Part 1: Original Video Game Soundtracks

What is Video Game Music?

Before delving into the world of video game remixes, covers, and arrangements it would be best to discuss the original music from which all of these draw.  To be clear, video game music is any music written for the express purpose of being featured in a video game.  Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive account of the technological development of video game music, and in summary there are two main kinds: music which is recorded onto physical media and music which is generated by specialized sound chips embedded in the game consoles.

The earliest video game music was stored on physical media such as cassette tapes or records.  These media were prevalent during the 1970’s when the arcade industry was developing and the home console had not been widely adapted.  The drawbacks to storing music on physical media are obvious: they were prone to breakage, they were limited in how much music they could store, and it is much more difficult to change tracks as the player progresses through the game.

A much simpler solution was the sound chip.  Music could be stored digitally in a compressed format.  What was stored was not the actual sound, but rather instructions for a proprietary chip to produce the music.  The chips themselves were capable of creating sound using a limited number of channels.  Composers could only utlize as many sounds at any one time as there were channels, but could produce a wide variety of low-fidelity sounds over these channels.  It was much simpler to produce these chips, and the music could be controlled much more easily by the machine.  This would remain the standard for nearly 20 years, in both arcade machines and home consoles.  This technology has also spawned its own genre of music, dubbed “Chip Music” or “Chip Tunes”, in which musicians create compositions for a variety of sound chips.

The DSP1 Sound Chip Utilized by the Super Nintendo

With the advent of disc-based games came the return of recorded music.  The actual music was stored on the game disc and did not face channel limitations or other drawbacks inherent to sound chips.  As disc storage space and music production budgets grew, composers could utilize a vast array of live and electronic instrumentation.  Modern games do not have to sacrifice sound quality and can have music ranging from orchestral to rock to electronic.

Sources for Original Video Game Music

Most game music is stored inside arcade cabinets or game cartridges. As these containers degenerate and are lost it stands to reason that the music within would be lost as well.  Luckily, there are individuals who have taken it upon themselves to preserve and distribute video game music.

SNESmusic.org hosts complete soundtracks from many Super Nintendo games.  The soundtracks themselved are stored in SPC format, which requires a special media player plugin to play.  This added step is well worth it, as the files themselves are much smaller than MP3’s while maintaining the SNES’ sound quality. Soundtracks can be downloaded individually or all at once via a torrent.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Soundtrack

Zophar.net offers soundtracks from consoles ranging from the Nintendo Entertainment System up to the Nintendo 64.  As was the case before, these files are stored in various formats other than the standard MP3, so plugins are required for each type of file to be played.

In addition to hosting a large collection of video game remixes, OCRemix.org also hosts a collection of original soundtracks.  For example, to download the original soundtrack to “Final Fantasy”, simply type “Final Fantasy” into the search box at the top right and select the game page for “Final Fantasy” from the search results. The soundtrack is available under “Chiptunes” on the game page.  Most newer games do not have this option.

There are an increasingly large collection of video game soundtracks available through commercial outlets such as ITunes, Bandcamp, and Amazon.  A search for “video game soundtrack” (or a term along those lines) will yield a list of soundtracks available for purchase.  Many recent Western titles such as “Mass Effect” and “Red Dead Redemption” have made their soundtracks available through such outlets for reasonable prices.  Imported soundtracks may be expensive though, and research may turn up one of the many sites specializing in imported soundtracks.

If a soundtrack is not available at any of the above sources, there is a large community at Youtube dedicated to posting video game music.  This is mentioned last because the audio quality is typically supbar on Youtube, and because most of these soundtracks are made available without the game publisher’s consent.  This is not usually a problem with older soundtracks, but Youtube videos containing music from newer games are often removed.  That being said, an increasing number of game publishers are releasing tracks on Youtube as a way of promoting their games.

Important Composers and Soundtracks

There are too many great video game composers and soundtracks to list here, but certain names are encountered frequently in the video game music community. Listening to music from some of the games mentioned below is a great way to start gaining an appreciation for video game music.

The Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack

Koji Kondo has been an in-house composer for Nintendo since 1984.  In that time he has scored numerous first-party Nintendo games.  Kondo has created some of the most iconic and popular video game music to date, with his most influential work being “Super Mario Brothers” and “The Legend of Zelda”.  Recently, his work on “Super Mario Galaxy” was heralded as being one of the finest orchestral soundtracks to date.

Nobuo Uematsu is widely considered to be the grand master of video game music, and his work on the “Final Fantasy” series changed the face of the industry.  Uematsu composed for “Final Fantasy” on the Nintendo Entertainment System through “Final Fantasy X” on the Playstation 2, with minor contributions to other entries in the series.  Uematsu composed the entire soundtrack to “Final Fantasy XIV”, though at the time it is unclear if he will return for future installments in the series.  His most influential work includes “Final Fantasy IV”, “Final Fantasy VI”, “Final Fantasy VII”, and “Final Fantasy VIII.”

The “Castlevania” series has had almost as many composers as it has entries.  Each has served to set the tone for this gothic adventure series, and many games owe something to the “Castlevania” series.  The most important entries are Kinuyo Yamashita’s “Castlevania”, Jun Funahashi, Yoshinori Sasaki and Yukie Morimoto’s “Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse”, and Michiru Yamane’s “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.”

The “Sonic the Hedgehog” series helped establish Sega as a rival to Nintendo during the 16-bit era.  Masato Nakamura’s brilliant soundtracks to the first two entries in the series take full advantage of the Genesis sound chip and set an example for depth and utter catchyness in game music.

The Metal Gear Solid Soundtrack

Finally, the “Metal Gear Solid” series stands as a more recent example of influential video game music.  Tappy Iwase’s dramatic electronica set the futuristic tone of “Metal Gear Solid”, while Harry Gregson-Williams’ work on “Metal Gear Solid 2″ gave the game the feel of a high-budget film.  All games with big-budget soundtracks owe something to “Metal Gear Solid.”

Other Places to Start

Garudoh’s Youtube series entitled “From Bleeps to Beats: The Music of Video Games” chronicles the development of video game music.  There are several hundred videos in the series, each one highlighting the music from a particular game.  Obviously it’s not important to watch every single video, but browsing through the most viewed entries is a great way to become more familiar with video game music.

There are many video game radio stations which air a wide variety of music.  The station here at 8BitX.com favors classic soundtracks as well as remixes.  The video game soundtrack station on AOL Radio focuses on more recent soundtracks, many of which are available commercially.  A search on Google or on an internet radio player will yield many more stations with a wide variety of playlists.

Part 2 of A Guide to the Video Game Music Scene will cover remix sites, which are amazing resources for free remixes of video game music.  Be sure to check it out when it’s posted next week!  Update: Please find the second article in the series here.

Justin Johnston is the host of Radio Free Gamer, a weekly podcast featuring free video game and video game inspired music. Listen live here on Wednesdays at 7PM Eastern.  Subscribe to the podcast via RSS here or via ITunes here.