12 Things You Didn't Know About Video Game Soundtracks

5. There Were Customisable Soundtracks In The '80s

It'd be safe to assume that the advent of customisable, personalised video game soundtracks didn't emerge until CDs were the industry's most prevalent medium. After all, how could we transplant our audio into a game with no way of tearing it from the source material?

It's a fair assumption, and one that's mostly accurate - but not entirely. Customisable soundtracks as we know them today - ones featuring our own choice of music - weren't a true reality until 1999's Vib Ribbon. NanaOn-Sha's trailblazing rhythm action game didn't do things by halves though; aside from just allowing the player to listen to their own tracks, the game also generated a unique level from them.

Prior to Vib Ribbon, games had been giving gamers some form of soundtrack customisation as far back as 1986. For Sega's Out Run, Hiroshi Kawaguchi provided three tracks for drivers to choose from in the game's in-car radio, providing the sensation of freedom designer Yu Suzuki demanded for his laid-back, breezy gestalt.

Thalamaus' 1987 Commodore 64 blaster took things a step further. To ease the boredom of waiting for the game to load from cassette, Rob Hubbard coded a small sound mixer to offer players the chance to change the instrumentation of his Pink Floyd-inspired main theme. A novel approach to a loading screen, and certainly better than reading the same gameplay tip for the umpteenth time.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.