Music / Video Game Music

Also featured is a screencap of Pole Position.

Video Game Music is a collaborative album between Japanese artist Haruomi Hosono and various Video Game composers working for Namco (under the name Namco Sound Team).

It was released in 1984 through Yen Records in Japan and Pick Up Records in the Netherlands, during a time where Namco was already a well-established video game company while Hosono was out of Yellow Magic Orchestra (a band whose first album featured video game music). The basis of the album is that each track showcases audio footage of a Namco video game. After a sample of it is played, Hosono would rearrange the game's soundtrack by using the game's sound effects. Namco's most famous games such as Pac-Man and Galaga are featured on the album as well as more obscure ones like Libble Rabble.

It could technically count as a soundtrack album and even as one of the first of the video game kind, not to mention the fact that Hosono pioneers the Chiptune genre long before it would emerge as a music genre related to retro gaming. When Jools Holland presented a Japan-special episode of BBC's The Tube which featured YMO, he presented the album as well as Hosono performing a track on the spot.

Not to be confused with the main page for Game Music.

Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Xevious" (6:15)
2. "Bosconian" (0:14)
3. "Pac-Man" (2:53)
4. "Phozon" (2:09)
5. "Mappy" (3:32)

Side Two

6. "Libble Rabble" (3:30)
7. "Pole Position" (2:42)
8. "New Rally-X" (3:09)
9. "Dig Dug" (1:28)
10. "Galaga" (4:20)

Video Game tropes:

• Chiptune: Hosono had already created the genre's direct precursor in the form of the "Computer Game" tracks off of Yellow Magic Orchestra's first album, which recreates soundbytes from late '70s arcade games, but Video Game Music serves as the first complete album in the genre.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Video Game Music is an album consisting entirely of video game music.
• Face on the Cover: Subverted. While we can see Hosono's body, his face is replaced with a Xevious sprite that looks oddly like a robotic head.
• Game Music: The album consists entirely of songs from Namco's arcade games.
• Game Over: Some tracks also feature the game over jingle from the game it comes from.
• Miniscule Rocking: "Bosconinan" only lasts 15 seconds.
• One-Word Title: "Xevious", "Bosconian", "Pac-Man", "Phozon", "Mappy" and "Galaga".
• Product Placement: All the Namco video games featured on the album.
• Recycled Soundtrack: All the tracks come from the soundtrack of Namco video games (a slight exception with "Galaga" which features additional instrumentation by Hosono).
• Sampling: All tracks feature audio extracts of Namco video games.
• Shout-Out: Each track refers to a Namco video game and the album as a whole served as a promotion for Namco games.
• Songs in the Key of Panic: "Dig Dug" features the sped-up version of the main theme when time is running out.
• Spoken Word in Music:
  • "Bosconian" features a shouting vocal sample.
  • "Pole Position" features the spoken voice starting the race.
• Sudden Soundtrack Stop: Usually as a way to indicate that the track's remixed version is about to be played.

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