Video Game Music

[Phil]

A gift for all you bastards. (And bitches…let’s be fair.)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=l1o6donj
Super Mario and Zelda Big Band

Live performance of video game music by a Japanese ensemble. Youtube has a bunch of clips as well, but this is the entire live performance…good quality recording too.

1) Opening Theme – Mario
2) Super Mario 64 Overworld
3) Super Mario Medley
4) Mario Scat
5) Go Go Mario
6) Super Mario Bros. 3 End Theme
7) Theme Athletic
8) Yoshi on the Beach
9) Wind Waker Title Theme
10) Dragon Roost Island
11) Epona’s Song
12) Isle Delfino
13) Zora Band
14) Goron City
15) Shop Theme
16) Zelda Medley
17) Super Mario Sunshine End Theme
18) Slider (Encore)

I’m particularly fond of the Wind Waker stuff, such an underrated game and one hell of a damn fine soundtrack. (As though we could expect anything else…)

Anyway check it out. I love these.

Topic

[Phil]

Not worth me uploading this since it’s available from archive.org, but here’s Agent Moosehead, live, performing the entire score to Mega Man 3.

And before anyone asks, yes, everything I’ve posted (and ever would) post here is free and legal. You can thank open-minded taping policies for that.

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

Ooooooh. If that first link wasn’t 102-odd MB, I’d grab it. (Fucking fucking fucking dialup. Still, it’s in my favorites now against the day my house gets a better connection.)

On the general subject of video game covers/music/remixes, I could recommend a whole bunch of tracks from OCRemix. Any of their Chrono Trigger mixes, for instance, and I just downloaded some excellent Final Fantasy II, III, and V stuff.

[mick]

Some computer game music has no need to be remixed:

You should also check out Daytona CCE on the Saturn which probably has one of the best original cheesy 80’s rock soundtracks ever made for a game ;)

[pfm]

If they ever do a Zelda film they should definitely use the music from the games.

[Ben Paddon]

I have the complete Super Smash Bros Brawl soundtrack. It’s Awesome, and it’s also well over 300 tracks. I’d put it up for download but it’s bloody huge. And in real life, too. Arf.

In all seriousness, if anyone asks me nicely I’m sure I could burn the tracks to a DVD or something and pop ’em in the post.

[Seb Patrick]

I’m not a Zelda fan, but I love the Mario half of that concert, especially the SMB medley, the song(!) set to the main Mario tune, and the Mario 64 Overworld theme. Although it’s a shame there’s nothing from SMW in it.

My favourite video game soundtrack is still Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy VIII score, particularly the full-on orchestral version that’s out there.

This is also quite, quite excellent. I love rock/orchestral/vocal interpretations of stuff like that. Another one of my favourites is the Leisure Suit Larry theme – would be great to hear a full-band version of that…

[Danny Stephenson]

The Final Fantasy Remix set on OCRemix called Voices of the LIfestream is just brilliant!!! Highly recommend it for anyone, a few tracks miss the mark, but some i want to last longer, and have actually made them longer just so I can get more out of them.

OCRemix is an amazing website and hope to start contributing to it soon!

[Phil]

>Ooooooh. If that first link wasn?t 102-odd MB, I?d grab it.

Arlene, if you genuinely want to hear it, email me at chickenbrutus at yahoo dot com with your address and I’ll burn it for you. I have a CD I’m sending to someone else this weekend so I’ll already be at the post office. Also, most of the music is effing gorgeous. Seb’s right about the Mario stuff being phenomenal, but if you ask me the best two tracks are Dragon Roost Island (which was also gorgeous in the game) and Epona’s Song, which has Japanese vocals in this version and makes me want to weep openly.

>I love the Mario half of that concert, especially the SMB medley, the song(!) set to the main Mario tune, and the Mario 64 Overworld theme. Although it?s a shame there?s nothing from SMW in it.

Seb: you’ll know better than I would. The final song, Slider…I know it was in Mario 64 during the footrace, and the penguin race, and things like that, right? But I somehow also thought that it was in Super Mario World in some form, and the Mario 64 version was an update of that theme.

Reading your comment made me realize I’m probably dead wrong, and I haven’t played SMW in years. Am I just crazy or was it there after all?

Also, what’s Yoshi on the Beach from?

>Another one of my favourites is the Leisure Suit Larry theme

Sierra had some GORGEOUS video game music in their adventures. Back then I didn’t even have a Soundblaster card…but boy oh boy did some beautiful stuff come out of my PC speaker when I played a Sierra game.

[John Hoare]

Downloading now! Cheers Phil. Ever since becoming a Nintendo fanboy since I got my Wii, I’ve fallen in love with loads of Zelda and Mario music.

I think my favourite still has to be Final Fantasy stuff – especially IV, VII, VIII and IX. Interrupted by Fireworks is such a brilliant track – so simple, yet so beautiful. And the Celtic Moon album is just fabulous.

[Jonathan Capps]

My favourite game sound track still has to be Deus Ex. It’s so cliched and pompous yet so dramatic and hugely catchy. Perfect. In fact, here’s the main theme:

[TheLeen]

I would draw a heart if the cms would let me.

[Seb Patrick]

<3

[TheLeen]

Showoff :p

[Anonymous]

Thought the Windwaker score was good, but comparatively weak after Ocarina of Time.

Mind you, that’s the case for nearly everything when placed next to Ocarina.

*whistles the song of storms*

[John Hoare]

No-one’s mentioned Still Alive from Portal yet.

So I’m going to mention it.

Still Alive.

[Ian Symes]

Compare and contrast…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=azzoPlYhY08

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5PwpZVlOumc

[John Hoare]

Oh, God, Sonic 1 on the Master System was the first Sonic game I ever played – must have been back in ’94 or ’95. The Bridge Zone music runs slower on the PAL version, of course.

The Master Systen and Game Gear Sonic games are very underrated. They may not match the Megadrive in terms of graphics, but they’ve got a lovely feel all of their own. And Sonic Chaos – whilst being far too easy (although getting all the emeralds still provides a challenge) – squeezes every last drop of graphical power out of the machine.

[Seb Patrick]

I LOVE the GG/Master System versions, because they’re the ones I grew up with. And the ending music of GG Sonic 2 is one of the greatest video game tunes of all time.

[Seb Patrick]

(by which I mean the “bad” ending – the one where you don’t get the emeralds, and thus Tails DIES. Music, though not the video, is here. Lovely stuff.)

[Jonathan Capps]

> No-one?s mentioned Still Alive from Portal yet.

Oh, God, yes. Valve are really excellent with their instrumental stuff for Half-Life and TF2, as well.

[Danny Stephenson]

> The ending music of GG Sonic 2 is one of the greatest video game tunes of all time.

I much prefer the MD Sonic 2 ending theme, purely because the first console I ever owned was a Sega Mega Drive. and SOnic 2 was one of the first games I ever played on it. :)

[Pete Part Three]

Some of my favourites:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ivxxip58VdU&NR=1
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=svSQ3La9Jl4
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B5EG38Is0-Y&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3PGdcUDwhQs
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qqWi7CTTrUI

[Joey TORDFC]

Interesting…my brother performed a lot of this plus most of Sonic 1 and 2 at a uni concert a couple of years ago, with a ‘rock band’. Apparently they went down a storm.

[Anonymous]

The bestest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Cc9r5g_54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bHfYFBe4g8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQryFuJqmrU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BlGi4nv7Qg

[Ian Symes]

Not forgetting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mqmN6mw4R8

[Pete Part Three]

Oh, and who could forget;

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=G_80PQ543rM

[Andrew]

I was always touched by the low-key conclusion of Another World (skip to the end):

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=atlAr5kdpQM

[Michael Warren]

My all-time favourite:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oNXBpzDp1K8

And a few Project Chaos remixes:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YlVDWz4KJgk
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXFWax6tVc

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

By the way, the stuff in the first post here? The Super Mario and Zelda Big Band?

Awesomesauce. Utter gold from beginning to end.

[Seb Patrick]

Yeah, like I say, I don’t really know the Zelda stuff, but the Mario stuff is great.

What the hell game is “Theme Athletic” from, though? Bloody love it.

[Ben Paddon]

I wasn’t really paying attention, but I think Andrew said something to the effect of…
I was always touched by the low-key conclusion of Another World (skip to the end):

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=atlAr5kdpQM

One of my dreams is to see a big-budget Another World movie. It should look spectacular and feature absolutely no dialogue whatsoever.

Incidentally Andrew, have you played the Anniversary Edition of Another World? It costs peanuts, and it’s absolutely incredible.

[mick]

>Incidentally Andrew, have you played the Anniversary Edition of Another World? It costs peanuts, and it?s absolutely incredible.

More importantly, have you played the sequal ‘Heart of the Alien’ on the MegaCD? Simply awesome.

[Phil]

>What the hell game is ?Theme Athletic? from, though? Bloody love it.

It’s definitely a Mario tune, but I can’t remember where…SMB 3? I have an image in my mind of a non-controllable Mario running across the screen while this plays…an ending cinematic maybe?

Don’t know for sure…it’s been years since I played the old Mario stuff…but I will once I get my Wii.

Also: I have a copy of the orchestrations for Majora’s Mask. It’s an official (albeit Japan-only) release so I can’t post it here, but it’s swwweeeeeeeeeet. Especially the opening theme. Hot shat.

[Andrew]

> Incidentally Andrew, have you played the Anniversary Edition of Another World? It costs peanuts, and it?s absolutely incredible.

PC only, though…

[Anonymous]

Another World good, Flashback better.

[Pete Part Three]

>What the hell game is ?Theme Athletic? from, though? Bloody love it.

It’s from Yoshi’s Island on the SNES.

[Andrew]

> Another World good, Flashback better.

I liked Flashback, but it’s a less cinematic experience somehow. Much more ‘a platformer’, yet the plot was unashamedly nicked from movies – They Live, Total Recall, The Running Man…

[Anonymous]

Hehe, yep…that’s true enough.

Just thought Flashback was better designed. Better puzzles….and the whole thing felt more fluid. Wouldn’t say it felt too much like a platform game – certainly not your average collect ’em up. But certainly quite Prince of Persia-ish.

[Andrew]

> Wouldn?t say it felt too much like a platform game – certainly not your average collect ?em up. But certainly quite Prince of Persia-ish.

Yes, that’s a good comparison. Absolutely. Flashback was a more fully-realised and traditional ‘game’, where Another World had a slightly different agenda – which, in some ways, reminds me of Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy.

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

>>What the hell game is ?Theme Athletic? from, though? Bloody love it.

>It?s from Yoshi?s Island on the SNES.

I knew I remembered it from somewhere–I have that for my GBA. I like a lot of the music from that game (even if you can hardly hear it most of the time over Baby Mario’s howling).

[Ben Paddon]

Mick just popped by to say…
More importantly, have you played the sequal ?Heart of the Alien? on the MegaCD? Simply awesome.

No. No no no no no. No. Awful game, simply awful – replacing Another World’s wonderful vector-based animation system with a sprite-based one was their first mistake. The second mistake was making an utter hash-job of the animation they did. The third mistake they made was making an utterly shit game.

It’s an interesting concept – seeing the original story from the perspective of Buddy, the alien – but it utterly ruined the ending of the first game simply by telling us what happens next, and not doing a very good job of it, either.

Eric Chahi had nothing to do with this game short of suggesting it run parallel to the first game instead of following it (he may have suggested the ending, too). He later said he regretted allowing the game to be made, and it’s not really considered “canon”.

Heart of Darkness, while more of a spiritual successor to Another World than a sequel, is a much more fitting follow-up. A shame only seven people played it.

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

By the way–speaking of kickass covers of VG music:

The Minibosses

My shame at not discovering this group earlier is as boundless as my elation at having finally discovered them. Right now they’re offering their latest album free for download (altho’ they wouldn’t mind if you gave them money for it either), and it is stunning. The Super Mario Bros. 2 track and the Kid Icarus track have worked their way right into my heart and the top of my favorite tracks list right now.

[Phil]

http://www.zreomusic.com/listen
Zelda Reorchestrated, for those of you who’ve never seen it. (I was one of those people until about 30 min ago.)

Some misses, yes, but some lovely, lovely hits as well. Looks like I’ve got another mp3 CD to burn.

[Arlene Rimmer BSc SSc]

>Looks like I?ve got another mp3 CD to burn.

And I have more to add to my LoZ remix folder! (Yes, I have a LoZ remix folder.)

[Phil]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K3aJqJUN1Xw&feature=related

Probably my least favorite track from the Big Band folder I posted, but I think if anyone ever wrote a song about me and performed it live, I would shimmy and swing my fists next to the singer exactly like Mario.

[Seb Patrick]

Okay, bringing this thread back has reminded me of a muxtape I was going to do. I’m going to put it together now, shall report back!

[Seb Patrick]

http://vgrocks.muxtape.com/

There you go. Contains a few things that have already been mentioned in this thread, but some other stuff you might not be aware of… it’s a mixture of rock cover versions of actual VG songs, and also some songs that either specifically reference, or draw analogies with, games in their lyrics…

[Andrew]

> a muxtape

Sounds like a video John would own…

[Danny Stephenson]

a mixture of rock cover versions of actual VG songs, and also some songs that either specifically reference, or draw analogies with, games in their lyrics?

Brilliant

[Ben Paddon]

I need to repeat the obvious, here: The Super Smash Bros Brawl soundtrack is fantastic.

[Author]

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