"But Steve, what makes a good video game intro to you??!!" I'm sure you're immediately asking yourself. Coming from the 8 bit generation where a well-constructed melody was as imperative as the games themselves, music is a huge part of what makes an introduction attractive to me especially concerning older games. For more recent titles, particularly the ones created via CGI (Computer generated imagery, for the uniformed) it's a more complex combination depending on the game. The intro has to leave some type of impression on me whether I'm humming the music or watching it an absurd amount of times. Without further ado!
15. Diddy Kong Racing (1997)
Nintendo 64 - Rare
Diddy Kong Racing is one of my favorite racing games on the Nintendo 64 and yes I do like it more than Mario Kart 64! The introduction is cute, colorful and upbeat. Musically, Rare (who makes a few appearances on the list) always hits the nail on the head; this theme song is definitely an ear worm and as it's playing throughout, the instruments shift dependent on what character is onscreen. What a nice touch and probably the first time I noticed such a technique in video games. Diddy Kong Racing's intro is lighthearted fun with some wacky hi-jinks thrown in for good measure. As a grown man, I am not ashamed to say: it's very adorable.
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| Just look - this totally would have made a kick-ass Saturday morning cartoon series. |
14. 007 Everything or Nothing (2004)
Xbox, PS2, Gamecube - EA
It's clear EA Games spent a pretty penny on the casting side of 007: Everything or Nothing. From hiring then James Bond star, Pierce Bronsan (in his final performance as Bond, mind you) to casting popular talents such as Heidi Klum, William Dafoe and R&B singer Mýa, who has a supporting character role in the game but most importatnly contributed her vocal talents to the theme song.
"Everything or Nothing" is a fast-paced techno-pop composition with very James Bond-esque lyrical and visual trappings. Personally I can easily envision this song played to an opening of a mainstream 007 movie; production values are that good. Visually the intro checks all the boxes one would expect from the usual abstract cinematic James Bond opening: Guns? CHECK. Women? CHECK. Women with guns? CHECK. EA did a good of capturing the feel of the films whilst standing as its own thing.
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| Enough artillery to make the army blush. |
13. Super Street Fighter IV (2010)
Playstation 3, Xbox 360 - Capcom
Super Street Fighter IV's intro is a perfect composite of the series: martial arts action, IV's signature 'bleeding ink' art style, and a sweet blend of classic theme songs. The intro doesn't feature all the fighters as it primarily focuses on the Street Fighting Holy Trinity (Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li) and a few of the newcomers debuting in the update to Street Fighter IV. This opening is a high-energy blast...not to be confused with a hadouken.
My favorite aspect of the intro is how it weaves the fighters' individual themes in each scene The flow of the intro is great, beginning with hard-hitting sparring, mellowing out with scenic character moments and finally wrapping up with graceful acrobatic action. Couldn't help but notice how creatively colors were used to set the mood for each backdrop.
Though "Indestructible" is missed.
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| Each scene's distinct color palette. An art student's dream. |
12. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
Playstation 2 - Konami
I absolutely adore this song. Many times I find myself singing it in the shower or driving down the highway. "Snake Eater" has this soulful funk pop vibe wrapped in a heroic urgency. Singer Cynthia Harrell's impeccable vocal performance possess your soul and forces you to belt out "Snake Eater" with all your fiber. Ms. Harrell deserved every bit of her Game Audio Network Guild award for Best Original Vocal Song . Heck, she overtook Mýa's "Everything or Nothing" for the win. I can go on forever about the song and Ms. Harrell's powerful voice. Composer Norihiko Hibino did an excellent job on the entirety ofthe song.The lyrics embody the game, spanning from relationships between characters to the harsh survival of the wilderness.
Because Metal Gear Solid 3 is a prequel to the Metal Gear saga taking place in 1964, the intro incorporates era-appropriate motifs, one of them including a cinematic opening with James Bond-esque influences such as Harrell's passionate smokey voice, sultry brass section and abstract imagery; in this case the slithering of snakes, literally and metaphorically. However unlike a traditional James Bond opening, "Snake Eater" inserts clips from key scenes. Perhaps not as visually interesting as my other choices but the song more than makes up for it. I'd be remiss if I didn't include it.
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| Some days you eat on a tree frog, some days you blow up a helicopter |
11. Dragon Ball GT Final Bout (1997)
Playstation - Bandai
Funny enough, this is the most recent entry to my all time favorites lacking the nostalgia permeating the list. As mediocre as the game is, the Japanese intro is so damn cool. It has an energetic song from Mr. DBZ himself, Hironobu Kageyama called "The Biggest Fight" and I quite enjoy. Possibly aside from the English version of "We Gotta Power" and the old school "Mystical Adventure", this song is one of my favorites from the Dragon Ball franchise.
The animation is splendidly true to the show if only you can forgive some of choppiness. Quite frankly this opening is too good for the game it had the unfortunate fate of being paired with.
In the US, we were burdened with some generic rock music in place of "The Biggest Fight" which does not do the original animation any justice.
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| Nothing manlier than two men beating the crap out of each then smiling in the midst of an embrace. |
10. Donkey Kong Country (1994)
Super Nintendo - Rare
Sweet yet short but remains entertaining after all these years. Donkey Kong Country's intro personifies the "out with the old, in with the new" attitude of 90's exemplified by DK bumping off Cranky Kong (the original Donkey Kong) with his hip and bangin' boombox. After a DK performs his little jig, Cranky enacts his revenge with a barrel of dynamite killing DK in a fiery rage. Just kidding, we wouldn't have game in that case or at least a different type of game...
The pre-rendered 3D graphics were impressive for its time and as I mentioned with Rare, the music is top notch. Probably 90% of the reason I remember this intro so well till this day.
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| Seriously though, this is attempted murder. |
9. Hyper Iria (1995)
Super Famicom - Banpresto
Hyper Iria is a Super Famicom (the Japanese name of Super Nintendo) game based off the OVA (Original Video Animation; straight to video movies in Japan), Iria: Zeiram the Animation which in turn is based off the live-action Japanese movie, Zeiram.
Simplistically stylish is best way to describe this. The opening has a nice usage of large sprites. The title song is very catchy yet understated. I'm willing to bet you'll be tapping your foot to this at some point. I remember downloading this ROM randomly during my high school years and every time I played it, I was compelled to watch intro. If you're interested in playing the game, it's pretty average. The big colorful sprites in the intro fool you because the in-game graphics don't look as good or detailed.
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| This just looks awesome |
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| A scene from SF Hyper Iria (.l) seemingly inspired by Fist of the North Star's opening |
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989)
Nintendo Entertainment System - Ultra Games (now Konami)
One of the first Ninja Turtles game released on the NES, it has gained infamy over the last decade for its bad level design and frustrating gameplay but I still enjoyed it as a child. There's not much with the music carrying the load of enjoyment but like the last entry; simplistically stylish. The intro gives the player a brief roll call of the Turtles then Splinter shows them April captured by Shredder and his goons. As mentioned before my favorite aspect of the intro is the music. That sweet guitar riff gets me every time! Possibly the first rock n roll song I had the pleasure of listening to.
As many Japanese games of the era tended to be influenced by popular music, the intro theme is a strong homage to a particular Queen song.
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| What else can I say? Makes a great wallpaper. |
7. Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 (2004)
Playstation 2 - Dimps
I surprised myself with another Dragon ball entry!
Like the aforementioned Final Bout, Budokai 3's opening is completely animated in the style of the show which is nothing short of perfection and because it was released much later, the animation is improved greatly.
Released during a period sans Dragon Ball movies or series, it was nice to see the signature animation again with the type of quality usually reserved for an OVA. The music is -just okay, as us Americans had the instrumental version, of " Ore wa Tokoton Tomaranai!!" while Japan had the same song blessed with the legendary vocals of Hironobu Kageyama. Both Japanese and American intros are identical but having vocals adds so much life.
Slick animation, welcomed action and cameos from most of your DBZ favorites. This opening delivers.
6. Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team (1993)
Super Nintendo - Rare
I mentioned above how Rareware knocks it out of the park in the music department, this game is another stellar example. The intro alone is one of the finest tracks my ears had the pleasure of listening to and it's very reminiscent of a certain AC/DC song! The opening introduces the characters via large sprites with a quote describing their personality; it goes through the Toads, Dragons and villains. It ends with the Toads picking up the Dragons and going into space for the first level.
There's not much I can say except it rocks, literally. If you enjoy rock music, you'll undoubtedly enjoy this intro and game's soundtrack
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| When someone mentions "Twisting Typhoon Kick", I'm ready to fight. |
5. Def Jam Vendetta (2003)
PS2, Xbox, Gamecube - Electronic Arts
Who knew hip-hop and wrestling meshed so well? Oozing with a gritty atmosphere and hip-hop bravado, this dramatic intro tells you all you need to know about the story; The boss, D-Mob, narrates the premise over the instrumental of DMX's "Where my dogs at". If this song doesn't inspire you to start fighting musclebound men and steal a mobster's girlfriend then my friend, you may need to check your pulse. EA Sports BIG couldn't have chosen a more perfect song. It goes hard and is one of my favorite DMX tracks. Anyway D-Mob informs the player you must defeat his legion of wrestling warriors... who just so happen to be popular rappers circa 2003.
The memorable part of the intro is the end where D-Mob declares "If you wanna take wants mine you have to beat me -" the scene cuts to black and reopens with D-Mob closeup stating "But nobody ever beats me!" Such a strong, intimidating and undaunted vocal performance from D-Mob's voice actor, Christopher Judge. He did a fantastic job.
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| Probably the most intimidating man in video game history. |
4. Tekken 5 (2004)
PS2 - Namco
Tekken 5's opening cinematic is nothing short of visual eye candy. Chock full of fast-paced action and character moments. The song playing throughout, "Sparking" has never resonated with me despite how well it fits and despite watching it God knows how many times. Ironic considering the singer, Jeff Pescetto, is responsible for some of the most memorable songs of my childhood such as DuckTales and Darkwing Duck just to name a few.
Back to Tekken 5. Two scenes leave me in awe: that sweet air kick Heihachi delivers to a Jack and totally-not-Wesley-Snipes'-Blade aka Raven double-slicing flip. This intro features a healthy selection of fighters from the game. It has everything from familial betrayal, martial arts kata, random posing, fighting-trained wild animals, intense rivalry and a Japanese schoolgirl saving a kitten. C'mon, who doesn't love kittens? Guarantee you'll be watching this more once.
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| This man went straight HAM. |
3. Sonic CD (1993)
Sega CD - Sega
Just to get this out of the way; I prefer the US theme song Sonic Boom over the Japanese version. For those who don't know, many moons ago there was heated debates among Sonic fans over which soundtrack version was better. In all honesty, Sonic CD is not that good of a game to have such a spirited debate over, at least for me.
Music aside, the hand-drawn animation quality is absolutely fantastic. It's bright, smooth and finally captures Sonic's frantic yet silky speed in a way I haven't seen since even with all the advances of CG in later games. Working at a game store long ago, I was subjected to see this intro probably over a hundreds times a day in a span of couple of months and you know what? My adoration has never diminished as it still remains one of my favorite video game intros. It's not hard to appreciate high-quality animation and this one deserves a blue ribbon for it's blue blur.
2. Streets of Rage (1991)
Sega Genesis - Sega
Streets of Rage is one of my favorite games of all time, although the sequel improves on the gameplay and graphics immensely, the first game's music is a bona fide video game classic. The game's composer Yuzo Koshiro was highly inspired by Enigma's "Sadness".
The intro sets the mood perfectly with the panning of the city's skyline and the literal narration crawl explaining how dire the situation is and ending on "THEY ARE WILLING TO RISK ANYTHING...EVEN THEIR LIVES...ON THE... STREETS OF RAGE".
You know it's serious when they use three ellipsis' in one sentence.
The music and opening crawl bestows Streets of Rage a gravitas of an 80's action movie with the soundtrack of 90's house music. Perfection.
1. Super Smash Bros Melee (2001)
Gamecube - Nintendo
The granddaddy of all intros.
One of the main reasons why Melee's intro was so memorizing for me was because of immense graphical fidelity leap from the Nintendo 64 to Gamecube; watching it the first time was as if I entered another world. Although the majority of opening contained pre-rendered graphics, it did not bother me at all. It was nothing short of astounding because for the first time, Nintendo fans saw our beloved characters conceived through hyper-detailed computer graphics imagery like never before. Please look below:
The hyper-kinetic nature of the intro almost compels you to watch it multiple times just to make sure you did not miss a thing since so much is shown in the brief minute and a half. Alongside the brisk moving pace, fans were divinely gifted with an orchestral composition fitting of a royal engagement injecting Melee with an energetic reverence. It was more than just game, it was next-generation event and Nintendo was in the driver's seat. At the time too, Smash Bros. was relatively new franchise so having this game released close to the launch of the Gamecube was the perfect storm.
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Sega CD - Sega
Just to get this out of the way; I prefer the US theme song Sonic Boom over the Japanese version. For those who don't know, many moons ago there was heated debates among Sonic fans over which soundtrack version was better. In all honesty, Sonic CD is not that good of a game to have such a spirited debate over, at least for me.
Music aside, the hand-drawn animation quality is absolutely fantastic. It's bright, smooth and finally captures Sonic's frantic yet silky speed in a way I haven't seen since even with all the advances of CG in later games. Working at a game store long ago, I was subjected to see this intro probably over a hundreds times a day in a span of couple of months and you know what? My adoration has never diminished as it still remains one of my favorite video game intros. It's not hard to appreciate high-quality animation and this one deserves a blue ribbon for it's blue blur.
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| This 'meh' game was over-abundantly blessed by the animation gods. |
2. Streets of Rage (1991)
Sega Genesis - Sega
Streets of Rage is one of my favorite games of all time, although the sequel improves on the gameplay and graphics immensely, the first game's music is a bona fide video game classic. The game's composer Yuzo Koshiro was highly inspired by Enigma's "Sadness".
The intro sets the mood perfectly with the panning of the city's skyline and the literal narration crawl explaining how dire the situation is and ending on "THEY ARE WILLING TO RISK ANYTHING...EVEN THEIR LIVES...ON THE... STREETS OF RAGE".
You know it's serious when they use three ellipsis' in one sentence.
The music and opening crawl bestows Streets of Rage a gravitas of an 80's action movie with the soundtrack of 90's house music. Perfection.
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| Who needs character development when you have these handy bios? |
1. Super Smash Bros Melee (2001)
Gamecube - Nintendo
The granddaddy of all intros.
One of the main reasons why Melee's intro was so memorizing for me was because of immense graphical fidelity leap from the Nintendo 64 to Gamecube; watching it the first time was as if I entered another world. Although the majority of opening contained pre-rendered graphics, it did not bother me at all. It was nothing short of astounding because for the first time, Nintendo fans saw our beloved characters conceived through hyper-detailed computer graphics imagery like never before. Please look below:
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| Now, you understand why the Melee intro amazed the hell out of me. |
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By today's standards, Melee's opening is old news but it's one of those moments where you had to be there to truly understand. It helped if you witnessed to growth of video games firsthand to really see the apex we were at.
Overall, the music was grand and the visuals were exciting. Super Smash Bros Melee's intro never gets old and will forever have a place in my heart.
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