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I beat Ninja Gaiden 2 yesterday and started MGS4 and it made me realize how much in game music has changed and how much I miss what it used to be.
Back in the days of NES, Snes, Genesis the system sound capabilities were limited and designers could not have 64 channels of audio, therefore they would write really simple catchy tunes for platfomers, really cool and rocking tunes for shooters and fighting games that pumped you up, and beautiful melodies for RPG games.Games like Battletoads, Contra 3, Sonic, Streets of Rage 2, Killer Instinct, Chrono Trigger, Metroid, Megaman (best music in gaming)...all had soundtracks that were custom made for these games and that would immediately be recognized when heard and associated with the right game. Like the street fighter 2 intro tune...come on...that’s a classic in any way.
Something happened however when Saturn, PS1 and N64 came out. People were given much better sound systems to work with and the music itself started to change. There were still awesome soundtracks that fit perfectly with the game...Castlevania:SOTN, Ridge Racer, Duke Nukem...but more and more games started getting generic music that would just keep playing over and over off the CD, even when you pause the game. Even old games like Sonic (sonic adventure and on) and contra started to be generic guitar rock without any good hooks or melodies.
Some games started licensing soundtracks (Wipeout, EA sports titles) which did not work for me either. I like chemical brothers, but I want to see some music custom written for the game not just "let’s see how many big name artists we can get for the game".
Then the final blow to in game music came with the PS2, Xbox, Gamecube era... Games started moving towards the Hollywood experience. I guess this has to do with more of a cinematic style of gaming, which puts music in the background to expand the movie experience. But very rarely has this kind of game (with a few exceptions) presented music in the forefront of the game as an experience that rivals the game itself.
Reason why I'm posting this is because Ninja Gaiden 2 is the old school type of soundtracks. Amazing music on most levels, boss fights music that pumps you up...etc. Music hits you in the face as hard as the enemies do... It reminded me how good music used to be when sound engineers didn't have all the possibilities in the world and had to be creative to make a game stand out.
Now with MGS4, they have included a possibility to have your own ipod in game that goes quiet when someone speaks and plays tunes you may want. In theory this sounds great but it really isn't because the original vision of the game and the creator may be compromised by letting the user play Cannibal Corpse during a romantic scene. (As cool and hilarious this may be)
In any case, I'm sure a lot of people like to play their own music in games so some of you may disagree... but those people also may not understand that in 1994 I bought streets of rage 3 on the genesis for game play as much as for the in-game music.
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