game music: old favorites & sounds you hate

[alguna chica]

This topic is stolen from a recent Gamespot article (http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/fea...ontinue/1.html) that was slashdotted, but I thought it was interesting. I think we all have our favorite (or most hated) sounds and music from games we love (or love to hate). I know that I get giddy when I hear a modern band using old atari or NES sound effects in their music (ex. Mindless Self Indulgence, who rock), especially if it's from a level I recognize. How many of us have techno versions of the Mario theme? (I have a feeling that I'm not the only one with techno & rock versions of a *lot* of game music) Just in general, how important is game music & sound effects to you? To start this off, I'll list some of my favorite game sounds:
I think NES sounds connect me most to my childhood, regardless of how the company's doing today...so more than anything, the main mario theme (and underground theme) are my favorites with some mario kart64 sounds (princess, is buttah, bettah, whhhaat? ) thrown in. Though the theme from Bubble Bobble ranks up there too. (I like classic games)

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[sights]

...a similar topic was covered some time ago, but it's been a while so it doesn't hurt to have a similar discussion.
Yes, music is a powerful element where games are concerned. If you couple that with nostalgia, then you certainly have a killer combination: classic games of our childhood and the music that makes them memorable are so intricately interwoven with our memories, that are impossible to forget...

Anyway, I'll give my opinion for some classic games' music - and by classic I mean 8 or 16-bit - anything newer than that would provide a virtually endless selection of excellent musics, which would make it almost pointless to pick a favorite. Besides, the choices are already hard as it is, even for classic systems.

Let's start with the arcades: Who can forget the short music tunes of Pacman, Galaga, or Donkey Kong ("how high can you get ?" ) ? Or perhaps the in-game music of Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Commando, or Nemesis ? Truly some of the most memorable musics...
And the 8-bits ? ...again too many to choose from... I never get tired to listen to Renegade's (faithfully adapted from the arcade) stage music themes on my CPC. The C64 had some of the best music tunes, too.... tons of them, actually. I'll pick one that's in my mind right now: "Thalamusic", the loading theme of Sanxion.
Moving on to the 16-bits, I'm sure that Square's various RPG themes will be meticulously covered by at least the 90% of the members of this forum (along with other console game themes), so I won't go there. Instead, I'll mention a scant few of the Amiga's superb gaming musics: The amazing intro theme of Defender of the Crown... the fabulous in-game music in Awesome... the stunning piano introductory theme in Agony... the two fantastic selectable themes of Project-X.... the marvellous intro & in-game musics of Turrican... the intro theme of Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 2... again, the list is endless....

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Last edited by sights; September 24th, 2003 at 03:59..

[cloudvii]

well the music in "castelvania" and "ghosts and goblins" were one of the best .

and mario's theme too (i know some ppl who have it as a ring tone for their mobiles)

i liked the battle theme in final fantasy as it been nearly the same but changing bit by bit till ff6 when ff7 came it changed completely the theme . but ff9 return the classic theme somehow

and i loved street fighter main theme .

and some themes of contra (the first one) like level 2 , 4 (the same) , 5 and 8 .

and i hated the voices in the first mk .

and i hated donkey kong theme .

well i can't give all the list

[ofdeath]

Like: Castlevania:Simons Quest (Day and night) , Metal Gear , FF7 (One Winged Angel)

Hate: Crash Bandicoot , Hard Edge , FF8 (When finishing a battle :P)

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[cloudvii]

why did u hate ff8's finishing battle theme !!

while it was a remix of ff7's one

[Sephi]

FF8 eyes on me !!! its the best song i heard from a game.

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[ofdeath]

Originally Posted by cloudvii13003

why did u hate ff8's finishing battle theme !!

while it was a remix of ff7's one

Actually it was Selphies dance to it that made me puke

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[Esturk]

Ah.... Amiga. Dungeon Master II - Skullkeep, most amazing atmospheric music ever. It adds so much to the game, which is already totally awesome.

As for NES & Gameboy.. The original Tetris. Mixes of old russian folk music. I've always liked the music in Tetris and have downloaded real versions of the songs from Tetris.

Who doesn't like the classic victory tune in FF1-6? Heh heh, too bad they scrapped it with FF7 and up.

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[Monkeybrains]

There are a few Atari ST games that I have that have pretty cool music, like Space Crusade, Deflektor, Renegade (not the beat'em up), Xenon 2, Risky Woods (first level) and Turrican
Some others with good music are Monkey Island, Deus Ex, Tales of Destiny and Radical Dreamers.
There are probably loads more that like but I can't think of any at the moment.
I can't think of any I hate either.

EDIT: Another ST one is 3D Galax.

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Last edited by Monkeybrains; September 27th, 2003 at 22:48..

[alguna chica]

Ahhh I can't believe I forgot the tetris music. Definitely on my list of favorites.

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[cloudvii]

quote by ofdeath
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Actually it was Selphies dance to it that made me puke
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well i agree then

[MaZa]

These remind me of my childhood. Like:

Last Ninja music, especially wilderness stage´s music. (c64 and amiga)

International Karate+ (amiga version)

Techno song that plays in many OCEAN´s games when game is loading (tape in C64), example in Batman. I wanna know what that music is named and where to download it! It was so cool when i was a kid.

Final Fantasy original "crystal theme" (you know one that plays in FF4 and others when you choose what game to load and when you install pc version of FF7). I love it!

These make me pissed off. Hate:

Final Fantasy chocobo music! IT DRIVES ME MAD!!!

I dont remember others now...

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[cloudvii]

well most of old games soundtracks can be found on .

www.vgmusic.com

but in midi format but u can change it to mp3 or just use a midi softsynthesizer like yamaha xg (which i use)

it have midi's of most games (even new ones)

[hoyoyo80]

castlevania nes boss music,and my fav NES dr.mario chill music;p

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[MaZa]

No need for software Midi synth, cuz i have SB Live! with 8MB soundfont loaded. Almost 100% realistic real-life instruments midi sounds. Thanks anyway, going to search for it.

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[cloudvii]

it's a pleasure , and i can't replace my Yamaha XG with any new sound card .

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[sights]

...while browsing that site, I remembered some nice themes just by looking at the games' titles. Games like Space Harrier, Venus the Flytrap, Xenon 2, Shadow of the Beast, Harlequin... and many more with excellent music themes ...like I said there's no way to list them all.

-However- it's truly unforgivable from my part, that I forgot to mention the in-game music theme of Jim Power, in my previous post !! I can't belive myself !! ...how in God's name did I forget this one ? - it's one of my favorites !!
...I was even tempted and listened to the midi for a while, and although it doesn't do justice to the original theme (naturally), it brought back some nice memories

[cloudvii]

well there is always some utilities that enables hearing the game music .
check www.zophar.net

and browse the utilities section

it helped me much

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[roxor]

Okay, this thread's not too old, so I'll add a post of mine.

My favourite old game music:
Monster Bash (particulary the mainmenu)
Commander Keen
Duke Nukem 2
that goofy music with the 'Spike' creature in Space Quest 5
one or two from Doom
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
e2l7 of Duke3d (and a few others)
Death Rally
Terminal Velocity
a few from ROTT
Jazz Jackrabbit
and, of course Tyrian.
There are others, but I can't think of them right now.

There are some of those PC speaker sound fx that I'll always remember, like the "goo-wunk" jumping sound in Crystal Caves. *sigh* Those were the days, eh?

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Last edited by roxor; October 23rd, 2003 at 18:34..

[Kane]

Basicaly anything by Yasunori Mitsuida or Nobuo Uematsu, and music from

• Ascendancy (PC/MS-DOS)
• Comaand & Conquer - Act on Instinct (PC/MS-DOS)
• Coolboarders 2 - The Siren (PSX)
• Crusader No Remorse/No Regret (PC/MS-DOS)
• Cybernoid 2 (C64)
• Dead Dance (aka Tuff 'E' Nuff) - Ending Credits, Rei Theme (SFC/SNES)
• Streets of Rage 2 - Go Straight, Sor Super Mix (GEN/SMD)
• SSX/Tricky - Hybrid's Finished Symphony, Himalayas, Aphrodite's King of the Beats (PS2)
• Super Street Fighter 2 - Ryu, Guile, Credits (SFC/SNES)
• Super Metroid - Brinstar 2 (SFC/SNES)
• Tekken 2 - Yoshimitsu (PSX)
• Turrican 2 - Main Theme (Amiga/CPC)

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