These beats inside my head

Music within a game to me is a very major part of gameplay for certain games. I can go through FPS games without a soundtrack because it can hinder your gameplay in some situations such as in Call of Duty games where the background noises play an important role in your survival. But games such as Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Mario etc., these games have background music that has played an important part. Not only are the songs keeping up the beat of the level of gameplay but they add life to the experience.

Since I was younger I can remember going from playing Atari to playing NES and remember hearing those first 7 sounds from Super Mario Bros. world 1-1 for the very first time. It sparked something in me that had been missing from Atari games. It added an extra something special. One could walk around and hum these songs and everyone would immediately chime in. It added more emotion to the game and in my opinion it's what kept me going in some games.

The addition of background music began to drive the intensity of certain levels or even cinematics. Prime example, Ninja Gaiden for the NES. Hearing that pivotal change in music from the duel scene to Ryu reading the letter from his father set the tone from action to dramatic. You knew you were going into something bigger than just a simple duel. There was a plot behind it all that was about to be uncovered.

Fast forward to SNES and Genesis. The transition to 16Bit gaming added better music and with it the opportunity to own a game soundtrack. More and more game soundtracks started becoming available for sale in the market. My first soundtrack owned was that of Streets of Rage 2! One of the best soundtracks to this day. Yuzo Koshiro, a genius in the world of game soundtracks if there ever was one, brought to the table that music in a game is more than just background sound, it's a form of art. They transported you to a place where gaming was more than just good eye/hand coordination. It took you to a level of pure fun and bliss. It kept you in harmony with the game. Faster beats and more uptempo tracks had you pulling out all the stops to defeat any boss on the screen. Slower tracks had you pay more attention to the level and made sure you didn't overlook that one corridor and didn't leap before looking. It was a sense of direction that your subconscious held on to in order to alert you of danger. The fad kept going with the addition of Dreamcast and Playstation and was at its peak before it started plunging. Today these soundtracks are still available on the market but not as widely as before. Mainly because so many of today's games are using actual licensed songs or are using songs produced by famous artists specifically for the game and there are licensing issues. But the games that are still exploring with great original scores are leaving us game soundtrack junkies out to dry.

I know that you can still find soundtracks out there. It’s just a shame that you can’t get them readily available anymore. I guess for now I will stick with my classic soundtracks and keep converting them to ringtones. Or VG Tones as I like to call them. Well I’m off to listen to some 8Bit synth heaven…