If you’re someone who loves video games, you probably also have a serious love for music as well. While the two mediums do tend to be quite separate, that hasn’t stopped some bands and artists from making songs that are based on some of their own favorite video games in some way.
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The surprising thing is that just about every genre of music possible is covered when you dig into all the songs based on video games. Whether a reference in lyrics, a theme for the song, or even a video game song being sampled in a famous track, there’s always a great game-based song to throw on the next time you’re looking for new music.
10Shadow Moses - Bring Me The Horizon
Aside from this track being a great addition to your next workout playlist, Bring Me The Horizon’s Shadow Moses is clearly based onMetal Gear Solidto some degree. Supposedly, both the title and the opening section of the song pay homage to the series.
You should recognize Shadow Moses as an important location fromthe famous stealth game series. If you’re a fan of a bit harder rock, you probably already love this song, and sharing a love for Metal Gear probably just makes Bring Me The Horizon all the better for you.
9Video Games - Tenacious D
This short and goofy little song from the legendary Tenacious D might not be exactly what you’d expect. The song captures the goofy history of the band, but it does that by focusing heavily on referencing as much famous game series as possible in a single song and music video.
Even if the song isn’t exactly your style, everyone should experience the music video with stylized animations featuring Jack Black in games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Fallout, Super Mario, and a whole lot more.
8Symphony Of The Night - DragonForce
Yes, that band that made that super intense song fromGuitar Hero 3does in fact make other music, and those songs all tend to be awesome. This metal group released this song to essentially act as an enormous homage to theCastlevaniaseries.
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The name of the song should be a clear enoughreference to the Metroidvania game of the same name, but even the lyrics put in some work. The lyrics take you on an entire adventure as you enjoy guitars shredding to some familiar Castlevania-themed music.
7Video Games - Lana Del Rey
When compared to a lot of the other songs on this list, Video Games by Lana Del Ray has one of the loosest connections of them all. Of course, the title directly references video games, but this hit of dream pop does have lyrics that deal with video games.
There is only one reference to someone playing an unnamed video game within the song, but apparently, the game in question is actuallyWorld Of Warcraftof all games. This song isn’t as upbeat as others, but it’s one that helped to launch Lana Del Ray to the superstar status she has now.
6Ilomilo - Billie Eilish
Some people had no clue that this Billie Eilish song is actually somewhat based on a game. It’s heavily inspired bythe silly little puzzle gamethat goes by the exact same name. Clearly, something about the separation and reuniting of the two characters spoke to her.
It’s a bit of an underrated song by the artist if all you’ve heard from her are her bigger hits. With unique sound design and thought-provoking lyrics, it’s clear that the game Ilomilo helped inspire a fantastic little song.
5Chun-Li - Nicki Minaj
Everyone will already know that this Nicki Minaj song is directly referencing the most famous woman in theStreet Fighterseries, Chun-Li. The music video features Nicki Minaj in her best Chun-Li cosplay while she does her thing to the great track.
Lyrically, there really isn’t a ton of overt references to video games. She does reference video game characters like Lara Croft and Chun-Li, but outside of mentioning the two fantastic female characters in games, that’s about it. Anyone who’s a fan of Nicki Minaj, or rap in general, might enjoy this song, especially if you’re a fan of Chun-Li.
4PAC-MAN - Gorillaz
It seems like it’s really easy to reference games by making them the title of a song, but this Gorillaz song does much more than just that.Pac-Manis actually worked into the lyrics to help paint the picture of a lost and stressed-out person.
The entire music video is as stylized as any Gorillaz fan would expect. There are tons of colorful and striking visuals, and a lot of those visuals are Pac-Man characters. Throughout the entire video, a Pac-Man arcade cabinet is being played as well!
3Dollar And A Dream 3 - J. Cole
When you first listen to this song, you might really struggle to see anything video game related at all. If you’re a particularly dedicatedKingdom Heartsfan, you might actually be able to catch the fact that J. Cole’s Dollar And A Dream 3 samples Darkness Of The Unknown,a track from the series.
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The sample fit’s perfectly into J. Cole’s lyrical delivery style. Every line comes across as genuine and oozes with emotion, and the simple sample only makes the entire track feel all the more important.
2Pac-Man Fever - Buckner & Garcia
While you might not remember this song, it’s not out of the realm of reality for your parents to remember it. This entire song is one big love letter to the classic arcade game, Pac-Man. Apparently, everyone loved Pac-Man because this song was a surprise hit.
This whole song is all about wanting to go down to the arcade to play some Pac-Man, something that a lot of people were into when the song originally came out in the 80s. It’s a simple song, but it’s also a fun little blast from the past.
1SMASH! - Starbomb
While the crude nature of Starbomb’s humor might not be for everyone, it’s hard to say that this isn’t a great song directly based on one of the most famous games of all time,Super Smash Bros. The entire video for the song is hilarious and packed with iconic characters.
Like in most Mario games, Luigi just wants to have funwith his friends, but all the Super Smash Bros characters are set on beating the stuffing out of each other for as long as possible. This song has some fantastic vocals from a group of talented and hilarious creators.
