GTA Trilogy missing songs will leave you humming in their cherished memory

GTA Trilogy The Definitive Edition
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

GTA Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is missing some songs that were present in the original versions of the game.

Rockstar put out a soundtrack list ahead of the trilogy's arrival, though it doesn't appear to be a complete accounting of which tracks are featured in the game based on leaked footage of the game. However, VGC put together a list of songs which are not featured on the list and which were not featured in previous re-releases of GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas, and since Rockstar has confirmed those will not be brought back, they offer a more complete picture of where each game's soundtrack stands.

Some of the most notable examples of songs that are definitely missing from Definitive Edition, based on their previous absences, are Wow by Kate Bush, Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne, and both Billie Jean and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' by Michael Jackson; absent from San Andreas are Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine, Runnin' Down a Dream by Tom Petty, and Express Yourself by N.W.A. GTA 3's soundtrack had a more limited selection of licensed music and appears to be mostly intact.

Soundtracks tend to be one of the toughest parts of older games to preserve due to licensing issues, but losing songs is a particularly tough blow for these GTA games. Their licensed soundtracks are a constant presence (at least while you're in a vehicle, which is most of the time), providing just as much character to your travels around these fictional spaces as any of the sights you see or people you meet.

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Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

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