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1UP COVER STORY
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 25 | VIDEO GAME MUSIC FESTIVAL
Total Immersion: Gaming’s Best Diegetic Music
Cover Story: Game music is great, but it’s even better when it’s actually part of the game.
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ou may not be familiar with the term “diegetic music,” but you know of the concept: Diagetic music refers to a melody that appears within a multimedia work not simply as a part of the score but as a sound whose origin lay within the context and environment of the story. So when Luke Skywalker blows up the Death Star and you hear a triumphant swell of strings and tympanis, that’s not diegetic, because Luke does not (to our knowledge) have the London Symphony Orchestra in the cockpit of his X-Wing. But when he wanders into Jabba’s palace and sees horrible computer puppets dancing around to agonizing electronic music, that is diegetic, because the song and music originate with the Max Rebo Band skulking repulsively in Jabba’s lair. Got it? Got it.
Diegetic music doesn’t play into video games as often as you might think, but in a way that helps to make its appearances all the more meaningful. Besides really obvious instances, like Parappa literally rapping his way into Sunny’s heart while baking cakes and using the bathroom, the following instances of in-game music stand out to us for the way they lend a little something extra to the works in which they appear. Maybe they build atmosphere, or perhaps they accompany a crucial moment on which the plot pivots. In any case, these diegetic game music selections transcend the status of mere soundtrack by becoming an integral part of the game itself.
