
Top Scores: Video Game Music - Turukawa
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/top_scores_video_game_music
======
b3b0p
I found this article nigh impossible to get through with it's weird scrolling
and transitions. I had to give up.

I listen to Video Game music while I work. Mostly via rainwave.cc [0] or
OCRemix Albums [1]. It's pretty much the only non-vocal music I can tolerate
for longer periods of time that don't bore me, but help me maintain focus and
block out externalities.

The Final Fantasy soundtracks and their similar epic AAA games from most
notably Square Enix (Xenogears, Chrono Cross/Trigger, Kingdom Hearts) as well
as Nintendo (Zelda, Mario) are often heralded as some of the best. But, I find
the 3 Donkey Kong Country and earlier Sonic music (the 3 Sonic Genesis titles
up through Sonic Adventure and the anniversary collection) to be my absolute
favorites.

There are also tons of excellent albums and chip tune on Band Camp. Way too
many to list.

[0] [https://rainwave.cc](https://rainwave.cc)

[1] [http://ocremix.org/albums/](http://ocremix.org/albums/)

~~~
atom-morgan
Donkey Kong does have some of the best music I've heard in video games.

If you haven't seen these rock covers on YouTube, you might enjoy them:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/BurningIdolmusic/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/BurningIdolmusic/videos)

~~~
umvi
Those are really good!

Have you heard PPF's or SmoothMcGroove's DK covers (or really any of their VG
music covers)? PPF tries to exactly reproduce every channel in the original
MIDIs with real instruments (and often jerry rigged contraptions), smooth
mcgroove does all the channels acapella. Pretty amazing variety.

------
Deimorz
This is a pretty good article, but I'm not fond of this recent trend to try to
make articles into "experiences" that do all sorts of weird things with
scrolling. They always end up being messed up in a bunch of ways if I scroll
down using the spacebar instead of my mouse.

At least Reader Mode works on this one.

~~~
GunlogAlm
Reader view in Firefox has always worked flawlessly for me with BBC articles,
including these "funky" ones. It's a godsend.

Is there a reader view/mode in Chrome, or is it only supported via extensions?

~~~
Deimorz
There was a recent one about soy sauce that it couldn't save me from:
[http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190225-a-750-year-old-
ja...](http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190225-a-750-year-old-japanese-
secret)

~~~
GunlogAlm
Oof, yeah, that one's something else entirely. I don't tend to mind these
newer formats, but I'll admit I'm not a fan of that one.

------
milchek
I grew up with a C64 and a big part of the charm, for me, was the sound chip
and the noises/music it made. I can understand why that chip has such a cult
following.

Back then, when we had nowhere near the fidelity in graphics that we have
today, these basic sound chips were used to add a lot of character to those
early games.

Today you have high profile composers like Hans Zimmer doing work for video
games and everything in a AAA title is generally very well produced, but I
still find myself firing up some of the oldies every now and then. Nostalgia,
I guess.

~~~
kuzimoto
People still make music using C64, NES, GameBoy, etc. Some pretty decent stuff
out there if look around. For anyone else interested see
[https://chipmusic.org](https://chipmusic.org) which is a forum for posting
and talking about chiptune-related things, or
[http://www.8bitpeoples.com](http://www.8bitpeoples.com) a label run by
chiptune artists most of which I believe can be downloaded for free at 192.

~~~
ne_jo
Woah, thanks.

------
billfruit
I think many PC strategy games has excellent music: Age Of Empires, Home
World, Sins of the Solar Empire, Total War and Civilization over its many
iterations. I do find the music from these games have a different texture than
music from other games.

For example: This song based upon the Epitaph of Siekelos, which plays if you
play the Greeks in civ 5:
[https://youtu.be/YEKRE2uamyg](https://youtu.be/YEKRE2uamyg)

I think Civ 5 music was recorded with a real orchestra.

Even sometimes poetry; From Silent Hunter 4;
[https://youtu.be/8FrTuZxpD0k](https://youtu.be/8FrTuZxpD0k)

~~~
rdtsc
I particularly like the Medieval Total War soundtrack by Jeff van Dyck. I
still remember many of the songs, very haunting, just so well done, the
intensity of the music going along with what happened on the battlefield, with
small elements like environmental sounds for various seasons...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWhbVYre9uk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWhbVYre9uk)

------
jancsika
Are there any AAA games that use voice-stealing for their music?

Old games would drop voices-- like the melody or rhythm track-- when there
were lots of sprites on screen.

I think it would be great if a Hans Zimmer score cross-faded to an arrangement
with just low brass or something when the action starts to ramp up.

~~~
somethingreen
In Nier: Automata there is a hacking mini-game which you do in the middle of
character action combat. When you enter the mini-game, full orchestral track
is replaced with a chiptune version.

Devil May Cry 5 does the opposite where vocals and instruments get added as
you reach higher Style ranks.

~~~
jancsika
Ha, that must be pretty neat to hear the chiptune version.

I've heard plenty of examples like what you mention with Devil May Cry. In
fact, back in the day Strider for Sega Genesis had a grand reunion of themes
in the final level that foreshadowed the sequence of fighting each boss from
the previous levels.

Just seems like the voice-stealing technique[1] could be really a really
effective way to add emphasis to a big, climactic moment in a game with an
orchestral soundtrack. I suppose the risk is that if it's not done artfully
the player will just interpret it as jank and call the game devs ugly names.
:(

[1] Now that I think about it, maybe "voice stealing" isn't the correct term
for this. With voice-stealing one starts with a static number of voices. Then
when the synth player tries to add an additional voice the system typically
drops the oldest sustained note (or even the oldest one that isn't the bass or
percussion track to get fancy about it). Thus the system "steals" from a voice
that had a note which already got its attack/decay time. But in those old NES
games an entire melody or accompaniment voice gets dropped to accommodate the
extra sprites.

So voice stealing retains the same static number of voices to "imply" a
greater number of voices. What I remember from those NES games was a reduction
in the total number of voices to keep the game from freezing.

Edit: clarification

------
toastal
David Wise and his Donkey Kong Country tracks are really something else as far
as ambient music goes.

~~~
citeguised
Yes! Particularly the Underwater-Level-Tracks.

~~~
mhink
So, I discovered this the other day: apparently, there's a guy on YouTube
who's reconstructing the DKC tracks using the original synthesizer and music
instruction data ripped from the game. [It sounds really
good!]([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5rAjOjTGtc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5rAjOjTGtc))

------
norswap
If you like video game music, I can't recommend the excellent "Les Démons du
Midi" [1] podcast.

Yes, the brief commentary between tracks is in French — but music still is
front and center.

[1]: [https://www.geekzone.fr/tag/les-demons-du-
midi/](https://www.geekzone.fr/tag/les-demons-du-midi/)

------
apt-get
One quite well-known playlist in certain circles is the Vidya Intarweb
Playlist [0], along with its Mellow Out subcategory [1].

[0] [http://vip.aersia.net/](http://vip.aersia.net/)

[1] [http://vip.aersia.net/mellow/](http://vip.aersia.net/mellow/)

------
Adamantcheese
For an article about music, it seems oddly... lacking in samples.

~~~
vardump
It had a lot of "Content not available from your location."...

~~~
ehnto
Not the globally interconnected world we had hoped for music.

------
citeguised
I enjoy listening to Indie-Game-Soundtracks, especially while working. Artists
like Austin Wintory (Monaco, Larry), C418 (Minecraft), Jim Guthrie (Sword &
Sworcery) and Disasterpeace (Fez). I made a Spotify-Playlist with those, and
numerous other indie-tracks. [1]

[1]
[https://open.spotify.com/user/115694390/playlist/6nfksYi3hJx...](https://open.spotify.com/user/115694390/playlist/6nfksYi3hJxwrifGqoOsT0?si=6hDeSYpEQQ2hPuT3NM9utA)

~~~
crtasm
Guthrie's recent-ish soundtrack for the game Below is great, in case you
haven't heard it yet.

------
akerl_
Very interesting article about how music has to adapt for mediums like video
games, where the player input impacts sequencing and pacing.

That said, I think classifying this as "secret manipulation" is clickbaity on
the part of the poster. The fact that the music influences the player isn't
really a secret, any more than the fact that the visuals / controls influence
the player.

~~~
yomly
In Final Fantasy XV they had boss battles fade directly into cutscenes. The
music would need to be able to transition from any part of the boss track to
the specific cutscene climax seamlessly.

Also they had music which was instrumented according to different moods and
would seamlessly transition between them (e.g. Fast and slow chocobo theme)

The author of the internal tool to help the design team did a talk at GDC:

[https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023971/Epic-AND-
Interactive-M...](https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023971/Epic-AND-Interactive-
Music-in)

~~~
teddyh
That sounds a lot like iMuse, first used in Monkey Island 2 (1991):

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMUSE](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMUSE)

------
ginnungagap
It hasn't been mentioned yet but another great game with great music is Shadow
of the Colossus!

~~~
ekianjo
Yes, absolutely stellar soundtrack. It stands on its own even without the
game.

------
MobileVet
C&C Red Alert... pretty awesomely matched to the game

~~~
CliffyA
Perhaps I can interest you in this live performance of Command & Conquer songs
by the original composer?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJClbTrY0VE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJClbTrY0VE)

~~~
MobileVet
Yes, yes you can! Fantastic, thanks for the link... I will definitely be
adding to the view count.

------
bobbydreamer
GTA Vice City, bbc

------
b_tterc_p
I would throw out SSX tricky for its game logic integration, the first two
xenoblade games for just being great at capturing the expanse of it all,
breath of the wild for having the guts to go ultra minimalist, and the first
few silent hill games for its ambient industrial sound (and a few standout
tracks that were simply pretty or cool normal songs).

Broadly speaking though, games are pretty conservative in their soundtracks. I
think most are forgettable.

------
tmarsden
How can you write an article about video game music and not mention Jeremy
Soule!?

He has composed soundtracks for over 60 games and over a dozen other works
during his career. He is best known for his work in The Elder Scrolls and
Guild Wars series, and several other top-selling titles such as Total
Annihilation, Neverwinter Nights, Dungeon Siege, Star Wars: Knights of the Old
Republic, and Harry Potter.

------
cableshaft
Best video game soundtracks, I feel: Persona 3/4/5, Nier Automata, Jet Set
Radio Future, Katamari Damacy, Final Fantasy Tactics / Radiant Silvergun (same
composer, very similar). I listen to several others but I keep coming back to
these.

Really surprised Nier didn't get a mention, as they do some cool experimental
stuff with it.

~~~
ehnto
To pile on: LA Noire, Deus Ex (whole series), Red Strings Club, Minecraft's
full release album by C148, Myst/Obduction (thanks Robyn Miller), pre-
emptively Star Citizen (what has been released already is excellent)

But also, so many indie games. We are in a golden age for game soundtracks.

~~~
easymodex
+1 for deus ex, also a shoutout to System Shock soundtrack. And let's not
forget the godlike Morrowind theme, Halo 1 intro and so many others i cant
remember right now.

------
dkh
Tough layout on mobile, but very cool piece. Love the bits about the nuance
involved when the music was bound by technical limitations.

It’s been a few years, but I went to several of the early Video Games Live
concerts and liked seeing this music celebrated.

------
cjslep
I will never ever forget the Michael Giacchino scores in the original Call of
Duty campaign.

~~~
cm2187
Actually I think the best is Hans Zimmer's music in Modern Warfare 2.

------
ekianjo
In different categories, Wing Commander 1 had an excellent soundtrack (and
even better on the Amiga) and several years later Total Annihilation with its
superb epic soundtrack never seen before in a rts.

------
knodi123
Harry Gregson Williams's work on Metal Gear Solid 2 can reliably give me
goosebumps. It even works on people who have no idea it's from a game.

~~~
ekianjo
Metal Gear Solid 1 had a better soundtrack imo. Harry Gregson William's score
feels forced, pompous and too close to Hollywood style of music and it kind of
lowers the overall impression I got from MGS2.

------
protomyth
It’s been over 30 years and I can still hear the M.U.L.E. theme, so I guess it
did the job of video game score very well.

------
philliphaydon
Super Metroid > everything else.

------
ne_jo
To me, this topic recalled me of
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENVIoR2f-Qg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENVIoR2f-Qg)
(Ghost'N Goblins), also: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFXYXRDV_hg&list=PL-
vD6rIjXr...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFXYXRDV_hg&list=PL-
vD6rIjXrcLAcpdx6h4sJIe4V9TeMVEz&index=4)

The soundtrack of OlliOlli:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NgIruZo7Bg&list=PLzlvNJXL3o...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NgIruZo7Bg&list=PLzlvNJXL3od3rrCixNXMSD6QKfMgqEjrS&index=2).
I didn't listened atm the one from OlliOlli2:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA2XhIy78_I&list=RDhpLdTcBso...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA2XhIy78_I&list=RDhpLdTcBsoK4&index=6)

Jet Set Radio:
[https://youtu.be/RGA4PilHdr0?list=RDhpLdTcBsoK4&t=1032](https://youtu.be/RGA4PilHdr0?list=RDhpLdTcBsoK4&t=1032)

Mark McMorris Infinite Air:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jTc2Rw7XCU&list=PLBNLMIUVFQ...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jTc2Rw7XCU&list=PLBNLMIUVFQk32QmCU6wktcM0NxsXTsN2r)
(whose contains also:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P09rxVaQAM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P09rxVaQAM))

Last but not least, GTA London 1969:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KVZEJUqCYY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KVZEJUqCYY)
[https://youtu.be/Bz3b-P1jrBo](https://youtu.be/Bz3b-P1jrBo) (and GTA 1961):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe_yDYGyFa4&list=PLffQpMcmLc...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe_yDYGyFa4&list=PLffQpMcmLcI8ht83nvNXZ8_JnNJmcx40-)

Sectret ponchos: [https://secretponchos.bandcamp.com/album/secret-ponchos-
orig...](https://secretponchos.bandcamp.com/album/secret-ponchos-original-
soundtrack)

The Flame in the Flood:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTPAb2Np3g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQTPAb2Np3g)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92Bgqz-
p_8&app=desktop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92Bgqz-p_8&app=desktop) :)

Whells of Aurelia: [https://santaragione.bandcamp.com/album/wheels-of-aurelia-
or...](https://santaragione.bandcamp.com/album/wheels-of-aurelia-original-
soundtrack)

The Fikle Hands of Fate:
[https://youtu.be/qT9-oFyYNos?t=457](https://youtu.be/qT9-oFyYNos?t=457)
Cyborg Seppuku:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnERHTvalhY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnERHTvalhY)

