Finally, it’s time for the 90s, the decade where video games make the largest graphics and audio leap in their entire history. I’m not kidding. We begin this decade with the final years of the NES and other third-gen consoles, with their simple sprite-based 2D graphics and 3-channel waveform sound, and we end it with real-time 3D rendering and full CD audio.

You can be guaranteed that in any given year, there will be at least one really good video game soundtrack. But some years are full of them, so much so that it’s hard to pick a favorite among half a dozen or more. Other years, not so much. In the “down years,” there isn’t a lot to look forward to. The soundtracks aren’t always bad in any objective sense, but nothing seems to rise above the level of “competent.” The winner is all but guaranteed by virtue of being one of maybe two competitive entries, if you’re lucky. That’s just how life goes, I guess, but what makes this strange - strange enough I felt like wasting your time right now to tell you - is how the up and down years are coming in a predictable and alternating pattern. 1984, 1986, and 1988 were all “up years,” with multiple groundbreaking, beautiful, intricate, and kick-ass soundtracks that I genuinely love to listen to in my spare time. 1985 and 1987 were down years, and so is 1989. I’ve also cheated and looked ahead a bit. 1990 is an up year, 1991 is a down year, and 1992 is an up year. What does this mean? Nothing at all. Thanks for reading.

While sound cards are not technically new to 1988, this is the first year for any notable FM Synthesis and MIDI on PC. Previous lists mentioned the Mockingboard, which might have been the original sound card, but that was exclusive to Apple II machines and also wasn’t FM synthesis. But then in 1987 the first major sound cards for everyone were released: the AdLib and the Roland MT-32.

Sturgeon’s Law: “90 percent of everything is crap.” Reductive, but not wholly wrong. The more games get released per year, the more I have to sift through all the trash to find the good stuff. Yes I’m complaining.

Listen up naughty children, it’s time to talk about Nintendo. There’s a reason that the word “Nintendo” became synonymous with “Video Games.” Millennials and younger folk often grew up with the impression that games sprung fully formed from the ground with Super Mario Bros., so dominant was this company in the 80s and how thoroughly they buried their competition.

I want to evaluate as many titles as humanly possible. So the first thing I do is some very in-depth research (five minutes on google) in order to find all the titles which were released in the given year. Then I compile those into my own list, look up soundtracks, and listen to them all. Unless I can immediately tell it’s a stinker, I like to listen multiple times, take notes, watch playthroughs, and look up facts about the game’s development and its composer. All of this ends up being something we like to call “work,” and plenty of it.

There’s something different about video game music after 1984. Larger games means more space for sound. Better graphics means sound and music can match the visuals. More complex stories means tracks based on specific characters and events. The music doesn’t just get bigger, but the very reason for writing it changes.

So games got bigger - a lot bigger. Graphics were good enough now to show sprites (and I mean “sprites” as in “2D rendered objects”) that looked almost like people. Storage was large enough to actually include a narrative in games that called for one. More expansive stories with fleshed-out characters meant more music, and specifically music designed with that game’s narrative in mind. So I can almost fill out a whole Top Ten list now! This time I have eight games what are good in my opinion, and one honorable mention I’ve included simply because it was too big to ignore. Enjoy the Top Eight Games of 1983:

1982 is kind of a down year, but not because no good games were released. Rather, they were drowned out by the flood of garbage titles that caused the first ever crash in the gaming market.

The continuation of my Top Ten Vibeo Grames ranked on their sound and music! But there weren’t that many games in 1981. Well, there were a couple dozen, but the vast majority of them had either no audio or so little that it wasn’t worth including them in a top ten list. So this is more like a top four list. That’s right, there are only four games from 1981 worth talking about, at least when it comes to audio.

Do you like Game Awards lists? Do you like Top 10 lists? Would you like to see that, but 40 years out of date? Then this page is for you.