Notorious BGM – The Best Game Music of June 2016

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Games Nintendo
Games Nintendo

Welcome to Fandom’s totally subjective list of the best video game music of the month! Let’s face it, there are a lot of games out there with great soundtracks that slip through the cracks. That’s still gonna happen, but we’re here to make sure it happens a little less!

June is a tough month for game releases, as a lot of them tend to get crushed under the weight of the E3 hype train. Fortunately we’ve dragged the best tracks off of the rails so you can give them a listen. It’s a solid mix of new and old, with overdriven Guilty Gear guitars sitting right alongside a downtempo ambient track from Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. Enjoy!

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE

“Normal Battle”
Yoshiaki Fujisawa

A meeting of Japanese titans, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE merges the universes of the Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem games. Both series are already well respected for their excellent music, and fortunately this mash up lives up to its namesakes. Featuring vocaloid tracks, traditional J-Pop, EDM, and rock influences, Mirage Sessions effortlessly cements itself as one of the year’s best OSTs.

Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-

“Original Bet – Johnny’s Theme – gvgkid Remix”
Daisuke Ishiwatari

Turns out Arc System Works is pretty strict about their tracks being posted online, so we’re going to run with this great remix of Johnny’s theme by GVGKid. -Revelator- is the newest version of Guilty Gear Xrd, and as usual, features some of the highest flying metal guitar work in all of games, courtesy of long time series producer/composer/savant Daisuke Ishiwatari.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

“Act 1 The View Dash”
Solar Fields

Two of the most distinctive parts of the Mirror’s Edge games are their super slick, ultra modern graphic design, and its downtempo, ambient electronic music. While those two things might give the player the impression they’re in a Bang and Olufsen showroom, composer Solar Fields knows when to crank it up for the action scenes. The relaxed, calming nature of the music really helps the player get into the flow of perfectly maneuvering Faith throughout the world.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven

“Yoshikage Kira Battle BGM”
Chikayo Fukuda

Bandai Namco’s anime fighters (Naruto, Dragon Ball, etc) feature massive rosters of playable characters, all of which generally have their own theme. It’s a huge chunk of music to dig through, but there are always some gems to be found. Take this synth rock tune used for Diamond is Unbreakable villain Yoshikage Kira, it’s a perfect example of modern japanese game music, liberally mixing electronic and traditional rock elements from the last several decades into supercharged blasts of energy.

Kirby Planet Robobot

“Title Theme”
Hirokazu Ando

Nintendo games are well known for their above average soundtracks, and Kirby’s latest is no exception. This track has got the trademark cuteness of the Kirby games, but the robot theme has led to some tougher, more industrial sounding noises being incorporated. This soundtrack is solid all the way through and highly recommended.

The Technomancer

“Traditions from Earth”
Olivier Deriviére

An interesting song that mixes a classic Eastern feel with synths and acoustic strings to create a sort of weird world traveler spaghetti western space cowboy feel. Appropriate given that the game is sci-fi RPG set on Mars.

Did we miss any of your favorites from this month’s releases? Let us know @getfandom on Twitter by using #NotoriousBGM!

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