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[RetroGamingUK]

Right, time to stop pussying around guys, we all know that gaming music peaked with the Sega Saturn

Let’s get this thread started…









The first 3 are incredibly impactful and compliment the gameplay perfectly.

The last one is the final replay of the bonus track, with an upbeat jazzy vibe that celebrates your completion of the game.

 

[BlackTron]

Back when they couldn't hide behind the grandeur of an orchestra they had to compose, dammit. Half the fun of retro gaming is the music.

I've always been impressed with how good Game Boy music can be, it's like the more limited the tech the harder they try. Many portable games had distinctive tracks compared to console counterparts. Even boring examples like Mario Land 1/2 and Sonic for GG, are good ones.

I love N64 for giving us real 90s game MIDI with 3D gameplay. For track arrangements Goldeneye has to be the best one.

 

[SirTerry-T]

Bow to your Master you Fools.

Sanxiin was '86....but it's Rob so it's allowed ..


Also obligatory...


And....



Now it's just a matter of waiting for the SNES army to turn up and we can have our seasonal MegaDrive Vs "Snezz" sound chip war.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Yes, I love 90s game music and beyond. Still listen to much of it:



33 Seconds in..!

 

[MastAndo]

 

[Gp1]

The entire XMEN: Mutant Apocalypse is awesome, classic 16-bit Capcom.

 

[DKPOWPOW]

A thread about 90s music

A game of legend made in the 90s with an instrument in its subtitle

How am I the first to post this?

 

[Calico345]

Actraiser (SNES)

The entire fucking soundtrack is all-time.

(Sorry, it just gets me hyped lol)

This is an extended cut of a boss battle theme.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

 

[Oberstein]

Sogood.gif

 

[Solarstrike]

Silverball, "Fantasy" for MS DOS by Robert Allen (1993)

Shadow of the Ninja, "Stage 5" for NES by Iku Mizutani (1990)

Golden Axe, "Battle Field", for SEGA Genesis by Joroen Tel (1989)

Solstice, "Title Screen" by Tim Follin (1990)

 

[raduque]

Hey Stampede - how bout a poem?

 

[TintoConCasera]

Jap stuff:





Lee Jackson's stuff:





Jeremy Soule and his bro's stuff:

 

[JimboJones]

Chrono Cross is one of the best. The game is great too. I played it for the first time in 2022 and loved it.

I recommend playing the Radical Dreamers remaster on either PS, Switch or PC. Post patch it's good to play.

I played Chrono Cross for the first time this year and the soundtrack was absolutely a standout feature of that game.

 

[saintjules]

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

I played Chrono Cross for the first time this year and the soundtrack was absolutely a standout feature of that game.

Must have played 100 different JRPGs and Chrono Cross has to be one of the all time great soundtracks for me

 

[360fps]

Sic

 

[360fps]

Yuzo Koshiro is the goat.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Just found out about Guardian War, a 3DO game from 1994 which music is really like SMT Nocturne or DDS, but a whole decade earlier.

 

[Ulysses 31]

 

[PeteBull]

Right, time to stop pussying around guys, we all know that gaming music peaked with the Sega Saturn

Let’s get this thread started…









The first 3 are incredibly impactful and compliment the gameplay perfectly.

The last one is the final replay of the bonus track, with an upbeat jazzy vibe that celebrates your completion of the game.

U forgot another sega classic, big one

 

[Ulysses 31]

 

[Mephisto40]

 

[tommib]

Great thread. All bangers. Most of it is cinematic orchestral slop now. Even the horror games have this endless drone soup music without any kind of distinctive melodies.

It’s the worst timeline for videogame music at the moment. Except for some indies.

 

[Mephisto40]

Also a song that was way ahead of it's time, possibly the first grime instrumental ever created, in 1994

 

[cireza]

Right, time to stop pussying around guys, we all know that gaming music peaked with the Sega Saturn

It peaked when CD consoles became a thing in my opinion. SEGA CD had amazing soundtracks, but let's not forget PCE CD and Neo Geo CD.

The issue starting with 32 bits consoles is that games got bigger in size and music had to be compressed, while 8/16 bits systems were most of the time giving pristine redbook audio. Don't get me wrong, there are many redbook ost on Saturn, but it slowly became less and less frequent during that gen.

 

[Hypereides]

Back when composers, as Nobou Uematsu put it, used to try to tell a "story" and/or convey a narrated emotion through their music tracks. Video game soundtracks used to be thoughtful, creative, nuanced and unique. Now most of the big ones have shifted to "whatever, they'll buy our shit anyway" kind of mentality.

 

[Herbspiceguy]

The older I become, as my musical (performing) hobby has been growing, I've come to admire soundtracks from 8- and 16-bit, mainly Japanese, games more to the level of being amazed, also due to the hardware limitations. The talent of these composers to make songs that perfectly fit the feel of the game and situation/scene presented, within the hardware constraints, where their musical backgrounds can also be noticed, is actually mind-blowing.

 

[Pejo]

Nuclear Power Trio sounds like the natural evolution of 90s Japanese Arcade/Sega/Konami music.

Man I just had to say, this sent me down a rabbit hole. I only wish they had more stuff. As a huge fan of The Minibosses/Powerglove/Polyphia, I'm surprised I had never heard of these guys before. Thanks for the recommend.

*edit*

To contribute something to the thread:

 

[Chuck Berry]

 

[Marcinkowski]

the are so many awesome soundtracks in the 16bit era, this a little selection of some of my favorites!