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Four Strings, Sixteen Bits: Basslines in VGM

Cadenza

Cadenza

Mellotron enthusiast
(She/they)
(thread title courtesy of Vaeran!)

Just like in most other genres of music, too often good basslines in video game soundtracks go unappreciated. Not anymore! This thread is for posting your favorite examples of sweet basslines in VGM. Is it funky? Does it hold the entire rest of the track together? Is it just fun to listen to? All valid criteria!

I'll get this thread started with possibly my very favorite bassline in all of video games, courtesy of Kenichi Tokoi and the Sonic Colors soundtrack:

 
Kishi

Kishi

Little Waves
(They/Them)
Staff member
Moderator


"Final Fantasy V Main Theme," from Final Fantasy V, by Nobuo Uematsu. I'd never paid attention to the bass in this before Theatrhythm, which requires you to play it for one part of the chart. Now it's more memorable to me than the melody itself. I don't really know enough about composition to explain why, but I really like it. As a musical lay person, Theatrhythm was great for getting me to mentally deconstruct lots of tracks and hear parts of them I'd never appreciated before.
 
muteKi

muteKi

Geno Cidecity

This may as well be the progressive jazz-fusion remake of Planet Wisp in terms of how the song is structured -- reminds me a tad of Hugh Masekela's song Stimela, especially in the way it plays with dynamics to convey fear and anger and has a looser tempo than Planet Wisp. But the roots of both in African folk music traditions is very clear to me. And as a result the basslines are fuckin bangers
 
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Sarge

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
I dig how there's actually some low bass in Rudra no Hihou. A good track here.

I think in all my younger years, I never consciously listened for the bassline. But since I started singing in choir (bass, duh), I've definitely listened to more songs to pick out that bassline, if only because I have to listen for it when I don't quite have my part worked out yet.

 
q 3

q 3

here to eat fish and erase the universe
(they/them)
Live-A-Live's medieval chapter has an awesome slap-bass-based battle track.

 
Peklo

Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
Takayuki Aihara, Shinji Hosoe and Ayako Saso's work on the Street Fighter EX games is an absolute treasure trove of great basslines. The musical apex of the entire franchise, and an indelible legacy in the genre and medium.

EX Plus α
Spinning Bird
Strange Sunset
Garnet Sky
Precious Heart
Sakura Mankai
Under Tube
Stronger

EX2 Plus
Three Tree
Fake World
Pearl in the Sky
White Field
Phantom Bomb
Crowded Town
Green Shower
Frozen Mist
Digital Ignition
The Infinite Earth
Before Moon
Passage of Lotus

EX3
Harem Beat
Temptation Gun
Cute Mafia
Coldman Rosso
Indra Bridge of Ta So Ga Re
Iron Eyes
Matador
Biri Biri Red Heat
Music Move
Ancient Zone
 
Cadenza

Cadenza

Mellotron enthusiast
(She/they)
Great responses to the thread so far! Here's another one of my favorite basslines, from Kohta Takahashi and Ridge Racer Type 4:

 
ShakeWell

ShakeWell

Slam Master
(he, etc.)
I mean, look, it's redbook so maybe it isn't exactly in the spirit of the thing, but... it literally slaps.

 
Sarge

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
It's friggin' Lords of Thunder. I say it's absolutely welcome here.

Also, depending on your tastes, the Sega CD version sounds quite a bit different. I've always been a fan of that version myself - used to have the OST in my rotation. I should put it back in.

EDIT: Sunsoft's got your back on NES. No other sound like it.




Also, you can usually depend on Yuzo Koshiro to bring some bass.

 
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Cadenza

Cadenza

Mellotron enthusiast
(She/they)
Y'all the Sonic games are full of great basslines, my goodness. Here's a random example:


It's not as prominent in the mix as some of the other posts in this thread, but it's still very much worth appreciating.
 
Sarge

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
I dig the bassline running through a couple of Jeroen Tel's C64 tunes. Dude was a wizard with that system.



Also, the game is junk, but Follin bringin' some funk.


 
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Cadenza

Cadenza

Mellotron enthusiast
(She/they)
Sarge said:
Also, the game is junk, but Follin bringin' some funk.

Click to expand...

Fun fact about this tune in particular, the melody is swiped pretty much directly from the opening themes to seasons 2 and 4 of Starsky and Hutch; apparently Tim Follin was a big fan of the show growing up. He even wrote the soundtrack to the 2003 game based on said show, which is similarly rubbish but also has some bangin' tunes:

 
Sarge

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
Did not know that. Very interesting, indeed!

Oh, I've always loved the bass in this song.

 
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Sarge

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
I can dig the groovy beat underneath this track. Panzer Paladin really does have an excellent OST.

 
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