The Lacuna Coil vocalist talks about her first Game & Watch, finishing Final Fantasy VII in Japanese, her love of horror games and why video game history deserves to be preserved.
Interview by Manolis Varouchas Video Games Magazine and Video Games Museum
Cristina Scabbia is known around the world as the vocalist of Lacuna Coil, but video games have been part of her life since childhood. During the band’s visit to Crete for Chania Rock Festival, Manolis Varouchas, founder and director of the Video Games Museum in Heraklion, sat down with her to discuss the games that shaped her, the soundtracks that influence Lacuna Coil and the worlds she still wants to explore.
Welcome to Crete. Lacuna Coil is headlining a festival that has now been running for 24 years. How does it feel to be here?
It is very cool, because that means the festival has been successful every year. I am very happy to be here. Yesterday was already an amazing show, and today is going to be even better.
Before we begin, let me tell you briefly about the Video Games Museum. It is in the centre of Heraklion and covers three floors. The permanent exhibition includes more than 300 consoles, the current temporary exhibition, Pixel & Sound, explores the relationship between music and video games, and the basement has more than 45 playable arcade-style stations. Do you remember the old arcade halls?
Of course I do. Going to game rooms was one of the things I did when I was younger. You would walk in from the street and try new games for the first time. Alongside classics such as Frogger, I remember seeing Terminator in arcades in Italy.
I also remember going on holiday with Maki and seeing the first Tekken for the first time. It was in this huge cabinet, and the graphics looked insane for that period. We walked in and thought, “What is this?”
I miss those places. In Italy, many of those rooms changed. There are only a few games left, usually older ones, and many of the spaces are now filled with claw machines. I miss the original arcade experience a lot. Next time I am in Crete, I promise I will make time to visit the museum.
What was the first video game that made you fall in love with gaming?
There are two that were pivotal. The first was my brother’s Donkey Kong Game & Watch. It was small and simple, and I still have it. I think it is from 1985.
The other game I remember very clearly is Pitfall. A boy from my school had an Atari 2600, and I would go to his house to play. I fell in love with Pitfall. Those are the two strongest early memories behind my love of video games. Over the years I tried many different consoles, until I fell deeply in love with my first PlayStation.
Which PlayStation game made the biggest impression on you?
Several games did, such as Dino Crisis and the first Resident Evil. But the game that completely won me over was Final Fantasy VII. I played it in Japanese because Maki had bought that version. We completed the whole game without understanding the language.
There was no internet, so when we got stuck we could not look up a tutorial or a guide. We had to work everything out ourselves, and that was extremely cool.
Games also seemed to last longer then. There were not as many releases arriving at the same time, so you enjoyed every second, explored everything and kept trying to improve. There was no rush to finish. In fact, you did not want the game to end.
We have to settle an important Final Fantasy VII question. Aerith or Tifa?
Tifa. I cried for Aerith, of course, but in my mind she was coming between the relationship I imagined between Cloud and Tifa. Aerith was cute, but whenever she approached Cloud I thought, “No, do not get in there.”
Maybe it was all in my mind, but it was clear that she liked Cloud, and Tifa did too. So I am Team Tifa.
Have you played Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth?
Yes, both of them. Now I am waiting for the third chapter. Hopefully it will arrive next year. It is not GTA, after all!
When we played games in the 1990s, we often struggled with another language and had very little help. Do you think that changed the way we experienced them?
Definitely. We wrote things down and waited each month for magazines that might explain what to do. It was exciting.
I am also grateful that players today can find information and advice from other people, because games can be frustrating. I enjoyed how long games lasted, but sometimes I would have appreciated help after being stuck for five months. A game should be pleasurable, not frustrating.
Gaming was also more of a niche for passionate people. Nerd culture is much more mainstream now, and games try to welcome everybody. If you have five minutes a day, there is something you can play. You may choose an easy mode or a hard mode if you are experienced - unless it is a FromSoftware game, where it is hard mode only.
Which difficulty do you normally choose?
Usually normal or easy, because I do not have much time. I want games to feel like another dimension I can enter without stress. I am not a competitive gamer and I have no patience. I am not the person who wants to fight the same boss 120 times. I get frustrated and nervous very easily.
At the same time, games can be a good exercise in patience. The more you play, the more skilled you become and the more you learn the patterns. Everyone has a different taste. Some people enjoy games that demand extreme patience, while others connect with shorter, story-driven experiences. That variety is the beauty of video games.
Which games have had the greatest impact on your life?
Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil and Silent Hill. With Resident Evil, I mean the first game. The second was incredible too, especially its characters, but I cannot forget the fear and anxiety of playing the original for the first time.
If I play it now, it is not as frightening as it was then. At the time, though, it was an amazingly horrible experience. I hated it and loved it because it scared me so much.
Final Fantasy VII is more than a game to me. Its story and morality became connected with different events in my life. I also met Yoshitaka Amano, and he is now a friend. Seeing his original artwork and materials in front of me was out of this world.
Cloud or Sephiroth?
If I have to choose, Sephiroth. I jokingly call him my future ex-husband, and my boyfriend and I laugh about it. I have always had a passion for villains.
They often have stronger personalities, cooler outfits and better weapons, so I find them visually more intriguing. Cloud’s Buster Sword is iconic, of course, but I am still Team Sephiroth.
If you could keep only one console forever - and you cannot choose the original PlayStation - which would it be?
I would probably choose the Atari 2600. I bought an original one, and I also bought the modern Atari 2600+ when it was released. I own both because that console represents the beginning of my love for video games. The Game Boy would also be very close.
Single-player adventures or multiplayer games?
Single-player, forever. I need to play when I choose and at my own pace.
Has the video game industry influenced the music that Lacuna Coil creates?
One thousand per cent. Maki, our bass player and producer, writes most of the music. He is strongly influenced by images. He often puts a video or a documentary on the television and composes over it, almost as if he is creating a soundtrack for what he sees. Video games are often part of that process.
Video game soundtracks are also a big part of my own music library. I love the scores of Elden Ring, Skyrim and Bloodborne. I may not be able to play Souls games, but I love how they look and I love watching other people play them.
I am fascinated by their imagery and I collect their special editions. I even have a life-size replica of Malenia’s arm.
If Lacuna Coil could create music for any video game, which one would you choose?
Bloodborne would be a great fit because it is so dark. Its existing music is more epic, but we could embrace other sounds and take it somewhere different. Perhaps we could do it for a new Bloodborne, because we are all waiting for one.
GTA could also be fun. It is such a big world that you could focus on one side of it and create something heavy for a mission.
Lacuna Coil has already appeared in games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and I also sang a track for Metal: Hellsinger, so there is already a connection between my work and gaming.
If you could live for one day as a video game character, who would you be?
That is difficult because many of the characters I love are villains, and their lives are usually not very pleasant. Maybe Alice from Alice: Madness Returns. It is a dark version of Alice in Wonderland, with knives, blood and unsettling imagery.
I would not want to live there permanently, but I would love to explore the surroundings for a day if I knew I was protected. The same applies to Resident Evil or Little Nightmares: I would like to see those worlds without actually being in danger.
What did you think of the Little Nightmares series?
I love it. I played the second game first, then went back to the original because I enjoyed it so much. I also finished Little Nightmares III while we were touring Europe. I brought my PS5 from home and played it on the tour bus.
The third game was not my favourite. I am not very interested in co-op, and something about its characters and atmosphere did not feel as dark as the first two games. The change of developer may have contributed to that. The earlier games were incredibly creepy.
If you could erase one game from your memory so that you could experience it again for the first time, which would you choose?
That is a tricky question. There are games that would not have the same magic if I first played them today. Final Fantasy VII is the obvious example. If I erased it and played the original now, I do not know whether I would enjoy it in the same way. It belonged to that moment.
Back then, the characters looked amazing to us. Today you see a few blocks and pixels, but we filled in the details with our imagination. The artwork showed Cloud and Sephiroth beautifully, and we carried those images into the game.
It is the same with the original Tomb Raider. We thought the graphics were realistic, while today they look completely different. The music, the story and the memories still make those games special.
Is there one game that everyone should play at least once?
Tetris. I am sure almost everyone has tried it, but it remains one of those games everybody should experience.
If you could meet any video game creator, who would it be?
I have been fortunate enough to meet several people behind Final Fantasy at events in London, including events for Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy XVI. I have not met the creators of Resident Evil or Silent Hill, and that would be very cool.
I sometimes chat on Instagram with the actor who performs Leon in the recent Resident Evil games. We started following each other, and he told me he loves the band and what we do. I would definitely like to meet him in person one day.
How important is it to preserve video game history for future generations?
It is important to show how things were made. Someone who did not live through a period may never understand it completely, but seeing an object makes a difference. When I visit a museum and look at a statue in front of me, the experience is different from seeing a photograph.
Whenever I can, I visit video game museums. We visited a couple in Japan, and it is always interesting to discover something you did not know. You realise that what we have today exists because something came before it. It did not appear from nowhere.
Earlier ideas and experiences brought us to this point. Museums can show that timeline - how games began and how they evolved.
The Video Games Museum welcomes school groups, children, adults and older visitors. Which five games should always remain playable there?
For older visitors - and because I personally love it - I would choose PowerWash Simulator. It is hilarious and relaxing. You simply clean things, and you can either clear your mind or think about everything while your hands keep working. It is so absorbing that it can also keep you awake when you should go to sleep.
I would include an Assassin’s Creed game featuring Ezio, probably Assassin’s Creed II, because it lets you explore Florence and explain that many of those monuments exist in the real world.
There was even a place in Tuscany where people tried to climb the walls like Ezio, and signs had to be installed telling them not to do it.
I also love Assassin’s Creed Odyssey - it may be my favourite - because I had visited Greece before it came out and loved recognising the country in the game.
My third choice would be Skyrim, because you can remain in that world for an enormous amount of time or simply wander around. Fourth, I would choose Elden Ring to demonstrate the visual potential of modern games. Even watching someone else fight is captivating; it is stunning to look at.
For the fifth choice, and for younger visitors, I would include a 3D Pac-Man game. It is fun, accessible and brings back memories of all the money I spent on Pac-Man in arcades.
What excites you most about the future of video games?
Creativity. A game can become a world you choose to live in for a while, and then you can leave it. We do not have that luxury in everyday life. You can enter and return as often as you want.
If you want to be a fighter in a tournament, you can play Mortal Kombat. If you want to be a warrior with an enormous sword, you can become Cloud. You can be a princess - or even a singer in a metal band.
Lacuna Coil’s Our Truth appeared in Rock Band. How well did you perform your own song?
I scored about 80 per cent! The game was measuring the exact notes, but when I sing live I modulate the melody. I wrote the part, yet the game did not accept the way I naturally performed it.
A fan later sent me a video in which he scored 100 per cent, which was very funny. He had performed my own song better than I did - at least according to the game.
It was my first and only attempt, though. Perhaps I can try it again at the Video Games Museum.
Cristina, thank you very much for your time. We hope to welcome you to the museum on your next visit to Crete.
Definitely. I will come and visit.
