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My favorite game soundtracks: 128-bit era
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Starting with the Dreamcast, game consoles had evolved to the point where the only limitations on the game's music was a composer's imagination, the 128-bit era brought some stellar sounds and helped create an more immersive experience in most games. Get ready for the biggest list in the series.
The same rules from the 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32/64 bit era apply: these games are only my favorite's, it's only the games I played, and a new rule: games with a highly licensed soundtrack are ruled out. It may sound awesome, but it essential turns a game into the most interactive MP3 player and truly doesn't add to the game's experience. Unless it absolutely fits with the game's motif and style (as was the case with Jet Grind Radio).
As always, if there's a game that's missed (which is more deliberate for space reasons), email me at ramsfanman@hotmail.com
Dreamcast:
Resident Evil CODE: Veronica (2000), Composers: Takeshi Miura, Hijiri Anizi, Sanae Kasahara-Until Resident Evil 4 came along, this was the best RE and the soundtrack was memorable for alternating tunes between creepy and adrenaline pumping, the songs during the boss battles gave those battles an epic feel. Soundtrack availability: A 2-disc version does exists and I've seen it in shops in Little Tokyo. And there's an album for Code: Veronica X, so it should be easy to find.
Crazy Taxi (2000), Composers: Bad Religion, The Offspring-No, I didn't forget my rule about licensed songs because this was an awesome game and the awesome songs by both bad bands completely matched the crazy (totally wasn't trying to make a pun) vibe of the game and it made me a fan of both bands. Soundtrack availability: You can find any of the songs in the game on iTunes easily.
Dead or Alive 2 (2000), Composers: Makoto Hosoi, Shigekiyo Okuda-This has got most of the usual rock trappings within the fighting genre but it's Helena's theme, 'Blazed-Up Melpomene' that was just so entralling with a perfect blend of classical strings, techno riffs, and heavy guitar riffs. Soundtrack availability: Probably easier to find the MP3s than an actual album.
Grand Theft Auto 2 (2000), Composers: Craig Connor, Stuart Ross-This game laid the groundwork for how audio was going to be used in the future in the series, this game spread the music around by having certain songs only play in certain cars. If you had a fast, Japanese sports car, you'd probably listen to some fast-paced techno. And all the music was original, which helped to create a real-world vibe that was pretty ahead of it's time. Soundtrack availability: Sadly, no soundtrack was made but the MP3s are probably easy to find and download.
Jet Grind Radio (2000), Composers: Hideki Naganuma, Various Artists-One of the better video game soundtracks, there's such an ecletic mix of rock, punk, techno, dance, metal, hip-hop, and J-pop, it just matches the style of the game so well, you might find yourself dancing in the middle of gameplay. Turn any of these tunes up and your ears will have an orgasm. Soundtrack availability: The soundtrack might be really, really hard to come by and might cost you more than a pretty penny to acquire....or you can just download the music of the internet, thieves.
Skies of Arcadia (2000), Composers: Yutaka Minobe and Tatsuyuki Maeda-The whole game is deliberately by-the-numbers but the execution is so well done, you can't help but be impressed by it and the music follows suit from light-hearted ditties to giant, sweeping classical numbers for giant battles. Soundtrack availability: A double album was made and few copies actually made it to American shores.
Shenmue (2000), Composers: Yuzo Koshiro, Osamu Murata, Ryuhi Iuchi, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Takesgi Yanagawa-This game was a big deal to Sega and when a 200 piece orchestra is used, you better believe that the music does its best to live up to that hype, especially the theme song, which sold me on the game immediately. Soundtrack availability: Two albums were made and are really easy to find online.
Soul Calibur (1999), Composers: Junichi Nakatsuru, Yohihito Yano, Akitaka Tohyama, Takanori Otsuka, Hideki Tobeta-Instead of the usual rock and techno infused music of the fighting genre, the thrilling classical music matched the time period and grandeur of the game. Soundtrack availability: A double album was made back in 1999 and is probably very easy to import.
Sonic Adventure (1999), Composers: Fumie Kumatani, Jun Senoue, Kenichi Tokoi-The last great Sonic game, it also had a really kick ass hair metal soundtrack. It really meshed well with the Sonic levels and there was some great music from other genres as well. Soundtrack availablilty: An album is probably easy to find and more expensive to acquire.
PlayStation 2:
Amplitude (2003), Composers: Various Artists-Like Frequency before it, this was the basis of what would eventually become Guitar Hero and Rock Band and it was satisfying to use the controller to simulate creating songs. Soundtrack availability: There was nothing but licensed songs, so enjoying the music form the game is easier by playing the game.
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (2003), Composer: Michiru Yamane-The first 3D version under Koji Igarashi didn't quite live up to expectations created by the series's excellent 2D entries, but the music was just as astounding as past Castlevania soundtracks, with the usual blends of classical, rock, choral, and dance music. Soundtrack availability: A two-disc album was made and might not take too much work to find.
Def Jam Vendetta (2002), Composers: Various Artists-Even though the game was about hip-hop artists fighting, it did do a good job of using most of the music. One of the most thrilling fights (in single player) were with DMX and one of his first songs from his first album and it just sounded absolutely chilling and scary. Soundtrack availability: Many of the songs can be found all over the internet.
Devil May Cry (2001), Composer: Masami Ueda-One of the pioneers of the 3D action genre, the in-game music had some solid rock music, while my favorite music was the battle with Nelo Angelo, which was just a thrilling combination of techno, classical, and rock music. Sountrack availability: Probably hard to find.
God of War II (2007), Composer: Gerard K. Marino, Michael A. Reagan-One of the most thrilling and heart-stopping action games ever created, the music heard is on par with some of the most epic movies in history, which was the aim of the game. Soundtrack availability: It's pretty easy to find an album for both games.
Guitar Hero (2004), Composer: Various Artists-I know I'm much of a old coot prevailing against licensed songs at the cost of original compositions in video games but I wont deny just how amazing it was to play simulate playing guitar with some really awesome tracks without it feeling gimmicky. And it turned a on a new generation to some great artistsand songs they would've never discovered without this game. Soundtrack availability: You probably have many of the songs on your iTunes, iPod, or music collection anyway.
GTA III (2001), Composers: Craig Connor, Stuart Ross-The groundbreaking title took the radio feature from the first two games and expanded it to create a fully, believable city. Different radio stations and it didn't use a lot of licensed songs from a certain era, the developers strived to create their own believeable world with original compositions, which is why I'll love GTA III's soundtrack than San Andreas and Vice City. Soundtrack availability: No album was created compiling the soundtrack of the game but there are several downloads of entire radio stations from the game.
Katamari Damacy (2004), Composers: Yu Miyake, Charlie Kosei, Various Artists-An absolutely bizarre video game, it's only matching that the soundtrack is as unique and imaginative as the game itself. With so many catchy and ear-pleasing songs to listen to. Soundtrack availability: A soundtrack was made for all the games and is pretty easy to find.
Kingdom Hearts I & II (2002 & 2006): Composers, Yoko Shinomura, Hikaru Utada-An absolutely beautiful and rousing soundtrack through beginning to end, with giant orchestral takes on classic Disney tunes and J-Pop queen Hikaru Utada singing the main theme in both games. Soundtrack availability: A gargantuan nine-disc album, titled 'Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete' was released in 2007, compiled of nearly every Kingdom Hearts that was released. For serious importers only.
Metal Golid Solid series-(Sons of Liberty, Substance, and Snake Eater) (2001, 2004), Composers: Harry Gregson-Williams, Norhiko Hibino, Rika Muranaka-One of the few series were the word 'cinematic' was a good thing, big time movie composer Harry Gregson-Williams was brought in to bring his touch to the cutscenes which were astounding at the time, while Norhiko Hibino did the in-game music, which in MGS2 had some great electronica beats, particularly in the boss fights (which were used in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.) Soundtrack availability: Four ablums were made for MGS2 and one was made for MGS 3.
Okami (2006), Composers: Akari Kaida, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Masami Ueda, Rei Kondoh-Using primarily classical Japanese music, the world of Okami was absolutely stunning and the music assisted that process. The way the strings were married with visuals a cherry blossoms being scattered around was absolutely magnificient and the game's world turned into a place I didn't just want bigger fights or more gadgets for my inventory, it was just wanted to get lost in it's world. Soundtrack availability: A double album was made, as was a piano arrangement of the soundtrack. Both are pretty easy to pick up.
Prince Of Persia: Sands of Time (2003), Composer: Stuart Chatwood-Absolutely beautiful when all the elements of its storytelling, combat, movement, and look came together to form an elegant masterpiece. One of the few times where I was absolutely marvelled at being caught in moment that didn't require a lot of skill when you controlled the Prince down a spiral staircase and a looping sitar track was made. That was when convergence worked in video game that way it worked in movies. Soundtrack availability-An album was made and is not that big of a challenge to find.
Rez (2002), Composers: Various Artists-The game was supposedly a form of synesthesia, sound being created by shooting at stuff and for the most part, it was. One of the best use of a trance soundtrack, allowing players to be responsible for how the music is heard in the game by being good at it. And if you had the trance vibrator, you could feel the music more. Soundtrack availability: This is one of the rare cases where the music is beter served by playing the game itself, which saw a rerelease on the Xbox Live Arcade.
Silent Hill 3 (2003), Composer: Akira Yamaoka-The Silent Hill series was always known for its psychological thrills and atmospheric terror and the music was absolutely exquisite, especially the main theme, 'You're Not Here' and 'I Need Love (Studio Mix)'. An absolutely chilling score and most of it was used in the Silent Hill movie. Soundtrack availability: A soundtrack was attached to each copy of Silent Hill 3, so it's possible to find a copy of the soundtrack by itself.
Shadow of the Colossus (2005), Composer: Ko Otani-In the Billboard's Top 25 Video Game songs, author Jeff Vrabel said in his introductory paragraph that the reason that licensed songs were picked because they 'somehow augment or accentuate game play in a way that an anonymous shreddy instrumental couldn't.' And nothing from Shadow of the Colossus was picked because in fairness, that numbnut probably never played it. Anyone who has played it knows the music carries the emotional weight of the minimal, but beautiful story. While most games are keen to have players kill at least 1,000 enemies and call it progress, Shadow of the Colossus was all about one on one encounters on a colossal scale and music was absolutely transcedent. Never had strings sounded so beautiful in a video game from the time you see the first colossus to the time you hear 'A Despair- Filled Farwell' while on top of a flying colossus, the music is absolutely incredible. Soundtrack availability: Imports are easy to find.
Gamecube:
Metroid Prime (2002), Composers: Kenji Yamamoto, Koichi Kyuma-From the moment I cut the game and title screen first appeared and even selecting a file, the Metroid universe was back and the music was going to be just as incredible as past Metroid games. The first appearance of Samus and her gunship on the sounds of a giant orchestra is still spine-tingling, the remixes of past Metroid games are awesome, and the new music was just haunting and sublime throughout the entire game. Soundtrack availability: A double album was made with the soundtrack of Metroid Fusion and is relatively inexpensive to import.
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001), Composers: Tadashi Ikegami, Takuto Kitsuta, Shogo Sakai-The first Smash Bros. was nice but this is probably the best Gamecube game and the music was a big part of that with such stellar and breathtaking takes on some classic Nintendo tunes, including some games that were either forgotten about or never played before, with a giant orchestra backing it up. But the DK Rap had no business being in there. Oh well. Soundtrack availability: No album was ever made and it's easier to just keep a copy of the game around.
F-Zero GX (2004), Composers: Hidenori Shoji, Daiki Kasho and Alan Brey-The soundtrack combined the metal of F-Zero X and electronica stylings of the first F-Zero and created a thumping soundtrack that was totally perfect for the game's kicky fast, futuristic gameplay. Soundtrack availability: A double album was released in 2004 contain the arcade tracks in F-Zero AX and is worth importing.
Ikaruga (2003), Composer: Hiroshi Iuchi-Another classic shooter from Treasure, this game ditched the electronica music found in nearly every shmup and used an incredible classical score. And from the moment the first level starts and those first five seconds, you could feel something majestic is at work. Soundtrack availability: A soundtrack may exist but its unlikely, so a MP3 is in order.
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (2003), Composers: Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, and Koji Kondo-Another stellar Zelda game, this version forgoes most of the usual classical styling of the Zelda game and adds some diversity to a lot of the music, including different tribal music and lot more flute stylings, which was a great part of the masterful story at work. One of the better Zelda soundtracks. Soundtrack availability: A double album was made and is easily available for import.
Xbox:
Halo (2001), Composers: Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori-Halo was always different than the nearly all the other first person shooters by not just being a adrenaline-soaked killing frenzy and it was evident in the music, which served to become part of the epic trilogy with its haunting orchestra and onimous theme song. Soundtrack availability; Probably one of the more easier soundtracks to find.
Panzer Dragoon Orta (2003), Composers: Saori Kobayashi, Yutaka Minobe-One of the more enjoyable games I've played on the Xbox, the Panzeer Dragoon series was always known (among other great aspects) for its breathtaking, atmospheric music and this soundtrack is no different and no more beautiful than the Saturn games. Soundtrack availability: An album does exists but it may be hard to find.
Jet Set Radio Future (2002), Composers: Hideki Naganuma, The Latch Brothers, Richard Jacques, Guitar Vader, Various Artists-It took the funky, ecletic sounds from the first Jet Grind Radio and multiplied it times ten. Nearly everything I said about Jet Grind Radio can be applied here except this time, this music was the main attraction. And with so many dance, techno, electronic, hip-hop, and rock sounds, your ears will thank you. Soundtrack availability: Two albums exist: the official soundtrack and a super hard-to-find sampler album with music that doesn't appear on the official soundtrack.
Next part: the current era.
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