Video Game Soundtracks Are More Than Just Background Noise
Video game music deserves some more love!
Recently I stopped by the Sam Ash music store in Manhattan to kill some time and play some of their instruments. As a multi-instrumentalist, this is a pretty common occurrence. I made my way towards the back of the store where they keep their collection of keyboards and pianos. I sat down at one that looked nice, and began to play one of my favorite songs: “No More What Ifs” from the Persona 5 Royal soundtrack.
As I began playing the opening chords to the song, I noticed someone from the corner of my eye looking my way. Generally, when I have played this song in a public setting, nobody bats an eye. I might get the occasional, ‘Oh, that sounds pretty,’ but never any recognition of the song I’m playing.
However, as I continue playing through to the bridge, I’m interrupted. He is now standing right beside me at the piano bench. “Yo, is that from Persona 5?” I turn and respond with an enthusiastic “Yeah!” Before long, we begin chatting about the soundtrack, sharing our favorite songs like “The Whims of Fate” and “Price”, talking about our processes in learning how to play them on the piano. We ended our discussion with a fist bump, and I wished him a good afternoon.
I listen to video game soundtracks very often. Interspersed in my daily listening are songs from the soundtracks of Final Fantasy 7, Undertale, the Super Mario series, the Persona series and The Legend of Zelda series, to name a few. And I’m not the only one.
The internet hosts a wide variety of video game music-enjoyers. The r/GameMusic subreddit is home to over 122 thousand members who share their favorite gaming music moments. YouTube channels that post video game song tutorials for piano rack up hundreds of thousands of views from fans who want to learn their favorite tracks. Taking it a step further are bands who cover video game music in their own unique arrangements like The Consouls, who have covered songs in everything from Chrono Trigger to Pokémon.
Even non-gamers can recognize the iconic opening trio of notes to “Zelda’s Lullaby” or the syncopated melody of Super Mario’s “Ground Theme.” The casual arcade bar patron is also sure to identify the classic Mortal Kombat theme while they go for their third aptly named “Brutality” cocktail.
Similar to film composers, video game composers create songs that fit particular moments in the games they inhabit. Whether it be a fast-paced battle song for a JRPG like Final Fantasy, a cheerful upbeat groove for a platformer like A Hat in Time or just some calming main menu music, every song is crafted to both accent a game’s visual aesthetic and invoke a particular attitude within the player. They can span different musical styles, be it orchestral or electronic, and can occupy different genres like jazz, rock, metal, house, punk; you name it.
It’s even more impressive to recognize how in the early days of video games, composers were limited in their creativity by the minimal hardware of early gaming consoles. Systems like the Nintendo 64 were restricted to 64 megabytes of storage space per game cartridge, with most of that storage being occupied by the game itself. This left little wiggle room for the musical components of the game, since larger audio files would take up too much storage space. Legendary composer for Nintendo, Koji Kondo, crafted the masterpiece that is the Ocarina of Time soundtrack using MIDI files, which were able to take up around only three kilobytes of storage space each: an extraordinary feat considering the quality of the compositions he was able to produce.
And it’s no question that a good video game soundtrack elevates the player experience. I mean, just look at a game like Doom Eternal, with Mick Gordon’s bombastic, in-your-face heavy metal making the process of killing demons a religious experience. Hearing those rolling double-kick drum strokes as you slaughter hordes of hell demons make glory kills feel even MORE badass.
Or in Super Mario Galaxy when you visit the Gusty Garden Galaxy for the first time, and as you fly in to the flower-carpeted starting island, you are welcomed by uplifting horn stabs, which give way to gradually heightening acoustic guitar strums, before strings erupt into a doubtlessly magnificent melody that wholly encompasses the feeling of adventure.
Music like this can upgrade a gaming experience from good to great, and from great to excellent. They take the actions we see on screen and allow us to experience the emotion behind them. But even more than that, these tracks can complement real life just as well.
Jean-Michel Basquiat said that art is how we decorate space, and music is how we decorate time. Being able to relive the emotions I have felt during some of my favorite gaming moments throughout my everyday life is personally one of the best ways I decorate my time.
I might be sharing a busy subway car while listening to Persona 5’s “Tokyo Daylight”, feeling like Joker as he navigates the train platforms of Shibuya. Or maybe I’m back in my hometown of Phoenix driving alongside the vast Sonoran Desert as “Gerudo Valley” from Ocarina of Time blasts throughout my SUV, mirroring the excitement of jumping over the river with Epona for the first time.
Enjoying my favorite video game tracks is not an act of passive listening, either. Relistening to these songs puts me in the same state of mind as if I were actively playing the game they are from, giving me the same feelings of triumph, of heartbreak, of joy or of sorrow.
And what is even better is being able to relate these experiences with others. So thank you, Jaden, for appreciating “No More What Ifs” as much as I do. I hope you had a good afternoon.