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CultureMorning MusicI Wanna Live In Burning Force‘s Gorgeous ’80s Anime Future
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re listening to Burning Force, a 1989 Namco arcade shooter with an amazing sort of bubblegum sci-fi slash Dirty Pair aesthetic. While Namco’s 3D vehicle shooter Burning Force (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) was no…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 19, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicTwisted Metal 2’s Wild Soundtrack Deserves More Love
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we burn some rubber and blow up some shit in the PlayStation classic Twisted Metal 2. While the original was a fun PS1 launch game, 1996’s Twisted Metal 2 (playlist / longplay) was a massive…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 18, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicResogun’s EDM Is An Ode To The Parties We Missed This Year
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool sounds they make. Today, as we rapidly approach the launch of a new mainline PlayStation, let’s take a trip back in time and celebrate a game that anchored the launch of the last mainline PlayStation: Resogun, the ostensible alien…
By Ari Notis Published October 16, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicCreaky Monkey Ball Ancestor Tama Sounds Whimsical AF
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. I’m dialing up the obscure-o-meter a bit today with a weird 32-bit launch title from 1994. It’s Tama! Japanese players who ponied up ¥44,800 to own a Sega Saturn on its November 22, 1994 launch met…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 15, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicIronsword: Wizards & Warriors II’s Bosses Were Cheap, But Its Music Wasn’t
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today it’s time to take stock of the eerie pulsations that power Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II, an incredibly little 8-bit adventure game with an even more incredible 8-bit soundtrack. The first time I played Ironsword:…
By Ethan Gach Published October 14, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicFinal Fantasy XIV’s Glorious Rak’tika Greatwood Song Takes Me Back In An Instant
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we take shelter from Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers’ everlasting daylight under the canopy of twisted trees in the Rak’tika Greatwood. Under the watchful eye and skillful ear of sound director Masayoshi Soken (interview), hundreds of…
By Mike Fahey Published October 13, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicThere’s Nothing Fishy About Darius Gaiden’s Incredible Space Opera
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to get a taste of Zuntata, Taito’s legendary in-house music team, by way of one of its most distinctive talents. Taito’s long-running, horizontal shmup series Darius has always been a little strange, depicting…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 12, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicDoom’s Manic Metal Gets Your Ass Moving
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to Hell. I hope you packed a shotgun and some armor shards. There aren’t many games that have a better start than 1993’s groundbreaking first-person shooter Doom (playlist / longplay / VGMdb). You…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 11, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicFallout 76’s Music Was Always Great
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to talk about Fallout 76’s pastoral ode to nuclear death and irradiated rebirth. No other soundtrack in recent memory has breathed so much life into an otherwise empty and broken game. I’m speaking,…
By Ethan Gach Published October 9, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicSonic Adventure 2’s Peppy Pop-Punk Is The Escape From The City I Need Right Now
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, we’re finally rolling around (at the speed of sound) to a song that has a money-back guarantee on putting a pep in your step: Sonic Adventure 2’s “Escape From the City.” We’ve run this feature…
By Ari Notis Published October 8, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicLet’s All Cry Because Final Fantasy IX Is Over
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to talk about Final Fantasy IX’s ending theme, an audio sponge that sucks up 40 hours of emotion-packed Japanese RPG and squeezes it out all over every time you listen. Opening themes set…
By Mike Fahey Published October 7, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicMGS3‘s “Snake Eater” Is Good Enough To Be A Bond Theme
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, I hope you’ve got some decent upper-body strength because we’re going to climb up a very, very long ladder listening to Metal Gear Solid 3’s dramatic and campy theme, “Snake Eater.” Metal Gear Solid 3:…
By Ash Parrish Published October 6, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicBehold, My Three Favorite Resident Evil Tracks
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, maybe because Zack’s already reminded me several times that his favorite spooky holiday’s comin’ up, I wanna share some standout Resident Evil music. At this point in my life I’ve spent a lot more hours…
By Alexandra Hall Published October 5, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicOblivion’s Soundtrack Is Perfect For Adventuring
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we return to the adventurous world and epic soundtrack of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (playlist / longplay / VGMdb) was a big deal when it came out in March…
By Zack Zwiezen Published October 3, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicDonkey Kong Country 2’s Soundtrack Is A Perfect Mix Of Hyped Up And Zoned Out
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to revisit some of the chillest gaming beats around: David Wise’s music for Donkey Kong Country 2 Unlike 1994’s SNES Donkey Kong Country, whose mix of naturalistic themes and retro-swing jazz was a…
By Ethan Gach Published October 2, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicGoing Under’s Lo-Fi Soundtrack Makes Me Feel Like I’m Not Working At All
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today, we’re heading into the office in Going Under, a roguelite dungeon crawler where work is hell. Going Under (playlist / longplay) is a game about navigating the hellscape of working in America. In Going Under,…
By Ash Parrish Published October 1, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicAr Tonelico‘s Music Chants Discordantly, Whispers Seductively
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we’re going to attempt to look past how blatantly horny the Ar Tonelico series is so we can focus on how good its music is. I wish us all luck. Created by Gust, the Japanese…
By Mike Fahey Published September 30, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicManhunt’s Soundtrack Would Make John Carpenter Proud
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today we straight-up murder some people for the amusement of a sicko filming it all. But at least the soundtrack is good. Rockstar Games, the developer behind Bully and Grand Theft Auto V, is no stranger…
By Zack Zwiezen Published September 29, 2020 -
CultureMorning MusicLunar: The Silver Star Was One Good Argument For The Sega CD
Welcome to Morning Music, Kotaku’s daily hangout for folks who love video games and the cool-ass sounds they make. Today let’s give a listen to Lunar: The Silver Star, the marquee Sega CD RPG which kicked off the long-running series. The Sega CD gets a lot of criticism, and it’s mostly on point: Sega and…
By Alexandra Hall Published September 28, 2020
