Game music is the only music that matters.
Nobuo Uematsu. Yasunori Mitsuda. Koji Kondo. The names of the greatest composers in gaming music might be familiar, but the music they’ve produced is so much more memorable. Uematsu’s work has spun off into CDs and concerts like the “Dear Friends…” series. Mitsuda’s phenomenal soundtracks for Chrono Cross and its prequel, Chrono Trigger, which he did with Uematsu, stand as some of the greatest pieces of music I’ve heard, not just in gaming. Indeed, I have a number of Mitsuda’s songs as custom-made ringtones on my cell phone. Kondo might take the title as composer of the most memorable music in gaming, with such famed ditties as the Mario and Zelda themes.
The most memorable soundtracks for me in the past decade have been those for Chrono Cross, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Metroid Prime, and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. As you can see, Michiru Yamane, who’s been composing most of the music for the Castlevania series since 1994′s Bloodlines, is one of my personal favorites.
It’s frustrating that game music really hasn’t hit retail in the US much at all. It’s hard to get your hands on legitimate game music. It’s only been very recently that publishers have started offering CDs of the music more often, and it’s usually a promotional item. The earliest one I’m aware of is the “Killer Cuts” CD that shipped with Killer Instinct for N64. I have that CD, you know. Yes, it’s awful. But I’ve never seen another copy, which is cool.
Most of the music on my cell phone represents older generations of gaming though, while still representing some of these same composers. Paul can talk about the Katamari Damacy soundtrack, while I’ve never played more than the demo and didn’t find the music memorable. James will likely recognize the Warsong ringtone on my cell phone next time he hears it. And I expect if I were walking down the street in Tokyo and the song on my phone from Dragon Quest II went off, at least one passer-by would faint. Admittedly, I’m over six feet tall, and people might faint if I were in Tokyo anyway.
I’ve heard positive impressions of the music from Halo. There are a lot of Xbox people here, and I’m sure many of you have very specific memories of gaming music, and I’d love to hear them.
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Keith
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Stephen
