The Greatest Game Music

Reviews of truly outstanding game music

‘Splosion Man Soundtrack – Review

'Splosion Man Soundtrack

‘Splosion Man Soundtrack, Matt Chaney / John DeBorde / Joshua Mosley, 2009

You’ve just got to appreciate titles like ‘Splosion Man that take one particular, fun aspect of video games and build their entire gameplay around it. In this case, that common video game element is – of course – explosions. No matter if you’re trying to solve the game’s platforming puzzles, kill enemies, or simply jump – all it takes is an explosion from the game’s self-combusting protagonist.

In an unusual move, Twisted Pixel Games ended up dividing soundtrack duties along game mode lines. Joshua Mosley wrote the ‘Splosion Man soundtrack’s single-player cues, while John DeBorde wrote the multi-player tracks. The game’s audio lead Matt Chaney also contributed and performed ‘Splosion Man’s light-hearted ukulele theme song “Donuts, Go Nuts!” Both Mosley and DeBorde joined the project with a background in composing for various types of media (games, TV, movies).

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Mickey’s Speedway USA Soundtrack (N64) – Review

Mickey's Speedway USA Soundtrack

Mickey’s Speedway USA Soundtrack (N64), Ben Cullum, 2000

For a few years, it felt like Rare just couldn’t help producing outstanding games for the Nintendo 64, titles that were bound to be classics – Blast Corps, GoldenEye 007, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo-Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, Perfect Dark… it seemed that Rare couldn’t go wrong. That winning streak came to an end in late 2000 with Mickey’s Speedway USA. The verdict from reviewers was almost universally that yes, this was a decent enough game, with the usual depth and amount of content one had come to expect from a Rare title. But compared to its spiritual predecessor Diddy Kong Racing, Mickey’s Speedway USA fell decidedly short – unlike GoldenEye 007, this was not a game that transcended its origins as a licensed title.

In other words, this wasn’t the kind of game one would expect to produce outstanding music to rival Rare’s best scores. To make the Mickey’s Speedway USA soundtrack an even less likely success, it was the first – and so far only – game score written entirely by Ben Cullum. Outside of Mickey’s Speedway USA, Cullum mainly provided character voices for several Rare titles (including Falco in Star Fox Adventures, for which he also wrote additional music). His career continued outside of the game industry, writing his own songs and some for his brother Jamie Cullum, as well as creating TV show themes and producing records. As such, Mickey’s Speedway USA remains a one-off in Cullum’s body of work – but he no doubt makes the most of this opportunity.

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