Search - Game Music :: Namco Video Game Music

The Soundtrack From The Arcade...

Dean Anderson | New York, New York | 04/03/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Namco Video Game Music is effective for what it is: a reformulated version of some of the themes you heard while playing some of the more popular arcade games of the 80s and 90s. My main gripe about the album isn't even the fact that these aren't the original soundtrack recordings, but that the disc is "write protected," meaning that if you want to record it to an MP3 format, you have to go through an extra and unnecessary step (i.e. playing it in a CD player, line in to your MP3 recorder) to make that happen. I was a serious addict of the game "Out Run," so I felt compelled to purchase this disc. I suspect very few others will be so inspired, and those that are will probably want to just remember those tunes as they were. To sum up: this is a curio with a high price tag!"

You won't need a game console for this!

D. David | 02/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know when it became repackaged as Namco, but this was originally an album put out by Yellow Magic Orchestra alumnus Haruomi Hosono. In most selections he first plays sampled sounds and tunes of the game, then gives you an orchestration from the elements. Opening with Xevious was an awesome idea. Its intensity will immediately put your BP and respiration into Game Mode, even moreso if you've spent hours mastering the game during its heyday. The man is a legend and this is a brilliant homage. If you were an arcade addict during the videogame boom of the 80s, or stubbornly hang onto those arcade emulators with a clawing grip, this album is definitely for you."