Retrogaming Roundtable Top 50 Video Game Soundtracks

[Kroogah]

Discuss.

This list includes not only soundtracks that are great to listen to outside of the game, but also soundtracks that complement the game itself very well. This does not include imports (if it did it would be filled with Bemani games, trust me)

I'll wait for multiple votes against a soundtrack before striking it from the list. Multiple votes to keep a soundtrack on the list will cancel out votes to strike it from the list.

Currently at 60 games...

Act Raiser
Axelay
Blast Corps
Castlevania 2
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Chrono Trigger
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Contra
DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution
Devil May Cry
Donkey Kong Country
Dune 2000
F-ZERO
Final Fantasy 2
Final Fantasy 3
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 8
Galactic Attack
Gate of Thunder
Ghost in the Shell
Ghouls and Ghosts
Gitaroo Man
Guitar Freaks (yes, there was a US arcade version)
Halo
Herzog Zwei
Jet Grind Radio
Legend of Zelda
Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Lords of Thunder
Mega Man 2
Metroid Prime
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Parappa the Rapper
Phantasy Star Online
Quake 2
Resident Evil
Robotech: Battlecry
Rocket Knight Adventures
Samba de Amigo
Samurai Shodown 2
Secret of Mana
Shenmue
Skies of Arcadia
Snatcher
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
SoulCalibur
Space Channel 5
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike
Streets of Rage 2
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Sunshine
Super Metroid
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Um Jammer Lammy
Virtua Fighter 4
Wipeout XL
Xevious 3D/G+
Y's Books 1 & 2
Y's 3: Wanderers From Y's
Zelda: A Link to the Past

Soundtracks kicked off the list:
Capcom Vs. SNK, F-Zero X, Kid Icarus, King of Fighters '98, Mega Man 3, Metroid, Quake

[DDCecil]

My 2 favorite soundtracks of all-time:

Gitaroo Man
Ys 3: Wanderes from Ys

[Mr. NEStalgia]

My favs are Final Fantasy VII and Metroid Prime...Halo's soundtrack is pretty good too.

-=Mr. NEStalgia=-

[Sothy]

Resident Evil series had some good stuff.

Operation Flashpoint but its PC only "for a while yet"

[IGotTheDot]

:? No Space Channel 5? Are we talking no import soundtracks or no imort games period?

[Charlie]

Good idea, but I simply don't undertstand some of these picks at all. Kid Icarus? WTF? That's pretty much as generic a soundtrack as you will find. My picks...

Capcom Vs. SNK KEEP
CastleVania: Symphony of the Night KEEP
Chrono Trigger KEEP
Contra DROP...
DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution EH... TOUGH CALL
Final Fantasy 2 KEEP
Final Fantasy 3 KEEP
Final Fantasy 7 KEEP
Final Fantasy 8 DROP
F-Zero X DROP
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City KEEP
Guitar Freaks (yes, there was a US arcade version) HAVEN'T HEARD IT
Jet Grind Radio KEEP
Kid Icarus DROP
King of Fighters '98 DROP
Legend of Zelda DROP, THIS GAME ONLY HAS THREE TRACKS OF MUSIC
Mad Maestro! OVERRATED, DROP
Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX HAVEN'T HEARD IT
Mega Man 2 KEEP
Mega Man 3 DROP... MEGA MAN 2 IS THAT MUCH SUPERIOR
Metroid DROP...
Parappa the Rapper I FOUND THE SOUNDTRACK OBNOXIOUS, DROP
Samurai Shodown 2 DROP
Shenmue KEEP
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 NO OPINION, I CAN'T SEEM TO THINK OF IT SO THAT SHOULD SAY HOW MEMORIBLE IT IS
Snatcher DIDDO
SoulCalibur KEEP
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike DROP
Streets of Rage 2 KEEP
Super Mario Bros. KEEP FOR BEING THE MOST MEMORIBLE SOUNDTRACK EVER
Super Metroid KEEP
Super Smash Bros. Melee KEEP... AWESOME SOUNDTRACK, THE BEST EVER IMO
Tetris HMMMMM DROP
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 DROP
Um Jammer Lammy GOOD GOD DROP

Not the best start IMO... What's missing? Actraiser, Zelda: Link to the Past, Zelda Wind Waker, Donkey Kong Country, Lords of Thunder, Metroid Prime, Samba De Amigo, Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Super Mario Sunshine...

[kainemaxwell]

Add Secret of Mana to that list.

[BigBoogie]

fore sure all the tony hawks, not just 4
Quake 1 & 2
Maybe lunar

[hezeuschrist]

Devil May Cry.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Dune 2000
Xevious 3D/G+

[Kroogah]

Good idea, but I simply don't undertstand some of these picks at all. Kid Icarus? WTF? That's pretty much as generic a soundtrack as you will find. My picks...

Contra DROP...
Final Fantasy 8 DROP
F-Zero X DROP
Kid Icarus DROP
King of Fighters '98 DROP
Legend of Zelda DROP, THIS GAME ONLY HAS THREE TRACKS OF MUSIC
Mad Maestro! OVERRATED, DROP
Mega Man 3 DROP... MEGA MAN 2 IS THAT MUCH SUPERIOR
Metroid DROP...
Parappa the Rapper I FOUND THE SOUNDTRACK OBNOXIOUS, DROP
Samurai Shodown 2 DROP
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike DROP
Tetris HMMMMM DROP
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 DROP
Um Jammer Lammy GOOD GOD DROP


In defense of some of my picks..

Mad Maestro is a HUGE collection of great classical music compositions. And I love classical music.

Samurai Shodown 2 has one of the best ambient soundtracks ever.

Legend of Zelda is almost as memorable as Super Mario Bros.

Parappa and Lammy have a LOT of fans on this forum.

Kid Icarus, admittedly, is a personal preference. I usually find myself humming along to the game as I play it, and that is the mark of a good soundtrack IMO. :)

[AB Positive]

can I vote to put one on?

Phantasy Star Online, I love the soundtrack to this game. I used to just put in on my dreamcast so that the title track would play as I went to sleep. soooo soothing.

-AG

[Charlie]

Stupid soundtrack thread... now I can't get the Smash Brothers Melee version of Kirby's Theme Music out of my head. Damn you Captain Yashiro, damn you to hell!

Kid Icarus: I just think it's a lame soundtrack. Two of the tracks on it in paticular I can't stand with a passion: The dungeon themes and the side scrolling themes. Hate, hate, hate them. Not to just sound out on those to in paticular, because I think the entire soundtrack sucks a big floppy donkey dick.

In regards to the Tony Hawk games, I just want to say that these days too many soundtracks sound alike... I mean there are very few modern games that are considered "classics" that I could pick out just by the sound of them. I voted for Metroid Prime and I'm not even sure I could idenify it by it's music. Maybe it has to do with evolution of music in games... in fact, that is likely the #1 reason... because when the music was much more simple, it was also more catchy. I seriously doubt I could reconize the music of games I played for several hours such as recent Final Fantasy games, Tony Hawk games, etc.

[gwaine]

Herzog Zwei! That music is just awesome! I actually burned that on a CD to listen to in my car.

[Mr. NEStalgia]

Charlie: I definitely think Contra should stay. The soundtrack was great back in the day, and hearing the Minibosses' version of it was so great, ithelped me get into retrogaming.

I agree that Donkey Kong Country definitely deserves a spot on the list...so many memories.

-=Mr. NEStalgia=-

[badinsults]

Dracula Battle 1 and 2 must be on the list. For anyone who doesn't know, the Dracula Battle cds are instrumental metal remakes of songs from the castlevania series. It kicks ass!

[XpOsUrE]

Some really great choices on that list, and some just okay, but a pretty decent list I must agree with that :D .

[Achika]

I nominate the Ghost in the Shell (PSX) soundtrack....



DON'T listen to it while driving along an empty highway (and DEFINATELY not on a full HW)

[Charlie]

I've got two more that I want to nominate... totally forgot about them, but I have MIDIs from them on my PC.

Blast Corps for the N64. Hickish music? At times yes, but the music totally fit the feel of the game... it was very awesome and it sounded so freaky as the truck came close to the buildings. Very underrated soundtrack.

And Castlevania 2 for the NES. I loved the main daytime music. Excellent.

[ubersaurus]

That list NEEDS Galactic Attack for the Saturn. How many times have I put that game into the cd player just to listen to the music... I've had level 2's song stuck in my head ever since I first played the game.

[thegreatescape]

needs:

+ Command and Conquer: Red Alert- Hell march ruled
+ Gran Turismo 3- Best racing game soundtrack ever.
+ Ghouls and Ghosts- i dont think i need to justify this one
+ Rocket Knight adventures- The boss tracks were especially good.

Doesnt need
- Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX- meh
- Quake 1- bleh
- Tony hawk 2- worst of the tony's LOL
- Metroid- I didnt even notice it


Final Fantasy 8 should stay. I really liked the soundtrack. a lot. :hmm:

[petewhitley]

What! Why in hell were PaRappa and UmJammer dropped? Those soundtracks made those games the classics they are today. You could argue that UmJammer shouldn't be there, but any top soundtrack list without PaRappa makes everyone involved look like an ass. Pop those games in for some non-gamers and see what they think. Those songs draw people in who wouldn't otherwise be interested. Even the mighty Final Fantasy soundtracks can't do that. <End Rant>
Also, where is Wipeout XL? Another soundtrack that broke records and paved the way for the soundtracks of today. Stands up even now. And if you were actually there at the time (not playing it on a ROM or picking it up at Gamestop), F-Zero on the SNES had an incredible soundtrack, and rocked like nothing else before it.

[Half Japanese]

My Favorites:

Gitaroo Man
Um Jammer Lammy
Parappa the Rapper
Virtua Fighter 4
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Super Mario Bros.
DDR
Robotech: Battlecry



Most hated/Drop:

Space Channel 5, what utter shite

[jaydubnb]

My suggestions....

+Gates of Thunder
+Axelay
+Ys Books I + II -some of the best music i've ever heard!

- Capcom vs SNK

and pleaseeeeeee dump Tony Hawk 4! Assembling licensed tracks isnt impressive :)

[Kroogah]

Eh, what the Hell. I'll dump all the licensed song collections. Maybe make it a seperate list sometime.

[HaggarCodyGuy123]

I think that the following soundtracks are really good:

R-Type
Revenge of Shinobi
Nights Into Dreams
Lightening Force
Lunar Silver Star (Sega CD)
Out Run
Space Harrier
After Burner
Astal
Shining Force CD
Tempest 2000 (Jaguar)

And that IMO are the only ones that come to my mind.