Music in video games has progressed significantly over the last years. While various technological achievements have led to impressive music in today’s games, there’s still worthwhile soundtracks found on older systems like the Super Nintendo (SNES) despite its 16-bit limitations.
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Even though the SNES had a 16-bit DSP and DAC, composers had to fit all of a game’s audio onto 64k of RAM, which greatly limited the amount and type of audio that games could use. The technological limitations of the SNES means that its soundtracks are almost always simplistic and basic, which the best SNES composers used with powerful results. While it’s best remembered for its gameplay, countless SNES soundtracks are also worth remembering.
7Chrono Trigger
Yasunori Mitsuda, who was previously a sound programmer, along with Nobu Uematsu (Final Fantasy) composed the soundtrack toChrono Trigger. Mitsuda focused on creating music for the game that did not fit in any one genre, but instead was music from an imaginary world. Mitsuda reports taking four months to compose the music for Chrono Trigger. The composition process was fraught with challenges but the worst was a hard drive crash that caused Mitsuda to lose around forty tracks he was working on. Mitsuda later experienced ulcers, which led to Uematsu joining him.
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Chrono Trigger’s score served as inspiration for the soundtrack of many RPG games due to its scope. Within Chrono Trigger, Mitsuda utilized leitmotifs to create consistency throughout the soundtrack. Chrono Trigger’s soundtrack is full of bright and memorable songs as well as darker and more intense musical pieces.
6The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
A Link to the Pastwas one of the first games released for the SNES. As a composer who had worked on Super Punch-Out!! andSuper Mario, Koji Kondo’s music is known for creating catchy themes that can be enjoyed multiple times. A Link to the Past’s audio utilizes the same over world music as the first Zelda entry. Several well-known pieces of Zelda music originate from this game, including Ganon’s and Hyrule Castle’s theme.
A particular highlight of this soundtrack is how Kondo utilized the use of brass instruments. While some music in the game is perfect for adventures, others are absolutely soul-crushing. Kondo also made the score in stereo, which was cutting-edge for the time, which let you hear the direction that noises came from.
5Earthbound
The composers of the first Mother game, Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanak, along with Hiroshi Kanazu and Toshiyuki Ueno, worked onEarthbound. While the NES has five channels of waveforms, the SNES offers eight, which at the time offered the composer the chance to make a richer soundtrack. Over 100 pieces of music were written for the game, which is enough music to fill eight megabits of the 24 megabit cartridge.
The Beach Boys’ Smile was an influence on the soundtrack, and that can be seen especially in many of the musical pieces that occur near the beaches. Suzuki has also cited John Lennon’s music as an influence and that the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album was particularly helpful in encouraging Suzuki to avoid excessive instrumental parts. Earthbound is one of the very first games to use vibrato or “string-bending” in its score. The score also uniquely contains pieces of classical and folk music as well as pop, rock, salsa, reggae, and dub music.
4ActRaiser
Yuzo Koshiro became a freelance composer in 1988 and worked on various projects including the Shinobi and Streets of Rage series. A couple years later, Koshiro composed the soundtrack for ActRaiser. An early release for the SNES, ActRaiser demonstrated the potential that the system held. Koshiro took samples of horns and strings then resized them carefully to maintain the original atmosphere.
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ActRaiser’s music is invigorating and heroic, similar to what one might find in an adventure film. Understandably, Koshiro cites John Williams (fromStar Warsand Indiana Jones) as an influence on the soundtrack. ActRaiser is a game that combines civilization building with platforming, and its soundtrack is just as much a hybrid. The game features atmospheric Castlevania-like, xylophone and brass, and somber organ pieces.
3Secret Of Mana
The second entry in the Seiken Densetsu series, Secret of Mana’s score is Hiroki Kikuta’s first, and it’s one of the best ones on the SNES. Kikuta wanted the soundtrack to contrast two music styles and reportedly spent approximately 24 hours a day in his office creating the music. Kikuta created his own samples, which let him know exactly how each piece sounded on the SNES. While composing the soundtrack, Kikuta was inspired by natural landscapes.
The game’s soundtrack alternates between foreboding and light-hearted music, and also utilizes experimental music including bird calls and waterfalls. The music borrows from a variety of styles, including Claude Debussy, electronic music, and popular music. Kikuta’s score helps to tie together the game world and give the illusion of life and movement.
2Star Fox
Before leaving Nintendo, Hajime Hirasawa composed the soundtrack toStar Fox, which combines rock, jazz, and orchestral music. Star Fox was a revolutionary game that marked the first game to use theSuper FXchips and started a 3D shooter period for Nintendo. The game’s soundtrack perfectly accompanies the outer space and shooter framework of the game.
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The soundtrack is funky at times, as well as catchy and engaging. The games in Star Fox all seem to combine, which gives the game a more cohesive feel. One of the most memorable songs in the game is Corneria, which features percussion and string instruments as well as brass. While Star Fox is still fun to play, its score remains one of the most powerful orchestral pieces for the SNES.
1Super Mario World
Koji Kondo created a prolific amount of memorable game soundtracks, and composed this score a year before A Link to the Past. Several music pieces in the game, including the Overworld piece, are now representative of Nintendo games as a whole.
Super Mario World’s soundtrack is iconic and one of the most memorable Mario soundtracks ever. Kondo utilized several different instruments and implemented them one after the other throughout the game’s title song. The soundtrack also features snippets from previous Mario games but rearranged in unique ways to appeal to your ear. Super Mario World likely would not be the legendary game it is today if the game utilized a different soundtrack.
