# Awful Music in Video Games



## geoflcl (Feb 14, 2014)

I can't get over the music in this Yoshi's New Island trailer:



The song is ruined by those awful kazoos (?), so what would ordinarily be a cheerful, upbeat song ends up sounding downright cynical and sarcastic.  That's my opinion, anyway!

Anyway, here are some other nasty bits of game music to set the mood:

Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair!


Spoiler








Resident Evil Dualshock Edition: Mansion Basement
(Proof that Mamoru Samuragochi might actually be deaf after all!)


Spoiler








And everyone's favorite!


Spoiler








Gimme more bad game music! The worst you can find!


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## nando (Feb 14, 2014)

almost everything in a sonic game.


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## Rydian (Feb 14, 2014)

That music clip that's 5 seconds long and repeats endlessly while you're trying to make or block a super goal in Mario Strikers Charged.

Ugh it's so repetitive.


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## osirisjem (Feb 14, 2014)

I like the tunes for Trackmania (Wii)  
The kazooos in that YI are bad :/


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## AceWarhead (Feb 14, 2014)

Bubble Bobble


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## Gahars (Feb 14, 2014)

It's like they're playing the song through someone's armpit.


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## dxplay2128 (Feb 15, 2014)

my vote is for sonic spinball's menu music

god it was awful


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## Dartz150 (Feb 15, 2014)

The worst dungeon theme of the whole Zelda videogames. I was like "holly shit I want to finish this dungeon rite nao"


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## Hop2089 (Feb 15, 2014)

The reason I never played or never will play the classic Strike games on SNES.



It's proof that not all SNES versions of multiplats had better sound.

The tinny twangy Genesis music from the 3 Strike games are superior as they have the most impact, emotion, and soul.  The music on the SNES version has none of the impact, emotion, soul, and spirit.


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## Chocolina (Feb 16, 2014)




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## Speedster (Feb 16, 2014)

I say Sonic Chronicles. It has some of the worst music on the DS.
Just think, this:

is supposed to be THIS:


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## geoflcl (Feb 18, 2014)

Aaah, I'm relishing in the ear-piercing wonder of your responses, folks! I love it! More, more! 

Gahars and dxplay2128 are on to something with the Genesis/MegaDrive soundchip. It takes a certain finesse to get things sounding good on that thing, so it's garnered a nasty stigma for its screechy, often "farty" synthesis. Genesis music can sound splendid in the right hands, but for every memorable tune, there's twenty flatulent messes like this:



To be fair, Sega's competitor certainly isn't without its fair share of stinkers, too, as Hop2089 demonstrated. While the SNES' sound chip is notable for its versatility (*see Notes), it can sound a bass-less, tinny MIDI sequencer with a bad case of the jitters at its worst!




Oh! And here's another icky little morsel from Sonic Chronicles. I can't believe this junk was actually released!


And here's the source material, for comparison:


*Notes:



Spoiler



Unlike the Genesis' tricky synthesis, the SNES uses a more straightforward sample-based approach. Let's say you want a guitar lick in your game's music. Whereas a Genesis composer would have to experiment with the synthesizer settings to make sound that resembles a guitar, SNES composers could actually record a selection of _real guitar_ sounds and import them into the game to be used. Because of this, the SNES could mimic a lot of real-life instruments more convincingly and more easily than the Genesis.

That said, the Genesis sound chip could really shine as well, and had an advantage when it came to certain genres. The Toejam and Earl games provided a surprisingly authentic funk vibe, and the Streets of Rage games are heralded for their techno/electronic soundtrack. The Genesis chip also seems to have no trouble establishing prominent bass, something that SNES' samples could have trouble with on occasion. On the whole, though, the Genesis seems to have required a fair bit more time and experimentation to reach its full potential (Though I suppose that's true of anything! )

When it comes down to it, the SNES and the Genesis were VERY different beasts in regard to music in sound. It's pretty interesting to a chump like me!


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## Gahars (Feb 18, 2014)

geoflcl said:


> Oh! And here's another icky little morsel from Sonic Chronicles. I can't believe this junk was actually released!


 

That soundtrack was their first mistake. Not calling it "Sonicles" was their second.


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## Chary (Feb 18, 2014)

Continuing the Sonic trend is this piece.


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## dxplay2128 (Feb 18, 2014)

To *geoflcl*
 totally agree with you. The genesis's soundchip can be awesome on the right hands.


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## the_randomizer (Feb 18, 2014)

Speaking of the YM2612, it could do some absolutely insane things on the Genesis/Megadrive, like the game Vapor Trail, it used the GEMS soundfont, a rarely used font in games. It almost sounds like the CPS1.

But for the most part, it had that grinding, raspiness that gave the chip its notoriety.


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## dxplay2128 (Feb 18, 2014)

here's another example on the SNES

it was repetitive and dull


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## Nah3DS (Feb 18, 2014)

Chocolina said:


>


Isn't that the most beautiful, radiant sound that has ever been blessed upon your soul? Its exuberant tonality harmoniously blends the dying squeals of electronic goats, with the melodic rapture of diarrhea bubbling from a coyote's craphole


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## nine0nine (Feb 18, 2014)

i always remember this for its unmemorable and almost random music.


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## Snailface (Feb 18, 2014)

nine0nine said:


> [/media]
> 
> i always remember this for its unmemorable and almost random music.


Did somebody say random?


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## the_randomizer (Feb 18, 2014)

My ears, THEY BURN!!


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## Duo8 (Feb 18, 2014)

Posted this last week but no one cared: http://gbatemp.net/threads/video-game-music.361888/


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## Terenigma (Feb 18, 2014)

Duo8 said:


> Posted this last week but no one cared: http://gbatemp.net/threads/video-game-music.361888/




I actually kinda liked the music that was playing on the intro before the game started but as soon as the first level began... HOLY HELL MY EARS


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## geoflcl (Feb 18, 2014)

Terenigma said:


> Duo8 said:
> 
> 
> > Posted this last week but no one cared: http://gbatemp.net/threads/video-game-music.361888/
> ...




Right! That first level "tune" is outrageous!  I mean, wow!

It almost makes me wonder if it's an emulation issue or something, it's just so bad. Those have been known to crop up once in a while (For instance, the intro song in "Scooby Doo Mystery" for Genesis has an incessant ringing that only happens in emulators).

Either way, when a piece music is so bad that you have to wonder if it's even playing correctly, you _know_ it's a good find! Splendid work, Duo8! 



nine0nine said:


> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Gosh, the Game Gear has a lot of unremarkable music, but THAT is a glorious new low! 

Man-oh-man, I am loving this, guys! Loving it, I say! 
Here's another good'un, this time it's a treat to the eyes AND ears!  It's Sonic Jam for the Game Com! Picking on this one is easy (and further extenuates this thread's odd prevalence of Sonic posts), but I just couldn't help it:


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## Veho (Feb 18, 2014)

Does the Tiger R-Zone count as a video game? For the purposes of this thread, it will. 

Batman Forever for the R-Zone has the worst video game music of all time, _OF ALL TIME_. I know LCD games in general have awful repetitive screechy melodies (when they have any) but this one takes the cake. It takes 40 cakes. And that's terrible. 

You can hear it in this review (starting at 1:48): 


 


Yup, it's a three second loop that repeats _forever_. And _ever_.


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## YayMii (Feb 18, 2014)

This might be due to emulator issues, but seeing as I can't seem to find footage of this game on an actual Game Gear, I'll assume it sounds as intended:


EDIT: Judging from comments on other videos from people who seem to own the actual game, this seems to be the way the game actually sounds. Kinda painful.


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## Issac (Feb 18, 2014)

Even though I actually like it, the Main Menu track from Silent Hill 4: The Room is quite... strange. At first I thought it was awful, but now I think it fit's the mood of the game.


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## Nah3DS (Feb 18, 2014)

nothing beats this....

maybe Winter Games 



dxplay2128 said:


> The genesis's soundchip can be awesome on the right hands


those being the hands of Yuzo Koshiro


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## Depravo (Feb 18, 2014)

Most EA sports/racing games.


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## Pedeadstrian (Feb 18, 2014)

Depravo said:


> Most EA sports/racing games.


Beat me to it. Pretty much anything recent that isn't an RPG game is full of rap, dubstep, and the like. Although there's some RPGs that break the trend. God, I loved Persona 3 and 4, but some of that music was awful.


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## Arras (Feb 18, 2014)

Much scare
So wow​(Skip to 0:30)


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## RodrigoDavy (Feb 18, 2014)

geoflcl said:


> *Notes:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I would say although the Mega Drive* can produce quite impressive sound, it almost always have the bass-like tracks a little unimpressive for me. Half of the time they will sound like farts and when they do sound good it still sounds too artificial. Even that snes Paperboy video you posted has quite impressive bass guitar sound (it actually impressed me, although the music sucks xD ).

Taking that aside, I've been learning to appreciate Mega Drive music, it surely has its gems. And, based on some music posted here, it can sound even better than the snes some times (although with very carefully pick Mega Drive soundfonts). The snes on the other hand, have more variety of good sounding fonts.

*not calling it Genesis


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## Dust2dust (Feb 18, 2014)

NahuelDS said:


> those being the hands of Yuzo Koshiro


Yuzo Koshiro made some amazing tracks for the Genesis.  Even now, I think the boss music in Streets of Rage (1)  is the single best music track of the whole Genesis collection.  But unfortunately, some of the tracks from Streets of Rage 3, also from Koshiro, could qualify for this thread. Some were good, though, so it compensates.


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## geoflcl (Feb 18, 2014)

Depravo said:


> Most EA sports/racing games.


 
Wait, are we talking about licensed music? Because if so, YEAH, it's awful. Hearing last year's "Now That's What I Call Music" albums on sports games is the worst.

There was this NASCAR game from EA Sports years back that my brother used to play a lot, and _the menu screen music was ALWAYS *Sweet Home Alabama*, no exceptions._ Horrible! It's almost as if it was making fun of NASCAR fan stereotypes or something.

It's gotten better though. In recent years, EA has scaled back the bothersome licensed music and given its sports games original soundtracks. For instance, the last few Madden games' music sounds pretty much exactly like the orchestrated stuff they use in American football games on TV, which is a welcome change to the not-very-suiting rap/hard rock mixtapes that they used to use.

However, as far as I know, the NBA 2K games still have a ton of licensed music, right? I could be mistaken, but I expect they do. What else can I expect from a series that credits Jay-Z as a producer :'D


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## Phyl (Feb 18, 2014)

There's a few BGMs on the NDS I hate -- I'm not sure of the game(s), but remember the frustration of repeating the level/battles then angrily turning down the volume on the DS.

What I absolutely hate is Vocalised Sonic BGMs. Not that they're bad tracks, but such vocals in-game sounds cringeworthy.
e.g.


Why?


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## dxplay2128 (Feb 18, 2014)

Arras said:


> Much scare
> So wow​(Skip to 0:30)





so conspiracy
much WUT
such random
WOW!

now on topic: that music isn't that bad, in fact, its quite catchy,the thing is that in a game like silent hill it feels awfully out of place


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## Yepi69 (Feb 18, 2014)

Speedster said:


> I say Sonic Chronicles. It has some of the worst music on the DS.
> Just think, this:
> 
> is supposed to be THIS:




Sonic Chronicles is an awful game so it is to be expected that.


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## Pedeadstrian (Feb 19, 2014)

Phyl said:


> There's a few BGMs on the NDS I hate -- I'm not sure of the game(s), but remember the frustration of repeating the level/battles then angrily turning down the volume on the DS.
> 
> What I absolutely hate is Vocalised Sonic BGMs. Not that they're bad tracks, but such vocals in-game sounds cringeworthy.
> e.g.
> ...



While I do hate that song, some of their music with vocals is pretty good. Like the one at the final boss in Sonic Adventure 2. Of course, it's just my opinion.


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## Duo8 (Feb 19, 2014)




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