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Episode 596: Retro Game Lyrics (Patreon)

Published:
2024-02-25 23:51:43
Imported:
2026-06
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Game music hits different from, uh, "real life music," or whatever you want to call it. Many of us '90s kids who felt like pop music belonged to the popular kids at school (it's right there—"pop!") slid video game soundtracks into our Discmans to satiate our hunger for music. And what a time it was, for with the advent of the compact disc in music and video games alike came the addition of lyrics to game music. 

It's true that some Super Famicom RPGs have entire pop songs enfolded within their chips, but hearing lyrics in video game music for the PlayStation was a straight-up miracle for North American kids. Who wrote these songs? Who chose to use them? How complicated are the licensing issues to this day? (So complicated.) 

This week, Nadia Oxford forms a quartet minus one with Bob Mackey and Diamond Feit. They talk all about the lyrics you sometimes hear as a reward for killing your vampire father or passing other milestones. And let's not forget the angelic choirs given muffled voices by the PC Engine.

Edits by Greg Leahy. Proper episode art coming soon!

8:37 - Skate or Die (NES): Title Theme

9:47 - Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble: Title Theme

14:51 - Psycho Soldier (Arcade): Theme Song (International ver.)

18:00 - X-Men (Arcade): Junk Factory

19:56 - X-Men (Arcade): Island M

27:57 - Tales of Phantasia (SFC): The Dream Never Ends

29:06 - Aerosmith: "Eat the Rich"

36:47 - Pop Will Eat Itself: "R.S.V.P."

38:38 - Final Fantasy VII (PSX): One-Winged Angel

45:39 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX): I am the Wind

50:06 - Violent Storm: Feel My Power

51:59 - Rockman 8: Metal Heroes: Electrical Communication

59:15 - Starsailor: "Way to Fall"

1:01:54 - Silent Hill 3: You're Not Here (+ metal cover ver.)

1:06:45 - Sam & Max Hit the Road: King of the Creatures

1:09:37 - Mother (1989 album): Wisdom of the World (+ FC ver.)

1:13:09 - Persona 4: Reach Out to the Truth

1:14:01 - Persona 4: Your Affection

1:15:34 - Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (PSX): Let's Go On

1:20:55 - The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge: Dr. Finkelstein

1:22:48 - Metal Gear Solid (PSX): The Best is Yet to Come (+ ENG lyrics ver.)

1:26:45 - Civilization IV: Baba Yetu

1:27:55 - Conker's Bad Fur Day: Sloprano

1:31:23 - Super Smash Bros. Melee: Kongo Jungle

1:35:48 - The 8-Bit Big Band: "I Wanna Take you for a Ride"

Closing - The Megas: "Don't Mess with Magnetman"

Files

Comments

Kormakur Gardarsson

What an episode, my favourite Retronauts episode in a while!

TheLupineOne

Even today, for me, it feels amazing and "WOW!" whenever I hear a video game track for the first time and hear lyrics. Like Nintendo's presentation at E3 2017, when Super Mario Odyssey's trailer featured "Jump Up, Super Star!", as sung in game by Pauline! One of the most recent examples of such a reaction was to 2022's Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and its main theme, "Welcome to the New World!". However, the lyrics for this one aren't in any language known to Earth, but the language of the "New World" that Kirby finds himself transported to. In the game's credits, the main theme's vocals are solely credited to "NEICHEL"; it turns out that this was the in-universe singer of the theme, a resident of the new world before it fell into ruin and abandonment. She would appear at the Kirby 30th Anniversary Music Festival, but her face remained shrouded and anonymous. https://gigi9714.wordpress.com/2022/07/31/translation-of-the-kirby-and-the-forgotten-land-interview-from-the-june-2022-edition-of-nintendo-dream/

littleterr0r

I think I was the only person who ever listened to God Lives Underwater.

littleterr0r

I definitely rented Skate or Die 2 back in the day and recorded the intro onto a cassette tape.

Craig

Like a sleeper agent, memories of hiding my video game/jpop music from my friends as a teen have emerged. Like Bob mentioned, we all had contingency plans if we got caught.

Patrick McClafferty

It's funny that you kept bringing up Konami as they were the creators of the first console game I recall having vocal tracks (and Japanese ones at that). Mystical Ninja starring Goemon on N64 had 3 vocal tracks, a theme song, villain song and giant robot theme. It was quite unexpected to see in 1998. The robot theme (I am Impact!) Is still a favorite to this day.

Sebastiano Gerace

The Great Mighty Poo song is the greatest piece of music in video game history. It has been in my head for over two decades.

Guybrush

What is standing out in my mind right now is Drifting Away from Dribble and Spitz's stage in Warioware, Inc. The song combined with microgames and the graphical aesthetics of a riding in a taxi through a rainy night in the city, makes for 5 minutes of gaming perfection.

Frankie's Cauldron

Lunar Silver Star Story Complete is my favorite game! Winds Nocturne is my favorite song.

BlueWeaselBreath

Very fun episode! A tune that I think should get a mention is “Girl In the Tower” from King’s Quest VI (1992). If you have the floppy disk version, there’s a short sample of this ballad in the Options Menu, and you’ll then be asked to call your local radio station (referencing the enclosed pamphlet with radio station contact info for major metropolitan areas) and request the tune. Sierra wanted to make it a radio hit with this campaign, but it just ended up pissing radio stations off. The CD-ROM version had it playing over the credits. I like the song a lot, but it’s impossible for me to tell whether it’s an objectively any good, given that it’s within a format—the sappy 90s love ballad—that is not always respected and doesn’t always hold up well. And an honorable mention is “That’s Death” from 1996’s Discworld II, sung by Eric Idle!

Nuno Amaral

The first digitized voice I remember was "Double Dribble." In no way a song, it would; however, become my life's anthem, not because of my B-Ball prowess, more so due to an overactive salivary gland. Oh those glands of mine.

Kaelan Ramos

If you beat Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (1997) with no continues, you were treated to a full vocalized music video of "Blue Mary's Blues", with full screen sprite animations. I can't tell you how many times I played through this game just to watch this music video again. Still kind of stunning for what it is. https://youtu.be/-3XTuBZiC4w?si=EYtzIeAD5V12e_48

Nat

When I head about the topic, the first thing that came to mind was the musical number from Sam & Max. Glad I wasn’t the only one!

CitizenMeh

Starsailor were a mid-level British indie band, and the rumor was Konami mixed them up with mid-level American indie band stellastarr*.

Zach Adams

This was a really fun ep with a lot of great music. I know nobody involved in this ep is into wrestling games, but I'd have loved for "Sticky Worlf" from WWF Attitude to get some airtime. It kind of sucks but it's the only example we have of studio guys trying to be Devo. https://youtu.be/vNSdRTVqqso?si=7V5MItKaYF2YJRUc

Ben Fraser

Great episode, I just wanted to shout out the Sonic CD opening themes, "Sonic Boom" for NA and "You Can Do Anything" for Japan.

Wood Duck [Legacy Edition]

Okay look out here comes the hissing, grumpy WoodDuck - The cast is showing their age by excluding Sonic Adventure Battle 2. I probably speak for the 30 to 35 year old crowd saying that as cheesy as it was, SAB2 was formative for getting a generation into punk rock and whatnot. You also missed Portals "Still Alive", which was an internet phenomenon, albeit one that was quickly driven into the ground. Finally, you discussed the DK Rap without name dropping Grant Kirkhope and George Andreas! Duck attack OVER. 🦆

Nuno Amaral

I've writen my own lyrics from existing videogame music, and I am most definitely not a nerd. My magnum opus was a song about potatoes, sung to the Chrono Trigger's 600AD theme. It was quite the banger...and mash.