Posts Tagged ‘Video Game’

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Kōji Kondō – "Super Mario Brothers Theme" (1985)

2009/12/28

Yesterday was like a dream. There I was… my wife G, in our beautiful house, snowflakes gently falling all around us, as we spent the whole day playing the new "Super Mario Bros. Wii"!

That Christmas of 1985 when the original Super Mario Brothers came out. That was a good Christmas. This year G decided I needed the new one on the Nintendo Wii, which emulates the original series with 2-dimensional game play, but also with a gazillion moves, special powers, and even some Wii controller action where you have to shake the controller. The most mind blowing change is it is truly multi-player with up to 4 people on the screen at the same time, co-operatively (or not no much) trying to make way through the levels and castles. G and I find we are in each other's way as much as we are helping each other, so it definitely adds a new dimension to the game. Also it is great for people at different skill levels. Beginners no longer just die on the first Koopa Troopa and then have to wait for the experts to finish the level to play again. Everyone gets to play all the time because they come back to life mid-board.

Naturally, the music from previous Super Mario Bros. games, including the original, has been adapted into new songs such as this one, where you can still taste the flavor of the original theme song:

Ultimately though I have opted to make the very original theme song, my song of the day.

The 10 year old in me, alive and well, opted to use yesterday to only play this game. I did take a moment to shovel some snow and eat a little, but otherwise it was around 14 hours of video game fun 1980s style. That is what I call vacation! I was so intensely playing this game, that this post is being posted retroactively. As an adult though I get to make my own bad decisions!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Click here for more info on Kōji Kondō – "Super Mario Brothers Theme".

The "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" game may be purchased here…

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Nobuo Uematsu – "Final Fantasy – Prelude" (1987)

2009/06/22

Time to show my true geekery by posting music from a video game. I use to play a ton of video games, and most video games have some music in them. In the early days of video game music the music was very electronic and frequently had only one part playing at a time. Usually such songs would not hold up to any soundtrack or classical music. I believe this song composed by Nobuo Uematsu from the game Final Fantasy might though. I should add that it has been reused for all 10+ Final Fantasy games and even covered by some actual bands, and orchestras (additional parts added to it, of course).

This song came to my mind because G and I were discussing ambient (and really dream pop and shoegazing) music's value, including bands like Chairlift and M83. (I should've brought up Air as a counter argument because I'm certain she like them.) She questioned if their music really took much work or talent, and thus if anyone can do it then is it good? I think we will have to agree to disagree because clearly G does not like music where the melody is subtle to non-existent, as is the case frequently in those genres where the song does not necessarily focus on a melody. She clearly wants "the nugget" of the melody of the song that makes it good, and in ambient there tend to be no nuggets.

The discussion then led to game music which has to be repeated over and over, and thus you want ambiance generally. I had brought up the music from Tetris, but it was a poor example because I was thinking of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker – Dance of the Sugur Plum Faries" (listen to it here). This bonus song from Final Fantasy I consider to be ambient and beautiful. Is it complicated at all? No. Does it have value? Yes it is beautiful to me. Should it matter that it came from a video game? No, I think not. Does it have a "nugget", not really… you have to listen to it as a whole, same as with ambient.

Clearly ambient and its related genres are not for everyone.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Click here for more info on Nobuo Uematsu – "Final Fantasy – Prelude".

The "Remastered Playstation Final Fantasy 1 and 2" games may be purchased here…

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