Life is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection (Switch eShop)

Life Is Strange is a game about teens doing teen things, and one of the greatest influences in any young person's life is always going to be music. Thank goodness that DONTNOD didn't pull from their own teen playlists to soundtrack the adventures of Max and Chloe, because we might have ended up with Coldplay, Radiohead, and Daft Punk instead of music that more accurately reflects the age and tastes of two teen girls in the 2010s.

A particular high point is the start of Episode Two, in which a semi-diegetic Alt-J song plays as Max slowly wakes up in her dorm room, perfectly matching the sleepy, golden haze of the morning.

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Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection
Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection

Hotline Miami Collection (Switch eShop)

Three notes is all it takes to make a banger — at least if you're M.O.O.N., whose frantic dance tracks provide the backing for much of Hotline Miami's blood-soaked action. Reminiscent of fast-paced nail-biting rhythm games like Super Hexagon and Thumper, Hotline Miami's soundtrack may not be the most recognisable music, but it gets your heart pumping in exactly the right way.

Alan Wake Remastered (Switch eShop)

Ground Control to (checks notes) Alan Wake? This classic Bowie song plays during the credits of Remedy's coffee-flavoured Twin Peaks tribute, and although it doesn't have much to do with the story, which is not set in space at all, you can't deny that it sets the tone nicely, and it's a total bop. Also, it gives you a lot of time to think about what the heck that ending was all about.

Borderlands Legendary Collection (Switch)

Borderlands begins with a relatively peaceful moment in the desert, accompanied by a quiet low-pass version of Cage The Elephant's 'Ain't No Rest For The Wicked' playing on some tinny speakers in the background. And then a Skag gets splattered by a bus, the credits start, and the game starts for good just as the music kicks in proper. Chef's kiss.

Borderlands Legendary Collection
Borderlands Legendary Collection

Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition (Switch)

Did you know 'Black Betty' before this moment, or has Rayman ruined a classic song for you forever? Either way, this comedic parody plays during Castle Rock, one of the levels in Rayman Legends, and later on in an 8-bit re-imagining of the level, too. And it rocks. Pun intended.

Rayman Legends Definitive Edition
Rayman Legends Definitive Edition

Tales from the Borderlands (Switch eShop)

Just like the first Borderlands, the Telltale-helmed narrative spin-off, Tales from the Borderlands, uses diegetic music and purposeful storyboarding to draw you into the starting sequence of the game. The song used here, 'Busy Earnin'' by Jungle, also serves as a great introduction to the themes of the story before anyone even says a word: what happens when someone spends all their time working their arse off, in the hopes that one day, they'll have enough to leave? According to Telltale... you'll get beaten to it by someone more cutthroat than you could ever hope to be.

Now, imagine the whirr of a tape coming to its end, or the scratch of a record in silence, because this is the end of our beautiful list of beautiful musical moments in games.

Of course, we had to limit this list to the Nintendo Switch catalogue for obvious reasons, so honourable mentions go out to the Far Cry and Fallout games, The Last of Us, and Red Dead Redemption for their killer musical moments that we just can't include on this here Nintendo website. Also, probably more that we aren't even thinking of.

Do you enjoy licensed music in games?
Which Switch game has the best use of licensed music?

And, as always, head down to the comment section to tell us your favourite musical moments in games that were made possible by the use of licensed music!