decent soundtrack.)

the list goes on and on....

i recommend finding tracks of all these games... for they are worth it...

its true what some of you folks are saying though..

sometimes the music loses context outside of the game... emotions are often tied to VG music.. which is why if you arent "feeling it"... it bites...
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X_X

[dessgeega]

[RaBeeWilliams]

Right now, the only vg soundtrack that I own is Silent Hill 3. It's alright by itself, but the real ethereal strangeness of the atmosphere is lost on you if you haven't played the game. It not very good bedtime or drawing music, either, so I don't know when is the best time to whip it out.
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[dessgeega]

snoopdroop's (formerly wilfred castillo) tracks are pretty chill. he produces most of them on a gameboy. hilights include you're a hero on level zero and coming in for a landing, we're home.

ten and tracer's dark before dawn is pretty delightful, and twilight electric's meanings is sad and wonderful.
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[wourme]

I once spent a lot of money blindly ordering Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite and Konami Shooter Battle 2. I loved FFSS, and it remains my favorite arranged video game music CD, but I was just sort of surprised by KSB2. I was really looking forward to a fancy arrangement of Axelay: Colony. What I got was electric guitar. I ended up selling that CD for more than I paid for it on usenet.

Most "rock" interpretations of video game music don't impress me at all. Partly becuase I don't care for most such music in general, and partly because a lot of the appeal of the originals for me is the actual synthesizers, regardless of whether the musicians would have used traditional instruments if they could have.

For me, a lot of video game music works outside of the games. I listen to video game music almost as much as I do other music. Part of it is surely nostalgia for the games, but I listen to music from games I've never even seen. Even back in Commodore 64 days, I'd load up some games (or crackers' intros) just to hear the music, and not even play the games.

I won't even start listing my favorite video game music--that would take a while. As for arrangements, a lot of my favorites are at http://remix.kwed.org . feekzoid, o2, ifadeo--for a lot of these, whether you've played the game is irrelevant.

[dessgeega]

right now i listen to videogame music and chiptunes almost exclusively.
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[Shapermc]

[JasonMoses]

[wourme]

[Pootivic]

The only two I've ever bought were the Katamari soundtrack and the parappa soundtrack. Other than that videogame music tends to be repetitive, as it's designed to loop. Katamari and Parappa are just goofy and fun.

[ApM]

When I'm humming to myself putting away the laundry or whatever, it's usually videogame music.

It's seriously the soundtrack to my life.

[dessgeega]

so, has anyone heard anything about this hoopla?

it gets a demerit point for tommy tallarico being involved, but still.
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[nICO]

[Shapermc]

[Mister Toups]

The Woodlands isn't all that far away. We could road trip it if you really wanted to go.
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

[Shapermc]

[disneyland]

[nICO]

[Blazehedgehog]

[Mister Toups]

All you bitches need to shut up and listen to the Mother 2 soundtrack.
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

[dessgeega]

i need to listen to the mother one soundtrack.

i seem to remember a certain editor-in-chief who i am burning dvds for out of the goodness of my heart and asking nothing in return for promising he would get me a copy.
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[Mister Toups]

I have the mp3's on my computer, you know. Courtesy of that same editor-in-chief.

Or do you not use mp3s?
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

[dessgeega]

i certainly do use mp3s.
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[Shapermc]

I am on it Dess.

[TOLLMASTER]

[dessgeega]

[mudokononastick]

I only own two at the moment. The Snake Eater single from Japan, and the piano renditions of Final Fantasy 6's score (which is almost enough to move me to tears as it hits my ears when I put it on).
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Dinah Moe Humm, Dinah Moe Humm, Where's this Dinah Moe comin' from?

[Mister Toups]