Sports games always seem to get the short end of the stick as far as soundtracks go (with one of the major exceptions being the early Tony Hawk games); Publishers rely on popular Top-40 hits that are never able to feel fresh or exciting because by the time the game actually makes it to retail, the song is usually past its peak of popularity or is even openly criticized for being overplayed. One sports game on the Dreamcast bucked the ‘popular music’ norm for a more off beat and memorable approach, leading to one of the systems best with Sega Extreme Sports.
How did a first party sports game manage to score such a winning sound? Well the answer is pretty simple: Sega allowed the Ninja Tune record label to curate the soundtrack in its entirety. The UK-based Ninja Tune label specializes in electronic and trip hop music but offers a little bit of just about everything else (Mr. Scruff, focus of a previous Wall of Sound feature, is also an artist under the Ninja Tune banner).
In keeping with Ninja Tune’s signature style, Sega Extreme Sports has distinct electronic overtones, yet each track contributes it’s own flavor and niche appeal to the overall package and sound. Despite sharing similarities with some of the other games featured this month (such as label co-founder Coldcut’s contribution ‘Atomic Moog 2000’ which feels like it could have appeared in Jet Grind Radio, or ‘It’s Tomorrow Already’ from The Irresistible Force that sounds straight out of Rez), a unique identity is readily apparent.
While certainly not the only game soundtrack to be handed over to a record label or music industry individual, the rather underground nature of the Ninja Tune label allowed the soundtrack to escape the Top-40 fate that most sports games end up falling prey to. Using a music label such as Ninja Tune as the exclusive provider of musical content for a game seems mutually beneficial when it is executed like it was with Sega Extreme Sports, as opposed to EA’s content solution of EA Trax. Trax is similar in thought, but instead of seeking out new and interesting musical highways to entrust a game’s soundtrack to, it relies on a number of large record labels to provide content for it’s EA Sports titles – in effect acting like obvious in-game advertising that comes off as unnatural and disingenuous.
Whatever your thoughts are of the electronic genre of music, there is no way to discount how incredibly well put together and immediately engrossing the soundtrack to Sega Extreme Sports is, in addition to the high bar it set for collaborations between record labels and video game studios.
The Wall of Sound Playlist
Atomic Moog 2000 – Coldcut
The 10th Victim – Clifford Gilberto
It’s Tomorrow Already – The Irresistible Force
Donkey Kong – Cabbageboy
Popularity: unranked [?]
