Nollaf's Tower

Video Game Music: The Most Underrated Genre of Our Time (Part I)

Hello again dear friends and internet predators! Tis me, Nollaf once more (silence with the exception of cricket chirps in the background)! Anyways, I just wanted to say hello and educate your ingornat minds against your will to the wonder of VIDEO GAME MUSIC! Now, when you hear the term Video Game Music, what comes to your mind? If you thought Pong's blips and bloops...I sigh at you. If you thought the glory of Final Fantasy VI"s Dancing Mad or Opening Theme (aka Omen) virtual high five! You are given the title of awesome by the cranky &@$$*%@& Nollaf! Now for you uneducated ones, read one. For the others, I have some hot links to some classic songs on YouTube: enjoy!

Now, the start of video game music was just two noises: Blip and Bloop. This was the noise of the first video game music ever: PONG! Now a few years later you had Asteroids, a simple game with a simple score. If you have watched Jaws, the theme of the homicidal shark has been glued into your memories. This theme for Asteroids is alot like that: click here to listen! I know not too good, but this is like the few small rocks that start a landslide! Then the arcades get some power, a few of these which are famous for their classic music are Space Invaders (a theme not unlike Asteroids but slightly more...intelligent) and Donkey Kong (one of the first video games to have their own score!). Note that the Music from Space Invaders increases in intensity and speed over time and adds in a sense of anxiety as time goes on and the aliens get closer...amazing how four notes can create so much mood, no? Donkey Kong's music has all the basics for a score. A prelude, several simple themes for the later levels, an overture, a power-up jingle and a two victory fanfares! Donkey Kong was just the beginning for the heart and soul of the video games: Mario! Now in the 1980's home video games were created, one of these systems was the Famicom Home Computer System, now known as the Nintendo Entrainment System (for just the NES for short). There are four really iconic games with equally iconic scores for this system: Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, Metriod and Final Fantasy.

Super Mario Brothers is a spin off of Donkey Kong, in which the same protagonist in barks on an epic journey to save a princess from a huge dragon like monster name Bowser. Accompanied by his younger brother Luigi, Mario must slowly advance into the kingdom of Bowser and save the princess. On his way he battles Bowser and his minions again and again saving the princess's servant called "toads" before he final battles Bowser for the final time and saves the kingdom.
Super Mario Brothers is not meant to have a deep plot, it is meant to be a fun game to pass the time. It has a perky overture, a dark sub theme for when traveling underground, a minute for swimming across vast seas and an ominous nocturne for invading the fortresses of Bowser...

Next on our list is the Legend of Zelda. The Legend of Zelda centers around a pair of mythical relics called the Triforce. If one obtains the Triforce the welder will hold great power, in the small feudal land of Hyrule a dark lord named Ganon obtains one of these Triforces and begins a conquest for world domination, he tries to obtain the other from a young princess named Zelda who refuses and shatters the other Triforce into 8 shards, the shards are found by ancient demons and are horded into a huge labyrinth called the Underworld. Enraged, Ganon takes Zelda to his fortress of Death Mountain in the heart of said labyrinth. The princess's nurse, Impa is perused by a pair of Ganon's minions but a young man named Link saves her. Impa tells Link of her plight and thus he sets out across many perils to find the Triforce and to save Zelda. This game also has a majestic overture, a shady and mysterious theme for the labyrinth, an intense jingle for the Death Mountain and a famous fanfare for when you obtain another piece of equipment.

Now we take a look at a more futuristic game, Metriod. The story of Metriod is simple, a young bounty hunter named Samus Aran is hired to hunt down and kill a band of space pirates. She tracks the pirates to a small, rural planet named Zebus. There she encounters many hostile creatures in the caverns as well as the space pirates she is after. The pirates are Kriad (a large lizard-like horror who as made a clone of himself), Ridely (a highly intelligent dragon-like creature) and the Mother Brain (a huge pulsating creature entombed in a technological life sport system with many weapons surrounding it). Through her adventures she find upgrades for her armor and many...unpleasant things within the depths of the backwater. The Central theme of the caverns plays as Samus is wandering through the nexus point called Brianstar, but has she dives deep into the nexus she finds herself in Kraid's Liar in the Brianstar Depths which as a haunting medley, but as she heads north she finds herself in a volcanic region of magma chambers and entombed craters called Norfiar which has a more clumsy guitar like sound to it as well as a darker tone as she finds Ridely's Liar within the core of the magma lakes, after she finishes the two lakcies of the Mother Brain she may enter the final region: Tourian which has a suitable urgent feel to it.

Finally, my personal favorite: Final Fantasy. Each Final Fantasy has a totally unique storyline, but the original is the most original. Final Fantasy takes place in small world called Gaia in which four ancients monsters begin to attack the cities and villages. However, four warriors rise forth to take on the darkness and do battle against the four horrors and their master Chaos. Thus saving the world. You will find the rived versions of these songs. The main theme is a key aspect of the game being very majestic and heroic, the battle theme is very intense and full of sharps and flats, the village song is peaceful, the castle theme is tranquil and also majestic, the theme for the ruined castles are dark and hauntingly beautiful to listen to, the dungeon theme is dark and tension filled, and the boss themes are epic and full of vigorous chords! This is true music!