The videogame music thread

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

Great Music Monday article from Leon on Lemmings this week on the main C&R site (nice one mate)

As you can tell from my profile pic I'm an real fan of the game having played the original to death with my Dad on his Acorn, which had a really nice version of it (and of Dune 2 which is another childhood favourite!). The Lemmings tunes are certainly some of the most memorable in gaming for me, and were just catchy enough to get wedged firmly in your head without ever becoming so annoying you turned them off. Just a perfectly judged soundtrack that genuinely enhanced the overall experience no matter how many hours you sunk into the game (which was A LOT in my case!).

Check it out gang!

[ratsoalbion]

Thanks Sinc!

[ratsoalbion]

Music Monday: Lemmings
http://caneandrinse.com/music-monday-lemmings/

Two dozen years ago last week Lemmings invaded home computers for the first time.

This was of course DMA Design’s fictional, blue tunicked, Doozer-like subspecies rather than the adorable but apocryphally suicidal rodents.

To cut a very long story short, Lemmings frustratingly addictive levels of logic and timing received rave reviews and went on to become something of a phenomenon.

Initially launching on Amiga in February 1991, Lemmings found itself ported – sometimes successfully, other times less so – to at least 23 different platforms.

Oh, and DMA Design went on to make Grand Theft Auto a few years later, as if you didn’t know.

I found the difficulty curve of the original Lemmings as steep as the precipices the hapless critters found themselves smooshed at the foot of.

About half way through the second set of 30 levels (dubbed ‘tricky’), I became terribly stuck and lacked the patience to persist. In fact I only ever saw the 60 mouse-mangling ‘taxing’ and ‘mayhem’ levels by way of the codes printed in the magazines of the day.

Yet still I fell in love with Lemmings and, as is so often the case with me, I think that was as much to do with the game’s soundtrack as it was the titular sprites, with their bouncy shocks of green hair and their endearingly squeaky little voices.

The story goes that the game’s composer, Brian Johnston (DMA artist Scott Johnston’s little brother) had created a set of tunes that featured blatant lifts and actual samples of ‘real’ music.

While this sort of thing was hardly unusual at the time, Psygnosis were wary of any potential law suits that might have been brought about and so commissioned Tim Wright (aka CoLD SToRAGE) to render a selection of well-known but copyright-free tunes for the player to whistle along to as they sentenced countless semi-sentient minions to their squelchy doom.

The resulting pieces were remarkable, and still have the wherewithal to make me grin like an eejit almost a quarter of a century later.

For instance, the sudden contrast between Forest Green (or is it O, Soldier Won’t You Marry Me? Or is it O Little Town of Bethlehem?) and a snatch of Ennio Morricone’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Or Ten Green Lemmings (Bottles, trad.) suddenly invaded by first the funeral march (Chopin) and then ‘here comes the bride’ (Wagner). Well known selections from other classical composers also made the final play list including Tchaikovsky and Mozart.

It might just be the slightly scratchy sound of the old Amiga or perhaps I really can hear various musical luminaries from the past rotating furiously in their graves.

Other highlights include a deliriously demented reading of ‘How Much is That Doggy in the Window?’ and a skiffley jazz take on She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain when she Comes.

Plus famously some of Psygnosis’ other works featured as cameo levels in the game, with reworked tunes from Menace, Awesome as well as Shadow of the Beast (originally by Dave Whittaker) and its sequel.

Perhaps the single piece most often associated with Lemmings is the delicious muzak interpretation of ‘Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo’, more commonly known as Pachelbel’s Canon...

http://caneandrinse.com/music-monday-lemmings/

[craigieh]

I never played Max Payne 1 or 2, so I wasn't burdened with the expectation that many felt on the release of the third, Rockstar led instalment. Needless to say, one of the best things about the game (and it had many, including basic shooting mechanics and cinematic transitions between whiskey soaked-cut-scenes and bombastic gameplay) was it's soundtrack. Exemplifying this transition from alcoholic melancholy to pulsating action was a track from early in the game, one which cemented my love for the game's sheer confidence in it's style...

...and an apt title to boot

[Jmalmis]

Wild Arms is a 1996 ps1 jrpg made unique mostly by it's superb blend of jrpg mechanics and spaghetti-Western motifs. The soundtrack borrows heavily from Old westerns, most notably the works of italian composer Ennio Morricone. It is a great game for any Spaghetti-Western buff to play through just to spot all the musical references.
The opening theme of the game "into the wilderness" takes it's inspiration from a Movie called "My name is Nobody". The haunting whistle and guitar goes perfectly to the visuals of an old western graveyard depicted in the opening movie. I highly recommend seeing the opening movie of the game to get the full experience of this piece. Though I would say that it Stands well enough on it's own.

[Solm]

If I may be so bold as to suggest another track. It's from the Medal of Honor reboot from 2010. I've always loved Medal of Honor Games from the PS 1 right through to the latest one Warfighter. The reboot was met with some disappointment due to the length of the campaign. But like most people I don't complain about how long a game should or shouldn't be. I love to game and the shorter the campaign the better for me as I'm not a hormonal teenager with all the time in the world to play games. I've been listening to this album for the last year and I'm still not bored of it. Composer is Ramin Djawadi and the track I would like to nominate is called: Watch Your Corners. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[FidgetyAcolyte]

My first suggestion is "Everyday the Same Dream" from the popular Flash game of the same title.

I found this game as I was nearing the end of my first year of graduate school, and as the monotony of that path in my life began to bear down on me, I would often find myself pulling the game up on my phone's browser and tucking the phone in my pocket to continuously listen to its theme song to remind myself that things were only as boring as I'd let them be.



My next suggestion is Robocop "Title Theme" for the Gameboy.

This seems really weird, but for such a typically average game, someone wrote a rather emotional sound but enjoyable song that only a very small population would ever get to enjoy. That is until Ariston took the song and turned it into a home appliance commerical. (Link to commercial after the song)

[Flabyo]

Jonathan Dunn. One of the C64's best people.

Oddly, the C64 version of the tune (which I think comes before the Gameboy one) is a little too fussy.

(not a recommendation, just for comparison's sake)

Spoiler: show

[FidgetyAcolyte]

Oh was it on the C64, too? I need to educate myself.

[Flabyo]

Evolution of a theme...

Jeremy Soule. The Elder Scrolls.

Morrowind - subtle, the journey to come...


Oblivion - majesty, the height of power...


Skyrim - the end times, the final battle...


Online - the distant past, the time of glory...

[Giles]

4-player online co-op on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon was one of the best multiplayer experiences on the early Xbox. On the hardest difficulty, there was no threat-detection radar, a single shot could mean you spend the rest of the mission wounded and limping, two shots (or a headshot) meant you were out of the game (and your mic was muted!).

The sense of achievement felt upon completing a mission was always heightened by Bill Brown's rousing "Anthem" playing over the 'after-action' report..

[RoboticMonk3y]

I have two tracks to suggest, both from games I picked up as part of a humble bundle


'Vessel', by Jon Hopkins
I picked this up the game after reading about it and taking an interest (it also cropped up on a Cane and rinse podcast, if I remember correctly), and this was by far my stand-out favourite from the music used in the game.

also included in that humble bundle was the game 'Shatter'

'Amethyst Caverns', by 'Module'
from the game "shatter"

This track is how my brain remembers most arcade games from my youth sounding.
For me, it's also one of those tracks that sets up a comfy spot in my brain and just gets stuck there.


Also from the same humble bundle

9-bit Expedition from teh Dustforce soundtrack, because there's always room in my life for some pseudo-8-bit loveliness.

[ratsoalbion]

Music Monday: Chrono Trigger
http://caneandrinse.com/music-monday-chrono-trigger/

Guest columnist Glen Watts takes time out to laud Yasunori Mitsuda’s Chrono Trigger score.

It’s 1994 and Yasunori Mitsuda is not a happy man.

Having joined Squaresoft two years previously as a composer, he hasn’t yet laid down a single note. He’s not been idle, working as a sound engineer producing effects for Final Fantasy V and Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana), but he was hired to compose.

He boldly decides to hand company vice-president Hironobu Sakaguchi an ultimatum: “Give me something to compose and a pay rise, or I quit”.

Sakaguchi assigns him to a recently greenlit project called Chrono Trigger as sole composer telling him “finish this, and we’ll see about that pay rise”. Mitsuda will go on to work himself so hard that he regularly passed out at work, eventually resulting in a stomach ulcer and Nobuo Uematsu stepping in to compose a few tracks to ease the workload.

Squaresoft’s RPG scores to this point have been quite traditional, mostly orchestral in style, but the time travelling plot of Chrono Trigger required something a little different. Mitsuda shifts between jazz, rock and celtic instruments for his inspiration, the beginnings of a personal style that he will become known for in later years...

http://caneandrinse.com/music-monday-chrono-trigger/

[Flabyo]

Oh hey, Final Fantasy Type-0 is out this week isn't it?

It's score is VERY choral. Like, almost entirely.

[Scrustle]

I'd like to to suggest "Jenny's Theme" from The Darkness, written by Gustaf Grefberg. One of the best things about the game is that between all the brutal murder and supernatural nightmares, it knows how to take a moment to be quiet and have some brilliant character moments. One of the best is near the start of the game, when the player character, Jackie, goes to spend the evening with his girlfriend and childhood sweetheart, Jenny. The music captures the moment perfectly, with a sense of fragility and tenderness, but also a melancholy tone that really pulls at the heartstrings, especially if you know the path the story takes as the game goes on.

[mikeleddy83]

Still really like this song featured in Bit.Trip Runner:



Full album is pretty good too though this track is definitely my highlight.

[Flabyo]

I nearly went with some Anamanaguchi from the Scott Pilgrim game when I guested on Sound of Play. Couldn't settle on any particular track though, so went for the Chipzel piece from Super Hexagon instead.

[mikeleddy83]

Not familiar enough with the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack but I remember hearing this from the old Gamesradar US podcast which got me into them and is still my favourite podcast opener:

[Flabyo]

Guess I should post some examples then

[Todinho]

So just thought of recommending some really good lesser know tracks:

First is Nightfall from Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake,this is track that plays during some of the calmer and sad moments of the game when Snake is just talking to someone, it's a nice contrast to the rest of the game's soundtrack that usually focus on heightning the tension of stealth and action sections.


Second is Bio Hazard from Snatcher,while One Night at Neo Kobe city is the most famous track of that game when think of Snatcher Bio Hazard is the first piece of music that comes to mind it plays during the intro when the backstory of Snatcher's cyberpunk world gets told and it does a perfect job in setting the mood and getting the player ready for the adventure to come.


Third is also from a Kojima game and it's Old L.A 2040 from Policenauts, The intro theme for Policenauts it encapsulates the entire game for me it perfectly captures the feeling of longing the main character feels for the life he lost and it's a perfect fit to start this detective story:


And last but not least It's Precious Heart the Sakura Theme from the Street Fighter EX series,That saxophone