I've always thought and certainly continue to think that video game music is sometimes better than most other music out there. That may be a bit of a stretch but it's meant to make a point. I love video game music and I find myself listening to entire soundtracks from time to time just because of how good they are. Not gonna lie, I've been listening to a ton of Pokemon music lately and it just put me in a mood to listen to a bunch more. So, post some of your favorites!
I'll start with this one:
I'm a huge fan of the Donkey Kong Country soundtracks.
I love how this one is basically just new age music. The SNES sound chip has such a lush sound for that kind of music, this would never work on, say, Genesis.
Purely for nostalgic reasons, I don't even remember if I particularly liked this stage but I know the music used to hit for me.
I love this Castlevania 4 song so much that I had it as a ringtone for a bit. Batty put me onto this one.
I finished Pokemon Scarlet last night and this is officially my new favorite video game track probably ever. This is easily the best track in any Pokemon game probably ever. And I mean that sincerely.
As a franchise, I still think Sonic has the best soundtracks. Some of which I'm sure I've posted before, but heck, I'll take the opportunity to post them again. The games aren't even always good, but the music almost always SLAPS:
Sonic Frontiers music is S tier
Quote from: Key on Oct 12, 2023, 04:58 PMSonic Frontiers music is S tier
I gotta say, I was really surprised when I did the big boss fights (as Super Sonic), and these super hype metalcore songs start playing. I'm admittedly much more of house junkie and electronica fan than a metalhead though, so when this particular track started playing, it just hit me: "Goddamn, I still love this franchise"
I absolutely love the music from Frontiers. It's also a really fun game if you just want a genuine Sonic game. They did a really nice job on it.
Quote from: Key on Oct 12, 2023, 05:57 PMI absolutely love the music from Frontiers. It's also a really fun game if you just want a genuine Sonic game. They did a really nice job on it.
I wasn't as big on the game as I was on the music. The worlds felt a little plastic and lifeless. The pop-in was bad. And the art direction didn't really scream Sonic to me. Oddly, while previous entries were too bubbly, carefree, and juvenile in tone, this one felt almost too depressing in tone. It was a strange heelturn for sure. All that said, I didn't have a bad time with it, and I think they could truly make it great with the right amount of time and money in a sequel.
compared to a lot of other 3D sonic games is something I probably should've prefaced that post with :laughing:
it certainly isn't perfect but i just shudder thinking about sonic 06
My own personal favourite video game composer is Michael Land 🙂 he made music that was funny, catchy and captured the perfect mood for the Monkey Island games. That music is a huge influence on me.
Ooo, today I saw this. What a great cover! 😲
My favorite song from my favorite 3D Mario game - so chill, and yet very mysterious and foreboding:
^Now you're just being weird,
@SGR 😄
Me and my daughter have been playing a lot of Minecraft lately which has such a great score by C418.
One of our favourites is the song Taswell. It is pretty chill.
It also has a long intro, so feel free to skip to about 3:40 where it gets catchy 🙂
Quote from: Guybrush on Jan 04, 2024, 01:19 AM^Now you're just being weird, @SGR 😄
You're not a fan, I take it? :laughing:
Here's a game you might remember. I think I've mentioned it on MB before - Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, an old point and click adventure game released on Windows back in 1996. One of my all time favorite games - never could beat the damn thing as a kid and finally beat it a couple years ago as an adult who was more resourceful and cunning - I always thought as a kid that the point of the game was to stop the Titanic from hitting the iceberg, but the actual point of the game was to prevent the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and prevent the events that would lead to Hitler's rise and World War 2 (yes, really) - and the music for the game is actually rather haunting. One of my favorite soundtracks ever I think, especially for what they had to work with at the time.
And of course, the sparsely populated boat with these ominous songs - and the way they recorded the actors/actresses for the game makes it even creepier:
Quote from: Guybrush on Jan 04, 2024, 01:19 AMMe and my daughter have been playing a lot of Minecraft lately which has such a great score by C418.
One of our favourites is the song Taswell. It is pretty chill.
It also has a long intro, so feel free to skip to about 3:40 where it gets catchy 🙂
Gotta say, I've never gotten into Minecraft, but I get the appeal. That song is tight as hell though - very chill piece. With games, I'm a very goal-driven person - so games that allow me a lot of freedom to do whatever without clear cut direction (or rather, indication) on what the next objective is don't really do much for me - games like Minecraft, Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, and even most open world games just aren't usually my cup of tea (Elden Ring being a big exception).
Quote from: SGR on Jan 04, 2024, 04:00 PMYou're not a fan, I take it? :laughing:
Here's a game you might remember. I think I've mentioned it on MB before - Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, an old point and click adventure game released on Windows back in 1996. One of my all time favorite games - never could beat the damn thing as a kid and finally beat it a couple years ago as an adult who was more resourceful and cunning - I always thought as a kid that the point of the game was to stop the Titanic from hitting the iceberg, but the actual point of the game was to prevent the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and prevent the events that would lead to Hitler's rise and World War 2 (yes, really) - and the music for the game is actually rather haunting. One of my favorite soundtracks ever I think, especially for what they had to work with at the time.
And of course, the sparsely populated boat with these ominous songs - and the way they recorded the actors/actresses for the game makes it even creepier:
Since my SNES days, I haven't been much of a Nintendo gamer at all, so the only 3D Mario game I've spent significant time with is Mario 64. But that has some great music.
The Titanic game isn't something I remember coming across, which is weird to me. I'm at least generally familiar with the classics of that genre.
I remember well in the 90s when adventure games came out on CD (or CDs) and contained lots of filmed actors. Phantasmagoria 1 and 2 are the ones I played the most, but I also had the werewolf themed sequel to Gabriel Knight. Just the way they were made was a little icky or made you feel weird, like uncanny valley, so I guess that production style was particularly effective for horror/thriller related stuff.
Seems a bit like a fad and overall, I enjoyed more the games that were more like the classic Lucasart titles 🙂
Quote from: SGR on Jan 04, 2024, 04:00 PMGotta say, I've never gotten into Minecraft, but I get the appeal. That song is tight as hell though - very chill piece. With games, I'm a very goal-driven person - so games that allow me a lot of freedom to do whatever without clear cut direction (or rather, indication) on what the next objective is don't really do much for me - games like Minecraft, Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, and even most open world games just aren't usually my cup of tea (Elden Ring being a big exception).
I love open world games, but am still quite picky about what I invest time in. Elden Ring was an absolute blast! Loved it.
Another old game which had kind of an open world AND great music was the first Little Big Adventure from 1994 🙂 it's one of the more unique and charming games of the 90s for me.
The score was by Philip Vachey I think the name was. My favourite track is probably this one:
Another title I remember was SSI's Fantasy General from 1996 which had this atmospheric gem:
The ability to have the soundtrack play from the game CD was what enabled the great music from these games 🙂 So you kinda had a game disc and OST in one.
One of my greatest gaming joys of the 90s was Transport Tycoon which I played until my father's 486 work computer couldn't take all the busses, planes and trains and just crashed.
The midi jazz soundtrack is imprinted on my brain and I love every second of it. For a 2014 re-release, composer John Broomhall re-recorded the soundtrack with real musicians and I've listened to it now and then over the years when the mood strikes me.
This is more than 1 hour and 20 minutes of music. Just drop the seeker / slider somewhere in there and chances are it'll be a banger 😉
Are you gonna let me turn this into a tedious 90s nerd monologue? Cause that's fine with me.
A weird work of music that I assume won't make too much of an impression on peeps - but which has been somewhat influential to myself - is the midi music to the Lovecraft game Shadow of the Comet.
It was a flawed game, but I loved the theme AND it was made by Infogrames who also made Alone in the Dark. When playing AITD and rummaging around in the in-game library, we found a book or two referencing SotC and that was so cool.
Anyways, you can hear the song in this awesome intro after the 4:45 mark.
It's by the earlier mentioned Philip Vachey who also made the music for little big adventure posted above.
I like little icky horror-ish tunes and have made some myself and this game may have something to do with that.
I'm almost done fully completing Sonic Adventure 2, and I'm nearly 30. I've been playing this game since I was like 8. Damn.
Anybody with taste needs to hear this:
This stage in the Duck Tails video game always slapped.