EDIT: Seems dynamic music is back in style in some very recent games, many of which I haven't really played yet. Good. wholesome

For me, it's dynamic music, the kind that some games had that adjusted moment by moment to what was happening in the game.

The best-known example of this in the 90s game TIE Fighter, where the moment more enemy (or allied) ships showed up the music would have a little additional flourish to acknowledge the shift in battle. There were pre-battle tension tracks, battle music, complications of battle, grandiose flourishes for the arrival of enemy or even allied capital ships, and victory and failure music all ready to flow into the next seconds of the game.

A lesser-known but still excellent example of this was in Ultima Underworld and its sequel, where drawing a weapon had its own special "preparing for battle" tension music, getting attacked had a jump-out-of-your-skin joltingly sudden musical start that actually scared me as a kid when I got ambushed, music for battles going well, going poorly, victory and defeat.

I wish more games did those sort of second by second musical changes, but they've sort of fallen out of fashion for the most part. sicko-wistful

  • Crowtee_Robot [he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I feel like cel shading never took off they way it could have. Outside of anime style games it seems like it always takes a back seat to realism which sucks because it's looks rad as hell. XIII and Viewtiful Joe are two examples that stick out in my memory, plus Wind Waker pissed off so many Zelda fans who wanted a grimdark Peter Jackson LoZ game. It was great.

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      It's really difficult to make it not look bad in many cases, it often comes out blotchy

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      I agree, I miss cell shading and wish it was more common.

    • Comp4 [comrade/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      While technically not cel shaded. The Borderlands series uses a comic artstyle very much inspired by it. That would be a big one.

    • envis10n [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      I never actually owned Viewtiful Joe, but I did have the demo disc and I played through it like a million times. Loved the shit out of that demo.