Andy Bundy

Category: Music Monday

  • Music Monday – April 6, 2026

    Music Monday – April 6, 2026

    Space. I’ve been obsessed with it growing up and still continue to be filled with awe any time I look into the clear night sky. There are also songs in which I’m instantly transported to space. John Williams’s Star Wars music, Holst’s The Planets, etc.

    Video game music does an amazing job of immersing you into whatever game you’re playing. Whether you’re gallivanting through Hyrule on horseback in Ocarina of Time or fighting pirates on Monkey Island, there’s always some sort of soundtrack that can accompany it. Have you ever played one of these games on mute? It just doesn’t have the same effect.

    The song I chose for this week’s Music Monday I actually listened to way before playing the game it’s from. The track for this week is Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy!

    Super Mario Galaxy was one of the first Mario soundtracks to be done with a full orchestra, which is a big deal. A music nerd myself, I also grew up listening to many different types of what most would call “Classical” music. The fact that there were now games that seemed to crossover made it so surreal to me. I would listen to this song so much as it was probably one of the most popular songs on the soundtrack!

    The melody of this song is so memorable as well. The strings and other instruments carrying the melody have an almost lyrical nature to them as the guitar speedily strums and the bass carries on the movement of the piece. As I close my eyes listening to this song, I can picture myself flying through space and speeding past the stars.

    As I drove to and from work today, the song was on my mind. I opened up my Nintendo Music App and played an extended 30 minute version of Gusty Garden heading to work. There’s something about the song that also bubbles up emotions to me so it probably wasn’t the best that I’m driving to work and tears are welling up (happy tears, mind you). On the way home I listened to one of those compilations of where Gusty Garden has shown up in games. It shows up in a LOT! The melody shows up in like three different songs in Galaxy 1, then a few times in Galaxy 2, then in the Mario and Sonic games and Mario Kart games, among others.

    The song most recently was included in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which I was able to see this past weekend. (No spoilers, but it was amazing)

    Brian Tyler did an amazing job of taking the tracks and movie-izing them, just as he did for the first Illumination Mario movie (which ALSO HAD THE GUSTY GARDEN SONG IN THE CREDITS)

    For someone who didn’t grow up with a Wii and didn’t play Galaxy until he was older (although I did play Galaxy 2 in college after one of my friends let me play on his console), I deeply respect what was done with this soundtrack as a whole…even moreso with Gusty Garden.

    Here are a few good remixes that I’ve found as well of Gusty Garden:

    8-bit Music Theory even did a great video dissecting Gusty Garden as well:

    What are your thoughts on Gusty Garden Galaxy? Let me know in the comments or out over on the Bundy’s Bear Cave Discord!

  • Music Monday – March 30, 2026

    Music Monday – March 30, 2026

    There are certain songs in VGM that just hit you right. Songs that boost your mood and just make you smile. This week’s song does that for me in spades, although many times I can only listen to it on…a sunshine-y day.

    “Can you see? The sun is shining on me! It makes me feel so free, so alive, it makes me want to survive…”

    – Sonic R, “Can You Feel the Sunshine”

    The upbeat vibes from the Sonic R soundtrack just meshed with me from day one. I heard the music WAY before I heard about the game. The synths and upbeat nature of the song was amazing and while the song lyrics might be a little strange at first they’re easy to remember. Seriously, if you give me a karaoke version of this song, I will remember all of the words (and the original OST has the instrumentals since you can turn the vocals off in-game)

    TJ Davis did an incredibly great job singing this song as well! She has that great alto voice that just makes this easy to sing.

    You wanted more remixes, right? Here are some great remixes of this song! One’s even by Tee Lopes and his sister!

    What do you think of the Sonic R soundtrack? Do you have a favorite track? Let me know in the comments or over on Discord!

  • Music Monday – March 23, 2026

    Music Monday – March 23, 2026

    There are some video games songs that are incredibly iconic. Songs that you hear and you immediately know “HEY that’s [game name] song!”

    Today, we’re talking about that but with Zelda! Let’s talk about the main theme!

    The triumphant beeps of the theme starting off starts and you know you’re on an epic journey. The marching percussion with the peppy melody just prepares you for the path ahead.

    Have you ever listened to any of those “evolution of [game name] theme” videos on YouTube? Check out the one on the Zelda Theme. It’s really cool to hear the same beats as they evolve throughout the years:

    I actually in high school took a music theory class and made a marching/concert band arrangement of the Mario and Zelda Themes. It was an easy melody to start with and it was so much fun to do! (The recording I have of it is below. Unfortunately the sheet music is lost to time)

    All that is to say, an iconic video game theme can stick with you your whole life. Which themes are your favorite? Let me know in the comments or on Discord!

  • Music Monday – March 2, 2026

    Music Monday – March 2, 2026

    March is here and if you weren’t aware, we just recently celebrated Pokémon Day on February 27th, as that was the day that Pokémon Red and Green were released in Japan.

    I don’t know if you shared the sentiment but I grew up on Pokémon whether it was the anime or the games. This week for Music Monday I want to share one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite Pokémon games:

    It might be an odd choice, but I do have some fond memories of this song. It’s ingrained into my head. I had hours upon hours in which I would sit in a battle and just listen to the songs. The countermelody of the song with the runs up and down caught my attention especially since back on the Game Boy there were only four channels of audio for music at that time.

    The Game Boy Advance rereleases, FireRed and Leafgreen took the same ideas but added some extra flair with the extra technology at the time:

    Leave it to the remixers of the internet, though, they take 4 tracks of audio and make them epic. Check out a few of these remixes of this song!

    Do you have a favorite Pokémon music track? Let me know in the comments or let’s talk about it on my Discord server!

  • Music Monday – February 23, 2026

    Music Monday – February 23, 2026

    It’s no secret that I am known to enjoy a show tune from time to time. Classic, modern, it doesn’t matter the kind. When there are songs that give out that energy, I’m all ears.

    This week, I want to show one of the first tracks that made me realize that video game music can have a showtune vibe!

    This week’s song is Star Light Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog!

    It starts off and has a bit of a rhythm to it that almost screams “Broadway” to me. I can imagine if Sonic had a Broadway Musical, one of the songs would be based off this song.

    There are some good remixes of this song too, and they really get into it! It’s various in style but dance remixes and more just show how versatile this song can be!

  • Music Mondays – February 16, 2026

    Music Mondays – February 16, 2026

    Okay, I know this post is late. I also know that I’m not Andy. But just listen for a moment, he’s busy and he asked me to fill in (i.e. I bugged him until he said yes).

    Nothing makes an impact on a game in exactly the same way as a main menu. A game finally gets it’s chance to show you “hey, here I am, this is what I’m about.” The visuals, the music, the fonts (yes, the fonts) – everything is there to tell you exactly what you’re getting into and pull you deeper into the experience. So to say that the main menu themes carry a lot of weight is a bit of an understatement, IMO. Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Blue, Sonic the Hedgehog…these are just a few of the legendary main menu themes in the hallowed halls of video games

    I humbly submit that The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind’s main theme, Nerevar Rising, sits in that pantheon.

    Every part of this song exists to tell you about yourself and what you’re getting into:

    (the drums begin) You are small, a single person in a vast world.

    (the drums crowd out the quiet orchestra) That world is overwhelming, full of dangers, and will drown you out if you get a chance.

    (the orchestra grows louder, swelling and adding instruments) But time and persistence are on your side, and you will come to master this place as you gain skill and knowledge.

    (the drums fade into the background, the horns swell, the movement solely in the strings) You are the hero this place needs.

    Even the name, Nerevar Rising, is to remind you that you are the hero, Nerevar, reborn and returned to heal a blighted land as you adventure the island. The song continually reappears throughout your adventure as you traverse the game’s island, reminding you of the grandiosity of the adventure.

    Absolute chills.

    I can, and have, gone on forever about the importance of this game to a young Bookslap. How at the age of 14, I spent nearly the entire summer by myself, frittering away the days holed up in my den, playing Morrowind and only Morrowind. How it continues to shape my idea of what games can and should be to this day, including the haunting title theme. But honestly, the song speaks for itself. Give it a listen and let us know what you think!

  • Music Mondays – February 9, 2026

    Music Mondays – February 9, 2026

    When a video game carries a major musical motif through a franchise, it’s impressive to see how it evolves. This week’s Music Monday is going to focus on a song that started on the Game Boy and has been seen as recently as the past few years!

    If you’re familiar at all with the Kirby franchise, you know this song. The melody is written to be an earworm and in almost every iteration of Kirby there’s a throwback to this specific tune:

    (Shoutout to the creator of this playlist that shows the evolution of the track)

    This song has been ingrained in my brain, and I find myself humming it on occasion.

    I thought of this too because fun fact: Kirby’s Dream Land was my first Let’s Play when I tried to make YouTube gaming videos for the first time in 2010

    Warning: Young Andy video ahead:

    What’s your favorite version of the Green Greens theme? Let me know in the comments or let’s discuss it on Discord!

  • Music Mondays – February 2, 2026

    Music Mondays – February 2, 2026

    When you think of water levels, what kind of music do you think of? What instrumentation typically comes to mind? For me, it’s ethereal and it uses instruments like strings and soft pads to generate feelings of waves and ocean. There are many great examples but today I wanted to pull focus towards Dire, Dire Docks from Super Mario 64.

    I will often go back and listen to this and all variations of this song when I need to vibe. It was a great study song back in college too!

    Fun Fact: The Dire, Dire Docks song was one of the first (if not *the* first) song that I ever learned on piano, thanks to an arrangement online I found from Ben Landis.

    The arpeggiated bassline combined with the simple melody made it a very easy song to start learning, and all of the variations of this song just hit right.

    I even love the version they remixed in Mario Kart World a ton, especially since they arranged it as almost a concert band piece:

    Enjoy the vibes and let me know what you think in the comments!

    (Also sorry for the late publish, this week was a little insane)

  • Music Mondays – January 26, 2026

    Music Mondays – January 26, 2026

    Sometimes video game music can be nostalgic, sometimes it can hold memories. Other times, it can just hit you the first time you hear it. This week’s song? It’s not even a year old yet and it hit me in just the right spot.

    This week’s song is “Breaking Through (Heart of Gold)” from Donkey Kong Bananza! Even if you haven’t played the game, you might have heard this during the medley of the Game of the Year songs during The Game Awards:

    There’s something about the strings in the song. That combined with the beat and guitar just hits and instant goosebumps. The song tells an abridged story of what happens in the game, which you’ve spent however many hours playing. How your song allows the singer to find you and also the way.

    The song also takes bits from Donkey Kong’s history and that mixed with the lyrics of “Let’s go to the core and nothing can stop us now” brings me great joy and almost instant tears every time I hear it

    IN FACT, you get an exclusive by reading this…I did actually sing this song and recorded myself doing it. Keeping the song unlisted on YouTube so enjoy!

    I bet you thought it was only going to be Retro songs on here, didn’t you?

    What do you think of this song? Let me know in the comments or over on Discord!

  • Music Mondays – January 19, 2026

    Music Mondays – January 19, 2026

    If you know anything about me, you know that I have an incredibly soft spot for Disney films, and a major part of it is because of the music that comes with it. What does this have to do with Video Game Music? Well, there are a lot of Disney video games, but there’s one song from a non-Disney video game that just gives the vibes of a Disney end-credits film. That song is…

    Girl in the Tower from King’s Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow by Mark Seibert!

    This game came out in 1992, and my dad had this game as far as I could remember. He enjoyed the point-and-click Sierra games as well as strategy games such as Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise. When I was a kid, I remember that sometimes he would let me play Civ 2. It was a good time, but he also installed a no-cd patch so we could play it without the CD in the drive. The downside to that? It didn’t play music as the music was played through the CD Audio. Funny things would happen if you would have other CDs in the drive.

    The first time I heard the song “Girl in the Tower” was while I was playing Civilization 2, funny enough. I’d be playing the game and randomly it’d start playing the song. I was confused at first but then we made the realization that it came from the King’s Quest VI CD. (This was also the time where you could play songs from games on CD players if you passed by the first track)

    The song is a love ballad between two of the game’s principal characters, Prince Alexander and Princess Cassima. The lyrics are kind of goofy and corny, which means it’s right up my alley.

    I don’t have too many covers of this song that I listen to, but it was nice to get recognition from the Game Grumps a couple years back:

    (While searching for the above clip, I found this amazing cover by Skar Productions🙂

    Have you heard this song before? Let me know in the comments!

  • Music Mondays – January 12, 2026

    Music Mondays – January 12, 2026

    It’s Music Monday! The time of the week where we talk about a various piece of video game music that has made a mark on me for one reason or another!

    It’s so cool when you hear a song and it sticks with you, yeah? For better or for worse, that song has made an impact in your life. Perhaps it’s something that pops in your head when you’re feeling a certain feeling or it’s attached to a memory?

    This week’s Video Game Track does that for me. I didn’t play the game a lot but I listened to the song so much.

    This song is Baba Yetu, which is the opening song to Sid Meier’s Civilization IV.

    For those of you who didn’t know, the lyrics are The Lord’s Prayer in Swahili. Growing up, I lived in a household that didn’t allow me to listen to a lot of popular music. Civilization IV came out in October 2005, which would’ve been my freshman year in High School. My dad was a big fan of the Civilization franchise so it was an early buy for him. After he installed the game, he and I gathered around the computer to experience the beginning of the game. The opening cinematic started and I was just put in awe of the music combined with the visuals of what was basically the “evolution of Civilization.”

    My love for the song, though, was actually solidified later by the release of Video Games Live, which is a group that would go to orchestras around the world and play video game music. There were two amazing covers of this song on their albums. One was in the Civilization IV Medley in Level 1:

    and the other was the duet version (my preferred version) in Level 2:

    I attempted in high school to get my choir teacher to let us sing this in our choir but never had the opportunity. I did however have the opportunity in 2008-2009 to go to a “reading band” at Capital University where we almost had the opportunity to play a part of it in a Video Games Live medley for concert band. A reading band was where they brought a bunch of students together and sight-read music prior to release. Sort of a beta test.

    Back to the song though, Christopher Tin does an amazing job of combining the tribal music with the orchestra. The melody is simple and easy to sing along with, even if you don’t know the words. This is also one of those songs that hits me in just the right part that even in the intro sometimes I can get choked up or emotional at the swelling orchestra.

    Video game music is great, isn’t it? Have you heard this song before? Let me know in the comments, or let’s talk about it on Discord!

  • Music Mondays – Jan 5, 2026

    Music Mondays – Jan 5, 2026

    For 2026, I want to take time every Monday and think about video game music. If you know me, you’ll know that video game music is one of my favorite genres of music. It’s incredibly versatile from the bleeps and boops of chiptune music to the full orchestrations of modern-day gaming.

    With that being said, today’s song of the week is…

    Freezeezy Peak from Banjo-Kazooie! (Composed by Grant Kirkhope)

    It tracks that my first track comes from Banjo-Kazooie. There are so many good tracks in the OST for Banjo-Kazooie, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Freezeezy Peak. There’s just something there that brings joy? It evokes the Winter/Christmas vibe and Grant Kirkhope used the Brass/Strings so well in this track to keep the pace going. I remember sitting in the game for hours so I could just listen to the music of this level (before I discovered the Internet). It’s bouncy, and drowns out the ever so sinister laughs of the Sir Slush. One thing that stands out from Banjo-Kazooie is the dynamic instrumentation of the songs. I love the variations, but the main world has to be my favorite out of all of them.

    I also have to give a shout out to all of the remixes of this song. There are many.

    The first I go back to (a lot) is a remix by Smouvy, who was one of my friends back on the Rare Witch Project forums:

    It evokes similar vibes but more sedate. I could sit with my headphones and just get lost in the snow:

    Another one of note is a remix from….Grant Kirkhope himself???

    The vibe is more ska-like and upbeat but the versatility of the melody is able to hit even this ska/surf rock hit!

    What do you think of this wintertime snow hit? Do you have a favorite track? Let me know in the comments or let’s talk about it on Discord!