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Best Game Music

Winner: Chrono Cross
Platform: Sony PlayStation
Developer: SquareSoft
Publisher: Square EA
Release Date: August 16, 2000

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Several games released this year have soundtracks that appeal to a large number of people and go well with their respective games. But no game has music that actually affects your gameplay experience like Chrono Cross does. When it comes to composers for Square games, Nobuo Uematsu, the famed composer for the Final Fantasy series, usually springs to mind first. But Chrono Cross' music was composed by Yasnuri Mitsuda, who is also known for his work on Square's Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. Just when you thought synthesized music on the PlayStation had reached its limit with other Square games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy VII, Mitsuda has taken the console to a new level. Chrono Cross has the most well synthesized music to date on the PlayStation.

Mp3:
chrono1.mp3 [5,3444KB]
Track Title: Tower of Starts
Chrono Cross is a bit different from most of Mitsudo's past work. He is known for producing libraries of high-tempo, adrenaline-pumping music, but in Chrono Cross the styles vary greatly, and this variation provides a much greater experience as you are playing the game. For example, as you approach the end of the game, you must enter an area called Terra Tower. As you walk through this key area, a slow ambient tune plays with a bell ringing and an eerie voice moaning. When you hear this music, you instantly know you will soon encounter something that plays a very important role in what is happening in the world Chrono Cross is set in.

Mp3:
chrono2.mp3 [5,4,731KB]
Dragon God. This is the music you hear while fighting the final boss for the first time.
While other games might provide a track or two of music that reflects what's going on, Chrono Cross has music in just about every scene that helps you visualize how it would be if you were actually a part of the game. When you enter a Native American village, you are greeted with Native American music. When you enter a town that lies on the ocean and is full of ponds and lakes, the music has an aquatic overtone. A perfect example of music that goes well with a particular boss is when you fight the final boss the first time. The music, as featured here, is more characteristic of Mitsudo's usual compositions in that it's a fast paced, multitoned piece that gets your blood rushing as you fight the enemy.

Several tracks on the Chrono Cross original soundtrack are remixes of songs from Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers, a game released for the Super Famicom add-on peripheral Sattelaview that was the original sequel to Chrono Trigger. Chrono Cross is heavily based on Radical Dreamers - it features two of the same main characters, Serge and Kid, and its storyline is very similar to that of the Super Famicom game. Remixed tracks from older games in a series are nothing new from Square, and they are done well in Chrono Cross. Those tracks provide a new experience in music to those who haven't played either Chrono Trigger or Radical Dreamers, while allowing those who have played one or the other to relive a piece of nostalgia, earning it the number one slot in the Best Game Music award category.
 

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