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A short timeline on Video Game Music

  • zfrye151
  • May 7, 2017
  • 2 min read

Earlier video game music used very low-quality instruments, as well as simple melodies with little percussion. These are the songs you'd hear in arcade games like Pacman or Galaga. Usually while playing, you don't particularly pay interest to it,as it isn't that distracting to the gameplay. As music has evolved though, it has became harder to ignore the soundtrack playing in the background.

In 1985, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short. The NES was equipped with an 8-bit soundcard that was able to play simple 8-bit songs. They were very small in file size, and quite simple and repetitive. The instruments were very low-quality in sound to fit the art style, so they sounded very "fake". After a few years, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis were released. They used a 16-bit soundcard, which allowed for a bit more variety in melody and instrumentation. Songs also were able to increase in length with larger file sizes, and were generally more pleasing to ears.

Later on, the Sony PlayStation was released alongside the new Nintendo 64, both having higher bit soundcards, with the former having CD quality audio. Games like Crash Bandicoot involved alot of songs using instruments like marimba or bongos that sounded way more accurate than older systems. Finally, as the later 2000s started, video games had very high quality orchestras playing the music combined with various synths. Now, music sounds very accurate and high quality.

 
 
 

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