Good choices, though my favorite from the MGS series is Snake Eater. Kojima intended MGS3 to be an homage to spy thrillers, and that song would fit in perfectly as a James Bond movie theme.
Oh god, that Daytona USA song. My first job was at an arcade in 1995, and that game was front and center. Whenever it was in attract mode, that song would play over, and over, and over... To this day, I still think about it every once in a while, with its creepy artificial vibrato...
The best music easily belongs to the best (IMO) fighting game, Street Fighter 2... Not just any music no but the entire games catalog of music is so good I love to listen to it in my free time Of course the real highlight is Guile's theme, the song meme'd to death but I still love it and use it as my morning alarm
Agreed, SFII has some iconic tunes. I’d argue that the SNES game has better music than the arcade. In addition to Guile’s music, my favorites include Zangief’s and Balrog’s stage themes. Speaking of fighting games, the PS1 release of Tekken 2 has some of the best fighting game music ever. For me, the standouts include the stage themes for Yoshimitsu, Jun, Kazuya, and Jack-2.
Time for some deeper cuts from the 90s - The godly MIDI version of Castlevania x68000 - The Mega CD version of Final Fight - Bari-Arm (Android Assault) also on Mega CD - Dune on PC, samped from the soundcard it was composed on - The Dig, underrated Lucas classic-
I'll just go ahead and list some of my favorite game soundtracks, whether or not they've already been mentioned. * Shatterhand This is kind of a hidden gem among NES game soundtracks. The game came out pretty late in the system's lifespan, and it wasn't a Capcom or Konami game. * Mega Man X It's really hard to pick a favorite Mega Man soundtrack, as there are so many great ones. The X soundtrack is one of the stand-outs though. * Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest I'd have to say that this is my favorite DKC soundtrack that I've heard in its entirety, and it's the main reason I consider Dave Wise to be one of my favorite VGM composers. * Chrono Trigger This was Yasunori Mitsuda's first game soundtrack, and it's just one reason why CT is considered one of the greatest games ever made. What's even more amazing is the story behind it, and how Mitsuda literally worked himself sick to get it done. Your hard work was not in vain, Mr. Mitsuda. * Sonic Mania Sonic Mania is a modern classic in so many ways, one of which has to be the OST. Yes, it has a lot of remastered songs from older games, which are amazing, but the tracks for the original Zones, like Studiopolis and Mirage Saloon, are simply amazing. Like Mega Man, the Sonic series has a lot of games with great soundtracks, some of which far surpass their games in quality. Looking at you, Sonic 06.
I'm amazed no one has mentioned any of these yet: Sonic The Hedgehog - His World Instrumental Super Smash Bros. - A Journey From 64 To Ultimate - Lifelight (FINAL) Jump Up, Super Star! (Official Music Video with Lyrics) Transformers Devastation Soundtrack - Shockwave Transformers Devastation Soundtrack - Final Battle ASTRAL CHAIN - Announcement Trailer - Nintendo Switch I could post more, but I think this is too much already.
I intended to put more soundtrack links in my post, but ran out of embeds. Sonic Adventure would've been one, as well as the Japanese version of Sonic CD. Adventure, in particular, was considered my top Sonic soundtrack before Mania supplanted it. I'll say it again. The Sonic franchise is FULL of great music, and it's one reason why I consider myself a Sonic fan in addition to being a Transfan. I'll just go ahead and post 4 more soundtracks I love, starting with.... * Terranigma If you've never heard of this game, it's probably because it never made it to America. It did, however, make it to Europe, which is surprising, considering it's an RPG for the SNES. * Seiken Densetsu 3 (AKA Secret of Mana 2) Yeah, Secret of Mana had a sequel on the SNES. Too bad it never left Japan, at least, not officially. It's a shame, as the soundtrack is every bit as good as its predecessor. That's probably not very surprising when you learn that it was also composed by Hiroki Kikuta. The game is really sweet too. If you can't understand Japanese, there's a fan translation out there. * Illusion of Gaia This soundtrack just screams "Adventure!" It's perfect for a game that has you traveling around a world similar to the real one, battling monsters in places like the Great Wall of China and Angkor Wat. What is it with SNES RPGs and amazing music? * Sonic CD (JP/EU) It's Sonic. Need I say more?
Amen. I will always sing the praises of Shatterhand, Shadow of the Ninja, and Vice: Project Doom. Forgotten games that were only widely appreciated when the retro community came around.
OK, I figured I'd ask this in here since the other game music threads that pop up on TFW are all defunct: How does everyone feel about the soundtrack to Final Fantasy XII? I was listening to it in my car this morning, and to me it continues to be a complete enigma. It is expertly composed. It fits the tone of the game. It enhances the game and musically emphasizes certain points. Seems like it hits all the right notes (pun intended ). So why is it that when I listen to the music separate from the game, instead of music, it sounds like a bunch of random notes strung together with no cohesion. I know this might sound funny, but it's almost TOO complex for a video game. Most tracks are full of many different parts, many different instruments, and yet are just not memorable. The game does have a central musical motif, and despite it being heard all over the soundtrack, it's very hard for me to notice and I wouldn't be able to hum all the notes. What's interesting is that the Uematsu-derived music (Prelude, Prologue, and the chocobo theme) sound AMAZING. To me, it seems the problem is lack of actual melody. The Uematsu tracks have a melody, and so does most of his FF music back to FF1. And by melody, I mean something that is actually hummable. In FFXII, most music does NOT have an actual hummable melody, and I wonder if that's where my issue is. The music is just too complex to hum to. Interestingly, I find that the music in a later game, FFXIII, doesn't have this problem (I can't speak about XIV or XV because I haven't played them). Anyway, I'm just curious if anyone else feels the same way. It's frustrating that I don't enjoy the game's music separately as much as other entries in the franchise, because otherwise it's very well done.
