Music for Speed Running

2010-04-07 01:13:51 am

Shoryuken Shall Punish!

Please tell me I am not the only person that chucks on an album of Power Metal for a motivated speed run? Well maybe not Power Metal for the rest of you but does anyone else have any motivational music for their nimble-fingered escapades.

My DKC1 any% in 0:23 was played with Hibria's [2004] Defying The Rules. The recent 101% in 0:42 was done with their later album The Skull Collectors. Hard hits and good tempo allows me to recite the songs and play hard as well. Any comments on any of your favourite gaming music for kicks?

Thread title:

bimanc

2010-04-07 06:04:18 am

Lay waste to everything...but I still love SDA!

Haha, i did that once. I listen to power metal often, but i planned/practiced my Sacred run when Serenity's second album (Fallen Sanctuary) was out. The fantasy-themed music went well with the game's atmosphere.

Also, i loved to play Lost Planet during the music of Move. That's not metal, but kinda fast and rise your spirit.

Dudemanguy86

2010-04-07 07:24:04 am

jazz-ish techno music with no lyrics = smooth sailing for me. If it's an FPS, something retardedly fast-paced that doesn't sound like a dieing cat to drum beats and bass. If it's a puzzle game, stuff like ronald jenkees. When i play borderlands, i just throw the surround sound on and put it on a station and hit the up or down button on my remote occasionally to keep it different.

nate

2010-04-07 10:38:49 am

girls aloud - chemistry

sunburstbasser

2010-04-07 02:26:34 pm

Silver Hawk!

Funk. Lots of funk. Jamiroquai and Tower of Power are my personal favorites not just for speedrunning, but just listening.

ktwo

2010-04-07 03:37:32 pm

I have no sound when I'm playing (only one splitter, which is used for the video signal). Having some music in the background is therefore quite important. I like to have something catchy on (not normally the music I listen to). It can sometimes help me to get into a "flow" and thus avoid stress (it doesn't always work though...). Most of the time it's the normal radio or slay radio (remixes of video game music). I'll try some power metal next time. Wink

ZenicReverie

2010-04-07 03:42:58 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

It feels very odd for me to play a game without the game's sound on.

neskamikaze

2010-04-07 03:57:25 pm

Something relaxing to keep me from getting to frustrated, I can't go with really fast music. I normally go with something slower like Secondhand Serenade or Making April.

Arrow

2010-04-07 04:18:08 pm

Now a hit show on the CW

I always play with the ingame music, because...

A. I usually speed run games with good music.

B. Sometimes it helps my timing if I know I need to perform a certain action at a specific cue in the music.

Emptyeye

2010-04-07 04:31:12 pm

Talk to the Hand

Quote from ZenicReverie:

It feels very odd for me to play a game without the game's sound on.

Generally, I agree with this.

That said, for Pianotoads, I'll generally turn the TV volume down and throw on a CD/listen to my iPod/whatever. Albums I've practiced to include the first Boston album and The Fall of Ideals by All That Remains.

Riskbreaker Y

2010-04-07 04:40:28 pm

berserker status

Quote from Arrow:

I always play with the ingame music, because...

A. I usually speed run games with good music.

B. Sometimes it helps my timing if I know I need to perform a certain action at a specific cue in the music.

This. Very much this. When i run VS, it's essential to hear the in-game sounds/music since i rely a lot on sound cues to chain properly and impact guard/absorb magic. Plus, the soundtrack pumps me up!

Idkbutlike2

2010-04-07 05:27:39 pm

Rather than speedrunning, I usually listen to other music when I'm doing a repetitive task like level grinding or trying to get the best reward in some mini-game. I tend to get bored from listening to the same BGM all the time so it's fun to mix things things up. Possibly the only game I regularly played without sound is The World Ends With You. All that J-pop was just God-awful (well, so was the whole game, but that's just my opinion) Tongue

ktwo

2010-04-08 12:36:41 am

Quote from ZenicReverie:

It feels very odd for me to play a game without the game's sound on.

I dare you to try to speedrun Addams Family for Nes with the sound on. Wink

I have a sort of interesting anecdote on this theme. When I recorded my first speedrun (Cobra Triangle), I didn't use a splitter and could therefore have the in-game sound on. The game music is really not much to cheer about and I soon had to turn it off permanently. When it was time for my next game to speedrun, I realized that my dvd-recorder created so much lag that it was unplayable. It's funny how I somehow got used to the lag when playing Cobra Triangle. So keep that in mind next time you watch that run ! Anyways, I had to buy a splitter, but never bothered to buy a second one for the sound.

scaryice

2010-04-08 12:44:26 am

Quote from nate:

girls aloud - chemistry

Great album. 8)

arkarian

2010-04-08 02:12:42 am

gamelogs.org

i listened to shpongle's first album while running myst.

Carcinogen

2010-04-08 02:30:52 pm

I used to listen to death metal/black metal/similar while playing FPS games. After a while it just got tired.

When speedrunning, I don't usually listen to music, but it'd break the monotony.

cyghfer

2010-04-08 02:37:51 pm

I usually listen to music (last night, MMX music)/half-watch cartoons while waiting for non-gameplay portions at the beginning of attempts. Once a run gets past an initial point (first level or whatever) I turn off the music/show and just play the game with the in-game sound.

Somepartsareme

2010-04-15 01:48:53 pm

The Artsy Ghost spoke passionately about art!

Touhou music, touhou music, touhou music. Only way to go, with the exeption of very few other VG songs.

groobo

2010-04-15 02:16:29 pm

boss

Anything from vivaldi's winter all the way up to gorecki's symphony no.3. Serious music in general - the hell with in game sounds.

__sdfg

2010-04-15 06:49:42 pm

D:

I can't imagine myself listening to out-of-game music while speedrunning. It wouldn't feel right.

65

2010-04-17 10:43:18 am

I've sometimes listened to music other than that of the game's, but I've learned my actual performance goes way down even though I might enjoy it more, because most of the games I run rely a lot on the sound in the end. For instance, not being able to hear your weapon charging up or similar has often resulted in mistiming, that sort of thing.

BioSpark

2010-04-17 02:01:49 pm

if i turn off the sound while playing fusion, i get much worse. i think the sounds sometimes give me subconscious cues. however, sometimes i do better when the volume is louder.

Eldar

2010-04-17 08:08:09 pm

Unless it's a game like Peggle, I always have game sound.

Mr. Piggy

2010-04-17 09:11:45 pm

In the infinite

I would never play music while running. I don't even like listening to music while playing a game normally. Take Call of Duty for instance. If I have music playing, then I won't be able to hear people's footsteps when they're nearby. I guess playing music while playing a game messes with me too much.

pkGamerB

2010-04-18 01:19:57 pm

Agent PK

The only time I really listen to other music while playing a game is if I'm grinding or something (it's usually just random stuff from other games). When I'm speedrunning, I like to hear the actual game music, though. Like others have said, sometimes sounds in the game help with my timing, such as using charge shots in any Metroid game.