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Is Music More Lasting Than Graphics In Games? 135

Posted by simoniker from the x-bleeps-to-the-pixel dept.
Thanks to Tokyopia for their article arguing that music may be more important than graphics for the most enduring videogames. The author, apparently a "a renowned game music composer who would rather remain nameless", argues: "In going back to look at a few rare [older] videogames that still [have lasting value] today, it struck me that the graphics have almost always dated horribly, but the music - almost without fail - still succeeds. At worst, old music elicits a smile. At best, a full on emotional connection that really enhances the game." He then references Sega's NiGHTS Into Dreams and Namco's Ridge Racer Type 4 as titles which benefit from this connection, concluding: "Over time, a game's graphics will inevitably be relegated to being the mere nuts and bolts of the experience. The basic structure around which the all important game play is wrapped. But the music? The music is our emotional connection. It's the experience. And it plays forever."
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Is Music More Lasting Than Graphics In Games? More

Is Music More Lasting Than Graphics In Games?

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  • For me the most enduring music from video games is Kefkas theme from Final Fantasy 3 (or 6, or whatever, I never really got the hang of thier numbering scheme). Some of the other music from that game (and other Final Fantasys') has also stayed with me. But Kefkas theme is the best
    • It is from Final Fantasy 6. Personally I have found the Final Fantasy series to have some of the best soundtracks in the industry.
    • Mmmm... FF6 yuminess. Kefka's was memorable but the Celes opera scene had some really impressive music. You can almost hear her singing. Very cool. The most memorable music piece I can think of was Schala's theme from Crono Trigger (although pretty much the entire game had awesome music). Another game with excellent music is Secret of Mana. Square has always impressed me with their music. Heck, even the generic FF theme is pretty good and memorable.

      Considering it had "Symphony" in it's title, you

  • Emotions - order (Score:3, Funny)

    by Filik ( 578890 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @08:52AM (#7880060)
    2. The heart. Games that affect your emotions with happiness, sadness, or fear. Examples include Biohazard, NiGHTS, Mario.

    Yeah, Biohazard gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, Nights was pretty teardripping, and Luigi scared the living daylights out of me 8)

  • The article is biased (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Quarters ( 18322 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @08:55AM (#7880069)
    So a "renowned game music composer" looks at old games and decides that the music is still good, but the graphics are for suck. Gee, do you think he is focusing on the part that is of the most interest to him?

    Ask a game artist to look at an old game and comment on it and chances are they will mention the graphics in a sort of nostalgic way. They probably won't have a lot to say about the music. The same could be said for a game designer.

    This guy is just focusing on the bits that he has control over. His insight about music being more lasting is just his biased opinion, nothing more.

    • Re:The article is biased (Score:4, Interesting)

      by MrHanky ( 141717 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @09:36AM (#7880282) Homepage Journal
      Yes, but he's right. Graphics almost have to be technically impressive to be good, whereas music often is better when it's a bit primitive. An old synth can still be used as an instrument, and the SID chip in the C64 was often used far more effectively than the orchestras they can use in modern game scores.

      This has nothing to do with nostalgia, it has to do with the different media: Graphics are usually supposed to mimic the world (mimesis), music rarely does that. Any sound can be used to make music. If it sounds good, it's perfect.
      • >Graphics almost have to be technically impressive to be good,

        Not really,

        HL has pretty sad graphics, even when it first came out. But ask anyone about head-crabs and crow-bars.

        As anyone about quake1 crates.

        And going back even further what about;

        @......T.T.T

        rouge/moria/angband graphics?
        • I kind of agree with you. Personally, I think graphics shouldn't be compared with music. It should be compared with sounds. Music is how sounds are put together. Camera(virtual)/Direction is how graphics are put together.

          I know that there are several games out there that will stick out in my memory, not for how impressive the graphics were, but how they were used.

          There are quite a few games that, by todays standards, have dated graphics but still evoke some sort of emotion from me. Half-life's hea
      • You can get a PC card that actually has a SID chip on it so you can faithfully emulate the C64 sounds. The High Voltage SIDS Collection has over 10,000 C64 tunes in it.

        This guy is right. The music is timeless. I mean I can still hear the theme from Cannon Fodder on the Amiga (the piece on the main screen where you soldiers are buried) and get emotional from it. (Trust me, if you ever played the game, you'll understand.)

        And nothing beats a good blast of ANY Rob Hubbard C64 tunes.

      • Re:The article is biased (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Rimbo ( 139781 )
        "Graphics almost have to be technically impressive to be good, whereas music often is better when it's a bit primitive."

        I agree with you and the author that music is a key to having a game still connect after all of these years -- I certainly felt that way when playing Exult (an Ultima VII remake) last year.

        But the statement that graphics MUST be technically impressive is nonsense. The graphics in Diablo are primitive, but they still look beautiful today. The focus on nice-looking 2D instead of bad-look
    • no.

      just fyi, c64 music is listened to quite a bit more than what c64 games are played still. just google for c64 remixes, overclocked remixes(nintendo&etc remixes), .sids & whatever.. heck I just spent the afternoon listening to some sids while coding. also you can listen to music in the background, so it lives that way a lot better as well.

      -

  • I think he's right (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Andy Smith ( 55346 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @08:57AM (#7880076)
    I used to be a coder in the Amiga demo scene and nowadays, when I think back to those times, it's the music that I remember. There were a few particularly impressive graphical innovations that I remember but (obviously) I have no emotional connection to them. But some of the music... oh, masterpieces!

    Anyone remember 4Mat and Nuke of Anarchy?

    Or the track Jesus on E's?

    Some of the best music I've ever heard came out of the Amiga scene.
    • A couple of links thrown up by Google...

      Jesus on E's by LSD [pouet.net]

      Old mods [spoonwizard.com] (scroll down to 1993)

      I haven't/can't test the downloads at the moment so apologies if these links disappoint.
    • You're not Andy Smith from Binary Asylum are you?

      I remember 4-Mat [exotica.fix.no] and Nuke [exotica.fix.no] and Jesus on E's [exotica.fix.no] very well.
      • I don't think so but the group I was in went through so many name changes... who knows? :-)

        Seriously, though, I doubt it. I was minor league. Nobody outside the group and a couple of other friendly groups would have heard of anything I did. They certainly wouldn't remember any of it now!
        • Well, we have you pinpointed somewhere between Leeds and Sheffield on account of your music tastes, expect a knock on the door soon! :)
          • Wakefield! That's spooky! :-)

            I mostly went by the name Whisky and at the time of my one-and-only demo release the group was called Ghost. You may also not remember me from such classic intros as "the multi-coloured wibbly wobbly copper bars that move up and down the screen" and "half-assed starfield with a sine wave scroller". My coding abilities were... limited.

    • Re:I think he's right (Score:2, Interesting)

      by the web ( 696015 )
      I do too. I sing the super mario bros. song in my head or whistle it... that's normal... right?
    • I still think about the music for this game from time to time, and I didn't even own the Amiga, I played at a friend's house. It was just sublime, perhaps I'll do a search for the soundtrack here momentarily... The game was pretty fun, too, a clear fore-runner to the top-down RPG-style games I'm playing today such as Neverwinter Nights.
  • has written some of the best video game music in history. I mean, I can just sit and listen to the Final Fantasy 4 soundtrack over and over, even though I have only played the game for a few minutes.

  • Good old Doom riffs (Score:5, Funny)

    by dpilot ( 134227 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @09:12AM (#7880156) Homepage Journal
    Every now and then, I hear my daughter (15) playing some riffs of Doom music on her flute.

  • Seems true. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TRACK-YOUR-POSITION ( 553878 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @09:13AM (#7880163)
    Nostalgically, this seems true. The pixelated graphics just remind us how silly and trivially we expended our youth. But the music...the music makes us want to waste our youth yet again. On the other hand, I can't think of any memorable video game sound tracks I've heard since the Playstation 2 went on sale.

    On the other hand, I can't figure out what the heck the author means by this categorization--

    The first (Tetris, Pac-Man, Space Invaders) is the game that plays you. Your interactivity is merely a response to dilemmas inherent in the game. Move or be eaten. Shoot or be invaded. Reach the end before time is up.

    The second type (GTA3, The Sims, Halo) is the game that you play. There are ground rules, but there are also choices. This is the next evolution of gaming: replicating an experience.

    After reading this, I'm at a loss to figuring out what he means by this--the first set of games has low quality graphics, the second his hi quality, but I doubt that's it. There are no choices in Tetris?

    • He's saying that in a game like Tetris, you're being reactive: computer gives you a block of a certain shape and you have to react in the best possible way to put the piece where it goes. In a game like The Sims, there's more proactive play... your goal is not clearly defined for you. I can play with the eventual goal of starting a family and working to the top of the food chain, or I can make my avatar drunk and passed out in a pool of his own urine. The game just sets boundaries for me, and I choose my
      • Two things--there is not necessarily an ideal place to put a tetris piece, it's a strategic decision, like chess--a move opens up a range of opportunities for new moves. And sure, The Sims has no clearly defined goal, you could kinda say GTA has no defined goal, but Halo has no defined goal? I don't get it.

    • Hardly at all! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Inoshiro ( 71693 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @10:22AM (#7880571) Homepage

      If you think there've been no memorable video game soundtracks since mid-2000, you've been sleeping in a room cushioned by your own nostlagia. To name a few excellent soundtracks that've been released between then and now:

      • Jet Set Radio Future
      • Halo
      • Homeworld
      • Silent Hill 3
      • Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
      • F-Zero GX
      • Soul Calibur 2
      • Final Fantasy X-2

      I listen to these soundtracks all the time, as well as older ones, because they are good music. They stand on their own as being great soundtracks. You can play the game, and get that extra nostalgia-tilt value in there, but people who are not gamers can listen to these and go, "that's some good music!"

      "The pixelated graphics just remind us how silly and trivially we expended our youth. But the music...the music makes us want to waste our youth yet again."

      Not to me. The graphics are the same as always, and the music is the same as always. Perspective might change, but it's still the same game. The first and most important part will always be the gameplay. For example, I may hate sports games, but there are a couple of sports games released that have such great gameplay I can play them regardless of their genre. Graphics and sound are a part of the experience; you can't easily judge them in a vacuum.

      I can play the old NES MegaMan games with the sound off and still really enjoy it, because the gameplay is something I really enjoy. The graphics don't seem dated -- low resolution and low colour depth, yea, but apropos for the hardware involved.

      The only really ugly graphics you see are on the PS1/Saturn/N64 era games, when most games had either non-filtered textures, lack of hardware perspective correction (I hate that about PS1 games), or blurry textures. First-gen PS2 games suffer from a bad case of jaggies, but it's not something that's going to throw me off a good game.

      • Re:Hardly at all! (Score:2, Informative)

        by Ayaress ( 662020 )
        I didn't like Lament of Innocence's soundtrack *at*all*. The old Castlevania games had very excelent and moody classical scores to them. I remember the original Castlevania had some of the best music the NES ever saw. Then comes this new game with the sort of music I expect from a game like Mario. Not bad music, per se, but it doesn't fit the gloom-and-doom feel of the game.
      • Soul Calibur 2's soundtrack was very forgettable. It's been about 2-3 months since I last played it, and about all I can remember is the first few seconds of 1 of the songs. Oh, and the Zelda music too from the GameCube version.

        I only played F-Zero GX for about an hour, so maybe I need more time, but the only thing that stood out at all was the remix of the Mute City music. The Mute City music from F-Zero X was much better though.

        Super Smash Bros. Melee had a great soundtrack. They just took the best musi
      • The only really ugly graphics you see are on the PS1/Saturn/N64 era games

        Agreed. I recently went back and played FF7 a bit, since I think it still has one of the best opening sequences in any game. It'd been at least 5 years since I last played it, and I remembered it looking great at the time.

        Boy, was that a shock. Low-resolution, low-framerate intro, terrible looking characters ... It just didn't look nearly as good as I remembered it.

        However, I then put in FF3, and it looks *exactly* like I re
      • Deus Ex: the only game with theme music this good [gamespy.com].

      • Re:Hardly at all! (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I relate to your assessment of the first generation 3d systems. I stopped buying and playing new video games when 3d usurped the kind of high quality 2d that was prevalent in games of the mid-90s as the preferred means of making games. SNES was king for me, still kind of is. I kept looking for something interesting to make a new console worth buying, since the SNES game market died and became retro in 95/96.

        Nights, Final Fantasy 7, Mario 64, and Mario Kart 64 were unable to bring me back, although tradi
      • You're right, most of those sound tracks are really awesome--except F-Zero GX, I'm kind of surprised to hear anyone speak well of that. It just didn't stick out to me.
    • I'm not sure what he means there either. However, I can name some fo the games with the best songs. Tetris, any Mega Man, Bubble Bobble, All the Sonic the Hedgehogs. That is just to name a few. Mega Man is probibly my top game for music.

  • Maybe music just hasn't changed as much (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Tim Dierks ( 28159 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @09:14AM (#7880170)
    One reason music doesn't seem as dated may just be because music hasn't changed as much as graphics have. While music reproduction and quality are orders of magnitude better than they once were, it seems to me that the difference is less drastic than the advances in graphics (or, seen another way, the nature of older graphics is more primitive than the nature of older music).

  • What music (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by thajeavis ( 650216 )
    Normally I turn off the music in games cause it usually sucks anyway

    • Re:What music (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Ayaress ( 662020 )
      You probably play action games. Those, while good, rarely prove to be timeless. The article talks mostly about those games that have achieved immortality, and still hold loyal fans sometimes well over a decade after their release. Go to a website like GameFAQs, and look at the top boards in any of the older systems (especially the NES, Genesis, and above all the SNES). The top lists don't change much, except shuffling around between the top twenty or so, and they very rarely contain action games. The actio

  • Defender of the Crown (Score:5, Funny)

    by vjmurphy ( 190266 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @09:22AM (#7880211) Homepage
    For some reason, the theme from Defender of the Crown sticks with me: great old Amiga game.

    Dum dum da-dum
    Dum dum da-dum
    dum-dum dum-dum dum-dum dum-dum dum dum da-dum..

    Hmm, of course, that could be about 80 other video game themes, now that I look at it.
  • The original "Wing Commander" for PC opened with this "symphony" which I still remember quite well.

    And "RBI Baseball" on the NES -- the theme song can linger in my head for days. Then again, so can "It's a Small World After All".
  • Deus ex, although creating a dark atmosphere with its monotonous graphics never was a pioneer in that domain. Playing an 80 hour game means there is a lot of the story that will evade from memory. Also, since it is a pc game, it wasn't immediately playable on windows xp. What is left after all those years is the music. Alexander Brandon himself described his work as emotional in an interview that. It truly stuck to my senses and which is why I made an audio cd out the synthesized music files that were on
    • Clearly music must affect different people in different ways - I dont even remember it having music. Having said that, I usually turn it off in games as I assume it will repeat so much that it will get on my nerves.

      Not a troll, just my opinion.

  • Sega's music and sound design for it's Arcade Games was some of the best ever made. Out Run, Space Harrier, Afterburner are just a few that had awesome music.
  • His point about music transcending technical limits is spot on. Whether you hear it out of a mono speaker on a 13" TV, or performed by an orchestra, the Mario Main Theme is awesome.

    But why hate on pixelart? It certainly gave characters, well, more character. I used to make Marios on graph paper because I knew how many squares to use. Check out Diesel Sweeties [dieselsweeties.com] for an awesome pixelart webcomic.
    • He's not really hating it. He's talking about it in relation to the games.

      For one, graphics get innovated immensely. Since the days of the SNES (or even the NES, which was capable of much better sound than most developers squeezed out of it), sound quality has gone from telephone quality (The SNES could handle voice acting fairly well, but the cartridges couldn't hold the amount of data it intailed, and insturmental music was already realistic enough it would pass for a low-bitrate recording) and CD qualit
      • With music (and indeed much of what you hear), your brain fills in what it doesn't necessarily hear. This is especially true when you remember it later (or get it stuck in your head).

        With graphics, your brain may fill in some detail, especially on primitive forms, but for the most part you become accustomed to a certain level of visual quality and your brain expects it. A good example would be to go back and look at movies with a lot of special effects, going back even 10 years would show major improvement
    • The best thing about Mario being pixel art was it made it easier to shape the blocks in the underground levels into his face.
    • You can hum music. You can't hum graphics or gameplay.

  • Mario? Zelda? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gamgee5273 ( 410326 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @10:23AM (#7880580) Journal
    If you say those two names, don't you hear their related themes?

    What about the sound effects from Asteroids? Or the opening effects of the Atari 2600 Pac-Man? It isn't just music, but sound itself.

    Sound has always played a vital role in our enjoyment of videogames, just as it has in movies (a bad film score can kill a decent movie). How many of us can't stand silent movies with no scores? I love silent movies, when they have a score, but fall asleep whenever there is just dead silence.

    Sometimes we underestimate the effect sound can have on our enjoyment of a medium...

    • Or the opening effects of the Atari 2600 Pac-Man?

      God, those off key tones when you started that game still send chillis down my spine.

      I prefer Atari 7800 Ballblazer's nostalgic rockin' track.

    • Re:Mario? Zelda? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by FortKnox ( 169099 )
      It isn't just music, but sound itself.

      Hell yes. Who has played System Shock 2? Do you remember the voices of terror in the people? What about those that are transforming into the many? What about SHODAN?

      Look at Metroid:Prime. They did the intelligent thing of making new music, but the base of them all were old metroid (the original) songs. Sometimes you have to really listen to hear them, but they are all there. That makes an old gamer like myself really comfy with the switch from the old side-
      • One of the best things they did in Metroid Prime was early game Talon Overworld music. It's a very slow remix of the Brinstar music from the original Metroid. You start playing, and suddenly you realize it sounds familiar. Then you sit and listen and realize what it is, and it just sounds perfect for the situation.

        I know the Magmoor Caverns music is the lower Norfair music from Super Metroid, and the fight with Ridley music is the music from the fight with Ridley in Super Metroid, but other than those 3 I
        • Don't forget the intro music is the intro music of the original metroid... I turned it on for the first time and was listening to it.... had to fire up the ol'NES to prove to my wife that it had the intro song in it....
  • Ultima IV had some of the best music I remember in a computer game. On the Atari ST version it would even use the MIDI out ports built into those computers. I ran it through a Yamaha DX7 and Ensoniq Mirage which had people dropping their jaws at the music in that game back in 1986.
  • What more can be said?
    • Means nothing compared to the immense sense of relief when reaching the elevator and its music in the first System Shock. It was utterly...surreal and relaxing... -Filik.
  • Without a doubt, anytime that I head the theme song for any "Monkey Island" game it gives me the chills. I have so many good memories of that game during my childhood that I'll never forget those games!
    • Dude you have no idea. I even went to lengths to d/l the theme. Are they working on a new one?
      • If you can get your hands on the Monkey Island Madness [lucasarts.com] disk, it actually contains the soundtrack to the game in CD audio format, which can be listened to on any CD player (as long as you skip the first data track).

        I discovered this while sitting at my computer one day, when the Monkey Island theme music started playing out of nowhere. Took me ages to work out what'd happened - I had the Monkey Island Madness CD in my CD-ROM, and had bumped the play button on the front of it, putting it into CD player mode

  • Simple, catchy tunes work (Score:3, Interesting)

    by edwdig ( 47888 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @10:50AM (#7880785)
    The music from older games holds up so well because it tended to be simple, catchy stuff. Most modern games go for more ambient music, so you don't really remember it afterwards. You can't forget the music from Mario 1 or Zelda 1, but I can't remember any music from Mario Sunshine or The Wind Waker (other than the remixes of the old music).

    I can remember lots of music from 2D games, but music from 3D games tends to not leave a lasting impression. I can remember some music from the two N64 Zeldas, but really only the repeating stuff you were supposed to remember (i.e. Saria's song).

    I'm very thankful though that I managed to forget the music to Final Fantasy 7. I'm not an RPG fan, but my college roommate was. I remember trying to do homework with some friends while he was playing FF7. The music in that game is so repetitive that it really gets on your nerves in under 5 minutes. Particuarlly the Chocobo racing music...
    • I disagree about the N64 zeldas. Actually, the first one only. The second one felt like an add on or expansion pack (as I understand it was originally to be an add on). The Ocarina of Time music is stuff I still find myself humming. Now, for Wind Waker, I only really enjoyed the music that was a rehash of the old stuff. I can still remember the sailing theme but it doesn't stick with me.
    • You're right about "in general," but, at least for me, the music from the water levels in Mario 64 has stuck with me since I played the game. That theme, in my opinion, is just as well-written as the music from the old sidescroller Marios. The rest of the music from Mario 64 is pretty forgettable though.
  • how many games I play with mood enhancing music, I'll never forget that like 3 tone midi that played when there was a man on in NES RBI Baseball. It was the same note played four times/verse and like an octave higher each verse. My cousin and I would just sit there and sing

    man on the base
    man on the base
    man on the base
    MAN ON THE BASE!!!
    (repeat until man leaves base)
  • Just curious, but how many people here care about the sound in a game? I personally don't give a damn, and really, if I ever get to the point where I decide whether a game is enjoyable or not because of the sound, I hope someone shoots me.

    The music is usually just something to provide background noise in a game so you don't sit in an empty quite room playing a game until the next sound effect comes along. All that BS about music setting a mood is ridiculous because if the game can't make you feel like yo
    • I do.

      Music can provide mood and can greatly enhance a game experience if used correctly. Now 8 times out of 10, the music and sounds will be done incorrectly and can often detriment your experience. It all depends on the game and how skilled the orchestror is.

      My favorite example is Final Fantasy VI. The music is gorgeous.
      • The same is true in movies, but the point can be proven there much more easily. Watch Psycho (the original) or The Godfather and pay attention to what the music is doing for the scene.

        A good developer, just like a good director, is going to use the music to set the scene, to introduce a character (and even to change a character), and to adjust the viewer/player's emotions.

        Doom and Quake used music and sound to put people on edge, which is something that is missing from almost every FPS since the first Qua
    • I do. Good music can provide a great atmosphere, almost to the point of making or breaking a game. I can assure you that I am not alone [ocremix.org] in my beliefs.
    • Sometimes the graphics and gameplay just suck, yet the musical score may have a catchy jingle and well you continue to play....
    • Music has always been a huge part of the gaming experience to me. From Final Fantasy 1's opening Prelude to Halo's "Long Run" the music in the game sets the mood and immerses me in the momement.

      One category that most gamers would recognize music from would be RPG's. I don't want to sterotype anyone, but most of the people that I have run into that listen to game music have been RPGers.

      Music is a huge part of all the games I play and I usually end up importing the soundtracks from Japan.
    • I do. Considerably more than graphics, and moreso than story or character development (which I consider important, but many games just don't have room in the concept for much in that respect, and I'm forgiving if its a good game), but not as much as gameplay. I consider it even more important if there's not an option to turn it off. Also, it depends on what kind of game. If I'm playing UT or something, I can't hear the music over the gunfire anyway, and odds are good it'll just end up drowning out the foot
      • I don't care about music in games. I've played Tales of Phantasia, and I agree, good game. Still, to me music doesn't matter, you can apply your own music, you can't apply your own storyline/engine.
    • I'm just curious, what games do you turn the music off? I can see it in sports games, tactical games, and some first-person shooters (so you can hear bad guys coming). I know in sports games, I turn off commentary all the time (the announcers only have so many lines before repetition annoys you).

  • One of the more compelling arguments (Score:4, Informative)

    by Discoflamingo13 ( 90009 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @12:10PM (#7881382) Homepage Journal
    for how enduring the music is is at Overclocked Remix [ocremix.org]. A must-listen for those who know video game music never dies - it just gets remixed.

  • Daayyyytonnnaaaaaa! (Score:3, Funny)

    by SandSpider ( 60727 ) on Monday January 05, 2004 @12:45PM (#7881701) Homepage Journal
    Back in my game programming days, we had the old Sega Saturn running, and we'd play some Daytona. The only thing I remember from that thing is...well, I think Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] said it best.

    =Brian
  • An earlier Slashdot article pointed to the rising use of licensed music for U.S. video games.

    If game music is suppsoed to provide the game's atmosphere and instill a bit of nostalgia long after the game is done, how can you convey those feelings nearly as well with licensed music, which were composed for different reasons?

    Years from now, you will hear a song from the 80s. Which are you likely to remember from it? That is was a song from the 80s? Or that it was a song used in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City?
  • Maybe it has something to do with how music sometimes gets stuck in your head, whereas that happens somewhere between rarely and never for graphics (unless you've been staring at the same screen way too long, but that's another matter entirely)...

    For example, I seem to have the music to Metropolis Zone stuck in my head at the moment. Sonic 1/2/3/S&K always did have good music..
  • Anyone remember Digger? With the Popcorn song playing in the background? Now *that* is good music there :)
  • Mark Morgan did Fallout 1, 2 and Planescape: Torment(though I've only played the Fallouts, got the Planescape soundtrack online...). He's done some great stuff for "modern" games I think. Incredibly moody and atmospheric. Half of those songs I still remember; the Raider theme is just cool to listen to. Keichi Suziki isn't bad either; composer of the Earthbound(SNES) soundtrack. Incredibly unique and creative stuff...
    • Ah yes, the PS soundtrack rocked, but there is no way the music outdoes the visual aspect of that game, and the visual aspect has nothing to do with the graphics, but rather the setting itself...

      So you got a link to that soundtrack??? ;)
  • Q: Is music more lasting than graphics in games?


    A: Yes. Next question.

  • One of the greatest things of the Sierra On-Line games (especially their adventure games) was the great original music. I have been enjoying listening to the music from the games played many years ago. For downloads of the music see:

    http://smc.sq7.org/

    http://queststudios.com/
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I happen to think this [albinoblacksheep.com] is a classic example of video game music. Makes me wish I could still play the piano.
  • I dont know about you, but I cannot stand the stuff on the radio, I wince when I hear it. So being a videogame addict, one day I left Metroid Prime on and I came back, (was right out of savepoint in Phendrana Drifts) and listened. The music was great, and I just listened. So I got kazaa and downloaded all the soundtrack music. Then I told my friends and they showed me Final Fantasy soundtracks. Just glorious. It has even moved into the mainstream now with a WIERD song. Think hard rock Zelda theme, i
    • Just glorious. It has even moved into the mainstream now with a WIERD song. Think hard rock Zelda theme, its terrible in my opinion, but its worth listening to if you like game music and want to laugh at it.

      I believe the song you are talking about is Legend of Zelda by System of the Down. It's the first track on Steal this Album. I love System because they're not serious all the time and enjoy making fun of themselves. If you ever listen to their most popular album (Toxity), they go from a song about
  • I get more kicks out of hearing or thinking about the Super Mario Bros music that I do looking at a screen shot. I get more kicks out of seeing an Unreal screenshot than I do hearing or thinking about the music, and the music in Unreal is pretty damn good. my 2c
  • I find game music to be annoying repetitive at best. No matter how good it is, I get sick of it after a few loops. Sure, I smile whenever I hear a snippet of music from Doom, but that's only because I recognize it from the title screen. I always play my games without music. It's too distracting for me. It certainly isn't what makes or breaks a game. They could license from Barry Manilow for all I care.

  • ...when it came to getting extra value from game music. I say that because a lot of the time the music on Saturn CDs are plane audio tracks easily ripped to your hard drive these days.

    The best tracks I got came from Nights, Virtua Cop I and II, and Wipeout. Yep, there actually was Wipeout on the Saturn at one time. And as much as many hated it, I even listen to the music from Daytona USA on occasion. Listening to these tunes long after the Saturn's demise makes me feel I got a pretty good value after all.

  • I haven't played legend of zelda in many, MANY years. but recent I've had it stuck in my head whenever I talk to clients, and I always snicker imagining that they're gannon, and I'm running up and stabbing them with a coffee stir thingie.

    Fortunately, I've always stopped myself before it reached the point of contaminating my coffee stir, but I still hear the music.

    I even hear it now.
    don't you?

  • Diablo II music available free online (Score:3, Interesting)

    by zoward ( 188110 ) * <email.me.at.zoward.at.gmail.com> on Tuesday January 06, 2004 @02:59PM (#7893651) Homepage
    Blizzard offers just about all of the music for Diablo II and the expansion pack as 128-kbps MP3's for free download on their site. You don't appreciate the complexity and depth of the music until you hear it while you're not playing the game. The liner notes are amusing to boot!

    I've dumped them all to a CF card on my Zaurus and am listening to them now :-).

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