How much do you appreciate ingame music, and name your favorites please!

[Fingolfin]

A8: Jet Set Willy 2007, Mr. Do!, Ghostbusters, Beef Drop and Rainbow Walker

 

All time favorite in-game music 3DO Return Fire

One of the better shooter/shmups put to music: classical music kicks in during intense gameplay and really helps drive the pace with extra adrenaline.

Incredibly destructive battle fields & enemies with little enemy soldiers you can run over!

 

edit/addition

You wind up destroying enemies and buildings to the pace and driving rhythms of the classical music.

 

Different and I don't really care much for fighting games but 3DO Way of the Warrior with White Zombie soundtrack!

The game was a MK clone and parody but the music matching the fighting and overall mood and tone of the game: really good fit! Angry, dark, weird, scary and more than a little goofy.

 

I have stated elsewhere in a few different posts and replies that good, appropriate music that is rhythmically matched to the pace of the game can really add to the experience.

Music can ruin a game and sometimes it makes sense to be able to turn off music and keep on just sfx.

 

Occasionally I'll put on Jet Set Willy 2007 in emulation just to hear the music!

Thank you very much Rob Hubbard and xxl!

Edited May 19, 2018 by Fingolfin

[emkay]

All time favorite in game music 3DO Return Fire

Well, I guess it's about the Atari 8 bit line.

If someone asks about my alltime favorite, time crystallized the Dune Soundtrack by Stéphane Picq.

The whole Album is still unchanged in my alltime playlist

[+slx]

I am not a very musical person so its not that important to me. The music in Mountain King was cleverly used as a hint and as Gyruss was mentioned I remember that to be a nice tune, too.

[Flojomojo]

Did you ever play Secret of Monkey Island II .... that has a very brilliant music system too. There is a main theme on the roads in the village, but as soon as you enter one of the houses/places next to one of the roads, the music slowly changes, but the main theme still keeps 'alive'... it is pretty amazing how they did that too.

Oh yes, it's one of my favorites. The interactive music engine was unique to LucasArts and appears in all their DOS games from the early 1990s. It's called iMUSE and it was really innovative for its time. I think the sound, music, graphics, and gameplay of all the SCUMM-based games from that era hold up well today. Especially the recent "remastered editions," of course.

 

X-Wing and TIE Fighter used iMUSE to great effect during space battles, but when they "updated" the game for Windows 95, they didn't bring the music engine along. Instead, the updates (and subsequent sequels) streamed clips of the old movie soundtrack from the CD. It had more "fidelity" but a lot less soul.

 

So here's a "sound font" to play the original games with better MIDI instruments (works in other DOS games, too!)

https://www.spacegamejunkie.com/miscellaneous/music-dos-versions-x-wing-tie-fighter-virtualmidisynth/

and further down in the comments is a link to an alternate sound file you can put into the game folder to have MIDI-style music even in the later remade versions.

[xxl]

a very good example of the use dynamically changing music depending on the action:

 

- Capture the Flag

[kenjennings]

I would much rather have good sound effects. If music is not intrinsic to the gameplay it does not belong. At the most there can be a short musical theme for finishing levels, completing achievements, etc.

 

Mountain King is the only thing I can think of that handles music correctly. The music changes volume as the player gets closer to the goal. Not that this is the only game that uses music as an integral part of game play -- there may be more, but this is the only one I can think of.

 

A continuously running techno rock score is an annoyance. If the option is there to turn it off, it gets turned off.

 

[Yautja]

1. ElektraGlide

2. Space Harrier

3. Panther

4. Amaurote

5. Waves - a nostalgic song from Alternate Reality ►

 

- Y -

[Marius]

There are quite some people who find any song annoying eventually. That does NOT surprise me, although I do not experience that.

 

There is this Antic game: Elevator Repair man, with the peter gunn theme. It is so simple... and I still love it.

 

Haha.

[80s_Atari_Guy]

For me, personally.

 

1. Ballblazer - Awesome music that never I never get tired of. I think it sounds much better than the C64 sid version.

2. Warhawk - Again, the music (In my opinion) is better than the C64 version - which is also awesome. The Atari version just sounds cleaner, and has great bass sounds.

3. Jet Set Willy - This is my favourite Hubbard music on the Atari, just superb.

4. 180 Darts - I don't know why, but this tune just fits the game perfectly, and without it the game would feel a bit flat.

5. ElektraGlide - Wouldn't be the same game without the great music. Do agree with the other comment about the music stopping when you hit something.

6. Panther - Better on the C64, but the Atari version is also great.

Edited May 27, 2018 by 80s_Atari_Guy

[Fingolfin]

Peter Gunn theme in Spy Hunter too...that track/riff is probably in a few other games as well...always makes me think of the Blues Brothers and Elwood parking the Bluesmobile in the CTA transformer shed by the tracks.