The Video Game Music Challenge [Official Game Thread]

[607]

I thought of something for 3.2! I will edit it in.

For round 3:

Responses to IchoTolot's picks (click to show/hide)

3.1: That's lovely! Why do people not like it? I couldn't tell from the comments because almost all I see are jokes about COVID-19.

3.2: Oh man, that's heartbreaking, it sounded like you were going to cry. Yeah, this is the kind of thing I was thinking of when I saw the prompt! Nice track, too.

3.3: Did you intend to link to the remastered version? If so, that's interesting!

Responses to LanaAndCo's picks (click to show/hide)

3.1: After looking up the definition of 'underrated', I can say that Puggsy might indeed be underrated! I rarely hear of that game, but when I do hear about it people seem to talk about it pretty fondly. Still, I'm surprised I don't hear about it more often. I never hear of Matt Furnish either! Great track, though.

3.2: Hey, that's funny hearing the Mega Drive version! I listen to tracks from Ecco - Songs of Time now and then, but that sounds very different. It's also funny that you can't really recall why it frustrates you. xD I can imagine a young player being completely stuck in a maze-like level though, and feeling jeered at by the music!

3.3: Haha, what a nice anecdote that the end screen wished you a good night! Yeah, this sounds like the theme that can very easily become nostalgic. Cheerful yet sentimental!

[Nessy]

My Third Round (click to show/hide)

1) Music that seems to be underrated in your opinion

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Stone Tower/Stone Tower Temple

This was a lot tougher to find a music track for than I thought since most of the stuff I like everyone else likes as well, so I thought long and hard about it and I think I have an answer that requires some backstory first (I don't know if any of this is 100% true so I apologize beforehand). Majora's Mask was often viewed as a "black sheep" in the Zelda series when it first came out due to its recycled assets from Ocarina of Time and its surreal weirdness and it didn't find as much success as Ocarina of Time did. I did notice, however, that more and more people are started to appreciate the game a lot more now-a-days than back then when it was released... myself included. This one music I choose from this game is one that a lot of people don't really talk about as much as other music tracks. It plays during the final main dungeon and has a somewhat upbeat, positive sounding sound despite the fact that the dungeon takes place at the center of so much death and gloom. It's not the most epic video game tune ever, but I've always loved it ever since I heard it for the first time.


2) Music you associate with frustration

Mega Man 4 Voyage - Skull Man

I think I'm going to do something a little bit different with this one and choose a fangame for this one. It's a Mega Man fangame that is actually a ROM hack of the original Mega Man 4 game but with different graphics, music, and the same bosses but with different behavior. Don't get me wrong it is a functionally well made game but holy heck it was way too difficult for me. I think it might be more difficult than Mega Man Unlimited (another fangame) and that one is considered to be one of the harder fangames too! I feel bad ranting about it but there were just so many design decisions I didn't agree with like the Dive Man boss that ended up being a mashing fest against tiny missiles with tiny hitboxes that homed in on you and the wind-like physics gimmick of Dust Man's stage. However, I went with Skull Man's theme because it was the first robot master I went after when I played this for the first time so it's the main track I associate with the game... and the frustration


3) Music that makes you feel nostalgic

Super Mario Land - Overworld Theme

One of my very first Mario games. I was really young (don't remember my exact age) and my late grandfather bought me my very first Gameboy Color with Pokemon Blue and Super Mario Land (both games were actually for the original Gameboy). I had no idea how to play Pokemon back then so all my time went to playing Super Mario Land almost to death. Even if the game has aged slightly meh over the years, I have so many great memories with it. For example, I actually remember very clearly getting to the penultimate level of the game and asking my grandmother to play through it for me because it was too hard for me. I also remember feeling my heart beating so fast every time I defeated the final boss.

[IchoTolot]

Responses to IchoTolot's picks

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's less that people dislike the track, but more that the standard soundtrack is ignored as often people just turn it off or use a custom one.

And yes for the last one I intended to link the remastered track as it still brings over the nostalgia while uping it to a new level as well.

[Dullstar]

Underrated (click to show/hide)

RCT Merry-Go-Round music. No, this isn't extended. Apparently, this was from a record of music being played by a specific automated organ, so that's probably why it's so long. It's definitely a good thing though it's so long, though, because it's quite likely the player will be hearing this music for long periods of time in game.

Frustration (click to show/hide)

This song from Mario 64 was used in the last two major stages (Tick Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride), and the whistling gets quite irritating after you've been listening to it for a while. I'd say this track is very overrrated. It's not awful, but it should have stayed on the slide stages and only the slide stages, and TTC and RR should have gotten something else, such as an additional song since the OST is kinda short.

Nostalgia (click to show/hide)

RCT Menu music. I actually played RCT2 a lot more, but I like 1's music better because it's opener is a lot better. The second game's menu music gets good later in, though. Of course, now OpenRCT2 exists and it lets you use the original game's menu music if you have it installed.

[SQron188]

3rd round:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1. Mortal Kombat II (Amiga) - BGM04 - I had to ponder this one and dig around a bit in order to find OST from a non-obscure game (I understand that it wouldn't necessarily count as "underrated" if it's not well-known but liked by people who know about it)
2. Captain Claw - Level 14 (The Temple), a tough and punishing level...
3. Super Mario All-Stars (SNES) - Game Select - nostalgic, very much so!

@IchoTolot

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Oh yeah, Bigfoot is a no-brainer. I don't like the remastered version of it much, though.

[607]

"Responses to Turrican's picks" (click to show/hide)

3.1: That's quite nice!! I'm keeping it, my collection's a bit lacking in relaxing music. (and no need for an unauthorised rip, as it's on Bandcamp!) (I see one downside of the track is that it ends abruptly, because it is intended to go straight into the next song)

3.2: When I read that it was one of the hardest bosses and hardest games ever, and saw that it had a Japanese title, I thought it might be a bullet hell game... yup! Interesting track! Do you associate it with frustration because you've played it yourself and struggled a lot with it, or for another reason?

3.3: Saved that one too, the nice Turrican track I've heard so far!

"Responses to Colorful Arty's picks" (click to show/hide)

3.1: Woohoo, Humongous Entertainment! I remember asking for their games for my birthday, but my family couldn't find any in stores... I know now that they were shut down when I was still a young kid. I'm not impressed much by this particular track, anyway. It's not bad, but it doesn't seem memorable to me either.

3.2: Unfair bosses are frustrating if they are hard, yes! I am reminded of another Disney game, Donald Duck Advance. :$ The game has quite a bit of potential, in my opinion, but it is very unpolished, and I remember that the final boss had some apparent glitches through which I died several times, in addition to very strange hitboxes. Nice track indeed, though, I assume that helps to motivate!

3.3: Hey, a multiplayer theme, that's a good one! I don't think I'd heard this track before, despite it being from a Nintendo game (and me being a big Nintendo fan ). It's cool, though! I can definitely hear that it was made by Grant Kirkhope.

"Responses to Nessy's picks" (click to show/hide)

3.1: Hey, my like is on that video. But that doesn't say anything about whether I like the track or not. I do, though! Indeed, Majora's Mask is not too popular. That is also due to the frequent crashes, I think! It got a remake on the 3DS, though, which is actually stable. But indeed this is not one of the more talked about tracks about the soundtrack, in fact when I saw the title and heard the first few notes it did not yet ring a bell, but now that I've heard it in full again I can say that I really like it!

3.2: Great track! But ouch, Mega Man is already criticised for it's unfairness, and you played a ROM hack that makes it even more unfair? Yeah, I can imagine that to be frustrating.

3.3: Oh man, I had not thought of that one. Perfect pick! I still have some nostalgia with it too, even though I've listened to it a lot. The interesting thing is that the first time I heard the music was in 2012, if I had to make a guess, when I was a teen already. However, besides that the music just has a nostalgic quality to it as is, and is part of in my opinion one of the most, if not the most 'Mario-like' soundtrack ever, it can also be explained by me having played quite a bit of Mario Starcatcher 2 as a kid, before I had any Mario games myself, which is a Flash game that uses a remix of the theme. The remix sounds quite different, but the melody is the same.

"Responses to Dulstar's picks" (click to show/hide)

3.1: Hey, that's interesting! I don't think they kept that for RCT2, I only recall short themes from that game. The main theme from RCT2 though, by Allister Brimble, is one of my favourite themes. I am afraid it won't fit any prompts, though. It is cool that they recorded so much of it, indeed... but how did it fit on the disc?

3.2: Aah, I totally see what you mean! I've played Super Mario 64, and yeah, this song fits the sliders best. It is fairly long though, while the slider stages are fairly short, so maybe that's why the developers thought it might as well be used on other levels. But yeah, it can get annoying, especially on Rainbow Ride where you might be playing for 10 minutes only to fall off... and while you're falling off towards the death plane, the music is still playing cheerily... xD And it honestly doesn't fit Tick-Tock Clock too well, thematically! Looking at the comment section of the video you linked, very very many people interpret the song ironically.

3.3: Oh, you actually mentioned RCT2's theme! I didn't think I'd listened to RCT1's theme, but I have my like on the top comment so I must have. I do like RCT2's theme a whole lot more though, especially the opening! But maybe I haven't listened to RCT1's theme enough.

"Responses to SQron's picks" (click to show/hide)

3.1:

(I understand that it wouldn't necessarily count as "underrated" if it's not well-known but liked by people who know about it)

Agreed! This is probably a good pick, as I do not find it even worth my time listening to it, to be honest. (by which I mean to say that if you do like it, you could indeed easily find it underrated)

3.2: I've never heard of that game! Using Google Translate I see that the other commenter found it very difficult too. Again the track doesn't really interest me, although it's got some parts I like. I'm not going to listen through 4+ minutes of it, though, even though it looks like it is that long!

3.3: Heh, cute theme. I've never played the game, but I can imagine it being nostalgic, as you'd have heard it a lot if you had it (playing all the different games), and because it's short it's easy to remember. I also suppose that this is not a soundtrack you'd listen to later in your life on other occasions, so the nostalgic value would hold.

Edit: Whoops, I forgot grams' picks. I'll have to do that later, I'm going to bed now.

[Colorful Arty]

Man, I've gotten so far behind on giving feedback. Because my round 1 feedback took so long, I'll try to be more concise from now on. Here's my round 2 feedback:

Responses to IchoTolot's choices (click to show/hide)

Rocking choices. I love the choir in your second choice. The third song is a very fitting boss theme, especially when said boss is a demon.

Responses to Lana's choices (click to show/hide)

I love the Kirby one. I've never played Superstar before, but I love how it has such a gentle beginning before becoming a medley of the other tracks in the game. Never heard of the second one, but it's a nice song. That final one if a really great Sega-sounding song! It definitely sounds like something you'd hear in Mean Bean Machine.

Respones to DireKrow's choices (click to show/hide)

Never played Ori and the Blind Forest, but I've heard great things. That is one truly beautiful song! The second song has an eerie feel, which I love; I'm a sucker for slightly creepy songs that still sound good. Megalovania is a classic as well. I think it's definitely overrated and overplayed (I also think the Homestuck version is almost as good), but it's still an epic and powerful song. Personally, I like Hopes and Dreams/Save the World more though )

Responses to Turrican's choices (click to show/hide)

I'm seeing a lot of Turrican music from people for this challenge. This is a nice ending song for sure. I've never played Grand Turismo, but the music is nice and peaceful. It reminds me of music from another game, but I can't put my finger on which one... As for the last song, I've never heard of this game before, but it's an awesome song! Not what I'd expect from a final boss song, but that doesn't mean it's bad!

Responses to Proxima's choices (click to show/hide)

Nice choice for the first one. I've never heard of this game, but I like this song, especially once the lyrics kicked in. I agree with you on Lemmings 2. I haven't played it, but from what I've seen, 90% of the skills seemed lame or redundant. Sports tribe is great music though. Donkey Kong Country is my jam! I love all of the final bosses, but the original game definitely had the most upbeat one, as if the song itself was cheering you on. I prefer the second game's darker final boss music, but both are great.

Responses to SQron's choices (click to show/hide)

More Turrican music, nice. I like this ending theme. I've never heard of 9 Lives before, but the initial theme is pretty bopping. I like the slightly sad feel to it. Pokemon is a series I could never get into. Not a huge fan of the music either. I'm sure it fits great with the game mechanics, but it's just not to my taste.

Responses to JRT's choices (click to show/hide)

Perfect Dark is one of the few classic N64 titles I have never played. I didn't know Grant Kirkhope did the music! He's a genius, and I definitely heard a little bit of Banjo Kazooie music/sounds in there. Soccer Kid is a game I've never heard of. I did not expect it to have music that sounds like you're in a sewer though.

Responses to Nessy's choices (click to show/hide)

I also almost put the Mario 64 Staff roll for my choice, as it's so iconic. I figured someone else would though, so I chose something else.
Sticker Star gets a lot of hate. I really liked the sticker gimmick for the first world, but then I got tired of it. It had some good ideas, but it just wasn't executed well. At least the music is great. I've only played a little bit of the first Mario and Luigi, so I don't know the series, but I've heard the final boss music for Bowser's Inside story. It's incredible and makes you forget it's in a Mario game.

Responses to Dullstar's choices (click to show/hide)

I love me some Cave Story, but I prefer the Remastered soundtrack by a lot. I've never played Castlevania, but I adore the music from it! Chrono trigger is another game I've never played, but its boss music is kicking, I agree!

Responses to 607's choices (click to show/hide)

I forgot about Mario Kart Wii's credits theme. They're quite relaxing, aren't they? Is that Tom and Jerry track from the game that has infamously bad multiplayer where if one person dies, they swap characters with the other player? Regardless, the music is nice. Sephiroth's theme I knew would make onto the list, and for good reason: it's EPIC! XBOX JIM CARREY EAT A BEAR LEMON TEA SEPHIROTH!

Responses to kaywhyn's choices (click to show/hide)

I also debated putting Portal or Portal 2's credits song as my choice. Both are classic. That second song is jazzy and looks like an old edutainment game I used to play like Reader Rabbit. I remember my brother playing Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow. I love the first stage music a lot, but had never heard the boss theme before; it's very good.

[Nessy]

Sorry for being late! Shame on me!

Fourth Round!

I want to do a bit of an experiment with this specific round: this time the prompts were suggested to me by Turrican on Discord, and this actually gave me an idea. If anyone participating in this game would like to suggest prompts to be featured in the next round please feel free to PM them to me on the forum or on Discord. That way we can keep this game a bit more fresh with different ideas from different people

1) Music with an uplifting beat and sound
2) Music that is more atmospheric sounding
3) Music with a very dark and gloomy sound to it

Round will end on August 15 at 14:00 UTC

[SQron188]

Fourth round for me:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1. Mr. Nutz Hoppin' Mad - Nature (Amiga) - "It's the most peppy thing I've heard in my life" - MechaNeko (source).
2. Donkey Kong Country 2 - Lava Theme
3. Tiberian Sun - What Lurks - incredibly haunting. A listen recommended for head-/ earphones.

[rtw]

here comes a new challenger

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Uplifting sound: Live a Live - "Nice Weather Ain't it!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGZv1o-OsT4
Atmospheric: Fez - "Forgotten" youtube.com/watch?v=ZMsuwrc7HEk
Dark/gloomy: Spear of Destiny - "The Tower" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17DTf6N3urQ

[IchoTolot]

My 4th round:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1) Music with an uplifting beat and sound

Hearts of Iron IV - We Are Soldiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAaAd7zTSG4

A very upbeat song to play during a world war, but it is especially great if you are currently winning.

2) Music that is more atmospheric sounding

Chris Christodoulou - The Rain Previously Known as Purple | Risk of Rain 2: Early Access OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew5UxawEKyo

It takes the core theme from one of the best tracks from Risk of Rain 1 (chanson d'automne) and makes even better. The non-atmospheric boss tune from this stage is also extremely great.

3) Music with a very dark and gloomy sound to it

Command&Conquer Tiberian Sun Soundtrack - Valves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-H4hwmM1qk

Dark, sinister and just perfectly fitting for the tiberium ravaged battlefields of the future.

[607]

Eh it's fine, I had enough other things to do. But this evening I did feel like playing this game particularly much, so I'm glad to see a new round has started!

Let's see... exciting!
These three prompts are all very similar, I guess they were made to fit a theme.
4.1:
For the first one there's one game my mind goes to right away.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yoshi's Woolly World is one of my favourite soundtracks and my favourite video game (it was the former long before it was the latter). And it features a lot of cheery tracks! The first one I thought of is this one. Quite uplifting, right?

4.2: More atmospheric than what? Than the tune I picked for 4.1? That's be very easy.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I thought of the Metroid series at first. However, I don't know that well, and tracks from it would probably fit the next prompt a lot better. Atmospheric however does not have to mean dark and gloomy! I thought of another. This is probably the most atmospheric track I know: Space Junk Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy.

I am curious what kinds of tracks others will have picked here, as there are very many atmospheres that could be evoked, and yet many people might have gone for a similar one. We'll see! (the Wiktionary definition: Evoking a particular emotional or aesthetic quality.)

4.3: Very dark and gloomy, huh? Well, let me think... Actually, let me look up what 'gloomy' means first (yes, I looked up definitions for 'uplifting', 'atmospheric' and 'gloomy') Yes, I thought of one!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here is a beautiful track, that you won't hear very often. It is Requiem from Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (and some later games in the series too). You will hear this track only when one of your animals has died, which should be quite rare. It sounds quite bleak, doesn't it? It is very beautiful, though!

[Dullstar]

Uplifting/Cheerful (click to show/hide)

Jazz Jackrabbit OST: Diamondus

Atmospheric (click to show/hide)

Celeste OST: Golden

Dark/Gloomy (click to show/hide)

Twilight Princess OST: Midna's Theme

[LanaAndCo]

Oh, so the rules are changing. I'm actually wondering if the descriptions are all going to be different from the original list from there, since I've already done the challenge before and, so far, I was just reposting my old answers. Anyway, since those are new descriptions, I'm no longer under my "use only one franchise" rule anymore and my choices are going to be more within my favourites musics of the moment and maybe be less varied. But enough talk, here's my answers :

Uplifting music (click to show/hide)

Bomberman DS - Multiplayer Battle (https://vgmdownloads.com/soundtracks/bomberman-ds/rtglowph/Multiplayer%20Battle%20%28BDS%29.mp3)
Aw yeah, Bonbaaman~! And an other DS game too. But this one wasn't mine, it was my cousin's. If we played Mario Kart and Mario Party DS most of the time during family reunions, sometime we would rather do Bomberman matches. I still remember, jumping like crazy on the beds in our room at our grandparents' and getting upset because I sucked at the game (and it was why I didn't like Bomberman very much when I was smol ). Ahhh... I miss those times. I wish we could play again someday but alas, we're not children anymore... Aside from nostalgia, I chose this theme because it's (still) getting me hyper excited when I hear it.

Atmospheric music (click to show/hide)

Lode Runner The Legend Returns - Main Menu (https://vgmdownloads.com/soundtracks/lode-runner-the-legend-returns-redbook/upwhpexh/02%20main%20menu.mp3)
And another game from my childhood, again.   When I think of atmospheric music, I generally think of Inca/foreign sounding track, maybe because a lot of my old games have levels that have that ambience, like this one, and I love it. It just makes me want to go on an adventure! Some of the musics from Rayman 2 and Myst could have been a good choice too...

Swapped my choices between "dark and gloomy music" and "creepy and scary music" because I didn't know their meanings were different. I can thank Nessy for allowing me to do that!

Dark and gloomy music (click to show/hide)

Pikmin 2 - Submerged Castle (https://vgmdownloads.com/soundtracks/pikmin-2/xkmfzywq/339%20Submerged%20Castle%20%28Olimar%20_%20Louie%20_%20President%20Shacho%29%20.mp3)
Isn't Pikmin Nintendo's Lemmings when you think about it? Anyway, can we talk about how unsettling this track is? It's all broken and the hummings certainly doesn't help. This theme plays when you're in the Submerged Castle, an underground flooded dungeon that can be tricky to beat, especially if you are claustrophobic. But that's not the worst, oh no... those who played Pikmin 2 know what I'm talking about and I won't spoil it for those who want to discover the game. There's also two other musics I want to bring to the table. Why? Because of how eerily similar these three are. They got the same glitchy feeling and emptiness. The other two come from their respective last world before their final boss, who are also both nightmare fuel...
EarthBound - The Place (https://fi.zophar.net/soundfiles/nintendo-snes-spc/earthbound/126%20The%20Place.mp3)
Kirby Power Paintbrush - The World of Drawcia (https://fi.zophar.net/soundfiles/nintendo-ds-2sf/kirby-canvas-curse/25%20The%20World%20of%20Drawcia.mp3)
Man, Nintendo sure is good at making people uneasy.

[Colorful Arty]

Fourth round

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1) Music with an uplifting beat and sound

Cherry Blossom Color Season from Katamari Damacy. If you've never played Katamari, it's hard to describe, but the colors are weird, the music is cool, and it makes you feel happy. This song is one of the most pure-joy songs I've ever heard before. It's so calming and peaceful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-1JHvQbspM

...which is good, because it plays on one of the most infuriating levels in the game, where you have to roll up the largest cow you can, with stupid things like milk cartons counting as cows.

2) Music that is more atmospheric sounding

Metroid Prime is full of amazing atmospheric music, to the point I was listening to it and my mom (who doesn't play video games at all) didn't realize it was a track from a video game. My sister loves playing this song in the car; it's such a nice peaceful song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbbUv1hz6mE

3) Music with a very dark and gloomy sound to it

This one was tricky, since most of the songs I thought of were dark and scary, rather than dark and gloomy. I decided on an obscure one, a track from an old point-and-click adventure game: Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise, a favorite from my childhood. Despite the extremely light-hearted nature of the game, quite a few of the tracks are rather ominous, such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BruS0xS4H00