While the C-Blogs seem to be on the topic of video game music, I figured I would throw in some of my input. While music is one of the major aspects of games, due to the nature and length of games, it can sometimes get repetitive. Other music may put the gamer into a mood more suitable for play, or create a fusion that brings about a completely unintentional experience than the designers had in mind. That being said-

What Do You Listen To While You Play?

I love video game music; it's a part of who I am. Whenever I have to whistle or hum, different Mario Bros. songs pop into my head. I can never forget the Super Mario Land 1-1 theme in all its Game Boy glory, even if I tried. Sometimes I like to listen to something else instead while I game (because countless hours of that same riff repeated can't be good for me- I'm looking at you, Final Fantasy battle music), and much of the time it doesn't match what I'm playing in any way.

When Final Fantasy VII came out, my brother had just bought the BeeGees' greatest hits. My memories of Cloud and Tifa are accompanied by Too Much Heaven and Night Fever. After a long time playing the game, I remember shutting off the Playstation just in time to catch the debut for the music video of Korn's Freak on a Leash on TRL. In spite of their incredible soundtracks, I find this phenomenon happens with Square RPGs quite often. Several years later, I did the same thing to Vagrant Story, only this time it was Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. Playing that game while listening to Sanctified and Sin was an experience I won't soon forget.

Someone made a video I love that is a mash-up of Xenogears and Danzig. I feel it fits the tone of the game even though Mitsuda already paints a wonderful setting in his music.


Even the publishers of games sometimes use music that's not found in the game to promote it thematically. Gears of War used Gary Jules' rendition of Mad World in the famous TV spot. The dichotomy between the hectic action and brutality of war and the internal struggling with the loss of friends and a peaceful way of life actually adds to the game itself. The cog tags were merely unlockables, not much was said when you encountered them, but the TV spot showed that macho men have feelings too. Lost Odyssey had another interesting choice of music for its TV spot, going with White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. Lost Odyssey was a fantasy, but not as fantastic as Alice in Wonderland; it didn't have much to do with drugs or drug references, and most of the music in the game is classic Uematsu, but the whole game was quite a trip.


With the onset of custom soundtracks and customizable soundtracks, I no longer need to have a boombox, CD player, or mp3 player near my gaming setup. When I play WipeOut HD, I have a playlist consisting of 30 Seconds to Mars' first album and Serenity. The custom soundtrack in WipeOut adapts to the events of the race; if you go through a tunnel, the reverb is turned up, if you get hit or have low shields, the music gets quieter. Zone mode is fantastic with the right music, seeing the song pulsate in the equalizers on the track. When I play any of the Burnout games.... I immediately turn off most of the songs. I don't need 4 or 5 different language translations for Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne. I played through most of Burnout Paradise with only classical music selected (it makes the crashes more epic), and Crackdown with Sonata Arctica blaring from my TV speakers.

What Gaming Music Do You Listen To On the Go?


Oddly enough, while I often don't listen to the original music as much as I should, I will listen to video game music when I'm not playing. The soundtracks to the Metal Gear games, the Silent Hill games, and many RPGs fill my catalog of listening material. I highly recommend the soundtrack to Eve Online; even if you have no interest in playing the game, the music makes great ambiance for any sci-fi lover.

OC Remix is my friend, and I have fallen in love with many of the remixes they have there. As brilliant as Koji Kondo, Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, Akira Yamaoka, and Harry Gregson-Williams are, sometimes it's fun to hear other people's take on their work. The sheer amount of fan love for the original music is fantastic. Much of it takes on a whole different sound when someone else adds their touch, but it still retains a lot of the original.




What is your take on video game music? Clearly an 80 hour game can't have fresh and original music every ten minutes without filling up the data and wearing out the composer, but the music is there to serve a purpose. By having custom soundtracks, it prevents people from turning the sound off altogether, but there has to be a better solution than that. Maybe by using the method Shenmue did with collecting in-game cassettes that you can listen to at any point without disturbing the continuity of the game (though using my Space Harrier allowance on batteries is not cool) we could eradicate some of the problem. Grand Theft Auto on PC had an interesting take on this where you loaded a folder with mp3s and when you tuned in to a specific channel on your radio in-game you could listen to what you wanted (but you would have to switch channels if you stole a car that was on a different station).

One of the best soundtracks to a game is the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It accomplishes this by associating musical themes with specific locales, and then sends you between them at a fairly rapid pace. Indoors is a different theme from outdoors; nighttime there isn't music unless you're being attacked, making the game's music very contextual. While there is a sizable OverWorld, it isn't as big as something out of Final Fantasy, and each region has it's own theme. The Gerudo Valley theme is clearly distinguishable from the Zora's Domain theme, or Lake Hylia from Kakariko Village. While I prefer Majora's Mask as a game and the soundtracks are similar, the process of stalking the townspeople as they perform their daily tasks lends itself to musical repetition (which works thematically, though I feel OoT works better).

Are there any solutions to this dilemma? Or am I just making the problem up? I love being immersed in a game, and I love video game music, but I hate getting sick of a song while playing the game only to realize how much I miss it afterwards.