Gaming Music for Retro Video Games: Where to Get The Best Sounds and Effects

For those of you who were brought up in the early days of the video game revolution, making the most of what the Sega Megadrive and Nintendo (among others) had to offer, you may be longing for the look and feel of retro video games. You may even be looking to create your own.

Clearly, gaming has come a long way over the past decade or two, and that’s never a bad thing. Still, there is an argument to be had that though the level of graphical content has become hyper-realistic, there was a charm to earlier efforts that were more concerned with maximizing gameplay than trying to mimic reality.

Nostalgia sells, and even hearing gaming music associated with a classic video game is enough to bring the craving for some retro gaming to the fore. The big titles of the past are regularly recycled and updated, and your pursuit of the production of a retro-leaning masterpiece should be aware of the importance of the soundscape you use.

The Importance of Gaming Music and Sound Effects

Music and Pro SFX (professional sound effects) are crucial in most genres of content, but in gaming, this is even more critical. Gaming, at its very heart, is about transporting a player to another universe or reality. This means that every aspect has to be in tune and of the highest quality; otherwise, the three-dimensional world you are creating won’t be as effective as it could be.

In games that realism is critical, for instance, in simulations or sports-based gaming, you need the world you create to be as close to real-life as possible. If you fail in this regard, then it doesn’t really matter how great your graphics are or the level of playability. V 

If the game you are creating is fantastical in nature, then your soundscape isn’t so much about replicating reality; it’s about using the medium of sound and music to give a player the illusion of an entirely alien world.

When scoring a film or video project, you would look to marry the visuals and sound in as suitable a way as possible, with each element complementing the other. With gaming music, the same is true.

For instance, your retro game may faithfully imitate or pay homage to a nostalgic game from decades past, but if the music and sound effects don’t fit well, then a user is smart enough to notice. 

Finding the best music and sound effects is key to making sure the gaming music for your retro video game is on point. 

Where to Get the Best Sound Effects

Getting music and sound effects that work best for your project is a task made infinitely more manageable due to the emergence of royalty-free music services. What is royalty-free music, you might be asking yourself? 

Royalty-free music allows users of the service to secure great music and SFX at an inexpensive cost and without any of the hassle associated with dealing with copyright-protected music.

When you subscribe to a royalty-free music provider, you are given access to an inexhaustible supply of content that will help you to build the soundtrack for your retro video game.

This content is stored in easy-to-navigate libraries that are sorted and tagged according to genres and types. This means you can easily locate the type of sound effects and music you need for a specific scene or portion of your retro video game.

Maybe you want that perfect ping that comes with collecting a token or a nice jingle that announces the completion of a task or level. You’ll be able to sift through vast databases to find precisely the sounds you need to make your game come to life.

Specific Needs for Retro Gaming Projects

A retro gaming experience will require some planning and focus. For the creation of a game that takes the user back to 8-bit arcades, you’ll need the relevant beeps and bleeps, pick up/power up and coin collect sounds. 

Similarly, the noises you’ll need for other elements, such as fighting elements (punches, explosions, fall, and damage sounds), will be of a specific type that suits the era you are trying to recreate.

Equally important as the sound effects are the thematic music options you look to bring into the overall score of your gaming masterpiece. Again this has to fit the type of game you are making; if it’s an RPG, a shoot-em-up, or a simulator, the soundtrack will have to be the right one for your niche. 

Finally when it comes to the scoring of retro gaming projects you should make sure to steer away from directly copying an existing game, especially one of note. You wouldn’t want to fall foul of any copyright claim. 

Which Site is Best for Gaming Sound Effects and Music?

Of all the royalty-free music sites, Artlist is by far the most popular, and that is with good reason. If you want a near-infinite resource when it comes to music and effects, then you won’t find a better option in the market.

Artlist hosts thousands of tracks and samples and SFX, and their output is regularly updated, which means you’ll always have new ideas and sounds to try. They are an inexpensive option as well, especially when compared to the competition, and the added bonus comes from the fact that even if you unsubscribe or leave the service, all the music and SFX that you’ve downloaded remains yours forever.

Their pricing models are simple, offering you either access to music or SFX or the option of both. For the purposes of gaming content, you’ll need both, and the size of the output offered by Artlist is quite impressive, to say the least.