Best. Game soundtrack. Ever!

Retr0gamer

What's your favourite game soundtrack? I'd like if everyone would limit their suggestions to original soundtracks. That means no licensed soundtracks or 'That song from Fifa "insert number here"'.

1. FFVI. In my opinion it's Nobuo Uematsu's best work. Anyone how has played it should be able to hum at least 3 of the tracks.

2. FFX. Not limiting the composers for FFX to just Nobuo Uematsu was a stroke of genius by Square. Great soundtrack with loads of variety and complements the game perfectly.

3. Suikoden. Fantastic sountrack. Unfortunately the other games in the series didn't live up to it's standards.

4. Einhander. One hell of a techno soundtrack. This is now on my mp3 'to download' list.

5. Xenosaga. Better than the Xenogears soundtrack thanks to it being preformed by the london Symphony orchestra.

6. Xenogears. Would have been higher in my list except that the music was repeated far too much.

7. Chrono Trigger. Very atmospheric. Can't comment on the sequel since I haven't got round to playing it yet.

8. Mechwarrior 2. Geat synthesiser soundtrack.

9. FFVII. Nobuo Uematsu strikes again.

10. Mega Man 2. The soundtrack is great and it's on a NES. Doesn't happen very often.

Soundtracks of note.
Suikoden 2. Retrospection, major battle theme and the opening by thewarsaw philharmonic orchestra are classics. Unfortunately they are complemented by some of the worst music ever to come from a Playstation.
Axelay had great music as well.

super_furry

FFVII gets my vote – it’s the only game that has ever convinced me to splash out and actually buy the sountrack (orchestral version). I firmly believe that Aerith’s Theme is the best piece of videogame music ever.

Also noteworthy are Turrican on the C64, Castlevanian SoTM on the PSX, Lunar Eternal Blue and Lunar Silver Star Story (espeically the opening songs) and of course Zelda and all its variants.

Shinji

Umetsu's work on the Final Fantasy games is amazing - FFVII is a particularly stunning soundtrack, but all of them have their high points. Whatever your opinion about FF8, both Liberi Fatali and Eyes on Me are superb pieces of music; FF9 had some excellent tracks (although musically it was weaker than most of its stablemates) and FFX is simply stunning musically.

However, Yasunori Mitsuda is another chap whose soundtrack work is outstanding - he did the music for Chrono Trigger (and Chrono Cross, which arguably had better music), Xenogears and Xenosaga. He's just a bit good.

That said... If I was to pick one game which is going to sound AMAZING from the list of forthcoming titles... It would have to be Xenosaga Episode 2, because Yuki Kaijura is doing the music for it, and she's one of the most amazing musicians I've ever heard. (She did the music for Noir and .hack//SIGN, which some anime fans may recognise - those of you who don't know her stuff would do well to go off and find a copy of her new album, Fiction, which is out in the USA and Japan and readily available on import). The thought of what she'll do with game music is enough to send pre-emptive shivers down your spine

DiscoStu

final fantasy 7, xenogears and chrono cross have to be the best ive heard. the opening theme to chrono cross is amazing. metal gear solid 2's clancey'esque opening theme is a fantastic peice of work. shame the rest of the soundtrack didnt live up to it. zone of the ender and zone of the enders 2 also have fantastic opening themes. final fantasy x was also fantastic. some of the of the tracks from the upcoming fanservice that is final fantasy x-2 are quite good, Gagazetoyama, Eternity, 1000 No Kotoba are the only real standout ones.

http://www.neillcorlett.com/psf/ is where you want to go for real playstation soundtracks in the great psf format.

Spacedog

Full Throttle all the way! what was the name of that band? they were cool!

Retr0gamer

Can't believe I forgot to mention Castlevania Symphony of the Night.

I love Yasunori Mitsuda's work as well. The kind of celtic music of Xenogears and what little of Chrono Cross that I heard was fantastic, especially in the xenogears creid album.

I'll have to check out some of Yuki Kaijura's work.

It's really unfortunate that all of Suikoden 2's best music isn't in PSF ad it's quite hard to find on the net. I'll probably end up buying the soundtrack.

Epitaph

Medal of Honor: Frontline has been the only game which had standout music, for me. Very operatic and timeless

Mr E

Originally posted by Spacedog
Full Throttle all the way! what was the name of that band? they were cool!

From the Gone Jackals (Album: Bone To Pick). Retr0gamer said original music only! I loved that music too..... Intro riff to Legacy (from the intro to the game) is great stuff.

- Dave.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer said original music only!

I don't really mind. It was only a suggestion. Full throttles soundtrack isn't exactly mainstream any way.

jesus_thats_gre

I loved the music in Doom. Simple I know :ninja:

Kairo

Originally posted by Shinji
That said... If I was to pick one game which is going to sound AMAZING from the list of forthcoming titles... It would have to be Xenosaga Episode 2, because Yuki Kaijura is doing the music for it, and she's one of the most amazing musicians I've ever heard. (She did the music for Noir and .hack//SIGN, which some anime fans may recognise - those of you who don't know her stuff would do well to go off and find a copy of her new album, Fiction, which is out in the USA and Japan and readily available on import). The thought of what she'll do with game music is enough to send pre-emptive shivers down your spine

Yuki Kajiura is absolutely fantastic. By far my favourite composer, eastern, western or otherwise. I can't get enough of her..especially her latest solo work, Fiction. I urge everyone to check this one out wheter you're an anime/game fan or not (most of the tracks are in English anyway )

If you're more of a hardcore jpop fan, I'd suggest you give a listen to Yuki's own band, See-Saw, and their latest album 'Dream Field'. Personal favourites include Gundam Seed Outro 'Anna Ni Issho Datta No Ni' and .hack//Liminality opening 'Kimi Ga Ita Monogatari'.

anyway, back on topic; Squaresoft games allmost allways have quality OSTs ,despite the lack of some sound processors back in the day ¦] FFVII comes highly recommended. Also, can't believe no one has mentioned any of the Grand Theft Auto series
They've had it right since the first one..and Vice City's whoopin' 7 disc ost is a musical treat.

Señor Juárez

yeah, the FF soundtracks have been rather excellent for the most part.

I also happen to think the BF1942 music is rather good, especially the Star Wars mod for it

GTA Vice City anyone?

Kevok

I love the soundtrack in both Homeworld games, and pray that HW2 has an equally atmospheric one. As mentioned above Mechwarrior 2 had an excellent score too.

When it comes to consoles the final fantasy series, super smash brothers melee, and both Chrono games wipe the floor with all. But Halos main theme deserves honourable mention.

[Edit]Oh and the FZero GX soundtrack sounds great too, just downloaded several mp3s of it.[/Edit]

jesus_thats_gre

Yeah the Halo soundtrack is deadly.

Sarky

Some of the orchestral scores in Icewind Dale are gorgeous. The one for when you're in Easthaven is very moving. I sometimes load the game up just to listen to that music.

ObeyGiant

The first time I played the original Tomb Raider on the Saturn, I was absolutely blown away by the soundtrack. At places, it matched the huge magnificence (hindsight: heh) of the levels perfectly.

Horsefumbler

Max Payne and Vice City

tman

pc
aliens versus predator - atmospheric stuff...
soul reaver 1 & 2 - ditto.
severance: blade of darkness - and then some...
duke nukem 3D - just the title screen song...
wip3out - gwan teh cold storage!
max payne - i love the title music.
vice city - best licensed soundtrack evar...

gb/a
metroid fusion
tetris

snes
donkey kong country - the underwater music
doom - after years of playing it on a soundcard-less pc, i finally got a chance to hear the game in all its glory...
super metroid

mega drive
all the sonics - damn catchy

scoey

My favourite game soundtracks are The Legend Of Zelda:A link to the Past and Ocarina of time (there are a lot of identical tunes on both)

F-Zero on the snes has a great soundtrack , that game wouldnt be nearly as good without that music.

The music in Shenmue 1 and 2 was great too.

DiscoStu

Originally posted by tman

donkey kong country - the underwater music

im tellin ya that was ripped off from a Cocteau Twins song called I Wear Your Ring

whosurpaddy

i like the tunes on def jam vendetta. probly as ive been playing it quite a bit recently

Creamy Goodness

Nobuo Uematsu is the man the music in FF7 made me weep

Kold

Zelda Ocarina of Time. I find myself humming sarias song all the time.

kano476

metal gear solid on the ps. especially the intro. (played in ful at the end aswell) the music was very atmospheric and gave a kind of a haunting feeling to the game. maybe its just me. mgs2 was quite good aswell but not up to the standards of the first. also the original medal of honour is worth a mention. of course you cant forget:

vice city - best licensed soundtrack evar

ditto.

tony hawks 2 was good coz they had ratm on it :0

hooded

Legend of Kain in the insane assilum. Its rock with radom screams
and any GTA game.Silent bomber had the sweetest music

Deadwing

Wow, weird coincidence i was listening to the FF7 main theme fully orchestrated just as i opened boards today and saw this thread I think that says it all. oh and if anyone knows where i can get the ORCHESTRATED soundtrack id be appreciative. So far ive only gotten the main theme and aeris theme of kazaa, cant find anything else

KilOit

R-Type had some pretty cool dance tunes

Shinji

Guh, I just sold a copy of the Orchestrated FFVII soundtrack on eBay. Ah well. I'll give you a shout if I find another copy.

Raz

Gaaaah!! All I'm hearing is FFVII, FFVI, FFX, FFIX!!!
For real orchestra pieces written specifically for a game look to MYST III: Exile. I got the OST with the collectors edition and it's just brilliant. And don't forget MYST or RIVEN either. The moody atmospheric music is astounding.

Scruff

Loved the FreeSpace 2 sound track, very grandeous and epic type music.

mrblue

Turrican!

Doo do doo doo doo doooo dooooo dooooo.

Genius.

anthonymcg

Medal of Honour: Frontline is quite good but Mario Kart on SNES is legend.

mrblue

OK, this is damn obscure, but does anyone remember the end credit music for creatures 2 on the c64. That rocked.

i_am_dogboy

my favourite music in a game was either homeworld or warrior kings, like everyone else is saying the final fantasy games do have amazing soundtracks-8 is my favourite
pretty much every nintendo game has very catchy music especially zelda and mario games, sometimes i find myself walking mindlessly around outset island just to listen to the music
the command and conquer games did great things for guitar music in games, f-zero rocked....i could go on forever, i think i'll just leave it at that

Deadwing

Originally posted by Shinji
Guh, I just sold a copy of the Orchestrated FFVII soundtrack on eBay. Ah well. I'll give you a shout if I find another copy.

I would KILL for that soundtrack!! Pur-leeeez pm me if you come across another one!!

cr1spy

My vote goes to the AirWolf-style main menu music of Deus Ex.

Some of the music in Baldurs Gate 1+2 was bad either. Some reminds me of the theme from Lord of the Rings.

Worst music ever has to be in any version of ISS or Pro Evolution Soccer. Sheer crap.

xx

Zelda Ocarina of Time - N64. Heroic and cool.
Red Faction on the PS2 - VERY moody.
Ghouls and Ghosts on the Super Nintendo.
GTA 3 and GTA vice city - 'nuff said.
Gran Turismo 3 on PS2 - Just for Death in Vegas 'Aisha'
Devil May Cry on PS2

The Smircher

Can't believe Grim Fandango hasn't been mentioned yet.
Absolutely lavish soundtrack by Peter O'Connell.
I managed to get a copy from the US and it's excellent.

Washout

I still love the music from the wipeout games on playstation

tman

dungeon seige - great soundtrack, average game.

Mr E

Originally posted by mrblue
OK, this is damn obscure, but does anyone remember the end credit music for creatures 2 on the c64. That rocked.

While cutting the bag guy's arm off with a chainsaw?

The music in that whole game was excellent. I particularly liked the high score entry music.....

- Dave.

Placebo

i dunno if this is the sound track in it but Legends of wrestling 2 has Glassjaw and Trapt and what not .

streetfighter 2 sounds track was great, guile stage

Dr_Teeth

Total Annihilation

A-Trak

Unbelievable that Streets of Rage 2 for the Megadrive hasn't been mentioned.

Also Ninja Warriors for the C64 pretty much rocked, first time I ever heard digitised speech in a game, Hawking like albeit!

Stormfox1020

MGS2, Vice City and Wolfenstien (something about its opening tune that gets stuck in my head)

_CreeD_

Total Annihilation (PC) - Jeremy Soule
Morrowind (PC) - Jeremy Soule
Parallax (C64) - Martin Galway
Lightforce (C64) - Rob Hubbard
Delta (C64) - Rob Hubbard
Conflict Freespace 2 (PC) - Havent a clue
HomeWorld (PC) - IksNay on the Clue-ay (worth it for the non-string version of Adagio for Strings alone).
Turrican (Amiga) - Chris Huelsbeck


Game soundtracks are up for their own slot in the Grammy's this year too (last year Halo was entered into the standard soundtrack section, competing against all the movie soundtracks).

Gummy Panda

I love the music from the opening sequence of Tenchu: Wraith of Heaven.

Pity the rest of the music was repetitive through the game. Good game though.

Bard

Nobody's mentioned Quake II, I see.

... but now I have.

Yay \o/

Mossy Monk

i say Quake 2 aswell

all the GTA's are good but the soundtrack on the 1st GTA holds a special place in my heart

Retr0gamer

Quake 2's soundtrack was one of those soundtracks that had me crawling for the cd music off option. Probably just my tastes because i know lots of people who liked it.

It's nice to see game soundtracks get the notice they deserve in an awards ceremony.

[edit] My choice for lifetime achievement award would go to rob rubbard

Sarky

Carmageddon had some very suitable songs from Iron Maiden. It sounded very appropriate for breakneck speeding around ploughing into innocents...