The joy of video game music

I find myself coming back to video game music again and again when I don’t know what to listen to on any given day.

Music is my lifeblood, and it’s rare for me to have a moment without it. When I’m hanging out alone, or hanging with friends, or cleaning my apartment, or driving, or walking, or doing literally anything, I put on music.  I listen to plenty of more traditional music, bouncing between my favorites bands and exploring new artists. Sometimes, though, I need something that hits a different note in my soul.

Right now, I’m listening to the soundtrack from 2011’s indie game Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, by musician and composer Jim Guthrie. 

I played through this game once in college and it was a very interesting experience. I loved the game’s aesthetic. I thought the gameplay was OK. I don’t really remember the story. But the music has never left my head. I like it so much I bought it on vinyl.

Setting the mood

I find that some of the best video game music (referred to by fans as VGM) is really good at setting a mood.

Listen to this song from the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack, composed by David Wise, Robin Beanland, and Eveline Fischer. The game was released back in 1994.

It’s just so groovy and peaceful and ambient. It’s one of the most beloved songs in VGM, nailing the balance between that unmistakable Donkey Kong vibe and the cool, floaty feeling of the game’s water levels.

There are so many compilations of VGM on YouTube that contain hours and hours of songs that match a certain feeling. If you want to relax and chill, there are all kinds of playlists and singular videos to help you set the mood. If you want to get amped up, there are compilations of intense VGM. If you’re feeling spooky, you can’t go wrong with more than an hour of ambient music from the Metroid series.

In my opinion, there’s no better nostalgia booster shot than listening to music from a game I played years ago. If I put on something like the original World of Warcraft soundtrack, the Paper Mario soundtrack, or the Animal Crossing soundtrack, I’m instantly transported to the carefree times when I played those games for hours and hours.

It’s hard to beat VGM at setting the right mood, and even harder to beat it at its unique position in the world of gaming: helping you laser in your focus.

Fulfilling a need

Video game music has to do all the things that more traditional music does: convey emotions, alter the mood, and send a message. But it also performs the important task of keeping players motivated, intrigued, and focused.

Some of my favorite VGM has a certain drive to it. It builds on top of itself. It has a strong beat that keeps on moving forward.

I often have trouble focusing, and a surefire way to get my brain locked into a task is to put on some of my favorite video game music. When I listen to video game music while working, I’ll forget that I’m actually listening to anything at all. I get into a zone, a flow state, and the rest of the world slips away as I lose track of time and become singularly focused on the task at hand.

The Celeste soundtrack, composed by Lena Raine, works extremely well in these situations because of Raine’s expert ability to craft music that is both hauntingly beautiful and relentlessly upbeat. Yes, this game is about depression and overcoming inner darkness and fear, but its overarching message is about facing challenges head-on, and this music is perfect for moments when persistence is needed above all else.

This special quality of VGM isn’t something I really realized when I purchased my first video game soundtrack in high school  —  a physical CD copy of Danny Baranowsky’s soundtrack for Super Meat Boy, another exceedingly difficult indie platformer like Celeste.

I kept returning to the album again and again and I didn’t really know why. I mean, I liked the music, but I also just felt good when I listened to it. I remember going back and re-listening to tracks I just listened to because I realized that I wasn’t giving them my full attention. That’s because the music of Super Meat Boy is partially meant to blend into the background make the listener lose themselves.

One of Baranowsky’s more recent projects, Cadence of Hyrule, combines some of these key VGM principles with a beloved pastime of VGM fans: remixes.

Making it your own

People love remixing video game music. It’s a hugely popular sector of the VGM world, aided by the fact that so many video game soundtracks, especially from early consoles of the ’80s and ’90s, have roots in electronic music. They were often created using computers because consoles of the time had such limited capabilities. 

The music of The Legend of Zelda games is iconic and unforgettable, and has lent itself to tons of remixes over the decades. Cadence of Hyrule‘s soundtrack does this, re-imagining Zelda songs to fantastic effect.

And then there are remixes like this one by Andrew Rockefeller, which takes the song played at 1:00 a.m. in Animal Crossing and gives it a lo-fi spin with some hip hop beats and holiday-inspired touches.

Communities like OverClocked ReMix have built up around VGM remixes, allowing people to share their creations and discuss VGM. There is basically an endless supply of cool VGM remixes out there.

There are also remixes that focus more on just having fun with the music for comedic effect. The YouTuber and composer SilvaGunner has become notorious for their comedic and surprising takes on classic video game songs. 

Where to look

There is so much video game music out there, it may seem like there’s too much to wade through.

If there’s a game you have a fond memory of, search for that game’s soundtrack online and give it a listen. If it’s hitting the right notes for you, check out who composed it and see what else they did.

One of the things that got me really into VGM was the podcast VGMpire, which kicked off way back in 2011. Host Brett Elston, who is now a brand marketing manager at Capcom, guides guests and listeners through a wide variety of games and game series’ and songs, opening up a whole world of music that lays beyond the traditional path of both video game fans and music fans.

One fantastic episode is no. 40, which contains music from the game Actraiser, a game that I had never heard of before and has some absolutely amazing music.

Or you can just look around. There’s really something out there for everybody.