One of my buddies has turned me onto various obscure sounds from the 70s, mostly focusing on fusion jazz. Over the last few years that I've been listening, several albums have come up that are uncanny in their resemblence to soundtracks or generally the sound of video game music from the 90s (16-bit and beyond). Having been born in 1961, it would make sense that he was exposed to this kind of sound during his youth/typical music-listening years. The best example I could find was Mort Garson's album "Plantasia," released in 1976 (which would put him at 15 years old), but specifically this particular track from it:






Once you get about a minute in you should recognize immediately what this spawned. I wish I had kept track of all the music I came across in these genres that resembled various familiar soundtracks (mostly SNES)...does anyone else listen to fusion jazz or similar genres, or even more particularly have found any songs that resemble video game music as similarly as this resembles OOT? 

This is amazing! Tell your buddy thanks! Awesome unveiling!





We all know this one!

It's weird we'd be talking about this, as I ran across a song that made me do a double take. Right time frame, I think, 1979. Around 2:55 2:48 (where it does the ascent) is when I really think I sat up and was like, "What is this?"

There was another thread like this recently. Had the inspiration for underworld theme too.

Here's another one!

 

I honestly think (Well it is pretty well fact, listen to how unique the music in Mario Zelda is) a lot of the video game COMPOSERS have more musical sense than a lot of the "big" bands of our day like Metallica or whoever the hell else people listen to these days post 1990s (They are so fucking over-rated it makes me sick)

After listening and reading a lot of interviews with some of them they reference Classical, Progressive Rock and Jazz as their main influence and there is a reason that they are drawn to this type of music because it is incredibly musical.

I have a feeling that when video game creators were looking for people to do the music for their games they either had a friend who was a musician or they most likely hired someone from a school or who has graduated from a music school.

The reason why a lot of the good video game music is remembered because it really is on the same scale as some of these groups/musicians.

I really feel like they do not get enough credit, to be able to do what they did with the technology they had is insane.

This is hard fact. Super hard fact. The composers of video game music are leaps and bounds more musically talented and knowledgable than members of bands like say Metallica, or really any other mainstream famous band. It's not even in the same stratosphere. The guys who are sought out and hired to compose video game music likely have doctorate degrees in music and have histories as long-time members of orchestras etc, where musical knowledge and discipline are at university-professor levels. By contrast, you can imagine where people like James Hetfield acquired their musical skills: Listening to Black Sabbath and trying to mimmick Tony Iommi's guitar solos on stage at the bar. Now the people writing the music for major mainstream acts? Not for bands like Metallica who write their own music, but for the Katy Perrys and Britney Spears' of the world? The people who write their tunes likely know a thing or two about music. Shudder to think that the guy who wrote Oops I Did It Again probably has more musical knowledge in his left nut than every member of Metallica combined ever will, but it's almost certainly true lol.
 

That's 100% fact. Max Martin has the 3rd most #1 hit songs of all time behind only Paul McCartney and John Lennon. He is a genius.

Yea, nobody thinks about the guys behind the soundboard in the studio, but most of the time they're the real genius behind all the pop hits out there.  It's amazing to me that there are so many truly talented people working in the music industry that nobody knows about.

OP's first video blew my mind.  Now I dare you to find where the inspiration for Yoshi's Island music comes from  
 

Surely what you mean is that these genres are more melodic, which makes sense given the technology video game composers had to work with. The NES for example has so few sound channels, there's little room for complex instrumentation (particularly percussion). 

Once you get to the Sega Genesis era, it's far more common to hear soundtracks influenced by 80s metal or contemporary dance music than it is to hear anything jazz or prog-influenced. I think Koji Kondo just happens to have an interest in these types of music. Even on the NES there are many soundtracks that sound like hair metal in terms of composition; Contra for instance. There's nothing inherently more musical about the genres you mention.

Honestly, and I don't mean this as a slight because I love video game music and have a great respect for many of the composers, but most of them didn't write wholly original music but rather adapted something existing to the format of the console. Nearly everything Yuzo Koshiro, for instance, is credited for has a near 1:1 example existing somewhere; most of the famous tracks of Streets of Rage and his other memorable compositions have sections lifted wholesale from existing music. Now, merely getting this to even work at all at a sonic level on the hardware they worked with is quite a feat in itself. Also, like Picasso said, "good artists copy. Great artists steal." 
 
Again, I love video game music, but I think the reason many people remember these songs so vividly is because they are short and repetitive and we listened to them for hours and hours while playing the games. Based on studies, it takes around 10 times of a person hearing a musical phrase or pattern for it to embed into their subconscious. 

Yup that is what I meant.

 

Wow...call me ignorant but I never knew about that. Insane!! Thanks for sharing that  

Up until that point it definitely sounded like something familiar that I couldn't put my finger on...but like you said it becomes almost eerily similar after a certain point. Great share!

Ahh seems I missed it, do you have a link to the thread?

Wow...if that doesn't confirm that Mort Garson was an influence I don't know what else would!
 

That's interesting, I have listened to this song countless times but never put two and two together...definitely a similarity there!

 

Sounded a lot like Yasunori Mitsuda, like a song out of Chrono Cross! 

Unsurprisingly Mitsuda's main inspiration is jazz music.

BTW excellent topic, I always wondered how Koji Kondo came up with all those crazy arrangements  

Surprised this wasn't posted yet...apparently it was the inspiration for the Zelda theme. The 2 minute mark is especially familiar.