Great game music

[He-Man]

Word up!

I'm about to spend the next couple of mouths writing a project for my University about the use of music in computer games.

Therefore I would to know if any of you people can think of any games where the music is specially great?
This could be because it's a great composition played by an entire orcestra (eg. Hitman) or because the music changes in a great way following the phase of the game (eg. Half Life 2). You name it!

Since this is for a University project any feedback would be very appreciated...

Thanks!
Your pal
Niels

[m0ds]

Transport Tycoon, because the tunes are soo jazzy and so catchy!

[lo_res_man]

I would have to say any and all Monkey Island games, as well as The Dig. Michial land was GREAT. Ã, Robyn Ã, Miller of Myst and Riven fame was wonderful as well. hope this helps. Quake had some Creep-tonite stuff as well.

P.S (modify) I forgot Grim Fendango,( smacks head, the goes of to play the end of the game ...for the MUSIC) jazz and peru panpipes and mexico stuff, whats not to love?!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

The Gabriel Knight series.
American McGee's Alice.
The Neverhood.
Phantasmagoria 1 (especially the main theme, Consumite Furore).

[LimpingFish]

The Castlevania series always had great music.
Metal Gear Solid series.
Silent Hill.
(Wow, all Konami games too! :o)

But probably my favourite music is from Tenchu: Stealth Assassins on the Playstation.
Great use of violin and cello. Funky basslines as well!

[Nikolas]

A pretty old game, with midi fm sounds but, it was amazing music (both, compositionaly and orchetration wise): Betrayal at Krondor.

Now, I don't know if it's any help, but Bard's Tale I had monophonic music from the beeper of the computer (we're talking about 1985-86), but it was contrapuntal. Very clever it sounded like having at least two voices. With accopaniaments and all. But always with beeps...

[Domino]

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.  To this day I still find myself humming the music and i think it's unforgettable. It might not be alot of people's cup of tea, but i sure like it.

[Meowster]

Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island 2 are great examples of video game music done well... not only were the tracks memorable, good to listen to and well fitted to the game, but they also used ... what was it called? iMuse. Definitely look up more on iMuse and how that worked.

Grim Fandango had an amazing mexican-style soundtrack.

Katamari Damacy has a good sountrack too... whether it's to your tastes or not, it certainly is different and unique and catchy.  It has a lot of J-pop tunes, and a very simple hummed main theme  (Naaaa, nanana na na naaa naa na Katamari Damashii!) that's very endearing and gives the game a LOT of character. Definitely worth looking up.

Vib Ribbon is another game... if anybody remembers it, it was a game on PS1 where you made the little Vib Ribbon guy jump over shapes that were created by the bass line of the music. It only had a few tracks, but again they were unique and catchy (Don't stop now! Oh yes. Don't stop now! Ladies, and Gentlemen! Ladies, and gentlemen!)

Psychonauts is a new game with an incredible soundtrack that has massive diversity. One particular track made my mother ask why I was listening to DeBussy ¬¬

I heard the planetscape music is really fucking epic and good, but I've only heard a bit of it (and it was epic, and good!)

Space Channel five rules, ha ha, oh man... dancing off with aliens is good, no matter what the music sounds like. Thankfully, the music actually fucking FULES, so there's another one worth checking out.

Beyond Good & Evil had a very catchy and unique theme song with lyrics you might be interested in hearing, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles had a few tracks that were good too... particularly the end of year dance music and the opening theme.

Final Fantasy games themselves, especially VI - IX (Got a little bit shit after IX). A lot of the games had pop song theme tunes, but besides that they had a lot of distinctive music... if you played a piece of music from a final fantasy game to somebody an FF fan who'd never heard it before, chances are they'd recognise it as being from FF.

I also liked the music to RE4. Although it was nothing spectacular, it did actually suit the mood and in some instances was very, very scary. Basically it was just really well used. Thumbs up!

Now there's some research for you.

[LGM]

Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill), Nobuo Uematso (Final Fantasy), Keiichi Suzuki (Earthbound), and Chris Brayman (King's Quest VI and Dagger of Amon Ra) are all great video game composers.

In addition to those names, the music of Monkey Island and The Neverhood (Terry S. Taylor) is also very good

[Scummbuddy]

I second Yuftser's suggestion about discussing iMuse. It revolutionized how music was used in games but never got the publicity it deserved.

[Gilbert]

Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã,  Ã, tm
LOOM





Well... If only they composed the musics themselves...

[MrColossal]

Kick, punch, it's all in the mind, if you want to test me I'm sure you'll find the things The things I'll teach ya is sure to beat ya. But nevertheless you'll get a lesson from teacher.

Parappa The Rapper... Yes.

[Kinoko]

Katamari and Vib Ribbon are both excellent examples! I play that music all the time at home.

As far as things people haven't mentioned... I'd also recommend Donkey Kong Country 2 - it might sound stupid, but that music is just gorgeous. Lufia 2 had an amazing theme tune, I really think it's even better than the FF theme in terms of ... well, everything that make a theme tune good. Terranigma's music has a great ability to evoke emotion in me.

Oh, oh, oh... whatever you do, don't forget to mention Skies of Arcadia. If you haven't played it, go out and get it. Gorgeous, gorgeous music.

[Captain Mostly]

Curse of Monkey Island has the best game-music I've ever experienced. It's spot on in my opinion. I also remember the way that the tune built up as you paddled across the swamp in MI2 being really very well implemented.

I suppose Wipeout should be mentioned because of its having been the first game to really make a big deal about its music being y'know... proper dance music and stuff...

I usually turn in-game music off if it's not essential I can hear it though. This is because it's usually really annoying and adds nothing to the game. The HalfLife2 music, for example, was terrible! I was infact quite cross when I got to the underside of that bridge and found myself hearing music even though I thought I'd switched it off! Was that a bug or a very strange design decision?

ONE interesting thing I know about in-game music is this: In an early version of the Quake shareware release (as given away on a PC Gamer cover CD in the UK) the final level of episode 1 contained a very funky tune that was not only inconsistant with the silence of all the other levels, but was miles and MILES away from the NIN music that was shipped with the final version of the game.  It was very interesting to note how much of an enormous difference this tune - compared to silence and the NIN track - made to the feel of the level. I suppose it was probably vestigal place-holder music, but clearly someone at ID was visualising their game as funky-groovy while they made it...

[PaulSC]

Yeah, Katamari Damacy (which i consider godlike in almost every aspect of its creation), most Mario/Zelda games, most stuff created by Michael Land, Peter McConnel and Nobuo Uematso - all great examples.

Also if you don't mind me getting a bit pre-1990 for a sec, I'll always have time for the excellent music provided by the amstrad/spectrum games Dizzy, Treasure Island Dizzy, Glider Rider and Wriggler.

I bet I could write a great essay about game music. Shame no couse I ever did gave me the opportunity. Damn those non-game music related courses I wasted my life doing!

[m0ds]

Dizzy had the best music I'd ever heard as an 8 year old! Bless.

[Privateer Puddin']

another mention of iMuse games (Monkey 2 onwards), Freedom Fighters.. from the company who make Hitman so i imagine it's the same people doing the music. Another mention of Metal Gear Solid, with it all being orchestra from 2.

[Rincewind]

Mm, yes, as several has mentioned already, Grim Fandango, (Big band, bebop and bones... Brilliant.) Gabriel Knight 1/2/3 & CoMI are truly great, great soundtracks, although I must say that my personal LEC-favourite is one that hasn't been mentioned yet:

Outlaws - I mean, come on, what's not to love about a spaghetti-western-soundtrack?
Twangy guitars, trumpets and whistlings... Mmmm... I love it.
Gotta get my hands on that game. Gah. Best darn' rootin'-tootin' FPS there ever was.


And oh, yeah, Discworld Noir as well. The main theme and the Anhk-Morpork-map-theme...
Gives me goosebumps every time. More moody jazz in adventure games, I say.