Video Game Harmony

Piglet’s Big Game
Released: March 21, 2003
Developer: Doki Denki Studio
Composers: Philippe Codecco, Guillaume Saurel

You may have heard of the new Piglet’s Big Game meme on X/Twitter and TikTok. Why is it becoming so popular you may wonder? People are saying it’s similar to Silent Hill, mostly because of the soundtrack. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s actually true that it sounds similar. I will admit that I haven’t played the Silent Hill games yet, but I’ve heard parts of the score such as “White Noiz” from SH2, and I can definitely hear the similarities.

Piglet’s Big Game is a Winnie the Pooh game where you play is Piglet, who goes into his friend’s dreams to try and help them. This was actually a game that I played back when I was a kid. My grandparents had a GameCube for us grandkids to play when we visited and this was one of the games. They didn’t have a memory card, so I only got to play the first few levels. It wasn’t until recently that I finally got to see what the ending to the game was. Now that I have played through the whole game, I’m ready to talk about the soundtrack.

There isn’t a soundtrack available on Spotifty (though when you search for it the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack comes up), so I had to find it on YouTube. When you look at the track list there is not one, not two, but ELEVEN FOREBODING TRACKS. The composer really put a lot of effort into the creepiness of this.

One of the most popular tracks is titled “Foreboding 1”. From what I’ve heard this was actually used in Silent Hill 2, and I believe it. I love the absolute uneasy ambiance that is heard in this track. To hear this while seeing the cover for the game is hard to process. If I hadn’t played the game I wouldn’t believe it was even from it.

Ambience like this can be heard throughout the game. One of the first places that it’s prominent is in Owl’s dream. While this level doesn’t go full on creepy, it is a very dark setting where the eerie ambience is featured more. For instance, in this level you hear this:

I mean, how on earth did this end up in a Winnie the Pooh game? It sounds like you’re about to face off against zombies, and instead you face off against Heffalumps and Woozles which I guess is similar. Also pretty unsettling is this:

Now I will admit that it’s more unsettling if you’ve played the game. This is what’s often heard when you enter a room with enemies. When you hear this you know you’re in trouble. What this reminds me of is the soundtrack to Little Nightmares. Both games have music that tells you a big bad guy is coming for you. They give me the same kind of dread.

Things get really creepy when you get to Eeyore’s dream. First of all you start out in this creepy forest with this ambiance playing in the background:

Then you go to a castle that looks like it’s straight out of the first Resident Evil. Fittingly enough, Eeyore’s problem is that the color has been lost from the castle, so you have to find it. This means that the entire place is colorless and bleak. There is plenty of foreboding soundtrack in this level, including this track:

This is heard in a completely empty dining room. Could it get much more unsettling? LIke I said, there are several foreboding tracks in this game, and I recommend you go listen to them all if you want to get a good idea of how creepy this is.

I’ve talked a lot about the foreboding soundtrack, and many locations either have the foreboding ambience or no ambience at all, but I would like to talk about the parts of the soundtrack that aren’t so creepy, even if there are only a few. The area where you pick which dream to enter contains this music:

Pretty nice isn’t it? It especially is compared to what we’ve heard so far. In addition to this, there’s also this track which is played at the beginning of every dream, even if you’re in a creepy forest:

If you don’t like horror and you were concerned about how creepy the game is, you can rest assured that there are still parts that aren’t so scary. This music is an example of that. There’s just enough that it works for those who like it and those who don’t.

This game was a really big part of my childhood (even if I only played the first few levels), so I was really excited to get to revisit it. While it never gave me nightmares, I still remember the game being something that was a little bit frightening, which in a way I liked. I guess I could consider this my first horror game, so we may be able to thank this game for me playing FNAF, Resident Evil, and other games of the genre. Recently the director for the game even admitting that it was meant to be a horror game for kids and that games like Resident Evil were an inspiration. You can read more about it in this article

I always liked the soundtrack. There wasn’t much to it, but it was relaxing at times and kind of a mysterious vibe at others. I am glad to see that it has now become popular again. It’s short but it’s effective enough that I give it four out of five cookies.

So good to be posting again. I hope to be back at it soon. Until next time, stay safe in your dreams.