It seems like menu music was only around for about one or two generations before it completely disappeared. The greatest menu tracks are totally synonymous with their menu layouts, the little beeps and boops from selecting menu items, and even with the sweet save file screens. Thankfully, folks have been preserving these forgotten art forms on YouTube and other websites, even going so far as to create variants that run for 10 hours (totally not complaining about that). To be quite honest, some of these tracks I wouldn't consider music - more like ambient background noise, or just ambience.
Whatever the proper term is for these tracks, I want to share my 5 favorites that I hope shower you with wave after wave of nostalgia and good feelings.
Before we dig in, take a moment or two to check out my goofy gaming podcast, SuperPod Saga! We're on an epic saga to discuss every single video game topic in existence, on week at a time! Available wherever you get podcasts.
Ep. 145 - Steam Trash Christmas in July | Toree 3D, Ballz: Farm, Phoenix Force, Steamulator 2019, A Short Russian Blackjack Game, Bladestar (ft. Andre and Kate)
Ep. 145 - Steam Trash Christmas in July | Toree 3D, Ballz: Farm, Phoenix Force, Steamulator 2019, A Short Russian Blackjack Game, Bladestar (ft. Andre and Kate)
PlayStation 4
While I've never owned a PlayStation 4 (one of the very, very, very few that didn't) I have always enjoyed the menu music of the system. This track always fills me with a sense of playfullness and whimsy, as if the PS4 itself was trying to ask you "What do you want to play next?" or "What did you think of that game? Pretty sweet, huh?".
It's incredible that Sony has always been able to deliver such great menu music, even now with the PS5.
Xbox
How fucking weird was the Xbox dashboard, right? It totally felt like being inside of some alien spacecraft or device, with the swooshing of fluid, very low droning, and occasionally some super creepy voices. Fun fact: those voices are from the communications between the Apollo 11 and Earth. This ambience fits perfectly with the original Xbox - feeling like this extraterrestrial being that has suddenly entered the console wars.
It's a shame that Xbox hasn't experimented with console ambience since then, sticking with silence on later consoles.
PlayStation 2
The PS2's menu ambience is too good to not include in this blog. This entire thing feels like someone from Sony went to the ocean with a tape recorder, hit the record button, and just let it go. I've never been to the ocean before, but I imagine it sounds a lot like this, but with more seagulls and people. Sony nails the background ambience with this one and really made this console feel alive, as if the UI was more of an ecosystem that gently nestled your save data and other options within its crystalline columns and cubes.
If Sony made their own sleep app or sleep box and included this track, it would sell like hotcakes.
Wii-U
The Wii-U may have been a failure commercially, but it'll always be a winner in my heart. One of the best parts of the system is that jingly, joyful background music overlapping the occasional yap of the Miis on your screen, showing you some cool stuff that your friends have been sharing on Miiverse (RIP to the GOAT). Every single part of the Wii-U's menu was so fun and so great to look at and listen to, especially the menu icons contained in those glass-like squares, playfully bobbing up and down.
If there's one thing that I wish Nintendo would improve with the Switch and Switch 2, it's the lifeless husk of a menu that they've chosen to use. Nothing beats the soul of the Wii-U's menu.
GameCube
I love the uniqueness of the GameCube's menu - the cube inside of a cube. The translucent cube floating in the dark void seems like it should be more unsettling, but Nintendo instead made it feel welcoming and almost as if it wants to be friends with you. After all, it's holding all of your save data and options inside of it.
This was Nintendo's first shot at a console menu (unless you count the N64DD) and it was a certified banger.
That's all for now! There are some consoles that have some really cool background music when you apply different themes that I left out for this one. Maybe I'll do another blog sometime yapping about my favorite themes in console menus or just my favorite console menus in general.
What do you think? What's your favorite console menu ambience or music? Let me know in the comments!
PEACE.
Ep. 145 - Steam Trash Christmas in July | Toree 3D, Ballz: Farm, Phoenix Force, Steamulator 2019, A Short Russian Blackjack Game, Bladestar (ft. Andre and Kate)
Ep. 145 - Steam Trash Christmas in July | Toree 3D, Ballz: Farm, Phoenix Force, Steamulator 2019, A Short Russian Blackjack Game, Bladestar (ft. Andre and Kate)
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