https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9rIjjGmJhM
The little 1-2-3-4's and baseball bat cracks in the back half of the song always remind me of the baseball level from Rhythm Tengoku.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8JSJAe2k0Y
Vib Ribbon nightmare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKJVdir6aHQ
Extremely Ocarina of TIme flourishes throughout.
oooo, Iām going to love this thread
Masayoshi Takanakaās āManifestationā sounds like it belongs in a Sega game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qSYyb9G3DU
Probably cheating a little but Naoya Matsuokaās āThe September Windā directly inspired the music to Outrun, so much that parts of the songs are lifted directly into the game. I played a ton of Outrun as a kid and so hearing itās direct inspiration was incredible. I love this album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxEf4OKheNc
Ah, finally, a thread for me to spam T-Square classics. Letās start with the obvious pick: Guileās Theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGSf-B0l5IY
If I had to sum up T-Square, I'd call them the jazziest, most flamboyant Showa J-pop band without the vocal track that should be there. Their excellent melodies, instrumental panache, and dense arrangements sans vocals made them top material for musicians like Shimomura, Hiro Kawaguchi, and others to draw from. And, of course, one of the co-founders, Masahiro Ando, himself did some game music.
Compare these two tracks, for instance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DYL2blxWSA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stqHH5sx3Nk
Did I mention that, for all their jazz fusion excellence, they did great pop-rock as well? Ando literally just cloned one of his later compositions, Knight's Song, and made it Moon Over the Castle for Gran Turismo. That's some way to spend less time than planned on your contract gig.
I'm more partial to works from their early-to-mid-1980s era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8VBXJCsljg
T-Square also largely popularized the Lyricon (and its successor, Akai's EWI wind synthesizer) in Japan and the world over, alongside the Rippingtons and other smooth jazz/fusion groups. Lyricon/EWI melodies are very distinctive in this genre, and very likely a big influence on Japanese game musicians seeking to recreate these pleasant sounds. (Let's not forget the funky slap-bass!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8bzUC4akhY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvcI6JtFU6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p9L7CV-HcI
Mmm, just so good. Many call this style corny or buttrock, but I beg to differ.
Granted, a lot of people now like this stuff because of how much it adopts from city pop/Showa kayokyoku music, notably the lavish instrumentation and saccharine qualities which avoid J-pop/idol pop stereotypes.
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@PasokonDeacon#1324 Ando literally just cloned one of his later compositions, Knightās Song, and made it Moon Over the Castle for Gran Turismo.
_Moon Over the Castle_ (the exact version that was used in GT, not the _Knight's Song_ incarnation) was originally the opening track from Ando's solo album released in 1996. I think they just licensed it outright from him, although it obviously became directly associated with the game. And unsurprisingly, the entire album sounds like a 1997 video game soundtrack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUOoVXtbGhE
[SuperSweep Records](http://sweep.co.jp/) (founded by former members from Namco's Sound Team) released many original albums that unsurprisingly sound like they came out of the cutting room floor of a new Tekken, Ace Combat or Ridge Racer game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B_J101aVKg
To answer on a more personal note, I am not sure if this fits the kind of reply @snackman had in mind, but I will forever associate the album Diva from Annie Lennox with the game El Viento, because I was listening one on near infinite loop around the same time I was obsessed with the other, around Easter 1992. Especially the tracks [_Primitive_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmo1jIJCalw) and [_Stay By Me_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YlCIAzDd00) I literally picture Annet, and the tiny antichamber besides the dining room in which our family's CD player was located, and the view of Paris' rooftops at twilight in Spring from the window just above, and the specific smell and temperature of that apartment, anytime I hear them. But this is strictly an intimate and personal connection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmo1jIJCalw
Whenever I hear the intro to this:
https://youtu.be/sZLKtjATZt0
I think of this:
https://youtu.be/GBPbJyxqHV0
@snackman#1319 that Janet Jackson song is one of my favs of hers. such crazy production, 160bpm triplet feel years before footwork was ever a thing. truly insane!
https://youtu.be/rRf_enBal2Q
This song has big Sega energy to me
If it's ok to cheat a little, off the top of my head is the reverse.
One of the many things that caught my attention with Fragile Dreams on the Wii was the music used in its trailer. The song To All The People.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pPsJd6bPOM
Which made me immediately think about Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf0HYeQp760
And vice versa.
On the subject of Ryuichi Sakamoto, a soundtrack that doesn't make me think of similarities, just feeling, is the one he composed for the 1998 movie based on the painter, Francis Bacon, Love is the Devil.
Francis Bacon, who's well known for his unnerving and haunting art, is paired with a soundtrack that is equally unnerving and haunting. The movie goes over his abusive relationship with a thief caught in the act, and goes into some dark places. Dreamy, hazy, haunting, and will always make me think of Silent Hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkFUgniGW0c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBOGP74inlk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy6ho-bWfQ0
I have a bunch of these! though mine arenāt direct inspirations and more āsame vibeā kind of deals. I have a playlist in my brain called āmusic to play the genesis by,ā but I wonāt go too far into it.
Here's a track that is very reminiscent of the Dragon Slayer series on PC Engine. Ultimately it's just they're using really similar synths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=418515KflfU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJdwQ9bb9Z4
The bassline in this one gives me a total toejam and earl vibe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QYospW_8TI
Another roland synth, this gives me a real dragon slayer II PC Engine vibe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvmGU8eTtU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPgADsH3S6A
I have a bunch of sonic ones I'll save for another post!
Some of this thread is blowing my mind! I love it!! The only one that comes to mind right now is Nobuo Uematsu said The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky was what he was listening to get inspiration for One-Winged Angel. You can really hear the influences, especially at 24:15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP42C-4zL3w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLWzFda6C60
This takes a scenic route. It makes me think of video-games via the 90's.
It is the nineties ...
It wouldn't be out of place in many of my favorite 90's games.
Actually, it kind of is in one of my favorite shooters. One of the songs in Ai Cho Aniki borrows from this.
Despite being in Ai Cho Aniki, it actually reminds me more of Biometal.
Undoubtedly, thanks to the North American version of Biometal having 90's dance music for the soundtrack.
Big SIlent Hill vibes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wdxTyBTwjU
Geoff yeah, this reminds me also of Tempest 2000, which, I meanā¦ that's what he was going for, so there it is!
Chelsea Wolfe must have played every Silent Hill through to completion I think.
So much good stuff already mentioned butā¦ ahā¦ no oneās mentioned Dirty Loops yet, so Iāll go ahead and mention Dirty Loops. How about that ridiculous version of the Samsung ring tone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-siHP8YjhI
The title might be a bit on the nose, butā¦
https://youtu.be/Ql3g1BUVfJs
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@chazumaru#1325 I will forever associate the album Diva from Annie Lennox with the game El Viento, because I was listening one on near infinite loop around the same time I was obsessed with the other
I have this same sort of thing with a few albums, but embarrassingly it's things like Blink 182 and Spyro...
2 Melloās āMemories of Tokyo-Toā is basically the soundtrack to a sequel to JSRF that doesnāt exist https://youtu.be/OBt8ioYEXBw
iāve already seen people link some shibuya-kei artists earlier in the thread, and certain artists/songs always remind me of early 2000ās games soundtracks (almost like a lot of the composers were influenced the genre or something lol). however this songās section that starts at 0:18 has always struck me as the most āMario Party 4-soundingā song iāve heard.
https://youtu.be/TmiGP8mKo3I
ah yeah, Iād say youāre right about that for sure!
This doesn't remind me of a specific game, but I get alternating Third Strike character select, Black Matrix stage, and tons of other vibes from this era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAxgpHWtLC0
Just saw this posted on Twitter. Very blue-sky Sega.
https://youtu.be/wrYrjjM9pyg