Video Games and Music

It wasn't too long ago that video games were all made using 8-bit technology and the main character's sprites were vaguely humanoid blocks of colour that were distinguished mostly by the fact that they moved in response to you pressing a button. Growing up with a Super Nintendo, some of my earliest memories of gaming involve a strangely orange and cuboid plumber stomping on the heads of things that looked like angry brown mushrooms.

Also strangely phallic.

If you have any experience with these antique games, you also likely remember the incredibly catchy songs played in different worlds in Super Mario or games like it. A lot of these songs are still used today, although technology has allowed for an orchestra to perform them and be recorded onto the game rather than the very...limited audio capabilities the 8-bit gaming systems offered. Although they were, like I said, quite stuck-in-head-for-days worthy even back then, not a lot of people were clamouring for the CD release of the game's soundtrack. Actually, music CDs didn't even exist back when the first Mario games came out.

It's hard to imagine anyone excited to obtain one of these when at present it would be extremely difficult to pay someone to take one.

These days, however, video game music has evolved to occupy an entirely different niche than it did before. Games will release OSTs (Original Sound Tracks) for purchase or free download not just because it's a marketing gimmick or an attempt to make a little more money; gamers actually want these CDs or virtual albums to listen to away from the game itself. For a guy who grew up listening to the same four chimes while my 2D protagonist struggled to mimic anything resembling human movement, this is mind-boggling. I'm guilty of having a fondness for OSTs myself, though, as I've gone through many a late night essay-writing experience accompanied by the soundtrack from Square Enix's Final Fantasy IX. These kinds of soundtracks were major breakthroughs, but they were still songs produced solely for the purpose of the video game. Would popular music ever become a staple in video games?

In short: yes.

From almost as annoying as that ringtone Frog to small market niche to pop music guest stars in less than twenty years? That's quite the progression for video games. I think the most evident thing from this evolution is that the respect for video games as a genre of art has grown significantly (if you want to read a bit more on that, check out my last blog post). Video game music is no longer looked down upon as entirely insignificant or just a strange fetish for audiophilic gamers. Now, popular music is being used in various trailers for virtually every game. It's not a relationship in which video games are solely leeching off of the bigger draw from their musical contributors, either; more and more musicians see video game launch trailers, cinematic videos and background music as a legitimate means for gaining more mainstream exposure and popularity. Even bands like the Rolling Stones have featured on some gaming franchise teaser trailers, in this instance Call of Duty's excellent trailer featuring "Gimme Shelter". The bond and relationship between music and video games has never been more fruitful, and it's an exciting prospect to wonder about just how long it will be until we see a video game (outside of the Rock Band-style genre) that features solely tracks from career musicians looking to gain exposure through them.

Or just to prove they're still, inexplicably, quite alive.