The Greatest Game Music

Reviews of truly outstanding game music

Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil Soundtrack (Amiga CD32)

Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil Soundtrack

Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil Soundtrack (Amiga CD32), Patrick Phelan, 1994

While it was based on a popular fantasy board game license, Hero Quest didn’t exactly set the video game world on fire upon release in 1991. Ultimately, it didn’t leave much more than a reasonably positive impression on reviewers and gamers. Still, developer Gremlin Interactive must have felt that there was enough life left in the license to squeeze out another Hero Quest game. Hero Quest II: Legacy of Sorasil was released in 1994, reusing its predecessor’s engine and isometric view. The game didn’t deliver many new ideas or innovations, reaping the same muted response as the first Hero Quest. The fact that Legacy of Sorasil hit store shelves towards the end of the Amiga’s lifespan didn’t help – and its showing on the Amiga CD32 was doomed by the console’s quick demise.

[Read more…]

Hero Quest Soundtrack (NES)

Hero Quest Soundtrack

Hero Quest Soundtrack (NES), Neil Baldwin, Unreleased

Even at the height of the NES’ popularity, there were no official album releases of Western NES game music. That makes a website like Neil Baldwin‘s Duty Cycle Generator a very important contribution towards closing this gap. On his site, game music veteran Baldwin, whose career began on the C64, released all of his NES soundtracks. Baldwin pointed out that part of the reason his website exists was the praise one of his works had generated within online chiptune communities. That score was Hero Quest, the video game version of the popular fantasy-themed board game. The score’s popularity was all the more surprising considering that the game was cancelled. However, its developer Chris Shrigley released it years later into the NES community, and its reputation built over time. Baldwin’s surprised discovery of the Hero Quest soundtrack’s popularity also kickstarted his involvement with the online game music community.

[Read more…]

Homeland Soundtrack

Homeland Soundtrack

Homeland Soundtrack, Hayato Matsuo, 2005

Nintendo’s GameCube wasn’t blessed with a vast number of system exclusives – and what made the situation even more frustrating was that many games were only released in specific territories (out of the nearly 650 GameCube titles, only 281 ended up on store shelves in Japan!) As a result, there’s not a huge number of hidden GameCube treasures waiting to be unearthed – but those that do exist can be particularly obscure and little-known. Case in point: Homeland, an online RPG by Dragon Quest developer Chunsoft, was only released in Japan. It proved innovative in several ways – one of only four online games for the system, it was the only GameCube title where the console acted as a server. And instead of allowing parties of just four (like the GameCube’s Phantasy Star Online), Homeland let players band together in groups of up to 36!

[Read more…]

Legend of Mana Soundtrack

Legend of Mana Soundtrack

Legend of Mana Soundtrack, Yoko Shimomura, 1999

While the 32-bit generation saw a seismic shift in gameplay and graphics design from 2d to 3d, that didn’t mean nobody created pixel art masterpieces during those years. And given how much Square’s 16-bit games had pushed the envelope in the early 1990s, it only makes sense that the company would occasionally return to the art style that had endeared its products to countless gamers. Square’s major forays into 2d gaming on the PS1 were SaGa Frontier 2 and Legend of Mana – and it’s probably no coincidence that Square veteran Akitoshi Kawazu produced both games. That probably also explains the non-linear style of RPG gameplay both games tried to pioneer. However, while the lack of a robust central narrative was typical for the SaGa games, it set Legend of Mana apart from its franchise predecessors, reaping strongly divided feedback from gamers and reviewers alike.

[Read more…]

Loop Hero Soundtrack

Loop Hero Soundtrack

Loop Hero Soundtrack, Aleksandr Goreslavets, 2021

2021’s first indie game smash hit was undoubtedly Loop Hero. First presented at the 2019 Ludum Dare Jam, Loop Hero was nurtured by Russian development team Four Quarters into an engrossing exercise in world-building whose gameplay was as repetitive as it was addictive. Based on a simple idea – the protagonist completes the same loop over and over again, even without player input – Loop Hero folds unusual elements into its rogue-like structure. For example, players can change each loop’s outcome by placing cards onto the game board. And this is where Loop Hero’s narrative ambitions come into play. The game’s post-apocalyptic setting sees players rebuilding a vanished world, one card at a time – its protagonist the only survivor to remember the universe the way it was before its downfall.

[Read more…]

Maglam Lord Soundtrack

Maglam Lord Soundtrack

Maglam Lord Soundtrack, Chiaki Fujita / Nobuo Kiyota / Kyouko Nakamura / Kiyoto Ohtani, 2021

For its most recent game, developer Felistella didn’t stray too from what worked for them in the past. Mixing elements of visual novels with strategy and action RPGs in their Summon Night and Hyperdimension Neptunia titles, Felistella delivered a similar experience with 2021’s Maglam Lord. In tune with those earlier games’ humorous tone, Maglam Lord follows Killrizark, an all-mighty demon lord sealed away after an epic battle. Every RPG fan worth their salt will be able to guess what happens next – at least up to a point. After many years, Killrizark awakens – weakened and ready to regain his strength by eating as many innocent souls as possible. That is, until he is told he’s been declared an endangered species by the government.

[Read more…]

Matt Furniss – Atari ST Works

Matt Furniss - Atari ST Works

Matt Furniss – Atari ST Works, 1990-1992

Many computer game soundtracks of the 80s and early 90s consist of only one longer cue, sometimes with a few shorter pieces and jingles added. As such, these scores don’t warrant individual reviews, even when these works are of outstanding quality. What makes more sense is to combine several such soundtracks by a single composer into one review.

Part of the ecosystem of European (and particularly British) home computers was that games were usually released across a range of platforms, including the C64, Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, PC, Amstrad CPC and Acorn 32-bit – obviously to increase presence in the marketplace and thus sales. Due to the technological differences between all of these systems, they would also feature different soundtracks – or rather one score ported and adapted to each platform. That was the situation developer Krisalis Software (previously trading as Teque Software Development) and their in-house composer Matt Furniss found themselves in during the late 80s and early 90s.

[Read more…]

Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor Soundtrack

Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor Soundtrack

Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor Soundtrack, Paul Romero, 1999

By the time of Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor‘s release, Paul Romero and Rob King had firmly installed themselves as the Might and Magic franchise’s go-to composers, thanks to Heroes of Might and Magic and its exceedingly ambitious sequel. They had also written the music for Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven. That score was a curious if not entirely successful hybrid of fantasy and science fiction elements.

[Read more…]

Mystic Ark Soundtrack

Mystic Ark Soundtrack

Mystic Ark Soundtrack, Akihiko Mori, 1995

Scarcity and nostalgia can have a powerful effect when working hand in hand – just take Mystic Ark. A representative of a particularly popular genre amongst retro game fans – the 16-bit RPG – Mystic Ark’s status was elevated further by the dual facts that it was released towards the end of the SNES’ lifespan and only in Japan. Was this one of the great untranslated SNES gems like Star Ocean and Tales of Phantasia that pushed the hardware and its beloved pixel art to its limits?

[Read more…]

Secret of Evermore Soundtrack

Secret of Evermore Soundtrack

Secret of Evermore Soundtrack, Jeremy Soule, 1995

It’s fair to say that a game like Secret of Evermore would meet with less hostility these days. The thought of a Western console RPG is no longer an affront to gamers raised on Japanese genre products. Back in 1995 though, what many Square fans in the Western hemisphere wanted was a localised Secret of Mana 2 / Seiken Densetsu 3. What they didn’t look for was a down-to-earth alternative to JRPGs’ heroic melodramatics. Especially if it was littered with fictional pop culture references and had a metaphysical, light-hearted tongue-in-cheek approach.

[Read more…]

Secret of Mana Soundtrack

Secret of Mana Soundtrack

Secret of Mana Soundtrack, Hiroki Kikuta, 1993

It’s no understatement to say that for many gamers, Secret of Mana remains one of the most fondly remembered experiences of the 16-bit era. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the innate quality of the product. Square’s experiment merging action adventure and RPG elements was a resounding success, charming millions of players with its vibrant fantasy world and accessible, yet deep gameplay. But timing played an important role as well. Remember that back in 1993, US releases of SNES RPGs were the exception, not the rule (and for the German market, Secret of Mana might well have been the first localised SNES RPG ever). As a result, many gamers encountered the engrossing storytelling and vivid worlds that the best RPGs deliver for the first time with Secret of Mana.

[Read more…]

Shiren the Wanderer 3 Soundtrack (Wii)

Shiren the Wanderer 3 Soundtrack

Shiren the Wanderer 3 Soundtrack (Wii), Hayato Matsuo, 2008

The Shiren the Wanderer franchise is one of those video game series that has generated a surprising number of titles, despite never being blessed with outstanding sales numbers. Upon its release in Japan in 2008, Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 3: Karakuri Yashiki no Nemuri Hime was the seventh game in the long-running franchise of roguelikes. Making matters somewhat confusing, Atlus USA released the game in the USA as Shiren the Wanderer (not to be confused with the 1995 SNES original). For the purpose of this review, we’ll stick with Shiren the Wanderer 3. Like more or less all other Shiren the Wanderer titles, the game generated respectable reviews and decent sales without leaving a particularly strong impression either way. What several reviewers did remark upon was that the game’s difficulty had been toned down somewhat from its predecessors, making this a more accessible entry in the franchise.

[Read more…]

Shiren the Wanderer Soundtrack (SNES)

Shiren the Wanderer Soundtrack

Shiren the Wanderer Soundtrack (SNES), Koichi Sugiyama, 1995

It’s a bit surprising that it took publisher Enix a full seven years to create spin-off games for its monstrously successful Dragon Quest franchise. Enix’ first attempt to widen the Dragon Quest universe was 1993’s Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon for the SNES. The game was successful enough to kickstart its own franchise: Mystery Dungeon. The next entry in this burgeoning series was Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, again released on the SNES. One of the system’s few roguelikes – replete with randomly generated levels and a punishing difficulty level – Shiren the Wanderer sold sufficient copies to create yet another franchise of its own. Looking to put their own creative stamp on the Mystery Dungeon series, developer Chunsoft differentiated the game from its Dragon Quest brethren by setting it in a fantasy version of feudal Japan.

[Read more…]

The 7th Saga Soundtrack

The 7th Saga Soundtrack

The 7th Saga Soundtrack, Norihiko Yamanuki, 1993

It’s probably no surprise that sometimes, games are remembered not for the whole of their various strengths and shortcomings, but rather simply for their most outstanding and pronounced feature. And so when seasoned gamers think back to developer Produce’s The 7th Saga, what’s brought up first isn’t so much the game’s peculiarly sombre atmosphere, or the variety of characters to control. Instead, what dominates retrospective conversations about The 7th Saga is its absolutely unforgiving difficulty level (dialed up for the US release), which required hours and hours of grinding right from the very start. It’s a shame then that its reputation as the SNES’ most difficult RPG often overshadows The 7th Saga’s several accomplishments.

[Read more…]

The Caligula Effect 2 Soundtrack

The Caligula Effect 2 Soundtrack

The Caligula Effect 2 Soundtrack, Various, 2021

Expectations were running high for 2016’s The Caligula Effect – no surprise, given its pedigree. With the involvement of writer Tadashi Satomi and composer Tsukasa Masuko, who had worked on several Persona and Megami Tensei games, the connections to that beloved franchise were strong. Unfortunately, critics’ reaction to The Caligula Effect was tepid. Still, the game made enough money to warrant an improved remake in 2018 and finally a sequel in 2021, developed by Historia. Its plot seems like an almost straight reprise of that found in the first Caligula Effect. An almighty virtuadoll has created a utopian virtual reality (a high school setting) that offers refugee for wounded souls looking to flee reality. A group of students is trying to escape this simulation after one of them has his memories of the real world restored by another virtuadoll. This time, reviewers were more enamoured with the game, but only slightly.

[Read more…]

The Lost Angelic Chronicles of Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey Soundtrack

The Lost Angelic Chronicles of Frane: Dragons' Odyssey Soundtrack

The Lost Angelic Chronicles of Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey Soundtrack, Jordan Steven, 2011

With the rise of mobile gaming, one of the most popular genres of the 16-bit era made its triumphant return: 2d JRPGs. Given that these games often came with amazingly varied and ambitious soundtracks, the resurgence of these sorts of games heralded good news for game music fans. One of the best retro-styled JRPG scores of the new millennium turned out to be The Lost Angelic Chronicles of Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey.

[Read more…]

Torchlight II Soundtrack

Torchlight II Soundtrack

Torchlight II Soundtrack, Matt Uelmen, 2012

To call one particular creation the culmination of an artist’s oeuvre can be a risky maneuvre. It suggests linear development across works and prescribes an easily identifiable trajectory. But it’s hard not to fete a work like the Torchlight II soundtrack as the realisation of a specific musical approach. On this album, Matt Uelmen combines all elements that have characterised his previous scores and perfects them.

[Read more…]

Ultima VIII: Pagan Soundtrack

Ultima VIII: Pagan Soundtrack

Ultima VIII: Pagan Soundtrack, Nenad Vugrinec, 1994

In case the cover art – with its flame-engulfed pentagram – didn’t make it clear enough, Ultima VIII: Pagan was a far darker game than any of its predecessors. From Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar onward, series creator Richard Garriott had turned the Ultima games into explorations of morality. These pioneering titles didn’t reward gamers for the usual monster killing and treasure hunting that governs RPGs. Instead, Garriott asked players to act virtuously while pondering ethical dilemmas that had no easy answer. Pagan followed the same design philosophy but added a grim twist. The game’s antagonist – the Guardian – transports the Avatar to his own realm Pagan – a blasted wasteland beyond redemption and hope.

[Read more…]

War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Soundtrack

War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Soundtrack

War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Soundtrack, Noriyasu Agematsu / Hitoshi Fujima / Junpei Fujita / Ryota Tomaru, 2019

Among the many, many off-shoots of the Final Fantasy franchise that Square Enix churned out over the years, War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius was one of the more intriguing ones. Obviously a spin-off of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, War of the Visions took inspiration from the Final Fantasy Tactics games, turning into a strategy RPG – not a direction that the franchise had taken much outside of the FFT titles. With War of the Visions being a free mobile game, gacha systems and in-app microtransactions were inevitable features gamers had to contend with. Some balancing issues aside, though, War of the Visions offered a surprisingly fully-fledged and in-depth strategy game experience bolstered by excellent production values. Maybe due to its genre, the game was significantly more successful in Japan than abroad but still managed over eleven million downloads in total soon after its release.

[Read more…]

Xenogears Soundtrack

Xenogears Soundtrack

Xenogears Soundtrack, 1998, Yasunori Mitsuda

During its late-1990s heyday, Square – bolstered by the success of its Final Fantasy franchise – created an astonishing number of new IPs. However, none of these experiments was as madly ambitious and head-spinning as Xenogears. Designed as an early concept piece for Final Fantasy VII and then morphing into part of a planned six-part series spanning millennia, Xenogears served up one of the densest narratives ever seen in a video game. Its storyline was heavily based on philosophical concepts by Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung (and likely influenced more than a bit by Neon Genesis Evangelion). Throw in a pronounced anti-religious streak that jeopardised the game’s American release, and you have one of the 32-bit era’s most remarkable games. Sadly, Xenogears was held back by time constraints and the development team’s relative inexperience, leading to a bare-bones presentation of its second half.

[Read more…]