Questions about games music

[evert]

Playing various DS games recently has set me thinking on how video game music is made.

The variety of quality is amazing, in my opinion. Kirby is foul, weedy sounding, and sounds like 1st generation Gameboy. Meteos is just outstanding in terms of its originality and sound quality. Yoshi is pretty simple but has brilliant melodies. Ouendan shows you how much you can pack into one of those cartridges.

How much is music/soundtrack a factor when it comes to taking up space on a game cartridge? As good as most of the above is, I still feel the Minish Cap on the GBA has ome of the best quality tunes on a handheld this past year or so. But then again, in general, I did expect more from the GBA sound wise, after reading that it was going to be, as a console, on a par with the SNES, which needs no analysing as far as great music goes. Do some game makers get lazier with the soundtracks more than others? Does game content affect how much time is spent on the music?

For me I find awful music and sound much less acceptable than bad graphics!

Links Awakening shows that sometimes to make a great soundtrack all you need is a good imagination.

[Leon Retro]

The simple fact is there aren't many good musicians. If you look at the great masterpieces over the years the same composers crop-up.

These guys often had a tiny amount of memory and very limited hardware, but they produced evocative exciting tunes.

Yuzo Koshiro is one of the most respected composers. His work includes Super Shinobi- Actraiser- Streets Of Rage 1&2 and Shenmue!



Listen to this guys work and realise how lame a lot of muscians in the industry are.

[jezzace]

I agree that music is much more noticeable then graphics but that may just be because we're hardened gamers. I was hooked on a mame 1983 arcade game the other day just because it had a catchy theme. But my uni house mate would cringe at the thought of ever playing a game with such bad graphics.

I think back in the old days the music was used as a hook to get people interested especially in arcades but it really does make a difference these days. Who can forget the hyrule overworld theme? It gave such a feeling that you were actually in an epic adventure.

If you don't like a cd you turn it off. If you don't like game music it becomes harder? I think its the other way round. A game is playable despite to music but it gains so many more levels of greatness if the music is good. Look a Donkey Kong Country for example. Imagine playing that if it had crap music. It wouldn't be the classic it is now surely?

[Leon Retro]

Here is Yuzo's company website http://www.ancient.co.jp/ . Click on ' Download ' at the top then go down to the PS2 dowload named doka.mp3. I had never heard this before- it's a great tune. Does anyone which game it's from?


Back to the topic. I agree.. music is just as important as graphics etc.. All my favourite games also have memorable tunes. Contra3 on the snes wouldn't be as good if it had some lame generic rock track- and Castlevania4 is a classic not only for it's gameplay but for it's brilliant tunes. WaveRace64 is another title that benefits immensely from having thoughtful inspired music rather than some generic pop.

Music should fit in with the other components of the game. It should enhance the game and add to the excitement of the experience. Games that have Hollywood style background drivel really let things down. I just hate it when developers throw in some pop tunes that don't have the soul and passion of tunes made for the specific game.

[SummAh]

i'm ok with bad gfx...as long as I think the game is fun.

But music is a MUST!

I simply cannot play a game that forces me to turn off the soundtrack....except, racing games.

And yeah, like many others, the first 'game musician' that I know of since I was a young kid = Actraiser = Yuzo Koshiro

[jezzace]

Anyone else throw a hissy fit when your mates ask you to turn off game music so they can put some cd's on?

[MikeRox]

yes! I find game music one of the most important factors to a game, 2nd to gameplay really. Tho if a bad game has great music I'll spend longer on it than a half decent game with crap music most the time :$ when in the case of like Sega Rally and Daytona a great game has even better music, I won't come off for hours.