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SolidSnakesBandana
Jul 1, 2007

Infinite ammo
Where did the performance take place, out of curiosity? That's some seriously bad manners for that kind of show. I'm not trying to hate on someone for having fun or whatever, but if you go to any sort of orchestral or choir performance or anything like that, you shut the gently caress up and you applaud at the end of the song but only if the composer has lowered his hands because the song might not actually be over.

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Pierson
Oct 31, 2004



College Slice
Here's one of those little pieces of videogame history: Back in the days of arcades Konami had some games that were so big (by the standards of the time) they needed a special kind of memory-board that could store them. The thing was this bubble memory only worked in a certain temperature range. So what they did was give these arcade cabinets a second, smaller piece of memory that would boot first and give some basic information while the game literally warmed up for the day. Having just a countdown would have been boring, so of course they wrote a little ditty to go with it, and like those chiptunes you get on pirated software it is catchy as gently caress:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEueYGq2mT4

And, inevitably:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIOF-MU5HXkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jguHUyKCRd4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYBOHZ658Ihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzbrqF2EOxM

Zwabu
Aug 7, 2006

Blizzard has done some of my favorite game soundtracks, with Warcraft 2 being my personal favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9J1DAqxSkE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xkul4zVd98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EI8uIzL1QQ

The music for the original Starcraft and Broodwar games was excellent too, sad that they got away from their symphonic music and in house composers with SC2 (this Protoss theme is my personal favorite from those games, it was played over credits at the conclusion of the campaign and gave an epic cinematic feel to the proceedings):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCdeKbcrPdA

CottonWolf
Jul 20, 2012

Good ideas generator

I was always a fan of The Golden Sun Rises, but how much of that was nostalgia, I can't say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esBBXDuvEFA

The Whole Internet
May 26, 2010

by FactsAreUseless

Commander Keenan posted:

My favorite console for VGM is the Mega Drive/Genesis. A lot of people don't like it for the robot fart sounds it commonly produced, but here is a selection of tunes I hope people would like.

Thunder Force IV - "Stand up Against Myself" - Toshiharu Yamanishi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJVuRTIIS4

Great list!

I had thought the Genesis had better soundtracks than the SNES for many years. I didn't own either as a kid. I grew up with PC games. This opinion of mine was just from the selection of games I played at friends' houses (and I knew people in both camps), and then games I collected and binged through as an adult. I was very surprised and confused to discover the prevailing opinion was the opposite on the internet. So I ended up looking through the top shelf games for both systems and... I'm sticking to my guns :colbert:. That said, the SNES is a great console with a killer library of games on it, and of course some of them do have great soundtracks.

But anyway... I'd like to zoom in on this game a bit.


Thunderforce IV played a large role in shaping my opinion.

It's a technically impressive game in many ways, not just for the effort put into the soundtrack but the graphics as well--some of the best on the system. Also the length--10 stages which are quite long as well, with multiple pathways and minibosses and bosses. For a shmup from 1992 that's a lot of game. It is basically Thunderforce III... with more everything.

The true sign of effort in a game is when every single boss has a different theme.

The music in this game shows off nearly every style the YM2621 was capable of.

Rocking the gently caress out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTQIiIKummw

Progressive Rock/Avant Garde
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC3thycKTw4

Electronic Jazz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOzgUtumOo0

Romantic 80s sci fi anime music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2JdTuFR_gw

Bio-scifi Horror
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-6upLey2Ug

Beautiful, vulnerable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgWxlkiatoY

I think most often people forget that music is abstract and limitations imposed on it create unique ecosystems of sound that have huge potential, but are often never fully explored. Pretty much any console, no matter its limitations, has some good music on it. The Genesis really wasn't handicapped for a 16 bit system. It had the 6 FM channels from the YM2612 plus the 3 square waves and 1 noise channel from the SN76489 (the master system sound chip), and two pins on the motherboard for sound expansion modules like the Famicom (which no game ever used sadly). I'm just a sucker for this kind of sound though, the same way I like the NES sound. It's unapologetically retro beep boop music but I think that's what has helped it last so well to modern ears. It doesn't try to sound realistic. It sounds stylized.

The Whole Internet fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Apr 27, 2015

Ofecks
May 4, 2009

A portly feline wizard waddles forth, muttering something about conjured food.

Pierson posted:

bubble memory

This is cool. I like how in the PS1/SAT/PSP versions of Gradius this boot-up sequence is included. You can skip it with the Start button though.

Seibu Kaihatsu's mid-90's arcade system, the SPI, did something similar. The games came on cartridge-like daughterboards, and installing them required the motherboard to pull the new data to flash some ROMs or something (I dunno what exactly, did a brief google and didn't find anything). There's a 999 countdown and it takes close to 6 minutes. I think that's a lot longer than the bubble system. MAME actually emulates this, and will show up every time unless you have some NVRAM files that the game creates and uses. That said, it's wise to keep a MAME backup somewhere that already has those files and just copy them over to new versions (or just download a set from somewhere). Anyway, a little song plays during the countdown; I think it's based off an actual track in each game, but it's hard to tell.

I found one for Viper Phase 1 (my favorite) but there are different ones for Raiden Fighters, RF2, and RFJet. Not sure if the X360 collection has these. The dotEmu PC version doesn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uipisEKogqw


The Whole Internet posted:

I'm just a sucker for this kind of sound though, the same way I like the NES sound. It's unapologetically retro beep boop music but I think that's what has helped it last so well to modern ears. It doesn't try to sound realistic. It sounds stylized.

Yeah, I agree. There's a certain charm to it all. Lately I've been playing a lot of arcade games, so I've been enjoying the YM2151/OKI6295 tunes from the Toaplan hardware. This one makes me happy for some reason, like I'm at the beach driving with the top down:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHJJ0Q9xaa8

A little older (1992), but Toaplan was really hitting their strides in BGM quality with Truxton 2 and this game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFrnzSssdRg

NikkolasKing
Apr 3, 2010



So I'm continuing with trying new WRPG series and I decided to try the Fable Trilogy next.

In spite of its...subjective quality in terms of story/gameplay/whatever, I've always heard good things about the music. This true?

NuclearPotato
Oct 27, 2011

Ofecks posted:

I found one for Viper Phase 1 (my favorite) but there are different ones for Raiden Fighters, RF2, and RFJet. Not sure if the X360 collection has these. The dotEmu PC version doesn't.

Raiden Fighters Aces (the X360 port) does have the boot songs; it uses them as the main menu music for each game. Jet's boot theme sounds incredibly goofy put next to the :black101: of the first two games themes.

Commander Keenan
Dec 5, 2012

Not Boba Fett
Great posts. I've never heard those cabinet boot up songs before.

I'm inspired to compile a regularly updated list of all the VGM file formats, collections, players, websites, etc. so people know where to go for the :filez:. Anyone wanna help?

NikkolasKing posted:

In spite of its...subjective quality in terms of story/gameplay/whatever, I've always heard good things about the music. This true?

It's alright. Never really felt too strongly about any of the soundtracks.

Pierson
Oct 31, 2004



College Slice
I've played the first three Fables and yeah they are unremarkable. Even Skyrim at least had a good theme they could hang it on, Fable has just general fantasy music.

DoubleCakes
Jan 14, 2015

Lone Survivor had some really atmospheric music that fell in the middle ground between ambient and indie rock.

Home is perfect for the schizophrenic apocalyptic feel the story was going for.

Sleep Forever was used in one of the trailers and is pretty striking.

kode54
Nov 26, 2007

aka kuroshi
Fun Shoe

Commander Keenan posted:

Great posts. I've never heard those cabinet boot up songs before.

I'm inspired to compile a regularly updated list of all the VGM file formats, collections, players, websites, etc. so people know where to go for the :filez:. Anyone wanna help?


It's alright. Never really felt too strongly about any of the soundtracks.

Check out the hcs64.com forum, therein lies a topic, listing all of the console and system specific subdomains on joshw.info. They all contain loads of emulated and also streamed game music. Most of them are playable with either PSF (P for Portable) and its various child formats and emulator libraries, or with vgmstream.

Oh, and thanks for summoning me to the topic. I only noticed it because I searched the forums for my name because I was using a lazy / roundabout way to find my userid so I could ? link the webcomics topic, because I stupidly forgot which comic I last posted two whole days ago.

Most of those formats should be playable with my plugins for foobar2000, or with Cog for Mac OS X. I was too lazy to add file association for Cog for vgmstream, though, because I didn't really want to pollute my association pool with all those extensions, plus it requires hand editing them into the Info.plist for the project.

Commander Keenan
Dec 5, 2012

Not Boba Fett

kode54 posted:

Check out the hcs64.com forum, therein lies a topic, listing all of the console and system specific subdomains on joshw.info. They all contain loads of emulated and also streamed game music. Most of them are playable with either PSF (P for Portable) and its various child formats and emulator libraries, or with vgmstream.

Good stuff! I had no idea that list existed.

You also responded to a very specific request of mine a few years ago for the .AMF file format and updated foo_dumb as a result. I thank you for that again!

Febreeze
Oct 24, 2011

I want to care, butt I dont
For all the (rightful) love that David Wise gets for his compositions of the Donkey Kong Country series I think there is one DK game he did that has a stellar soundtrack that gets really overlooked: Donkey Kong Land.

The Land games were pretty much meant to be 8-bit gameboy versions of the Country series, and 2&3 pretty much are that, but the first Donkey Kong land was much more unique and featured a lot of original music that was never in Country.

Highlights
Kremlantis A second water ambience music and I think it's better than Aquatic Ambience ever was
Construction Site Fight
Mountain Mayhem
Kong Krazy
Voices of the Temple - same name as the Country song, but sounds way different
Norhtern Hemispheres same name again, different tune, way better
Boss theme
Track Attack


I still hold this game as my personal pinnacle of 8bit tunes

The Kins
Oct 2, 2004

Ofecks posted:

Seibu Kaihatsu's mid-90's arcade system, the SPI, did something similar. The games came on cartridge-like daughterboards, and installing them required the motherboard to pull the new data to flash some ROMs or something (I dunno what exactly, did a brief google and didn't find anything). There's a 999 countdown and it takes close to 6 minutes. I think that's a lot longer than the bubble system. MAME actually emulates this, and will show up every time unless you have some NVRAM files that the game creates and uses. That said, it's wise to keep a MAME backup somewhere that already has those files and just copy them over to new versions (or just download a set from somewhere). Anyway, a little song plays during the countdown; I think it's based off an actual track in each game, but it's hard to tell.
A lot of later-era arcade systems did this. Capcom CPS3 typically took 15 minutes or so of boot-up to copy the game from a CD to RAM to reduce load times and minimise wear and tear on the CD drive, while Sega's NAOMI does something similar but with Dreamcast GD-ROMs. They didn't have fancy music, though, so they're largely forgotten.

Some London company is releasing videogame music on, uh, vinyl. I guess that's cool, if digital reproductions of digital sound chips sound cold and soulless to you, or if you just want to mash your :retrogames: hobbies together.



They put some remastered Shenmue tracks up on Soundcloud for preview.

EvilGenius
May 2, 2006
Death to the Black Eyed Peas
I can't think of a single reason to have the SoR soundtrack on vinyl, but for some reason I want it. I wonder if they're taken off a real genesis.

Commander Keenan
Dec 5, 2012

Not Boba Fett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6DN-mFiumI

"Over 7 hours of SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis music"

Also, definitely subscribe to that sunteam YouTube account. They upload a lot of great VGM stuff.

MegaZeroX
Dec 11, 2013

"I'm Jack Frost, ho! Nice to meet ya, hee ho!"



I just found this amazing remix of the SMT 2 battle track. Its one of the few remixes that I consider better than the original in every way.

Seriously though, listen to just about any MegaTen soundtrack, and it will be fantastic. The styles may be completely different, but the quality will be there.

Like epic orchestrated battle music? Strange Journey has you covered.

Like well made pop music? Just listen to just about anything from Persona 4.

Metal battle tracks? There is a lot of those. Like this and this and this.

I could go on, but seriously, if you haven't listened to these soundtracks, it really needs to be remedied! SMTIV is a great starting place and is my favorite soundtrack of all time.

Manatee Cannon
Aug 26, 2010



What little music they've released for Persona 5 has been good as well

Gamma Nerd
May 14, 2012

MegaZeroX posted:

On a different note, I'll set up the how we will structure the voting for the "goon's favorite tracks/soundtracks" thing in the next couple of weeks.

Did you forget about this OP

MegaZeroX
Dec 11, 2013

"I'm Jack Frost, ho! Nice to meet ya, hee ho!"



Gamma Nerd posted:

Did you forget about this OP

I remember, but a combination of being busy with college during this last year and being lazy over summer break is preventing it. I had originally meant to get it set up over my winter break but I never got around to it. It might get done at some point. I'll try to get something set up this month.

MegaZeroX fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Jul 20, 2015

Gamma Nerd
May 14, 2012
No problem :waycool:

forpush
Jan 6, 2006

We don't like it when the city light start fading
When the city lights fading then we can't get down
Really going to have to delve into the SMT/Persona OSTs some day. I've only played P3 and SMT4 but those have fantastic music. Started P4G the other day and that's got great music but I think 3 is better, especially the tracks on the Portable soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXX94yJgTz4

Commander Keenan
Dec 5, 2012

Not Boba Fett
Good series of articles. "Stand Or Fall: 25 Of the Very Best NES Soundtracks Ever Made."

Part 1: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/stand-or-fall-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made/
Part 2: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/page/2/ (No working direct link)
Part 3: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/graphic-track-loop-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made-pt-3/
Part 4: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/phantom-power-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made-pt-4/
Part 5: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/riding-the-vapour-trail-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made-pt-5/
Part 6: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/from-the-hot-afternoon-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made-pt-6/
Part 7: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/re-issue-repackage-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made-pt-7/
Part 8: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/more-death-less-disco-dancer-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made-pt-8/
Part 9: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/know-your-saints-not-red-wet-mars-25-of-the-very-best-nes-soundtracks-ever-made/
Part 10: http://www.sumthing.com/blog/color-of-the-spring-25-of-the-greatest-nes-soundtracks-ever-made-pt-10/

Commander Keenan
Dec 5, 2012

Not Boba Fett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFTFEYs3ExM

Brandish, music by Falcom Sound Team. Holy poo poo.

MegaZeroX
Dec 11, 2013

"I'm Jack Frost, ho! Nice to meet ya, hee ho!"



OK, lets get that Goons' favorite VGM thing set up. Here's how it works: Until September, you can submit 3 of your favorite video game soundtracks, and 3 of your favorite individual tracks, and at the end of the month, we will have a poll where you can vote whether or not each one is worthy of a spot. After seeing how many submissions we have, I'll set the maximum number of each that can go into the reserved post. I'll start it off with my own. Try to elaborate on why you like a particular soundtrack.

Soundtracks

Shin Megami Tensei IV

I have already covered this in my first post, but this soundtrack is amazing. There is such a wide variety of genres, and all of the game's tracks are amazing. I highly recommend listening to it in its entirety, it is just that good. It is officially my favorite soundtrack of all time.

Super Meat Boy

This is also such a varied soundtrack. You have the awesome metal Battle of Lil' Slugger, you've got the "girly" sounding McLarty Party People, there is the I-don't-know-how-to-describe-it Can o' Salt, and so much more. Another soundtrack worth listening to the entirety of.

Remember 11

Other than the opening cinematic track which doesn't really fit with the game, this soundtrack is nearly perfect. This is a soundtrack that I didn't really appreciate while playing through the game, but love now. Highlights include Nucleus, and Persona, but everything is great. Like the others, this is definitely worth listening to in its entirety.

Individual Tracks

Battlefield 2 - MEC Loading Theme

This is just really cool. Someone mentioned this earlier in the thread, which introduced me to this fantastic piece of music. It is influenced by middle eastern music and modern electronic music, and includes the main Battlefield melody. Take a listen to this if you haven't already.

Persona 4 - Heaven

Probably my favorite Persona track of all time. Great catchy melody, and I love the string part the track opens with.

Monte on the Run

I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but wow is this track cool. It has a 70's rock feel at times, and doesn't loop for a whole 6 minutes! This song blows all other Commodore 64 music that I've heard out of the water!

MegaZeroX fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Jul 30, 2015

maou shoujo
Apr 12, 2014

ニンゲンの表裏一体
Brandish controls like rear end and the dungeon design hates the player's guts, but by god does it have some amazing music while doing it. Let's plug some alternate versions of the soundtrack while we're at it:

Brandish (SNES port) - Ruins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lms-uKSwp0M
The first area of the game, and probably the track that people would be most familiar with. The SNES release was the only version available in the US until early this year, when the PSP remake was localized by XSeed.

Brandish MIDI Collection - Dink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Tp21zcEVs
The first boss, called just Wizard in the SNES release. He's a jerk with 2 fake clones, and all 3 of them teleport around rapidly tossing fireballs at you.

Brandish Piano Collection - Shop 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogYQ4DihXCk
A lonely piece, for those who gave up hope of escape and settled down in the dungeon.

Brandish: The Dark Revenant (PSP remake) - Headless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De3EES85Qak
A :rock: track that is used only for an optional boss. Said boss is summoned by a trap and will instakill you if you don't see it coming and use invincibility or a warp. Your reward for beating it is a shield that is useful on only 2 floors and actively hurts you anywhere else. I told you this game hates you.

Brandish (PC Engine port) - Stage Clear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRNDDGpCahg
A haunting melody in the interlude between the various areas, while the game gives an introduction to the next area.

Perfect Collection cover album - Fortress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7578FYEY528
The final area of the game. It's called the Fortress, but it's actually the insides of a giant dragon. Is Fortress the name of the dragon? Naturally, the inside of a dragon has acid floors, lots of mazes, and former bosses showing up as normal monsters.

Brandish Renewal (PC-98 rerelease) - Ending 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbW1vBBlEMc
A retrospective on the events of the game, with a list of your endings stats and completion%, including some stats not shown elsewhere like the number of swords you lost by breaking them.

Commander Keenan
Dec 5, 2012

Not Boba Fett
Soundtracks

Crusader: No Remorse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OqddpU2oGA

My favorite game also happens to have my favorite music. Excellent electronic/rock/techno stuff.

NieR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGmhtFgoAGA

Melancholy and deeply personal. Sends you to a different world when listening to it. Probably one of the finest game soundtracks ever composed.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy4pLMyNbHo

A great example of a solid soundtrack—not a single weak track. Just classic.


Individual Tracks

Space Harrier - "Theme" - Hiroshi Kawaguchi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Tam9lv1KQ

I feel this is the best video game song ever composed. It does everything that VGM should do right: melody, hook, outside of game listening, never gets old.

MegaRace - "NewSan" - Stephane Picq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up7JnFatfF8

Brilliant technical mastery of a soundchip. Not to mention the song is just awesome!

Metal Gear Solid - "The Best is Yet to Come" - Rika Muranaka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyE0UabtLn0

Beautiful. This song marked the time for me when VGM transcended hardware limitations.

Synthetic Hermit
Apr 4, 2012

mega survoltage!!!
Grimey Drawer

gandlethorpe posted:

Even though any song can be made to be in a video game, what is it that makes a song sound like "video game music"? Where you hear an instrumental song and think "that's probably from a video game" or "that should be in a video game", rather just any old instrumental. What makes it "video-gamey"?

For me, good video game music must sound like it was composed specifically for a video game, rather than repurposed.

There are three types of music that video games need:

1. Themes - specifically, melodies that sound good when heard again & again. From 8-bit chiptunes to Smash Bros. menu music, this is what's most thought of when "video game music" is brought up. A good study of themes can be found in this detailed breakdown of well-known Zelda songs.

2. Action/battle - these pieces are fast, percussive, and bombastic.

3. Atmospheric/ambient - for setting a mood in slow sections.

The one thing that all of the above types of VGM must share is simplicity. Busy music is distracting, which is the last thing you want when you're playing a game. For example, classical symphonies with heavily layered melodies, jazz, and anything with an emphasis on lead vocals, such as folk, country, and doo-wop. An exception can be made for games where the gameplay is SO simple, like certain mobile/flash/indie games, that more emphasis can be put on the music.

To many this is absolute sacrilege, but I'm NOT a fan of Nobuo Uematsu. Almost all of the Final Fantasy music I've heard sounds like classical that's been dumbed down to fit in a video game. It certainly sounds nice, but the themes are too complex with not enough focus on the melody, and the battle themes lack intensity. However, there is one song of his that these complaints do not apply to...Dancing Mad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbXVNKtmWnc

That's just my own two cents, though. Feel free to tell me that I'm totally full of it. :P

MegaZeroX posted:

OK, lets get that Goons' favorite VGM thing set up. Here's how it works: Until September, you can submit 3 of your favorite video game soundtracks, and 3 of your favorite individual tracks, and at the end of the month, we will have a poll where you can vote whether or not each one is worthy of a spot. After seeing how many submissions we have, I'll set the maximum number of each that can go into the reserved post. I'll start it off with my own. Try to elaborate on why you like a particular soundtrack.

I'm in! :cool:

Soundtracks:

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Thematic, dark, dissonant, emotional. It's Zelda music, alright, but BOY does it go against the grain! Gone are the medieval/old world tropes of the previous titles, and in come songs of foreboding, pain, death, mourning, rebirth...and the BEST battle themes of the series!

Favorite track - Stone Tower Temple Inverted

Perfect Dark

Grant Kirkhope's underrated masterpiece. Some call it synth cheese, I call it some of the most intense and atmospheric video game music I've ever heard!

Favorite track - Perfect Menu Theme

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Sorry for not nominating crowd favorites Morrowind and Skyrim, but I never played the former (Oblivion's visual fidelity and scope impressed me so much, I couldn't bear to play a technically inferior version), and I find Skyrim's soundtrack to be lacking in melody.

It's just...SO beautiful. The town themes, the field themes, the night themes...great battle themes too!

And let's not forget the anthem!

Favorite track - All's Well

Individual songs:

Star Fox 64 - Level Intro 1

The very first piece of video game music that ever caught my interest. The perfect buildup for a grand mission ahead. :)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Lost Woods

My favorite video game tune of all time. One of the simplest Zelda tunes, but also the catchiest. Koji Kondo is an absolute magician!

Halo: Reach - Overture

Not one of my top tracks, but Halo needs some representation. A great sendoff for Bungie's legacy.

Octolady posted:

I was just at the Symphony of the Goddesses concert with the London Philharmonic performing, which was perfect except for the huge idiots in the audience cheering and hollering at every single thing. Don't cheer over the drat orchestra, you cretins! :argh:

I was at the Toronto show a few years ago. Fantastic. WAY better than Video Games Live.

Though the merchandise for that tour was pretty ho-hum...

The producer was onstage making comments about how energetic the crowd in Montreal was. I think they realize what kind of audience a show like this attracts, and don't mind if we get a little worked up... ;)

After the encore, I yelled out for "Windmill!", and got some approving cheers. :D

Anyhow, methinks this thread needs some Pokémon, so here's my Pokémon thread (archived)! :cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiHNAe0BrnE

Finally, a few obscure tracks:

Robotron 64 - Maximum Power
Worms Armageddon N64 - Main Menu
Perfect Dark - Controller Pak Menu

Synthetic Hermit fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Aug 2, 2015

Gamma Nerd
May 14, 2012
Soundtracks

Shadow Hearts

The heavy use of samples gives this soundtrack a very smoky, mysterious, ornate texture. The detail in the soundscapes is lovely, and the overall feeling is somewhat Silent Hill-ish, though not nearly as bleak.

Chrono Cross

I mean, duh.

Touhou 8: Imperishable Night

It's very hard to choose a favorite Touhou soundtrack, but this one is a close bet because its mood works so well. It's definitely quite nocturnal-sounding, very elegant and romantic but also dark. The piano melodies are my favorite in the whole series, especially the Voyage 1969 and Maiden's Capriccio leads.

Honorable mentions go to:
Nier, Digital Devil Saga 1/2, Dustforce, and Donkey Kong 2

Individual Tracks

Kingdom Hearts 2 - Sanctuary - Yoko Shimomura + Utada Hikaru

I can't listen to this and not want to curl up and cry. Too many emotions.

Baten Kaitos - To The End of the Journey of Glittering Stars - Motoi Sakuraba

Another sentimental favorite, partly because this is the #1 game of a close friend of mine. Definitely Motoi Sakuraba's best soundtrack, by far.

Battle Garegga - Degeneracy - Manabu Namiki

Grimy, WW2 shooting backed by an unbelievably good Detroit techno-style soundtrack. Perfect atmosphere.

MegaZeroX
Dec 11, 2013

"I'm Jack Frost, ho! Nice to meet ya, hee ho!"



Synthetic Hermit posted:

For me, good video game music must sound like it was composed specifically for a video game, rather than repurposed.

-snip-

The one thing that all of the above types of VGM must share is simplicity. Busy music is distracting, which is the last thing you want when you're playing a game. For example, classical symphonies with heavily layered melodies, jazz, and anything with an emphasis on lead vocals, such as folk, country, and doo-wop. An exception can be made for games where the gameplay is SO simple, like certain mobile/flash/indie games, that more emphasis can be put on the music.\

I don't think that busy music is a problem in most games. People listen often listen to busy music when they do mentally taxing work (homework, writing for their job, etc.) and still function fine. The Katamari games use busy music, for example, and Damacy in particular is one of my favorite soundtracks.

Even repurposed music, if significantly remixed, can be VGM. For example, Catherine has many (excellent) remixes of classical music. The only place I draw the line is straight licenced music, like Mass Effect 1's ending song.


Synthetic Hermit posted:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Sorry for not nominating crowd favorites Morrowind and Skyrim, but I never played the former (Oblivion's visual fidelity and scope impressed me so much, I couldn't bear to play a technically inferior version), and I find Skyrim's soundtrack to be lacking in melody.

Yeah, I think Oblivion is my favorite TES soundtrack. Skyrim and Morrowind's main themes are great, but Oblivion's atmospheric music generates the feeling of wonder and amazement in me. The feelings would be more appropriate if Cyrodil didn't feel so ... generic. The soundtrack made the game feel so magical.

Gamma Nerd posted:

Touhou 8: Imperishable Night

It's very hard to choose a favorite Touhou soundtrack, but this one is a close bet because its mood works so well. It's definitely quite nocturnal-sounding, very elegant and romantic but also dark. The piano melodies are my favorite in the whole series, especially the Voyage 1969 and Maiden's Capriccio leads.

Yeah, I'm surprised Touhou hasn't seen more love. I mean, even outside the super popular tracks, the games' music is still incredible. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Touhou originate because the creator wanted to get people to listen to his music? Yuuka's Theme has to be one of my favorites.

MegaZeroX fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Aug 2, 2015

Gamma Nerd
May 14, 2012

MegaZeroX posted:

Yeah, I'm surprised Touhou hasn't seen more love. I mean, even outside the super popular tracks, the games' music is still incredible. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Touhou originate because the creator wanted to get people to listen to his music? Yuuk's Theme has to be one of my favorites.

Yeah it did, actually. ZUN's earlier chiptune stuff is still great. In fact, given the number of amazing tracks he's made, he's up there with Yasunori Mitsuda and Hitoshi Sakimoto as my favorite soundtrack artist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=572oLBUdaXE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygB_MKgqXdg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0bJ0rrgaU

My favorite piece in POFV is actually the pre-fight/interlude track, but Komachi and Shiki also have incredible themes.

Synthetic Hermit
Apr 4, 2012

mega survoltage!!!
Grimey Drawer

MegaZeroX posted:

Yeah, I think Oblivion is my favorite TES soundtrack. Skyrim and Morrowind's main themes are great, but Oblivion's atmospheric music generates the feeling of wonder and amazement in me. The feelings would be more appropriate if Cyrodil didn't feel so ... generic. The soundtrack made the game feel so magical.

:cheers:

(Though I don't have a problem with Cyrodiil being a generic setting. It looks drat impressive, and if I ever need something a bit different, there's the blood fountains and rending halls of Oblivion. Book your vacation TODAY! :twisted:)

forpush
Jan 6, 2006

We don't like it when the city light start fading
When the city lights fading then we can't get down
The talk of Touhou reminded me of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, a series of Visual Novels which I've never actually played, but the music is superb. Mostly Trance and Classical styles that meld together really well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va31ztjTMe0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsGr8V1Q_1U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAKkw71ff3U

Commander Keenan
Dec 5, 2012

Not Boba Fett

fruitpunch posted:

The talk of Touhou reminded me of Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, a series of Visual Novels which I've never actually played, but the music is superb. Mostly Trance and Classical styles that meld together really well.

There's a bunch of disgusting visual novel/porn games on the PC-88 and 98 with great music. I sometimes feel ashamed listening to the music.

Gamma Nerd
May 14, 2012
Yeah, YU-NO has a gorgeous soundtrack. Done by Ryu Umemoto, who also did a bunch of great shmup soundtracks like Psyvariar and Akai Katana.

Cerepol
Dec 2, 2011


Oh man, this is going to be hard to choose just 3 albums and 3 tracks :/: I've got to get pruning I guess.

thatfuturekid
Jan 5, 2014

This is really great. I want stuff more like this

Pierson
Oct 31, 2004



College Slice
I didn't bring up Touhou because that's kind of an all-encompassing topic that can consume a thread and we already have one in VEGETA that you can go to if you want to listen to more tracks. Saying that though Imperishable Night is one of my favourite OSTs ever. All Touhou music works a lot better when you encounter it within the game, since they are all about the combination of music and visuals that work better together. There are a poo poo-ton of Touhous at this point and almost every single one has one or two stand-out earworms but Imperishable Night is perfect.

If you don't give a drat about shooters you can watch someone play it here and just watch the pretty patterns and listen to the tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8kju_IGD94

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DoubleCakes
Jan 14, 2015

I've been playing a lot of Freedom Planet lately and if nothing else it has an absolutely dynamic soundtrack.

Main Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tei9eGf8tDs

Relic Maze 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqNzil8NuY4

Fortune Night 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWiIaq5yCaE

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