The history of video game music

by Blake Snow { Aug 11th 2006 at 9:45PM }

Wikipedia has a nice write-up on the history of computer and video game music, from 8-bit machines and early sampling to pre-recorded and streaming music. From the article: "The decision to include any music into a video game meant that at some point it would have to be transcribed into computer code by a programmer, whether or not the programmer had musical experience... Composers who made a name for themselves with their software include Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda), Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest), Rob Hubbard (Monty On the Run), Hirokazu Tanaka (Metroid and Kid Icarus), Martin Galway (Times of Lore), Hiroshi Miyauchi (Out Run), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), and Yuzo Koshiro (Ys)."

How important is music to the video game experience, and what are some of the most memorable game soundtracks that come to your mind?

See also: Gamespot: A brief timeline of video game music

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Draco @ Aug 11th 2006 9:49PM

I wont lie, at work today I started humming the Super Mario Bros song in the middle of the day, with no concious reason to.

hey alex @ Aug 11th 2006 10:12PM

The wikipedia article mentions the Amiga and Atari ST, but fails to mention the Apple IIGS, which incorporated an Ensoniq 5503, the same chip used in the Mirage and ESQ-1 keyboard. 32 separate channels of sound, which could produce 15 voices in stereo.

Also often overlooked is the excellent music and sound work featured in the Wing Commander series on the PC. I remember how the music would change based on the severity of the action.

Kyoji @ Aug 11th 2006 10:14PM

Oh, dont get me started. The importance and quality of music in games has grown by so much over the last ten years.
Well composed musical scores really set the mood in the great majority of todays games, God of War, for instance. That game would have been no where near as epic without the wonderful soundtrack. Wind Waker is another one of my favorites, the music plays extremely well with the overall feel of the game, and really helps establish mood in many areas of the game.
And lets not forget extreme examples such as Rez, that depend on an awesome soundtrack for the game to work. I absolutely love contemporary videogame music, and in my opinion, it can only get better from here.

archard @ Aug 11th 2006 10:21PM

Music is HUGE in video games, especially RPGs. They really add a lot of emotion to the gaming experience. I'm a big fan of it, that's why I created a guitar tab site dedicated to video game music. http://www.gametabs.net

AlphaCrush @ Aug 11th 2006 10:49PM

Yo, what about thunderforce 2? Herzog Zwei? Thunderforce 3? Phantasy Star 2? R-Type? St Dragon?

Also, there is a Gameboy advance game I recommend for the music alone... Bionicle. Great music!. Plus a dozen Mega Man games, namely Mega Man 2. Bubble Man stage rocks.

NES @ Aug 11th 2006 11:04PM

Halp the coolnes of Need for speed most wanted is when you get chased by the cop...the turbo boost(knight rider) sound when you jump something. and the ode to gone in 60 seconds(the elanor scene) when you're in cooldown mode....COOOOL!

SuperChuck @ Aug 11th 2006 11:12PM

No love for Phantasy Star? :(

Fezmid @ Aug 11th 2006 11:31PM

How can any article about gaming music not include Gary Gilbertson, one of the founding fathers of music in video games???

http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/GILBERT.HTM

Anyone play Alternate Reality: The City or The Dungeon? The music in the game was key - and catchy! Back then, nobody really had real musicians making songs for games (not to mention it was true 3d game - very cool).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gilbertson

jay @ Aug 11th 2006 11:57PM

I'll take the usual Yuzo Koshiro, but not just for the Ys soundtrack. Shenmue has some beautiful, grand, sweeping songs in it and of course there's the Streets of Rage series.

refinedsugar @ Aug 12th 2006 12:04AM

Music is much like any other game feature ... it has the potential to play as big (or little) of a part in a game as desired. To what extent and on what level music reaches a player and factors into the game experience is uniquely based on the person in question. Some genres show obvious bias towards a score and benefit better than others - otherwise game type seems to dictate pattern. A run of the mill balls up fps usually has a minimal score or one of little repute because it's not deemed important to the core experience the game is trying to project.

While I feel music in games don't get enough respect, I don't feel music in an overall sense "makes or breaks" a game, but in the right game under the right hands it can work magic. A game can be very good with no score based on gameplay and say graphics alone, but a good score that benefits the story, gameplay, adds atmosphere can elevate a game from good to excellent. Heck it can even help out average or flat out bad games. For instance, Friday the 13th for the NES was a crappy game. The gameplay was difficult and repetitive and no one played it for the graphics, but the synthesized musical film score was creepy and helped benefit the title. Not that anyone intentionally plays bad games because of great scores.

Mario Bros is a classic no-brainer, but I pose the question if it was a great score or a case in a game so popular and wide reaching everyone has remembered it? I say this because a lot of games have had great music, but perhaps because they never reached that level of popularity the music tends to get forgotten alongside the game as the years pass.

GSI @ Aug 12th 2006 12:28AM

It is true that game music doesn't get much respect, but hopefully with events like PLAY!, Video Games Live and the Final Fantasy concerts...that will change.

Plus if more Hollywood composers get involved like Harry Gregson-Williams which did the music for MGS2 and 3 (which I absolutely _LOVED_)...then I think it will get more respect.

I hope John Williams (Star Wars, ET, Indiana Jones, etc.) eventually does music for games b/c I would buy that games soundtrack at the drop of a dime.

justin @ Aug 12th 2006 1:11AM

I think the composer on Megaman 2 and 3 was "bunbun". Those are the first two games I ever listened to the music from outside the game.

When a game's music is good, when it matches the action onscreen, it makes the experience a hundred times better.

Diego Garcia @ Aug 12th 2006 1:16AM

Megaman 2 truly has one of the best soundtracks ever. drool.

I met Yuzo Koshiro last summer when I was in japan. I hadn't even heard of Ys then, but when I found out that Yuzo Koshiro, this random guy I was game composer I was going to meet, did the music for streets of rage, I was ecstatic. Interesting side note: his mother apparently is the piano teacher of joe hisaishi, who does the music for most of the miyazaki films, as well as a few beat takeshi films.

GSI @ Aug 12th 2006 1:25AM

"Megaman 2 truly has one of the best soundtracks ever. drool."

AMEN TO THAT!

What's even better? Hearing a rock band (such as the Minibosses) do covers of those songs. Now THAT is awesome! I think the reason why the Mega Man music (at least the old school stuff) sounds so cool with a real rock band is b/c the original design of Mega Man was on the concept of "Rock n' Roll" (hence the original names of Rockman, Roll, etc.)

Yatahaze @ Aug 12th 2006 3:28AM

Ever since 1997, the soundtrack to Need for Speed II has been my favorite. It's quite possibly one of my all time favorite albums overall. (I'm not talking about Underground.) On a side note, I'm a musician, so I know what I'm talking about =P

samfish @ Aug 12th 2006 4:35AM

I'm gonna go the unconventional route and say Super Mario Bros. 2 is my favorite game soundtrack ever.
I still regularly catch myself whistling it on random occasions. It's one of my default whistling tunes, actually...much to the chagrin of my co-workers.
The Wipeout soundtracks have always managed to rock, too...although the very first was still the best, IMO.

And, of course, you can't forget about the Mike Tyson's Punch-Out theme!
"Your the man now, dog!"

PayTheMan @ Aug 12th 2006 4:43AM

Half the experience of NiGHTS into dreams comes from the music. Good music enhances the game.

GSI @ Aug 12th 2006 5:13AM

@ samfish:

DUDE! You are awesome! Although I think the Wipeout XL and Wip3out 3 soundtracks are better, Wipeout started the trend of having fantastic licensed music that actually fit the game.

As for NiGHTS...too bad the game was boring.

Jay @ Aug 12th 2006 6:53AM

Incredible to miss out the Amiga, the machine that really pushed music with SAMPLES. No other system was doing that at the time. arguably paving the way for modern game music. Which makes no surprise there was no mention of Turrican or it's musician - Chris Huelsbeck.

I used to say that no soundtrack could be as beautiful and well crafted as Turrican 2, but then I played Dawn of Sorrow.

Music is very important to me, the first music I listened to was game music. I used to eject the floppy disk from the Amiga when Turrican 1 was booting up just so I could draw and listen to the theme tune. Ah, to be 7 again. Good soundtracks are very important, the music in Dawn of Sorrow pushed me to go further, the adrenaline packed "Into the dark night" boss music and the very, very haunting 'Pitch Black Intrusion' and 'The Pinnacle' set the scene perfectly.

I'm a huge gameplay whore, but music amplifies the overall value of the game (or demotes it).

CheekyLee @ Aug 12th 2006 7:06AM

Howcome nobody has mentioned Castlevania yet? Any number of classic tunes right there, in pretty much any of the games. My personal favourite being the caves from Super Castlevania IV, but I can imagine SOTN getting most people's votes.

My own favourite musical moment was when I stepped out of my ship in Metroid Prime, and started to explore the Tallon overworld. After a minute or so, I was aware of a kind of fanfare playing in the background. I stopped, and spent the next 5 minutes or so just listening to what I now class as the best game music of all time. Sadly, the rest of the soundtrack ddn't live up to it, although the Phendrana drifts music is pretty close.

TC @ Aug 12th 2006 7:27AM

Super Aleste for SNES had some stunning music (Particularly the intro screen and music 0D in the Test options) Akira's stage music in Virtua Fighter 2 and Ken's in SF2 also bring back fond memories. I loved some of the WipEout tracks, but I think they signalled the end of an era of "Video game music" as we knew it - CD's meant real song tracks could be used and for me some of the magic was lost. If anyone out there fancies doing a decent full orchestral score for any of the above I will pay good money for a CD off of you!

FredTheCat @ Aug 12th 2006 8:53AM

Anybody old enough to remember the C64 game "Master Of The Lamps" from Activision? Hypnotic soundtrack that I still recall bits and pieces of to this day. It was the work of one Russell Lieblich if I remember correctly.

32_footsteps @ Aug 12th 2006 10:07AM

Well, I own a few dozen video game soundtracks. Some of my favorites...

CutsMan Stage from the first Mega Man. When I heard the first few measures of that, just as Mega Man popped on the screen for the first time in my gaming career, I knew that this wasn't just another game. That music pulled me in immediately. Future MM games had great music, but I always remember the first the best.

The Mother games have all had great music. The room gets a bit dusty whenever I hear either Eight Melodies (Queen Mary's Lullaby) or Eight Melodies (Sound Stone). The Love Theme to Mother 3 is also incredible.

If you want to rock out, the Guilty Gear games have a great driving soundtrack.

Vampire Killer, the "main theme" to the Castlevania series, is immortal.

And finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that my wife walked down the aisle at our wedding to "Celes" from Final Fantasy VI.

K1ller 1nst1nct @ Aug 12th 2006 11:40AM

FF3's soundtrack was pretty popular along with a lot of the series being the same way

Gerwurztraminer @ Aug 12th 2006 12:31PM

There's some really good game music out there, and yes I agree with #13 in that rock remakes of songs can be quite entertaining (Minibosses, NESkimos, & even Nobuo Uematsu's own Black Mages). Also, scary to say there are times where week's go by and all I've listened to is game music (and not while actually playing a game).

GSI @ Aug 12th 2006 1:17PM

-->"Also, scary to say there are times where week's go by and all I've listened to is game music (and not while actually playing a game)."

I do that do so don't feel bad. In fact I have quite a few FULL video game soundtracks on my iTunes playlist.

Nick Lott @ Aug 12th 2006 2:03PM

I'm really dissappointed that there is no mention of Michael Land's work in the early nineties LucasArts games. I thought his iMuse system was really ground breaking.

KanoBlade @ Aug 12th 2006 4:15PM

Nobuo Uematsu is definetly the greatest composer ever (for video games at least). Every Final Fantasy Game has had a beautiful score.

Nobuo Uematsu = god.

PS Koichi Sugiyama is amazing too.

nds-flash @ Aug 30th 2006 8:22AM

The old 8-bit hits will sure come back on Wii virtual console so long forgotten - new again.

ThornedVenom @ Aug 12th 2006 9:05PM

Is it just me or was the Mortal Kombat song catchy? =P

To be honest though, I'm for the classics like Super Mario Bros and Legend of Zelda. Final Fantasy stuff though makes me wanna cry at times. =')

Feep @ Aug 13th 2006 3:19AM

For lovers of video game music, be sure to check out www.ocremix.org. Hundreds of amazingly talented individuals have contributed covers, remixes, and compositions from your favorite games, and while it caters more toward the RPG side of game music, you can find something there from basically every major game in history. Enjoy!

Tirol @ Aug 13th 2006 4:13AM

I really enjoyed FFX. Pretty much every scene had the right feeling of music. Hell, I even own the OST for that game. It's damn good.

GSI @ Aug 13th 2006 3:45PM

"I really enjoyed FFX. Pretty much every scene had the right feeling of music. Hell, I even own the OST for that game. It's damn good."

Heck yea...hell, my girlfriend even likes some of the tracks on that soundtrack and she isn't even a gamer. lol

j @ Aug 14th 2006 12:16AM

I can't believe NOBODY has mentioned katamari damacy, final fantasy iv, vii, warcraft or total annihilation

what about guitar hero? bust a groove? bubble bobble? chrono trigger? DOOM? even betrayal at krondor had some good bits...

and has anyone ever played gunbound?

also a bit off topic, but if you play counterstrike with the theme from the rock on repeat, you will double your kill ratio.

GSI @ Aug 14th 2006 5:55AM

"and has anyone ever played gunbound?"

Yes...and it is crap and loaded with a bunch of 15 year old punks who oogle any girl that attempts to play.

"nobody has mentioned...final fantasy iv, vii"

We already mentioned Nobuo Uematsu, that covers those games.

Rootbeer @ Aug 14th 2006 12:59PM

Yuzo Koshiro's score for ActRaiser is still one of the best ever written for a game. I only wish that the piece of baroque music in the RTS sequences were longer, as it can get annoying to have it loop for the fifteenth time as you're building up a town's population.

I second the Castlevania music too, especially the way themes from earlier games always find their way into later ones. You know you're doing well when you get to the stage that has a remix of CVI's "Vampire Killer" as its music.

My favorite game music cover versions? Metroid Metal. http://www.metroidmetal.com/songs.html

Rootbeer @ Aug 14th 2006 1:05PM

And now that I've actually read the Wikipedia article... ugh. The information is poorly written, poorly organized and often just incorrect (the NES, for example, had 5 sound channels, not 6).

I'd submit corrections, but I wouldn't know where to begin.