Respect Video Game Music
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.พ. 2025
- Music is an art form nearly anyone can appreciate. From classics to modern day singles, there's something for everyone. And yes, that includes video game music. From it's electronic sounds of the 80's and 90's, to the full on orchestras of modern day, it is an art that deserves more respect.
Follow me on Twitter: / thencsmaster
CREDIT FOR GAMEPLAY CLIPS USED:
PONG GAMEPLAY- • Pong Gameplay
MARIO 1 GAMEPLAY- • Super Mario Bros - Ful...
ZELDA 1 GAMEPLAY- • The Legend of Zelda - ...
METROID 1 GAMEPLAY- • Walkthrough - NES - Me...
MEGA MAN 2 GAMEPLAY- • Mega Man 2 (NES) Playt...
CASTLEVANIA GAMEPLAY- • Castlevania (NES) Play...
FF3 GAMEPLAY- • Final Fantasy III (NES...
PUNCH OUT GAMEPLAY- • Mike Tyson's Punch-Out...
DUCK TALES GAMEPLAY- • [Longplay] NES - DuckT...
MEGA MAN X GAMEPLAY- • Mega Man X - SNES - Fu...
FF5 GAMEPLAY- • Final Fantasy V Walkth...
STREET FIGHTER 2 GAMEPLAY- • Street Fighter II: Cha...
DEVIL MAY CRY 3 GAMEPLAY- • Let's Play Devil May C...
TALES OF SYMPHONIA GAMEPLAY- • Tales of Symphonia Gam...
PANZER DRAGOON ORTA GAMEPLAY- • [4K] Panzer Dragoon Or...
SPIDER-MAN SNES GAMEPLAY- • Spider-Man: The Animat...
MAXIMUM CARNAGE GAMEPLAY- • Spider-Man and Venom: ...
SEPARATION ANXIETY GAMEPLAY- • Venom/Spider-Man: Sepa...
SPIDER-MAN MOVIE 1 GAMEPLAY- • Spider-Man: The Movie ...
SPIDER-MAN MOVIE 2 GAMEPLAY- • Wake up bro it's 2004 ...
SPIDER-MAN PS1 GAMEPLAY- • Mysterio - Spider-Man ...
TRAILS FROM ZERO GAMEPLAY- • The Legend of Heroes T...
This is why I want Nintendo to put their music on Spotify. If you’re so adamant about fans uploading your music to TH-cam, give them an official means to listen to your dang music!
EXACTLY! If I can't pay to listen Nintendo's music, I should be able to listen to it however I damn well please! And no, I do not consider Nintendo's option of "just listen to it on the go with your switch!!" as an option. Thats stupid, I would like to have music on my phone-- you know, the little rectangle that can actually fit in my pocket.
@@Chaosbean-1443 Smash Bros. only has so many songs. Would you rather use a console that’s surprisingly quite bulky or listen to millions of songs for a dollar? I’m not even gonna answer that.
Whenever I drive my sister around who doesn't play games, I usually play songs on my phone connected to the radio, and most of my Playlists contain video game songs that contain lyrics, and she always says, "why don't you listen to real music?" She said while listening to Devil Trigger. My frustration is getting bigger.
If it’s not Imagine Dragons, AJR, or any other band infinitely replayed on the radio to death, it doesn’t exist. Their mind just combusts
@@bepis_realYeah, you don’t win no matter what. I strongly avoid vgm around other people, but even delving into electronica is too much for people. Shit’s crazy.
Your sister sounds like the most boring person ever
@@bepis_real I do like an Imagine Dragons, but VGM is just so much better to me, I absolutely love melodys.
Listening to NES soundtracks like Mega Man II, Castlevania, Batman and even Mario still holds up and very catchy tunes to listen to.
Whenever I tell people what kind of music I listen and tell them it's video game music they always give me weird looks like its some weird thing to do. I never understood why people have this stigma but I usually treat it like, "whatever" and change the topic to something else
Granted the opposite is also true as one time I made a friend over video game music. Basically I was dropping off this one person who I met at our universities gaming club as he needed a ride back as his dorm was on the other side of campus. I played Xenoblade 3 music on the way back and quickly learned the guy was a Xenoblade fan and next thing before I know it we were sharing each others Discord information and became friends.
Max Dood might talk crap about the Genesis sound chip, but that console had some real bangers! Yuzo Koshiro, Jesper Kyd, Howard Drossin, Richard Jaques, and Tim Follin really went NUTS with that sound chip!
I'm glad that you brought up the fact that difficulty and limitation bred innovation for early soundtracks in this industry. I'm reminded of a legendary statement that's floated around the internet for ages when you brought that up. To quote it, it went something like this. The Super Nintendo sound chip is like if an artist were being forced to work with Crayola crayons. Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy 6 then saw Nobuo Uematsu do the musical equivalent of drawing Michelangelo's world famous Sistine Chapel ceiling by using said crayons.
That song, and the awe inspiring achievement it represents, is a LEGENDARY work of art that will never be forgotten. Dancing Mad is a symbol for all time of how limitation can be overcome with creative and dedicated solutions cooked up by truly brilliant minds. If Uematsu had composed that piece for any other medium, there's no doubt in my mind he'd be globally renowned and among legendary names like Star War's very own John Williams, just as an example. Not to lament the influence and legacy of Uematsu, he's basically reached a level of fame most video game composers could only dream of. But I can't help but wish it went further.
I'm also glad you brought up the growing divide in modern game music between ambient or cinematic pieces, and catchy memorable works. You know me well. I will never get over God of War Ragnarok taking best music over XC3. I am one of those people you described, by the way. I wanted Ragnarok to win awards. It's a beautifully crafted story, paired with jaw dropping visuals, and epic combat encounters. But I knew that the best ost that year was Xenoblade 3, and it wasn't even close. (thats to say nothing of xc3 in general being my personal goat.) Yasonori Mitsuda and his peers poured their hearts and souls into that games soundtrack. And it shows all throughout the end product.
From Xenoblade 3? I still listen to songs like Words that Never reached you, Moebius battle, You Will Know our Names Finale, Kaleidoscopic Core, Showdown with Z, Weight of Life, and new favorites the dlc introduced like New Battle part 3, Redeem the Future, and the Future Awaits, all the god damned time. And that was ALL WHILE managing to tow the thin line between crafting memorable pieces, but also something that can suit the somber tone the game itself went for as an overall tone. Eclipse Homecoming, The offseer's melody, Feelings upon this melody, and Hope For the Future are tracks they created to set a cinematic tone, but were still good and memorable pieces in their own right. This soundtrack was the best of both worlds. You had catchy memorable songs that got you pumped for epic showdowns, but also truly thoughtful pieces that only serve to assist in the games overall goal of leaving you a sobbing mess by the time the credits roll.
Xenoblade 3's music is the literal proof that there is a middle ground between these two extremes, and the game awards responded by ignoring that incredible achievement. I feel like that failure on the game awards part is just emblematic of this growing divide that gets wider and wider by the year. That even when a score tries it's damndest to tow the line between two extremes, and succeeding in spite of the fact that would usually would be a recipe for a massive disaster, it's not acknowledged as the master work it was.
So anyways...all in all. You're right. You're absolutely right. Video game music deserves respect. It's art. Just as valid, and just as meaningful as any other quote on quote piece of "real music" you'd hear run on the standard radio. Hell...considering how "real music" has a very pronounced problem nowadays with falling back on tired musical tropes and melodies, all in the pursuit of crafting a sound basically focus tested proven into topping that spotify chart, I'd argue that todays great game composers are arguably more innovative then their equivalent in radio. They achieve these works of art all while idiots online come down on them for daring to stand out from the crowd. It's truly awesome to me how they not only persevere in the face of that animosity, but continually strive to entertain players the world over, all while seldom getting the credit they really deserve. I personally aspire to one day achieve that kind of dedication for a passion. I can hardly imagine.
Xenoblade 3 did NOT have the best ost that year, that title goes to forgotten land. I guarantee you didn’t play that game.
@@minecrafter3448 I played both.
I find Xenoblade 3 to be much better, not that Forgotten Land has a bad soundtrack, I like it a lot. But, to me, Xenoblade 3 is on another level.
@@minecrafter3448 It's best not to make stupid assumptions about people you don't know. I have played every mainline Kirby game. Forgotten land has good music, it's not matching the fucking soul of the XC3 soundtrack, be for real.
@@SpaceKingScot of course xenoblade 3 has a great one, but it doesn’t have a two planets approach the Roche limit. It doesn’t have a roar of dedede. It does have a running through the new world, though. It doesn’t have a transcendent moonlight canyon, potentially my favorite moment in the whole game.
@minecrafter3448 dude, you literally just did the Twitter meme of "oh. You like pancakes, surely that means you hate waffles" no fucker, that's a different sentence. Go annoy someone else.
never forgetting the sonic unleashed battle theme. blaring in my ear every 10 seconds
I like the night theme. It's super jazzy.
You do not really ever hear anyone saying video game music is bad because there is such ignorance present, especially in non-players. Simply, some do not value or even consider listening to this particular form of art.
These video game music composers are my real indie artists. 🗣️
Toby Fox, Lena Raine, Darren Korb, Jake Kaufman, C418, and many others, are some of the best in that regard.
@@liammcnicholas918hop on that disasterpeace and lifeformed wave
@@liammcnicholas918 I only know Toby and Jake. What did the others compose for? 👀
@@mr.j3rs3y Lena Raine = Celeste, Darren Korb = Hades/Supergiant Games, C418 = Minecraft
Nice song for the outro.
There's a reason I've spent so much time on some game music appreciation videos, including the top 100 songs in the Trails/Kiseki series (which that song in the outro only made #53... just a testament to the amount of great music Falcom puts out) and I think it's one of the aspects of games that stick with me longer than anything else. Zelda, Sonic, NiGHTS, Ar Tonelico, Drakengard/Nier, Final Fantasy, Ys, Trails/Kiseki, none of them would be nearly the same, and probably would not be held in nearly as high regard, if it wasn't for their amazing music.
Ninja Gaiden on NES, Act 4-2 "Unbreakable Determination"
Nuff said.
It's fine to make more cinematic music for video games, but I suggest taking notes from John Williams
He was the master at setting the mood while making memorable melodies
Fantastic video, couldn't agree more.
i've had people make fun of me for listening to video game music and it would make me feel that something was "wrong" with me,so it's nice to knowi'm.not the only one that listens to it.
if it weren't for video games, i probably wouldn't have the taste in music i have today, i grew to love Chiptune, i grew to love Breakcore, Sonic made me love Buttrock, even straight up Metal, FREAKING *_EDM,_* holy hell i could go on and on about my favorite songs in gaming... it's a shame most people don't view it like us
Music is an integral part of video games. Hell I would even say the lack of music is integral (I know that sounds contradictory, but it actually goes into my point about music, when you look at games such as Shadow Of The Colossus or Dark Souls). Music can help you get into the atmosphere of a game, it can make you get hyped and depending on the composers, really make you want to defeat an insanely challenging boss that problem took you HOURS to beat.
I listen to video game ost almost exclusively and have been for most of my life.
The sound chips of the old consoles have their own charm that also makes the music enjoyable to listen to.
Great video! I do have to say though that I really appreciate how 3D Mario has found a blend to their titles’ modern music. While the more linear 3D Mario games like Mario Galaxy and 3D World have incredible bangers that are awesome to listen to on their own and in TH-cam videos, Odyssey and Bowser’s Fury still have some catchy tunes that don’t get annoying with how long you hear them for in-game. It goes to show that there can be a middle ground between ambience, cinematic, and chiptune sounds!
Honestly it is a shame cause you're right. A lot of those soundtracks for games like Gow of War or Insomniacs Spiderman have good music while you're playing the game but after you're done you don't really remember it at all. God of War is an interesting example of this too cause the first God of War games had an unforgettable theme but with the more modern games that's not the case.
Sorry for the long post lmao
This was a really man. Keep up the good work
The freaking Daytona USA ost always get me pumping.
That guy still sings too. :)
Yo, thank you SO much for the video. It reminds me of how the animation industry is treated, seen as nothing more than kiddy fluff rather than another way to tell stories.
Vgm is the main thing I listen to in car rides, and the lack of respect it gets is why I always ‘read’ whoever’s in the car with me, to see if they wouldn’t mind me listening to Vgm. My brother for instance isn’t the most avid gamer I know but he couldn’t care less about what I listen to, which I’m really grateful for. On that note, I’ve been listening to a compilation of every vocal song throughout the Sonic series, and I can assure you that I almost mistook some songs for “real” music lol
I will also say that you do have a point about more ambient music in games and their un-memorability. Like, Hollow Knight is a great game and I do like its music while I'm playing it, but I’ve noticed myself flocking to its OST here on TH-cam a lot less than something like Cuphead's. Like you said though, ambience does have its place and can convey the setting really well in a game.
In closing, I adore video game music as much as video games themselves, and I surely can’t praise all the talented composers and musicians for all their hard work and dedication towards the projects they work on. They deserve just as much credit as everyone involved in mainstream music.
On that front, great video man! I’ll be sure to check out some more of your videos!
The first game I’ve ever played Pokémon fire red still has one of the greatest bangers which is the trainer battle theme.
A close second was tales of symphonia for the game cube. Yes game music was fire as far back as I can remember and I’m sure it was great in the 90s and 80s too. My modern favourites being ghost of Tsushima ost, still Pokémon, the Mario and Luigi series ost, persona, and xenonlade
So many “Gen 5 music got me like” memes have appeared on my feed before
@@liammcnicholas918 lmao same. Gen 5 Gen 3 and Gen 7 and 8 in particular has some of the best tracks in the series.
My favorite trick that video games have pulled in the last decade is the Dynamic Soundtrack. Games like Killer Instinct, Hi-Fi Rush, and Doom spring to mind as prime examples. Having the music ramp up sync with your actions? Like getting big combos or entering a room full of tough enemies? Love that shit!
That ain’t the best version of Inevitable Struggle but I get ya point, great video!😊
Good video game music is one of the many reasons I love jrpgs. I feel like I din’t see people talk about how jrpgs in general tend to have great osts
Legend of Dragoon's OST deserves so much more love!
I was thinking about this very topic a couple of days ago. I've always felt like after real instrumentation started being used the actual compositions started to suffer, especially in the more orchestrated tracks. There's obviously exceptions of course, like Kou Ohtani's Shadow of the Colossus soundtrack, but in general that's been my perception.
Despite the plethora of VGM you show here, it's amazing that you didn't even mention Halo at all, despite its OST being one of the recent staples of modern VGM with widespread appeal outside from the gaming sphere during its heyday.
It also pulled the balance between ambiance/action tracks quite well, Covenant Dance and Walk in the Woods are an example of it
I've had to deal with my family telling me video game music isn't real music for years. Thankfully they've mostly stopped. My siblings enjoy thier own selections of game music by now(or more realistically, they admit to themselves that they were just jealous that I dont care who hears it), my grandmother just appreciates music no matter what (and she's genuinely loved some of the softer Xenoblade songs I listen to, particularly "Where We Used to Be"), my dad has stopped calling it fake, and my mom has come around to at least try to understand it.
My cousins still need some work, but they at least acknowledge that it is real music. Just need them to call it good.
Some of my personal favorite OSTs are some expected like Skyward Sword, Three Houses, Xenoblade trilogy, and a spattering of songs from Mega Man, DOOM, Halo, Final Fantasy, and even games Indont particularly like such as Pokemon or Street Fighter.
Then there are some unexpected ones that Inwould genuinely recommend. While not my favorite Transformers game, I would 200% recommend listening to the OST for Transformers Devastation, especially if you like 80% rock or metal (i dont know the genre, Injust know it's awesome).
And you would call me a lair to my face if I told you that my all time favorite racing game OST is from a fucking Shrek game. I shit you not, listen to the ost for Shrek Smash n Crash Racing. It's hysterical how genuinely good it is.
I'll never understand this argument, I bet if you played a song from Persona 5 over Speakers in a theme park, nobody would be able to tell the difference.
Persona 5 brought back the funk!
12:55 thank you-THAAANK YOUU!
as someone that's spent years trying and struggling to be a game composer both for indies and fangames as well as my own stuff, I can't tell you how frustrating the "not real music" fallacy is. My family keeps asking on occasion "so when are you going to make REAL music?" and pretends like it's not because it's not on Spotify, or not with some record label, or is made to loop, or doesn't have vocals and lyrics. There's just no argument for it, it's absolute nonsense.
Really video game music isn't a genre but a series of genres and sub genres.
Very well executed video. Take a sub.
Nintendo music has the best tracks from the NES era to Switch but the DS era is my favorite with Fossil Fighters and Pokemon Platinum and Pokemon Black and Black 2.
Nice increase in quantity in sound. 😊
Something about the NES music chip makes bloody tears (castlevania 2) sound so different from anything, its more ominous and grand to the point even modern recreations don't reach that same feeling.
Even the Game Boy Castlevania games as clunky as they were, still had some of the best soundtracks in the series!
I always hate it when people don't see video game music as "real music." These people would probably enjoy something like Last Surprise or Bury the Light if you didn't mention that it came from a video game.
I listen to all kinds of music but. I do love my video game music. I love it so much that I listen to video game soundtracks to games I've never played and love the music from it's soundtrack. But also enjoy the music I have played or is playing. It's so relaxing too bad Nintendo doesn't give us their music for us to enjoy. So far this year all I've been listening to his video game soundtracks. It been amazing.
Cinematic video game soundtracks absolutely have their place, but I definitely prefer osts that are great to listen to on their own and it’s disappointing that a lot of mainstream award shows like the Game Awards like to put cinematic osts on a giant pedestal.
The better music in Breath of The Wild is in certain locations or when certain characters appear. The rest is nice relaxing piano music while you listen to the sounds of the great outdoors. :)
I’d say a lot of video game music not having lyrics has allowed the beats and instruments to get a bigger focus and have them stand out more, since they don’t have to focus on having them match with the lyrics, though there are exceptions of great lyrical video game music of course (Persona, Devil May Cry, Sonic, etc)
well said!
Wolverine's theme in Marvel VS. Capcom is freaking AMAZING!
And the MvC2 menu music. You can hear it just from me mentioning it ;)
@@liammcnicholas918 I wanna take you for a ride!
There's also Spider-Man's theme in the Marvel vs. Capcom games. It started off in Marvel Super Heroes and just got more and more epic as they made more games with him in it.
Well know I gotta know what you think of Sonic Frontier's OST.
I personally hear Movie and Video Game soundtracks because I like to soothe my ears 😌
Someone who thinks that video game music isn't music should get their earworms examined! Music is music! And yea, I prefer vg music that stand out on how catchy, memorable, or sometimes intense it is, and when it matches the situation/character! People even forget how masterful FFVI is under limited tech! And, to me after the PS2 era, that's when music declined... Nowadays, it's like finding a diamond in the rough; MK's a good example.
Also, that's why I use many songs as parts of my virtual soundtracks for my fanfics, whether related to the criteria or not. I respect game music, as long as its impactful as it was. They're no different than with movies or on the radio.
Maybe make your next video on huge TH-cam channels and shillers...?
I love video game music especially Pokémon music. ❤️😭
Ah yeah...
I knew it lmao. Judging by that one viral video of yours, I KNEW you were a Nintendo fanboy.
I agree with some facts, modern gaming feels shallow, has no physics, always feels unfinished, writing tends to be terrible and woke, everything plays the same, BUT there are a lot of amazing games like Returnal, any God of War, Demons Souls, Helldivers, FFVII, etc.
It's not that black/ white
Listen to Spider-Man's theme in Arcade's Revenge for the Super Nintendo. It goes hard and even sneaks in the old 60's tv show theme.
God of War soundtrack is amazing though. Bear McCreary composed fantastic tracks for the game that go beyond just being atmospheric.
I found this one website where I can get most of that music free.
What sucks is when those sites lose everything from one series.
It's partly because of the "primitive" abstract sound that isn't identifiably any one type of real world sound and thus comes across as a lot of nothing to some, partly because that older style, just like with cartoon music, is associated with "kids' shit" and even tends to sound rather cheery-stuff supposedly made "just to pacify the distinguishment-underdeveloped children" blown off as illegitimate for that, partly because of the short looping without lyrics that give snobs with tougher reasons for liking music the impression that the song is barely more than a relatively hastily whipped-up skeleton with little to no flesh to give it deeper meaning and appeal. And, well, like what you like, but respect that for others as well and at least try to recognize what stuff not your thing-not just in music but in art in general-is even going for instead of immediately jumping to judgments like "barbaric" or "lame-o" as if the rest of the world should have that opinion as well.
Speaking of hastily whipping up things and recognition of what's being gone for, while there is plenty of trash in pop music, there's plenty of good stuff as well. Most of the crap doesn't even make it to the radio and is just there to "justify" charging $15 for an album per executive mandates because dumb execs who don't truly understand music are still looking for the next Beatles. And plenty of thought and work goes into the good pop stuff as well even if a lot of it is standalone. Instead of a need to fit a scene outside itself while still being good and distinct, a good standalone tune, classic, folk or pop, needs to evoke a whole-ass consistent scene IN itself, often over longer than most tunes made for "playful" things run as that's frequently what it takes to make a complete scene. Instead of accompanying the painting, the standalone song IS the painting and has to act in no small part like one. Further showing that respect goes all ways.
If only Nintendo would…
Persona music
Hi there Twitter mutual
You should change your title lol, seem very pathetic for video game music. Imagine seeing "Respect Films Soundtrack" "Respect Animations Soundtrack"
Video game music is not just as good as traditional music. It’s much better, objectively. The absence of lyrics helps it a lot, because modern music has the most SHALLOW LYRICS IN THE HISTORY OF THE ART FORM.
Depends. There's plenty of game songs with lyrics even back in the 90s. Computer games mostly, but it was decent. Full Throttle made me get the music for it by The Gone Jackals. They did the songs for it but not the in game music. Thankfully though with the remastered version I can now listen to the in-game music as well as the rock songs here on TH-cam.
Kingdom Hearts has some great opening songs. Some RPGs have songs with anime style openings. Sonic games have lyrics even if they don't always make sense. lol
@@MacUser2-il2cx sonic games have genuinely good lyrics. Except for shadow’s music. That stuff is often shallow too.
@@minecrafter3448 each character has songs as if they were being sung by them.
music from the past was much better, the music from todays games arent memorable at all. Only exception i can think of is Nier Automata and its been a while since it came out. Even mario wonder had a wack OST in my opinion.