With technology advancing, so did video games. Video games really began progressing in the late 70s, and by the early 90s nearly everyone had owned a video game console or had at least played on one. As games were progressing, companies started exploring a larger range of sound to put into their creations. Eventually, players could hear game music in menus, titles, and end-credit scenes. Soundtracks really enhanced the experience of playing a video game and rising through the levels one by one. Video game music is now a vital part of all games made today, and over the past 40 years, there have been some truly beautiful soundtracks.
The first video game that had continuous music playing in the background was ‘Space Invaders. The game was released in 1978 and took the world by storm. This game is up there with the likes of Tetris and Super Mario in the list of most iconic and influential games of all time. This soundtrack is composed by Tomohiro Nishikado and is simply built of four thumping notes played over and over. However, the song sped up as enemies got closer to the player’s bases. The fast pace created urgency and excitement within the game which enhanced the experience way more than it would if there was no music.
The company Nintendo had a huge part to play in the evolution of video game music. Many of the classic games that my parents remember playing were made on the Nintendo and often played on the game boy. in 1985 Koji Kondo joined the Nintendo team. He became the company’s first employee, to focus solely on music composition. Soon he would create some of the most recognizable and beloved video game soundtracks. His most memorable is the Super Mario theme- an upbeat tune with bouncy sounds and repeating patterns, and the legend of Zelda- a two-line melody composed in a single day.
The 8-bit sound that was in every single video game at the time slowly filtered off around the 90s. Companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox were looking to advance the music used in their video games and put more money into them. By the mid-2000s, a video game composition had won its first award. Christopher Tin created the theme of Civilisation IV which came out in 2005. This Gospel choir version of the Lord’s prayer became the first piece of game music to win an award. The song won a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement and accompanying vocal(s) in 2019.
By 2015, Nintendo was literally a thing of the past. Big corporations such as Sony and Microsoft had really worked on perfecting their consoles and brought out the Playstation 4 and the Xbox one. Nintendo was very much forgotten about until the release of the Nintendo switch in 2019. With these consoles being able to handle bigger games with more intricate and interesting soundtracks, video game music had only gotten better. Video game music had come a long way from a 4 beat pattern played over and over. Full symphonies were being written and used in video games to give players the best experience they could wish for. Some very memorable soundtracks in recent years are Mortal Kombat, Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Cyberpunk, and Final Fantasy remake. Video game music continues to progress and take the world by storm.