Famous musical pieces in games?

[godzillajoe]

OK this is an offshoot from the Fantastic Voyage thread where we argued whether the Vanguard power-up music was Vultan's Theme by Queen from the Flash Gordon movie. What other games, arcade port or otherwise use famous musical pieces in them?

 

The ones I can think of immediately are Donkey Kong Jr. and Gyruss which use Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Journey Escape which uses their Don't Stop Believin'

 

Any others?

[Jacob Rose]

OK this is an offshoot from the Fantastic Voyage thread where we argued whether the Vanguard power-up music was Vultan's Theme by Queen from the Flash Gordon movie. What other games, arcade port or otherwise use famous musical pieces in them?

 

The ones I can think of immediately are Donkey Kong Jr. and Gyruss which use Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Journey Escape which uses their Don't Stop Believin'

 

Any others?

 

I'll be the first oddball entry: Sneak 'n' Peek has a folk tune: "Billy Boy" ("Can she bake a cherry pie") http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/billyboy.htm

[phaxda]

Kaboom! and the 1812 overture, of course!

[Shawn]

Spider Maze has an old childrens tune for the BG music. I forget the name of the song though. I think alot of 2600 games had name sake tunes did they not?

[supercat]

OK this is an offshoot from the Fantastic Voyage thread where we argued whether the Vanguard power-up music was Vultan's Theme by Queen from the Flash Gordon movie. What other games, arcade port or otherwise use famous musical pieces in them?

 

Mountain King featured Hall of the Mountain King. Smurf's RIGC features Simple Gifts.

[D.Yancey]

Starmaster and Thrust use the famous "death music", but I don't know the name of it. Starmaster also has a famous tune when you power on the game, again, don't know the name.

 

Double Dragon had a few different songs that are very addicting, but I don't know if they existed before the game itself.

 

Decathlon plays the tune for the olympics.

 

A few games play Tapps when you expire, I think.

 

Asteroids-- kind of like music from Jaws movie.

 

Frogger music sounds familiar?

 

Is the theme in Pressure Cooker famous?

 

Buggs Bunny had Waner Bros-- Looney Toons tune.

 

I'm not very good at "Name That Tune".

Edited June 8, 2006 by D.Yancey

[Inky]

Tapper plays 'Oh Suzanna'

[G.Whiz]

ET: Theme from ET

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Theme from Raiders

Parker Bros. Empire Strikes Back: Star Wars Theme

Space Invaders: Jaws theme "dun Da, dun Da, dun Da..." progressively faster (or maybe just coincidence...? Yeah, right!)

[jboypacman]

how about "burning ring of fire"by johnny cash which is in the 2600 homebrew gunfight it also plays "dont for sake me oh my darling"when you die.

[godzillajoe]

Is the music from Wizard Of Wor anything? It sure SOUNDS familiar though that might just be my imagination since I've heard it a million times since the game first appeared in the arcades

[crunchysuperman]

Pengo plays "Popcorn" IIRC

[+FujiSkunk]

Grover's Music Maker was to include quite a few famous tunes, as evidenced in this thread.

 

Road Runner includes a snippet of the Looney Toons theme ("Merry-Go-Round Broke Down").

 

Spy Hunter features the Peter Gunn theme, although not very well.

 

California Games plays "Louie Louie" during the title screen.

 

Battlezone's intro music borrows from the "1812 Overture."

 

In Crystal Castles, both themes for grabbing the last gem come from the march in "The Nutcracker Suite."

 

Eggomania plays the "Blue Danube Waltz" during the bonus rounds.

 

Kangaroo also features a clip from "Oh Susanna."

 

Starmaster also has a famous tune when you power on the game, again, don't know the name.

"Also Sprach Zarathustra" also known as the theme from 2001.

 

Double Dragon had a few different songs that are very addicting, but I don't know if they existed before the game itself.

Those came from the arcade game.

 

Decathlon plays the tune for the olympics.

"Bugler's Dream." Summer Games and Winter Games also play it if I'm remembering correctly.

 

Frogger music sounds familiar?

All of Frogger's music came from the arcade game. Some of the arcade game's riffs borrow heavily from traditional tunes, and one is copied straight from "Yankee Doodle Dandy." However, I don't think that riff made it into either 2600 port.

 

Space Invaders: Jaws theme "dun Da, dun Da, dun Da..." progressively faster (or maybe just coincidence...? Yeah, right!)

Do you mean Asteroids? The arcade version of Space Invaders had a similar riff, but in the 2600 port, it just sounds like marching.

Edited June 8, 2006 by skunkworx

[Lauren Tyler]

Starmaster and Thrust use the famous "death music", but I don't know the name of it. Starmaster also has a famous tune when you power on the game, again, don't know the name.

 

The 'death music' you're thinking of is actually Chopin's Funeral March.

 

Also, there are a few famous pieces in these games:

 

Battlezone: When you first begin, it plays the 1812 Overture.

Moonsweeper: It plays Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, when all your lives are lost.

Sneak 'n' Peek: The opening theme is 'Home Sweet Home'

Snoopy and the Red Baron: Every time a new level starts, it plays a snippet of Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries.'

Thwocker: While I've heard there are several musical pieces in this prototype, I've only heard Frere Jacques so far.

 

I know some of the adult titles used short snippets of famous songs:

 

Beat 'Em And Eat 'Em/Philly Flasher: Shave And A Haircut

Bachelor Party: Auld Lang Syne

Bachelorette Party: Happy Birthday

Edited June 8, 2006 by LarcenTyler

[G.Whiz]

Space Invaders: Jaws theme "dun Da, dun Da, dun Da..." progressively faster (or maybe just coincidence...? Yeah, right!)

Do you mean Asteroids? The arcade version of Space Invaders had a similar riff, but in the 2600 port, it just sounds like marching.

 

Hmm, I must be getting confused (not hard to do). Yeah, you are right about Asteroids though -- for the arcade version at least -- it's been a while since I've played the 2600 version. Is it in this one?

 

~G

[Jacob Rose]

Space Invaders: Jaws theme "dun Da, dun Da, dun Da..." progressively faster (or maybe just coincidence...? Yeah, right!)

 

Oh no! My heart has been making this noise for...gee, as long as I can remember. I guess I owe the Jaws guy bigtime...

[Nicholas McColm]

If we could put homebrews in the mix, chetari playes karaboniki during game play and the blue danube at the high score screen. of course, since chetari is a tetris clone, the former is a cary over from pretty mutch every official version since the Apple IIgs and game boy versions.

[x=usr(1536)]

OK this is an offshoot from the Fantastic Voyage thread where we argued whether the Vanguard power-up music was Vultan's Theme by Queen from the Flash Gordon movie. What other games, arcade port or otherwise use famous musical pieces in them?

 

The ones I can think of immediately are Donkey Kong Jr. and Gyruss which use Bach's Toccata and Fugue and Journey Escape which uses their Don't Stop Believin'

 

Any others?

 

Re: Gyruss: it does use Bach's Toccata and Fugue, but the music in the game is based on the 1979 version by Sky:

 

 

Classical pieces are generally pretty common, though, since their usage is typically unencumbered by licensing and royalty considerations.

 

That said, early arcade games made a lot of use of more modern music without really giving a toss about the ramifications of doing so. Vanguard also used the theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture for its opening music, and if we're talking other SNK games, Fantasy used Lipps, Inc,'s Funkytown. Nichibutsu's Radical Radial used Kiss' I Was Made For Loving You, and there are other examples I'm just not recalling right at the moment.

[+frankodragon]

I'm thinking Ghost Manor uses classical music but I'm not sure what the intro music is from. Maybe it uses In The Hall of the Mountain King?

 

Edit: Found out it was from a lesson piano book (which I had when I took piano lessons) called "Ghosts at Midnight."

[Mountain King]

Mountain King also uses Anita's Dance as well as In the hall of the mountain king. Both from Edvard Griegs Pier Grant Suite.

 

Tutankamn plays Motzart's Rondo Alla Turka.

 

And just to add a shameless plug to The Gizzle Wap and the Terrible Blizzard of Firn. I used Pat a Pan, an old Christmas Song in the title screen an when the bird sings in the game.

 

Nothing like Royalty free music in video games.

Edited January 15, 2018 by Mountain King

[Jinks]

They all are famous because they are 2600 gamez man..

[toiletunes]

Bobby is Going Home

there's no place like home

[+Cafeman]

Rescue on Fractalus uses Flight of the Valkeries.

[RJ]

Battlezone's short opening tune is from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

[jhd]

The Taiwanese pirate game "Challenge" plays a terribly off-key version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (aka John Brown's Body).

 

I am definitely curious about how that piece of music was chosen, as it would have little cultural significance (or recognition?) outside of the United States.

[Deteacher]

Is the music from Wizard Of Wor anything? It sure SOUNDS familiar though that might just be my imagination since I've heard it a million times since the game first appeared in the arcades

 

It's played much slower, but it's the "Dragnet" theme: