In 2014 I wrote for a videogame blog. I’ve collected and reposted some posts onto my current website:
My Top 5 Best Videogame Soundtracks (So Far…)
In my previous post I talked about the music in Minecraft and how absolutely beautiful the tracks are. I decided to expand the previous discussion of video game albums and instead, talk about my favourite video game soundtracks. In no particular order, here are my 5 favourite video game soundtracks!
5) Minecraft
I spent an entire article talking about how much I loved Minecraft’s soundtrack, so I’m definitely not going to retell the beauty that is Minecraft music. Instead, you can click this link to continue reading! I’m not even going to finish this article properly because I know you’ll be clicking that link!
4) F-Zero GX
Show me your tunes! I remember the good ol’ days where I would hook up the Gamecube in the living room, connect the television to massive speakers and play this game. It was so loud! I’ve never experienced better racing music that of F-Zero GX’s. Sometimes I would play the music in my car and drive from point A to point B. It generally isn’t a good idea because these songs are built for speed, which is definitely an illegal thing on the highway. There are roughly 40 characters to choose from in the world of F-Zero and each brings their own memorable theme song. Top that with all the action-packed, fuel-driven stages and you’re in for a real treat. My favourite track to race on was “Fire Field” specifically the outer loop. The very industrious metal sound accompanied with beautiful fire eye candy really sold it. Racing a round in the F-Zero GX universe was like attending a rave- it’s an intense trip with incredibly suitable music. And when the race is over you just can’t wait to hop into the next round, or even replay the race- not for the high score. For the music! I highly recommend this sound track for various occasions. Sit on a bus with this. Do homework. Write an article like I’m doing!
3) Sonic Adventure 2
Over the years, Sonic games have been known to showcase incredibly cheesy lyric-filled songs. Strangely enough, my all-time favourite soundtrack! If you’ve ever played the game, you’ll find the game is split into 6 parts, 3 times 2. Fast paced Sonic levels, fast paced Shadow levels. Treasure hunting Knuckles and Rouge stages, and shooting adventures with Tails and Eggman. Each of these characters carries a certain motif with the songs on their stages. Sonic’s tracks are upbeat and encourage you to get to the end. Shadow’s stages are in the same nature but have a slight antagonist tone to it, you’ll know what I mean when you listen to them. Eggman and Tail’s stages slow a bit smoother to give you a sense of venture and progression. Knuckle’s and Rouge’s songs are noticeably slower and really beat-driven to both suit their character and because their stages consist of roaming around a location searching for items, rather than reaching a goal at the end. There are a lot of tracks I love off this soundtrack but the ones that stick closest to me are “For The True Story” and “Supporting me”. Both songs appear later in the game as things start to get more intense. Definitely give the soundtrack a listen!
2) Super Smash Bros Brawl
You can tell a lot of work went into this. A lot. There are 312 tracks to this behemoth of a soundtrack, and each track just as smashy as the next! More than half of the tracks were re-composed from their original songs and are so tastefully redone. The strange part to the soundtrack is that the team really pushed their main theme and branched several variations of the song throughout the game. Repetition works I suppose. There isn’t a specific track that resonated with me, BUT hearing Brawl’s rendition of Kirby’s tracks really caught my attention. I would have never thought ‘Gourmet Race’ could sound so incredibly metal. Along with the revamped Brawl songs are some of the older original tracks directly copied over, so there is a bit of cheating there. Either way, the collection is a prime example of hard work from the music department. Kudos!
1) Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening
I beat this game at my cousin’s house over a weekend many years back. I’ve never played the first two prior to Dante’s Awakening but still managed to fall in love with the game! In all honesty, the music was not the first thing I noticed in the game until I reached the first boss (which, if I remember correctly was a painfully long and difficult road to trek. What brought the song to my attention started off on the loading screen. Yes, the first boss completely annihilated me over and over again, which brought me to the loading screen where the sound would seamlessly fade back in from the start. The song is called “Cerberus Battle”, starts dark and takes you on a badass trip the entire track. The song itself provides a kill or be killed tone and if you manage to pull the former the song already does their job by telling you that was bad ass.
The entire soundtrack does a great job at mixing electric instruments with orchestral ones while keeping the tone dramatic and in-check with the main character’s appearance. It’s too cool for words (disregard this entire paragraph).
