Pixel Radio: 5 Great Soundtracks

On my radio show, Pixel Radio, I play a lot of music from video games. I wanted to take the chance to talk about some of my personal favourites. As with anything, this is highly subjective. So if you disagree with any of my choices here, comment what you would have included below.

Pokémon Black 2/White 2

Pokémon Black 2/White 2 have some of the best music in the franchise. These sequels have all the best songs from the first two Black & White games with a bunch new ones added in too. Juniuchi Matsuda, Go Ichinose and Hitomi Sato brought their A-game for these games with music that hasn’t been matched until the more recent games. Even then, it’s more consistently great than most of the music we’ve seen in since.

Here are some notable tracks:

• Driftveil Town
  • Fun and bouncy.
  • Used with the “Dancing Toothless” meme.
• Musical – Meloettaaa
  • Upbeat music used in competitions (effectively a Pokémon pageant).
• Battle! (Wild Pokémon)
  • Upbeat; changes when you get to low health to integrate the beeping into the music, creating a more frantic tune.
  • My personal favourite wild battle theme in the franchise.

Dark Souls

Composed by the Motoi Sakuraba, the man behind the Mario Golf soundtracks, Dark Souls is a showcase of his talent and variety. While the first game isn’t my favourite of the trilogy, its soundtrack far surpasses any other From Software game to date. The mixture of gothic horror, grandiose symphonies and comforting Celtic makes this a soundtrack I’ll come back to time after time.

Here are some standout tracks:

• Firelink Shrine
  • Calming and restful, it’s used for the first truly safe place you come across in the game.
• Great Grey Wolf Sif
  • A mixture of desperation and playfulness.
  • A great boss theme for one of the more intense fights in the game.
• Gwyn, Lord of Cinders
  • A beautifully calming piano number that’s still somehow intense due to the fact that it never rests.
  • My favourite final boss theme in gaming.

Silent Hill 3

In my opinion, this is Akira Yamaoka’s best work. A lot of people are probably going to argue with me about this one because Silent Hill 2 is remembered more fondly; it was a lot of people’s intro to the Silent Hill franchise, after all. But I’ve always preferred Silent Hill 3 with it’s exploration of feminine anxiety through the lens of an interactive horror experience. While some of the soundtrack isn’t pleasant to listen to, the Silent Chill playlists exist for a reason. Beyond the normal atmospheric instrumentals, there are also some rock tracks featuring Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (going by Melissa Williamson here) and Joe Romersa.

Here are some notable tracks:

• You’re Not Here
  • Great rock sound to it. You may recognize it from NR92.
  • Opening theme to the game.
• End of Small Sanctuary
  • This track has a calming vibe to it and acts as the theme for the first section of the game after the prologue.
• Letter ~ From Those Lost Days
  • Played during a fairly important cutscene leading to the second half of the game.
  • Also played in the first Silent Hill movie.

Deadly Premonition

I’m not going to call Deadly Premonition a great game, far from it. It does, however, have some great music. It takes a lot of inspiration from the series Twin Peaks, so the music makes you feel a mixture of comfort and uneasiness that’s often at war with itself. Hiromi Mizutani and Riyou Kinugasa did a great job bringing this odd but satisfying soundtrack together.

Here are some notable tracks:

• The Woods & The Goddess
  • The game’s main theme.
  • Plays during both the main menu and York’s (the main character) dreams.
  • Has an ethereal sort of tone to it.
• Life is Beautiful
  • If you’ve heard any song from this game, it’s probably this one.
  • Plays during a number of less serious cutscenes.
• Underground
  • A chill, Twin Peaks inspired, noir theme.
  • Plays when York is recapping information for the player.

Corpse-Party (1996)

A lot of people, especially in the anime community, know about the later Corpse Party games because of the anime adaptation. But the original game for the PC-98 is my favourite of the franchise for many reasons. There’s not as much bloat with added characters. It was impressive for the time, giving the player the ability to continue if one or more of the characters die, and it had some really cool MIDI tracks that don’t get nearly as much recognition as they should.

Here are some notable tracks:

• Final Boss Fight Theme
  • This horror game has a single fight, and it’s the final boss. It comes out of nowhere but the fight theme hypes you up for it.
• Mid-Game Theme 2
  • This starts playing in the later half of the game after a few major events happen and successfully gives a feeling of hope during the lowest moment.
• Ending Theme
  • This calms the game down after the final fight during the closing credits.

And there are the five soundtracks I wanted to showcase in this blog. If you don’t agree with my picks here, make sure to tell me why in the comments. You can also leave a comment with your personal favourite soundtracks and tell me why you love them.

_{Images created by Gray Golding}

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