Ah, the memories.
The drivers would roll up to the starting line, Loudmouth Larry would scream "The race is set, the green flag drops!", and we'd all take off to instrumental versions of familiar tunes like Paranoid, Bad to the Bone, Born to be Wild, Highway Star, and the Peter Gunn Theme, which I recently learned is also used as background music for Spy Hunter. While I'm sure there are several fans of Nobou Uematsu who would say otherwise, I believe Rock N'Roll Racing has the second greatest soundtrack of any video game (it's hard to compete with the selection found on Guitar Hero).
I don't know about the Atari (I was born in '82), but many of my favorite NES and SNES titles came with unforgettable melodies that, to this day, I still hum every once in a while.
I doubt anyone could find a gamer who is unable to recognize the music of Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda, but what about their sequels? I prefer the Ragtime style of SMB2, and was thrilled to hear it again as part of the Super Smash Bros. Melee soundtrack, though I'm not sure if many would agree.
Normally, when someone brings up video game music, the first thing to come to my mind is Bubble Bobble.
You make your way through 100 levels of puzzles, colorful treats, and a persistent whale skeleton who enjoys hunting down procrastinators while listening to the same cheerful ditty, and, for some odd reason, it never gets old. I could leave the game running for hours on my TV and not care. It became an earworm that later prompted me into buying a copy of Bubble Bobble Old & New for my GBA.
Other soundtracks produced similar results. Some of these would include Wizards & Warriors, Donkey Kong Country, ToeJam and Earl, Mega Man, and Chrono Trigger. I sometimes wonder whether or not I would have enjoyed Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite if I hadn't heard it first on Tetris.
While I abhor Animal Crossing in nearly every other aspect, the air is so intoxicating that I find myself under the spell of this hideous siren every time I take a trip back to Walden.
I remember mentioning the name of my Town within one of Nintendo's live forums, and the moderator responded with a smiley and the phrase, "So, is there a pond in Walden?" He was funny AND intelligent... just like Monty Python! Ha, ha... ugh... I hope he's dead.
For most games, however, I prefer to listen to the radio. The resulting effect is a relation of some games with whatever is being recycled on my local stations. For example, whenever I listen to a track from Alanis Morissette's debut album Jagged Little Pill, I think of Super Metroid.
Other examples include:
Shining Force 2 - "Sucked Out" by Superdrag
FFX - "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis and Junkie XL
TLoZ:OoT - "Breaking the Habit" by Linkin Park
Animal Crossing - "Diamonds and Guns" by The Transplants
Final Fight - "Hey A**hole!" by Screeching Weasel
Star Fox 64 - "I Believe I Can Fly" by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
For the one or two people who actually read this, feel free to provide some of your own examples. I doubt I'm the only one who has this little quirk.
Finally, I'd just like to say that I love fast music.
As far as video games go, my playlist consists mostly of DDR tracks, with the Witch Doctor being my favorite. With other genres of music, I really don't care what it is or who is singing it, as long as the song is quick, upbeat, and NOT Heavy Metal.
I've actually met people who needed me to elaborate on this:
Them: "So, do you like alternative or dance?"
Me: "I like whatever will keep me in high spirits."
Them: "What about Country music?"
Me: "As long as it is fast and upbeat, sure."
Them: "What about Rap?"
Me: "As long as it is fast and upbeat."
Them: "Well, what about..."
Me: "YES! Wait, were you going to say Heavy Metal?"
Them: "No. I was going to say..."
Me: "Yes! Now, shut up!"
That's it. I've stayed up too long. I'm rambling more than usual, so good night, or morning, whatever, and go Reds!
"Viper should avoid mines!" - Be glad that Larry has an Off switch.
