Whether you like it or not, the vast majority of the world is made up of people who play video games in one way or another. Yet bafflingly, they’re still seen as a lesser cousin to the pop culture’s big three of music, movies and TV.

This surely has to stop?

Anyway, with a lovely orchestral score of the Zelda theme doing the rounds at the moment, we thought we’d have a look at the best music that has featured on video games. There’s a dazzling amount to choose from… so which have we gone for? Over the jump to listen and disagree.

Thanks to the small matter of the fact that there are around 230gazillion games in existence, we couldn’t even get close to remembering all of our favourite themes and pieces of incidental music.

And so, here’s a snapshot of what we can recall, the things suggested to us on twitter and blah blah.

We’ve tried to avoid games that had soundtracks licensed from proper bands, such as the FIFA franchise and the Grand Theft Auto games… but some may have sneaked in, but we’ll explain why later.

And so, here’s our list of the greatest pieces of music committed to video games. Feel free to submit your own in the comments or, if you prefer, throw all your ire at us because we didn’t include your favourite piece of music from Fantasy World Dizzy or Pitfighter.

>insert coin<

ZELDA

Zelda’s theme(s) are insanely iconic for gamers out there and here’s a rather lovely orchestrated version of it to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the game. If you prefer the original, then click here.

TOEJAM & EARL

While Toejam & Earl may be one of the oddest games to hit paydirt, it certainly had one of the funkiest soundtracks EVER. There was something of George Clinton about the skittery swing-funk that soundtracked the game. Here’s just one of many ace pieces of music you’d find.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

We’ve included the irritatingly catch Spring Yard Zone from the first Sonic game here, but to be honest, we could’ve included more than a dozen pieces of music from the franchise. Instead of doing that, we’ll direct you to the fine notion that Michael Jackson wrote the music for Sonic 3. More on that here.

OUT RUN

Surely everyone on Earth loves the arcade music from Out Run?

RED DEAD REDEMPTION

Despite being one of the most overrated games in history, there’s no denying that the moment you make it to Mexico, and Jose Gonzalez’s ‘So Far Away’ hits you, it’s a rather special moment in the annals of gaming. Yep, it’s a proper artist licensed to a game, but we just couldn’t avoid including it.

MONKEY ISLAND

There is ALWAYS time for a little cod-reggae in video games. ALWAYS.

STREETS OF RAGE 2

Excellent synth rave accompanied one of the best beat ‘em ups ever programmed. We liked being Eddie ‘Skate’ Hunter best. Yuzo Koshiro programmed the music to this, and we ought to thank him by beating up punks with yellow jackets on by lobbing barrels at their heads.

PORTAL

Jonathan Coulton’s ‘Still Alive’ is one of the finest, oddest pieces of video game music ever, largely because it is performed by the malicious A.I. which messses with your head throughout the playing of Portal. After escaping from the labs, an ASCII-based credits screen runs as the computer croons the lyrics at you. Unsettling, catchier than mumps and downright hilarious.

FINAL FANTASY

You can’t really have a gaming soundtrack without including Final Fantasy legend Nobutsuo Uematsu. Here’s a tear jerker for you.

SUPER MARIO

C’mon. This was always going to make an appearance.

TETRIS

Is Tetris (theme A) the catchiest piece of gaming music ever?

ROAD RASH

Road Rash had insanely irritating music if you got to the latter stages of the game, just by virtue of the fact that the tracks were so fiendishly long. However, before they grated your ears off, they were really brilliant. Abrasive shitkicking 8bit rock never sounded so fine.

BLOOD MONEY

A new one on hecklerspray and offered by Mark Webster, unbelievably, this piece of music is from 1989. Just imagine jaws hitting the floor as that rolled out back then.

KATAMARI DAMACY

Katamari Damacy is one of the strangest games to ever see release. Remember it? It’s that one where you roll a sticky ball around various 3D environments, collecting everything it rolls over, increasing in size as it does. The soundtrack was pretty great too, with J Pop, samba and… well… this absolute corker.

WIZBALL

Wizball almost has a prog quality to it… you can almost imagine a thunderous rock track following it.

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It’s time to grab your joysticks and join us on a trip down Memory Lane, as we look back at the best computer games of the 1980s.

Now, some of our younger readers are probably thinking there were no decent games during that time. And they would be at least half right. Let’s face it – nostalgia apart – there was a lot of games which sucked around that time. We love to reminisce about these old games – but have you actually gone back and played on them? Sheesh!

They usually involved breaking your joysticks or C64, Spectrum or Atari keyboards just to make a mess of pixels and garish colours move across a screen as fast as possible. Then there was the terrible sound and the seemingly endless amount of time you had to stare at the loading screens.

However, there were games during this era which still work today. Sure, the blocky graphics could be better, but they did what a lot of developers seem to forget these days – they were immensely playable. Enjoy!

25. Lode Runner
Is it just us, or did that game go on forever?

24. Archon
A strategy game which has withstood the test of time.

23. Ms Pac-Man
Brought the genius of Pac-Man to a new generation of gamers.

22. Thrust
A game which almost drove you insane trying to get that bloody rocket around various caves – but you kept coming back for more.

21. Paradroid
Probably the best ever game released on the C64.

20. Outrun
OK, it’s easy to scoff at it now, but Outrun was essential game-playing during the 80s.

19. International Karate+
Just take your average beat-em-up and then add a third player. Brilliant!!

18. Sid Meier’s Pirates!
Pirates on your PB? Genius!!

17. Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0

OK, graphics have moved on quite a bit since 1982, but, who cares, it was a brilliant game.

16. Maniac Mansion
An adventure game that broke new ground.

15. Emlyn Hughes International Soccer
We once went without food for a day playing this game.

14. Pitfall

Has there ever been a more infuriating yet satisfying game?

13. Boulderdash
Remains one of the most addictive games of all time.

12. The Hobbit
Infuriating it may have been, but The Hobbit was insanely addictive. Personally, we found it hard to not try and kill everyone and everything that greeted us, which usually ended in them ‘cleaving our skull’.

11. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Few games have brought out the inner geek as much as this masterpiece.

10. R-Type
The best sideways scrolling shooter of the decade.

9. Rainbow Islands
So simple, yet so addictive.

8. Digger
Who knew digging could be so much fun?

7. Dungeon Master
Alongside Dungeons and Dragons the cartoon series, it brought tales of orcs, wizards and elves into the mainstream.

6. The Oregon Trail
Who knew Oregon could be so interesting? Oregon Trail was both educational – it informed an entire generation as to the dangers of dysentery – and fun.

5. Prince of Persia
An Apple II game that was ahead of its time.

4. Elite
Apparently, Elite was not a big hit in the States. Not sure which game they were playing.

3. Donkey Kong
One of the most fondly remembered games of all time.

2. SimCity
Why did we love this game so much? God knows. But who cares?

1. Tetris
Should have come with a government health warning.

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10 - One of these cats is Barack Obama, the other is John McCain. The third one is us…

9 – Jordan & Peter Andre not splitting up any more, for now. Warning – images not safe for anything – Popsugar

8 - Come to think of it, we have always wanted a vandal octopus for a pet - Telegraph

7 – Jeremy Clarkson recreates the bit from Jackass where they all dress up as really old men - YouTube

6 – Sienna Miller does a music video. Bizarrely, it’s even worse than you’d expect – Holymoly

5 - A selection of facial hair to make all men feel emasculated in comparison - Theartofmanliness

4 – Don’t mix milk with Red Bull. Common sense, in the form of a song - I Am Bored

3 – Peaches Geldof writes words, everyone on Earth writes ruder words back – Nylon

2 - Tetris! On Bottles - B3ta

1 - A list of all the diseases every president of America has ever had. Why not do what we do and play presidential disease top trumps with your friends? Here’s a hint – pick Taft – Healthinplainenglish

Ahh, the BBC. Known across the world for single handily setting the standard for television and radio output.

Throughout the corporation’s long and established history, a selection of programming has been available to cater for every taste. For the petty criminal, the opportunity to see your handy work appear on Crimewatch was an accolade to suggest you were up there with the Kray twins in terms of hardness. And for the freeloader, the chance to have Changing Rooms decorate your house for nowt could save a few quid on decorating bills.

In the last few years, however, some diabolical cynics have said the BBC has been dumbing down. How dare they. However, if reports are to be believed, programming chiefs at the BBC may want their heads smashed together. You see, they may be commissioning a UK version of a Japanese TV show we looked at last year – Hole In The Wall, otherwise known as Human Tetris.

Everyone knows Tetris. It’s the 23-year-old Nintendo game that the BBC wants to turn in to a hip new primetime TV show.

As mentioned, we stumbled across Human Tetris last year. To call it weird is an understatement. Basically, gigantic planks with elaborate holes cut into them move towards the contestant, who has to bend his body into a similar shape to fit through it. Contestants have to be contortionists to really stand any chance of winning a prize – which is probably a ten percent discount voucher at the local chippy. It is Japanese to be fair, so we’d expect nothing else.

According to Digital Spy:

“BBC One has ordered a pilot of the show from distributor Fremantle and may take it on for Saturday primetime.”

Saturday night primetime? Is this really what things have come to? On the other hand, we’d rather watch cat mutilation than what currently passes for Saturday night primetime BBC - Andrew Lloyd-Webber gurning like a creepy git at some women – so maybe this Human Tetris thing isn’t such a bad idea.

The only question we have is who’d present the thing? Nobody with any credibility would want to touch it, surely. But some people will do anything for fame. So we put forward the beast otherwise known as Kinga from Big Brother to present it. You know, the fat lass who wanked herself off with a wine bottle in the garden? Our mate Mick said if you put your head near her black hole and shout, you’ll hear it echo for at least seven seconds. It’s that big. People have got lost in there.

If this is true and Human Tetris becomes a BBC TV show, we expect ITV to go one better. They’ll take members of the public to a secret military base, inject them with liquids and give them Street Fighter-style fireball powers. Now that would be worth watching. Better them Amir Kahn any day!

Read more:

BBC One May Make ‘Human Tetris’ Series – Digital Spy