Influential VGM/OST

[Solus_Emsu]

Hello all from a newer member, and as a huge fan of VGM/OST I thought I would try and get some other members input on their favorite music from video games.

I grew up playing on the NES-SNES era and enjoy some good old chiptunes as much as anyone else, but there was a definite 'epiphany' if you will where I really started to notice the background music of video games and it stood out to me. If I had to sum it up in one game I would say Wild Arms for the PS1, as this came out in 1997 it was one of the earlier PS1 RPG's before the boom of the era and had a great western-feel OST. Unfortunately the game was shadowed by the hype and release of Final Fantasy 7 several months later and was often overlooked. However it was a great console-style RPG with challenging puzzles and dungeons, a decent story and an awesome soundtrack. The opening intro itself was probably the best piece of VGM I had heard at that time.




I'm not ruling out older systems and there influences, but at that younger age game music just didn't stand out to me like Wild Arms did. If I had to list some older mentions I would say Dr.Mario (given two main tracks), and probably either Super Metroid or Donkey Kong for the SNES. I know this is purely subjective and will differ for each person, but if you had to list one game that really stood out to you and made you notice the music what would it be?

[Menegrothx]

but if you had to list one game that really stood out to you and made you notice the music what would it be?

To be honest I didnt really pay that much attention to video game music when I was younger, while nowadays my external hard drive is full of NES, Commodore 64, SNES, Genesis, Amiga, MS-DOS, PC, PS1 etc video game music. But if I had to name the PS1 soundtracks that I remember most vividly from my childhood, the games would be Silent Hill, Ape Escape, Final Fantasy 7, the Crash Bandicoot-series and Abe's Odyssey.

The audio design and music in Silent Hill at the time was just something unique. I'd say that even today it is. The harsh industrial music was, and still is unlike nothing I've heard in any horror game ever since. Silent Hill 2 took a different approach to music as it had a different kind of athmosphere and Silent Hill 3 (and Origins) tried to go for the same kind of grimy hellish athmosphere as the original but weren't nearly as good in my opinnion.


Ape Escape had an awesome DnB-ish sound track and the game is just jam packed full of quality tunes. And the music changes to a more subtle version of the same track when you enter the prone position and sneak around. The game just has a very high amount of good, memorable songs in my opinnion, while most similiar 3D platformers have a lot higher amount of mediocre/meh songs


Final Fantasy 7 had some very memorable songs, espescially the battle theme (pretty much the first thing you hear when you start the game). And the first boss battle theme is just bad ass.


The songs in Crash Bandicoot games captured really well the athmosphere of their respective levels and had a great, cartoony sound to them.


While Abe's Odyssey (and it's sequel) doesn't have memorable catchy tunes, the audio design/ambient music was extremely athmospheric.
The sounds you hear when you start this game are forevere burned into my memory
00:00-1:17

Edit: Oh yeah. I forgot to mention Tekken 2! I love how each character had their own unique level and the music in those stages reflected their personality and backstory really well. The music in Tekken 6 is garbage compared to 1-3 the characters dont have their own unique theme songs.

[Solus_Emsu]

Thanks for the reply and additions Menegrothx, and it's nice to get some other genre's included since my experience is a bit RPG biased.

May I suggest a great youtube channel for VGM: SupraDarky

http://www.youtube.com/user/SupraDarky


Been following his channel for years now and he always posts great stuff from new and old games alike. I believe he's up to 1200 or so now (they are numbered but not in a rated list sense). I usually leave one of the playlists on shuffle while at work.

[Hobie-wan]

Rob Hubbard at the helm of a SID. Hands down.

Commando

One Man and His Droid - I had the US release of this game which had basically no instructions and I never did understand how to play the game, but it would play the music while paused and I would sometimes spend the 3 minutes loading the game just to listen to it.

And of course Delta (Delta Patrol). Title music and the epic Philip Glass/Pink Floyd inspired in game music. This is what finally led me to recording tunes off my C64 to listen to at other times.

[Menegrothx]

Dont forget Monty on the Run!

Here's Rob talking about his career and video game music composing if you're intrested
Rob Hubbard - Golden Days of Computer Game Music