I've been surprised recently by some the quality music being produced for video games. For example, Jesper Kyd is an amazing talent. His Assassin's Creed II soundtrack featured a 35-piece string ensemble and a 13-person choir and was recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios. Unfortunately, It's only available as a download now as the 2 CD version was only available with some kind of deluxe game package. Another one that caught my attention was Bioshock2. It had cuts from Django Reinhardt, Fats Waller, Jack Purvis, Red McKenzie, Putney Dandridge, Connee Boswell, etc...not exactly the kind of music the stereotypical video game player would be interested in. I guess the days of 8 bit 2 tone chip music are long gone.
Where have you been? You may also want to check out the soundtrack for Red Dead Redemption, it's fantastic. Also the Fable III orchestral track is quite good as well if you like renaissance era orchestral style. Video games today have soundtracks that rival some of the biggest Hollywood productions.
Snatcher and Policenauts are by far the best example of great videogame OSTs imo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpOwyvD2ecg One Night In Neo Kobe-Snatcher
That was the golden age of game music, when it was charming and tuneful. The limitations forced composers to come up with a catchy tune. Koji Kondo's Mario themes are classic! Plus those beepy old chips made their own unique sounds before they could just record anything they wanted in a studio. It was a whole separate genre back then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDoGYlAzT7w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4URokdL-dfM
The World of Goo has a great soundtrack (very Danny Elfman-esque in a lot of ways): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RsfITdgHXA
Count me in for the 8 bit two tune chip music as well, my favorite example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GEUX0bsoMM&feature=watch_response Although it would be 16 bit, I guess.
The first one Red Dead Revolver was better IMO, because they used original Morricone and others songs, I was very disapointed with Redemption because I was expecting it to be like Revolver
Koji Kondo wrote some beautiful music for Mario, but sometimes it just doesn't get better than THIS. Plus, if you don't like chiptune music, there's always OC ReMix! From Wikipedia:
Yuzo Koshiro's techno music for the Streets Of Rage series was better than most real techno music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1l8_ZpQbU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mskaRaVzMaQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsYcCtSgfF4
I have about 6 video game soundtracks on my iPod. Sonic 1, 2, and 3 Donkey Kong Country Sim City (SNES) Super Mario World Fun, creative music.
The Megaman 2 soundtrack is, by far, my favourite chip tune OST. There's some amazing stuff on the NES: Castlevania, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, just to name a few. I find most music bland and forgetful in modern video games: it fits the mood great while playing, but doesn't stay with you. The most recent theme I'd be able to hum off the top of my head would be Jeremy Soule's Elder Scrolls theme, which first appeared in Morrowind, then again in Oblivion.
I wish more video game soundtracks would be released on vinyl! There used to be actual video games on vinyl back in the 80's, although i haven't seen any! I'd shell out for a nice 180 gram set of the score to a zelda game... the score to the twilight princess and also the windwaker were excellent, although the windwaker was largely synthesized. I think the classic punk cuts on the old tony hawk games were awesome I remember, the first game had Goldfinger, Suicidal Tendencies, and The Dead Kennedys... now thats a good record collection!
Scores: Final Fantasy (any of them, especially 10 and 11) No One Lives Forever METAL GEAR SOLID (any of them, Harry Gregson-Williams did II and Snake Eater) Tony Hawk XIII soundtrack
Lazy Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWxlYYA8yrg <---the bit that starts at 4:40 may be quite familiar Cobra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxCuZTue4j8 Rambo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BYv4DCqL0c Leisure Suit Larry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg0RXRS2-mU (love the use of the "woodwinds" on this one) Space Quest III http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs6q3fI08GY composed by Bob Siebenberg, of Supertramp fame Castlevania IV: The Waterfall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_V3-76hh1k Castlevania IV: The Cave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgit8zlIupo Chrono Trigger: Robo's Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SAiCeigIPk&feature=related Chrono Trigger: Frog's Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ZuOxXXbKU Super Adventure Island http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5nVYcfylzc
It's not surprising given that the video game industry is worth 20 billion, and film 18 billion (not counting xxx stuff). & thanks for the recommendations. Here is my contribution to the 8/16 bit links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o52goCHmrE8 from Unreal Superhero. Great song that should bring back some memories for those who've used a particular type of program in the past.
I love the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack, the actual songs used in the game (Jose Gonzales, William Elliot Whitmore, Jamie Lidell and others) were absolutely perfect. Of course, Rockstar has always had good soundtracks to their game - driving around in the rain in GTAIV to Godley & Creme's "Cry" is wonderfully atmospheric. I just beat Fable III and enjoyed the music although I felt maybe too much of it was recycled from previous entries. That said, some of the themes they reused are really wonderful examples of videogame music.
The original score to Bioshock came as a pack-in for the Deluxe Edition of Bioshock 2. 180gram vinyl!!! And it sounds lovely!
I LOVE Koji Kondo's Super Mario 64 soundtrack. "Dire Dire Docks," "Shifting Sand Land," "Haunted House" and "Staff Roll" are some of the coolest pieces of video game music ever. -Simon (bluej's son)
Imagine how sweet the square waves and triangle waves the NES puts out would sound on a 45rpm slab of vinyl.
I'm obsessed with the various Final Fantasy scores and cues and something of a collector. In general I prefer Japanese game soundtracks, as it was a serious business over there long before it was in the west and many of the composers were influenced by early progressive rock and electronic. Obviously most of this music is best heard in context, and listeners raised on real instruments are likely to blanch at the 'sound module' sound, but there is nevertheless some really adventurous, atmospheric and moving music here. Apart from FF, other favourites are: Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, SaGa Frontier II, Metal Gear Solid (series), Silent Hill (series), Zone Of The Enders (series), Shenmue (series), and Star Ocean (series). PetSounds - I love the Policenauts soundtrack but have been unable to find a copy on CD for a reasonable price so far. Some of those older Konami OSTs are like gold dust now.
