PixlBit

"I reposting this one here because I feel like writing another blog about videogame music and considering this one is couple of year old now. It would only make sense to share some more VGMs later on."

It's no secret that videogame soundtrack have been evolving over its forty year history; from bleep of the Atari consoles to the majestic Final Fantasy scores. Videogame soundtracks have really burned they're ways into our memories and MP3 players. Over the last decade videogame soundtracks have been really important to my life; there wasn't a single time where I would play a game just to hear certain musical moments in a game. However most videogame soundtracks aren't widely available in North America; most people would resort to importing or ripping music directly off the game disc. Thanks to the internet and YouTube (maybe the occasional downloading website) these soundtracks are becoming more widely accessible. So what are my favourite videogame music pieces that I've loved over the last few years; well there are a few so I will try to narrow it down to 10.

The list in no particular order

The End Title/The Best is Yet to Come by Rika Muranaka-Metal Gear Solid

After a very intense ending, our hero Solid Snake and love interest Meryl (or Otacon) ride off into the sunset then this beautiful Celtic Orchestral music comes on. I've really heard this kind of music in a videogame before, it was very touching and to this day I still don't really know what's being said in the lyrics.

The Double Dragon Theme- NES version.

Being a young boy at the age of five and playing videogame for the first time, hearing this song play in its 8-bit glory was quite an experience. There would be times I would just turn on the game and just leave it on the main menu just to hear it play. Still sounds amazing all these years.

The Open Way-Battle with The Colossus- Koh Ohtani- Shadow of the Colossus

When you're playing a game where you defeat huge stone creatures that fly, swim, burrow through underground or just tower above you. You'll expect to hear some very epic music as you figure out how to take these behemoths down a few notches to bring a girl back to life. Actually the whole Shadow of the Colossus soundtrack is amazing, if only I can copy.

The Final Boss Theme: Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

If you're like and didn't really experience the whole Sonic 3 game without S&K cartridge until the Sonic Mega Collection for the GCN in 2002. You'll know that battling Dr. Robotnik's Mech suit in outer space and hearing that music was a better fit than you got before. Again the whole Sonic 3 soundtrack is still one of my favourite soundtracks of all time.

Sanctuary After the Battle-Yoko Shimomura & Utada- Kingdom Hearts 2

Not sure why it took me a while to really dig into Kingdom Hearts 2; but Yoko Shimomura and Hikura Utada's Sanctuary just take me away. While the intro version of Sanctuary was more upbeat, the ending end theme call After the Battle was a more relaxed and mellow which I rather liked.  At the moment this song is on constant repeat in my Ipod. Unfortunately this one is no longer available on Youtube, sorry folks.

Streets of Rage 2- Level 5/Slow Moon

16-bit Console side scrolling brawling at its best, this mellow beat was something that I thought I would never hear in a videogame. You're on a boat, fighting fat guys in suspenders that blow fire from his mouths or burly sailor boxers; this piece of music kept me calm during some intense fights. The Level 8 music also happened to be my favourite song from the game, how it just builds as you make your way to Mr. X.

Gusty Garden- Super Mario Galaxy by Koji Kondo

MIDI music just wasn't cutting it anymore, switching to live Orchestra really made the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack one of the most memorable Nintendo soundtracks I've ever heard. Just watching Mario flying into the level with his arms spread out and hearing those trumpets was so awe inspiring. Hopefully Nintendo does the same treatment to Galaxy 2 and the next Legend of Zelda game.

I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire by The Ink Spots- Fallout 3

Not an original piece of music of the game but when you're walking through the Capital wastelands at night or through the sewers and this song comes on. Never has an ominous feeling has fallen over me when I'm spotted by an enemy and entering VATS to blow off his head; then digging through his corpse for goods and continuing on to my destination.

Fulfilled Desire by Takeharu Ishimoto- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7

Nobou Uematsu's music is pretty much legendary; even if you haven't played any of the Final Fantasy game you'll hear some of the emotion that comes for his work. When you're given the job of reinterpreting somebody else's work you better not completely change anything. However Takeharu Ishimoto gave some more life to old classics like adding an acoustic guitar in Aerith's Theme is very touching.

Pleather for Breakfast  by Masafumi Takada- No More Heroes

How does a hard drinking young woman dressing up in a pink Lolita costume who uses a bat for weapon get to the second rank of the United Assassins Association? I'm still not sure but battling Bad Girl in the basement of Santa Destroys Baseball stadium while this tune played made it very intense experience.

Thank you for reading my list of favourite videogame music piece so far! There are a lot songs that I've missed and I just wrote this one the fly. With videogame emerging as a popular media and events like Videogames Live; more people are starting to realize that it was all bleeps, Super Mario Theme and Halo. However getting your hands on these soundtracks are still difficult; maybe in the future publishers will start to include the games soundtrack along with the game discs.