The site once used to have two mirrors, but only the original site remains I'm afraid. :-)

Game Music Home Page

Welcome to the first home page on the net dedicated to game music, opened in summer 1994, hence the antique design. <g>
(So you don't like my self-drawn treble clef, eh?)

----- Message of the Day -----
Wow, another "update" in only half a year! Surely the site isn't that actual... But I want to keep it, to preserve a little bit of World Wide Web history. ^_^ The site is 7,5 years old now, and I've read the average lifetime of new web sites is about 100 days. This time I just wanted to remove the mirror links, since they were down for long now.

You can also look at the older messages.

Note:
Please report broken links to remote FTP or WWW sites to me. I don't have the time to check them every day. Thanks for your help!

Links to other documents:

Game Music Midifiles
Links to other Game Music sites and files
A Game Music CD shopping guide
The Video Game Music CD FAQ by Humbert Humbert

About Game Music:

Can you imagine, that the music of computer games can grow so popular, that even CDs are being published? No? Then go to Japan and enter a random CD shop ^_^. One song has even made it into the charts (The music of a game called "Dragon Quest"). Most of this music is from arcade games. A CD normally contains the original music and some so-called "Arrange Versions". These are beefed up versions of the music breaking the restriction the audio chips of the game platines impose. The style can vary greatly: there can be classic, jazz, or rock versions of the same melody for example. Here are some companies, which are most famous for their music:

Konami:
Konami's music is an archetype of Japanese style game music. The music makers from Konami are called "Konami Kukeiha Club" and made some of the most well-loved game soundtracks. They're most famous for the music of the GRADIUS shoot'em up series. There are at least 5 CDs containing only Gradius music. Plus some scattered arrange versions on some compilation CDs. But there's much more stuff there. Check out Castlevania, A-Jax (Typhoon), Kitten Kaboodle, Battlantis, Contra (Probotector), ... but nothing, really nothing, beats the soundtracks of two old titles exclusively for the MSX system: Gradius 2 and Penguin Adventure

namco:
Namco is probably the oldest computer game company. You surely remember Pac-man! But even nowadays, namco is still going strong. The composers of namco often include jazz-style arrange versions in their CDs. This builds a contrast to Konami's synthesized scores. Often, quite weird tunes are found in namco's games, too. Generally it can be said that if you like Game Music, you like namco's music! Try Ordyne, Galaga, Phelios, Burning Force or Dragon Spirit for successful living.

Sega:
The music for Sega games is mainly produced by the "S.S.T Band". They're known for their rock like themes and produce very good arrangement versions. Look out for special arrangement version compilations. Check out following games:
Afterburner (!), Turbo Out Run, G-Loc, Hang on, Sword of Vermilion.

SquareSoft:
(exerpt from Video Game Music CD FAQ)
Squaresoft, the company most recognized in the U.S. for its music, has a consistent style largely because of it's two-man sound team. Although the specific sound designer employed is variable, Squaresoft's composer is a constant. Nobuo Uematsu has composed music for Squaresoft since the 80's, and continues to do so today with no sign of slowing down. His style is a cross between modern classical and pop, concentrating chiefly on melody and harmony. Some games by Squaresoft include the Final Fantasy series, the Secret of Mana series (Seiken Densetsu in Japan), the Romancing Saga series, Front Mission, and Chrono Trigger.

irem:
This company believes in the roots of game music. Their melodies resemble the older tunes, when the first arcade games with music were made. You perhaps remember irem's Moon Patrol. Now, with more advanced technology, the arrangements are more sophisticated. But the spirit of old times is still there. Mr. Heli is a good example. And I hope you know irem's all-time shoot-em-up classic R-type.

Zuntata/Taito:
(by Carl Chavez)
Zuntata is the sound-and-music part of the video game maker Taito. They are best known for their work on the Darius and Bubble Bobble/Puzzle Bobble series, but they have also created excellent soundtracks for games like Raystorm and Night Striker. Their music for action games like Darius and Night Striker is usually a future-synth style, while their music for cute games like Bubble Bobble or Liquid Kids can be described as "lounge-marching-band". They've released several dozen video game soundtracks in Japan under the Pony Canyon and Zuntata labels, and have their own web site. A fan page also exists.

Konami: Konami's music is an archetype of Japanese style game music. The music makers from Konami are called "Konami Kukeiha Club" and made some of the most well-loved game soundtracks. They're most famous for the music of the GRADIUS shoot'em up series. There are at least 5 CDs containing only Gradius music. Plus some scattered arrange versions on some compilation CDs. But there's much more stuff there. Check out Castlevania, A-Jax (Typhoon), Kitten Kaboodle, Battlantis, Contra (Probotector), ... but nothing, really nothing, beats the soundtracks of two old titles exclusively for the MSX system: Gradius 2 and Penguin Adventure	namco: Namco is probably the oldest computer game company. You surely remember Pac-man! But even nowadays, namco is still going strong. The composers of namco often include jazz-style arrange versions in their CDs. This builds a contrast to Konami's synthesized scores. Often, quite weird tunes are found in namco's games, too. Generally it can be said that if you like Game Music, you like namco's music! Try Ordyne, Galaga, Phelios, Burning Force or Dragon Spirit for successful living.
Sega: The music for Sega games is mainly produced by the "S.S.T Band". They're known for their rock like themes and produce very good arrangement versions. Look out for special arrangement version compilations. Check out following games: Afterburner (!), Turbo Out Run, G-Loc, Hang on, Sword of Vermilion.	SquareSoft: (exerpt from Video Game Music CD FAQ) Squaresoft, the company most recognized in the U.S. for its music, has a consistent style largely because of it's two-man sound team. Although the specific sound designer employed is variable, Squaresoft's composer is a constant. Nobuo Uematsu has composed music for Squaresoft since the 80's, and continues to do so today with no sign of slowing down. His style is a cross between modern classical and pop, concentrating chiefly on melody and harmony. Some games by Squaresoft include the Final Fantasy series, the Secret of Mana series (Seiken Densetsu in Japan), the Romancing Saga series, Front Mission, and Chrono Trigger.
irem: This company believes in the roots of game music. Their melodies resemble the older tunes, when the first arcade games with music were made. You perhaps remember irem's Moon Patrol. Now, with more advanced technology, the arrangements are more sophisticated. But the spirit of old times is still there. Mr. Heli is a good example. And I hope you know irem's all-time shoot-em-up classic R-type.	Zuntata/Taito: (by Carl Chavez) Zuntata is the sound-and-music part of the video game maker Taito. They are best known for their work on the Darius and Bubble Bobble/Puzzle Bobble series, but they have also created excellent soundtracks for games like Raystorm and Night Striker. Their music for action games like Darius and Night Striker is usually a future-synth style, while their music for cute games like Bubble Bobble or Liquid Kids can be described as "lounge-marching-band". They've released several dozen video game soundtracks in Japan under the Pony Canyon and Zuntata labels, and have their own web site. A fan page also exists.

Western style Game Music:

Most western games are for computers. In the beginning the games had only sounds (shooting sounds, crashes etc.). The first tunes for the games were mostly written by the game developers themselves. With the boom of the homecomputers in the 80's, many game music writers entered the scene. But the boom deceded and there are now two different types of western Game Music.

The first is derived from the home computer scene and was heavily influenced by the MOD music file format first used on the Amiga. It's style is mostly dancefloor/techno but also influences of japanese style Game Music can be reported (for example Chris Hülsbeck's works). It's very similar to the music used in the computer graphics "Demos" today. Example: One must fall.

The second is used in games from big companies. They employ music writers who are into TV and movie soundtracks. The best example is Dana Glover, who wrote the tunes for the Ultima games up to 7. And their music is most "movie-like".

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Taro Rehrl (e-mail), 1994-08-11, 2002-01-07