The Olympics is one of the most spectated sporting events around the world. Different countries coming together to compete for glory in various sporting and athletic events is always entertaining to see. As Japan is hosting this year’s festivities, they decided to play a few songs during the opening ceremony that many gamers will be familiar with.
During the opening ceremony, various countries were introduced with Japanese video game music playing in the background. An orchestral abundance of songs from iconic Japanese video games served as the soundtrack. The arrangement included songs from games developed by SEGA, Capcom, and Square Enix, all massively popular video game companies not only in Japan but across the world.
The first song played Friday was “Overture: Roto’s Theme” from the Dragon Quest series. Dragon Quest was enormously influential as the first console role-playing game, taking the genre to new heights and kickstarting a stream of influence among developers and future games to come.
Final Fantasy also made an appearance at the ceremony. The parade included the main Final Fantasy theme and “Victory Fanfare,” the song that plays when the player wins against an enemy encounter. Both arrangements have been part of the series from the very beginning. There were many other songs as well, from series such as NieR, Kingdom Hearts, Monster Hunter, and more. Surprisingly enough though, there was no music present from Nintendo or Pokémon.
The full list is as follows:
- Dragon Quest – “Introduction: Lotto Theme”
- Final Fantasy – “Victory Fanfare”
- Tales of Series – “Sley’s Theme – Guru”
- Monster Hunter – “Proof of Hero”
- Kingdom Hearts – “Olympus Coliseum”
- Chrono Trigger – “Frog Theme”
- Ace Combat – “First Flight”
- Tales of Series – “Royal Capital – Dignified”
- Monster Hunter – “Wind of Departure”
- Chrono Trigger – “Robo’s Theme”
- Sonic the Hedgehog “Star Light Zone”
- Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer) “eFootball walk-on theme”
- Final Fantasy – “Main Theme”
- Phantasy Star Universe – “Guardians”
- Kingdom Hearts – “Hero’s Fanfare”
- Gradius (Nemesis) – “01 ACT 1-1”
- NieR – “Initiator”
- Saga Series – “Makai Ginyu Poetry-Saga Series Medley 2016”
- Soulcaliber – “The Brave New Stage of History”
Japan pulled out all the stops for its opening ceremony with this arrangement of beautiful video game music. It comes as no surprise, as gaming is one of the biggest parts of Japanese culture. As the Olympics unfold, we’ll see how else Japan manages to implement its culture into the various competitions.