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Quick! Think of a video game song! If you thought “Saria’s Song” or the Mario theme song, you’re the kind of Nintendojoite that Andrew likes best. The Professor Layton theme, or the Legendary Pokémon battle theme? Adam might like you more. With all the staff onboard, actually, you’re bound to match up to one of our tastes– even if you don’t have one.
Video games are unique among mediums in that they combine all sorts of sensory outputs (and inputs, now that we’re in the motion control/Siri era) to entertain us, and in so doing some things might get lost along the way. Music, though, is something that gets talked about all the time, everywhere. Whether it’s fantastic (hi Ocarina of Time) or terrible (what’s with those beeps in Metroid II: Return of Samus?), people like to talk about video game music. Well, most of the time. There’s a lot of other people who just don’t like video game music at all– or never had the chance to listen to it. When editor Andrew was a kid, he couldn’t play video games unless it was the weekend, and then for only twenty minutes a day– which made it so most of the time he’d be under the covers with the sound off on his Game Boy. Needless to say, music was not essential to the experience of Dr. Mario.
So what are your experiences with music, intrepid gamer? Is it important to you? Maybe it’s not? Answer our poll, Nintendojoite, and then discuss in the comments!
[poll id=”78″]
For me the music in videogames is extremely important, i think videogame music is awesome, and when is well done it really sets the mood of the entire game. Take for example the music of the epic game Shadow of the Colossus, i think that this soundtrack alone is better than all the epic hollywood soundtracks i have ever Heard, seriously is dramatic, epic, scary , glorious and done with such good taste. Or the music of ocarina of time, every melody and instant hit, stuck in your mind forever. The electronnic music of the prime trylogy (terrible sound quality but exceptional composition). The beautiful orchestrated pieces of mario galaxy 1 and 2 . That lovely pianos on epic yarn. I always rermember the songs of the games i consider the best. So music in videogames is very important to me.
Music is the heart of a game. My shelf is lined with gaming soundtrack albums. From the early days of the NES, we all remember the first time we heard the Mario theme, or that freakin’ Tetris song (You cannot get it out of your head!), to the orchestral score of the Myst series, or jazzy tunes of Sam & Max! The Halo series is almost operatic, while Resident Evil keeps the feeling dark and macabre. Listening to soundtracks puts you right back in the game. “Lon Lon Ranch” from Ocarina almost brings tears to my eyes, while have you ever noticed the similarities between the “Horse Race” and SM64’s “Slider”?
@ xeacons
yeah you’re right, those 2 songs are almost identical, i think the sm64 slide song is much faster, but the tune is almost the same.
Metroid.