In the gaming industry of today, there is a divide between the music contained within the games: there are those that feature orchestrated music, those that do not, and some that have a bit of both. In the early years of the industry, orchestrated music wasn’t possible in video games because the hardware was too underpowered to handle it. It wasn’t until around the launch of the Xbox 360 in 2005 that orchestrated songs being implemented into games became a “thing”. Nowadays, it’s possible for any game to have it, but it’s solely up to the developer/publisher and if they feel the game deserves it and would be better for it.
Now let’s just imagine for a moment that orchestrated music in games would have been possible in the 90s. I’m sure there are many songs from the SNES, Sega Genesis, Playstation and Nintendo 64 that would have certainly benefited from a bit of orchestration, right? One such song that comes to my mind is Tusk’s theme from Killer Instinct Gold. Unlike the rest of the music in the KI Gold and its SNES predecessor, Tusk’s theme has a more “adventurous” nature to it–an epic sounding piece that would fit right at home in a fantasy film where the hero is slaying the enemy to save the day. Have a listen to the Tusk theme yourself…
Does that not sound like a song that should be orchestrated? To anyone who doesn’t know any better, it’s possible they would thing it already was. While the rest of the Killer Instinct music is, of course, just as fantastic, I can’t say that any of them would be quite as deserving as receiving the orchestration treatment as Tusk’s theme does.
What is your opinion on the matter? Do you believe that Tusk’s theme is worthy of being orchestrated or do you think another Killer Instinct song would be better suited to that treatment? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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I totally and definitely agree: Tusk’s theme DOES sound orchestrated. How about all of the above including a new updated version/remake of his theme?
Well, Tusk’s Theme is suitably orchestral. If you look at Tusk, he very much looks like the typical barbarian. Its pretty obvious he is a homage to Conan of Robert E. Howard fame. If you listen to the OST of the Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer the scores are written by the mighty Basil Poledouris. If you like Tusk’s Theme I implore you to check out those soundtracks. Robin Beanland has excellent taste
Yes. These OSTs from the Conan movies do sound really good and melodic as well as epic
I think that all of the music deserves a breath of new life. Personally I’m all about the females so an updated Chinese remix to Kim Wu, and a Techno update to Orchid and a orchestrated update to May would be hot.
An orchestrated update for Maya? How and in what ways exactly should Maya’s theme receive an orchestrated update? Why not a mixture of techno/dance (just like in KI2) and orchestrate music? How about that instead?
Definitely! You’re correct. It does sound orchestrated.