Ask Lemmy

The 3D zelda games.

That was the point where I prefered soundtracks over singing. I still have the Twilight Princess trailer mp3 I cut almost 20 years ago on my running playlist.

That and the score for Battle for Wesnoth. Classic freeware, peak 2006.

Skate and Destroy, Tony Hawks Pro Skater, GTA 3/Vice City/SA.

Also numerous PSX games are the reason I still listen to that old school drum & bass.

Later, Guitar Hero games.

Need for Speed Underground 2!! All songs were awesome, my favorites were the Riders on the Storm with Snoop and Nobody by Skindred

ducktales, maniac mansion, and shadowgate on the nes

oh and secret of mana (but especially secret of mana ~ banished)

I think it was one of the Sim City games... I'm not sure if Sim City 2000 or Sim City DS which really woke me up to certain music genres.

Anyway, yeah, The World Ends With You was truly something with its soundtrack. Was such a cool surprise when I first played it on the NDS.

Guitar hero literally got me into real guitar so probably that one

SuperTux

Tony Hawks proskater.

Xenoblade 2, Silent Hill 2

Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX

As a kid I would play this asia grinder MMO flyff. Not a good game, but the OST is great, especially the music that would play during login.

Kid me would hear this a lot because I kept forgetting my password...

https://youtu.be/5hkvYlVAwjk

Test Drive 5 and Hades. Two musical awakenings about 25 years apart.

Both have fantastic sound tracks, but also wildly different.

Myst and Riven. Became homework music for a long time

Not an awakening per se but Splinter Cell Chaos Theory introduced me to Amon Tobin and the world of weird, experimental electronic music.

Symphony of the night of course, bust before that also games like streets of rage (1,2) and thunder force 4.

I don't know if it was necessarily an awakening, but I've had the music from Super Mario Brothers in my head for 40 years. It's so damn catchy.

The Chris Huelsbeck soundtracks on the C64. Turricane, Giana Sisters, etc. They were a real game changer in a dimension you kids can't even imagine.

I don't know if it shaped anything but definitely inspired increased listening. Tropico, any version. Those games always have excellent playlists. The music is so good, I could be board with the game and still play because the music drags you in.

Portal 2. Absolute banger of a soundtrack that I have listened to over and over, and I absolutely loved Exile Vilify by The National, which frustratingly is not on Spotify.

Tony hawks pro skater series and gta vice city mostly

Hotline Miami.

lol… genuinely, DOOM. I grew up with just the radio and a mom who made weird and arbitrary rules about music so my music exposure was terrible. I found a journal from when I was ten talking about how excited I was to listen to the “top ten soft rock hits” of the week with Delilah. Hearing DOOM and going omfg this ROCKS!! made me realize there was other music out there, big music, epic sounds, distortion, heavvvvvy sounds I love it all, I’m also a bass head as it turns out. DOOM opened the door and I’ve spent my adult life exploring all the different kinds of music I never got exposed to as a kid.

I always liked electronic music but Machinarium made me consciously realize how much I liked ambient music and how much could be done with it.

Do the Guitar Hero games count? Because those

Chrono Trigger.

Adding a few more to my list.

Spyro (PS1) - Stewart Copeland's genius cannot he understated, and subsuqently got me into his original band The Police (I'm seennddinngg out an S O S)

Final Fantasy VII and IX both sound tracks I go back to frequently

Kingdom Hearts definitely started my love for JPop

Lots of songs from Tony Hawk (the PS1 era)

need for speed underground for obvious reasons

Stubbs the zombie got me into indie rock

Strangely, despite playing many games over the years, and enjoying tons of soundtracks and themes, I don't think any of them awakened any interest that weren't already there. Owing, I suppose, to a pretty diverse exposure in my youth which led to a lot of seeking new genres.

With perhaps this exception:

Civ 4's Warlords Expansion pack.

Al Nadda

The theme is a classic Lebanese folk song called 'Al Nadda', popularized by famed singer and actress Sabah.

It's a catchy little tune that sticks in your head. You can find many variations, including the original (roughly 1963ish), as well as instrumental versions, online. Sometimes it is reimagined in a modern style like this one:

Modern 'Al Nadda'

SSX tricky for the PS2

Pick any game in the Final Fantasy series. For me it was the overworld in FF6 and the battle songs from VII and VIII. I Also really vibed with the Uncharted games, which used an orchestra of interesting folk instruments to create a really cool musical soundscape for adventure.

Undertale and Celeste for me for sure

I honestly think FF7 made get into classical music and contemporary composers.

If you put the install disk for Warcraft 2 in a cd player, you had a kick ass orchestral soundtrack.

Fallout Soundtrack is the only reason I know who the ink spots are.

Both let me appreciate styles I had never given a chance.

Damn, I can't believe Halo CE hasn't been mentioned yet. That game was a musical awakening for the entire industry.

So many

Half life.

Thief 1/2

Wing Commander 3

I may have a sweet spot for industrial music.

StarCraft’s iconic Terran soundtrack is the earliest game where the music really got me hooked into that 80’s synth rock/metal. Of course there’s also Mick Gordon’s Doom soundtracks, but that came in later and I was already listening to metal by that time.

Red Alert 2. I did not know what metal was up to then.