Music has undoubtedly been a huge part in gaming for a long time now. Whether the music be used to evoke a particular emotion during a level or just give the player something to hum along to while cleaning up the baddies, it’s important for developers to think hard about the music they use for each part of their game to give the right mood to that game’s atmosphere.
Sometimes it so happens that these tunes are overlooked or missed entirely, whether it be because of more popular tunes within the same game that players remembered instead, or because the game didn’t sell as well as another blockbuster hit in the same year. Whatever the reason, I’m writing this blog to commemorate some of the less remembered, yet still masterfully crafted tunes gaming has brought us in the past couple of decades. No “top ten” lists or any of that rubbish – videogame music is subjective and I’ll try to respect that. Plus, there’s no telling what new tunes I might find after posting this list that I might want to add later on.
I haven’t even experienced Chrono Cross for myself yet, and I know a lot of people are in the same situation with a game that is often overshadowed by its predecessor Chrono Trigger. The music for Chrono Trigger was a large part of why I loved that game, but if this tune is any indication of the rest of Chrono Cross’s soundtrack, consider me sold.
I could post a lot of the music from Professor Layton onto this list, but this was one of the better tunes. Layton’s stunning music and art style were a large reason why the game stood out from your simple collection of brainteasers. Its music gave the village of St. Mystere in the game a real soul and character, yet it’s unfortunate that a lot of people are going to look over the music for Layton with all the bigger titles which came out around it in 2008.
Kameo isn’t a game which springs to mind immediately when I think of good music from Rare, but this song really stood out. It captured the perfect mood while storming the Ogre King’s castle, a real epic sense of desperation that made you care about what you were fighting for.
Grant Kirkhope has been known to compose a lot of brilliant music for Rare games, but I feel that it wasn’t until his orchestrated soundtrack for Viva Piñata that he had reached his peak. All of the game’s music is so soothing that it’s hard to find a favourite amongst the tunes, but it’s still a real shame that Viva Piñata didn’t sell enough copies to get Kirkhope’s work more widely noticed here.
I always loved the music of Super Mario Land, so it was a bit unfortunate to see it get overlooked because of all the great tunes Koji Kondo had composed for other games in the series, and because Mario Land was just so different from a lot of other Mario games in its design. The Chai Kingdom was the final world of the game and I felt its music captured the right feeling for the levels perfectly.When I think oriental now, it’s hard not to have this tune spring to mind.
There you have it. Five tunes I thought were pretty underappreciated that I’d recommend you take a listen to. I’ll probably try to add to this later on, but if you have any videogame songs you feel aren’t getting the praise they deserve, feel free to post a link in the comments. Thanks.
[added 31st October 2009]
Damn, this song brings back memories. One of the only RTS games I really enjoyed and committed to, although that’s partially because of my love of Warhammer in general before this was released.
May I quote a rare, intelligent youtube comment to sum up my thoughts on this piece:
“This is much better than the Halo music, it has no hope or certainty of good over evil, only the determined battle march of every race towards each others destruction. Halo gives hope with high notes and a fast base, this shows determination in the face of death through a steady beat. In halo there is hope in warhammer only an eternity of slaughter and the laughter of thirsting Gods”
Enjoy.
