Videogame music appreciation thread

[Mongrel]

A friend was talking about their playing Max Anarchy and showed me a let's play. Online beat 'em ups aren't my bag, but I thought the soundtrack was pretty pumpin!

I assumed the songs had been added by the streamer and went looking. Nope... turns out this is the actual in-game music.

[François]

Yeah, it's sort of a successor to MadWorld, for which Platinum/Sega basically commissioned original tracks from a bunch of rap artists. Like this is the Black Baron's boss theme in there.



It's a cool way to approach game sound design and I find it kinda weird we don't get more of it.

[Esperath]

[Yoji]

Bumped into this while looking for a cover of Koopa's Road:

[beatbandito]

Heard the vocal/instrumental version of the Mischief Makers main theme for the first time today and got very emotional.

[Mongrel]

[Esperath]

[Friday]

I think you have been the highest success rate (in terms of me liking the music you show me) of anyone I've ever met, Esper.

Like, I've found a lot of music I love from various people here and irl, don't get me wrong. And I appreciate them for showing me new shit. But you and me seem to have almost the exact same taste.

I don't think I ever asked you this, or if I did I can't remember the answer.

What's your favorite game ost, and what's your favorite single vgm?

[Esperath]

What's your favorite game ost, and what's your favorite single vgm?

No idea, first that come to mind are Undertale and Chrono Trigger? For single tracks, I definitely remember the childhood resonance of Time's Scar and Corridors of Time.



oh wait :3




Right, so did I mention that Another Eden was Chrono? Because Another Eden is Chrono.
Specifically, it's the CT ending where Crono breeds too many damn cats and Crono's mom chases them into Another Timeline.



As relevant to this thread, Another Eden has a superb soundtrack made by Yasunori Mitsuda's studio, and is the composer debut for one of his protégés. Mitsuda has some token compositions but it's mostly by Shunsuke Tsuchiya and Mariam Abounnasr. I'll be writing more about Abounnasr, Another Eden, and its amazing music in Another Post.

[Thad]

The Sonic 3 tracks usually attributed to Michael Jackson are more accurately credited to his frequent collaborator Brad Buxer, who's said that as far as he recalls the only track MJ worked on himself was the ending theme.



Which bears a more than passing resemblance to Stranger in Moscow, first released the year after Sonic 3.



Carnival Night



has some similarities to Jam



and Ice Cap



is based on Hard Times, a then-unreleased demo Buxer had recorded with his band the Jetzons.

[Büge]

Tommy Tallarico has probably taken credit for those

[Thad]

I'll go to bat for the EWJ soundtracks. Sure, they're not my favorite 16-bit BGMs, but they get the job done and they're memorable enough that I can still summon them from memory.

Also I found a 2016 Billboard article that says

The connection between the Ice Cap Zone bass line and [...] the unreleased “Hard Times” — may be in the ear of the beholder.

and I can't stop thinking about that Flight of the Conchords where Murray puts on the two Doggy Bounce videos and he's like "Now, opinion time. Is that one in any way similar to the first one?" and Jemaine responds, "Yes, in that it is exactly the same."

[Thad]

Also: apparently the Jetzons are local boys from right here in Tempe, and their label is the local independent Fervor Records.

Like most people, I don't buy a lot of albums these days, but I do pick up the occasional indie. Maybe I'll snag The Complete Jetzons sometime.

[Upthorn]

I'll go to bat for the EWJ soundtracks. Sure, they're not my favorite 16-bit BGMs, but they get the job done and they're memorable enough that I can still summon them from memory.

EWJ one's soundtrack was fine, but EWJ2's was memorable and fun and still gets stuck in my head sometimes.

However, I suspect buge was referring to information from an hbomberguy video
(specifically, a two hour deep dive into the origin of the "roblox oof' sound effect)
Wherein it came out that Tommy Tallarico has a propensity to take credit for:

• music and sound effects that were made entirely by other people working under him
• music and sound effects that he simply happened to be in the same room while they were being made
• ten times the audience size that was physically possible at a concert he put on in China
• playing more prestigious venues than he actually did
• projects that he had no association with, whatsoever
• Guinness World Records that he never actually received
• Things that are stupidly easy to prove he did not do

[Büge]

his mother is very proud

[François]

Okay, great news people. I know you've been wondering. I know it's been keeping you up at night. I get it. I get it. I understand your curiosity. To an extent, I even understand your obsession. "If François was a recurring minor antagonist in an RPG, what would his theme song sound like?"



Also, yes, if you follow my sidequest to the end I drop the best weapon for a party member who suffered permanent plot death two dungeons ago, which is swell if you use the infinite donut exploit to glitch them back in. Every GDQ run goes out of its way to kill me.

[Mongrel]

Sounds like the main character's leitmotif for a European rom-com film from 1962.

(this is praise)

[François]

I cannot fathom a universe in which exists a single person who would not recognize this as praise. :D

[Yoji]

It gives me a real "fight me in the vacant lot with the geo panels that move everybody one square to the left at the end of each turn" feeling.