Iconic (Skyward Sword)
Forgotten (Shadows of the Damned)
Timeless (The Old Republic)
Innovative (Bastion)
These are the soundtracks that help shape and define what we hear in the video games that we play, I am Nitro and this is the M Disk Playlist Video Game Music Primer: 2011
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Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, composed by Jim Guthrie
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/14/jim-guthrie-takes-time_n_3268010.html
https://www.cgmagonline.com/2019/05/11/revisiting-sword-sworcery-a-talk-with-jim-guthrie/
Jim Guthrie is a Canadian-born musician whose experience made him part of the forefront of Canadian Indie rock in the 90s. He would continue to accumulate experience in the indie rock scene leading up to the release of his 2003 Juno Award nominated LP; Now More Than Ever. He wasn’t just adverse in the music industry, he was also a capable commercial musician, and a film composer, with arguably his most recognizable film score being the documentary; Indie Game: The Movie, which highlighted the development and release of indie games Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Fez.
Then came his first video game score, this one. An action adventure side scroller with stunning visuals, and a critically acclaimed score. Guthrie describes the music in the game as; “[living] in this middle void of electro / acoustic, dark, pretty clouds of hooks, drones and tones.” Guthrie appears in the game as himself in a cameo, offering to play music for the player character. By interacting with parts of the surrounding area, you can change the dynamic of Guthrie’s in-game performance.
Jim Guthrie was at the forefront of the indie scene. He composed for indie rock, he composed for indie movies, and he composed for indie games. He wouldn’t compose for another video game until the 2018 release, Below. He views his experience as a composer as just a way of learning more about the composition process, and what he can bring to any project he gets involved in.
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Terraria, composed by Scott Lloyd Shelly
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-05-16-9-years-after-launch-terraria-is-finally-complete
https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1733/interview-with-terraria-composer-scott-lloyd-shelly
https://www.productionhub.com/profiles/details/294143
https://resonancearray.com/about/
Terraria took the concept of a sandbox-style game, and made it into a 2D action adventure. Since its first release in 2011, the game has been updated, and released on multiple different platformers, making it one of the most profitable titles released in the 2010s, with its final official update being released in May 2020 under the title “Journey’s End.” Scott Lloyd Shelly has been the composer of the game throughout its entire development process. But his music experience goes far beyond the 2010s.
Since 1985, Shelly has been involved with the visual entertainment side of music, working on films like Thunder Alley, Witness, and the 1986 animated Transformers movie. His television resume includes Mega Movie Magic, The Book that Shook the World, and arguably his most recognizable work in film or television, The Crocodile Hunter.
He joined the game industry in 1995 with the EA Kids version of The Jungle Book. Most of the games he worked on were educational games like the games in the Reader Rabbit series. He has cited in an interview with jdodson of Cheerful Ghost that Terraria developer Andrew Spinks was his favorite game developer to work with. His reasoning being that he was allowed to compose the score as he interpreted it based on the reception he got for the first track submitted when he hardly ever got that much freedom to compose.
A simple concept that continued to provide for gamers throughout the 2010s. This helped make Terraria one of the decade’s more popular titles. For Scott Lloyd Shelly whose music was already heard in popular pieces of entertainment like the Transformers movie, and the Crocodile Hunter series, Terraria gave Shelly arguably his most popular, and most distinguishable work to date.
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Shadows of the Damned, composed by Akira Yamaoka
https://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/3049869
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26345/Report_Silent_Hill_Composer_Yamaoka_Leaves_Konami.php
Akira Yamaoka made a name for himself as the composer of the Silent Hill series. He was defined by his ability to create a sound that blended industrial music with a horrifying ambience, giving Silent Hill the signature sound to help stand out among other horror titles in gaming. In December 2009, Yamaoka left Konami after working there since 1993. He would soon join Grasshopper Manufacture, the studio responsible for games like Killer 7, No More Heroes, and this game.
Shadows of the Damned was promoted as a dream action adventure collaboration between Grasshoper Manufacture’s founder Suda51, Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami, and the former Silent Hill composer. Yamaoka worked with members of the English gothic rock group conveniently named, The Damned, on this score. Yamaoka also got help from musicians who had collaborated with him on the Silent Hill series. Lyricist Joe Romersa wrote some of the vocal tracks, with all but one of the vocal tracks performed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Vocalist of The Damned performed the game’s main theme, Shadows of the Damned (with The Damned). There is one vocal track that is not included in the game, but is part of the soundtrack and has been performed at concerts. Take me to Hell, performed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, and Troy Baker, who would in the coming years become one of the most recognizable voice actors in gaming with performances in games like InFamous 2, BioShock Infinite, and The Last of Us.
Shadows of the Damned was Akira Yamaoka’s first Grasshopper Manufacture game where he served as the primary composer. He still works for the studio as a sound director, and continues to evolve his rock style of scoring through each game he works on for Suda51.
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Bastion, composed by Darren Korb
https://www.indiegamewebsite.com/2018/03/09/interview-darren-korb/
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/36327/Interview_Storytelling_Through_Narration_In_Bastion.php
Bastion was the first of a few notable things. It was the first game developed by studio Supergiant Games, and it was the first professional scoring job of Darren Korb. Korb had always had a fondness for video game music, and was an aspiring musician himself. But he initially didn’t plan on his two passions intertwining with one another. As he developed his passion for music with singing and performing in bands, he would wind up studying the production side of music.
Amir Rao, co-founder of Bastion developer Supergiant Games, had been a friend of Korb’s since they were 8. It was through this friendship that Korb got the opportunity to work on Bastion. For the music in Bastion, Korb cites the music of Led Zeppelin, and Robert Johnsons as primary influences of the direction Korb wanted to go with. He describes the music in the game as acoustic frontier trip-hop. There are four vocal pieces in the game; Build That Wall, performed by Ashley Barrett as Zia. Mother I’m Here, performed by Korb as Zulf. Setting Sail, Coming Home performed by both Barrett and Korb. And What’s Left Undone, performed by Logan Cunningham as Rucks. Cunningham also serves as the game’s dynamic narrator throughout the entire game. Korb wrote the lyrics to all the vocal tracks.
Bastion, and Supergiant Games became an instant success story with the release of this game, thanks in part to its audio design, and the popularity of the game’s vocal pieces. Darren Korb would continue to compose for Supergiant Games, and performers Ashley Barrett and Logan Cunningham would continue to provide either singing vocals and/or voice acting for Supergiant Games.
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Rhythm Heaven Fever, composed by Tsunku, TNX, Masami Yone, Shinji Ushiroda, and Asuka Ito
http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/rhythmheavenfever/0/0
In 2006, Rhythm Tengoku was released as Nintendo’s last first party title for the Game Boy Advance. It would be Nintendo’s first official entry into the music genre. The first release in the Rhythm Heaven series outside of Japan was Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS in 2009. What made the series successful, as well as stand out from other music games, was its reliance on audio cues to progress through each stage, as opposed to visual cues. And each stage did not end if you messed up too many times. Success or fail, you still got to experience each stage and its music piece in its entirety.
Rhythm Heaven Fever would be the first, and only game in the series to be developed for consoles. The staff, and the sound team all agreed that it would be beneficial for Rhythm Heaven Fever to have 2D animation, as well as only having button inputs instead of the usual motion control that had been implemented in nearly every NIntendo Wii title.
Tsunku has been a producer and a sound director for the Rhythm Heaven games since the original 2006 release. While Tsunku handled the majority of the score; Masami Yone, Shinji Ushiroda, and Asuka Ito of Nintendo’s sound team collaborated with each other on the remaining pieces.Yone has been involved with the Rhythm Heaven series since the beginning. Urishoda’s first game in the series was this one, after having accumulated experience working on the Beatmania series for Konami. Ito’s first Rhythm Heaven game was the Nintendo DS Rhythm Heaven. Tsunku’s ntertainment company TNX is credited for composing the game’s Japan-exclusive manzai minigame.
The Rhythm Heaven games provide an approach to the music genre that doesn’t require you to be a master of reflexes just to properly advance the stage. With original music, and original animation to accompany the original music, Rhythm Heaven is a series that stands out visually from Nintendo’s catalog, as well as the music genre library.
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Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, composed by Lorne Balfe, Andrew Kawczynski, Pete Adams, and Hans Zimmer
http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=11915
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1g4wkt/i_am_hans_zimmer_ask_me_anything/cagscgt/
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1129237059587
A new way to experience games that combines the appeal of collecting action figures with platform gaming. Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure helped pave the way for a new younger generation of gamers to give them a brand new, appealing type of gaming experience. Primary composer Lorne Balfe grew up with a family devoted to the art of music and sound production. It wasn’t until he got to work with popular film composer Hans Zimmer that he was able to get his foot in the business.
He would spend much of the 2000s working under “additional music” credits for various films, and would score for documentaries like Nova, How to Look Good Naked, and WWII in HD. He would go on to be the primary composer in films like Megamind, Terminator Genysis, The Lego Batman Movie, and Mission Impossible: Fallout. He didn’t start working on video games until the 2009 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The other games he worked on before this one would be the video game adaptation of Rango, which he was an additional composer for on the original film, and Crysis 2, replacing Inon Zur. Speaking of Hans Zimmer, a composer Balfe spent much of his professional career collaborating with, Zimmer composed the main theme for Skylanders. Additional music credits are given to fellow film composers Andrew Kawczynski, and Pete Adams; both of which have also been frequent collaborators of Zimmer.
Skylanders was the beginning of a new gaming experience for a younger audience. Integration of toys and games became one of 2010s most popular trends. All of which came together by writers, producers, and composers whose collective and extensive experience with successful films for younger audiences helped make Skylanders a stand-out hit for 2011, and one of the 2010s most popular franchises.
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To The Moon, composed by Kan Gao, and Laura Shigihara
Eurogamer
Gamasutra
Kan Gao had always been a fan of video games, but lacked the programming skills needed to actually make one. When Gao discovered RPG Maker XP, he was able to design games in a way that was accessible to his own personal skills. Gao had been working on a project called Quintessence: The Blighted Venom for six years until he learned that his Grandfather was passing away.
How Gao coped with this event helped gradually inspire the story of To The Moon, a story about a dying man who wishes to have his memories reconstructed so that he is convinced that he actually went to the moon. It was more of a story-driven experience for an RPG Maker game than any other game built in the same engine. In addition to the writing and game design, he also scored nearly the entire soundtrack.
Laura Shigihara contributed to the soundtrack with the piece Everything’s Alright, and all the arrangements of the piece, including the vocal arrangement which she performed and wrote herself. Shigihara is best known for her scores to the original Plants vs Zombies, and has also contributed to the scores of World of Warcraft, Minecraft, and was one of the composers hired to work on the newer score of Super Meat Boy.
To The Moon became a primary example of how the RPG Maker engine can be used to design memorable story-driven experiences, much like other studios can with bigger budgets. Dealing with death in the family is never an easy subject. To The Moon helped convey Kan Gao’s emotions with real life into something that raised the bar for not just thought provoking story telling, but for games made using the RPG Maker engine.
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Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, composed by Joe Hisaishi
Anime Nostalgia Podcast
Seattle Symphony
Joe Hisashi may arguably be best known for his works with the Hayao Miyazaki directed Studio Ghibli films such as Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Porco Rosso. But his professional composition career goes above and beyond that. Hisaishi started his career releasing albums in the style of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s music. He got involved with the anime industry with his first score being Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, the film produced by the same people who would later found Studio Ghibli. Hisaishi would also contribute to other anime titles like Robot Carnival, Venus Wars, and the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy. Hisaishi would also become a frequent collaborator with comedian turned filmmaker Beat Takeshi, working on films like A Scene at the Sea, Kid’s Return, Hana-bi, and Brother.
Hisaishi was also briefly involved with the video game industry long before composing Ni No Kuni, working on titles like Zoids: Battle of the Central Continent, Zoids 2: Zenbase Strikes Back, and Tengai Makyo II: Majimaru. And then there’s Ni No Kuni, which was originally released for the Nintendo DS in 2010 as Ni No Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Dijinn. Wrath of the White Witch would be an extended, and enhanced version of the DS release, using a fully orchestrated score performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Hisaishi claims that he got involved with the Ni No Kuni project after seeing how passionate creator Akihiro Hino was about the game.
The game contains one vocal track; Kokoro no Kakera (Pieces of a Broken Heart). In English, the song is performed by Archie Buchanan. In the original Japanese release, the song is performed by Hisaishi’s daughter, Mai Fujisawa, who has performed vocals for Hisaishi’s works since she was 4 with her first vocal work being in the Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind soundtrack.
Joe Hisaishi is one of the film industry’s most respected composers who got his start showcasing his mastery of synth rock in the 70s. He would become an integral part in many of Hayao Miyazaki’s works, and a popular contribution to some of Beat Takeshi’s dramas. For the Ni No Kuni series, including the 2019 sequel he came back for, Hisaishi was able to show audiences of the gaming industry why he is one of the most highly regarded film composers in Japan.
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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, composed by Hajime Wakai, Shino Fujii, Mahito Yokota, Takeshi Hama, and Koji Kondo
Iwata Asks
IGN
Nintendo
Jormungand of VGMDB
Skyward Sword marked the personification of the Legend of Zelda’s 25th anniversary. It was also promoted as the Zelda game that started the official series timeline. But perhaps the most significant part of Skyward Sword was that it used orchestrated music for the first time in the series, following the success of orchestrated music being used in the Super Mario Galaxy games.
After being absent from the official score of Twilight Princess, Koji Kondo returns to the 3D Zelda games. Koji Kondo had been the primary composer of the Zelda series in the 90s. He took on more of a supervisor role in the 2000s, occasionally contributing scores, but not as frequently. In Skyward Sword, he composed the prologue theme. The sound director and lead composer for the game is Hajime Wakai. Wakai has been involved with Nintendo since the 1997 Star Fox 64. The last Zelda game he worked on was the Wind Waker. Wakai was also the composer for the game’s main theme, Ballad of the Goddess, which is actually an arrangement of Zelda’s Lullaby, one of the series’ recurring motifs, played in reverse.
Shino Fujii worked on the biggest portion of the game’s score, including the main theme for the game’s hub world, Skyloft. Fujii’s first contribution to Nintendo was the 2007 Wii Fit. This would be her only Zelda game, as she would later become known more for her works with the Mario franchise, and both Splatoon games. Takeshi Hana would help Wakai compose Ballad of the Goddess, and would also be responsible for the game’s event sequences, some of the character motifs, and some of the game’s areas like the Knight’s Academy to the Sand Sea. As a freelance composer, Hama only contributed to the scores of Skyward Sword, Super Mario 3D Land, and the 3DS remaster of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo.
Mahito Yokota, who was responsible for giving Super Mario Galaxy its orchestrated score, worked on the game’s event sequences for this game. In addition to Super Mario Galaxy and Skyward Sword, he also helped remaster the 3DS versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. He also helped compose one of Twilight Princess’ trailer pieces.
Like nearly every Zelda title before this one, Skyward Sword uses music as a plot device for the story via the Goddess Harp; an instrument not seen in the Zelda series since Ocarina of Time. It’s little homages like this that help make Skyward Sword not only a cumilation of the entire franchise, but an evolution of the entire franchise with new gameplay designs, quality of life improvements to the gaming experience, and more freedom to give the Zelda series the best sounding scores possible on a console.
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Star Wars: The Old Republic, composed by Mark Griskey, Gordy Haab, and Wilbert Roget, II
https://griskey.com/about-mark/
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8458796/gordy-haab-star-wars-composer-john-williams-games
OverClocked Remix
The 2003 Knights of the Old Republic became one of the most critically acclaimed games set in the Star Wars universe. So in order to keep up with the popularity of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 11, and EverQuest II, the decision was made to make a new BioWare developed MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe.
In the 90s, Griskey was a composer for various movie trailers and television commercials. He joined LucasArts in 2002 working on titles like Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, Gladius, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. He became a freelance composer in 2005, but would still return to LucasArts to compose titles like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and this game.
Gordy Haab was inspired to pursue a composition career after hearing John Williams’ score for the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He would take that inspiration, and study music composition, earning a bachelors for jazz composition, and a masters in film composition. He composed for film and television in the 2000s, and would join the video game industry with the 2009 Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. This game would be his second, but he would go on to be the primary composer for some of Electronic Arts’ later Star Wars titles like the newer Battlefront games, and Jedi: Fallen Order.
Wilbert Roget II had always been a music enthusiast. Playing the piano since he was 4, and finding himself inspired by the music of the Final Fantasy series, it seemed inevitable that he would become a video game composer, and he did. He joined LucasArts in 2008 as an audio engineer before eventually becoming a composer. For LucasArts, he did composition work on Star Wars games like the Force Unleashed II, and this one. He would eventually find himself gaining more attention for his works outside of LucasArts with scores for games like Call of Duty: WWII, and Mortal Kombat 11. He can also be heard on OverClocked Remix under the alias bustatunez, where he worked on the arrangement albums of Final Fantasy’s 4, 6, and 7, Donkey Kong Country’s 2 and 3, and the arrangement album for Super Dodge Ball.
To this day, The Old Republic is still being enjoyed by many online players. As for the sound, it gave a chance for film composers Mark Griskey, and Gordy Haab to step into the lore of the Star Wars universe after already being inspired by the original Star Wars film composer John Williams. It also gave relative newcomer at the time Wilbert Roget II the chance to show the world how capable he was at producing cinematic scores long before his most recognizable works towards the end of the 2010s.
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