Rhythm games use a lot of classical music, huh?
Classical music has formed the bedrock of videogame soundtracks since developers could shove something vaguely Chopinesque onto a three-channel sound chip.
Phillippe Vachey worked in compositions of Johann Strauss and Saint Saens among his terrifying plucked string soundtrack. Catherine had half-naked sheep men pulling blocks and climbing to the tune of Chopin's Revolutionary Etude. Hell, Grand Theft Auto 3 let you run over pedestrians while blasting a whole radio station full of classics.
Welcome to Soundtrack Sunday, where a member of the PC Gamer team takes a look at a soundtrack from one of their favourite games—or a broader look at videogame music as a whole—offering a little backstory and recommendations for tracks you should be adding to your playlist.
Where I've been exposed to the most classical music, however, is in rhythm games. The genre loves a good Beethoven track, I'll tell you that. From dance pads at the arcade to dexterously tapping away at my keyboard, I can almost guarantee that whatever rhythm game I'm playing has at least one orchestral piece in its back pocket.
It's been on my mind recently, more so since my favourite arcade dance game Pump it Up got its first official PC adaptation on Steam in July: Pump it Up Rise. I haven't had the chance to pick it up yet, but I've been watching a whole lotta other people play it, and to nobody's surprise it's chock full of classical remixes that have served as the series backbone since it first dared to challenge Dance Dance Revolution in 1999.
While Konami's four-panel rhythm game sported a ton of eurobeat and electronic music, Pump it Up took a slightly different route with a five-panel dance mat and a mixture of South Korean-influenced hip hop and, well, classical music remixes. They were arranged by a group of rhythm game composers collectively operating under the artist name BanYa, who utilised a mixture of hip hop, hardcore, and rock to jazz things up a bit.
Sick Beets
Take The Devil, which uses electric guitar to remix Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King while still folding in classical string instruments. There's also Turkey March which has a similar approach to Mozart's Rondo alla Turca, and Dr. M doing the same to his Symphony No. 40. BanYa even pulls from some more modern hits, like the surftastic Mr. Larpus being heavily based on The Surfaris' Wipe Out.
My personal favourites, however, come from tracks where BanYa lets strings shine. Winter takes the Vivaldi piece of the same name (also known as The Four Seasons Op. 8 No. 4), slaps a heavy beat to back up the strings and then, of course, takes a pause from classical instruments to chuck a whole guitar solo in there.
Then there's Beethoven Virus, which is easily the most famous classical remix to come out of Pump it Up. It takes the deaf composer's Pathetique 3rd Movement and spits out an all-out epic rendition where the strings still shine but, of course, there's always room for some shredding.
The ways BanYa managed to contort classical pieces into these new, fresh-sounding tracks that people are happy to stomp their feet to—and now tap their keyboard—was pretty impressive, and still is, almost two decades after many of these songs were conceived.
Pump it Up is my favourite example, but it's not the only one when it comes to rhythm games: The long-dead Audition Online and Super Dancer Online stuffed all sorts of orchestral pieces among its wealth of pop tracks, while Trombone Champ popped off back in 2022 when we all butchered various renditions with our brass instruments.
Drumming game Taiko no Tatsujin has an entire Classics folder to peruse through, while last year's Maestro put you in the conductor's seat itself as you took charge of an orchestra in VR. The piano game Deemo doesn't focus too much on classical tracks—though it does have an Etude collection with a sprinkling of historical pieces—its library primarily focuses on delicate, contemporary classical styles.
It makes sense that rhythm games (and videogames in general) lean so heavily into these songs. Their familiarity can be handy for nailing certain emotions or evoking a more nostalgic vibe—think Booker DeWitt exploring the Hall of Heroes in BioShock Infinite or Fallout 4 sporting the Classical Radio station. But outside of this, one of the simplest answers is: Copyright. Or rather, a lack thereof.
After all, Beethoven and Mozart weren't copyright striking YouTube videos back in the 1700s or sending cease and desists to TikTok stars. I'm not even sure they'd have the capacity to grasp the terrifying black hole that is the internet. Most of this stuff is in the public domain at this point, and when it comes to rhythm games, it makes for a pretty easy way to plump up the songlist without having to work too hard composing a bunch of original stuff.
Honestly? I kinda dig it. Humans love comfort and familiarity, and I always enjoy diving into a new rhythm game and being able to learn the ropes with a handful of classical tracks I've heard elsewhere. But nobody does it quite like Pump it Up if you ask me, and I can't wait to try out some of these songs with Rise's new adjusted stepcharts for keyboards and Steam Deck. You'll just have to pull me away from spinning around the pad in the arcade version of Beethoven Virus, first.