For the next installment of the Community Question we want to take things back a ways. How far back? All the way. Back to your first video game music soundtrack purchase or acquisition, if it happened to be a gift or maybe a “steal”. We’re not judging. For the sake of this one we’ll put aside homemade recordings or rips; that’ll make for a nice follow up question down the line. Let us know what your first game music album was (and if you still have it) in the comments while I get things started.
I’d forgotten the details behind how I got my first official album and had to do some quick Googling just now. It turns out that Sonic the Hedgehog Boom was my very first game music album and pre-order bonus. By clipping a coupon from the ad above (scan courtesy of Dinosaur Dracula) and heading to Toys ”R” Us you could put $10 down on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and get a copy of the album when the game launched on February 2nd, 1994. I’m not sure why the coupon was necessary but I’d do whatever it took to grab a legitimate video game soundtrack released to the US. It didn’t hurt that I was already going to get Sonic 3.
The album itself is both noteworthy and a little strange. For a Sonic 3 pre-order bonus you’d think it might contain at least one song from the game but the tracklist features 23 songs from Sonic CD and Sonic Spinball instead. These aren’t just ripped right from the source and slapped on a disc either. The first 19 tracks include some extended versions of Sonic CD’s US soundtrack and the music from Sonic Spinball is completely rearranged. I’m happy to say that unlike a lot of games I’ve owned, I still have every soundtrack I ever bought, including this one. The case is pretty worn after years of shoving it into storage racks and taking it on drives but it’s still intact and surprisingly unmarred by scratches.
What about you? What was your first game music album and do you still have it? Let us know below.
Tags: Article, Community, Community Question, Game Music, Questions
For me it was Myst – the original jewel case with the black cover release. I still have the CD which I ordered from Cyan directly, along with the Riven soundtrack when it was released. Both CDs have had been played endless times.
Nice! The Dig soundtrack was my first adventure game album. Right around the same time as Myst I think.
First one I acquired was the Descent redbook soundtrack. That’s kind of a cheat, since it comes on the Mac version of the game, but I didn’t own a Mac and acquired it from a friend for the specific purpose of listening to the music in my stereo, so I’m counting it.
The first one I bought was probably the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack a couple of years after the game came out. I saved up a lot of allowance for that, and my mom simply could not understand why I would do such a thing.
In that case, I’ll say it counts! Do you remember where you got FFVI from or how much it was? I loved looking over the price lists in the backs of EGM and VG&CE but I never did order anything through them.
Sonic Boom! A pre-order bonus for Sonic CD. Entire US Sonic CD Soundtrack plus Sonic Spinball selections.
My first album was Killer Cuts, which was included with the Killer Instinct for Super Nintendo. I still have it, and it definitely has a good 90s vibe to it. We bought it with my brother from an import shop, because at the time it was not yet released in Europe.
Oh, forgot to mention a nice story. I remember recording the CD to a cassette tape, so I could bring it to school for music class. We were having a music panel (or how do you call it?), where each student could bring a track to class and they would get a rating from 4 to 10 according to votes by the other students. I thought it was so good I wanted everyone to hear about it.
I had a class like that too but we didn’t rate the songs, it was just to share the music we liked and talk about different genres. I cannot remember what song I picked but it was probably from a game. haha
The first album I got was Killer Cuts with the game Killer Instinct. I didn’t like it much.
The first album I bought was “Super Mario Hits”. I found it on a cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm. The cover looks like Super Mario 64, but I was severely disappointed when I listened to it, because it only had original dance tracks! I threw away the CD a long time ago, but have for many years wondered why it existed in the first place.
Just now I did some research and found it on VGMDB!
—> http://vgmdb.net/album/21701 <—
Apparently it was a "Euro House CD released in Sweden". It has one rating on VGMDB: 0.5/5. Yep, it's that bad. BUT, it does have one arrangement of game music: "Supermarioland" by Ambassadors of Funk. You can look it up on YouTube, it's actually quite okay.
Even though the CD turned out to be pretty bad, that’s a great story. And I’m amazed it was on VGMDB so you could finally find out a little more about it.
The first game album I wanted to buy was the soundtrack to Presto Studios Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time. It was advertised in the Product Merchandise flyer that came with the boxed PC game. However, it was never released or produced.
There have been some hints that it may be coming though, and when that day comes yours truly will be very happy.
Oh wow, that’ll make it extra worth it after waiting so long!
I remember seeing Tommy Tallarico’s “Video Games’ Greatest Hits” advertised in Sega Visions (and thinking what a pompous title it was), but the first albums I purchased and owned myself were Ever Anime boots of Star Ocean 2, Symphony of the Night, and FFVII Reunion Tracks. Everybody’s gotta learn sometime.
I was all over that Tommy Tallarico album since I already really liked most of his music. And I didn’t know a thing about bootlegs until just a few years ago but I only ever picked up two of them over the years fortunately.
Great article.