The Best Movie Scores of All Time

and What Makes Them So Timeless

We may think of video game soundtracks as an overlooked art form, but some of the best compositions of the last thirty years have come from this medium. In the early days of video games, small sound chips limited music to electronic 8-bit sounds. But now full orchestras can be utilized to immerse players in the world of a game.

In our previous post, we talked about the ways that music contributes to a game’s tone, orientation, and in-game feedback. Now we’re exploring some of the best piano songs from video games and how they elevate their source materials. It’s no coincidence that some of the best games ever made also tend to have some of the best music!

To Zanarkland (Final Fantasy X)

The only thing more endless than the amount of Final Fantasy games is the amount of great Final Fantasy music. “To Zanarkland” is composed by prolific Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. This is the main theme of Final Fantasy X, although it wasn’t actually written for the game. But when director Motomu Toriyama tried the song in the game’s opening, he was convinced that it had to be the main theme. The soft melody sets a contemplative tone, used when Tidus looks out solemnly over the ruins and at several other important parts of the game.

Fun fact: “To Zanarkland” was one of the first real songs that our COO Patrick Boylan learned on the piano!

Dance of Pales (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)

Effective game music can instantly transport you into the world of your game, and that’s especially important in period games like Castlevania. “Dance of Pales,” a mistranslation of “Dance of Pearls,” was composed by Michiru Yamane as the background theme for Orlox’s Quarters. Count Orlox is a play on Count Orlok from Nosferatu, so this vampire’s lair needed fitting music. What we get is a complex melody that evokes other vampire media and matches the eerie sophistication of a 19th century vampire. With one song we get such a clear sense of our location, time period, and the vampire boss we’re about to fight.

Dirtmouth (Hollow Knight)

Composer Christopher Larkin went all-out when he composed the soundtrack to Hollow Knight. The Metroidvania game (a style named after games Metroid and Castlevania that pioneered the genre) is set in a fallen kingdom ravished by a supernatural disease. “Dirtmouth” plays in a once-bustling town that has since been mostly abandoned. The somber song highlights the loss that this town has faced and encourages us to continue exploring to learn more about what happened.

Zora’s Domain (Breath of the Wild)

I could talk forever about the music of Breath of the Wild. The soundtrack, composed by maats, Manaka Kataoka, and Yasuaki Iwata, is one of the more piano-centric soundtracks in the Zelda universe. From he upbeat “Horse Riding (Day)” to the serene “Rito Village: Day,” the game gives us no shortage of stunning piano compositions, often with music inspired or retooled from previous Zelda games. My favorite of these is “Zora’s Domain,” which plays in the Zora water kingdom. The Zora are arguably the most majestic clan of the game, and the regal piano melody perfectly matches that. The music flows with the cascading waterfalls of the Zora domain, transporting you to the wondrous aquatic land.

Main Theme (Wii Sports)

It would probably be upsetting to find out how many hours of my life I spent playing Wii Sports. But the upside is that I spent a lot of time listening to the iconic theme song. Its power is in its simplicity, offering a cheery, peppy introduction to the game. The song matches the game’s bright tone and complements other Wii songs like the “Mii Channel Theme,” which is also simple and upbeat. All of this creates a feeling of bright, active gaming that I’ll always associate with my childhood…strapping in my controller harness and booting up one of the best games of all time.

Conclusion

This is far from an exhaustive list of great piano songs in video games. There are plenty of other songs that were composed on piano but primarily played on a different instrument, as well as tons of wonderful piano covers for non-piano songs. But the long list of piano songs in video games shows just how integral this instrument is for one of the most popular mediums in the world.

And if you love both video games and playing the piano, you’ll love MuseFlow’s gamified piano learning program. We make learning the piano fun and achievable by offering:

• Indefinite sheet music to give variety and focus on sight reading over rote memorization.
• Entertaining and engaging levels that meet you at your exact skill level.
• Real-time feedback that helps lock you into a steady and creative Flow State.
  

Some of the best video game songs combine flawlessly with the gameplay to leave an emotional mark on the player. Does that ever happen to me? I’ll get back to you as soon as I stop crying from Mark Sparling’s "Hello?" in A Short Hike.

You can’t think about certain video games without also thinking about their iconic music. But the songs you hear while you’re “crushing turts” do more than just entertain your ears. They’re a crucial part of the storytelling, and not a single level you’ve ever played would be the same without it.

We here at MuseFlow love to explore the ways that music intersects with our daily life. We’ve looked at The Best TV Pianists and The Best Movies About Playing Piano, and now we’re diving into music’s role in video game narratives.

Setting the Tone with a Good Theme

Koji Kondo, the legendary composer behind Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, said in an interview, “Music is very powerful when it comes to creating an atmosphere for games, and fueling the rise and fall of emotions. It is a vital element for creating an enjoyable game.”

A good theme immediately tells us so much about the tone, style, and intensity of the game we’re about to play. Kondo’s main theme from The Legend of Zelda feels regal and uplifting, preparing us for a grand fantasy adventure. His Super Mario Bros. theme was inspired by dance music to match the movements of the game. The theme from Stardew Valley opens with a soft flute that puts us in the cozy game mindset.

Sometimes a theme that goes against genre expectations can reveal interesting truths about its game. The Last of Us’ downtrodden, twangy theme creates a feeling of forlorn Americana that matches the game’s experience of an apocalyptic road trip and tells you that this won’t be your typical zombie game. And when you sit down to play space exploration game Outer Wilds, you’re met with a surprisingly folksy theme that utilizes the banjo, guitar, and harmonica, evoking the game’s feeling of a “backpacking adventure through space” and the thoughtful introspection that it inspires.

Clearly Distinguishing Levels

Music is also a huge part of immersing you in a game’s setting. Koji Kondo used music to contrast between levels, helping the player to always know where they are throughout a game. Think about Hyrule’s bright overworld music compared to its dark, ominous dungeon theme. The music is an auditory marker of the setting, complementing and adding upon the visual information the player is receiving.

In more modern open world games without the traditional levels of early platformers, music can still inform you of a change in location. In Breath of the Wild, each region has its own distinct music that immediately informs you about the new setting and the characters you’re going to encounter. Consider the use of the tuba for the big, slow-moving Gorans of Goran City vs. the soft, magical harp and piano sounds of the Great Fairy.

Outer Wilds composer Andrew Prahlow used a “homey sound for Timber Hearth…a unique piano sound for the Nomai, and synths for the Quantum areas of the game.” When you take off into space, you can even hear the banjo sounds of your home planet music slowly get replaced by soft exploratory electronic/piano music. It feels like the music is on the exact same journey you are!

Immediate In-Game Emotional Feedback

Video game composers use psychological principles to create emotional feedback loops with their music. Think about every time Link opens a treasure chest. There’s an emotional build up that creates suspense, followed by a celebratory release when he pulls out the new item.

As this article explains, music can be used along with other audio feedback to create a system of “rewards and consequences” to tell players “how their actions are interpreted—and how they should feel about them.” Victorious music that plays when you discover or achieve something can provide a dopamine trigger and positive feedback loop, while the displeasing music when you lose something or die can have the opposite effect.

Music can match the intensity of a moment, helping to create a cognitive mapping of the world and its different threat levels. Open world games often switch to faster-paced music during a fight, and ominous music can be used to signal an imminent danger. There’s no sound more triggering to a millennial than the heart-pounding, cortisol-spiking drowning music in Sonic The Hedgehog.

While some music can make you feel a certain way about a particular setting or the game as a whole, reactionary music tells you how to feel about the actions you take and the actions befalling your character.

Conclusion

Music is a crucial part of creating a game’s setting, tone, and emotion…core components of its storytelling. Composers are storytellers just as much as the writers and programmers. Try playing a game without sound…it’s just not the same.

At MuseFlow, we understand the importance of blending music and games. That’s why we created a gamified piano learning program that offers:

• Incremental, hyper-specific levels that give you the perfect balance of skill and challenge.
• Real-time responses to your playing that encourage a steady Flow State, similar to the one you experience during a good gaming session.
• Indefinite sheet music that offers constant variety.
  

When discussing his compositions, Koji Kondo said, “I think that music also plays an important role in terms of having the game stay in your memory for a long time.”

I think that’s 100% right. How else could you explain why I haven’t been able to get this song from Sonic Adventure 2 out of my head since 2001?