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/vr/ - Retro Games

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9796980 No.9796980 [Reply] [Original]

Why did so many developers incorporate ambience and jungle music into their games during the late 90s and early 2000s and why/what caused the change to more a orchestral/symphonic/classical centered music?

>> No.9796982

Orchestral/classical-inspired music was always in games. Some of the first video game music I remember in video games were chiptune renditions of stuff by Bach or Beethoven.
Jungle/dnb/techno was just popular in the 90s.
Modern games are more oriented toward modern music like trap and stuff.

>> No.9796986

>>9796980
idk but i miss the fuck out of it. sick to death of orchestral piece no. 2323431

>> No.9796993

That was the type of music they listened to at the time. It was game developers using what they knew and often created themselves in their spare time. As the genre lost popularity so did the use of it in games. A decade ago dub step was every where for the same reason. Small teams are able to put their personalities into the game and music is a big part of that. Large corporate teams on the other hand can't so you get generic ocestral numbers.

>> No.9797001
File: 32 KB, 720x540, 1624866459055.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9797001

>>9796986
Same, we need to go back

https://youtu.be/0AHsv5wd_l0
https://youtu.be/8bGA0y40_38
https://youtu.be/9s4zgS5illM
https://youtu.be/f717iNkYNLk

>> No.9797002

>>9796980
>ambience and jungle music
Fucking SOUL

>> No.9797006

>>9796980
I think ambient music in video games is the best because it allows you to zone out to it so it never becomes repetitive.

>> No.9797010

>>9797001
That Silent Hill 3 track is one of my faves, nice pick.

>> No.9797017
File: 178 KB, 900x1200, EJQfXXKXkAAoKd6.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9797017

>>9796980
>Why did so many developers incorporate ambience and jungle music into their games during the late 90s and early 2000s
The late 90s was an era of futurism. Videogame graphics were advancing by leaps and bounds every single year of that decade, and technology was still something of a mystery to most people, and Japan - a place just as exotic as technology itself - was spearheading innovation with really out-there products.
Music, too, was changing from analog to much a more affordable digital landscape with the advent of mp3s and things like Napster to let just about anyone listen to what they want to listen. Popularity for electronic music had grown to the point that it the line between mainstream and underground had become thin. People were hyped up to see what was coming next, but one thing that still persisted was that there was still a "wall" between things like rock/punk/metal and electronic. People from either camp didn't really meddle with the other, which was a status quo that not many were willing to change.
Until that wall was broken by none other than The Prodigy with their 1997 album, The Fat of the Land:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5WkOuPw

After Firestarter, people realized that electronic music can meld really well with metal, and its popularity exploded. Since then, all aspects of the entertainment industry started following the new fad of eletronic music with dnb, jungle, big beat, ambience, etc., in movies, radio, TV, and especially in videogames, with Wipeout for the PSX showing everyone that this music was a great fit for the medium, especially with CD level of quality. Videogame music in the late 90s were molded into a very interesting mix: Upbeat rock/electronic/ambience for the "optimist" side of futurism, and heavy jungle/industrial/grunge for the "dystopian" side of futurism. It perfectly reflected the general feeling of the era as we raced to the 21st century. In other words, it was new and fresh.

>> No.9797020

>why is popular thing popular
dunno

>> No.9797047

>>9796980
Failed composers who couldn't get in to movies or television.

>> No.9797056

>>9796980
dnb especiallt jungle was massive in the 90s and early 00s. Lsd was very popular untill that dude got snitched on by some whore and mdma too, you will be surprised how many people like vidya gayme developers were doing this shit back then. ok i just made that last part up teehee but it was a big scene and it quite frankly i just fits video games a lot imo or artists could promote their music maybe

>> No.9797061

>>9796980
also could anyone share some dnb or techno from games. mario 64 had a cool dnb mario theme mashup sounding intro, that memed bumble bee game for the n64 too.

>> No.9797101

Worth noting that many game composers then were also demoscene musicians, such as Cold Storage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLdhqMwl498

>> No.9797121
File: 24 KB, 500x375, Luigi_turntable.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9797121

>>9797101
feeling it

>> No.9797140

>>9797101
Based Cold Storage enjoyer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE89Y0crBZY

>> No.9797208

https://youtu.be/4uQnXvRndcE

Made on an Amiga, using Bars and Pipes.

>> No.9797370

>>9796980
sega created vaporwave in VF2 dural ending

>> No.9797593

demo music was kino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YorqSN9KM0s

>> No.9797601

>>9797593
God... That fucking tune...

I keep meaning to go through a bunch of old UK OPSM demo discs to find this tune I really liked. I remember it actually being really mellow and almost sad.

>> No.9797812

>>9796980
a) Electronic and jungle were the mainstream in 90s with Aphex Twin and similiar artists being hottest shit
b) It was cheaper to produce unlike cinematic score. Once game budgets got bigger it became possible

>> No.9797837
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9797837

Semi-related, there's an amazing concept jungle/dnb album that samples PS1 games and even the Windows 95 start-up that feels like a love letter to that era, there's an incredible dnb remix of 'The Best is Yet to Come' from MGS. Perfect for listening to while flipping through issues of PSM from 1998.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa4MT9LPcaU&t=2634s

>> No.9797842

>>9797601
I got u brother

https://youtu.be/IIjuOb4N3Dw

>> No.9797843

>>9797837
Look up Crystallomania too.

>> No.9797867
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9797867

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omesY4oZgJE

God, it's SO GOOD.

>> No.9797884

>>9797867
>11:15
Takes me fucking back. so much wonder and dopamine hits as five year having a bunch of these demos.

>> No.9797987

>>9797017
>After Firestarter, people realized that electronic music can meld really well with metal,
they knew it like 10 years prior when industrial rock was created you fucking zoomer retard

>> No.9797991

>>9797017
also streets of rage 3 OST was done 5 years prior you fucking zoomer retard

>> No.9798035
File: 113 KB, 600x589, NTMtNjIxNi5qcGVn[1].jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9798035

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ-DJd-57Lo

>> No.9798189

>>9797991
>>9797987
Nobody cares about your dumb nigger fanfic, you HFCS-swilling mongrel. The world moved differently than your irrelevant sheltered faggot ass life.

>> No.9799547

>>9797884
for me, it's 00:00
also 17:07

>> No.9799563

>>9796980
cool kids these days call it breakcore

>> No.9799576

>>9797061
Ape Escape soundtrack is the GOAT

>> No.9799581

>>9796980
You couldnt create convincing orchestral music with MIDI/tracker type music. Only when the CD format was used did it became practical to use orchestral scores.

Also, like any trend, after that style of electronic music hit maximum popularity it became "dated", so people didnt want to use it anymore.

>> No.9799582

>>9799576
oh yeah i totally forgot the first one had a good ost. i just remember playing the second one the most. my copy of the first one got lost and only ever managed to load it up past the first level after i eventually found the disc all fucked up and on rekts doorstep.

>> No.9799859
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9799859

Like many other artists in that time, "Failed" musicians who couldn't find work in movies & television found work in games, then people just started taking game music seriously and orchestras were being hired to play final fantasy, zelda, and mario music and selling out stadiums. I think I can pinpoint the orchestra trend taking off within the industry for game ost's as soon as Super Mario Galaxy's OST blew everyone away. Everyone just copies Nintendo's success.

If you cant afford an orchestra, now were in an era of that shitty football cheer music where everything is horns and BWOM BWOM BWOM TSK TSK BWOM BWOM TSK, but that's more on corporate and advertising cause I can't imagine actual artists wanting to compose what sounds like Arby's commercial music.

>> No.9799875

>>9799859
Orchestras were used before Super Mario Galaxy.

>> No.9799919

>>9799875
Yes, but SMG is what popularized it.

>> No.9799928

>>9799919
Having the budget popularised it. Countless games beforehand had orchestral soundtracks.

>> No.9799954

>>9799875
super mario gaylaxy amirite

>> No.9799984

>>9799859
>Super Mario Galaxy's OST blew everyone away
That's just brand recognition due to the Mario IP, not the music. Many games popularized orchestral before Nintendo. Hitman, FF, Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Rainbow Six, SOCOM, Splinter Cell, and motherfucking Ace Combat.

>> No.9799987

>>9796980
it was (still is) the phuture

>> No.9799989

>>9799984
I remember a big deal being made of Harry Gregson Williams doing the MGS2 soundtrack.

>> No.9800034

>>9799989
Both Gregson-Williams brothers made amazing scores. I still remember BF2 Modern Combat's soundtrack by heart.

>> No.9800327

>>9797837
Nice album anon, thanks for the share.

>> No.9800669

>>9796980
The 90s just had that feeling of Fukuyama's "end of history" as in: The big conflicts of the world were solved and now people in the west lived in peace and prosperity able to enjoy the beauty and mystery of the world. This is a thing that was quite apparent outside of video games as well. Just look at the entirety of Enigma with its eastern tunes (also popular at the time) despite this just being a German project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F9DxYhqmKw

>> No.9800912

>why/what caused the change to more a orchestral/symphonic/classical centered music?
Hollywood crap. Hollywood crap brought us this, tacticool cancer and shaky cams.

>> No.9800965

The change came at exactly the same time game developers decided they wanted to make hollywood blockbusters, luckily it seems that the market for cinematic games is finally beginning to die down.

>> No.9800972

>>9797017
Depeche Mode was already experimenting with electronic rock back in 1990 with Violator. Where are you getting such WRONG information?

>> No.9800980

>>9800972
They did not popularize it and blur the line between metal and electronic as much as the Prodigy did in '97. Not even fucking close.

>> No.9800982

>>9800972
We're talking about POPULARIZATION not INNOVATION, you fucking mouth breather.

>> No.9800990

I think one of the reasons had to do with fitting everything into RAM. Jungle was often composed as MOD/XM files in pattern-based trackers which had low overheads and often sounded much better than comparative MIDI soundfont implementations at the time.

>> No.9801176

>>9796980
I remember ape escape PS1 and ratchet and Clank 1+2 having some PHAT jungle/dnb beats holy

>> No.9801226

>>9800669
based fukuyama reference
how naive we were

>>9797837
I love this mix, youtube algorithm actually delivered for once when it came up for me

>> No.9801229
File: 899 KB, 400x400, 7CC618EF-E804-44E5-8A66-835CEEA5C120.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9801229

https://youtu.be/ft10CI78YOs

>> No.9801230

>>9797593
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55D6z2uyb48

>> No.9801369

>>9796980
the 2020's will be the decade of breakcore indie games, i can feel it...

>> No.9801379

Jungle and later drum'n'bass were hot, same with house, breakbeat. It also took less space compared to huge orchestral pieces (which I'm tired of like you wouldn't believe). Anyway, what I'm saying is, 90's were just the best, even if I was too small to really experience them until about 1997.

>> No.9801382

I'm just mad that more games didn't have trance and progressive trance soundtracks. ESPgaluda's first stage track is soul
https://youtu.be/6ej9DoG2FdU

>> No.9801386

>>9801382
Midnight Club 2 had a bunch of trance songs.

>> No.9801504

>>9800980
>>9800982
The Prodigy are trash and didn’t popularize shit.

>> No.9801550

>>9801504
Listen to Poison and Smack My Bitch Up, go on, I'll let wait.

>> No.9801554

>>9801369
Same, the generation that grew up on those y2k games are finally adults, we can finally leave all that millennial pixel indie shit in the past and finally start producing good games with little to no orchestral music.

>> No.9801603

>>9801550
I’m already familiar with The Prodigy. Boring.

>> No.9801643

>>9801554
>grew up on those y2k games
But aren't they millennials

>> No.9801770

>>9801643
No Gen Z starts at 1997

>> No.9802029

>>9796980
They hid Jungle and DnB away because they represent an optimistic future of warmth and far out alien landscapes. It is the music that people will be listening to in space in 1000 years, if ever we manage to survive and get off this rock.

>> No.9802072

>>9801504
90% of modern electronic music took inspiration from them, zoomie.

>> No.9802079

>>9796980
Videogames started to become more like movies and as a result started to use more movie style soundtracks

>> No.9802307

>>9799859
>I think I can pinpoint the orchestra trend taking off within the industry for game ost's as soon as Super Mario Galaxy's OST blew everyone away.
What kind of demented fucking zoomer revisionism is this? Orchestral soundtracks were common as far back as the 1990s. People like Michael Hoenig did music like that for the Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, and then no other fucking videogames since, going back to scoring film and TV, as well as doing his own work. People like Jeremy Soule got famed in the industry for orchestral soundtracks and he was sought out to provide that kind of music to games years before Mario Galaxy was even revealed.

>>9799919
No, it fucking didn't.
>The Elder Scrolls Morrowind
>Baldur's Gate
>Baldur's Gate 2
>Heroes Of Might & Magic 3 (which even had some outright fucking opera)
>Castlevania Symphony Of The Night
>Castlevania Lament Of Innocence
>Shadow Of The Colossus
>Metal Gear Solid 3
>Halo
>Curse Of Monkey Island
>Empire Earth
>BioShock
>Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time
>Return To Castle Wolfenstein
>Guild Wars

>> No.9802349

>>9802307
It's not really Zoomer revisionism as Nintendo fan revisionism.

>> No.9802386
File: 110 KB, 853x1000, 1655193096148.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9802386

>>9797001
That I-Ninja tune slaps way harder than it has any right to. Incredible find anon, my sincere thanks.

For me it is the whole Ridge Racer OST, plus the intro FMV is pure and unadulterated SOUL

Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVIj0nIM7fk

>> No.9803030

https://youtu.be/twBcMibg1Vs

>> No.9803132
File: 113 KB, 768x960, 1602285640068.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9803132

>Jungle thread in /vr/
I love you anons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZECgMt3sCs

>> No.9803214

>>9797017
what the fuck are you talking about
Prodigy didn't invent DNB or jungle

>> No.9803225

>>9803132
>Ape Escape
Based.
>>9803214
He said popularize, not invent.
Are you slow or what?

>> No.9803252

>>9797017
Something of a swing and a miss, a more useful Prodigy comparison is between their first album and the sountrack for the original Ridge Racer. Clearly a big inspiration on sanodg et al.

>> No.9803315

>>9803225
Prodigy isn't drum n bass or jungle and it didn't popularize either
>bla bla muh rock muh punk
Not relevant to dnb, jungle or anything else mentioned in your retarded word salad post

>> No.9803335 [DELETED] 

>>9803315
Dnb and jungle weren't the only genres mentioned. Prodigy's main genre is big beat, which is a derivative of breakbeat along with dnb, jundle and others. Another one of their main themes is electronic rock, which fuses elements from punk, rock, industrial rock, techno, synth-pop and hip hop.
So kindly shut the fuck up and go back to your fortnites.

>> No.9803348

>>9803335
>more word salad
prodigy didn't popularize drum n bass or jungle

>> No.9803356

>>9803348
It popularized the mixture of electronic and metal, you knuckle-dragging retard.

>> No.9803361

>>9803356
that is not relevant because nobody that was into dnb or jungle was into gay rock music in the 90s, before or after prodigy
>inb4 but youtuber X said...
nobody cares. I was alive in the 90s, you were not.

>> No.9803374 [DELETED] 

>>9803361
You weren't conscious in the 90s. I was.
Fat of the Land was an international success and is constantly remembered as one of the tenants of electronic music history. You'd know this if you weren't a fucking zoomie who's never stepped foot in a rave in your life.
As always, go back.

>> No.9803380

We get it, you really like Prodigy

>> No.9803382

>Wipeout
Release date
29 September 1995

>Goldie: Timeless
Release date
July 1995

>Prodigy Fat of the Land
Release date
June 1997

this dude is implying that Prodigy time travelled backwards to influence game devs and music artists with their album lmao

>> No.9803407

>>9803380
Yes, as well as Bukem, Goldie, Dillinja, Blu Mar Ten, Peshay, Omni Trio, and Dom & Roland. Heard of any of these names blowing up in videogames prior to 1995, or being international sensations? Thought as much.
If anything, japanese composers were the first to bring music from the underground scenes to games in force.

>> No.9803938

>>9796980
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E8kXghCZgAk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iGP3eS5Y0LE&list=PLwxLlSv5mvIa1WGSK3wH3o2Y9I4D-rqFi&index=8&pp=iAQB8AUB

>> No.9804154

>>9796980
I feel like 9/11 changed gaming in a way nobody talks about
after 9/11 3 groundbreaking games came out

>Grand Theft Auto III
>Halo: Combat Evolved
>Devil May Cry

while these games revolutionized their own respective genres, they also marked a deparchure from games that were fun, goofy, cheezy and more carefree and brought in the DARK AND MATUREZ era of gaming. While fun cartoony goofy games didn't die overnight, it eventually became more common and it got really bad in the 7th gen, when games became cinematic brown and bloom realistic shooters. unfortunately the DARK AND MATUREZ era is still with us to this day, with games trying way too hard to be movies and trying to be pseudointellectual shit.

>> No.9804252

>>9803407
>Dom and roland
Absolutely based

>> No.9804348

>>9803380
Im a shitpost starter
Twisted shitpost starter

>> No.9804350

>>9804154
>>Devil May Cry
i dont think you've played those games

>> No.9804386

>>9804350
Don't feed the trolls

>> No.9804391

>>9804154
>>Grand Theft Auto III
I don't think you've played those games.

>> No.9804405

>>9804348
I'M THE PORN ADDICTED
AH COOMER ILLUSTRATED

>> No.9804749

>>9796993
Yes, but today it's the same thing. Devs put rap songs and pop music too, not only because they grown to like it, but because it sells.

>> No.9805095

>>9797017
>Until that wall was broken by none other than The Prodigy
lmao.

>> No.9805136

>>9801386
That's cool, never really played much in the way of racing games

>> No.9805169

>>9804154
you're right in that 9/11 generally turned american cultural output into one massive edgy pity party but games felt influenced by it the least honestly. the worst of it was like shadow the hedgehog lol. meanwhile it felt like every other movie coming out was somehow glorifying foreverwar.

>> No.9805180

>>9804350
no. but I know DMC influenced GoW which influenced a shit ton of hack and slash games in the 00s and early 10s
>>9804391
I played GTA III

>> No.9805534

>>9805180
Dmc is goofy as fuck with a butt metal soundtrack

>> No.9806365

it's a shame so many game had DnB soundtracks but very few had Trance soundtracks, even though Trance was a much bigger genre back then

>> No.9806702

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XjhzXzaikpU