The VG Resource

Something I've been thinking about since last night.

Often, many older games on 8-bit consoles are criticized for having short and repetitive music (for example, the first Zelda dungeon theme that plays in all 8 main dungeons).  But what would be the ideal length of a track for video game music?

I will say that the later remixes of the Zelda 1 dungeon theme helped a lot by lengthening the track.  For comparison, some links below.

Zelda 1 Dungeon Theme:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMssCMqMHuk
Link's Awakening DX Enhanced Mix:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN5EXLqG3Z8
Minish Cap Enhanced Mix:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgf4S5fw1qM

The same sort of treatment was given to many Dragon Quest songs, with later iterations of the same tracks.  All made longer, on top of enhanced quality.

But what is the ideal length for you? Or conversely, what could be done for short loops to make them not as repetitive?

Generally something at one or two minutes is long enough for me. Longer is always better though. Most things under 30 seconds will probably get on my nerves, although it can sometimes vary depending on the song.

I've been watching way too much AVGN to know horrible music loops...

But I think all of the Sonic games for Master System and Game Gear have really great loops despite being 8-bit. I think they set a maximum standard of music length in games at the time.

As long as you don't go "Man this music is getting annoying" then I think it's fine.

Zelda 1's music on really grated on me when I was stuck. It was passive enough I never really noticed it.

Some games also benefit from short loops. I mean Dig Dug and it's 'stop and the music stops' thing works well with a short tune.
Bubble Bobbles one tune for the whole game (hell yes I played the whole thing - which is about 2 hours including the second pass) also works fine. Well it did for me, but man did my mother hate that tune... takes a couple of weeks... months... to get that game learnt.

Rival Turf/Rushing Beat had some short loops:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOBLVhAaKfU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6LSpx1INL4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEOh-MP0Zhg

This particular song from Sonic 1 (8-bit), Bridge Zone, is only like 25 seconds, but I found it nice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uazL8HejVJ8

I wouldn't complain if it were made longer though, lol.

As others have said, short loops aren't too bad if they're done well. But if you want an example of a HORRIBLE one, I've got two words for you: Jokes End. Considering that Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga had overall great music, Jokes End is by far one of the worst tracks in ANY Mario title.