myTunes

After listening to the Rebel FM podcast last week (the podcast can be found on iTunes, Zune marketplace or at there website at www.eat-sleep-game.com), which had a segment about music in games, it made me think back to some of my favorite tunes.

Probably some of the earliest videogame music I can remember that I really enjoyed was from Ultima IV for the Commodore 64. Music from the game such as the Lord British and overworld theme, still stick with me. The game also had a neat feature allowing you during the to cycle through the different songs, which I would do time to time. It’s funny how such low fidelity music can stick with a person.

Some years later the next title impacted my perception of how good music in games could be was Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan) for the SNES. Like Phil Kollar from Rebel FM, the opera scene in FFIII was fantastic. I played through the game several times just to get to that scene and other great musical moments. Subsequent FF’s continued to churn out more memorable music (ie. One Winged Angel from FFVII).

One my all-time favorite videogame tunes though has to be the main theme from Metal Gear Solid 2, which is written by Henry-Gregson Williams. Last year I was able to hear to the piece performed at Video Games Live. Like movies, great music can really elevate a game. Rare is another developer, which puts of well-polished, orchestrated music (see both Viva Pinata and Banjo Kazoozie: Nuts and Bolts).

Games that I have played recently with great music include Braid, Mass Effect, the Halo series and Bioshock. I also can’t forget music game genre with Rock Band and Guitar Hero providing a whole new game music experience (Elite Beat Agents on the DS is also another one of my favorites).

I’m sure there are others, which I can’t think of at the moment. What are some of your favorite video game tune?

- Schu