The title alone is probably fairly confusing. I apologise, it's only going to get worse for you, but bare with me whilst I try and explain what I mean. And I give you permission to slap me silly if this article is too short for your liking.
Weather you realise it or not, music- and indeed sound design as a whole- is incredibly important in many forms of media, Videogames included. Much like an Oscar-baiting, drama-driven blockbuster will have a swelling orchestral score to help further drive the emotion of a scene home, a Videogame will use a catchy soundtrack to help further drive home how happy, sad, scary, or plain and simply awesome the experience should be. There are examples of this all over the place. Silent Hill wouldn't be Silent Hill without a mixture of Trip Hop and Post Rock numbers and heavy abundance of Light and Dark Ambient tracks of varying levels of trippiness, Devil May Cry wouldn't be Devil May Cry without a beautiful fusion of Heavy Rock and various forms of Electronica, from Techno to Drum 'n Bass, all deliciously slathered in a tasty dressing of pure fucking awesome, and Darius wouldn't be Darius unless it had a soundtrack that sounded like the greatest drug-tip ever playing away in the background as space ships fight giant intergalactic robot fish. However, there is one specific quirk that can, and often does come with making a beautifully crafted soundtrack, and it is by no means a bad thing.
Before I explain where I’m going with this, let me ask you this; what is the first song you think of when you think of Sonic? How about Mario? How 'bout Streets of Rage? Final Fight, maybe? Fuck, even maybe even Klonoa?
Chances are good you thought of these;
The theme you may (or may not) have noticed here, is that all of these songs play on, or are first heard in the very first stage of the game. Now, whilst they are all incredibly good songs and indeed are the personal favourites of many, the songs that appear throughout the rest of the games are just as good in their own right, and in some cases they may even be just as iconic, if not for the series as a whole, at least for the game. So why is it we tend to think of the song that plays in the very first stage above all others, not just above the rest of the soundtrack, but maybe even above the music throughout the series as a whole? It's simple. Barring the intro/title music, it's the very first piece of music we hear in the game, and it is indeed the first piece of music that will be playing in the background whilst we actually control what happens on the screen. And whilst it might not be the game from the series that some people played first, it often tends to be a song from the first game in the series due to the fact that this was the first time anyone was introduced to the world and characters the game took place in.
It's a matter of impression, much like meeting you’re in-laws-to-be for the first time, or going to your boss’s house for dinner; if you make a good first impression, then it will be fondly remembered by you and the people involved, and the experience will have been a good one. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if it goes horribly, you will be considered a bit of a weirdo at best, or a complete moron at worst, and the entire fiasco will be a horrible experience for everyone involved.
Getting back on track after that slightly-off-topic note, if a game manages to deliver both visually and audibly, it's going to leave a good impression on you, and will indeed become a cherished memory. In regards to the topic of the article, the song will pop into your head and random intervals, or you may suddenly find yourself whistling, humming, or singing it. To you, and the many, many fans of the series, that little chiptune ditty is no longer just a song from it a game, or indeed a great song from a game you love; it becomes an iconic song for the series as a whole, turning up near to or at the very top of many peoples 'top 10' lists, it winds up being remixed many times over, both by fans and in later games from the same series, and indeed manages to stay within the minds and hearts of many die-hard fans for years to come.
It doesn't have to be from just the series' mentioned above, oh no. Although not every game will strictly fall under the same name as this phenomenon, due to genre conventions, the basic idea of it will stay the same, and as such many different famous or obscure gamming franchises will have said phenomenon occur, and I bet if I asked you what your favourite series was and if it had an example of it at some point in the series, then you could probably name me one.
This, my friends, is Level 1 Syndrome, and it is one of the many, many things that make Videogame music an art form, weather or not it is recognised by everybody. And that’s why I love it so damn much. And why the majority of the stuff on my iPod that isn't Synthpop Janglers, Techno nonsense, Japanese Hip Hop madness, Funky Acid Jazz bollocks or Alt. Rock angst fests are Videogame OST's. DON'CHU JUDGE MEEEEEE.
~ J-MACHine