Best Video Game Soundtracks

[Beefus of Bethesda]

I listen to a lot of VGM, A LOT, before my place was broken into at the end of 2012 I had a 500GB External filled with VGM that I am still slowly refilling.

Super Metroid - Walking through a forest tripping on mushrooms while listening to this soundtrack is one of the best bad trips ever.

Street Fighter 2 - Ken's Theme. Fei Long's Theme, Cammy's.. Zangiefs.. Guile's.. I challenge you to not enjoy yourself while listening to ANYTHING from this game, It's impossible, then factor in the HDReMix edition, KABOOM goes your brain.

Chrono Trigger - Greatest Square Soundtrack Ever? Greatest Square Soundtrack Ever.

Donkey Kong Country 2 - The Standard Bearer for American VGM, 18 years later, Bramble Blast is still burned into my head, in about 9000 different arrangements.

Earthbound - Just go play the fucking game. 18 years since I bought that big gaudy box. Great Game, Great Story, Great Soundtrack.

Super Mario RPG - Top to Bottom the Best Mario Soundtrack, bar none.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - Powerglove. Sloan's Assault.. nothing more needs to be said, literally the only thing I listened to for about a week, its the fucking tits.

Skyrim - I am a sucker for Orchestrated Music, for as unsophisticated as I am, I love nothing more than a brilliant Orchestra, nothing gets my heart racing faster than battle music in Skrim.

Legend of Zelda; A Link to the Past - All this mumbo jumbo about OoT is unfounded, ALttP is where its at, I will take Dark World over Gerudo Valley any day of the week, it's an unappreciated classic.

Tetris - If you don't find yourself humming this once a week then I can't be your friend.

Final Fantasy 7: Voices of the Lifestream - OCR's FF7 4 Disc Wonder, I'd list FF7 as its own, but god damn when Cosmo Canyon and Mark of the Traitor [Corel] are two of my favorite tracks and these rearrangements blow them the fuck out of the water "Lunatic Moon" and "Mark of the Beatsmith" respectively, I'll rank this ahead of the official OST.

Pokemon - Nothing to say here, it's just that amazing.

I could be here all day.

[GoGo Yubari]

My favorite music game soundtrack.

[Mick]

There will be a bit here.

NES

Metroid

Castlevania (all three games)

Megaman 1, 2 and 3 (the other three weren't nearly as good)

The Legend of Zelda

Zelda II

Contra

Life Force

Double Dragon

Ninja Gaiden

Blaster Master

Dragon Warrior (all four NES games)
River City Ransom

SNES

Secret of Mana

Breath of Fire

Final Fantasy III/VI

Megaman X

Sim City

Street Fighter II

The Legend of Zelda - A Link To The Past

Super Castlevania IV

N64

Goldeneye

Any THQ/AKI Wrestling Game

PC
Doom I/II

Sim City 2000

The Sims

Fate/Stay Night

Tsukihime

GBA

Ace Attorney

Genesis/MegaDrive

Shining Force

Sonic 2

[Crybaby Bunting]

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

That just about covers it all.

[TroutMaskReplica]

Ocarina of Time.

[Cactus Drags]

In terms of scores/soundtracks/original music, I was blown away by what HEALTH did for Max Payne 3, fits perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMDRTq_klnE

Hotline Miami is fantastic as well. And I love how the Bioshock series used music to bring Rapture to life.

For games that are less a cohesive works and more just a collection of songs, the THPS series was brilliant. I also like some of the turn of the century Madden/NHL efforts, but I think they were more a product of the time. They shaped what I listened to growing up, but I don't necessarily listen to much of it nowadays. SSX 3 deserves a special mention though, I loved how they mixed the music and put effects on when you were massively up in the air or whathaveyou.

[Sousa]

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH BOYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[TCO]

FIFA every year in recent times has had consistently brilliant soundtracks.

[Cactus Drags]

That's a joke, yes?

[TCO]

That's a joke, yes?

No, it's mostly catchy stuff and I never get sick of it despite playing it all the time. Not gonna ask for more.

[Colly]

I mostly fap over Monkey Island because its ace, but the soundtracks of the first two games are wonderful. So much so I'm now googling to try to change my ringtone.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Colly

[Cactus Drags]

That's a joke, yes?

No, it's mostly catchy stuff and I never get sick of it despite playing it all the time. Not gonna ask for more.

I guess I just want a bit more from my soundtracks. The ones I mentioned seem to flow better. FIFA always seems to me to just be a totally random grab bag of largely not very good stuff. Although it was cool to hear Passion Pit on this years version.

[Silva]

Majora's Mask. I've always preferred it over Ocarina of Time's soundtrack. ALttP also deserves more recognition.

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I love all the Silent Hill soundtracks as done by Akira Yamaoka (with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn for vocals), they just fit the mood of the games perfectly, no matter what scenes are playing out.