The ~Video Game Music~ Thread Created 6 years ago2018-07-14 22:01:21 UTC by Jessie

I've been listening to a lot of video game music lately, and I wanted a place to highlight some. That place is now here! Go ahead and highlight some tracks! As many as you like, but try to space them out between posts.

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I'll kick things off with the music that made me want to make this thread! This isn't the Jazz Jackrabbit track I usually point to (and indeed, there are a lot of great JJ tracks), but it captures the spirit of that game marvelously. Hell, it is the spirit of that game. (Fun fact: Jazz Jackrabbit is almost exactly as old as I am.)

My first video games machine I owned was Sega Genesis / MegaDrive when I was a small kid and many years later I remembered that I heard some good music on it. The game was Streets of Rage or Bare Knuckle in Japan and turns out it by a famous composer Yuzo Koshiro. Making me realise I have a decent ear.

I listen to a classical music station on the radio, and they regularly feature soundtracks from video games and movies.

I still think the end credit song for Portal, "Still Alive", was the most memorable game soundtrack.

For those of you who haven't seen it, Ross Scott was on an interview with Alexander Brandon, the guy who did the music for Tyrian and Deus Ex.

Clicky!

Here's another track that pretty much perfectly captures the spirit of the setting. Star Control 2 is a great game. I think I might just love this exact kind of music, given that JJ and this both came out right around the same time, and both are pretty drum-heavy midi-synth tracks...

Time for something a little different. This one's just peaceful, as well as being rather pleasant to listen to.

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Ahem! I do believe I won the thread with the Hollow Knight OST... but since it's still going, I have a load more.

This is one of my personal favourite tracks from Puggsy, a truly underrated Sega Mega Drive game developed here in the UK that you've probably never heard of.

You didn't win, we're just getting started!

Fucking love VG soundtracks me. I could post literally anything from Metroid, but one of the more impressive soundtracks that's underrated is the Total Annihilation OST. A full bloody orchestra!

This is my fave by far:

They're still haunting me!

This guy is a legend, Peter Hajba or better known as Skaven252. Former member of the Future Crew and as far as I know, did 2 tracks for Unreal Tournament and worked on Max Payne 1 & 2 and Alan Wake.

In general I think most tracker music has something to it that modern music is missing, propably the fact that it's created with love and passion, and not money in mind.

In general I think most tracker music has something to it that modern music is missing, propably the fact that it's created with love and passion, and not money in mind.

I don't know about that last bit, but I definitely agree that tracker music has a really unique sound. It's a big part of why Unreal, Tournament and Deus Ex sound so great. Ion Maiden will be using it too, which is just awesome.

I think tracker music being made with "passion unlike modern music" is a bit of a trope, honestly I think the unique sound is genuinely just down to how it's constructed. Rather than something like MIDI where only instrument and note data is saved ( and thus it's up to the midi device to decide what the instruments sound like), tracker files usually self contain the samples of the instruments inside it, allowing the instruments to be totally defined by the composer but it's still ultimately being made by the sound engine at runtime (allowing stuff like tempo changes or instruments being added / removed on the fly ). I think that's the real unique part of tracker music.

There's a game called Rez for the PS2 and I think PS4, this took advantage of trackers but cutting existing tracks into chunks that a tracker could use, and then adding beats, individual samples etc. On the fly in time with the music. Real cool, shame it hasn't had any form of sequel

Awesome character with a tragic back story and an haunting theme... Yes!

Metal Gear Solid has such a unique mood compared to the others. Everything's so cold and cavernous, with a real eerie, echoey vibe to it.

Speaking of mood:

SMRPG had a few great tracks, but this one has always stuck with me.

The Duke Nukem theme will never stop being awesome. This, the SoundBlaster version, is what I grew up with, and despite the number of remixes and covers out there, this will always be my favourite. So much nostalgia.

My son plays the violin, and we played this game together. We listen to it often.

I highly recommend this game too.

We used to love playing this game at my neighbor's house against each other. And the menu title theme music was so cool!

We used to love playing this game at my neighbor's house against each other. And the menu title theme music was so cool!

Wow I havent heard that in years! When I was in Iraq in 2007, we had a little computer room (no internet) with Pocket Tanks installed on all of them. It brought comfort during those dark times. Super cool menu music.

Wow I havent heard that in years! When I was in Iraq in 2007, we had a little computer room (no internet) with Pocket Tanks installed on all of them. It brought comfort during those dark times. Super cool menu music.

Sometimes we all need a little escape from reality.

Did I ever mention that Crypt of the NecroDancer has great music? If not, I should have! Have one of my favourites.

Getting some serious Infected Mushroom vibes from that. This is a good thing.

Listening to the Druid 2 theme remix and since it's used in MarphiBlack's 20th anniversary video for GoldSRC, I might as well post that.

That's cool froghair. Yea I love Pocket Tanks, it's such a cool concept and a very well done little game. That's a cool story.

Maybe this toon will evoke some reminiscence.This was one of the first games I ever played and my brother and I used to call the boss of the first stage "The Big Guy"

It came on a game cartridge with 4 arcade games including Go Dizzy Go, F-16 Renegade and Stunt Buggies. All of their music is worth a checkout but CJ's Elephant Antics was the most bizarre and memorable in my opinion. And the game was pretty cool. The "Big Guy" climbed up and down a rope and spit green blobs at you as some really spooky music played.

Christopher Larkin posted a couple of the new tracks for Hollow Knight: Silksong on his channel and I am just sooo ready for this game now.