Mixtape’s licensed mixtape: Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure and Iggy Pop score new 1990s coming-of-age game

Mixtape arrived on May 7 with a soundtrack fronted by The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure and Iggy Pop. The new coming-of-age adventure from Beethoven & Dinosaur is unabashedly rooted in a particular era — the 1990s — and in a specific cinematic shorthand: John Hughes–styled teens on the cusp of adulthood.

“On their last night of high school, three friends embark on one more adventure together,” explains the game’s description. “Play through a mixtape of memories, set to the soundtrack of a generation. Skate. Party. Avoid the law. Make out. Sneak out. Hang out.”

Mixtape launched for Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC, but its carefully curated, licensed playlist also makes it a tricky proposition for streamers and creators. The developers themselves framed the game around music: “Mixtape is about music. It’s about DEVO. It’s about the Smashing Pumpkins, Lush and Alice Coltrane. It’s about how you feel when you listen to Iggy Pop,” the studio wrote on X explained. “The characters talk about the songs. The levels are designed around the songs. We couldn’t change the songs. We couldn’t replace them. We just couldn’t.”

Complete Mixtape soundtrack

Atmosphere – Joy Division
That’s Good – DEVO
Plainsong – The Cure
Just Like Honey – The Jesus and Mary Chain
Monochrome – Lush
Have You Seen Her? – The Chi–Lites
Remember When – Mitch Murder
State of the Heart – Mondo Rock
The Touch – Stan Bush
Most of All – B.J. Thomas
Roads – Portishead
Freak – Silverchair
Love – The Smashing Pumpkins
Candy – Iggy Pop
Galaxy in Turiya – Alice Coltrane
More Than This – Roxy Music
Spellbound – Siouxsie & The Banshees
Sensitive to Light – Rainbow
Witchi Tai To – Harper’s Bizarre
Yesterday’s Hero – John Paul Young
Shine – David Gray
Dare – Stan Bush
Drunk Flamingo – Abrahams and Mole
Powder – Allclear
Airwalker – Bertrand Dolby
Deep Space Scan – Curtis Dunn
Zebra Crossing – The Eye Gougers
Moon Unit – Wooden Sword

Players and critics have reacted positively so far: Mixtape currently carries an “overwhelmingly positive” user review rating on Steam, and an aggregate score of 85 out of 100 on Metacritic, marked as “generally favourable.”

In a separate cultural note, The Strong National Museum Of Play announced this year’s additions to the World Video Game Hall Of Fame: Angry Birds, Silent Hill, FIFA International Soccer and Dragon Quest.