Video game soundtracks are great. While this may not be immediately obvious to many players playing a game for the first time, the soundtrack in a game is possibly the most memorable part of any game. Even when engaging in the gameplay and visuals of a fast action game, leaving little attention remaining for the music, it would be difficult to find a song from a game that a player of that game can not recognize and at least somewhat enjoy.
So why is it so difficult to get one’s hands on a video game soundtrack? The vast majority of video game’s have never had their soundtrack officially released and probably never will. Sometimes soundtracks are only included in special editions of games like the definitive editions of Ori and the Blind Forest and Killer Instinct (Xbox One) or in online rewards programs like (the now discontinued) Club Nintendo. Still, these releases often don’t include many of the songs present in the game or have some other issue like Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s DRM filled USB stick. Video game soundtracks often get released in Japan but never make their way west, too.
Some might claim potential copyright problems prevent game companies from releasing their soundtracks but that has not stopped multiple other companies from doing so. Some companies, like Sega, Capcom, and Game Freak, have released large amounts of their music on various streaming services without any problems. Still, streaming services are far from the comprehensive source for video game soundtracks that one might want.
With the vast majority of video game soundtracks lacking a release that also has likely no probability of ever existing, people who want to listen to these soundtracks have few options. Some games have “sound test” modes, like possibly most famously in the Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games, where players have to input a code generally during a specific period of time to make the menu appear. These modes generally do feature every song and sometimes even every sound effect in the game, so they can be a good way to listen to specific songs that one is interested in listening to in that game. However, the majority of people who listen to music since the invention of portable music players are probably not interested in being tied to a console.
Probably the best version of a “sound test” in any game is in the portable Super Smash Bros. games. Both games have extensive soundtracks from a huge array of games, so it is obvious why the developers decided to include the best “sound test” mode they could. In both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, music can still be played while the screen is turned off in each games’ respective “sound test” mode. This turns, probably more usefully, the 3DS, but also the larger Nintendo Switch into portable music players. Without Bluetooth on both devices though, it is hard to not wish you could just listen to this music on your smartphone instead.
Possibly the best source for video game soundtracks is YouTube, which has multiple channels that are dedicated to uploading entire video game soundtracks for people to listen to. This is likely the most comprehensive collection of video game soundtracks, but it does have its own problems. If one would like to listen to these videos in the background of their smartphone through legitimate means, Google forces users to purchase a $11.99 monthly subscription to YouTube Premium, which is a rather large expense to pay to listen to an app in the background. The subscription does offer some other features, but most people are probably not interested in paying for a service that is popular for being free. None of this money goes to the people who actually made these soundtracks either, so the price cant be justified in that way.
Overall the state of video game soundtracks and their release outside of the video games they are already in is extremely disappointing. Video game soundtrack releases are usually either prohibitively expensive, non-existent, or are only available through cumbersome means.
