Video Game Music as a Genre

Video game music has always been known as childish or minor. Most people, gamers or otherwise, have noted music in video games as secondary to gameplay and story. However, ask anyone what their favorite video game music they can remember and the answer would be either Super Mario Bros Overworld Theme or the Title Theme to Megaman 2. Despite people only paying attention to the games, they remember the music that goes with those gaming moments. But the question is if video game itself can be a sustainable music genre.

Video games, in themselves, are very significant to today’s culture. Video games provide entertainment to young and old, from family friendly games to role-playing games. Music from video games however is a different story. While it is praised by some gamers, it is not something that most people would listen to unless it had the respective game accompanying it. The only known ways for people to even hear video game music is by finding the music rips from YouTube or the soundtrack of the game. Since people can easily get rips from the internet, it is easily assessable for free, and which is why game companies usually don’t bother with releasing soundtracks, unless it is a big title game.

Video game music are not only limited to just the music from video games, but also remixes of said music and even other music inspired by video game music. To give an example, Video Games Live is a concert series which have a live orchestra performing segments of video game music. This series is created and produced by Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, both of whom are veteran video game composers. Another example is a chiptune punk band called Anamanaguchi. They use unusual synthesizers for their music; the synthesizers being a hacked Game Boy and a NES. Even though their music is usually punk, it is obvious that their music is inspired from retro video games. Ironically enough, they recently did music for a downloadable game, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Research questions that would be asked about the subject would include how is video game music a surviving genre, how has it developed in its own culture, and how it has connected to other types of music and culture.