Great Gaming Music

Great games are very often made by great music. Over the past few days I've highlighted some of the best single tracks in the rich history of videogaming. Here, in no better order than the one in which I posted them, are all twenty. Click the links to see the post.

1: Kiss Me Sunlights
From Zone of the Enders

2: Sanctuary
From Kingdom Hearts 2

3: Halo Theme
From Halo

4: One-Winged Angel
From Final Fantasy VII

5: The 7th Guest
From The 7th Guest

6: Metal Gear Solid Main Theme
From Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

7: Max Payne Theme
From Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

8: Silent Hill
From Silent Hill

9: The Secret of Monkey Island
From The Secret of Monkey Island

10: Still Alive
From Portal

11: Katamari On The Rocks
From Katamari Damacy

12: Hymn Of The Fayth
From Final Fantasy X

13: Overworld Theme
From The Legend of Zelda

14: Theme 4
From Lemmings

15: World 1-1 Theme
From Super Mario Bros

16: Type A
From Tetris

17: Legacy
From Full Throttle

18: Atom Bomb
From Wipeout XL

19: Bubble Bobble
From Bubble Bobble

20: Hell March
From Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Great Gaming Music #20: Hell March

As this series of Great Gaming Music posts nears its end, people have not been shy in offering opinions about what classic tunes I've missed out. I was initially prepared to ignore them all and treat you to the main theme from the original Wing Commander but sadly YouTube hasn't been able to come up with the goods.

Therefore I'm instead caving to popular pressure and directing your ears to Frank Klepacki's scores to the Command & Conquer games. Featured here is my personal favourite, "Hell March", which is the opening theme to Command & Conquer: Red Alert. It's a game based on the premise of Hitler being assassinated by a time-travelling Albert Einstein, and Hell March manages to convey the simultaneous ridiculousness and awesomeness of that concept.

Vegas-based Klepacki has produced the score for a number of games by Westwood, its contemporaries and successors, including The Legend of Kyrandia, Dune 2, Blade Runner and Universe at War.

By the way, those under the misconception that "Mechanical Man" is the superior piece of C&C music can find it here, but while they listen to it I'll be quietly scorning them.

Great Gaming Music #19: Bubble Bobble

Bubble Bobble may not have the most powerfully moving soundtrack in gaming history, but considering that it storms through a hundred levels using only a single 45-second loop of sound, the fact that it doesn't drive players screaming from their computers is a minor musical miracle. In fact, I often find myself humming this even when not attempting to trap critters in floating bubbles.

Featured above is the theme from Bubble Bobble as it appears in the Amiga version of the game.

Great Gaming Music #18: Atom Bomb

The Wipeout series is known for delivering thrilling high-speed futuristic anti-gravity racing. While superficially similar to Nintendo's F-Zero games, Wipeout distinguishes itself through an extreme sense of speed and a history of trance soundtracks featuring big-name artists, including Orbital, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Prodigy and Fluke.

The soundtrack to the Psygnosis-developed Wipeout XL was heavily promoted in partnership with Red Bull Energy Drink. Stations running the game were set up in nightclubs and an extensive marketing campaign was set in motion. The soundtrack album spawned a single, "Atom Bomb" by Fluke (featured above) which reached #20 on the UK charts. "Atom Bomb" also appeared on Fluke's fourth album Risotto and represents one of their most successful creations.

Great Gaming Music #17: Legacy

This is Legacy by the Gone Jackals as featured in the opening to Lucasarts' Full Throttle. The music played an integral part in selling this biker-themed point-'n'-click adventure to a skeptical audience. The hard rock and hillbilly soundtrack helped smooth over the occasional rough patch in the game's pacing and allow players to experience the frequent moments of genius on offer.

The Gone Jackals released three albums between 1990 and 1998; Legacy is featured on their second album, Bone to Pick. Despite attempts in 2000 and 2003, sequel projects to Full Throttle entitled (respectively) Payback and Hell on Wheels have never gotten off the ground and as of today no attempts to continue the franchise are on foot.

Great Gaming Music #16: Tetris Type A

It's hard to believe that a game as widely played and insanely popular as Tetris only shipped with three pieces of music. Thankfully all three were brain-infectingly catchy and able to withstand marathon play sessions without driving players insane.

Featured above is the Type A music from the Game Boy release of Tetris; it's an instrumental arrangement of Russian folk melody Korobeiniki.

Passionate Tetris players may be interested to look at John Brzustowski's thesis on the question of whether one can play Tetris for an indefinite period, entitled Can You Win At Tetris?

Great Gaming Music #15: Super Mario Bros - Level 1-1

There's something of an internet tradition of competing to see who can create the most oddball rendition of the Super Mario Bros theme. Currently my vote goes to the version above, played on wine bottle and remote-controlled car. Second prize, though, would definitely go to this version played on duel Tesla coils.

The Level 1-1 soundtrack from Super Mario Bros is another of the works of Zelda composer Kōji Kondō. It's the definitive Mario theme and is probably the most well-known piece of gaming music ever created.

Great Gaming Music #14: Lemmings - Theme 4

Psygnosis' Lemmings was a fantastic game for any number of reasons, and despite many attempts has never really been replicated. A key element in the fun is the catchy soundtrack, created by Brian Johnston, brother of developer Scott Johnston. (No, not the AC/DC Brian Johnston.)

Due to worries about music copyright, most of the Lemmings songs were either arrangements of existing public domain music or "borrowings" from other Psygnosis games such as Shadow of the Beast. Despite this patchwork design strategy, the finished music retains a unique and memorable flavour.

Great Gaming Music #13: The Legend Of Zelda - Overworld Theme

This iconic track first appeared at the title screen and throughout the overworld of the original Legend of Zelda and has since featured at some point in every Zelda game since, with the notable exception of Ocarina of Time.

It's composed by Kōji Kondō, who has worked on all the Nintendo-developed Zelda games. He is also the chief composer for the Super Mario franchise and is responsible for the beloved Mario theme. Kōji's other works include Duck Hunt and Star Fox 64 (known as Lylat Wars to Australians).

The version of the Zelda Theme above is as performed by Zack Kim on dual guitars. Another very excellent electric guitar arrangement can be heard by clicking here.

Great Gaming Music #12: Hymn Of The Fayth

Final Fantasy X might be called the last great hurrah of the Final Fantasy franchise, before the disappointing outings of X-2, XI and XII. While it's a valid criticism that FFX had an overly linear first and second act, it successfully used that focused early-game experience to flesh out the moody, spiritual world of Spira.

Integral to that experience was Nobuo Uematsu's soundtrack. Featured here is his Hymn of the Fayth, a recurring musical theme throughout both this game and Final Fantasy X-2.

Great Gaming Music #11: Katamari On The Rocks

Naaaa-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, Katamari Damacy.

Yu Miyake's theme to Katamari Damacy is like a particularly tenacious brain weevil, in that you just can't get out of your head. Despite how intensely strange the game is, it's music that nevertheless captures the spirit of the franchise perfectly.

As far as I can tell, the Katamari games are Miyake's only work as a composer, although he has acted as sound director on the Tekken games for Namco.

If, like me, you just can't get enough of Katamari On The Rocks, then you'll probably get a kick out of this somewhat dodgy a capella version of it.

Great Gaming Music #10: Still Alive

Jonathan Coulton's catchy end theme to Portal became an overnight pop culture phenomenon following the game's release last year. The song was so good that, as one YouTube commentor put it, "it makes love to you in your sleep".

Not only was the song excellent, but Portal's short length and forgiving difficulty meant that almost everyone who acquired the title ended up seeing its appearance over the end credits. It achieved the three goals of being good music, being a satisfactory conclusion to the game, and managing to stay in character (it's sung by Ellen McLain, the voice of the game's primary antagonist, GLaDOS).

It's hard not to speculate whether the game would have been quite as crazily successful were it not for this particular piece of soundtrack. Coulton, a self-described geek-rock troubador, is also famous for tracks such as "Code Monkeys" and "Re: Your Brains".

Great Gaming Music #9: The Secret of Monkey Island

The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the greatest games of all time, representing a rare gathering of creative talent including, among others, Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Steve Purcell and Orson Scott Card. Included in that number is Michael Land, who composed the game's fantastic Caribbean-influenced theme.

Land went on to collaborate heavily with Lucasarts between 1990 and 2000, working on the scores to the subsequent Monkey Island games, X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and The Dig.

The version above is the mt32 MIDI mix of the main theme, as played during the opening sequence of the game. The later CD edition of Monkey Island came with several bonus audio tracks, notably an excellent rock remix of the theme which unfortunately does not seem to have made its way to YouTube.

Great Gaming Music #8: Silent Hill

Akira Yamaoka's music for Silent Hill is the pinnacle of the field of Japanese survival-horror soundtracks. While his Theme of Laura from Silent Hill 2 seems to have become the default franchise mascot, I vastly prefer his creepy musical introduction to the original game, featured here alongside footage from the Silent Hill movie.

I think one of the reasons why Yamaoka's work on Silent Hill is so memorable is the way he avoids a lot of cliches of horror music. He marries up genuinely creepy passages of music with traditional guitar to reflect the juxtaposition of nightmare and normal which is a running theme of the series.

Not only did Yamaoka compose the soundtracks for all four of the original Silent Hill games plus Origins, Homecoming, and the film: he also worked as sound director on the core titles. Wikipedia informs that he recorded over 200 different footstep sounds for use in Silent Hill 2. His music has also been featured heavily throughout Konami's Beatmania IIDX franchise.

Great Gaming Music #7: Max Payne Theme

The haunting main theme for the Max Payne series by Finnish composer Kärtsy Hatakka is a piece of music that still gives me shivers to this day. The player first encounters it at the game's title screen and there are few compositions in gaming history which so ably set the mood for what is to follow.

The version above is the arrangement for strings featured in Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. Those wishing to hear the piano version from the first game can click here.

Great Gaming Music #6: Metal Gear Solid Main Theme

Harry Gregson-Williams is one of the most talented composers working Hollywood today, and his Metal Gear Solid Main Theme is easily one of his best works. The version shown above is as featured in the opening to Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, which for my money is the best of the several arrangements showcased throughout the franchise. The music for the Metal Gear Solid games, combined with Hideo Kojima's direction, are responsible for the memorable big-screen cinematic feel of the franchise.

Gregson-Williams has also produced scores for a huge range of big-budget films of the last decade, including but not limited to the two Chronicles of Narnia movies, the Shrek movies, and Kingdom of Heaven. He collaborated with Hans Zimmer on The Rock and will be scoring the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie.

Great Gaming Music #5: The 7th Guest

I am disproportionately fond of haunted house stories. I have, for example, a deep and forbidden love for classic Vincent Price B-movie House on Haunted Hill, to the point that I've watched it a good dozen or so times and am still prepared to come back for more.

Likewise, I have a near-endless tolerance for The 7th Guest, a point-'n'-click puzzler from the era of Myst, despite the fact that it is, by nearly any objective measure, Not A Good Game (TM). A huge chunk of that affection comes from the brilliant musical score by George Alistair "The Fat Man" Sanger.

Sanger is a prolific early 90s game composer whose other notable works include Loom, Maniac Mansion, Wing Commander, Ultima Underworld and The 11th Hour. It's fair to say that his compositions are the beginning and end of Western gaming music between 1990 and 1995.

The actual disc that The 7th Guest came on could be played as an audio CD, in the way of many titles of that time, to reveal the complete game soundtrack, including an extended version of the main theme featuring additional vocals. Sadly my trawling of YouTube hasn't yielded a copy of that song to post here, which is a sadness that cannot be described using only pitiful Earth languages.

Great Gaming Music #4: One-Winged Angel

Final Fantasy VII was a generation-defining game which ended with an apocalyptic confrontation between the main characters and the game's arch-villain Sephiroth. Nobuo Uematsu's theme for that fight, One-Winged Angel, is one of the most thrilling and memorable songs in gaming history.

Uematsu is well known as the composer for a large number of Square-Enix and Mistwalker games, including Chrono Trigger, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and all the Final Fantasy titles to date. He is also the creator of the excellent main theme from Super Smash Bros Brawl. His works have been featured in a number of live orchestral concerts and he tours as part of rock band The Black Mages.

The version of One-Winged Angel that appears above is as performed live by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Town Hall. Those who want to hear the song as it originally appeared on the PlayStation version of FF7 can click here, although they're warned that it doesn't have quite the sound quality they may remember.

Great Gaming Music #3: Halo Theme

Halo is fun, to be sure, but between its repetitive level design and poorly-told story it probably wouldn't have been the hit it was, were it not for the stunning orchestral score.

The rendition above is performed by Martin Leung, aka the Video Game Pianist, playing live at what I think is E3. Purists can find the original version by clicking here.

Composer Martin O'Donnell previously worked on the soundtracks to games such as Oni, Myth: The Fallen Lords and Riven, all of which are terrifying excursions into dullness which you should never play even if threatened at gunpoint. Halo and its sequels have been his first real hit.

Great Gaming Music #2: Sanctuary

Hikaru Utada's compositions for the Kingdom Hearts games are just one of the many reasons these titles became a runaway success story for Square-Enix. Featured here is Sanctuary, the English-language version of her theme to Kingdom Hearts 2. (The Japanese version, entitled Passion, is available here.)

Hikaru is massively popular in Japan and her album First Love became the highest selling album in Japanese history. In the West, she's signed under the DefJam record label, which leads me to wishful thinking about her contributing to forthcoming expansions of the DefJam fighting game franchise.

UPDATE: By the way, how awesome is this Hikaru Utada cover of Boulevard of Broken Dreams?