Video game music (or VGM) is the
soundtrack that accompanies
video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early
sound chips, such as
programmable sound generators (PSG) or
FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to the style of music known as
chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles.
The t ...
, which became the sound of the first video games.
With technological advances, video game music has grown to include a wider range of sounds. Players can hear music in video games over a game's title screen, menus, and gameplay.
Game soundtracks can also change depending on a player's actions or situation, such as indicating missed actions in
rhythm games, informing the player they are in a dangerous situation, or rewarding them for specific achievements.
Video game music can be one of two kinds: original or
licensed.
The popularity of video game music has created education and job opportunities, generated awards, and led video game soundtracks to be commercially sold and performed in concerts.
History
Early video game technology and computer chip music
At the time video games had emerged as a popular form of entertainment in the late 1970s,
music was stored on physical medium in
analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...
waveforms such as
compact cassette
The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...
s and
phonograph record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
s. Such components were expensive and prone to breakage under heavy use, making them less than ideal for use in an
arcade cabinet
An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...
, though in rare cases such as ''
Journey'', they were used. A more affordable method of having music in a video game was to use digital means, where a specific computer chip would change electrical impulses from computer code into analog sound waves
on the fly for output on a speaker. Sound effects for the games were also generated in this fashion. An early example of such an approach to video game music was the opening
chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles.
The t ...
in
Tomohiro Nishikado
is a Japanese people, Japanese video game developer and engineer. He is the creator of the arcade shoot 'em up game ''Space Invaders'', released to the public in 1978 by the Taito of Japan, often credited as the first shoot 'em up and for beginn ...
's ''
Gun Fight'' (1975).
While this allowed for inclusion of music in early
arcade video games, it was usually monophonic,
looped
''Looped'' is a play by Matthew Lombardo about an event surrounding actress Tallulah Bankhead. It had a Broadway run in 2010, after two previous productions in 2008 and 2009, all three of them featuring Valerie Harper.
Plot
Based on a real even ...
or used sparingly between stages or at the start of a new game, such as the
Namco titles ''
Pac-Man
originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' (1980) composed by Toshio Kai or ''
Pole Position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
'' (1982) composed by Nobuyuki Ohnogi.
The first game to use a continuous background
soundtrack was
Tomohiro Nishikado
is a Japanese people, Japanese video game developer and engineer. He is the creator of the arcade shoot 'em up game ''Space Invaders'', released to the public in 1978 by the Taito of Japan, often credited as the first shoot 'em up and for beginn ...
's ''
Space Invaders'', released by
Taito in 1978.
It had four descending
chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, ...
bass notes repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, increasing pace as the enemies descended on the player. The first video game to feature continuous, melodic
background music was ''
Rally-X'', released by Namco in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during
gameplay.
The decision to include any music into a video game meant that at some point it would have to be transcribed into computer code. Some music was original, some was
public domain music such as folk songs. Sound capabilities were limited; the popular
Atari 2600 home system, for example, was capable of generating only two tones at a time.
As advances were made in silicon technology and costs fell, a definitively new generation of arcade machines and
home consoles allowed for great changes in accompanying music. In arcades, machines based on the
Motorola 68000
The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector ...
CPU and accompanying various
Yamaha YM
programmable sound generator sound chips allowed for several more tones or "channels" of sound, sometimes eight or more. The earliest known example of this was
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's 1980 arcade game ''
Carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
'', which used an
AY-3-8910 chip to create an electronic rendition of the
classical 1889 composition "
Over The Waves" by
Juventino Rosas.
Konami's 1981 arcade game ''
Frogger'' introduced a dynamic approach to video game music, using at least eleven different gameplay tracks, in addition to level-starting and
game over themes, which change according to the player's actions. This was further improved upon by Namco's 1982 arcade game ''
Dig Dug'', where the music stopped when the player stopped moving. ''Dig Dug'' was composed by Yuriko Keino, who also composed the music for other Namco games such as ''
Xevious'' (1982) and ''
Phozon
is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1983 only in Japan. It is based on the science of chemistry, and was also the first game from the company that had been confined to Japan since ''Kaitei Takara Sagashi'' in 1980.
Gameplay
The pl ...
'' (1983).
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's 1982 arcade game ''
Super Locomotive
is a side-scrolling train action video game developed by Sega and released for arcades in 1982.
Gameplay
The objective of the game is to guide a train from one station to next. Along the route, the player must avoid obstacles such as other tr ...
'' featured a
chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles.
The t ...
rendition of
Yellow Magic Orchestra's "
Rydeen" (1979); several later
computer games
A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...
also
covered
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of ...
the song, such as ''Trooper Truck'' (1983) by
Rabbit Software as well as ''
Daley Thompson's Decathlon'' (1984) and ''
Stryker's Run
''Stryker's Run'' is a video game designed by Chris Roberts and Philip Meller for the BBC Micro and BBC Master which was published by Superior Software in 1986. It was also later converted to the Acorn Electron. It is a 2D side-scrolling action g ...
'' (1986) composed by
Martin Galway.
Home console systems also had a comparable upgrade in sound ability beginning with the
ColecoVision in 1982 capable of four channels. However, more notable was the Japanese release of the Famicom in 1983 which was later released in the US as the
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
in 1985. It was capable of five channels, one being capable of simple
PCM
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amp ...
sampled sound. The home computer
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
released in 1982 was capable of early forms of filtering effects, different types of
waveforms and eventually the undocumented ability to play 4-bit samples on a pseudo fourth sound channel. Its comparatively low cost made it a popular alternative to other home computers, as well as its ability to use a TV for an affordable display monitor.
Approach to game music development in this time period usually involved using simple tone generation and/or
frequency modulation synthesis
Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered "in accordance with the amplitude ...
to simulate instruments for melodies, and use of a "noise channel" for simulating percussive noises. Early use of PCM samples in this era was limited to short sound bites (''Monopoly''), or as an alternate for percussion sounds (''
Super Mario Bros. 3
''Super Mario Bros. 3'' is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was released for home consoles in Japan on October 23, 1988, in North America on February 12, 1990 and in Europe on ...
''). The music on home consoles often had to share the available channels with other sound effects. For example, if a laser beam was fired by a spaceship, and the laser used a 1400 Hz square wave, then the square wave channel that was in use by music would stop playing music and start playing the sound effect.
The mid-to-late 1980s software releases for these platforms had music developed by more people with greater musical experience than before. Quality of composition improved noticeably, and evidence of the popularity of music of this time period remains even today. Composers who made a name for themselves with their software include
Koichi Sugiyama (''
Dragon Quest
previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...
''),
Nobuo Uematsu (''
Final Fantasy''),
Rob Hubbard (''
Monty On the Run'', ''
International Karate
''International Karate'' is a fighting game developed and published by System 3 for the ZX Spectrum in 1985 and ported to various home computers over the following years. In the United States it was published by Epyx in 1986 as ''World Karate ...
''),
Koji Kondo
is a Japanese music composer, pianist, and music director who works for the video game company Nintendo. He is best known for his numerous contributions to the '' Super Mario'' and ''The Legend of Zelda'' series of video games, among others pr ...
(''
Super Mario Bros.'', ''
The Legend of Zelda''),
Miki Higashino
is a Japanese video game composer best known for her works in the '' Suikoden'' series.
Biography
Miki Higashino first began composing video game music as a student employed by Konami and contributed to various minor products, often uncredited ...
(''
Gradius'', ''
Yie-Ar Kung Fu'', ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''),
Hiroshi Kawaguchi (''
Space Harrier'', ''
Hang-On'', ''
Out Run''),
Hirokazu Tanaka (''
Metroid
is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirate (Metroid), Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the powe ...
'', ''
Kid Icarus'', ''
EarthBound
''EarthBound'', released in Japan as is a role-playing video game developed by Creatures (company), Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The second entry in the Mother (video game s ...
''),
Martin Galway (''
Daley Thompson's Decathlon'', ''
Stryker's Run
''Stryker's Run'' is a video game designed by Chris Roberts and Philip Meller for the BBC Micro and BBC Master which was published by Superior Software in 1986. It was also later converted to the Acorn Electron. It is a 2D side-scrolling action g ...
'', ''
Times of Lore
''Times of Lore'' is a 1988 action role-playing game that was developed and published by Origin Systems for several platforms, including PC, Commodore 64/ 128, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Apple II, NES, and Amiga.
Plot
The game's story ...
''),
David Wise (''
Donkey Kong Country''),
Yuzo Koshiro (''
Dragon Slayer'', ''
Ys'', ''
Shinobi
A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.Kawakami, pp. 21– ...
'', ''
ActRaiser'', ''
Streets of Rage
''Streets of Rage'' is a series of side-scrolling beat 'em up video games, centering on the efforts of several ex-police vigilantes trying to rid a fictional, large American city from a crime syndicate that has corrupted its local government. ...
''), Mieko Ishikawa (''Dragon Slayer'', ''Ys''), and
Ryu Umemoto
was a Japanese video game music composer, born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. He is known for composing soundtracks to various visual novel and shoot 'em up video games since the 1990s, for several companies including FamilySoft, C's Ware, ...
(
visual novels,
shoot 'em ups). By the late 1980s, video game music was being sold as cassette tape soundtracks in Japan, inspiring American companies such as
Sierra
Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following:
Places Mountains and mountain ranges
* Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico
* Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...
,
Cinemaware and
Interplay
Interplay may refer to:
* Interplay (John Coltrane album), ''Interplay'' (John Coltrane album), 1957
* Interplay (Bill Evans album), ''Interplay'' (Bill Evans album), 1962
* Interplay (Al Haig album), ''Interplay'' (Al Haig album), 1976
* Interpla ...
to give more serious attention to video game music by 1988. The
Golden Joystick Awards introduced a category for ''Best Soundtrack of the Year'' in 1986, won by
Sanxion
''Sanxion'' is a 1986 scrolling shooter by Thalamus Ltd, developed by Stavros Fasoulas. It was the first game released by Thalamus. Fasoulas also wrote ''Delta'' and '' Quedex''.
Gameplay
''Sanxion'' is a horizontally-scrolling shooter. The goa ...
.
Some games for cartridge systems have been sold with extra audio hardware on board, including ''
Pitfall II
''Pitfall II: Lost Caverns'' is a platform video game originally released for the Atari 2600 by Activision in 1984. It is the sequel to ''Pitfall!'' (1982). Both games were designed and programmed by David Crane and star jungle explorer Pitfall ...
'' for the Atari 2600 and several late Famicom titles. These chips add to the existing sound capabilities.
Early digital synthesis and sampling
From around 1980, some arcade games began taking steps toward digitized, or
sampled, sounds. Namco's 1980 arcade game ''
Rally-X'' was the first known game to use a
digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to produce sampled tones instead of a tone generator.
That same year, the first known video game to feature
speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal languag ...
was also released: Sunsoft's
shoot 'em up game ''
Stratovox
''Stratovox'', known in Japan as ''Speak & Rescue'' (スピーク&レスキュー), is a 1980 Arcade game, arcade fixed shooter developed and published in Japan by Sunsoft, Sun Electronics and released in North America by Taito. It is the first ...
''.
Around the same time,
the introduction of
frequency modulation synthesis
Frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of sound synthesis whereby the frequency of a waveform is changed by modulating its frequency with a modulator. The frequency of an oscillator is altered "in accordance with the amplitude ...
(
FM synthesis), first commercially released by
Yamaha for their
digital synthesizer
A digital synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to make musical sounds. This in contrast to older analog synthesizers, which produce music using analog electronics, and samplers, which play back digit ...
s and FM
sound chips, allowed the tones to be manipulated to have different sound characteristics, where before the tone generated by the chip was limited to the design of the chip itself.
Konami's 1983 arcade game ''
Gyruss'' used five synthesis sound chips along with a DAC, which were used to create an electronic version of
J. S. Bach's ''
Toccata and Fugue in D minor''.
Beyond arcade games, significant improvements to
personal computer game music were made possible with the introduction of
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
FM
synth boards, which
Yamaha released for Japanese computers such as the
NEC PC-8801
The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan.
The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japane ...
and
PC-9801 in the early 1980s, and by the mid-1980s, the PC-8801 and
FM-7 had built-in FM sound. The sound FM synth boards produced are described as "warm and pleasant sound". Musicians such as Yuzo Koshiro and
Takeshi Abo
is a Japanese video game composer. He joined the industry through developer StarCraft, Inc. in the early 1990s, mainly working on conversions of western video games. In the mid-1990s, he joined KID, and later 5pb. in December 2006 after KID decl ...
utilized to produce music that is still highly regarded within the
chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles.
The t ...
community.
[ Reprinted from ] The widespread adoption of
FM synthesis by consoles would later be one of the major advances of the
16-bit era
In the history of video games, the fourth generation of game consoles, more commonly referred to as the 16-bit era, began on October 30, 1987, with the Japanese release of NEC Home Electronics' PC Engine (known as the TurboGrafx-16 in North Amer ...
, by which time 16-bit arcade machines were using multiple FM synthesis chips.
One of the earliest
home computers to make use of digital signal processing in the form of sampling was the
Commodore Amiga in 1985. The computer's sound chip featured four independent 8-bit
digital-to-analog converters. Developers could use this platform to take
samples of a music performance, sometimes just a single note long, and play it back through the computer's
sound chip from memory. This differed from ''Rally-X'' in that its hardware DAC was used to play back simple
waveform samples, and a sampled sound allowed for a complexity and authenticity of a real instrument that an FM simulation could not offer. For its role in being one of the first and affordable, the Amiga would remain a staple tool of early
sequenced music composing, especially in
Europe.
The Amiga offered these features before most other competing home computer platforms though the
Macintosh which had been introduced a year earlier had similar capabilities. The Amiga's main rival, the
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...
, sourced the
Yamaha YM2149 Programmable Sound Generator (PSG). Compared to the in-house designed Amiga sound engine, the PSG could only handle 1 channel of sampled sound, and needed the computer's CPU to process the data for it. This made it impractical for game development use until 1989 with the release of the
Atari STE which used DMA techniques to play back PCM samples at up to 50 kHz. The ST, however, remained relevant as it was equipped with a
MIDI controller and external ports. It became the choice of by many professional musicians as a MIDI programming device.
IBM PC clones
IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...
in 1985 would not see any significant development in multimedia abilities for a few more years, and sampling would not become popular in other video game systems for several years. Though sampling had the potential to produce much more realistic sounds, each sample required much more data in
memory. This was at a time when all memory, solid-state (
ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, electroni ...
), magnetic (
floppy disk
A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...
) or otherwise was still very costly per
kilobyte. Sequenced soundchip-generated music, on the other hand, was generated with a few lines of comparatively simple code and took up far less precious memory.
Arcade systems pushed game music forward in 1984 with the introduction of FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesis, providing more organic sounds than previous PSGs. The first such game,
Marble Madness used the Yamaha YM2151 FM synthesis chip.
As home consoles moved into the
fourth generation, or 16-bit era, the hybrid approach (sampled and tone) to music composing continued to be used. The
Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
offered advanced graphics over the
NES and improved sound synthesis features (also using a Yamaha chip, the
YM2612), but largely held the same approach to sound design. Ten channels in total for tone generation with one for PCM samples were available in
stereo
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
instead of the NES's five channels in mono, one for PCM. As before, it was often used for percussion samples. The Genesis did not support 16-bit sampled sounds. Despite the additional tone channels, writing music still posed a challenge to traditional composers and it forced much more imaginative use of the
FM synthesizer to create an enjoyable listening experience. The composer Yuzo Koshiro utilized the Genesis hardware effectively to produce "
progressive
Progressive may refer to:
Politics
* Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform
** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context
* Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...
, catchy,
techno-style compositions far more advanced than what players were used to" for games such as ''
The Revenge of Shinobi'' (1989) and the ''
Streets of Rage
''Streets of Rage'' is a series of side-scrolling beat 'em up video games, centering on the efforts of several ex-police vigilantes trying to rid a fictional, large American city from a crime syndicate that has corrupted its local government. ...
'' series, setting a "new high watermark for what music in games could sound like." The soundtrack for ''
Streets of Rage 2
''Streets of Rage 2'', known as ''Bare Knuckle II'' In Japan, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game published by Sega in 1992 for the Mega Drive/Genesis. A sequel to '' Streets of Rage'' (1991), the characters Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding ...
'' (1992) in particular is considered "revolutionary" and "ahead of its time" for
its blend of
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
with "
dirty"
electro basslines and "
trancey electronic textures" that "would feel as comfortable in a
nightclub as a video game." Another important FM synth composer was the late
Ryu Umemoto
was a Japanese video game music composer, born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. He is known for composing soundtracks to various visual novel and shoot 'em up video games since the 1990s, for several companies including FamilySoft, C's Ware, ...
, who composed music for many
visual novels and
shoot 'em ups during the 1990s.
As the cost of magnetic memory declined in the form of diskettes, the evolution of video game music on the Amiga, and some years later game music development in general, shifted to sampling in some form. It took some years before Amiga game designers learned to wholly use digitized sound effects in music (an early exception case was the title music of
text adventure game ''
The Pawn'', 1986). By this time, computer and game music had already begun to form its own identity, and thus many music makers intentionally tried to produce music that sounded like that heard on the
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
and NES, which resulted in the
chiptune
Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles.
The t ...
genre.
The release of a freely-distributed Amiga program named
Soundtracker by Karsten Obarski in 1987 started the era of
MOD
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
-format which made it easy for anyone to produce music based on digitized samples.
Module files were made with programs called "
trackers" after Obarski's Soundtracker. This MOD/tracker tradition continued with PC computers in the 1990s. Examples of
Amiga games using digitized instrument samples include
David Whittaker's soundtrack for ''
Shadow of the Beast'',
Chris Hülsbeck's soundtrack for ''
Turrican 2'' and Matt Furniss's tunes for ''
Laser Squad''.
Richard Joseph also composed some theme songs featuring vocals and lyrics for games by
Sensible Software most famous being ''
Cannon Fodder'' (1993) with a song "War Has Never Been So Much Fun" and ''
Sensible World of Soccer'' (1994) with a song "Goal Scoring Superstar Hero". These songs used long vocal samples.
A similar approach to sound and music developments had become common in the arcades by this time and had been used in many
arcade system board
An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...
s since the mid-1980s. This was further popularized in the early 1990s by games like ''
Street Fighter II
is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...
'' (1991) on the
CPS-1
The is an arcade system board developed by Capcom that ran game software stored on removable daughterboards. More than two dozen arcade titles were released for CPS-1, before Capcom shifted game development over to its successor, the CP System ...
, which used voice samples extensively along with sampled sound effects and percussion.
Neo Geo's MVS system also carried powerful sound development which often included
surround sound.

The evolution also carried into home console video games, such as the release of the
Super Famicom in 1990, and its US/EU version Super NES in 1991. It sported a specialized custom
Sony chip for both the sound generation and for special hardware DSP. It was capable of eight channels of sampled sounds at up to 16-bit resolution, had a wide selection of DSP effects, including a type of
ADSR usually seen in high-end synthesizers of the time, and full stereo sound. This allowed experimentation with applied acoustics in video games, such as musical acoustics (early games like ''
Super Castlevania IV
''Super Castlevania IV'' is a 1991 platform game developed and published by Konami. Released originally for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it has been re-released multiple times, including for the Super NES Classic Edition.
''Super Cast ...
'', ''
F-Zero'', ''
Final Fantasy IV'', ''
Gradius III'', and later games like ''
Chrono Trigger''), directional (''
Star Fox'') and spatial acoustics (
Dolby Pro Logic
Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround.
Dolby Stereo (also known as ''Dolby MP'' or ''Dolby SVA'') was developed by Dolby in 1976 fo ...
was used in some games, like ''King Arthur's World'' and ''Jurassic Park''), as well as environmental and
architectural acoustics (''
A Link to the Past
''The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past'' is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series and was released in 1991 in Japan and ...
'', ''
Secret of Evermore''). Many games also made heavy use of the high-quality sample playback capabilities (''
Super Star Wars
''Super Star Wars'' is an Action game, action video game developed by LucasArts and Sculptured Software for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is based on the 1977 film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope''. It was rel ...
'', ''
Tales of Phantasia''). The only real limitation to this powerful setup was the still-costly
solid state memory. Other consoles of the generation could boast similar abilities yet did not have the same circulation levels as the Super NES. The
Neo-Geo home system was capable of the same powerful sample processing as its arcade counterpart but was several times the cost of a Super NES. The
Sega CD (the Mega CD outside North America) hardware upgrade to the Mega Drive (Genesis in the US) offered multiple PCM channels, but they were often passed over instead to use its capabilities with the CD-ROM itself.
The popularity of the Super NES and its software remained limited to regions where
NTSC television was the broadcast standard. Partly because of the difference in frame rates of
PAL broadcast equipment, many titles released were never redesigned to play appropriately and ran much slower than had been intended, or were never released. This showed a divergence in popular video game music between PAL and NTSC countries that still shows to this day. This divergence would be lessened as the fifth generation of home consoles launched globally, and as Commodore began to take a back seat to general-purpose PCs and Macs for developing and gaming.
Though the Mega CD/Sega CD, and to a greater extent the
PC Engine in Japan, would give gamers a preview of the direction video game music would take in
streaming
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
music, the use of both sampled and sequenced music continues in game consoles even today. The huge data storage benefit of optical media would be coupled with progressively more powerful audio generation hardware and higher quality samples in the
Fifth Generation. In 1994, the CD-ROM equipped
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
supported 24 channels of 16-bit samples of up to 44.1 kHz sample rate, samples equal to CD audio in quality. It also sported a few hardware DSP effects like
reverb. Many
Square titles continued to use sequenced music, such as ''
Final Fantasy VII
is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertai ...
'', ''
Legend of Mana
''Legend of Mana'' is a 1999 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation. It is the fourth game in the '' Mana'' series, following 1995's ''Trials of Mana''. Set in a high fantasy universe, t ...
'', and ''
Final Fantasy Tactics''. The
Sega Saturn
The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...
also with a CD drive supported 32 channels of PCM at the same resolution as the original PlayStation. In 1996, the
Nintendo 64, still using a solid-state cartridge, actually supported an integrated and scalable sound system that was potentially capable of 100 channels of PCM, and an improved sample rate of 48 kHz. Games for the N64, because of the cost of the solid-state memory, typically had samples of lesser quality than the other two, however, and music tended to be simpler in construct.
The more dominant approach for games based on CDs, however, was shifting toward
streaming
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
audio.
MIDI on the PC

In the same timeframe of the late 1980s to mid-1990s, the IBM PC clones using the x86 architecture became more ubiquitous, yet had a very different path in sound design than other PCs and consoles. Early PC gaming was limited to the
PC speaker, and some proprietary standards such as the
IBM PCjr
The IBM PCjr (pronounced "PC junior") was a home computer produced and marketed by IBM from March 1984 to May 1985, intended as a lower-cost variant of the IBM PC with hardware capabilities better suited for video games, in order to compete mor ...
3-voice chip. While sampled sound could be achieved on the PC speaker using pulse width modulation, doing so required a significant proportion of the available processor power, rendering its use in games rare.
With the increase of x86 PCs in the market, there was a vacuum in sound performance in home computing that expansion cards attempted to fill. The first two recognizable standards were the
Roland MT-32, followed by the
AdLib sound card. Roland's solution was driven by
MIDI sequencing using advanced LA synthesizers. This made it the first choice for game developers to produce upon, but its higher cost as an end-user solution made it prohibitive. The AdLib used a low-cost FM synthesis chip from Yamaha, and many boards could operate compatibly using the MIDI standard.
The
AdLib card was usurped in 1989 by
Creative
Creative may refer to:
*Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created
* "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson
* Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class
* Creative destruction, an economic term
* Creative dir ...
's
Sound Blaster, which used the same Yamaha FM chip in the AdLib, for compatibility, but also added 8-bit 22.05 kHz (later 44.1 kHz) digital audio recording and playback of a single stereo channel. As an affordable end-user product, the Sound Blaster constituted the core sound technology of the early 1990s; a combination of a simple FM engine that supported MIDI, and a DAC engine of one or more streams. Only a minority of developers ever used Amiga-style tracker formats in commercial PC games, (''
Unreal'') typically preferring to use the MT-32 or AdLib/SB-compatible devices. As general purpose PCs using x86 became more ubiquitous than the other PC platforms, developers drew their focus towards that platform.
The last major development before streaming music came in 1992:
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has fact ...
released the first
General MIDI card, the
sample-based
Sample-based synthesis is a form of audio synthesis that can be contrasted to either subtractive synthesis or additive synthesis. The principal difference with sample-based synthesis is that the seed waveforms are sampled sounds or instruments ...
SCC-1, an add-in card version of the
SC-55
The Roland SC-55 ( Sound Canvas) is a GS MIDI sound module released in 1991 by Roland. The SC-55 was the first sound module to incorporate the new General MIDI standard. It was the first in the Roland Sound Canvas series.
The SC-55 used both ...
desktop MIDI module. The comparative quality of the samples spurred similar offerings from Soundblaster, but costs for both products were still high. Both companies offered 'daughterboards' with sample-based synthesizers that could be later added to a less expensive soundcard (which only had a DAC and a MIDI controller) to give it the features of a fully integrated card.
Unlike the standards of Amiga or Atari, a PC using x86 even then could be using a broad mix of hardware. Developers increasingly used MIDI sequences: instead of writing soundtrack data for each type of soundcard, they generally wrote a fully featured data set for the Roland application that would be compatible with lesser featured equipment so long as it had a MIDI controller to run the sequence. However, different products used different sounds attached to their MIDI controllers. Some tied into the Yamaha FM chip to simulate instruments, some daughterboards of samples had very different sound qualities; meaning that no single sequence performance would be accurate to every other General MIDI device.
All of these considerations in the products reflected the high cost of memory storage which rapidly declined with the optical CD format.
Pre-recorded and streaming music
Taking entirely pre-recorded music had many advantages over sequencing for sound quality. Music could be produced freely with any kind and number of instruments, allowing developers to simply record one track to be played back during the game. Quality was only limited by the effort put into mastering the track itself. Memory space costs that was previously a concern was somewhat addressed with optical media becoming the dominant media for software games.
CD quality audio allowed for music and voice that had the potential to be truly indistinguishable from any other source or genre of music.
In fourth generation home video games and PCs this was limited to playing a
Mixed Mode CD A mixed mode CD is a Compact Disc which contains both data and audio in one session. Typically the first track is a data track while the rest are audio tracks. The most common use for mixed mode CDs is to add CD-quality audio to video games on a ...
audio track from a
CD while the game was in play (such as ''
Sonic CD''). The earliest examples of Mixed Mode CD audio in video games include the
TurboGrafx-CD RPG RPG may refer to:
Military
* Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon
**''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
franchises ''
Tengai Makyō
, also known as ''Far East of Eden'', is a series of role-playing video games released in Japan and Taiwan. The series was conceived by Oji Hiroi and developed by Red Company, debuting on the PC Engine CD-ROM² System in 1989.
The series becam ...
'', composed by
Ryuichi Sakamoto from 1989,
and the
''Ys'' series, composed by Yuzo Koshiro and and arranged by in 1989. The ''Ys'' soundtracks, particularly ''
Ys I & II
is an action role-playing game compilation released by Hudson Soft and NEC for the PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1989 and TurboGrafx-CD in 1990. It consists of enhanced remakes of the first two ''Ys'' games by Nihon Falcom for the PC-8801 home compute ...
'' (1989), are still regarded as some of the most influential video game music ever composed.
However, there were several disadvantages of regular CD-audio. Optical drive technology was still limited in spindle speed, so playing an audio track from the game CD meant that the system could not access data again until it stopped the track from playing.
Looping, the most common form of game music, was also a problem as when the laser reached the end of a track, it had to move itself back to the beginning to start reading again causing an audible gap in playback.
To address these drawbacks, some PC game developers designed their own
container formats in house, for each application in some cases, to stream compressed audio. This would cut back on memory used for music on the CD, allowed for much lower latency and seek time when finding and starting to play music, and also allowed for much smoother looping due to being able to
buffer the data. A minor drawback was that use of compressed audio meant it had to be decompressed which put load on the CPU of a system. As computing power increased, this load became minimal, and in some cases, dedicated chips in a computer (such as a sound card) would actually handle all the decompressing.
Fifth generation home console systems also developed specialised streaming formats and containers for compressed audio playback. Games would take full advantage of this ability, sometimes with highly praised results (''
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night''). Games ported from arcade machines, which continued to use FM synthesis, often saw superior pre-recorded music streams on their home console counterparts (''
Street Fighter Alpha 2''). Even though the game systems were capable of "CD quality" sound, these compressed audio tracks were not true "CD quality." Many of them had lower sampling rates, but not so significant that most consumers would notice. Using a compressed stream allowed game designers to play back streamed music and still be able to access other data on the disc without interruption of the music, at the cost of CPU power used to render the audio stream. Manipulating the stream any further would require a far more significant level of CPU power available in the 5th generation.
Some games, such as the
''Wipeout'' series, continued to use full Mixed Mode CD audio for their soundtracks.
This overall freedom offered to music composers gave video game music the equal footing with other popular music it had lacked. A musician could now, with no need to learn about programming or the game architecture itself, independently produce the music to their satisfaction. This flexibility would be exercised as popular mainstream musicians would be using their talents for video games specifically. An early example is ''Way of the Warrior'' on the
3DO, with music by
White Zombie. A more well-known example is
Trent Reznor's score for ''Quake''.
An alternate approach, as with the ''TMNT'' arcade, was to take pre-existing music not written exclusively for the game and use it in the game. The game ''
Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter'' and subsequent ''Star Wars'' games took music composed by
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
for the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' films of the 1970s and 1980s and used it for the game soundtracks.
Both using new music streams made specifically for the game, and using previously released/recorded music streams are common approaches for developing sound tracks to this day. It is common for X-games sports-based video games to come with some popular artists recent releases (''SSX'', ''Tony Hawk'', ''Initial D''), as well as any game with heavy cultural demographic theme that has tie-in to music (''
Need For Speed: Underground'', ''
Gran Turismo'', and ''
Grand Theft Auto''). Sometimes a hybrid of the two are used, such as in ''
Dance Dance Revolution''.
Sequencing samples continue to be used in modern gaming where fully recorded audio is not viable. Until the mid-2000s, many larger games on home consoles used sequenced audio to save space. Additionally, most games on the
Game Boy Advance and
Nintendo DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
used sequenced music due to storage limitations. Sometimes a cross between sequencing samples, and streaming music is used. Games such as ''
Republic: The Revolution'' (music composed by
James Hannigan
James Hannigan (born 23 July 1971) is a British composer with credits in the ''Harry Potter'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''Command and Conquer'' (including Red Alert 3's well-known Soviet March), ''Dead Space'', ''Warhammer'', ''Cloudy With ...
) and ''
Command & Conquer: Generals'' (music composed by Bill Brown) have utilised sophisticated systems governing the flow of incidental music by stringing together short phrases based on the action on screen and the player's most recent choices (see
dynamic music). Other games dynamically mixed the sound on the game based on cues of the game environment.
As processing power increased dramatically in the 6th generation of home consoles, it became possible to apply special effects in realtime to streamed audio. In ''
SSX
''SSX'' is a series of snowboarding and skiing video games published by EA Sports. It is an arcade-style racing game with larger-than-life courses, characters, and tricks. While the general focus of the series is racing and performing tricks on ...
'', a recent video game series, if a snowboarder takes to the air after jumping from a ramp, the music softens or muffles a bit, and the ambient noise of wind and air blowing becomes louder to emphasize being airborne. When the snowboarder lands, the music resumes regular playback until its next "cue". The
LucasArts company pioneered this interactive music technique with their
iMUSE
iMUSE (''Interactive Music Streaming Engine'') is an interactive music system used in a number of LucasArts video games. The idea behind iMUSE is to synchronize music with the visual action in a video game so that the audio continuously matches t ...
system, used in their early adventure games and the ''Star Wars'' flight simulators ''
Star Wars: X-Wing'' and ''
Star Wars: TIE Fighter''. Action games such as these will change dynamically to match the amount of danger. Stealth-based games will sometimes rely on such music, either by handling streams differently, or dynamically changing the composition of a sequenced soundtrack.
Personalized soundtracks
Being able to play one's own music during a game in the past usually meant turning down the game audio and using an alternative music player. Some early exceptions were possible on PC/Windows gaming in which it was possible to independently adjust game audio while playing music with a separate program running in the background. Some PC games, such as ''
Quake'', play music from the CD while retrieving game data exclusively from the hard disk, thereby allowing the game CD to be swapped for any music CD. The first PC game to introduce in-game support for custom soundtracks was Lionhead Studio's Black and White. The 2001 game included an in-game interface for Winamp that enabled the players to play audio tracks from their own playlists. In addition, this would sometimes trigger various reactions from the player's Creature, like dancing or laughing.
Some PlayStation games supported this by swapping the game CD with a music CD, although when the game needed data, players had to swap the CDs again. One of the earliest games, ''
Ridge Racer'', was loaded entirely into RAM, letting the player insert a music CD to provide a soundtrack throughout the entirety of the gameplay. In ''
Vib Ribbon
is a Rhythm game, rhythm video game developed by NanaOn-Sha and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation in Japan on December 9, 1999, and in Europe on September 1, 2000. Although the o ...
'', this became a gameplay feature, with the game generating levels based entirely on the music on whatever CD the player inserted.
Microsoft's
Xbox allowed music to be copied from a CD onto its internal hard drive, to be used as a "Custom Soundtrack", if enabled by the game developer. The feature carried over into the
Xbox 360 where it became supported by the system software and could be enabled at any point. The
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
is also able to play custom soundtracks if it is enabled by the game (''Excite Truck'', ''Endless Ocean''). The
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
can, in games like ''
Need for Speed Carbon: Own the City'' and ''
FIFA 08'', play music from a
Memory Stick.
The
PlayStation 3 has the ability to utilize custom soundtracks in games using music saved on the hard drive, however few game developers used this function. ''MLB 08: The Show'', released in 2008, has a My MLB sound track feature that allows the user to play music tracks of their choice saved on the hard drive of their PS3, rather than the preprogrammed tracks incorporated into the game by the developer. An update to ''
Wipeout HD'', released on the PlayStation Network, was made to also incorporate this feature.
In the video game ''
Audiosurf
''Audiosurf'' is a puzzle rhythm game created by Invisible Handlebar, a company founded by Dylan Fitterer. Its track-style stages visually mimic the music the player chooses, while the player races across several lanes collecting colored blocks th ...
'', custom soundtracks are the main aspect of the game. Users have to pick a music file to be analyzed. The game will generate a race track based on tempo, pitch and complexity of the sound. The user will then race on this track, synchronized with the music.
Games in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series have supported custom soundtracks, using them as a separate in-game radio station. The feature was primarily exclusive to
PC versions, and was adopted to a limited degree on console platforms. On a PC, inserting custom music into the stations is done by placing music files into a designated folder. For the Xbox version, a CD must be installed into the console's hard drive. For the iPhone version of ''
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars'', players create an iTunes playlist which is then played by the game.
''
Forza Horizon 3
''Forza Horizon 3'' is a 2016 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One and Windows. It is the ninth instalment in the ''Forza'' series and the third instalment in its spinoff ''Forza ...
'' used a similar technology of custom soundtracks with the help of
Groove Music.
Developments in the 2000s
The Xbox 360 supports
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
software, sampling and playback rate of 16-bit @ 48 kHz (internal; with 24-bit hardware D/A converters), hardware codec streaming, and potential of 256 audio simultaneous channels. While powerful and flexible, none of these features represent any major change in how game music is made from the last generation of console systems. PCs continue to rely on third-party devices for in-game sound reproduction, and SoundBlaster is largely the only major player in the entertainment audio expansion card business.
The PlayStation 3 handles multiple types of surround sound technology, including
Dolby TrueHD and
DTS-HD Master Audio, with up to
7.1 channels, and with sampling rates of up to 192 kHz.
Nintendo's
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
console shares many audio components with the
Nintendo GameCube from the previous generation, including
Dolby Pro Logic II. These features are extensions of technology already currently in use.
The game developer of today has many choices on how to develop music. More likely, changes in video game music creation will have very little to do with technology and more to do with other factors of game development as a business whole. Video game music has diversified much to the point where scores for games can be presented with a full orchestra or simple 8/16-bit chiptunes. This degree of freedom has made the creative possibilities of video game music limitless to developers. As sales of video game music diverged from the game itself in the West (compared to Japan where game music CDs had been selling for years), business elements also wield a new level of influence. Music from outside the game developer's immediate employment, such as music composers and pop artists, have been contracted to produce game music just as they would for a theatrical movie. Many other factors have growing influence, such as editing for content, politics on some level of the development, and executive input.
Impact and importance
Many video game players believe that music can enhance game play and outlets such as ''
Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'' have stated that it is designed to "simultaneously stimulate your senses and blend into the background of your brain, because that's the point of the soundtrack. It has to engage you, the player, in a task without distracting from it. In fact, the best music would actually direct the listener to the task."
Sound effects within game play are also believed to impact game performance. Ambient sounds such as those present in ''
Resident Evil'' are seen to enhance the tension felt by players, something that GameSpot stated was also used in cinema.
Speeding up the sound effects and music in games such as ''
Space Invaders'' is also stated to have a strong impact on the gaming experience when done properly.
Properly done, this can help create realism within virtuality and alert players to important scenes and information.
Music and sound effects can become memorable, enabling people to instantly recognize music or sound effects as well as hum or mimic the tune or sound effect.
Polygon has stated that despite the popularity of video game music, people may not always know the name of the composer.
Licensing
Using licensed music for video games became more popular as the medium used to distribute games grew large enough to accommodate songs alongside a game's other assets. Additionally, with the large growth of the video game market in the 2000s, song licensing became a lucrative route for music rights holders to gain part of that revenue. Games like those in the ''
Grand Theft Auto'' series became showcases of licensed music.
Music licensing is generally complicated due to various copyright laws, typically with at least two separate copyrights to consider: the songwriters' and the performers' contributions. Most large video game developers and publishers who use licensed music typically have staff proficient in licensing to clear songs for use in video games with the various music labels and other creative persons.
Games with licensed music can have problems well past release if perpetual rights for the music are not secured for the game. Early games before the onset of
digital distribution would have perpetual right for the music since there was no practical way to update the game following release at retail to deal with curtailed rights. However, digital distribution platforms, like
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
,
Xbox Live
The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...
, and
PlayStation Network
PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
keep games up-to-date automatically. Music licenses for games sold through digital distribution may include limited terms, requiring the publisher to re-negotiate rights with the music's owner, or otherwise the music must be removed from the game through these updates.
Notably, ''
Alan Wake'' by
Remedy Entertainment, first released in 2010, had to be pulled from digital sale in 2017 due to expiring music rights. However, with Microsoft's help, Remedy was able to re-secure these rights a year later and returned the game for sale. ''
Alpha Protocol'' by
Obsidian Entertainment was also pulled from sale in 2019 due to expiring music license rights, though there are no known plans if publisher
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
will seek to renew these.
Licensed music in video games has also affected video game streaming, such as
Let's Play videos. Due to the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), most popular video sharing and streaming sites implement automatic forms of detecting copyrighted music from most music labels, and flag or block user videos that employ that music, such as YouTube's
ContentID system. These actions apply equally to videos of people playing video games, flagging the video from the licensed music in the game. To avoid this, games using licensed music may offer a "stream-safe" music option, either disabling the music playback or replacing the licensed music with copyright-free or royalty-free music.
Game music as a genre
Musicians can garner audiences between genres due to the presence of
video game culture across lifestyles, from
country folk music to
electronic music. Including various forms of
nerd music
Nerd music (or geek music) is the overall category of music collecting the musical genres that grew from nerd culture; different styles that share the same common ground.
Origins
The earliest example was filk music, from the 1950s onwards, pl ...
;
bitpop,
nerdcore,
geek rock, and
filk music. Some musicians in these fields are known within their mainstream counterpart genres.
Anamanaguchi is a rock and pop group known for their blending of chiptune, they created the soundtrack of
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game to fit in with the
indie music scenes of ''
Scott Pilgrim'' graphic novels.
Another example is in
contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
, with known
CEDM musician
Owl City creating the theme song "
When Can I See You Again?
"When Can I See You Again?" is a song by American electronica project Owl City from the 2012 Walt Disney Animation Studios film ''Wreck-It Ralph''. It was written and produced by Adam Young, with additional writing from Matt Thiessen and Brian ...
" for the movie ''
Wreck-It Ralph'' ,
or
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
and
Western musician Mario J. Lucero performs
experimental electronic music under the
stage name
A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...
LE37.
Indie folk
Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation.
The genre has its ...
musician
José González became internationally recognized with his Western inspired song "Far Away" during the
music of ''
Red Dead Redemption''.
Alternative rock musician
Jonathan Coulton is best known for
Portal's "
Still Alive
"Still Alive" is a song featured in the closing credits of the 2007 video game ''Portal''. It was composed and arranged by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain, who voiced the ''Portal'' antagonist and subject of the song, GLaDOS. ...
" and
the theme song to ''
Code Monkeys''.
Music group
Trocadero was known for producing the soundtrack to ''
Red vs. Blue
''Red vs. Blue'', often abbreviated as ''RvB'', is an American web series created by Burnie Burns with his production company Rooster Teeth. The show is based on the setting of the military science fiction first-person shooter series and media fr ...
'',
and their former bandmate Jeff Williams produced the soundtrack to ''
RWBY''.
These types of musicians are often grouped together with video game music composers like
Kero Kero Bonito or indie
Ooblets
''Ooblets'' (previously known as ''Moblets'') is a life simulation game, life simulation video game developed and published by Glumberland. It was released via early access on July 15, 2020, for Windows and Xbox One. Its Windows release is exclu ...
composer Slime Girls (Pedro Silva), or
Hideki Naganuma
(born May 16, 1972) is a Japanese composer and DJ who primarily does work for video games. Naganuma is best known for his score for the game ''Jet Set Radio'' and its sequel ''Jet Set Radio Future''.
Early life
Naganuma started his musical ca ...
,
Toby Fox, and
Crush 40, as they are often game or related composers themselves.
Musical composers can produce film scores and video game scores, for example U.S. composer
Michael Giacchino who composed the soundtrack for the game
Medal of Honor and later composed for the television series ''
Lost'' and wrote scores for movies such as ''
The Incredibles'' (2004) and ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' (2009).
Many games for the
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
and other early game consoles feature a similar style of musical composition that is sometimes described as the "video game genre." Some aspects of this style continue to influence certain music today, though gamers do not associate many modern game soundtracks with the older style. The genre's compositional elements largely developed due to technological restraints, while also being influenced by
electronic music bands, particularly
Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), who were popular during the late 1970s to 1980s.
YMO sampled sounds from several
classic arcade games in their early albums, most notably ''
Space Invaders'' in the 1978 hit song "
Computer Game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
".
In turn, the band would have a major influence on much of the video game music produced during the
8-bit
In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...
and
16-bit eras.
Features of the video game music genre include:
* Pieces designed to repeat indefinitely, rather than having an arranged ending or fading out (they however create an atmosphere, especially in important scenes of the game. They introduce a philosophical dimension in the game, as they may introduce questioning in the mind of players, in relationship with their next action).
* Pieces lacking lyrics and playing over gameplay sounds.
* Limited polyphony. Only three notes can be played simultaneously on the Nintendo Entertainment System. A great deal of effort was put into composition to create the illusion of more notes playing at once.
Although the tones featured in NES music can be thought of as emulating a traditional four-piece rock band (triangle wave used as a bass, two pulse waves analogous to two guitars, and a white noise channel used for drums), composers would often go out of their way to compose complex and rapid sequences of notes, in part due to the restrictions mentioned above.
This is similar to music composition during the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
period, when composers, particularly when creating solo pieces, focused on musical embellishments to compensate for instruments such as the
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
that do not allow for expressive dynamics. For the same reason, many early compositions also feature a distinct jazz influence. These would overlap with later influences from
heavy metal and
J-pop music, resulting in an equally distinct compositional style in the 16-bit era.
In an unrelated but parallel course in the European and North American developer scene, similar limitations were driving the musical style of
home computer games
A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...
.
Module file format music, particularly
MOD
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
, used similar techniques but was more heavily influenced by the electronic music scene as it developed, and resulted in another very distinct subgenre.
Demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* plural for Demo (computer programming)
...
and the developing
demoscene played a big part in the early years, and still influence video game music today.
As technological limitations gradually lifted, composers were given more freedom and, with the advent of CD-ROM, pre-recorded soundtracks came to dominate, resulting in a noticeable shift in composition and voicing style. Popular early CD-ROM titles were released with high-resolution graphics and recorded music. Since the audio was not reliant on a sound-card's synthesis, CD-ROM technology ensured that composers and sound designers could know what audio would sound like on most consumer configurations and could also record sound effects, live instruments, vocals, and in-game dialogue.
Outside video games
Appreciation for video game music is strong among fans and composers, particularly for music from the
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
and
fourth generations of home video game consoles, and sometimes newer generations. This appreciation has been shown outside the context of a video game, in the form of CDs, sheet music, public performances, art installations, and popular music.
CDs and sheet music
Selling video game soundtracks separately as CDs has become increasingly popular in the industry.
Interpretive albums, remixes, and live performance albums were also common variations to original soundtracks (OSTs).
Koichi Sugiyama was an early figure in this practice, and following the release of the first ''
Dragon Quest
previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...
'' game in 1986, a live performance CD of his compositions was released and performed by the
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...
(then later by other groups including the
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and
NHK Symphony).
By 1987,
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
were selling 50,000 to 100,000 game soundtrack CDs annually. Yuzo Koshiro, another early figure, released a live performance of the ''
Actraiser'' soundtrack. Both Koshiro's and fellow
Falcom composer Mieko Ishikawa's contributions to ''
Ys'' music would have such long-lasting impact that there were more albums released of Ys music than of almost all other game-type music.
Like
anime soundtracks, these soundtracks and even sheet music books were usually marketed exclusively in Japan. Therefore, interested non-Japanese gamers had to import the soundtracks and/or sheet music books through on or offline firms specifically dedicated to video game soundtrack imports. This has been somewhat less of an issue more recently as domestic publishers of anime and video games have been producing western equivalent versions of the OSTs for sale in UK and US, though these are often for more popular titles. Video game music companies like Materia Collective have pursued and produced published book editions of video game music.
The sale of video game soundtracks has created a growing symbiotic relationship between the music industry and the games industry.
Commonly, games are being used to promote and sell licensed music, rather than just original score, and recording artists are being used to market and sell games.
Music marketing agency Electric Artists conducted a study that revealed a number of interesting statistics surrounding ‘‘hard-core gamers’’ and their music habits: 40% of hard-core gamers bought the CD after hearing a song they liked in a video game, 73% of gamers said soundtracks within games help sell more CDs, and 40% of respondents said a game introduced them to a new band or song, then 27% of them went out and bought what they heard.
Some game soundtracks have become so popular they have reached platinum status, such as NBA Live 2003.
Public performance
Many original composers have publicly exhibited their music through symphonic concert performances. Once again, Koichi Sugiyama was the first to execute this practice in 1987 with his "Family Classic Concert" and has continued these concert performances almost annually. In 1991, he also formed a series called Orchestral Game Music Concerts, notable for featuring music of other talented game composers such as
Yoko Kanno (''Nobunaga's Ambition'', ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', ''Uncharted Waters''),
Nobuo Uematsu (''Final Fantasy''), Keiichi Suzuki (''Mother/Earthbound''), and Kentaro Haneda (''Wizardry'').
Following suit, compositions by Nobuo Uematsu on ''
Final Fantasy IV'' were arranged into ''
Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon'', a live performance by string musicians with strong Celtic influence recorded in Ireland. The Love Theme from the same game has been used as an instructional piece of music in Japanese schools.
With the success of
Square's 1990s games ''
Final Fantasy VI,
Final Fantasy VII
is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertai ...
'' and ''
Final Fantasy VIII
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation console. Released in 1999, it is the eighth main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Set on an unnamed fantasy world with science fiction elements, t ...
'' by Nobuo Uematsu, and ''
Chrono Trigger,
Xenogears'' and ''
Chrono Cross'' by
Yasunori Mitsuda, public performance began to gain international popularity. On August 20, 2003, music written for video games such as ''Final Fantasy'' and ''The Legend of Zelda'' was performed for the first time outside Japan, by the
Czech National Symphony Orchestra in a
Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany at the Gewandhaus concert hall.
This event was held as the official opening ceremony of Europe's biggest trading fair for video games, the GC Games Convention and repeated in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
On November 17, 2003, Square Enix launched the ''Final Fantasy Radio'' on
America Online
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...
. The radio station has initially featured complete tracks from ''
Final Fantasy XI'' and ''
Final Fantasy XI: Rise of Zilart'' and samplings from ''Final Fantasy VII'' through ''
Final Fantasy X
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth main entry in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Originally released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, the game was re-released as ''Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster'' for PlayStat ...
''.
The first officially sanctioned
Final Fantasy concert in the United States was performed by the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...
in
Los Angeles,
California, on May 10, 2004. All seats at the concert were sold out in a single day. "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" followed and was performed at various cities across the United States. Nobuo Uematsu has also performed a variety of Final Fantasy compositions live with his rock band,
The Black Mages.
On July 6, 2005, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra also held a
Video Games Live concert at the
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018.
The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
, an event founded by video game music composers
Tommy Tallarico and
Jack Wall.
This concert featured a variety of video game music, ranging from ''Pong'' to ''
Halo 2''. It also incorporated real-time video feeds that were in sync with the music, as well as laser and light special effects. Media outside the video game industry, such as
NPR and ''
The New York Times'', have covered their subsequent world tours.
On August 20, 2006, the Malmö Symphonic Orchestra with host
Orvar Säfström
Orvar Säfström (born 18 February 1974) is a Swedish musician and writer, and former film reviewer and video game journalist. Together with Emma Gray, he hosted '' Filmkrönikan'' on the Swedish television network SVT from 2003 to 2006. Before ...
performed the outdoor game music concert Joystick in
Malmö,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
before an audience of 17,000, holding the current record of attendance for a game music concert. Säfström has since continued to produce game music concerts around Europe under the names Joystick and Score.
From April 20–27, 2007,
Eminence Symphony Orchestra, an orchestra dedicated to video game and anime music, performed the first part of their annual tour, the "A Night in Fantasia" concert series in Australia. Whilst Eminence had performed video game music as part of their concerts since their inception, the 2007 concert marked the first time ever that the entire setlist was pieces from video games. Up to seven of the world's most famous game composers were also in attendance as special guests. Music performed included Red Alert 3 Theme: Soviet March by James Hannigan and
Shadow of the Colossus by
Kow Otani.
Since 2010, video games-themed "
pops
Pops may refer to:
Name or nickname
* Pops, an informal term of address for a father or elder
* Pops (nickname), a list of people
* Pops (Muppet), a Muppets character
* Pops (Johnny Bravo), a character from the Cartoon Network animated televisio ...
" concerts have become a major proportion of the revenue in many United States
concert halls, as traditional classical music performances decline in popularity.
On March 16, 2012 the
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
's "The Art of Video Games" exhibit opened featuring a chipmusic soundtrack at the entrance by artists
8 Bit Weapon
8 Bit Weapon is an American chiptune music band formed in Ventura County, California, by Seth and Michelle Sternberger. It was originally created by Seth Sternberger around 1998. Its instruments consists primarily of old 8-bit and 16-bit computers ...
&
ComputeHer. 8 Bit Weapon also created a track called "The art of Video Games Anthem" for the exhibit as well.
The first video game music-focused concert for the
BBC Proms was held on August 1, 2022.
In popular music
In the
popular music industry, video game music and sounds have appeared in songs by various popular artists.
Arcade game sounds had a particularly strong influence on the
hip hop,
pop music (particularly
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
)
and
genres during the
golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s. Arcade game sounds had an influence on synthpop pioneers
Yellow Magic Orchestra,