Impressive Streaming Audio Music WIP
I've defined streaming audio music in games here as a single file playing a complete musical track, though I've made exceptions for earlier examples which tended to be short loops or jingles in the interest of showing the evolution towards what we have now which is basically uncompressed audio. There are also some in-between cases with longer clips of vocals or solos playing during a sequenced track, which I've mentioned on the yearly lists where I can.
Since games throughout history were always battling with space constraints and technology was always evolving, the files come in various different formats that compressed the audio in different ways (hardware circuitry also had an effect though this is much harder to document for most systems) and this is what gives each system its own flavor. When we reach the 32-bit era the differences start to disappear however and you have to use tools to reliably tell them apart.
Amiga
Carrier Command (AMI) - streaming audio?
Garrison (AMI) - streaming audio
Bad Cat (AMI) - streaming audio?
MACH 3 (AMI) - streaming audio?
Off Shore Warrior (AMI) - streaming audio?
Crazy Cars (AMI) - streaming audio?
Space Racer (AMI) - streaming audio
PC Speaker PWM
PC Sound Blaster
Atari ST
Lynx
Arcade?
Apple IIGS
Saturn
Playstation
Nintendo 64
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64)(streaming audio in mono)?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (N64)?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (N64)?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (N64)?
Since games throughout history were always battling with space constraints and technology was always evolving, the files come in various different formats that compressed the audio in different ways (hardware circuitry also had an effect though this is much harder to document for most systems) and this is what gives each system its own flavor. When we reach the 32-bit era the differences start to disappear however and you have to use tools to reliably tell them apart.
Amiga
Carrier Command (AMI) - streaming audio?
Garrison (AMI) - streaming audio
Bad Cat (AMI) - streaming audio?
MACH 3 (AMI) - streaming audio?
Off Shore Warrior (AMI) - streaming audio?
Crazy Cars (AMI) - streaming audio?
Space Racer (AMI) - streaming audio
PC Speaker PWM
PC Sound Blaster
Atari ST
Lynx
Arcade?
Apple IIGS
Saturn
Playstation
Nintendo 64
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64)(streaming audio in mono)?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (N64)?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (N64)?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (N64)?
