When the In-Game and OST Versions of a Song Don’t Align

As an avid collector of VGM albums for well over the past two decades, there have been several times where I come across a track on an album that sounds different than the version I heard in-game. In most of these examples, the in-game version of the song is superior to what made it onto the CD. I’d love to know the stories behind these discrepancies! Here are some examples of this happening:

The big offender here is “Dinosaur Boss Battle”, which is, in my opinion, the better of the two ordinary boss battle themes. Musically, they are identical, however, on the original soundtrack (OST) the entire choir is missing from the track! The choir really made that song for me and it just sounds so much less emphatic without it.

I hope Nintendo decides to re-release this score someday, giving it the proper treatment it deserves, as Pony Canyon’s release didn’t do justice to this incredible soundtrack at all!

This score has TWO tracks that are completely different on the soundtrack - and like Ocarina of Time OST above, the album version is inferior. The two songs are “No Turning Back” (Rapheal’s Stage) and “Hubris” (Mitsurugi’s stage) - two of my favorite tracks in the entire game. Both songs are incredible in-game and pretty lame on the OST. “No Turning Back'“ does not have the acoustic guitar adlibs sprinkled throughout that makes the song just slap. “Hubris” is probably my favorite stage theme in the game. The big difference between in-game and OST versions is the main melody on the former is carried by a real life erhu (and is absolutely beautiful to listen to) while the OST version features a synth violin. Really no contest and the in-game versions of the both songs should have been on the OST.

This is a bit of a case is different from the previous two examples. The soundtrack has a song changed from the original Japanese version. The track “give it to me (Result Screen)” has all the vocal lyrics completel removed! While the singer still adlibs in the domestic version, the actual lyrics are gone. It makes sense for Nintendo to do this for the US release, as the original song is very, very raunchy and suggestive for a game rated ‘E’ for Everyone!

There are indeed more examples of this situation occurring across various games with their accompanying soundtrack releases! If you are aware of any other instances or notable soundtracks, please feel free to share your insights and knowledge! More examples to come in a later post!