How the song "Undertale" Hits Home

A single instrument makes for the most memorable moment in Undertale. I take a look at the title track from Undertale and how it uses an acoustic guitar to achieve the game's goal.

UPDATE: I failed to recognise in this video that the acoustic guitar is not the ONLY live recorded in the entire soundtrack. There is a piano played in the track Last Goodbye. I don't think this detracts from my point too much, as it comes much later in the game (the end of a second play-through), isn't the focus of the track and there are already some rather realistic piano samples on the soundtrack so isn't used to the same effect.

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"An Examination of Leitmotifs and Their Use to Shape Narrative in UNDERTALE", by Jason Yu:
http://jasonyu.me/undertale-part-1/

"Undertale & the Power of the Predominant | Ongaku Concept: Video Game Music Theory"
   • Undertale & the Power of the Predomin...  
Thank you to Joshua Taipale for chatting with me about some of the theoretical things in the music.

Here is a link from Toby Fox's tumblr about the original, unused version of the track.
http://undertale.tumblr.com/post/1503...

Thank you to 8-Bit Music Theory for providing me with the transcriptions seen in this video.
   / 8bitmusictheory  

Thank you to Into The Score, for providing the footage from Final Fantasy VI. He will soon have a video up about the track "Terra" from FFVI!
   / intothescore  

Thanks to Writing on Games for chatting and helping me put some thoughts together.
   / writingongames  

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All music in this video is from the game Undertale, composed by Toby Fox, unless otherwise stated below. In order of appearance:

Long Elevator
Undertale
Enemy Approaching
Shop
Chill
Memory
Hotel
Home
Once Upon a Time
Mother Earth - Mother - Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka
Fallen Down
Oh! One True Love
Aria Di Mezzo Carattere - Final Fantasy VI - Nobuo Uematsu
Snowy
Bergentrückung
Undertale (unused version) - Toby Fox
It's Raining Somewhere Else

You can buy Undertale's soundtrack straight from Toby Fox's bandcamp page:
https://tobyfox.bandcamp.com/album/un...


Games shown in this video, in order of appearance:

Undertale (2015)
Mother (1989)
Final Fantasy VI (1994)

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Game Score Fanfare is a show that celebrates music in video games. Music is so often overlooked in games because that's all part of its job: to move you without you even noticing. I want to explore and share the unique ways games can use music and how it intersects with game design and story. I'll be shining a light on the games and people who have taken the medium of video game music seriously and pushed its limits to create one of the most diverse genres of music that we have.