BGM

One often overlooked aspect of fighting games is the BGM---background music. Because I'm a bit crazy about this genre, I've actually gone and tracked down imports of most of the soundtracks to most of the games I really like, including the various Street Fighters, the various Marvel and Marvel vs. games by Capcom, and the King of Fighters and Fatal Fury soundtracks by SNK.

It's probably pushing it to say that the music tracks are really good to listen to in their own right from a music appreciation angle, but I still frequently like having them on anyway. Some of the soundtracks are pretty good, or at least have good tracks, but mostly it's good in a sense that it evokes the games and can serve as interesting background music while you're doing something else. In particular, whenever I'm reading my UDON Street Fighter collections, I like to listen to this kind of stuff. Although I also throw it on while writing, or while puttering about the house doing something else.

Anyway, I've attached one of my favorite tracks, "Dust Man" which is Mr. Big's themesong. This version is the "Arranged" soundtrack version from King of Fighters '96... and it's quite long, but worth listening to all the way through, because it does actually do more than just repeat itself. It's a pretty decent piece of ambient electronica in its own right, too.