Author: Thomas Schryver
Most of us still remember the days when Super Mario 64 came out in 1996. I was in fourth grade, and some of you whippersnappers might have just been wee little first graders. Long after even this magnificent classic’s gameplay became tiring, its soundtrack remains a joy for game enthusiasts to listen to. Even my sister who doesn’t own a single game will happily shout, “Let’s a-go!” with me while listening to the first level theme.
Maybe it’s just a rosy retrospection of my childhood years and the carefree hours of playing Nintendo with friends, but I never seem to get tired of listening to the music from those games.
Whenever I feel a twinge of nostalgia I’ll put on Kazumi Totaka’s Waverace soundtrack or perhaps the Oyster Harbor level music from Blast Corps. My roommate’s cellphone still plays “Lon Lon Ranch” from Zelda when his girlfriend calls him. A Youtube viewer commented that whenever he hears the underwater music from Super Mario 64, it makes him cry. This might be going a little bit overboard, but the point is clear: video game music has the capacity to be every bit as moving, beautiful, and memorable as a song in any other medium.
The really cool thing about video game music is that-in comparison to all other music in other forms of media-there are so few stylistic confinements. Just as sure as we are bound to hear the words, “In a world…” at the beginning of movie theater previews, we will hear the same “epic” orchestral battle hymn that rings of war, valor, and bravery in each year’s multitudes of Hollywood action-drama blockbusters. While strings, horns, tympanis, and adult choirs passionately singing in Latin gibberish may satisfy the standards of mainstream movie-goers, video game scores often eschew these repetitive orchestral melodramatic pieces and go for quirkier, more daring, and more creative musical expression.
Furthermore, game music is unparalleled in that it is often highly dynamic and reactive to the player’s approach to gameplay. While movies are inherently linear because the audience sees the story from beginning to end, most games are open-ended, and when they end depends almost entirely on the player’s decisions.
Take the beautiful scores from Mirror’s Edge or the Penumbra series for example, which seamlessly incorporate elements of danger, caution, and serenity-all based on the player’s choices, motion, and style of gameplay. Independent developer Tale of Tale’s landmark new game, The Path, is another perfect example of game music’s reactivity, which features a curiously innocent yet eerie soundtrack that matches the player’s every footstep.
So without further ado, I give you a very brief starter list of game music you absolutely must check out, regardless of whether or not you’ve played the games, or even like video games in general.
1. Little Big Planet by the Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra
Sack boys and sack girls unite for this adventurous and inquisitive side-scrolling romp through arts and crafts, odds and ends, and backyard miscellany. This beautiful soundtrack sounds like it was recorded on really warm tape decades ago and then sent to the future for some post-production.
Pemberton and crew serve up an eclectic hodgepodge of catchy melodies, bizarre sounds, and overall genre-hybridizing oddness. Add a little 1970s variety show flavor, a dash of Jamaican dub, some turntable frenzy, and some spy/surf rock to boot, and the recipe is complete.
If Portishead, Koji Kondo, Bruno Coulais, and King Tubby made disturbing love and produced a nimble wool-knit baby, then that baby would make music that sounded like this soundtrack. You could opt for a less unsettling and costly route and just pick up the Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra’s soundtrack: Little Big Music. My personal recommendations to you are “Horny Old Man” and “Get Your Boots On.”
2. Atlantis: The Lost Tales by Pierre Esteve and Stéphane Picq.This fairly obscure first-person adventure/puzzle game from 1997 showed the ancient lost city of Atlantis as it had never been seen before.
In creating this hidden Atlantic island, the game designers needed to craft a culture and climate unlike any other historical period, thus giving Esteve and Picq the challenge of creating a unique style of music that defies obvious comparisons to any other culture’s music.
There are faint glimmers of Tibetan throat singing, Egyptian and North-African inflections, lush sub-tropical ambiance, beautiful tribal serenades and faint electronic noises. The chameleon-like nature of Esteve and Picq’s composition style and their primal and elemental-sounding instrumentation make this a beautifully mysterious album to listen to in any environment or era.
3. Grim Fandango by Peter McConnellIt’s probably no coincidence that my favorite game of all time features some of my all-time favorite music. Grim Fandango transports the player to the afterlife, which takes on the surprising aesthetic combination of film noir tones, deco and Aztec architecture, and the rich colors of Dio de los Muertos. McConnell’s music beautifully captures this vibrantly imaginative and comedic tale in his jazzy, noir, and enigmatic compositions.
The Grim Fandango soundtrack features Mariachi music, shady racketeer blues, bebop, and romantic Spanish guitar ballads. The “Rubacava” portion of the game arguably features the most memorable music, with smoky beatnik jazz, detective-monologue walking bass-lines and big band casino swing.
These songs are guaranteed to be bouncing around your calavera for weeks to come.
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