One must have the full spectrum of nerditude to fully appreciate an essential aspect of the culture—video game music.

A game can be decent. But once you add the music, it can become awesome. And if both the game and the music are awesome, well… you now understand how Radiant Dawn is currently my second favorite game ever. For me to listen to something and picture an orchestra performing it (geek requirement #3: band nerd), you know it’s good stuff. I invite you to check out the track listing for Radiant Dawn, found in its entirety here (I love this website), specifically the following tracks:
2: Echos of Daybreak (flute solo!)
5: Echos of Hope
20: Waves of Discord
62: Oliver’s Fall (Harpsichord!)
64: Caineghis, King of Lions
Yes, I would totally see a performance of this music if it were to ever happen.

When Koji Kondo was composing the Super Mario Bros. theme, a requirement was that it had to be able to play on loop without getting annoying. This man is amazing, by the way; he pretty much composed everything important for Nintendo. But anyway, it baffles me how much game music has expanded since that little ditty was written, the thousands of non-annoying songs played on loop that otherwise go ignored. Praise your composers. They’re brilliant. And let’s face it, Tetris wouldn’t be the same without Korobeinki (don’t ask me how to pronounce that, by the way, or spell it without help from my good friend Wikipedia).

Tuesday, 23 February 2010   ♦   games, music