I wanted to raise awareness about this, since it doesn't seem like many people here know about it here. I'm copy/pasting this from another forum where I wrote this. Hopefully it will be of help to some people.
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Just as emulation is possible for nearly any previous-generation game console out there, emulation of the individual music-processors has been available for a while. If you enjoy music from old games and would like to hear it again identical to the way you heard it years back, this is for you. Just about everything you'll need is in one site: Zophar's Domain.
Here are some direct page links for the stuff you'll need:
o You'll want to decide what console music you want to setup for first. Currently you can get SNES, NES, GameBoys, NeoGeo, Genesis, Playstation 1, Nintendo 64.. nearly any previous-generation console. You need special audio players or plugins for existing audio players, so you'll want to download those first. Check out the application selection here:
Zophar Game Music Utilities
o Now you're ready to get some music. One of the biggest archives out there is right next door, featuring zip and rar files with entire game soundtracks:
Zophar game music archive
Some tips for the players: Different console music files generally require different audio players to be heard. If you don't want a different program for every type of music file you get, though, download the winamp plugins and you'll be able to play everything there. Winamp's typically good enough as a game music player, even if additional configuration is somewhat inconvenient. I personally like some of the file-specific programs, such as Super Jukebox for SNES files and Meridian for NES.
NOTE: Most winamp plugins are for Winamp 2, not any further version.
There, you're set. Welcome the gamer's definition of "classical music". B)
***
It may still not be what some people are looking for, but hopefully it will help a few.
A few additional notes:
-You can't get music files for current consoles because they haven't really been emulated yet. This means you can't download GameCube music files. You'll need sound rips or official released soundtracks for those.
-Obviously, remixed game soundtracks that were never actual game audio aren't available as game music files. Those are usually CD releases.
-It's usually simple to output the sound from game music files into MP3s or WAV files. Most players have this as a function, so you may want to look for it if that's what you want to do.
If anyone needs any kind of help, ask here and I'll try to look into it.
***
Just as emulation is possible for nearly any previous-generation game console out there, emulation of the individual music-processors has been available for a while. If you enjoy music from old games and would like to hear it again identical to the way you heard it years back, this is for you. Just about everything you'll need is in one site: Zophar's Domain.
Here are some direct page links for the stuff you'll need:
o You'll want to decide what console music you want to setup for first. Currently you can get SNES, NES, GameBoys, NeoGeo, Genesis, Playstation 1, Nintendo 64.. nearly any previous-generation console. You need special audio players or plugins for existing audio players, so you'll want to download those first. Check out the application selection here:
Zophar Game Music Utilities
o Now you're ready to get some music. One of the biggest archives out there is right next door, featuring zip and rar files with entire game soundtracks:
Zophar game music archive
Some tips for the players: Different console music files generally require different audio players to be heard. If you don't want a different program for every type of music file you get, though, download the winamp plugins and you'll be able to play everything there. Winamp's typically good enough as a game music player, even if additional configuration is somewhat inconvenient. I personally like some of the file-specific programs, such as Super Jukebox for SNES files and Meridian for NES.
NOTE: Most winamp plugins are for Winamp 2, not any further version.
There, you're set. Welcome the gamer's definition of "classical music". B)
***
It may still not be what some people are looking for, but hopefully it will help a few.
A few additional notes:
-You can't get music files for current consoles because they haven't really been emulated yet. This means you can't download GameCube music files. You'll need sound rips or official released soundtracks for those.
-Obviously, remixed game soundtracks that were never actual game audio aren't available as game music files. Those are usually CD releases.
-It's usually simple to output the sound from game music files into MP3s or WAV files. Most players have this as a function, so you may want to look for it if that's what you want to do.
If anyone needs any kind of help, ask here and I'll try to look into it.
