If you have not already listened to the podcast of this category, this is the final results, so this will spoil the course of the discussion on that podcast! Be warned!
Making a memorable song without lyrics is tricky. Most of the time, instrumental tracks are meant to fade into the background, not disturbing the experience as players do their thing in games. But sometimes a track comes along and you can’t help but hum the melody for days or years after. Three tracks stood out to us in 2023, and they rose to the top for a good reason.
The Winner
And My Name’s Booster (Super Mario RPG)
Yoko Shimomura is a legend for a reason. Her music defines the some of the best in their genre, and nearly 30 years ago, she created an incredible soundtrack to Super Mario RPG, a game full of incredible tunes, but it always felt like And My Name’s Booster was straining the limits of the SNES soundchip. To be clear, the SNES version is still incredible, but Yoko Shimomura really soared with this rearrangement. She took what was already a funky and jazzy track and elevated it to new heights.
More then merely recreating what she made in 1996, this track shows how much bolder, stronger, and confident of a composer she has become. The brass sections with a incredible backing band of guitars and powerful drums really makes climbing Booster’s Tower feel fresh, even after all this time. We couldn’t help but award such a bold and complex arrangement with our highest honor.
The Runners-Up
Jool Atmosphere (Kerbal Space Program 2)
There is beauty in our vast cosmos. But it’s a scary, dark place sometimes. A place so vast and incomprehensible, full of places we, as frail humans, will never be able to go. The Jool atmosphere is one of those places not even the Kerbins can withstand. And this piece plays when you cannot turn back.
This is a mournful, sorrowful piece accompanying the player as they descend into Jool, a farewell to the life of the brave astronaut who is plummeting to the heart of the massive gas giant. The flute melody feels like a beautiful funeral dirge, wishing the Kerbin who’s life is coming to an end a final moment of peace. It’s very easy for tracks like these to become almost a joke, but here it’s executed so sincerely and wonderfully.
It’s Pizza Time! (Pizza Tower)
It’s time to go. No, I mean it, it’s time to run. Playing at the end of just about every level of Pizza Tower is this song with driving synth and ticking clocks, never relenting after a voice kicks in saying it’s time to get funky. The simple repetitive notes gives this song the panicked tempo the player must be in as they sprint for the exit.
The song ascends near the end-point with an even faster, inhuman speed that meets the player where they are at mentally, taking advantage of the fact that a machine is playing back this song. It’s a whirlwind of sound that propels the player to their goal, inducing anxiety and excitement in the same measure. It’s blisteringly fast, and a joy to listen to.
Stay tuned to later in the week for our awards for the Best Vocal song!
Our art is a commission from @yonsoncb on Twitter!
