Help me get a crash course in video game music!

[Austin]

Hey there!

This weekend, I'm a contestant in a video game music "name that tune" contest. I'm pretty good when it comes to most 2600-era tunes, but I'm a little rusty when it comes to anything past the NES. I was wondering if anyone here knew any good sites that carry MIDIs of classic video game tunes? It'd be good if I could study up a bit before I go in Friday night.

Digital Press's music page has been a great help, but I'm looking for something a little more comprehensive.

Thanks!

[Kroogah]

vgmusic.com

[rbudrick]

Considering maybe 1% of Atari 2600 games actually had music and not just sound effects, I think your'e screwed.

NES era is when home VG tunage really started to kick it. It's the era I would do best at in a Name That Tune game. After the SNES/Genesis era, I can't think of too many games that had memorable music. Maybe a few, but they'e not nearly as common as games with good music from the 8 (NES on) and 16 bit era.

-Rob

[cyberfluxor]

Considering maybe 1% of Atari 2600 games actually had music and not just sound effects, I think your'e screwed.

Dude, Acid drop was freaking CRAZY! The only problem is playing too long hurts my ears with those high pitches.

[NeoZeedeater]

Pre-NES gaming has tons of memorable tunes(Donkey Kong, Jungle Hunt, Congo Bongo, etc. are all stuck in my head). It's just that most of them happen to be short pieces and not continuous background music.

I would say the C64 and others of its time is when continuous background music started really taking off in home games.

Besides the already mentioned vgmusic .com I don't what else to recommend. Most "name that game tune" quizzes tend to be pretty retro-mainstream(console-only, NES/Genesis/SNES dominated) so I would concentrate on those I guess.

[Ed Oscuro]

Why would you want MIDI? Are they playing the tunes as MIDIs?

In addition to VGMusic, may I recommend BridgeM1, the SPC, NSF, and PSF formats, and Project2612.org...