The Wii’s channels soundtracks matched their visual aesthetic to create an entirely new futuristic atmosphere.
With an innovative idea that finally was feasible, the Wii had no choice but the capitalize on the futuristic aesthetic that became increasingly popular, and the Iwata era of Nintendo entered its back half with fun, catchy pieces of music across hardware menus to make players delighted to simply boot up the console. It felt like everything was just starting as technology began to advance. When the Wii was released, society was in a much different place. Not only that, but the design, the gameplay, the characters, all of it fits well together and results in something that feels real. Games such as Omori do such a wonderful job marrying the music to the scenes, no matter the current atmosphere. Due to the playful and charming exterior, it’s rather easy to forget that this game is a psychological horror. When these play you just KNOW something is about to happen. Then of course, there’s the music that set off all the red flags. Songs appropriate for this mood included “Tussle Among Trees,” “Push and Shove,” “CHAOS ASSEMBLY,” “Forest Frenzy,” and a bunch of other battle music you can simply just vibe to. Songs such as “Where We Used to Play,” “By Your Side,” “A Home For Flowers,” “Poems in the Fog,” and a handful of others.īefore you know it though, the moment can turn vigorous as you and your friends are battling a varicolored enemy. The music can seem sweet and innocent one minute, fitting for the seemingly cute and happy world the main character and his friends are spending time in.
Through its music, Omori creates an aura of apprehension, fear, and the feeling of not knowing what is and isn’t real.
It is a pure soundtrack for a swashbuckling adventure that feels unique from the rest of the series before and after it. Not only that but the game’s combat music is the first in the series to introduce adaptive score, where each of Link’s sword strikes become a tense percussive hit in the soundtrack to bolster the impact of player action. Players compose ballads with a magical baton, songs are made of wind instrument samples throughout, but so do their companions in the new sages Medli and Makar, piecing together a hymn to seal away the Evil Ganon once more. While Wind Waker’s score utilizes faint melodic recollection of A Link to the Past and Ocarina before, Wind Waker, much as it does visually, finds its own identity through a unique soundtrack.
PSA: this list excludes licensed music soundtracks, so unfortunately we had to skip iconic games with compilations like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Guitar Hero, and Elite Beat Agents, but rest assured, we love those games too.Ī deviation from its revolutionary predecessors, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker marks the first 3D Zelda beyond the Nintendo 64 on a seafaring adventure with a Link of the future, where Hyrule has been drowned and the inhabitants of Hyrule live on far off islands. While this list of games is massive, we had so many others we loved that didn’t even make the cut, so if you don’t see your favorites, comment in the Disqus or hit us up on Twitter and Instagram to tell us your favorites on and off this list. This is why The Young Folks’ Music section and Video Games section decided to collaborate on this massive list to amass our personal favorite 100 Best Video Game Soundtracks of All Time to celebrate the unique medium, to not only satisfy our nostalgia, but so I can make a new Spotify playlist for myself like a freak who needs 26-hour playlists to write to.
Now, not only do games fit equally onto cartridges and CDs, sometimes it’s designed through full orchestra, through collaboration with rock and roll artists, or even is fundamental to the flow of the game itself, and now the ancient downsampled 16-bit themes of the 1980s and 1990s have been homaged and superseded by some of the best indie games out there.
But in the near half-decade since that title, music in games, and the idea of music in games has evolved and flourished just as the overall gaming medium has. It requires a certain level of thinking and in the earliest days had to be coded directly into the game’s level design, resulting in the powerfully kinetic tune that introduced the world to Super Mario Bros.’ theme in 1986. Composing music for a video game is an entirely different beast than creating a SoundCloud single or producing a studio album. While video games have, as millions of elders have articulated over the years, “come such a long way since Pac-Man,” so too has its music in the form of OSTs or Original Soundtrack albums. No, it’s not just your nostalgia talking.