video game soundtracks
 

Whats everyones favorite? Do you own any? I really like final fantasy 6's and xenogears. Castlevania:SOTN was pretty good also.

You've got to listen to the MYST and RiVeN soundtracks, amazing stuff. Mafia had an excellent score too, very moody and most impressive for an action adventure game.

Jet Set Raido for the Dreamcast had a pretty cool soundtrack, same with Castlevania SOTN. The Ys games for the old Turbografx-CD system had amazing music, and the best part was, you didn't have to send away to Japan to get the soundtrack, the CDs would play on a regular audio player, along with all the voice tracks. I heard the Myst soundtrack that way too. I've still got a cassette with a whole bunch of terrible voice acting from a game called Last Alert too, pure comedy genius.


Edit, woo hoo! got rid of the 'Rookie' label, I r0x0r.

I love MediEvil's soundtrack, so ill.

And You can't go wrong with Final Fantasy VIII's either. The whole orchestral masterpiece at every step isn't awful.

Quake 1 with the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. The music made the game like 50x times better.

Tempest 2000 or the Wipeout series

Can't forget Super Mario Bros. Everyone who's anyone knows that tune. Tetris is another good one.

I will certainly second Mafia. I always enjoyed orchestrational scores. The score for Mafia was done by the Bohemia Symphonic, the period music was largely Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France. Still, my favorite soundtrack for a game was Jesper Kyd and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra in Hitman 2. I have that soundtrack, and I still like to listen to the "Japanese Mansion" theme from time to time with the speakers up.

I've been wanting to pick up the Halo soundtrack for a while now that you mention it. I really liked the music, and the game too except for that "Now play it again.... BACKWARDS!" deal.

I too liked the Myst and Riven sndtrks... One of my all-time favs was Quake 1 with Reznor doing the music... very dark and moody... fit the game perfectly...

I third the mention of Reznor's brilliant Quake soundtrack, very mood setting.

I have 'killer cuts' the cd that came free with'Killer Instinct' on the snes. At the time I thought it was uber-cool, because it was also the first CD I owned.

I am a bit fan of the Final Fantasy 7 and 10 sound Track Nobuo Uematsu is the man. He composes some of the best game music in my opionion in the world get the game to suck you in.

Im totally in love with the JEtset Radio and Jet Set Radio Future soundtracks. Also the Guilty Gear and Guilty Gear XX soundtracks..
Recently I've been really listening to the Phantasy star Online episodes 1 and 2 SDTK's as well..
There are lots of great soundtracks out there, but most of them are for RPG games which i cant get into. I stillhave my Killer Cuts CD around though.. I really like it..even like 10 years later...

My wife had me play ecco the dolphin for dreamcast whenever she couldnt sleep. That newage stuff put her out like a light.

Aside from the ones mentioned, I think Guilty Gear X has a great soundtrack, especially since most fighting games have crappy music.

I'm partial to all the Tenchu soundtracks, especially the latest edition. Some tasty instrumentals there, my friends, especially the acoustic guitars.

Also, I absolutely love the 80's compilation of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That shit took me way back. It's a shame the box set doesn't include the VCPR and KCHAT channels. Does anyone know if these are available for sale?

I also liked White Zombie's tunes for Nightmare Creatures 2, especially Demonid Phenomenon, used in the intro.

Definatly mafia, also its a fuckin great game. Hitman 2 also has a very good soundtrack (as mentioned above).
Though a very tight ambient soundtrack is super metroid, for the snes. You can get this winamp plugin and play varous old snes soundtracks if you want. All is here http://www.alpha-ii.com/snesmusic/red.html

My first thought was No One Lives Forever...the first one at least, I still haven't played the second. The version I bought actually came with a music CD that I played quite a bit.

Mafia/Hitmans both were cool too. The first game with good music was this old LucasArts title I can't recall, something about skeletons and jazz.

I enjoy games that let me play my own MP3 files as well.

The lucas Arts game was Grim Fandango. Great Game. Play it fooooeeevverr. I think hegemonia has great music. very epic...

I loved NiN in Quack... er Quake ;) FF6 also had some good music.

Deus Ex, MechWarrior 2 and Bungie's original Marathon take my music awards =).

Diablo 2 and Lord of Darkness soundtrack are my best.

The orchestral final fantasy 7 soundtrack makes me cry. It's really good, I like orchestras.

FFVII was the first game I actually took note of the background music. Spent months searching out the MIDI's, before realizing there was a cd import available.

Tenchu is another franchise with absolutely marvelous tunes. Except for the original title screen music.... that screeching voice I could have done without.

And more recently, Blizzards titles [ Diablo I/II , Warcraft III ] have some nice elements. but quite repetitive.

I was given the Final Fantasy soundtrack as a gift once, and GTA: Vice City is kickin'

Ikaruga and Jet Set Radio Future are among the few i can stand outside of the game.

I like the music from all the recent EA sports games. Well...on NCAA all they do is play fight songs...but Madden and NBA live have some pretty good music.

i got 'love will grow', and another multi titled FF soundtrack and orginal FFivj soundtrack and lunar..... :)

-sucker-

vice city all the way. they got so much original shit on there, it's beyond amazing.

Zelda - Ocarina of Time is great. I must've heard that horse riding music 24 hours a day for months after playing that. Just stuck in my head. Now the soundtrack does it, too.

F-Zero is great to have around. Mute City roxors.


Goldeneye is great, too. Starfox. Wipeout XL.

And of course, the mother of all, GTA:VC.

Definitely most of the stuff Nobuo Uematsu does. The majority of the FF soundtracks kicked serious ass, but his best stuff is Chrono Cross. I have the entire soundtrack on mp3 and listen to it quite regularly, especially the main theme.

The old Lunar soundtracks are fun for some retro musical enjoyment, and it's hard to beat the minimalist fun of the original Metroid.

One of the cooler things about soundtracks is remixes of old favorites--one of the best sites to get remixes from is Overclocked Remix, at http://remix.overclocked.org/index.php. Good stuff, if a bit too heavy on the techno/house remixes, and they have a very, VERY wide variety on what the in house mixmonkeys will jam with.

I only own 2 game soundtracks. Lunar 2 and Final Fantasy 6. I love Lunar games.. get all kind of toys with them :)

I'd say any of the final fantasy and the Chrono Trigger sound tracks are prety good...

Practically every Star Wars game soundtrack is awesome, of course. Also, Phantasy Star Online has some catchy tunes too. The final tune after you beat the game is worth playing the game all over again... My favorite probably is Shenmue, which has instrumental tracks which just blow you away.

The original tunes on GTA 2 we're fuckin' hilarious.

Who could forget excitebike.... dun, da dun da dun. dun, da dun da dun, dun da dun da da da da da da dun, da da da.....

Still drives me mental after all these years.

EA Sports titles tell you what the menu music is now, it's called EA Trax. A little box pops up, MTV style, to tell you title, artist, album, label, so on, so you can go buy it.

It makes it much easier to get the music off the net, though :)

I've burned a CD-RW full of my favorite music from most of their games as far back as NHL99. I listen to it when I run. They're gonna get stuck in your head anyway, might as well use it for good.

-Mikey

I'd have to say just about anything by Nobuo Uematsu.

Orchestral Game Concerts are always awesome. I also have the Super Metroid soundtrack and a ton of nintendo-esque remixes. It's always fun to blast mario techno and drive around looking at all the people giving me strange looks :)

I think the Halo soundtrack kicks ass, really gets you in the mood of the game

Re: video game soundtracks
 

All awsome. Try chrono cross. thats good too. final fantasy tactics is awsome as well. if your kinda into techo check out robo aleste. its not quite techno but still very good. Vay also was good. those were sega cd games. very hard to find the games let along mp3's.

I agree with the Final Fantasy series. Most specifically 7, 8 and 10.
Nobuo Uematsu not only makes the best soundtracks, but as far as I'm concerned, he's the best composer - ever.

Eat that, Mozart!

All the final fantasy sound tracks..


Great stuff.

AND TETRIS.

Remember Outrun...... I had a C64 version of that...... The music came on a separate tape..... heheh

Halo's opening track was the greatest.

I think Xenosaga has a great soundtrack, but I really like the newer Zelda games (Ocarina especially). There's some good stuff in there.

And SOTN is the best Castlevania soundtrack EVER.

anything by Nobuo Uematsu. One winged angel and red XIII's theme were incredible. I got the big import soundtrack for FF7 this b-day and it hasnt left my cd player. Metal Gear Solid 2 sons of liberty was amazing also

Chrono Trigger/Cross by far have the best game soundtracks. Pretty much anything by Yasunori Mitsuda.

Halo is really good for the mood, but i cant believe you guys forgot....Rock and Roll Racing for the SNES! Black sabbath did it...jeez, that game ruled.

YES!!! Lunar 1 and 2! Loved GTA:VC's, and anything from Nobuo Uematsu! ETM had a good soundtrack too

Back in the "olden" days there was something called the Sega CD. There was a game called "Lunar" which was an RPG. This had the best music and years later I could still find myself humming that music for no reason.

It was a real basic tune that played over and over but I never got tired of hearing it. It must have affected a lot of people like me cuz I see the game on EBay occasionally and have seen it sell for over $100 if in good condition...

7th Guest
and
11th Hour

i love this stuff.

Interstate '76! Brilliant music, great game. So underrated too. I <<integer>> Mafia too. Quality music.

chrono trigger
nothin like having the zeal music play when someone calls your cell

I can't believe nobody's mentioned www.vgmusic.com yet.

I liked the music for:

KOTOR
Max Payne (1,2)
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy (VII,X)
Legend Of Zelda: OOT, MM, and Windwaker
Metal Gear Solid 2
Halo

I don't own any specific SOUNDTRACKS to games, but I do own multiple albums of game music.

Specifically:

Music Inspired by Final Fantasy - The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Final Fantasy VII - Reunion Tracks
Final Fantasy VI - Piano Collection (with music booklet!)
Final Fantasy - Pray
Final Fantasy - Love Will Grow
Final Fantasy VIII - Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec
and Final Fantasy - 20020220

*ALL* great albums :D Can you notice a trend among them? ;)

I like :
take on Koji Kondo's SMB soundtrack.

And, of course, this orchestral performance of the MGS theme:



And, don't forget about SSB Melee's theme song. love it

Beat boxing is great at times. This wasn't one of those times. Unique yes, good no.

Loved the orchestral performance. I kinda want to play a MGS game after seeing that video.

Mafia's Django-inspired soundtrack was kickass.

Believe it or not, one of my favorites has always been Silpheed. Anyone remember that old gem from Sierra?

mostly the old stuff from the old SNES days such as chrono trigger and FF6. also soundtracks from some final fantasy games such as 7-10.

its fun to listen to them once in awhile.

Mechwarrior 2 is probably my favorite. I also like some of the earlier Sonic games. Echo the Dolphin was okay, but the game wasn't exactly the tits.

Diablo's music is really surprising, especially the last level on Diablo 2.

Somebody mentioned it earlier, but Grim Fandango had hands-down the greatest score/soundtrack of any video game, ever. It's out there, too - I've actually got a copy. SOOO worth it.

Doesn't hurt that Grim Fandango is also the greatest game of all time...

Jumping Jackson !!! Excellent for the time.

1. Metal Gear Solid (any of them, particularly the opening theme of MGS1)
2. Final Fantasy 7, 10, 12
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Half-Life 2
5. Halo 1, 2, 3
6. Metroid Prime
7. Shadow of the Colossus

Half-Life 2 was great, as was the instrumental soundtrack to Quake II by Sonic Mayhem. And for nostalgia purposes you can't beat Vice City! And even though it was in midi the soundtrack to Doom was great - in fact the guys who did the Classic Doom mod for Doom 3 did a great job of bringing it up to date.

World of Warcraft has some amazing pieces! Can't believe nobody mentioned that one.

It does actually, and it also has some awful ones - the end boss of Scarlet Monstary library springs to mind, sounds like a bad midi synthesizer!

my friends laugh at me... but i honestly think vg music is every bit as good as what's on the radio. some of my favorites...

- mega man x
- legend of zelda (every game in the series is memorable)
- donkey kong country (1 & 2 especially)
- chrono trigger
- metroid prime
- FF5
- Kirby series
- MGS

I heartily agree with all the Uematsu love, but don't forget all those whistle-worthy Koji Kondo melodies. Shauk is right on with the ocremix link... some excellent work there.

check out ocremix's album list. My favorite is the Kong in Concert.

For those who haven't played it yet... Mario Galaxy's soundtrack is outstanding. I don't think it stands alone as well as a lot of the RPG-sourced music, but the way it accompanies the pace/mood of the gameplay (even as it shifts from moment to moment) is nothing short of genius.

I always liked the starfox and zelda music. the music from the desert combat mod of battlefield 1942 is great too.

/agree quake

A great resource for video game music: gh.ffshrine.org

I really love the music for Warcraft 2, not to mention Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 :)

Hi, for all 8-bit sound track fans out there, I present to you The MiniBosses!
http://minibosses.com/

A rock band that specializes in video games sound tracks from the 80's

Contra Theme
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Castlevania III Music Video (with aliens)
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Halo Theme (Opening to Final Omegathon Round PAX 2007)
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XzQUF1TrEe8&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XzQUF1TrEe8&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Enjoy :D

Yea, I bought the Halo 2 soundtrack, and love it..

and my other fav, would have to be the Madden 2004 soundtrack

For any fans of the Zelda soundtracks, these guys re-orchestrated many of the themes.

One of my favorite themes is the Sanctuary theme, from Link to the Past. You first hear it when entering the Sanctuary, while accompanied by Zelda, after saving her for the very first time. Beautiful, and a bit creepy at the same time.

I love all the Ace Combat's and Medal of Honor soundtracks. In fact, I love them more than some of my favorite bands.

I really like the viewpoints issued by the above two posts, and they also detail some of my favorite soundtracks, especially those from Donkey Kong Country (which if you read the wiki, you'll find out that the VGM soundtrack was a "hit" in the US) and the BGM from all of the Kirby titles.

Some off the top of my head were the soundtracks from Gran Turismo 3+4, the sega title of Sonic Adventure: 2 (Knuckles' theme was great), and the futuristic F-Zero titles had some brilliant gems later in the series. Also, the BMX XXX soundtrack had a very good selection of 90s hits. It's barely even a rent-worthy game, though.

And for those of you that didn't know, this is the must-have album for any Smash Bros., even Nintendo, aficionados.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3761/img1thw.jpg

Any Zelda and Final Fantasy game. I also really like the Gears of War music

As an a cappella fan, I have to plug the Spiralmouth soundtrack for Crash Twinsanity. I've never played it, but it is fun to listen to.

World of Warcraft has some really good music, and I like that each region has it's own style of music.

Zelda's theme will always hold a special place in my heart.

Oblivion has a great score.

I've just been playing Machinarium, and whoa. Great soundtrack. I highly recommend both the game and its music.

..and here's why:
Armor Veil (the WillRavel version)

Toejam & Earl
original:



a cover version:

Chrono Trigger. And maybe it's from nostalgia, but Warcraft 2 had awesome music too.

I never really played the game, but the music in Shenmue on Dreamcast is also beautiful:

I actually bought the CD of Ridge Racer 4 (R4) by namco on the PSX if anyone remembers that game.

Agreed. very good game and soundtrack.

I absolutely love the soundtrack to Neverwinter Nights. It's quite epic and evocative. I played the game online for years, and so listened to each track probably hundreds of times, never growing tired of them.

I was relieved to learn that much of that music made it to Neverwinter Nights 2.

Here's a playlist of 12 tracks:

Hard choice, but I always go back to the glory days of Interplay, Black Isle and Bioware.

Five song playlist

I'm a big fan of the Skies of Arcadia soundtrack, more orchestral loveliness and a real mix of styles representing the different civilisations. There's gorgeous piano on the end credits too, it's all a bit emotional!

Also another vote here for Shadow of the Colossus, can't wait for the Last Guardian.

Some of the music from the .//hack series was pretty awesome too, particularly Liminality.

I don't own any game soundtracks but I do have some favorites. The entire Metal Gear Solid series has had fantastic music. The God of War series as well. Resident Evil 2 had some of the scariest music. That game scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. The GTA games have all had great soundtracks, with Vice City having the best imo.


Zelda!
I could sit in that fountain for hours...


God of War 2

i have been to Video Game Live where some of the best video game musics are played by an orchestra. It was fantastic! if it plays in your area, def. go see it!

QFT