I have loved video games since I was a child, and I find more and more today that the games I love most are the ones that had great music. (this is also true of most films I love).
Two of the best early video game scores for me were Final Fantasy (the first one, on NES), and Wizards and Warriors (also for NES). Other game themes that I still sing and obsess over include the series titles, Zelda, Mario, Metroid, and Castlevania.
I was playing The Windwaker, the latest Zelda game for the GameCube, a year or two ago. I was in college at the time, taking a lot of crazy conceptual classes, and so I was afforded the opportunity to write a paper on the game. Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://www.octember.net/Evan/Essays/windwaker.html
Its mostly about the gameplay and the entire series, but here’s what I learned about its music:
What video games have been doing lately is combining cinema style music and sound effects with their game play. So, when the character gets close to an enemy, the enemy music starts playing. What is innovative about Windwaker’s sound design is that it changes in the middle of a level to suit the mood. If a storm approaches at sea, the music will change to a minor key. If you steer too close to a nest, the seagulls will call out at you and follow you, their wing noises growing the more that arrive. Basically, the sound serves the mood the designers want to create. The tense moments created during boss levels are often made more so by the music.
Here’s an example of the creativity that went into the music for that game: Once you are in Ganon’s tower, near the end of the game, it becomes easy to get lost. You keep going up, and going through rooms that look exactly alike, etc. The music reflects this. Don’t tell anyone, but check out the song that plays during this level here:
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Put it on a loop, and you’ll see what I mean. The song is only 1:29, and it sounds like it is being played in the same key throughout. That is, no notes appear to change, each instrument plays the same pattern. Through the course of the song, though, the key has shifted down a half step, so it rises up a notch when it repeats.
Please listen to it to see what I mean.
Anyhow, this set my mind reeling as to the capabilities of Video Game music, and I’ve got lots more to say on the subject. I’d like to hear from you first, however. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of anything you’ve read here.