You’re getting in your car after having made all of the necessary preparations for a road trip. You have a cup of coffee—or your preferred beverage—and a snack. You start your car, pop in disc 4 from the Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack and begin your journey towards your destination while the battle music begins playing. You can’t help but smile and feel good. The trip itself will be a joy!

A nerd am I, oh yes I am! I find video game music to be quite pleasant to the ears. Not only do I enjoy it during road trips, but also for short commutes, in addition to listening while I write. I am currently listening to “Rusty Ruins Zone Act 1” from the Sega Saturn version of Sonic 3-D Blast as I write this.

Video game music, in my humble opinion, shouldn’t be enjoyed only while playing video games. Consider modern gaming and how entire orchestras are used for modern in-game soundtracks—Octopath Traveler and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, just to name a couple.

A lot of work is put into making music in games today. Talented, dedicated musicians put their heart and soul into their work. A good video game soundtrack will simply be a joy to listen to anytime, anywhere. It has the potential to stir up emotions, and even to get the listener excited and pumped full of energy, ready to take on the day. Good music is powerful.

No, I don’t only enjoy modern game music. I do like some tunes from the retro games as well. They can be pretty catchy, especially if it’s from an NES game like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Battletoads—which, by the way, has the BEST pause music in any video game, EVER.

The game soundtracks I currently have in my collection are:

1) Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack

2) The 35^th Anniversary The Legend of Zelda Game Music Collection

3) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Original Soundtrack

4) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Original Soundtrack

I also have a huge playlist on YouTube dedicated to video game music which includes tracks from the NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and Sonic 3-D Blast.

Do you meditate and would like some calm music to flow through your ears? Try listening to “The Venerable Forest” from Star Ocean: The Second Story. Would you like some good battle music for your D&D campaign? “The One They Call The Witch” from the Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack would be perfect!

So what are your thoughts on music in games? Do you listen to game music outside of games themselves, and if so, what do you like? Head on over to the Boss Rush page on Facebook or Discord and let’s talk about it!