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#1 Edited By mnB

Check out part one

Welcome to part two of my (special) edition of 'The Feeling'. A series of blogs where I talk about games I used to play and enjoy back in the days. This time around am I gonna focus on the countless number of fantastic musical pieces found in the world of video games. While we're still gonna look at our fair share of old games here, are we this time around takin' a look at my top 20 favorite video game music of all time.

I think it's safe to say that music have played a huge role in video games throughout the years. From the 8-bit era's blips and blops to todays fully orchestrated soundtracks. Personally are music and sound some of the most important aspects of a game to me - heck, why would I remember all these tunes if it weren't?

Yea, we all got our favorite Mario, Zelda and Mega man tunes, but I'm gonna take you guys through my personal top 20 of all time. A list that's quite varied, but common for them all are that they gave and still gives me 'The Feeling' - or in other words, a wave of those good old times.

1996 : I first heard this tune when I played the original game on the PS one all the way back in 1996. I actually think that this was one of the first games I got for my original Playstation, and yes, it had me spellbound from the moment I started it up. Controlling Lara through ruins/dungeons, fighting a T-rex, solving puzzles and collecting ancient relics was right up my alley, and though the game scared me a little back then, was I still amazed by the atmosphere it delivered.

I instantly knew that this one had a spot on my list when I asked myself what 20 video game songs were among my favorites. It's peaceful and mellow. Soothing and calming, but at same time does it ooze of mystery and the unknown. Yup, this tune have stuck to me ever since I heard it for the first time all those years ago. Nathan McCree have surely created a masterpiece I will never forget.

1988 : Next up do we have a track from Castlevania II : Simon's Quest. The game itself was pretty flawed and full of irritating gameplay issues, but it did at least have one good thing to it... its awesome soundtrack.

I first played this game a couple of years after its release, and while I hated it at many points, did I also love it for one track in particular : Bloody Tears, composed by Kenichi Matsubara. I played it on one of my first consoles, the NES, back in the early 90's. Rocking out and killing monsters to this tune was just awesome.

1999 : Ahh, one of my favorites on this list from one of the, in my opinion, most overlooked game series ever, Age of Wonders. This is actually one of my most beloved games ever, a game me and my friends played all the time back in the day, and a game I still rate among my favorites of all time to this very day.

The soundtrack was just flat-out amazing, so I had a hard time picking just one song. It was composed by none other than Michiel van den Bos, the guy who's also behind the music found in Deus Ex and Unreal/Tournament. All the tracks suited the game flawlessly and really added to the whole experience... And yup, as with the Mario theme am I not sure if I picked right here... They're all that good and filled with mystery and atmosphere. Listening to this really takes me back to some of my favorite moments in my life of gaming.

1987 : I'm gonna start the same was as I did with the Mario entry on this list : Pick one Zelda tune... and only one. Heck, that's almost impossible! Yup, Zelda have left us all with a lot of fantastic tunes and melodies through the years. Melodies that's forever stuck in our heads. Koji Kondo shines through, yet again, as one of the best video game composers of all time (if not the best?) with his work on the Zelda franchise.

I went over a lot of stuff from Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess before finally deciding to go with the obvious choice... the one we all know and love... the good old original theme from aaall the way back before I was even born. Yup, the original Zelda them is the ultimate tune for adventuring, rocking your head, humming and playing air drums along to... of all time! This theme will be loved and recognized till' the day gaming dies (better known as the end of the world... or 2012).

1993 :Super Street Fighter II gave us, besides a fantastic fighting game, a bunch of songs thats still popular to this very day. Heck, they're even remixed into the the 4 installment of the series released in 2009 since they're that good.

This was really a choice between Guile, Ken and Cammy's theme.. And yup, the award went to the tomboyish (but hot!), best cheeks in the biz, Cammy, whom's theme has always stood out to me a bit more than the others. Super Street Fighter II is by no means my favorite in the series, but it did provide us with this up-tempo classic tune that I still use as custom soundtrack when playing Street Fighter IV on my PS3. It's awesome, fitting to a fighting game and really creates a spark in battle.

1994 : From back when RARE was still magical comes Stickerbrush Symphony from Donkey Kong Country. One of the most soothing songs to be found in a video game, and a tune that sends chills down my spine everytime I hear it.

I remember playing this game with an old friend of mine on his Super Nintendo back in the day, and boy did we love it. Not only for the gameplay, but also for it's soundtrack that was composed by David Wise. It consists of numerous classical tunes thats, in my opinion, among some of the finest the SNES has to offer. Stickerbrush Symphony have always been the track I remember the best. As with so many others on this list is it filled with atmosphere and magic. It calms me down and reminds me of those o' so good times back in the mid 90's.

2004 : Love it or hate it. We can't deny that World of Warcraft have opened up for a whole new era of computer gamers. It's rich, artistical and detailed world, carefully designed by Blizzard, is without a doubt one of the most fantastic places ever created in a video game.

I played this game for 3 years on and off before finally deciding to let go of it and move on, but rarely has a game given me so much value for my buck, both in terms of content and friends. Yup, I have had some of my best moments in gaming with this, and while it's really fantastic on a lot of points, was one of the things that actually made me consider playing alliance over horde, the theme found in the human capital, Stormwind City.

When you first enter Stormwind are you greeted by rows of massive statues. Old heroes of the alliance guarding the entrance to this massive fortress. This is where this epic and legendary tune kicks in and really creates a thick atmosphere and mood that I think is rarely found in games. I definitely love it!

1991 : I was one of those kids who owned a Genesis instead of a Super Nintendo, and yes, I was a huge... HUGE Sonic fan back when Sega did what Ninten...didn't?!. I owned all the games.... heck, I even had a big cardboard version of Sonic hanging on my wall. Yup, Sonic along with Van Damme (he's still my hero btw) was one of my childhood heroes, and while the series has gone downhill the last couple of years, are the old ones still timeless classics.

The music found in Sonic have always been fantastic. There's so many tunes to choose from, but I decided to go with, yet again, the classic choice : Green Hill Zone. It was composed by Masato Nakamura and offers a... well, screw that. It's just f****** awesome in every possible way, nuff' said.

1988 : Didi d'l di di di di d'l di di DI DI DI. Time for trial and error! Yup, one of the hardest games ever created joins us on spot number two. The in my opinion, best NES tune ever created was found in the punishing Mega man 2, and really offered an up-tempo, epic, one of the most kickass, ”you're probably gonna die 100 times trying to storm Dr. Wily's skull fortress'” tunes ever.

It was composed by three people, among them, the guy who's also behind the music found in Duck Tales. It appeared on the final stage and really set the mood for storming an evil genius fortress. So simple, but yet so awesome – a perfect example on what a couple of masterminds can do with the limited tools they had to work with back then... It's just as cool now as it was back when I played it for the first time.

1991 : Its raw, its heavy, its fitting, its atmospheric and finally is it just flat-out awesome in every possible imaginable way. It takes me way back whenever I listen to it and yup, I tried, but failed at picking just one song from one of my favorite games of all time – Streets of Rage.

I played Street of Rage back in the day till my fingers bled... or well, almost. This was my favorite game to pick up and play with my friend whenever we were in the mood for some co-op. Beat up punkers with broken bottles, beat up punkers with iron pipes, throwing knifes at punkers, skanks, evil clowns and what not... heck, what more could you ask for? What about an fantastic soundtrack that just made it all so much more awesome? No prob, it had it.

I originally intended to go with the main theme of the series, but when I sat down and listened through all of the tracks did I realise how much I love em' all. Picking one was simply impossible. This bunch of songs really stands out to me more than any others, and really gets the nostalgia up in me. They remind of why I play video games and of course of those good old times, and hey, that just happens to be what 'The Feeling' is all about.

While I'm at it am I gonna give a shout-out to Youtube's Andy Gillion for making this awesome guitar compilation of some of the best Streets of Rage tunes. Check it out.

______________________________________________________________________________________
Whew, definitely found out that it's kinda' hard to explain why you really like a song. Guess that's one of the cool things about video game music (and music in general) - it's more than just the music, but also the situation at the given time, both in the game and your real life that influences why you really like it.

It's easier to just let the music speak for itself... and sometimes that is all that's really needed. Hope you guys enjoyed the read/listening.

What's your favorite video game music? Let me know!

- mnB

15 years ago

mnB

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#2 Edited By mnB

Welcome to another (special) edition of 'The Feeling'. A series of blogs where I talk about games I used to play and enjoy back in the days. There's a little twist this time around however. While we're still gonna look at our fair share of old games here, are we this time around focusing mainly on the music... my favourite video game music of all time to be exact.

I think it's safe to say that music have played a huge role in video games throughout the years. From the 8-bit era's blips and blops to todays fully orchestrated soundtracks. Personally are music one of the most important aspects of a game for me - heck, why would I remember all these tunes if it weren't?

Yea, we all got our favorite Mario, Zelda and Megaman tunes, but I'm gonna take you guys through my personal top 20 of all time. A list that's quite varied, but common for them all, are that they gave and still gives me 'The Feeling' - or in other words, a wave of those good old times.Check it out.

2001 : Guess theres no introduction needed here? Well, on the 20th spot do we have the original Halo theme, and yes, this is undoubtly one of the best newer theme songs out there. Composed for Bungie Studios by Martin O'donnell (who's also behind the music from Myth 1&2), with the goal of providing a feeling of importance, weight and a sence of the 'ancients' is it really one of the most recognizable video game tunes.

Whatever he tried to do with that song, does it really deliver on all aspects. It has everything really... Starts slow, but quickly gets some up-tempo drums going, along with some hectic 'violins'. I can't really describe it, but this song has something mystical to it and it had me spellbound from the moment I heard it for the first time those many years ago. It makes you feel part of the Halo world, a world thats both beautiful and dangerous at the same time... Good from the core.

2001 : You can't make a list like this without having the Metal Gear Solid theme on it in some form or another. I decided to pick the one from one of the best game ever, Metal Gear Solid 2. It sends chills down my spine, its epic and its one of the newer tracks on this list that really hit me where I'm weak - and that's in a good way.

Being a reorchestrated version of the original did it take everything that was amazing about the first and made it even more fantastic. Well I don't even know what to say here... It's just legendary and fits the game, both in mood and in memories. We're all familiar with it, so why not let the music speak for itself.

1996 : Next up do we have the Command and Conquer : Red Alert series. The C&C series has always been one of the coolest when it comes to bringing the atmosphere of war into the game, and one of the reasons to that is the music. A lot of the music aren't really that rememberable, but there is one tune that everyone knows and that's of course the Hell March.

Composed by Frank Klepacki back in the mid 90's, is it one of the most amazing adrenaline "lets go kill something" songs out there. Klepacki joined Westwood Studios when he was only 17 years old, and have made music for almost all of their games, including their C&C, Dune and Bladerunner series. With it's heavy guitar riffs, sound of marching soldiers and "shout-outs" does it deliver on all aspects... Building up a base and go to war with this one in the background never fails.

1989 : It's oldschool and it's awesome. Released all the way back in 1989, is Duck tales one of the oldest games you will find on this list. But hey, what does age matter, when what's inside is absolutely fantastic? Yup, 'The Moon' level from Duck Tales features one of the most recognizable video game tunes from the NES era. While it's so simple on one hand, is it also a tune that holds a place in the heart of many gamers.

Duck Tales was made by Capcom, and the musical score was composed by none other than Yoshihiro Sakaguchi. The guy who's also behind the legendary music found in Mega Man 2. As one said: "This tune stands out in my mind as the theme of the eight-bit era. When you listen, you first hear a small tune, like the leftovers of the video game crash in '83. It gets momentum with more tunes, and it explodes, just like the NES' popularity by '89". Flatout awesome.

1996 : On the 16th place do we have one of the more "personal" picks on the list, and one of the finest compositions to ever be in a video game... Yes, im foreseeing the future here, it's that good. The Tristram theme from the original Diablo, composed by Matt Uelmen is so fitting that it's almost unbelievable.

I can't count the hours I've spent playing Diablo. The world is just fantastic, and one of the reasons for that was indeed the music. The Tristram theme plays when you enter, you guessed it, Tristram. A city threatened by evil forces. It takes you on a journey of fear, darkness, wonder and calmness at the same time, and manages to catch the dark, gritty mood of the game perfectly. From the small 'pricks' to the countless echoes, and finally the awesome guitar part starting at 2.30. Yea, this song sure does bring some good memories with it.

1999 : On the 15th place do we have one of the best game tunes from one of my favorite RTS games ever. Age of Empire's Shamburger makes me imagine a village in the Middle-Age waking up to yet another day. It's a foggy morning and everyone is already on their way to get todays jobs done, chopping wood, mining and fishing.

The whole soundtrack was directed by Stephen Rippy, and aimed to have bits from all the different cultures in the varied music, and let me just say that it really turned out awesome. I had quite a hard time deciding which song to pick, since there's so many I love from the game, but I ended up with Shamburger as my overall favorite piece. As with the Halo theme does this song bring something 'mystical' with it, the drum beat is spectacular and it's just soothing to have in the background while you build your town up from scratch. Trust me, it immerses you right into the game like no other.

2003 : SIMCITY - A series that in my opinion have a flat out awesome soundtrack behind it, especially the 3000 edition, takes it's place on the 14th spot. Composed by one of the, in my opinion, best in the industry - jazz musician Jerry Martin (JM joined Maxis in 1996 and is also behind a lot of the music from 'The Sims'), does it bring a cool array of New-Jazz songs that just fits the mood of the game perfectly.

I absolutely loved both Simcity 3000 and 4, but one of the things that really got me hooked was indeed the soundtrack. There were a lot (A LOT) of awesome songs to choose from, but one in particular stood out to me, and that was 'Metropolis' from Simcity 4. And hey, this is actually one of the non jazz tunes in the series. Building a city and watch it at night with this mellow, dreamlike tune was just fantastic. It calmed you down and sucked you right into the whole world like few tunes have ever done to me.

1985 : Pick one Mario tune... And only one. That ain't easy, trust me. Yea, this one was actually the hardest one for me to decide on. I went trough the Mario Bros 2 overworld theme, Birabuto Kingdom and Dr. Mario's Fever (and a whole lot more) before finally deciding to go with none other than the original Super Mario Bros. theme that we all know and love. Yup, the classic choice.

And let me be honest with you - I'm not sure if I picked right, cause it feels like I could fill this spot with 20 different Mario tunes and they would still all be awesome. Guess that tells a little bit about the quality of the music in this series. However, you can't go wrong with the original masterpiece from before I was born. Koji Kondo is one of the most acknowledged and best video game composers out there, and this timeless piece will undoubtly go further down in history as one of the best.

1992 :Kirby's Dream land. One of my favorite games from my childhood, and one of my most played games of all time. The simplistic platforming spiced up with Kirby's different abilities was really something that I found straight out awesome as a kid. It wasn't that hard to pick a song from this game, since I've always loved Green Greens, but King Dedede's theme almost went with the nomination.

The soundtrack was composed by Jun Ishikawa back when Kirby was still white, and sports some up-tempo tunes that really gets the flow of the game going. Green Greens stands out to me, as one of the best songs on the Gameboy platform, and takes me way back to the countless hours i've spent playing this game in my younger years. Just like the Mario theme above is it on one hand very simple, but on the other hand so well put together that you can't help but love it. A true masterpiece.

2002 : As with the Tristram theme does this one feels very "personal". I find it way better than Oblivion's praised theme, and one of the hardest to place on this list. It reminds of those "good days" where there was put a lot of feeling and spirit into the games, or atleast that's what it feels like.

Anyways, the Morrowind theme is flatout epic. It's a very touching song composed by the award winning Jeremy Soule, but at the same time does it also makes you want to saddle up and go out and explore the world. It's filled with adventure and heroism, but also sorrow. It tells a story of a land with a great history behind it, both in good and in bad. It's not often I get these kinda relationships to a song Iv'e heard in a frikkin' video game, but this one have always stood out to me as one of the finest... And hey, I'm not even that big a fan of the games.

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Lets end it here for now. Whew, definitely found out that it's kinda' hard to explain why you really like a song. Guess that's one of the cool things about video game music - it's more than just the music, but also the situation at the given time, both in the game and your real life that influences why you really like it.

It's easier to just let the music speak for itself... and sometimes that is all that's really needed. Hope you like what you've read/heard so far. What's your favorite video game music? Let me know!

Check out part two

- mnB

15 years ago

mnB

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#3 Edited By mnB

Long time no talk m8 :) Hope everythings cool over in India. Cool vid, fun to see the difference in cultures just by looking at your house interior etc. My 360 died back in November, just 1 month after the 3 year warranty wore off (ofcourse), so I only got a Wii and PS3 now (gotta add you btw).

15 years ago

mnB

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#4 Edited By mnB

Fast and not a total weakling? Sakura... I play Sakura myself and yea, she's just perfect when it comes to that + friendly to learn : )

15 years ago

mnB

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#5 Edited By mnB

For those of you not familiar with 'The Feeling' is it basicly a series of blogs where I put a spotlight on some, in my case, oldschool games that I used to (and still do) love and play from one end to the other... and back again, in my earlier years of gaming.

Some of these games may not be all that great when you look at em' from a reviewing standpoint, but common for them all are that they gave me 'The Feeling'. Explaining it in detail would take up half the blog post, so feel free to check out my introduction where there's a lot more to be found. This time around are we taking a jump back in time... back to 1995 and a game i'm sure most of you havent even heard of before.

You're Jack Thompson. A pilot operating for the US air force strategic bomber squadron under World War II. During one of your missions above Germany are you caught in a dogfight and your plane catches fire. On your way to down towards a certain death, does a mystical portal appear, and Jack is sucked into what seems to be some sort of parallel universe. It all turns black... and the second after are you on your way down, yet again, but this time in what seems to be a jungle... a mysterious jungle inhabitated by Dinosaurs and...

Hey! Is that a tied up jungle chick down there?! Sure is Jack... And there's a dinosaur on it's way to eat her if you haven't noticed...! Whew, luckily does Jack's plane hit, and dicapitates the huge creature and at the last second is Jack able to bail out, fold out he's parachute and crash land into a tree. Who's the busty amazon lady? What am I doing here? What's up with the dinosaurs? And how in heavens name am I supposed to get down from here?...This is where our adventure starts.

Welcome to Bermuda Syndrome. A game released for the PC all the way back in 1995, and a game that's pretty much unknown outside of Europe. Bermuda Syndrome was developed by the german developers Century Interactive (now known as Reakktor Media) and published by BMG Interactive. I acquired the game through a danish computer magazine I used to read when I was a kid named Komputer. The magazine we're mostly about hardware and software/general news, but they did have one page dedicated to computer games in every issue. It was from that magazine that I got almost all my info on new computer games hitting the market, since the internet weren't really an option at the time. Now and then would they throw in a "free" game with the paper and one of those happened to be Bermuda Syndrome.

Bermuda Syndrome was fun, but hard... I actually remember it being frustratingly hard at times, but it somehow managed to keep me coming back. The gameplay was almost identical to Delphine's awesome Flashback (1992/1993 - Amiga/Genesis etc.)/The original Prince of Persia in terms of control/design, and yes, Bermuda was a side-scrolling adventure/ platformer/puzzle game aswell. It featured 228 absolutely beautiful drawn screens and before you would reach the end, if you would ever make it that far (I didn't), would you probably have faced death more times than you could ever imagine. The puzzles were hard and what made them even more ridiculous at times we're the bad controls and the, so spoken of before, princess.

Yes, no surprise... Your first puzzle is to save the princess, who then tells you that she had to sacrifice herself to the dinosaur in order to save her land and her beloved father from a huge disaster. Hah... like Jack would believe such nonsense, but nonetheless wouldn't he want to hurt the princess' feelings either so he agrees on taking her back through the dinosaur filled jungle, to her father, and hopefully sort out whatever problems they have.

The princess would then join you on your journey throughout the whole game and act as a guide/parasite/helpless girl that can't do anything on her own. Yup... Bermuda Syndrome took skills to master and quite the calm mind at times, but the fantastic scenery/atmosphere + story definitely made up for all the "bad" stuff. Mix all this together and you have a game that I actually find quite amusing, especially for it's time... A game that's one of my most rememberable.

15 years ago

mnB

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#6 Edited By mnB

Welcome back, hope you had an awesome trip. Looking forward to updates and whatever new stuff you guys can come up with : )

15 years ago

mnB

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#7 Edited By mnB

Spoilers for new games in the trivia seriously needs to go. Nothing more annoying than getting a question like "who killed your sister in Fable 2" or "do Dom find Maria safe and well in gears of war 2?"... the latter was even marked "spoiler", but what does that matter when you have to answer it to progress. Seriously people - if the mods can't control it, then atleast think a little before making such questions : / ... Or give us an option to jump over one question or something.

Don't forget to flag them at least - please.

15 years ago

mnB

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#8 Edited By mnB

Gonna back up on this. Would definitely bring a little extra flavor : )

15 years ago

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#9 Edited By mnB

Yea it's awesome. Remember I had this on my most anticipated games of 2008 list back in January (or so) - and well, now it's here : ) Haven't checked out the demo, but I'm definitely gettin' the game.

15 years ago

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#10 Edited By mnB

Well, can't complain about that ; ) Nice with some updates, looking forward to whatya got for us tomorrow. This whole trivia thing has been really great so far.

15 years ago

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