Top 10 Videogame Songs That Should Be In Music Games

Here’s something that’s never made any sense to me about the two modern music game franchises, Rock Band & Guitar Hero: They’re videogames about music, but they don’t have any videogame music!

OK, OK, that’s not 100% true – you can get Portal’s “Still Alive” for Rock Band and a Halo remix for Guitar Hero. Two songs, out of goodness knows how many total in both franchises – for pete’s sake, that’s one less than the number of Spongebob Squarepants songs available. Whoop dee freaking doo.

I just don’t get it. There is an entire universe of game music out there that I can guarantee would produce large amounts of face-melting if imported into RB/GH, and nobody’s doing it.  It’s very possible that it could be a licensing thing, but that fact notwithstanding, by the end of this year, there will have been 13 games released with the Guitar Hero label – and they couldn’t find the time to make us game music fans one lousy expansion or track pack?

Well, with this article, I’m hoping to make their jobs a little easier – here are my top 10 original tracks or remixes, in no particular order, that would be perfect for any modern music game. Hit the jump for the full list (as well as embedded videos for each song that I could find one for).

#1, 2, & 3: Castlevania II, Mega Man 2, & Contra by The Minibosses

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUYP7xefAi0 500×500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyOeiH8d43w&feature=related 500×500]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fs_nRlSS7Q 500×500]

Any discussion of videogame remixes has to start with the Minibosses, possibly the most well-known game music cover band. Sticking to NES remixes only, their sound stays true to the original tunes and rocks really hard while doing it.

Gameplay Highlights: Even though all the music from Castlevania II is awesome, most folks are going to get their biggest charge out of the Minibosses’ take on it at 2:37 when the unforgettable “Bloody Tears” riff kicks in. For Mega Man II, it’s at 6:47 when the Dr. Wily boss battle music starts; and as lame as this sounds, for Contra, it’s the opening riff, right at the beginning (since the first level music was all that most Contra players heard anyway, before discovering the Konami Code).

#4: “Uniracers – Unikwak” by Ailsean, Prozax, and JAXX

Yeah, I know I’ve written about this remix before, but it’s just that freaking good. If you spend a little bit of time in the world of online fan remixes, you’ll notice that the handle “Ailsean” (real name: Sean Stone) keeps popping up over and over when you’re listening to one that has a fantastic guitar track, and this wonderful Uniracers mix is no exception. 

Gameplay Highlights: Even though one of the best things about this song is the interplay between the two main guitar lines, my favorite moment is at 1:59 when they finally play in unison. Makes me think that everything is all right in the land of sentient unicycles from space.

 

#5: “Maybe I’m A Lion” by The Black Mages (Final Fantasy VIII)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh5806nSayk 500×500]

It’s an interesting question: What would you do if you were a videogame composer and thousands of people around the world were remixing and re-imagining your work?

Well, if you’re Nobuo Uematsu, the longtime composer for the Final Fantasy series, you start up a cover band on your own and remix your own music yourself – thus, The Black Mages were born. Uematsu chose the heavy metal route with his cover band, and has so far released three CDs – the FFVIII remix I chose for my list is off their second album, The Skies Above.

Gameplay Highlights: The whole thing. Seriously.

This song has got the hardest-driving rhythm line I think I’ve ever heard and some seriously kickass guitar work, complemented perfectly by Uematsu’s frenetic keyboard sound. This came on my iPod once while I was at the gym, and I got so pumped up I nearly ran through the front of the treadmill.

#6: “Got To Move (Millenium Girl)” by Masaya Matsuura (Um Jammer Lammy)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJEjRY547mY&feature=related 500×500]

 

Even though I (along with most of the North American market) was initially introduced to the concept of the modern rhythm game by Parappa the Rapper, I liked the spinoff/follow-up Um Jammer Lammy a heck of a lot more.

(Fun Fact: The precursor to all electronic music/rhythm games, the 80’s classic Simon, was invented by Ralph H. Baer, the “Father of Video Games.”)

As the shy, bumbling Lammy – at least, that’s how she was before she got a guitar in her hand – replaced the plucky Parappa as the game’s hero, the gameplay was vastly improved by replacing Parappa’s awkward rapping with Lammy’s kickass guitar riffs.

(Fun Fact #2: One of the things I was about to comment on, regarding why I liked UJL so much better, is the fact that I liked Lammy’s character and story much more than Parappa’s, not to mention that Lammy had an incredibly sexy voice. While researching this article, I just had my mind blown when I discovered that the VA for Lammy was Sara Ramirez, who plays the character of Callie on “Grey’s Anatomy,” which my wife watched for a few seasons until Katharine Heigl started screwing a dead guy.)

So anyway, I was talking about music here, wasn’t I? Even though I love the entire UJL soundtrack – with the exception of Teriyaki Yoko’s song, which can burn in hell (appropriately, that’s where that stage took place in the Japanese version of the game) – I had to pick the final track, when Lammy’s band MilkCan finally gets together to play their all-important gig, as my choice for this list.

Gameplay Highlights: While the licks in the second verse are awesome, I love the quick back and forth between lead guitar and vocals in the chorus (at 3:28 in the video). And speaking of vocals, this song would be a good addition to RB/GH simply because the lead vocalist is female – my wife always complains there aren’t enough of those.

#7: “The Legendary Theme” by Sadayoshi Okamoto (Gitaroo Man)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHLGg-GS5Fc 500×500]

 

Gitaroo Man is one of the stranger rhythm games that has come down the pike, but the unique gameplay mechanic of following a beat with the face buttons as well as a “pitch direction” with the analog stick was a lot of fun. The music in Gitaroo Man was excellent as well, but the biggest reason as to why “The Legendary Theme” sticks in the mind of every gamer who played it is the story around it.

In the game, you play as U-1, a lonely loser who is transformed from zero to hero by discovering that he is the Gitaroo Man, an intergalactic superhero who is charged with saving the universe from the evil Gravillians. He must do this by traveling around the universe and challenging the Gravillians who have stolen the rest of the Gitaroos, the legendary instruments that allow whoever controls them to control the power of music.

Along the way, he meets a young girl named Kirah – and even though he’s spent his entire life pining for Pico, a girl in his class who is always with his rival, he spends the evening with Kirah, which culminates in the two of them sitting under a tree by a fire, while U-1 plays a beautifully sweet acoustic melody and Kirah snuggles up next to him.

As the game goes on, it turns out that Kirah is a Gravillian warrior who has a Gitaroo herself, and U-1 eventually finds himself in battle against her. After a few minutes of fighting, U-1 gives up the battle, refusing to go on, and in a last-ditch effort to convince Kirah that the prince of the Gravillians is the true enemy, stands back up and begins playing an electric version of the same theme he played for her under the tree. Kirah, of course, changes her mind and joins in, and in the end, she gives up her Gitaroo so that U-1 can finish the fight.

The story and the song combined pluck at your heartstrings like nobody’s business, and if you’re a sucker for this sort of thing – and believe me, I am – it’s one of the most moving scenes ever seen in a videogame. Doesn’t hurt that the song is gorgeous, either.

Gameplay Highlights: While the second guitar track that Kirah plays is pretty cool, if the developers choose to include the battle at the beginning of the track, then the key moment has got to be when U-1 first starts playing the Legendary Theme, at 2:30. It gives me chills just listening to it – I can’t imagine what it would be like playing it on something other than a Dual Shock.

#8: “Little Mac’s Confession” by Game Over (Punch-Out!!)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–a-REXkX4Y 500×500]

 

“Little Mac’s Confession” was, if I remember correctly, the first real videogame remix I heard when I got into remixes 6 or 7 years ago, and I really couldn’t have found a better introduction to the entire genre.

Recorded by Swedish NES metal cover band Game Over, the song takes the realistic view of what would happen if a 4’8″, 107 lb. teenager actually tried professional boxing (let’s just say it does not end well).

Incorporating the main themes of Punch-Out!!’s music into a heavy guitar sound and intense vocals, the song merrily rocks along until its haunting finale, when a dejected Mac says to Doc (his trainer), “I’m sorry for failing you…I disillusioned you…My best…Just wasn’t good enough.”

Wow.

Gameplay Highlights: This song would probably best be played by a four-player band who are all in the same room, simply so that at the end of the verses, everybody can shout “PUNCH OUT!” in unison. Dorky fun at its best.

#9: “Title” by Chuck E. Myers (Jet Moto)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlyxVk4tXgs 500×500]

 

Did you guys honestly think we’d get through a video game music list of mine that didn’t include Jet Moto? You’d think I’d be sick to death of the music in this game by now – especially the title music, which plays every time you start up the game, finish a race, or play the Joyride track, which means I’ve heard it about TEN THOUSAND TIMES in the last month – but I’m not.

I still love the entire soundtrack as much as I did way back in the day – and since it was stored on the Jet Moto disc as Redbook audio, that meant I was able to throw the disc in my PC’s CD drive recently and rip the entire thing right to my iPod. Turns out it’s awesome background music for when I go running.

Gameplay Highlights: I chose the title track for two reasons: a) because it’s the iconic song that everybody who played Jet Moto will instantly recognize, and b) because the main guitar riff will make expert players’ strumming hands fall off. Mwa ha ha.

#10: “Warrior King” by Jake Kaufman (Shadowgate)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_DNgi88Sh4 500×500]

 

Known around the internets as “virt,” Jake Kaufman is another one of the virtuoso remixers that I have taken great pleasure in experiencing their work, and this Shadowgate remix is one of the absolute best.

While this is not my favorite song by virt – that honor either goes to his 21-minute magnum opus remix of the entire Super Metroid soundtrack, his ultra-disco remix of the Super Metroid ending theme, or his chiptune remix of “Thriller” – it’s definitely the best suited to music game importation, with lead guitar, bass, and drum lines that would be a lot of fun to play.

Gameplay Highlights: With all the hard-driving power rock and metal that has made up a lot of this list, I actually really like the moment at 2:23 when the song slows down. I’m not one of those people who thinks that the only way to have fun playing a modern music game is by playing a song that floods the screen with notes – sometimes, playing fewer notes with more impact leads to a much better gameplay experience.

Honorable Mention: “M4 Part II” by Faunts (Mass Effect)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gISlB1IdUjI 500×500]

 

On just about every system that I’ve owned, there’s been one game that has captured my attention like no other. Oftentimes, this lead to an obsession of sorts, and ended up with me owning a lot of merchandise that went in storage once my wife moved in (and we finally decorated my house something other than wall scrolls).

For the 360, Mass Effect has been the obsession of choice. Ever since Star Wars took its turn for the worse with the new trilogy, I’d been dying for a new sci-fi universe to sink my teeth into, and Mass Effect came along with the right universe at the right time. I’ve played through the game at least 7 times and have two more playthroughs planned, so that I can finish setting up my Paragon Adept (who is pretty handy with an assault rifle) for the sequel next year.

Since I’ve beaten it seven times, that means I’ve sat through seven showings of the end credits – the ones that have Canadian band Faunts’ haunting ending theme playing in the background. And while the song did not deserve to be among the top 10 considered for music game importation, I could not let a videogame music column pass by without mentioning how much I liked Mass Effect’s soundtrack.