Real life music references in retro games.

[xuvetyn96]

I always like when game devs throw in little references to bands or artists they are fans of in their games, and it makes me really happy when I spot a reference to a band I like. I'm talking about the Portishead posters in Silent Hill, and the list containing the names of Sonic Youth members.

Or the My Bloody Valentine billboard in FF7.

What are some other examples of this? I love this sort of thing.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

The Korn logo is all over some of the Spawn games, a reference to McFarland's earlier work.

 

[Clippy]

Guilty Gear is one big rock and metal reference.

 

[spectresfrommercury]

the megaman x games easily that one

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

Many Queen references in Yasumi Matsuno's games.

Ogre Battle and March of the Black Queen are titles of Queen songs. There are other references in the Ogre Battle game such as a city named "Scaramouche" which is part of the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody. I suspect the starting weapon in Vagrant Story "Fandango" is another reference to Bohemian Rhapsody.

 

[fake-kun]

General Pepper's name (from Star Fox games) is a reference to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

 

[Clippy]

For a perhaps more obscure game: Ever played Ugh! on the Amiga? Level passwords in the game are song titles by Christian Death and Current 93.

What I'm saying here is play Ugh!

 

[Cu-Neo]

The names of some mavericks in the English PSX version of Mega Man X5 are references to Gun n Roses

The real names are: Spike Rosered, Crescent Grizzly, Volt Kraken, Burn Dinorex, Dark Necrobat, Tidal Whale and Shining Firefly. And the real names came back in the X legacy collection.

 

[Xdqwerty]

• Ozzie, Flea and Slash from Chrono Trigger

 

[Zemus]

Thunder Force IV's Metal Squad:

seems to be inspired by Loudness's Soldier of Fortune:

 

[Fusselrolle]

Ys I Chronicles+ has a character saying "Oh oh, here she comes. Watch out boy, she'll chew you up!" when he's confronted by the nurse for talking to the protagonist, who is still recovering from a shipwreck.

Obviously a reference to "Maneater" by "Hall and Oates"

 

[jon2]

Why is no one mentioning Rance's "Glorious Days"?

 

[Not_Red]

The "New Age Retro Hippie" OST from EarthBound is quite literally just a cover for Johnny B Goode

 

[xuvetyn96]

The "New Age Retro Hippie" OST from EarthBound is quite literally just a cover for Johnny B Goode

Oh yeah I forgot about this! I'm curious though, were you aware this link was a Snoop Dogg mashup lol. I wasn't expecting to be blessed by that.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

The "New Age Retro Hippie" OST from EarthBound is quite literally just a cover for Johnny B Goode

That's not the only Johnny B Goode reference in JRPG world, although this one is less direct.

 

[miguk]

As odd as this sounds, I like it when the original writer does this sort of thing, but hate it when the translators are the ones who do it. It helps that the Japanese writers tend to do it in better ways and with better, more eclectic taste in music that manages to be both more fitting to the game's contemporary era and more timeless in the long run. (Compare to mediocre translators going "hey fellow kids, you really need to be reminded again that Guns N' Roses rules! Hair metal's not dead, right?") But also, it sucks that scripts (especially in the 90s) got mutilated by some guys who thought their already dated taste would hold up better than the original writer's ideas.

That said, I was overjoyed the first time I saw the ones in Final Fantasy VII and Silent Hill. It's great to see underrated bands get their due in popular games.

And to add to the discussion:

• "Hard Times" by The Jetzons is blatantly in Sonic 3's IceCap Zone.
• Green Jellÿ was one of the first bands to write the soundtrack for a game: Spider-man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. The song "Carnage Rules" got lyrics written for it and put on the album they released just before the game's release.
• Journey (arcade) was one of the first games to feature music by a rock band (Journey, of course).

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

The "New Age Retro Hippie" OST from EarthBound is quite literally just a cover for Johnny B Goode

View attachment Runaway_Five_M2_Himitsu_no_Takarabako_artwork.webp
Runaway Five from the Same game. Basically they're the blues brothers.
Classic Doom's entire OST is a "reference" to late 80's and 90's Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

 

[Sandteufel]

You know how Magus's cronies in Chrono Trigger are named Ozzie (Black Sabbath), Slash (Guns 'n Roses) and Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)? That was pretty cool.
Also Holy Diver on the Famicom is one huge metal reference in terms of its name the characters (and the name of the game itself): the villain named Black Slayer, the protagonist named Randy, his brother named Zakk, their father named Ronnie, and their godfather named Ozzy.

 

[bradfromgta3]

Not so much of reference as he was actually featured in the game, but Phil Collins in VCS was always cool to see growing up. GTA Online has a similar thing with Dr. Dre as well

Can't forget Madd Dogg's albums from GTA SA. All references to real life albums from the 90s

(References in order of appearance: Above The Law - Livin' Like Hustlers, Ice-T - Original Gangster, Tha Dogg Pound - Dogg Food)

 

[Raidou Kuzunoha]

In Digital Devil Saga 1, an NPC quotes Linkin Park. Spotted it during my second playthrough.

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

 

[shubiduba]

Alan Wake does it in a great way also, with Poets of the Fall/Old Gods of Asgard.

Alan Wake II is just as great.

 

[water_kooler]

Check out Kenji Yamamoto. He composed soundtracks for Dragon Ball games and worked for Toei Animation for many years. Eventually he was was fired for plagiarism, and most of his work is a blatant ripoff.

Led zeppelin
Judas Priest
Earth Wind and Fire
Disturbed
Slash
Black Sabbath
Terminator: Salvation Theme
music taken from Cowboy Bebop
House of the Dead 2 intro

 

[Dyne]

The names of some mavericks in the English PSX version of Mega Man X5 are references to Gun n Roses
View attachment 8282
The real names are: Spike Rosered, Crescent Grizzly, Volt Kraken, Burn Dinorex, Dark Necrobat, Tidal Whale and Shining Firefly. And the real names came back in the X legacy collection.

This is the first thing I thought of too

 

[BlissfulBandit]

Many have already mentioned Megaman X but not this specific one: the music that plays in Neon Tiger's stage

Is just the riff from My Michelle on loop