What? Game Music is Evolving!
This is a column by Jesse Gregory all about his primary obsession, video game music. He feels that despite how core to the experience soundtracks often are, they aren't as large a part of gaming discussion as they should be. Let the discussion begin! While just another game to some, last year's Sonic Generations was a review course of Sonic's varied musical history. With a wealth of classic and modern remixes and an even larger vault of unlockable originals, the game laid out in plain sight just how much the music of a single series can change over the course of two decades.While hardware limitations can breed highly focused creativity, the lack thereof allows for unrestrained experimentation. From the Genesis to the Dreamcast, we witnessed Masato Nakamura's unforgettable themes replaced by a wide variety of tracks featuring live performances in a vast array of genres.It sounds pretty good on paper. Sure, we got some enjoyable instrumental rock and jazz, but songs that sing about following rainbows and rap about chaos emeralds can make these games embarrassing to revisit. Still, I have to admire the many directions Sega was willing to explore with the series' music. Sonic Rush in particular really shook things up thanks to Hideki Naganuma. His unique brand of sample slicing threw many disparate genres into a blender to make something really special.
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