Analysis: Reaction to G4 top 100 Games of All Time whose audio was highlighted in the special

Of course, watching the G4 Top 100 Video Games got me thinking about game audio differently-- so what did I learn?  First of all, questions: How does one decide what game audio should be known?  What parameters make game music "worthy" or "important?"  Historical studies often point to the first occurrence of something as being very important, but weight also must be give to those whose widespread popularity has great effect.

I had trouble deciding what audio had been "highlighted" in the course of the G4 series.  For this project, I defined it as an extended spoken sequence about game audio.  However, sound effects and game music were on display in other ways.  For instance, the intro of the Ms. Pac-Man video.  To me, this is still highlighting the audio, but in an unspoken way.  If I included examples like this, there would have been many more games listed because audio effects and music often played both in the background and as the main focus.  Also I skipped a couple of games with a passing mention of "great soundtrack."  My requirement was spoken time in the series being devoted to a discussion of the audio.

I began to wonder about the methodology of game music study.  Watching game play videos is not exactly the same as playing the game because there's no interactivity... and yet there are games that are too difficult for me to complete (Punch Out, for instance).  Is a fair compromise playing some of the game and then watching the rest?

I need to survey the internet for game music information-- most game audio everything is online.  This is a massive project.  Interviews, some analysis, and lots of game audio information exists on the internet, but it's not corralled into a centralized hub.  Wikipedia, YouTube, and some gaming sites have information on various game music, composers, and links to more information.  How do gamers who get interested in game music search for more information about it?  Hypothesis: most  people get interested in the music of a certain game and then seek out more information on that game's music, rather than a systematic study of music across games and genres.

Consider the source!  The G4 special had a few game designers and musicians who comment about the audio, but most of the time the audio quotes were from celebrities.  These sort of statements are great for just making you think about your gut reaction to hearing the game music, not necessarily a studied, thoughtful reaction.  Remember: Game music is popular music-- main stream folks love it, listen to it, encounter it, sing it.  It's part of American culture and heritage.  Almost anyone can sing some memorable bit of it.

I found myself often pulled back to my childhood.  How does nostalgia play into this music and its listeners?

This project gave me a way to encounter popular game music that I didn't know.  I've been wondering how to expand my knowledge base of game music and also make sure I wasn't just going to obscure games for an audio detail.  That's something I hope to do, but first I've been wanting to check the pulse of mainstream "greatest hits" video game music.  Where are games tonally, rhythmically, stylistically?

Are there any similarities between classical music and game music?  Do their developments share similarities in any way?  Immediately coming to mind is a comparison of early music's polyphony and the use of the distinct sound channels in early game music.  And what of popular music and game music? 

This project also helped me validate the game music experience of my childhood as a worthwhile one.  I knew several of these games and plenty of others.  As a child, I owned Super Mario piano sheet music (simplified and inaccurate).  I grew up just at the demise of the arcade and the rise of the home entertainment system and loved video games, playing them for hours at a time.  After this project, I'm considering recreating a similar journey (links to gameplay/soundtracks) through game music as I experienced it growing up.  Maybe these wouldn't be considered the "most important games ever," but they fostered enough interest in me for this....

Oh, and if you're curious about a relation between marketing and video game music?  As soon as I watched the series, I bought Red Dead Redemption and have already played it for over 30 hours...  

Game Music Online: Audio mentioned in G4 Top 100 Video Games: Part 5

And the final of the best of the best list.  The top games of all time whose music was worthy of being highlighted in G4's series.  I've learned a lot from this process and will reflect on it in a journal follow up next.  Enjoy!



13 Portal:  GLaDOS-- computer female voice-- a "you're being taunted by HAL's sarcastic sister with her very pleasant speaking voice and her passive aggressive nature."  -Todd Stashwick  This is the highest spoken game audio highlight.  Not a game I know, but one I definitely think I should check out.

12 Doom II:  One of the members of Soundgarden mentions dreaming about the audio effects in Doom II.  I've dreamed about all kinds of music-- definitely game audio as well-- but never thought about the importance of this level of musical engagement with game music.  As a classical musician, I regularly dream about operas/musicals/chamber music/ songs that I'm studying.  I've definitely done it with game music before, but interesting to really consider how deeply this sound event enters our consciousness.

11 Zelda 64 (Ocarina of Time):  "Adding to the Legend were the music moments made possible by the Ocarina."  "They completely integrated this thing where you actually got to play the music in Zelda."  "So to call your horse, you actually play its song."  Music is such a central part of the Zelda series and why I love it so much.  I'm interested to consider some of the newer additions to the series-- I think Skyward Sword has incredible music.

6 Legend of Zelda  "LoZ mixed a high fantasy adventure with some of the most memorable music and sound effects in gaming history."  "The whole Zelda series is one of the most powerful pavolvian audio experiences you can have in terms of the sound effects you hear that trigger crazy reactions in your body." --Tim Schafer

5 Tetris  "most obnoxious get stuck in your head music ever"  -Claire Grant.  I love this music-- and as I know it, a Russian folk song.

1 Super Mario Bros:  Introduced by nearly all the hosts singing a part of the theme song put together in a montage.  I used to play this game at the local Pizza Hut growing up.  The audio was life changing.  Incredible.  An article about this game audio inspired me, in part, to start this blog!

Game Music Online: Audio Mentioned in G4 Top 100 Video Games of All Time: Part 4

Continuing my journey through G4's Top 100 Video Games of All Time whose audio was worthy of special highlighting in the series.  A best of the best list, if you will.  I'm having a blast getting to know these games, (re) experiencing their music, and thinking more about their soundtracks.  Hope you will too....


40 Space Invaders:  Tim Schafer: "I remember hearing... this thumping... strong bass sound.  You had this emotional reaction to it.  It was really the first to use audio in that way... to make you feel something."  Space Invaders is often cited for the first continuous soundtrack, as well as Schafer's credit for being the first game to use music to heighten the game play experience as the descending bass line and alien ship movements speed up.

37 Halo Combat Evolved.  Scott Porter  "There are certain songs you hear from games that just make you so happy or take you back to a time that was so awesome.  And every time I hear (sings the opening theme)...  the theme song is so incredible...."  Not a game I've played, but one whose music I'm currently listening to.

32 Mike Tyson's Punch Out.  "It was awesome watching him run along with his coach and that song..." (he sings the song) Danny Pudi.  I've been thinking about this cutscene music for a really long time and seeing this finally got me to look it up.  Of course the best one was the nighttime training-- love it!

I also watched this awesome video, a 40 min longplay of the Punch Out, to remind myself of the music experience.  When I hear this music, it strikes me as straddling the ear between arcade and home entertainment systems.  If it just played the transition music, start of the fight, winning fanfare, etc this game music could be for arcade.  However, once home entertainment systems started to become popular, game designers needed to create a more specific audio experience.  Presumably, a household only had a TV or two-- that's how ours was, at least-- and if someone were playing games in one room, it needed to create a continuous soundtrack with underscoring that builds tension and keeps players and observers engaged.

Also, I LOVE the classical music references: Glass Joe: La Marseillaise, Von Kaiser/ Super Macho Man: Ride of the Valkyries, Don Flaminco: Carmen Overture.  Is this kind of stuff happening in contemporary games, or have we lost these references?  Also read that Soda Popinski plays a Russian folk song-- wouldn't know it, but I do like how the music introduces each character.  I don't know if I recognized these musical themes as a kid, but much like the Looney Tunes episodes, I liked the music when I was a kid, and now, I get the musical references on a completely different level.


30 Super Street Fighter II Turbo.  "The best thing about Street Fighter II was all the sounds they made when you were fighting.  -Mo Mandel  I didn't play this Street Fighter, but I did play Street Fighter II on the SNES.  When my friends and I played together, we totally imitated these effects for our super powered punches and kicks.

Game Music Online: Audio mentioned in G4's Top 100 Video Games of All Time: Part 3

Continuing my journey through the G4 Top Video Games series, Part 3.   These are the best games whose audio was worthy of being highlighted in the show.  A best of the best list.


52 Rock Band 3  Scott Porter:  "Everybody wanted to have the keyboard.  I think it's the best instrument that lends itself to a music game that I've ever seen.  My dad's on the drums, my mom's on the mic, I'm on the guitar or the keys... it's really an amazing thing..."  My mind goes back to the 19th century when a family might get together and play through music together, each on a different instrument.  Is Rock Band 3 the 21st century version of chamber music?

It does me good to hear Chantal Claret say that she "failed Rock Band at her own song."  The couple of times that I've played this type of game, I'm not very good at it.  I always feel like the music and gameplay are ever so slightly out of sync.  As a classical pianist, I wonder if that may have to do with a difference in time of the mechanical action on my piano and the electronic sync up with game controllers?  I've certainly got rhythm...

47 Myst  Will Wright: (What made Myst successful was) "the connection between the high resolution graphics and the sound effects."  There was something about it that was enchanting in an almost musical hypnotic way.  -James Gunn  I played Myst just a little, but my mom played it for days, up all hours-- she was hooked.  I remember how shocked she was that the ending is right at the beginning.  I'm listening to the soundtrack-- it strikes me as being minimalist, unobtrusive music, that does indeed have a hypnotic effect.  Here's a little gameplay for you:

46 Red Dead Redemption:  "And in true Rockstar Games fashion the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack was a stand out on its own."  "All the music in the game is actual tracks from these old spaghetti western movies.  They did an amazing job putting this stuff together and really capturing that feeling."- James Gunn.  Not a game I know at all, or had ever heard of, but I've enjoyed hearing the soundtrack.  One of my favorite tracks is Ashtar Command's Deadman's Gun.  For an audio flavor of the game, here's the opening.  Love how communicative the music is at moments like 1:17.

I also found an incredible short documentary with a behind the scenes of the Red Dead Redemption Soundtrack.  This makes me wonder if Gunn's statement above was just referencing a feeling of old Westerns.  Also, I learned from this that the music has a layering effect where jumping on a horse causes a bass line to come in.  Clearly, I need to play this game to fully appreciate its musical cleverness.

Game Music Online: Audio mentioned in G4's Top 100 Video Games Part 2

Continuing the journey through G4's Top 100 Video Games of All Time whose audio was worthy of highlighting as one of the most awesome things.  Part 2:

# 78 Spy Hunter: The music changes when you go on the weapons truck, into Henry Mancini's theme from Peter Gunn.

#77 Excitebike:  Blair Herter: "What made this game so much fun was the sound design.  If you play the motorcycle sound in Excitebike to anybody my age, they can immediately tell you what video game that came from."  I remember playing this at a friend's house growing up, and designing courses.  Interesting that the music is such a small part of a game like this... I forget how much audio has progressed since the first NES games of my childhood.

#74 Star Fox 64:  "If you had an N64, you had this game.  You know why?  Because the characters talked!"  - Morgan Webb.  The transition from printed text to spoken audio to a game is a huge difference to the gameplay experiences.  As a kid, I used to support the amount of times I spent playing games by the fact that I was reading when I was playing RPGs.  In '97, spoken audio was not the norm, especially the amount that Star Fox 64 has!  And what a huge improvement over the speech in the SNES Star Fox where I was always disappointed after the opening audio samples.  One major thing I notice: once the gameplay starts in earnest at 1:56, there's a lot of background noise from the ship flying and frequent dialogue, which push the game's music out of the forefront of the audio experience.  

 

#73 Mega Man 2:  "Mega Man 2 is one of my all time favorite games as well.  I still have my ringtone as the Mega Man 2 theme song."  -Jonah Ray.  I did love the audio to this game.  When reading an interview with the sound team, they credit the popularity of the music with the popularity of the game and  the enjoyability of the gameplay experience.  I loved the different feel that each world had, largely imparted by the different tunes for each level.

#72 Mortal Kombat.  "Finish Him!"  What an iconic sound clip!  Although it doesn't have great music, my friends and I would yell this line as we pretended to be zap each other with our super powers.  Give this gameplay a watch: despite being continuous, the audio is actually pretty bland, other than the terrific fighting/ speech sounds.  This is from the arcade version, although I was usually playing the less graphic SNES version.

#64: NBA Jam.  "You're on fire!"  "Boom Shaka Laka!" NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat, and other arcade games aren't so notable for their music, which in the noisy arcade environment was more less critical than it is in home console games.  As I'm considering these examples that the show highlighted, I'm noticing that arcade games are more memorable for having spoken audio and better effects than home console games did in the mid 90s.

Game Music Online: Audio mentioned in G4's Top 100 Video Games Part 1

While watching G4's recent five part series of the Top 100 Video Games of All Time, I kept track of all the games whose audio is highlighted in commentary.  This documentary series has amazing audio editing, often introducing a game by playing its theme, or having a cut away to an iconic phrase in the game audio, either spoken and musical.  As I watched, I was surprised by the number of people interviewed who sang the theme song or audio effect when describing a game.  Seeing this made me realize that game music has a way of connecting with its listeners, and becoming a powerful association with players.  It's a part of our culture.

This list is cool to me because I've been trying to decide what game music might be considered "important."  What music might be in a standard canon of game music?  In other words-- there are so many great games with great music, but what are the best of the best that a person who wants to be a master of this subject should know?  How can one decide that?  By popularity?  Or games notorious for good music?  Is there a way to bridge the two?  Which games should a player go about exploring not just for the sake of great gameplay, but also to hear great music?  Thus, in a way, this is a "best of the best" list.  The best games of all time, whose audio was worthy of mention as to why this game was one of the best on G4's Top 100 Video Games of All Time.

# 98 Pitfall:  The yodeling "scream" sound effect as you swing on the vine.  The death sound effect is also classic-- Roszo/Schumann Killers/Dragnet.  Pitfall harkens from the early 80s where continuous music was not yet standard.  However, memorable sound effects depicting various gameplay events are already becoming iconic.

# 96 Guitar Hero 2: This is the first "music" video game to make the list.  Jenna Marbles says:  "The wide appeal of Guitar Hero 2 is that not everybody can play guitar, it's hard... but four or five buttons?  I can handle this.  I'm rocking out."  It gains music celebrities appreciation as well, my favorite of which point its historical passing down of music and ability to make players hear music more specifically.   David Ellefson (Megadeth): "It's introduced our music to another younger generation that probably forgot there were guitar solos." Dee Snider (Twisted Sister): "It breaks the music down and forces people to appreciate why it's so cool."  

I like the relation of music and image, where this game assumes a sort of "driving" through music view, as rhythmic button combinations approach the player as if on a conveyer belt of time.  

# 88 Double Dribble: One of the early games to use actual speech, "Double Dribble!" on the title screen.  Theo Von: the sound effects seems to be from a war game.  Every three point shot has an explosion (~1:14).

#81 Resident Evil: Haven't played this game, but interesting to learn that at one point you have to play the Moonlight Sonata to open a secret room.  Apparently, one of the characters is skilled at the piano, one can't play at all, and one has to practice to be able to unlock the room.  Clever!