so i've decided i'm going to do this thing that was going around the internet a while ago! except i'm not doing it once a day but just whenever, probably several at a time, starting with as many as I can before running out of steam right now
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Video game music thing, #1: Title Screen Music
I guess I can stick #FelthrysVGMSelection on these, huh? Been a while since I used that tag.
I'm assuming title screen covers opening cinematics too. In that case, I'm going with *Transcending Love*, from the soundtrack to Suikoden III, by Michiru Yamane, Takashi Yoshida, and Masahiko Kimura.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5JnlNtx_mM
This is one of the most beautiful pieces of opening music we've ever heard, honestly. Still have no idea what language the vocals are in, if they're in a language at all.
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Video game music thing, #2: Opening Level Music
I think my pick for this one would be Green Grass Gradation, from the soundtrack to Mega Man ZX, by Ippo Yamada, Masaki Suzuki, and Ryo Kawakami.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvmXbAob28Q
The Mega Man series has consistently had great music from its inception, and this one is no exception. It's played as soon as you gain control of your character, and the upbeat nature of it gets you going as you start the game.
Video game music thing, #3: 8-bit Music
Well, that's a pretty broad category, isn't it? So let's go with one people might not know as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny743c32gPg
This is the theme to Tetris, composed by Wally Beben.
You may be familiar with the remix of Korobeiniki that's on the Game Boy version of Tetris. This is not that.
This is the Commodore 64 version of Tetris, and its music is phenomenal. Make sure you have time to listen to it in full, at least 27 minutes. No loops in that either.
Video game music thing, #4: Music from a Console-Exclusive Series
This one gets a three-part suite, because these tracks simply *have* to go together. In order, they are
Determination
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-1mvbV3XTs
World Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QgUjqMxeXo
and Last Battle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IevXx3yQ77s
From the soundtrack to Chrono Trigger, by Yasunori Mitsuda himself.
These three tracks play as you approach the final boss, as you battle the boss's first phase, and as you fight its final phase. I've written up my thoughts on this more elsewhere but it's just an extremely good suite. The use of Lavos's scream in Last Battle, and the constantly panning ostinato that shows up briefly in World Revolution and then throughout the whole piece in Last Battle... This is just *so good*.
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Video game music thing, #5: Hub World or Overworld Music
There are a lot of good candidates for this one, but lately, I've been enjoying Overworld Adventure, from the soundtrack to The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, composed by Koji Kondo, Tōru Minegishi, Asuka Ōta, and Manaka Tominaga.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izbMZay_8Dk
Spirit Tracks is an underrated game in the series, really. It's not the best zelda, sure, but it's better than people give it credit for. And the music is, as always, excellent.
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Video game music thing, #6: Music that Makes You Feel Relaxed
This one took some thinking to pick one. There's so much good relaxing music out there!
But I ended up deciding on A Person's Warmth, from the soundtrack to Wild Arms 3, composed by Michiko Naruke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5hQyqKRZCk
It's just so calm and relaxing and it feels like it's reassuring you that everything will be okay. This is one track we come back to when stressed; it helps a lot.
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Video game music thing, #7: Music from an Indie Game
A track from Undertale or Touhou would be the obvious choice here, so I'm not going with the obvious choice.
Instead, I'm getting very obscure, and going with two tracks (intended to be played in immediate sequence) from a fan-made music expansion to an indie game: Tankard Basher and Danger Room, both by Simon Swerwer, from the Soundsense mod for Dwarf Fortress.
Both of these tracks have lyrics in the actual dwarven conlang used in Dwarf Fortress, and they fit into the world incredibly well. Not only the lyrics and melody, but the ambient sounds around it are added to give the distinct impression of this being a performance put on in a dwarven tavern, playing traditional dwarven music, with an audience clapping along and cheering. And it works incredibly well. The lyrics even give you a sense of dwarven culture, the things they find important and what they consider to be honorable.
CW for morbid lyrics (in Dwarven, but subtitled in english) below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1gF0uhHsqk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02nLHpSLTxo
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Video game music thing, #9: Music from a Licensed Game
The very last Game Boy Color game ever released was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a game that by rights shouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is. It's not an outstanding game, but the music is where it really shines. The soundtrack was based on the music from the other versions, which was composed by Jeremy Soule, but this soundtrack is primarily composed by Ian Stocker, including the track below, which I believe to be entirely original.
It's hard to pick just one track, honestly, but I think I'll go with Battle (The Burrow). A portion of this track was also used in the GBA version of the game, but that version does not appear to credit Stocker--though it does credit a "Semi-Precious Studios" that I can't find much information about online; Stocker may have been a part of this studio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4PlBzkTdhE
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Video game music thing, #10: RPG Battle Music
This one didn't take much thinking, until I started thinking about it. Do I go with music from Bravely Default? From Wild Arms? From Xenoblade? From Final Fantasy?
But I figure I might as well go with a comparatively unknown RPG with excellent music: Baten Kaitos Origins. This track is titled The Valedictory Elegy, and plays during non-boss battles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-SO2X6J83k
This game's soundtrack was composed by the legendary Motoi Sakuraba, also the composer for the entire Tales series, Golden Sun, Dark Souls, and, oddly enough, Mario Tennis.
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Video game music thing, #11: Puzzle Game Music
This one gave me some trouble at first, but then I remembered.
The game that first introduced us to Zachtronics' games, the Codex of Alchemical Engineering, had a fantastic soundtrack in four movements, composed by the French composer Evan LE NY.
The game (a free flash game) can be found here: http://www.zachtronics.com/the-codex-of-alchemical-engineering/
and its soundtrack, titled "Rêver... Peut-être...", which google translate suggests translates to "A Dream... Perhaps...", can be found on its composer's website: http://www.evan.fr/blog/2014/11/04/rever-peut-etre-2/
It's a lovely mix of different elements, going from soft and dreamy music, to heavy music that makes one think of steampunk factories, to almost techno-like beats, to operatic vocalizations and sweeping symphonic melodies. And that's just within the first movement.
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Video game music thing, #12: Music that Makes You Sad
I did one from Baten Kaitos Origins just a little bit ago, but fuck it, when I think sad music I think of this track, To the End of the Journey of Glittering Stars, from the soundtrack to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, composed by Motoi Sakuraba.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARPxxfAeUc
It just feels so emotional and sad... We don't even remember when in the game it plays, but it's one of our favorite tracks.
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Video game music thing, #13: Music You Like from a Game You Don't Like
We're not too big on sports games in general. This is a game we don't like, but not a game we *dislike*; it's just not our thing. Hopefully that's okay!
The track in question is Game Point - Break Point 2 from Mario Tennis, which some absolute genius decided to have Motoi Sakuraba compose the soundtrack for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq9mS7fj-7c
Since it's a game we don't particularly like, I'm afraid we don't have much to go on for any further commentary, though!
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Video game music thing, #14: Music Featuring Vocals
Normally, we can't stand music with vocals, especially English vocals.
This is the one exception we've found: the track Advanced Wind, from the soundtrack to Wild Arms 3, composed by Michiko Naruke and sung by Samantha Newark. It's rare for a dubbed version of an originally Japanese song to sound good at all, but this one blows the competition out of the water!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvoueEiVyWE
The lyrics are all relevant to what the game is about, in ways that you don't even realize until you learn more about the game's world... Even though we only got the one version of the opening here in the US, rather than the four different verses in Japan, it doesn't feel like anything is missing.
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Video game music thing, #15: Boss Battle Music
This one was *such* a difficult decision... I'd even typed up a full post on An Earnest Desire of Grey, but eventually changed my mind: this slot gets Decisive Battle II, from Octopath Traveller, composed by Yasunori Nishiki.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gul2Oi7V1c
This whole game is great, really. And it seems to be overlooked a lot, as a JRPG that's not part of one of the big series. But it's really good to see a more personal story in a jrpg. Each character has their own motivations and their own goals.
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Video game music thing, #16: 16-bit Music
I'm not really quite sure what this even means, as once you get to 16-bit stuff you have a lot more opportunities for music; it's not as distinct a style as 8-bit. But I'll try anyway!
I could go with one of the eternal classics like Stickerbush Symphony or Aria di Mezzo Carattere, but I have been trying to put a spotlight on some lesser-known music here, so... How about this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkYQQwepoc4
This is Underworld, from the soundtrack to Terranigma, composed by Miyoko Takaoka and Masanori Hikichi. It's a sad, stoic piece, but not one without hope, hope for a better future, to repair the broken world.
It fits the game it's from perfectly.
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Video game music thing, #17: Music You Never Get Tired Of
This one was also hard, honestly. But eventually I realized: Valak Mountain (Night) is a track I don't think it's possible to get bored of.
This is from the soundtrack to Xenoblade Chronicles, and while I can't find credits for this particular track, the soundtrack is credited to Manami Kiyota, Tomori Kudo, Hiroyo "CHiCO" Yamanaka, Kenji Hiramatsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Hiroyuki Sawano.
It's just such a calm, relaxing piece... and brings back memories of a beautiful location in the game it's from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adi77ZTq9Ho
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Video game music thing, #18: Music in a Game Released the Year You Were Born
This one has to be Iron Blue Intention, from the soundtrack of Castlevania: Bloodlines, composed by Michiru Yamane. There were few games released in 1994 that we know of, that have good music, and that are relatively obscure (as mentioned before, I'm trying to go with games that not everyone knows for this), so out of the choice of Castlevania: Bloodlines, Final Fantasy VI, and Mega Mans X, X2, and 6 (wow, capcom was busy), this is the one we chose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2l7ZC8i1Ck
Bloodlines is one of the less appreciated Castlevania games, but Iron Blue Intention is a fantastic track. We first heard it in Portrait of Ruin, which has rearrangements of all the best Castlevania music, but this is its original version.
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I think that's it for today--want to try to finish this up soon though so expect the rest in th enext couple days!
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Video game music thing, #19: Cover of Music by a Different Artist
This is a tough one--we don't know many covers of tracks by a different artist that show up in video games!
Eventually, I decided to go with Vermilion City, from Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4u0FAJIvwg
This soundtrack was composed by Junichi Masuda and Go Ichinose together, but this specific track was arranged by Go Ichinose from the original (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7fWDQgCrjU by Junichi Masuda).
This track changes the upbeat, energetic tone of the gen 1 music to something calm and relaxed. You've already beaten the elite four and are here for a vacation in gen 2; your adventure is winding down, not ramping up like in gen 1. And the rearrangement really helps that mood--not just this track, but many others in gen 2's Kanto region feel calm, relaxed, and nostalgic. Which is exactly what they were going for.
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Video game music thing, #20: Music from a Racing Game
This didn't take much deliberation: Frozen Hillside, from the soundtrack to Kirby Air Ride, composed by Shogo Sakai, Jun Ishikawa, Hirokazu Ando, and Tadashi Ikegami.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTOt8uUBj4A
Kirby Air Ride is an underappreciated game in general, but its music definitely stands out--Kirby games nearly always have great music, and this is no exception. It *was* actually difficult to decide which track to select for this one--definitely give Checker Knights, Sky Sands, and Forest Stage a listen as well!
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Video game music thing, #21: Music You Associate with Frustration
Undeniably, without a doubt, Final Battle from Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished: Omen.
Fuck that fight.
Great music though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3CNy_PvyBA
Composed by Yuzo Koshiro and Yukihiro Jindo.
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Video game music thing, #22: Town/Village Music
Some of the most relaxing, calm, and overall *fitting* town music we've ever heard is Rising Tide from the Suikoden soundtrack, composed by Miki Higashino, Tappy Iwase, Hiroshi Tamawari, Hirofumi Taniguchi, and Mayuko Kageshita.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-J3Y1EBvWM
This plays in the quiet lakeside villages of Teien and Rikon, and its slow, relaxed pace suits those villages perfectly.
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Video game music thing, #23: Underrated Music
I debated what to put here for a while, but then remembered that, for some reason, a lot of people dislike Harmony of Dissonance's soundtrack. So let's go with Offense and Defense, from the soundtrack to Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, by Soshiro Hokkai and Michiru Yamane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3y7S6YmUFg
People complain about this soundtrack's sound quality, but we're pretty sure that was largely the point. It uses basic wave shapes--square, sawtooth, triangle--rather than the more realistic instruments the GBA was capable of, because those basic shapes sound harsher, more "dissonant"--fitting for a game called Harmony of Dissonance that its soundtrack be made up of "dissonant" notes playing in harmony.
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Video game music thing, #24: Unforgettable Music
This was supposed to be "Music You Constantly Have Stuck in Your Head", but due to our brainweirdness, that's not really a theme that has an answer.
So instead, an approximation: Unforgettable Music. And for that theme, sticking with the theme of less well-known games, I'm going to go with the track Solar Boy Django, from the soundtrack to Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django, composed by Norihiko Hibino, Shuichi Kobori, Masashi Watanabe, Kazuki Muraoka, Akihiro Honda, Waichiro Ozaki, and Nobuko Toda. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find individual track credits anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbrk6yVlLA
A post-apocalyptic spaghetti western with vampires is a concept only Kojima could hope to pull off, really.
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re: Video game music thing, #24: Unforgettable Music
@Felthry *blinks* What's a /spaghetti/ Western?
re: Video game music thing, #24: Unforgettable Music
@IceWolf it's a term for a genre of western movies and novels that emphasize the characters' complexity, where you typically don't have hard lines between bad guys and good guys and frequently have an anti-hero character with mysterious motives, sometimes helping the hero and sometimes helping their enemies. The hero is frequently not a paragon of good either.
the word "spaghetti" got attached to it because it was popularized by Sergio Leone and other Italian filmmakers.
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Video game music thing, #8: Music from a Shooter
#FelthrysVGMSelection
This is perhaps not the most shootery of shooters, but Metroid Prime is one of the few shooters that we enjoy, so I'm counting it.
This track is Hall of the Elders, from the Metroid Prime soundtrack, by Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkSnzvCh2lk
In true Metroid fashion, sci-fi sound effects permeate the track, but they actually don't hurt its feeling of reverence at all. Instead, you get a feeling of both futuristic high technology and respectful spirituality combined together--perfectly capturing the Chozo this track represents.
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