P-Vock's Music Box: Give... Me... Blood...

Hello and welcome to P-Vock's Music Box, the weekly blog where I drop some amazing tunes to help you get set for the weekend. Holy shit, it is so hard to find good video game music for October. Most games that are thematically relevant rely on minimal music and single moments that are terrifying. This makes it near impossible to really capture why they work in a blog post. Sure, I could explain how horrifying the final boss of EarthBound is, or the terrifying moon segment from Majora's Mask, but that would require summarizing the whole game to make sure I capture the impact of that moment is so scary. Luckily, I know of an iconically spooky moment from a beloved series.

I don't think many people would ever think of the original Game Boy for spooky moments and horrific experiences. Though for some; when they read that, they immediately had flashbacks to the one 8-bit piece of music that actually unnerved them. So, let's have a listen:

Pokemon is a game about prepubescent idiots walking around the countryside while raising salamanders and frogs. So then, what in the name of Sweet, Beautiful, Badass Cynthia allowed the theme of Lavender Town to happen? Add in that one of the trainers literally just says "Give... Me... Blood..." before you fight, and you've got yourself one spooky area.

The series would evolve this idea (pun intended), and deliver some other spooky towns and areas, with thematically appropriate music. but I'm a filthy casual who doesn't care enough to play every game in the series and I wager most of you reading this are as well, so let's keep this lavender train rolling. The first generation of Pokemon has gotten multiple remakes over the years. The yellow zappy mouse and its friends literally print money, so of course, they would capitalize on nostalgia whenever possible, and there was no better time than 2016.

Remember Pokemon Go? The game was so addictive it caused people to literally walk into oncoming traffic for a chance at catching a Weedle. Well, Nintendo and Game Freak sure did, which is why they made a Nintendo Switch exclusive Generation 1 remake, designed to reel in those suckers that reaffirmed their love for this stupid series in 2016. 2018's Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee were basically a mix between the classic Generation 1 and the insanely lucrative mobile game, and you know what that means... We got another version of Lavender Town to raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

So if it wasn't obvious with my last two picks, I'm not super into spooky shit. I love a lot of horror settings, but media designed to scare me isn't really fun for me to experience. That said, moments like Lavender Town always stick out in my mind. When a game can have the tonal shift and really intrigue me with some chilling moments, it becomes something etched into my brain.

I hope your weekend is as amazing as this track, and may your nightmares be "spooky monster" scary and not "Grandma died" scary. I'll see you back here next week with another thematic suggestion from my Music Box. Stay safe out there all you ghouls and ghosts.