Video Game Music

Bands and Artists

After the masters compose their songs, fans get to work making their own tributes. One of the most remixed songs on the internet is the theme from the original Super Mario Bros.. The tune is possibly one of the most recognized video game songs in the world. These works of love are completely legal tributes to the great games and composers that have shaped gamers' lives.

Video Game Pianist - The Video Game Pianist (formerly the Blindfolded Pianist) became popular when he released a video of himself playing the Super Mario Bros. Theme song on the piano with a blindfold. He continued to play for over 10 minutes with a medley of Super Mario Bros. music, though he shed the blindfold after the first song. Visit the website to download the video!

Minibosses - Rock music, meet video game music. The Minibosses have taken popular video game songs and turned them into slamming remixes. Their most popular mix is the 10 minute long Mega Man 2 medley. The Minibosses have released several CDs and tour parts of the United States from time to time. Keep watch on their website and head there for some clips!

OneUps - The cool sounds of jazz/rock fusion are melded with our favorite tunes. The OneUps released a CD in the summer of 2005 with over 15 tracks of jazzed up background music that remains faithful to the original song. Tunes from Katamari Damacy, Super Mario Sunshine, Chrono Trigger, Bomberman and many more fill the CD with over an hour of gaming goodness. Head over to their website to get a ton of other songs, including their stellar Booster's Tower remix.

Video Game Music Sites

Over Clocked Remix - The best-known site for video game music remixes, OCRemix features a large database of high-quality scores. Remixers work diligently on their own projects, using songs from as far back as the Commodore 64 through the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and today's PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Cube and Game Boy hits. Then, if the song meets OCR's remix rules, their staff reviews the score, rates it and posts it on the site. Expect many versions of popular games and their songs, such as Final Fantasy, Mega Man and anything Mario-related. Some lesser-known titles are there, too, so have a look at the site.

VGMix - The second popular site for video game music, VGMix features a large collection (maybe even larger than OC Remix) of songs free for downloading. However, a lack of guidelines or panel of judges leads to a few real duds in the collection. The site isn't organized as clearly as others, but nevertheless you can always find something interesting to listen to.

Straight From The Game

If you're into the original songs and nothing more, it's possible to get the entire soundtrack to many games right on your computer. The legality of this is often under debate, however. Gamers take ROMS, or copies of games ripped to their computer, and extract the music directly from the program. The result is the original soundtrack from the game as you would hear it while playing.

Listening to ripped tracks requires separate software or plug-ins to WinAmp. You can find almost everything you need at Zophar's Domain.

Many games already feature a soundtrack you can buy on CD! Soundtracks are less common outside of Japan, so you may have to pay hefty importing prices to get the score you want. Most RPG games have soundtracks. Play-Asia has some of the best deals around.