I wanted to point our readers to an article written by Dale North over on his AOL Radio Blog where he counts down his top 10 favorite video game theme songs. As Dale has turned me on to a great deal of music over the years that I now enjoy on a regular basis, I figured he’d have some interesting picks. While the list is dominated by Squaresoft, he also pulls in Katamari Damacy and Silent Hill. I remember first looking at the list and thinking, “Well, he’s missed out on all sorts of things, and went for the rather obvious tracks,” but now that I think about it, I can’t really come up with much else that belongs on the list.
So, as a point of discussion, what vocal themes do you think are missing? The one at jumps out at me the most is “Song of the Ancients” from NieR. But perhaps you prefer “The virgin child makes her wish without feeling anything” from No More Heroes, or some Korean goodness in the forms of “Esa Promesa” from Granado Espada and “fly away” from PangYa Portable? Then there’s that guilty pleasure, “I am the Wind” from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Yes, I honestly do like it.
Tell us what tracks are on your list. While Squaresoft really got the whole “vocal theme song” thing going with the Final Fantasy series, are they necessarily the best? Let us know what you think.
Tags: Final Fantasy, Katamari Damacy, Silent Hill, Squaresoft, Top 10, Vocals
“Snake Eater” from MGS3 is a no brainer.
So is “You were there” from ICO.
“A Deus” from Grandia II is a personal favorites.
As for my guilty pleasure…
Yeah, I also love “The Virgin etc etc etc” from No More Heroes, I listen to it a lot on my iPod. Others that I love is “Heaven’s Divide” from MGS Peace Walker, “Reset” from Okami, “One Bad Man” from the Midnight Riders from Left 4 Dead 2 and many songs from Persona 4 that many of have full vocals.
But yeah, Squenix games has a lot of vocal theme songs, but most of them are annoying in my opinion.
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La Mer from Suikoden IV would definitely make my list, that’s all I know. I’m sure MM3 would top a lot of peoples list.
My choices (only those that haven’t already been mentioned):”Mysterious Destiny” from Bayonetta, Small Two of Pieces ~Screeching Shards~ from Xenogears and “You & I” from The Memory of Ragnarok.
Oh, and “Succeeded Wish” from Valkyria Chronicles.
“Here Comes the Rain” from Gungrave is probably THE best thing about that game. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwPxxLpS_ss
I totally agree about NieR, that soundtrack is just plain haunting and magnificent! And damn, that’s all that springs to mind in the moment I have to think this over.
Yeah, Snake Eater. Number 1 of all time. It may be exactly like all James Bond songs, but it’s still one of the best songs ever written.
I don’t know abouty PangYa on the list, but it’s the best game ever!
That PangYa track is pretty well embedded in my brain. I thought about Memory of Ragnarok and Valkyria Chronicles as well, but they’re not really “theme songs.” But yeah, they’re definitely on my list of great vocal tracks too!
Adams comment made me think of FFVIII’s Succession of Witches. Awesome theme.
I don’t like the majority of the Ar Tonelico soundtracks, with the exception of the vocal tracks. I’m glad they make seperate albums were they expand on those with songs like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXZAK_20L6E
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lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!!
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