The long-running ‘Video Game Music Box’ series is releasing its first vinyl record, bringing together reworked themes from some of the most beloved video game soundtracks of all time. ‘Best Of Video Game Music Box’ is available to pre-order now via Materia Records and will ship later this year.
The series was started in 2018 by film and game composer Diwa de Leon and has since grown to include more than 50 albums of reworked gaming music. Past releases have covered soundtracks from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Genshin Impact, Deltarune, Undertale, Baldur’s Gate 3, Skyrim, Minecraft, Hollow Knight, Sonic The Hedgehog, The Witcher 3, and many others. The new vinyl collection is described as a handpicked selection of beloved themes from across the world of video games, reimagined through the delicate and nostalgic sound of the music box into something intimate, reflective, and dreamlike.
The 1LP record costs £23 and features 14 tracks spread across two sides. Side A includes ‘Zelda’s Lullaby’ from The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, ‘Luma’ from Super Mario Galaxy, ‘Fallen Down’ from Undertale, ‘Lavender Town’ from Pokémon Red / Blue / Yellow, ‘Dearly Beloved’ from Kingdom Hearts, ‘The Legend’ from Deltarune, and ‘The Great Fairy Fountain’ from The Legend Of Zelda. Side B features ‘Once Upon A Time’ from Undertale, ‘Empty Town’ from Deltarune, ‘Shop’ from Undertale, ‘Song of Storms’ from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, ‘Undertale’ from Undertale, ‘Treasured Memories’ from Kingdom Hearts, and ‘Megalovania’ from Undertale.
De Leon said the series began as an experiment, noting that there was no dedicated music box series of officially licensed video game music at the time. They wanted to see if anyone would listen to full orchestrations and sweeping cinematic scores distilled down to two-part music box arrangements, with no padding or embellishment, just the melody and its basic broken harmony.
According to de Leon, people crave that simplicity. Hearing a beloved theme reduced to its purest form hits differently, feeling innocent, unguarded, and somehow more emotional for it. De Leon called the vinyl release the best of that experiment.
The announcement comes as video game music continues to gain recognition as a serious art form, with soundtrack releases and live orchestral performances becoming increasingly common. The ‘Video Game Music Box’ series has carved out a unique niche by offering an intimate alternative to the grand, cinematic presentations that dominate the genre.