Sick Video Game Tunes

[TheGreatMilksteak]

I'm going to be real: most of the music I listen to is from video game soundtracks. Rather than be ashamed, I've decided to see if there are any like-minded folks who want to share sick tunes from their favorite (or not so favorite) games.

Some favorites I'm listening to right now include:

Alleyways of Lanka from Golden Idol Mysteries: The Spider of Lanka

Most of my love of the Golden Idol DLCs come from this one track. Even months after playing it, I still come back to the haunting vibes of this song. The instrumentals of the first half are good, but then the vocals kick in halfway through the song and *Chef's kiss*.

Theme from Tales from Offpeak City Volume 1

What can I say. It's (off)Peak. Bad puns aside, this track evokes a nice sense of calm that I think fits the tone of wandering through the surreal intersection of July ave and Yam Street to a perfect T.

White Rider from Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

I've listened to this song so much that "One day we'll all join that fated line" has become a part of my internal monologue.

[Beancatte]

[Faith]

I feel like using rhythm game music is cheating, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t regularly listening to Bemani stuff 24/7 recently:



also YES YES YES the Golden Idol soundtracks are amazing. Total masterclasses in songs that really linger while feeling fresh and dynamic for half an hour at a time!!!

[Enbyeon]

Guilty Gear and Daisuke Ishiwatari's work got me into music beyond "whatever was on MTV" back in the early 00s.

So here's a cool track from GG Strive:


And as a bonus, one from the less-talked-ASW games, Hard Corps: Uprising:

[rhubarb_nido]

My stock answer for my favorite VGM is Eternal Wind from Final Fantasy 3! The series has several modern arrangements of it too but nothing beats the NES sound of the original to me.


Here's a deeper cut that I've been learning to play on my fiddle. Grim Reaper's Cavern from Jack Bros on the Virtual Boy. Never played a virtual boy but this song has been stuck in my head since I heard it.


And here's a modern chiptune, from a game I've actually played, Kero Blaster. It's by Pixel (the Cave Story dev) and is written in a tracker called pxtone


I love all these chippy retro sounds! Not all the vgm I like is that style but definitely gravitate towards it.

[faoluin]

I am also a HUGE enjoyer of video game music, like most of my library is VGM of all kinds from triple-A to Indie.

I've had this one internet playlist bookmarked for well over a decade; at the time I found it, it was an Adobe Flash web app. It's still going strong with well over 2000 tracks! And the maintainer, Cats777, is a frequent backer of JRPGs like Chained Echoes and Sea of Stars.

http://www.vipvgm.net/

Outside of that, here's a few favorites I've been listening to lately...

• You Want Gnomes, Everhood Extremely crunchy, and the battle is trippy and epileptic even by that game's standards.
• Scrap Metal, Super Lesbian Animal RPG If you listen carefully you can hear dial-up sounds in the background.
• Rat-Tailed Rover, Small Saga I don't karaoke, but I would absolutely karaoke the heck out of this song.
• Same Old Story, Cassette Beasts This game frankly does not get enough love from the furry community. Critter TF via cassette tape, what's not to love?

[plumpan]

Rage Racer, R4's junglely-er cousin.



Rush 2049, specifically the N64 version. Very good Barry Leich bangers.



Racing Lagoon. I can't say anything about this other than you must hear it.

[idadeerz]

[...]

i see Alexander Brandon and i give you... even more Alexander Brandon
i would not have gotten into making music if it weren't for his work on the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 OST.

(really wish i could post the original mod files here, but alas)

[Raven]

Moonsong my beloved

[rhubarb_nido]

Moonsong is so beloved!

Also YES Jazz Jackrabbit. One of the first games I ever played! Probably an influence on how much I like long ears.

I am not familiar with the second game but here are my 2 favorites from the first. I guess it's a different composer, Robert Allen.

[EcoHound]

The soundtrack of Nine Sols is downright amazing (and you can get it DRM free on Red Candle Games' website directly too)!

[Cayman]

Oh yes, this is my JAM! I can talk about video game music for hours! I'll start with something a little more gentle though. One of my favorite indie game soundtracks of all time: A Short Hike. I'll still put this on for a bike ride on a beautiful day, or on a hike in the Rockies near me. It's just pure, comfortable joy in game soundtrack form, and really gets me into my own head when I'm just vibing.

[Cayman]

Same Old Story, Cassette Beasts This game frankly does not get enough love from the furry community. Critter TF via cassette tape, what's not to love?

I just started it and finished the "prologue." I'm finishing up another game first, but it's next on the list! Been meaning to play it for a while. Critter TF x retro vibes is right up my alley.

[Cayman]

Also gotta post one of my favorite indie game tracks of all time from Sayonara Wild Hearts. This is the track that plays as you're finishing up the last level, so if you like it, please do yourself a favor and get the game. One of the best, coolest, flashiest, and heartfelt genre-defying indies of all time. It's a 2.5 hour playable music video about queer love and breakups, finding yourself, all as a rail skateboard game/shooter/who knows. And narrated by Queen Latifah!!

[StarlightNecromancer]

At this point DE is a music studio that makes Warframe but like, god everything they do is so fucking good.

[Mixi Blacksand]

I'm a huge fan of Ryu Umemoto's stuff on the PC-98. Really wrung everything he could out of the system. RIP.

[DJAtomika]

I've been heavily vibing with the soundtrack from my current favourite semi-competitive FPS game; The Finals. Recently released season 7 and with it came a baller retro-futuristic soundtrack like this one I can't get enough of!

[Weasel]

[...]

i see Alexander Brandon and i give you... even more Alexander Brandon
i would not have gotten into making music if it weren't for his work on the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 OST.

(really wish i could post the original mod files here, but alas)

Hidden text.

Well if we're posting Alexander Brandon...



My music list is likewise 90% soundtracks (both game and movie), I especially love tracker music.

Discovered LED Storm comparatively recently, but just listen to this.


All of Agony's music is top tier, and has never left my macro playlist.


Pinball Fantasies needs no introduction, however as a kid discovering I could not only play the music outside of the game, but that the intro song is actually several times longer than the intro itself, and all of it is a banger?


It's hard to pick a favourite song from the two Crusader games, so the first's main theme it is.

[Lolo De Puzlo]

The entirety of the soundtracks for Intelligent Qube and IQ Final are much better than what you'd expect so I'll just link the entire soundtrack as a playlist.


Ecliptic from the first game in particular is one of my favorites in the series.


The Battle Theme from the PC-Engine CD version of Last Armageddon is also a total banger.


Outride a Crisis might also be one of the best songs in a SEGA racing game.

Hidden text.

Yes, better than Magical Sound Shower

[ProxyGlitchcat]

There's some real great cuts in this thread, hell yeah! Got some more of my own to contribute!


Really nice amen break usage in this, the synths really give this track the same feeling as speeding off to the middle of the ocean on a summer day.


Chill jams that rarely play at all in The Ring: Terror's Realm, but are excellent as vibe tracks in isolation.


Speaking of chill: this is one of the best random encounter battle themes in any RPG. Really excellent instrumentation and texture.


Less chill, but a really nice stage loop from an underappreciated GB Jaleco shmup.


this is just autechre you can't fool me

[Weasel]

This is neat, the Ultima VI intro song (Soundblaster version) played on a Yamaha synth. I always liked that song, it's so moody.

Also, heck yeah for the punk rock zebrataur poster.

[SlushieCat]

I'm sure I'm not gonna be posting anything completely unknown here but here's some of my favorites.

Robo Warrior Stage 1 theme on NES

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Savage's entire fucking soundtrack on Amiga

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Fire Youngman from Ace Combat 2 on PSX

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Moon Over the Castle from Gran Turismo 2 on PSX

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and finally, the best Guilty Gear song that exist:

Sky Should Be High (Vocal Version) from Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator-

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[frozentreasure]

Perfect, I've found the VGM thread.

I participate in a twice-weekly, audience-powered VGM quiz show on Twitch, which has resulted in me expanding my VGM library and awareness A Lot in the past three years. However, I do have my old favourites. Each year we collectively rank the top 100 VGM (from that which is included in the show's overall selection of soundtracks), and from that I present my personal top 10, which pretty closely mirrors my actual top 10 pieces of VGM of all time, along with my brief thoughts.

#10 - Staff Roll (Mario Kart 64)

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This may hold a particularly special place in my heart as my very first staff roll, but I do maintain that it's one of, if not the best staff roll theme on the N64. Nagata avoids the easy trap of simply medley-ing his way through the ending and instead weaves this piece that feels like a grand celebration -- a victory lap, if you will -- that's tinged with just a touch of sadness. Bittersweet that it's over, psyched that you've made it, taking one last opportunity to rock out.

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#9 - Magical Dreamers ~The Wind, Stars, and Waves~ (Chrono Cross)

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Magical Dreamers clears Radical Dreamers to me. Radical Dreamers is a fantastic piece of music, but as a piece of VGM, Magical Dreamers acts as the conclusion to the middle third of the game, and ties up a lot of mystery and plot threads that hang over the player right from the opening hours. The Marbule motif played out as an epic, Celtic rock ballad left me speechless, even more so as it continued uninterrupted through the entire of the setpiece. It gains its power precisely because it's intermingled with gameplay; brought on by the player's actions, and a unifier between the two versions of Marbule, but elevated; an aspirational piece to a better future for the land and all those that inhabit it. Mitsuda is right at home with this kind of piece, a conducter of emotions just as much as musicians, and the lack of attention this track receives compared to other Chrono Cross tracks is astonishing to me.

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#8 - Aviary Action (Cuphead)

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I don't think any other Cuphead track nails the assignment every step of the way. The whimsical, wandering opening notes feel like an innocent bird flying around before things kick off, the first main melody of the piece jumps up and down like flapping wings, the brief inclusion of Ride of the Valkyries, the second main melody repeatedly ascending like it's trying to coax Cuphead into flying higher and higher into the domain of the birds; at all points it feels some feathered fiend bothering you, the transitions are pretty much perfectly timed to keep a sense of kinetic energy in the track and it all ties back at the end. Plenty of other Cuphead tracks I can enjoy well enough, but nothing makes me consistently bop my head like Aviary Action.

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#7 - Mantis Lords (Hollow Knight)

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The Mantis Lords are the high point of Hollow Knight. They stand apart from the rest of the game's menagerie of bosses, as they sit atop their thrones, perfectly sane, completely cordial, awaiting challengers. Even from a soulless knight they command a level of respect unlike any other foe, and only by actively choosing to fight does the normal area track drop out and the Mantis Lords track begin. That brief silence as the Knight draws its nail and they stand feels refined, and the track remains a level of precision and elegance as it dances around like the lords do. It's the perfect climax to the entire Mantis Village sequence of the game and a perfect marriage of gameplay, setting, and music.

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#6 - Good Night Mom (La-Mulana)

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I adore most all of the music in La-Mulana, but this track stands out as the moment that the entire adventure comes back around. What seems to be the final boss fight opens with a separate track, "Last Battle?", that starts with the same ascending note pattern that the main eight boss fight tracks have throughout the game, and is just serviceable. But then, about a minute in, "Last Battle?" fades away as the final boss reveals its true form and Good Night, Mom plays, beginning with a motif that has played in the game only once before: when the player enters the ruins for the very first time and hears the full intro to Fearless Challenger. It instantly rings out as the sign that this is the final obstacle, and amps up the player to pull out all the stops to bring the journey to a close.

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#5 - …con lentitud poderosa (Risk of Rain 2)

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Ironically, while I can't see myself rating (Outer Wilds) Final Voyage over End Times, when the former is dependent on the latter laying the groundwork to build on, I always gravitate towards con lentitud poderosa over Coalescence. Coalescence from RoR1 is a phenomenal composition on its own, and its return in RoR2 may feel like a bit of a cheap pull at players who are awed by stronger guitar and synth usage, but listen: Coalescence doesn't have a drop that makes me feel like I'm staring at the centre of a maelstrom of wind and fire, defying the wrath of the gods. …con lentitud poderosa is just plain cooler.

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#4 - Daredevil (Ace Combat 7)

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He's certainly made better individual pieces of music across his career, even within just this game, but Daredevil has to be Keiki Kobayashi's biggest flex, and possibly the biggest flex by any game composer. Receiving a request for a masterpiece from the game's director and coming back two days later with a piece so good that the entire game's production is delayed to retool the mission in question to fit the new composition, proving that he could simply do this at-will.

This is to say nothing of the actual track, opening with the blaring horns that represent the AI drone mothership's indomitable presence that swiftly gives way to the motif of the combined forces of the continent-wide alliance of remaining human pilots, overwhelming in a triumphant exultation. The minutes-long build-up into the bombastic climax is a masterclass in tension and release, and it's one of the best introductions to his body of work.

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#3 - End Times (Outer Wilds)

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Ahh…no spoilers. But if you know, you know.

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#2 - Dragon Roost Island (Zelda: Wind Waker)

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After playing Ocarina of Time with multiple guiding presences (other people, strategy guides, etc.) and not having the Expansion Pak to play Majora's Mask, Wind Waker was the first Zelda game I played from the very beginning, all the way through, entirely by myself, and after a protracted introductory sequence of Outset, with a simple, homely theme, warping to Forsaken Fortress with its dark, tense atmosphere, and then warping again to Windfall, which is lively, but still small and restrained in the way Kakariko always is, Dragon Roost is where the true Dark Souls begins where the game starts taking off the leash.

The feeling of sailing across the seas, travelling a further distance than had been travelled in a Zelda game before, and organically arriving with no load screens at Dragon Roost, playing a never-before-heard melody, inhabited by a never-before-seen race, instills a sense of unmitigated adventure that sells the game entirely. The track is light and breezy and it moves subtly from one place to another and builds gradually into a full, swashbuckling sound. This track was the first piece of VGM I sought out a remix from OCRemix for, and I will forever have a fondness for it in my heart. It might be a bit of a nostalgia pull, but nothing really hits the same way, and I think it's proven that adults listening to it for the first time fall for its charms just as easily as children.

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#1 - Zero (Ace Combat Zero)

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Let's not bury the lede here: Zero is far and away Keiki Kobayashi's single greatest achievement and is one of the greatest compositions in music, videogame or otherwise. Even devoid of any in-game context, the piece is energetic, solemn, romantic, proud, dangerous, and so much more. The thrumming tresillo patterns in the percussion and guitar bring a vibrancy to the composition, the solo and group vocal performances provide clean distinctions between the four movements of the track, and the final crescendo is a flawless payoff to all of the building energy of the final battle.

Even without any context from the game, it's a masterpiece in its own right. But with context? Hearing the final boss threaten nuclear war while seeming to beg you to stop him purely to know where your beliefs and ideologies stand, and that you're willing to fight for them? Jousting head-to-head in the dying light of the final hours of December, as everyone on the radio clears the skies and waits with bated breath to see how the new year will be rung in, with peace or destruction, all the while listening to the stunning solo performance of the main motif be followed up by a new rendition of the lyrics to "The Unsung War", the climactic track of Ace Combat 5, completing the bridge between the two stories that's been running throughout the game?

A thousand words wouldn't be enough to express the kind of magic that the entirety of the endgame to Ace Combat Zero is, and it all stems from this piece. Whether you're intimately familiar with the game or not, Kobayashi outdid himself, his contemporaries, and all expectations, and everyone knows it.

[ElTipejoLoco]

A missing slash in the media tag after the Aviary Action embed ate your commentary for it alongside the embed for the Mantis Lords song, ft. Fixed it in my quote, for peeps that wanna read and hear 'em 'fore you fix it.
Edit: Fixed, so removed the quote. Cheers, ft.

I love Chrono Cross's Magical Dreamers also, and enjoy listening to Ace Combat Zero's Zero as well.

I'll contribute Robo's Theme from Chrono Trigger, though practically any 'rock'-like song from Mystic Quest (such as the Battle themes, including the final boss's, or Tristam's theme) is enjoyable for me to listen to. I can't eloquently voice why, though.

[Moot]

All of Oxenfrees soundtrack is bangers tbh but this one has such a capital V Vibe to it I’m always coming back to it

there are tracks with more going on so to speak but this is a good one