As you can see and hear, video game music has definitely undergone changes since it was first created. Video game music used to be created solely through the use of sound chips, which in the beginning were extremely simple and could only play one or two computerized tones at a time through the use of 'channels'.
However, this technology soon began changing rapidly -- even just a few years after its inception. Suddenly, sound chips were able to produce three or even five tones at a time, then eight, then even twelve different melodies and rhythms at a time. Even mobile consoles -- which could barely even contain sound chips in the beginning -- started having elaborate songs and compositions written for their games.
Then, video game music was taken a step even further beyond: sound chips soon began to replicate the sounds of real instruments. Long gone were the days of indeterminable blips and pulses of sound. Now, samples of real orchestral instruments could be used.
Finally, in today's modern gaming scene, technology has allowed sound chips to be replaced entirely with recordings. This gives composers near limitless freedom when it comes to making music that enraptures players into the world game developers hope to create.
The image seen in the background of all the pages on this website come from Pokémon Sapphire, a game mentioned near the middle of the timeline. In the image, you can see the player character on their bike, riding at breakneck speeds in an attempt to catch up to one of the titular Pokémon of the game, who canonically flies at extremely high speeds. At this very moment, the player would be hearing the same cycling theme excerpt featured in the timeline. The player character faces away from us, towards a vast horizon filled with a clear blue ocean, peaceful-looking clouds, and the soft reflection of the sunlight.
This image, to me, could metaphorically be seen as the evolution of video game music. The player character faces away from us, and looks onward. Seeing as how we, the audience, play as this character, it could be said that this person is meant to represent us -- the people that are watching video game music grow and change before our very eyes. We are constantly looking forward and thinking of new ways to improve all aspects of life; in this instance, many composers and game developers are trying to discover new ways to improve the quality of video game music. The flying Pokémon could perhaps be the personified version of the quick and speedy evolution that video game music went through, and the thing that we too are desperately trying to catch up to as well.