Hey, folks. It’s been a crazy few weeks (months? years?) so I’m going to try something new with an idea that I can actually schedule ahead of time.
Since I’ve spent most of my life listening to video game music, and I’m guessing at least five or six of you are here because of games, I could introduce you nerds to some of the best game music that’s mainly for me.
This Game Music Wednesday, I wanted to talk about “One-Winged Angel.”
God, this song. If you haven’t played Final Fantasy until you’ve broken your ability to interact with other human beings beyond an ellipses, you might have heard this very, very long song. It’s the final boss music for Final Fantasy VII, where you fight the final form of Sephiroth. He’s technically got five wings rather than one, but it’s not really that big of a deal.
This song knocked me on my ass the first time I heard it. By that point, in middle school, I’d already recorded four or five full cassette tapes by holding a Talkboy to the TV as I let music from Mega Man, Final Fantasy, and other games play. I already loved game music, and - if you’re listening to it - you know this shit is aimed squarely at sad 13-year-olds.
The lyrics are in Latin (I think?), but from every translation I’ve seen, they’re not really that deep. It’s basically, “He’s very mad. He’s very bad. Sephiroth” on repeat for nearly ten minutes. But it’s the perfect dramatic music for any occasion.
This song led me to buy my first video game album. There were crappy MIDI versions out there, but even illegally downloading music hadn’t kicked off yet. I had to send a form to an import company that happened to carry Japanese video game music on CD. I forget how much it cost, but probably too fucking much for a sixth grader.
One-Winged Angel. Great song.
You just gave me all the nostalgiac feels for the Talkboy.
I already did a little blurb in one of my articles about Battletoads pause music but I will totally read an essay you write about it. VG music rules.