If you love vinyl and you love video games, you’ll find a friend in me.
When you imagine a venn diagram pitting together those two subcultures, directly in the middle you’ll find an extremely dedicated group of audiophiles who worship video game soundtracks as cross-disciplinary holy texts.
We’ve already covered the best video game soundtracks which, for reasons unknown, haven’t received the wax treatment. Today we worship instead of whine, bringing you a set of 5 OSTs you can grab a vinyl copy of today.
Want to spice up your vinyl collection with something different? Video game soundtracks are the way to go, so here are 5 suggestions.
Mass Effect
The Mass Effect OST took hints from the best corners of retro sci-fi, composer Jack Wall looking primarily to Blade Runner and Dune for the sense of sonic foreboding they brought to the table.
It’s Stranger Things, but over a decade earlier. Plus, there’s no shortage of legit synth thumpers amongst the more orchestral tracks. Later on in the series Sam Hulick began to take the reins, eventually composing the entire Mass Effect 3 soundtrack without Wall’s aide. It lost just a touch of the magic, but that’s not to discredit the trilogy at all.
You can grab a box set of all three soundtracks from the BioWare store.
Halo: Combat Evolved
The first Halo game redefined the first-person-shooter. It also sounded fucking amazing. Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s score is memorable start to finish, whether it’s the choral vocals from the main theme or the thumping drums which never failed to stress me out as I was driving for my life on the final level.
The run was limited to 2000 copies so these discs can get a little pricey, mostly going for $100-$200 on Discogs. There’s always a couple of listings up.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
I’ll never fully understand what drove the developers of Far Cry 3 to go full Tron for the Blood Dragon DLC, but I’ll also never complain about it. Taking a game which had been entirely set on a tropical paradise and shooting it into a neon, retro-futuristic computer nightmare was left-field, but it hit the damn mark.
The soundtracks is nu-wave, disco cheese courtesy of Power Glove. Once again, Discogs is your go-to.
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse
The main inspiration for Netflix’s current TV reboot, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is a retro favourite, many lauding it as the hardest, greatest, and best sounding entrant into the Castlevania series.
The original OST is the most 8-bit on this list, so if you’re not into the beeps and boops of times gone by I would avoid it. Otherwise, it was reissued on vinyl by Mondo earlier this year.
I Am Rapture, Rapture Is Me (Bioshock)
Few games have ever been as complete as Bioshock. It was moody perfection, a meticulously constructed world that was engrossing, gorgeous and fucking terrifying all at once.
And the soundtrack was an extension of that ideal, pieced together with an artisan’s precision. You can grab I Am Rapture, Rapture Is Me for as little as $40 these days.
Happy Mag’s Needle in the Hay vinyl competition is giving one artist from Australia or New Zealand the chance to have their EP or album pressed to vinyl by Zenith Records. Enter here.
