What do you look for in game music? If you were following our Twitter account during our recent Gaming Week, we asked our followers for their suggestions.
For instance, is it epic songs complete with music videos, like ‘Sadame’ from Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven? This majestic song accompanies the games’ introductory cut scene, and boy does it set the scene! It contains dramatic sword wielding, ninja action, and shows the game’s biggest villain almost killing the main character. Or perhaps you prefer MIDI revisions of Russian folk songs? The ‘Tetris Theme Tune’ is actually the melodic line from a song called Korobeiniki, whose lyrics allude to the courtship of a peddler and a girl. This is far from the only example of classical songs recontextualised as video game soundtracks: Satie’s ‘Je Te Veux’ is used in the NES game ‘Binary Land’. Maybe your favourite video game music is iconic and composed exclusively for the series? Think the famous Mario theme, the wonderful Ocarina compositions from the Ocarina of Time, or any of the excellent songs from the Sonic series. Speaking of Sonic, let’s revisit the epic songs complete with music videos category with this absolute monster (complete with slap bass intro): Perhaps fully scored soundtracks by world-renowned composers are more your thing? Think Nobou Uematsu’s efforts for Final Fantasy or Koji Kondo’s efforts for The Ocarina of Time (music so good we mentioned it twice). And who can forget some of the more archaic, obscure choices – but still resonating nonetheless – like Commodore 64’s Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh? What’s your favourite piece of game music? Add your suggestions below – we are on the hunt for the nation’s favourite!