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Feature

The Worst (And Weirdest) Music In Gaming History

by Dan Ryckert on Mar 05, 2013 at 05:50 AM

If you're on this site, chances are you can hum a good amount of game music just off of memory. Hell, plenty of people who have never played a game in their life can instantly recognize the Mario theme. However, things aren't always as pleasant as exploring Zelda's overworld while listening to sweeping, iconic tunes. We've all had times in which we've scrambled to the options menu to turn music down or even turn the damn game off. Here's our big list of the biggest offenders.

The Adventures of Rad Gravity - Title Screen (NES)

We'll start with one of the worst tracks on this entire list, but it's also one that several of us have become weirdly fond of after repeated viewings.

Mario Party 2 - Honeycomb Havoc (Nintendo 64)

This one doesn't start out offensively bad, but the looping tune becomes gradually more annoying as you play this luck-filled minigame.

Doom - The Imp's Song (32X)

This sounds like a smoke detector going off while a car sits outside with its bass turned up too high.

Gears of War - Cole Train rap (Xbox 360)

Ending credits raps were lame even when Tone Loc did it for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Cole Train's rap after the first Gears of War was not an exception.

Resident Evil: Director's Cut - Mansion Basement (PSone)

According to the top YouTube comment, this track sounds like "Charlie Brown's parents having sex." That comment isn't wrong.

Cruisin' USA (Nintendo 64)

Alright, I know this song is objectively terrible. That said, I sorta love it and that dude's voice is awesome.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - Character select music

If you're playing a fighting game for any period of time, you're gonna see the character select screen several times. That means that in MvC2, you're gonna hear "I'M GONNA TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE" no less than 9,000 times per gaming session.

Tagin' Dragon (NES)

This forgotten NES title is a real one-two punch. It features awful music on top of one of the most hilariously bad title screens in history.

WWF No Mercy - Menu music (N64)

For some reason, I absolutely loved this track (and still do). However, I have to admit that it's entirely ridiculous when taken out of context. Regardless, no one can argue the lyrical masterwork that is "Diggity dig dig diggity dog/Socko!/Hahaha."

Call of Duty: Black Ops II - Post-credits ending (Multiplatform)

"Hey, so we've crafted a great villain in this new Call of Duty game! What should we do after the end credits? Oh, you say we should make him rock out with some horsecrap band that no one will remember in five years? Perfect!"

Doom Troopers - Venus level (Genesis)

Well this is just a whole bunch of farts.

Action 52 - Crazy Shuffle (NES)

Imagine a basketball bouncing around inside your brain as a TIE fighter shoots lasers at you, and you've got this track from Action 52.

Silent Hill 2 - Dog ending credits (Playstation 2)

This one makes the list for being weird as hell, but it's also really great.

San Francisco Rush - What's Your Name? (Nintendo 64)

That's right, your name is CGZHIJKLMNOP. Nothin' nasty, now.

Crazy Bus - Title screen (Unreleased Venezuelan Genesis demo)

Maybe I'm cheating a bit with this one considering that this "game" never really came out, but holy lord listen to that.

Bebe's Kids - Final battle (SNES)

Can't tell if that robot is trying to fight the main character or get down to these funky beats.

Sacred 2 - In-game concert (Multiplatform)

If you didn't get the memo from that Black Ops II video earlier in this article, in-game concerts can be real dumb. They can be even dumber if scepters are your microphones, axes are your guitars, and your crowd is a bunch of goblins and orcs.

The Terminator - Sewers music (NES)

No, your computer's audio is not stuck in a loop.

Daytona USA - Rolling Start (Arcade)

Look no further than the first 10 seconds of this one.

Animal Crossing: Wild World - Mr. Resetti theme (DS)

This track does its job. Mr. Resetti is supposed to annoy you so much that you never want to turn the game off without saving again. His theme song helps.

Global Gladiators - Title screen (Genesis)

Awful title music right here, but it's almost saved at the 24 second mark.

Manic Miner - In the Hall of the Mountain King (ZX Spectrum)

Yep, those sad little bleeps and bloops are supposed to resemble this.

Dragon's Dogma - Main menu theme (Multiplatform)

So this one starts out real strong, then starts to get weird around the 44 second mark. Then it goes way off the deep end at 1:00.

Doomsday Warrior - Shadow's stage (SNES)

I actually think this might be the most purely annoying out of all the tracks in this feature.

Double Dribble - National Anthem (Arcade)

Makes this sound like this by comparison.

While putting this story together, I struggled to decide which terrible Sonic song I'd use. As it turns out, there is so much. Because of that, I'm dedicating the entire final page of this ear-destroying feature to the king of awful gaming music.

Sonic and the Secret Rings - Seven Rings in Hand