Listening to game music?

[Lady Jaye]

Do you listen to game music outside of your gaming sessions? If so, in which circumstances? And do you listen to different game music while playing a unrelated game?

I'm currently listening to the Final Fantasy I+II soundtrack while working (you'd be surprised, but it's great background music, not too distracting... and it makes me feel like there's a NES in my office!). I was also listening to some more Final Fantasy soundtrack (FF XIII) while playing Mario and Luigi SuperStar Saga on the GBA.

Then again, maybe the ultimate geek thing to do would be to listen to the FF I+II OST while playing FF I+II Dawn of Souls on the GBA, thus replacing the new version of the music by the original NES soundtrack...

Of course, I mean strictly music composed for games, not licensed songs (duh... otherwise, I could say that I listen to the GTA Vice City soundtrack all the time!).

[Anexanhume]

Silent Hill 2 soundtrack is prime for relaxing.

[SMB]

I offten find myself listening to many NES themes such as Zelda, Mario, Metroid.

[tholly]

for me personally, i listen to either game music only while playing the game itself, or listen to non game music while have the game music turned down

i dont really listen to game music while im not playing a game

[thetoxicone]

never been too big into game music outside of the game.

[autobotracing]

I prefer the piano versions of the FF soundtracks 8-)

They are quite good to go to sleep to. ;)

[mezrabad]

I had the OSTs to Chrono Trigger and FF V through VIII rotating in my car CD player for about a year. I'd finish one disc and that would go to the back of the stack and the next in line would come on.

Currently my kids love the Katamari Damacy tunes and they'll dance to it like they were in a surreal ballet.

I like having game soundtracks on. It lets me do something gaming related even if I'm not doing something gaming related.

[MegaDrive20XX]

I have all the CastleVania games OST...I enjoy each soundtrack (Thanks to the CV Dungeon)

I even have Silent Hill 2's soundtrack

I think I just really enjoy Konami's music the most

Yet I occassionally love "The Minibosses" Especially for Mega Man 2

[Zing]

On the release of Red Alert 2, Best Buy was offering the C&C Soundtrack collection for free with purchase of the game. I bought two copies of the game, even though I already had it. I kept the soundtracks and returned the games later. Best. Soundtrack. Ever. It has the music from Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Tiberian Sun, and Red Alert 2 in a 4 disc set.

I have also clocked many hours listening to the Baldur's Gate soundtrack.

[EnemyZero]

not so much game trax as anime trax...but i love all the FF trax :P esp the ff7 soundtrack

[SoulBlazer]

Uh, Lady Jaye, Final Fantasy 13???? LOL We're still waiting for FF 12 to come out in Japan! ;)

But yes, I admit to listening to game music all the time. One of my favorite musical genre's. I have a bunch of OST's, mostly imported from Japan (which could lead me to a new rant about the pirate stuff.....) and I listen to it in the car.

Also a lot of music soundtracks on my HD which I listen to while surfing the net or doing minor work.

Some of my favorites -- Final Fantasy, other Square games, Zelda, Mega Man, Mario, Metroid, Suikoden, Morrowind, and the GTA games.

[Lady Jaye]

LOL I meant Final Fantasy VIII of course!!! Duh! (that's what happens when you type while distracted by other things... :P )

And I know what you mean by the pirate thing... I'm still ticked off over unknowingly buying a pirate copy of Zelda: Wind Waker OST that I've sworn off game music CDs until they start being officially published here (yes, I know that Tokyopop has published some FF CDs, but they're not reeditions of the Japanese releases, which is what I want). You hear me, Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, Square Enix (etc. etc.)???

[SoulBlazer]

Heh. :) Yes, that's better.

Semi related question I asked about here some months ago and never got a answer from anyone -- where did you get your FF8 music from? One of the OST's? If so, the Japanese or the American one? I have the American one, and the best evidence I can find online is that it was ONLY sold through Squaresoft's online web store (was in operation for a year or so with a bunch of stuff) and it does'nt seem many sold, making me wonder how 'rare' that mine is.

[Lady Jaye]

I'll PM you my answer later!

[Lord Contaminous]

I got TONS and TONS of CD's with NES and SNES music.

[Gapporin]

I really want the FF7 OST. Four CD set...mmm. But I digress.

Peering into my playlist, here's some video games/composers that I love to listen to (outside of actually playing the games):

Final Fantasy I through X-2 [Nobuo Uematsu]
Mega Man (various) [?]
Metal Slug 1-3 [?]
After Burner/Fantasy Zone/Space Harrier/Out Run [Hiroshi Miyauchi]
Phantasy Star/Zillion [Tokuhiko Uwabo]
Castlevania 1-3 [Kinuyo Yamashita did the first one]
Gradius 1-2 [Miki Higashino and Motoaki Furukawa, respectively]
Super Mario Bros. 1-3 [Koji Kondo]
Live-A-Live [Yoko Shimomura]
Robotrek [Ayako Yoda]

...just to name a few. My God, I listen to too much video game music.

[o2william]

I listen to game music often... generally at work, which is when I have the most time to listen to any kind of music. It takes all forms... sometimes I bring in one of my Castlevania OST CDs, other times I'm listening to mp3s, nsfs or spcs. I just recently started playing NES Zanac, so the other day at work I downloaded the Zanac nsf and rocked out, kicked it old skool, etc.

I don't think I've ever listened to one game's music while playing another game. I'm sort of a purist in that regard -- I like to hear the sounds of the game I'm playing.

While on the subject, does anyone know of an nsf player that automatically cycles through the tracks in an nsf file? I'm using Winamp now, and to get to the next track you have to click the Next Track button. Otherwise, the current track will cycle forever. It'd be nice if it would automatically advance tracks every two minutes or so.

[Gapporin]

While on the subject, does anyone know of an nsf player that automatically cycles through the tracks in an nsf file? I'm using Winamp now, and to get to the next track you have to click the Next Track button. Otherwise, the current track will cycle forever. It'd be nice if it would automatically advance tracks every two minutes or so.

Use NSFplug (http://www102.sakura.ne.jp/~ok/dsa/nsfplug.html). It has automatic time detection (meaning that once the song loops twice, it will automatically go to the next one). It even can print out of playlist for you of all the songs on a single .nsf.

[Lord Contaminous]

If anyone wants to get started on making custom game music CD's, download Winamp, go to www.zophar.net and get some plugins for winamp that support files from the game music archive zophar has, especially a plugin that can turn any game music file to WAVs that can be burned on a CD.

[youruglyclone]

megaman x
katamari demarcy
ff6
chrono trigger
parappa the rapper
vib ribbon
bust a groove/move

are some of the titles you'll find in my muvo

[Pop Culture Portal]

The only soundtracks I listen to on a sometimes bi-weekly basis are Lunar/Lunar 2 and any of the Jet Set Radio soundtracks...VG soundtracks are just too expensive for me :(

[qbertandernie]

only listen to game music outside of gaming when i get a sampler cd or the recent acquisition of the sega genesis tunes cd...most of the time i hook a stereo to the tv and listen to other music while playing, or else i end up with repeating game music in my head for days..

made playing myst 2 somewhat difficult however...

[Aussie2B]

All the time. :) It's almost sick how much money I've put into importing soundtracks (official ones, not cheapo bootleg crap). I guess it's not a terrible investment, though, because a good majority of soundtracks hold or go UP in value as they get older (as opposed to the games themselves).

Anyway, I listen mostly while studying and doing homework. I also listen a lot while reading comics. I know I've hit a new level of nerdom when I'm listening to a Star Ocean soundtrack while reading a Star Ocean comic (after finishing a session with a Star Ocean game, of course, haha). I'm trying to find a way to incorporate even more into it to reach unheard of levels of nerd fandom. o_O *dreams of listening to a Star Ocean soundtrack, while reading a Star Ocean comic, wearing a Star Ocean shirt, and sipping a drink from a Star Ocean mug...*

Hehe, while most of my soundtracks are related to tri-Ace games, I do have several others related to Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, F-Zero X, various SNK games, etc. I also have a small number that actually came with game purchases (Lunar soundtrack, the one with the Japanese Castlevania: SotN, my Choaniki mini CD, etc.)

[Dr. Morbis]

When I'm on the home computer, I'm almost always listening to either game remixes from ocremix.org, or nsf files from my favourite NES games.

When I'm gaming, I must listen to that game's music and sound effects (except in extreme circumstances when a game's music is so atrocious it hurts, ie: Spiritual Warfare)

[Castelak]

www.vgamp.com

I can't remember where I heard of this online video game radio, but it's great. Only 56k stream quality, but it's very very nice with the quality of titles and it's own cool request mode. Plus, no ads at all!! I like listening to all the different RPG soundtracks. 8-)

[Dahne]

Hell yes.

Through a combination of luck, living in the right place, and my parents being freakin' awesome, I got to go to the Final Fantasy Dear Friends concert. Ooo...anyone know if a recording of that has come out yet?

[Dire 51]

I put a whole bunch of music from around 8 Genesis shmups on a tape a few years back, and since I don't have a CD player in the car, that's what I've been listening to lately. I also have the soundtracks to Gradius II, Gradius Gaiden, Salamander, Salamander 2 and Life Force on tape somewhere, along with some Castlevania music... I really should dig those up.

[fergojisan]

I just brought a bunch of game CDs that I made to work the other day. I think my favorite right now is Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana). I also love NES music, and SNES Zelda, Super Mario World, and the Final Fantasy series. I use the older version of Meridian to rip the tracks to wav and burn them onto a CD. I used to have a bunch of tapes of various game midis as well.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I really like the composer for the Streets of Rage games. Not just the game music, even the non-video game work he did. Yuzo, I think that's the name. Other favorites are; Metroid, Castlevania, Rez and anything else jazz/classical/trance. If ever given the opportunity I would love to compose pieces for games, especially shumps.

[Avatard]

I like the orceshtral remixes. My mp3 mix in my car inclues Red Wings theme from FF2(us), Castlevania (vampire slayer), and Metroid (SNES mix).

[Lord Contaminous]

Every once in a while, I hook up my Sega Genesis and pop in one cartridge after another to listen to BGM sound tests with the headphones blasted.

Play Revenge of Shinobi with headphones on. It sounds awesome, especially with tunes like "Run or Die", "Labyrinth", and "Ninja Step".

[SkiDragon]

I never really listened to music much until I started listening to game music.

[Kroogah]

...

[The Brown Eye]

I don't know if anyone else lives in Waukesha, but there's a station that plays video game and anime music from 10 PM - 12 AM Wednesday nights, Central time. 104.5 FM WCCX. It has a small broadcasting area, so it can be difficult to pick up if you're not around Carroll College. They have streaming audio as well on line at http://wccx.cc.edu

[NESaholic]

Yup i listen to it, i download some stuff once in a while, i produce electro and it's mega cool to use some 8-bit sounds! 8-)

[VACRMH]

Listening to an OST right now :)

Suikoden 4.

[Lady Jaye]

Time to bump that... I recently got back into a game music phase. Found several files I had on my computer, including the Mario and Zelda Big Band show (which surprised me, since I stumbled upon a video of the show on youtube)...

So I filled my shuffle with mostly Zelda and Mario music, plus Katamari Damacy and We <3 Katamari OST, and several remixes from OCRemix*. :)

Oh, and incidentally, my cell phone ring is the underwater theme from SMB 1. Used to have the Zelda theme, but it wasn't loud enough to grab my attention sometimes.

[thom_m]

I have the Metorid Metal tracks on my car's cd player, I don't know if that counts. But I'm always at least whistling game tunes - mainly Sonic or Metroid ones.

When I was younger, I'd turn on my famiclone just to listen to Gradius II songs on the sound test...

[DJ Daishi]

like rockin to the Jet Set Radio Future and Silent Hill soundtracks

[murdoc rose]

theres some on my hard drive not alot but some. I guess my favorite things would be classic game sounds or lines like the ones on in the download section here. Its fun to listen to a couple of songs then have a little something before the next group of songs

[ssjlance]

I love the DooM soundtrack, and the same goes for FFVII. Also, the OCRemix versions of both of the following are amazing as well.

I also know a lot of video game music on guitar. Like, Super Mario Bros, first level of DooM, Boss Battle Theme from FFVII.

[joshnickerson]

Been listening to the Smash Bros Brawl soundtrack lately... a nice variety on that.

[jb143]

When me and some of my friends were having our little chess tounament a few years ago we'd put in the Warcraft II cd and listen to the audio tracks on it. It seemed pretty fitting.

[Sudo]

I frequently listen to the Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Suikoden II and Final Fantasy VII OSTs.

[SpaceHarrier]

Yes! I have so much videogame (and related) music.

Tommy Tallarico's 'Games Greatest Hits Vol. 2' - first vg music soundtrack I purchased. Ordered it directly from Happy Puppy Studio, didn't expect TT to hand-sign it. Still my favorite gaming collectible.
Killer Instinct Killer Kuts - Yeah, I listen to it
Mario Kart 64 - Its all about Victory Lap and Rainbow Road
FFX- The abridged soundtrack released by Tokyopop (they left out the FF Themesong - Techno mix)
Sonic Adventure Vocal Collection - I still get a kick out of these cheesy songs to this day
Sonic Adventure OST - amazing
Sonic Adventure 2 OST - see above
Sonic Heroes - yeah
Sonic 10th Anniversary cd - came with that blue Omake box which also included a gold coin and history of sonic. Second favorite vg collectible
FFVII Advent Children OST(jp) - not a game, but related and great rock remixes of oldschool tunes

That's the official stuff. I also have tons of remixes from OCremix.org and lots of midi from vgmusic.com - also tons of music I've burned via hooking the console up to a cd-burner, such as Guilty Gear XX, various Sonic games, Street Fighter and vs. series, Megaman X, Lords of Thunder, Streets of Rage.

In addition, I love listening to NintendoCore bands such as:

Horse the Band
Totally Radd!
Dungeon Elite
NerdRap Entertainment System (Y T Cracker)

and lots more I cannot remember! (sorry about the wall of text, I get excited about vg music)

[G-Boobie]

I'm pretty boring, I guess. Most video game music I listen to is of the orchestral variety.

The Elder Scrolls III and IV soundtracks by Jeremy Soule are on my iPod; I occasionally beak those out when I'm working. I have the Metal Gear Solid 2 soundtrack, though I haven't listened to it in years.

The Chrono Cross soundtrack is one I still listen to pretty regularly.

The king of all video game soundtracks, though, is still the Katamari Damacy soundtrack. 'I want to roll you up into my life', indeed.

[Tommy]

Don't know if you ever played TOD2 or Legend of Mana but that is some good music there, I tell you what!

[Blitzwing256]

I ripped all the tracks off of the ys books 1 and 2 and ys 3 wanderers from y's tg16 cds and put em on my ipod, makes great walking to work music :-)

[HYB]

I listen to game music all the time, be it rips from the game, soundtracks or remixes. Castlevania,Sonic and JSR are especially my favourite and Zelda comes in at 4th place.

I love Sonic music especially, great soundtracks and some very nice remixes too. CV is getting there, the soundtracks are awesome but there isn't all that many great remixes.

[kainemaxwell]

Some of my favorites are the Final Fantasy VI Piano Collections, Advent Children ost, and a few other FF related ones. The Secret of Mana ost is another favorite offhand along with Shadow of the Colossus. Most of what I have is burned cds (printed with cover scans when I can find them) from downloading- if I like it I'll eventually buy the actual ost.

I usually get a soundtrack if I like a game enough. Gonna look into Star Ocean next.

[Rob2600]

In 1988, I hooked my NES up to my stereo and recorded game soundtracks on cassette tape. I'd record the title screen music, intro music (in any), and as many different levels as I could. I'd also try and record the ending music. After a while, I had several tapes worth.

Many of the games I'd record were action and adventure games, like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man II, Ninja Gaiden, Double Dragon, Contra, Jackal, etc., but I'd also record the music in sports games, like Double Dribble, Bases Loaded, Blades of Steel, and Track & Field II. Those games had great music!

I'd get excited when a game had a code to unlock a sound test because then I could record the music perfectly, without playing through levels or having some stray sound effects mixed in.

I also connected my Atari Lynx to my stereo and recorded music from California Games, Electrocop, and Klax.

Once I had moved on to the SNES, the game music I recorded and listened to the most was Super Castlevania IV. I still think that's one of the best soundtracks ever. I also enjoyed The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Super Mario World, F-Zero, SimCity, Street Fighter II, EarthBound, and many others.

On the N64, I'd make tapes of Killer Instinct Gold, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Tetrisphere, Castlevania, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Star Fox 64, Mario Kart 64, 1080 Snowboarding, Goldeneye 007, Jet Force Gemini, etc. One of my favorites is the ending music to Mario Kart 64 during the credits.

I remember a lot of reviewers and video game journalists criticized the N64's audio back in the day and claimed N64 music was horrible, but I've always disagreed. There were so many awesome N64 soundtracks.

I listened to my video game music tapes at home, in the car, and on the subway. Then, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I started buying official video game CDs. At one point, I had a CD of:

Super Mario 64
Diddy Kong Racing
Chrono Trigger
Super Castlevania IV
Castlevania (N64)
an 8-bit Castlevania collection
Mario Kart 64
F-Zero X
1080 Snowboarding
Star Fox 64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
a Legend of Zelda collection
Space Channel 5
Hyrule Symphony (one of my favorites)

[RARusk]

I don't have a lot of gaming soundtracks but my favorites are of the entire "Hitman" series by Jesper Kyd.