Favorite Video Game Soundtrack

[Chalis]

So I'm bored and thought I'd post this.

Mine is definitely the Golden Sun series (especially Venus Lighthouse) but Final Fantasy, notably 6, 4 and 7, are up there.

[Kuvario]

Easily my favorite video game soundtracks are the Kingdom Hearts series, especially Kingdom Hearts II and 3D, followed closely by Xenoblade Chronicles and Final Fantasy (VII and X mostly). I've listened to a few of the other ones in the FF series like VIII, the entire XIII saga, and thought they were pretty good too.

Honorable mentions to the Fire Emblem series, Sonic series, Phoenix Wright series, and Pokemon...I guess. Probably forgetting some at the time of writing this.

[MarbleZone]

Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Golden Axe, Final Fantasy IX and X, Jade Cocoon and Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney.

[Talon87]

Shenmue: It's difficult to pick just one, but if I had to, then it would probably be Shenmue. (Click for music.) Specifically, tracks like "Shenmue Sedge Tree", "Shenmue Sedge Flower", and "Waves of Morning Haze". Just incredible stuff. Belongs in a movie. For all intents and purposes did belong to a movie. A majestic soundtrack adorning a magnificent tale.

SotC: Another truly great soundtrack, end to end, would be Shadow of the Colossus's. (Click for music.) Specifically, tracks like "Prologue", "The Opened Way", "A Despair-Filled Farewell", and "The Sunlit Earth". The last of these is a song I introduced to Daisy several years ago and which she taught herself to play on piano. Daisy and her family members enjoyed the melody even though they had never played the game themselves. I think that speaks to the genuine quality of the piece!

Shadow of the Colossus is one of those games that should be on every gamer's bucket list. (Gotta go into it blind though. Simply gotta.) It was one of the Internet's most vocally pointed-to examples when late film critic Roger Ebert famously opined that video games are categorically not art. Shadow of the Colossus is art. It is simply an amazing experience. And of great help in this is the music.

Other: There are a lot of other games I could mention, but most lack the cover-to-cover solid soundtracks that Shenmue and SotC have. These other games are ones that have maybe 50% awesome and then the other 50% could be whatever. Some of the examples of this type that come to mind include Ever17 (PC), the Phoenix Wright games (DS), Pokémon (you know full well), and Super Mario Galaxy (Wii). (Though Super Mario Galaxy's got a reaaaaal magical soundtrack. Just barely misses out on joining Shenmue and Shadow of the Colossus.)

Going in a different direction from the previous paragraph, there are also other games where I personally like nearly 100% of the soundtrack but where I wouldn't expect most people to necessarily agree with me. Maybe for some the track in question is too tinny, too 8-bit. Maybe for others it just doesn't have that many good tracks. I dunno. Games in this category would include titles like Mega Man 3 ... and well, that's like the only really prominent example coming to mind. But yeah. I love MM3's soundtrack.

[Concept]

Absolutely agree with Talon on Shadow of the Colossus. Would also put forward Braid as another personal favourite soundtrack.

[rotomotorz]

Xenoblade Chronicles has an absolutely beautiful soundtrack and contains some of the best songs I've heard ever. Ori and the Blind Forest also has a phenomenal soundtrack

[phoopes]

Xenoblade Chronicles and Shadow of the Colossus already mentioned. Absolutely. Also have to mention Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask as far as memorable soundtracks go.

As Talon said, Pokemon for games that have some great tracks but kinda eh ones sometimes too. I'll also throw Dark Souls franchise in this category. You have some songs that blow you away (See: "Gwyn, Lord of Cinder" from Dark Souls) but most of the songs are just okay.

I think my personal favorite is Fire Emblem Awakening. Absolutely fantastic. So many memorable tracks that set so many different moods. My favorites though are "....." and "You may call me Marth." Guess I'm a sucker for melancholy piano, lol. Also have to throw in Tiki's theme, "You have power... like mine." Very mystical, magical... like I said before the game does a great job at setting the mood and this is perfect for when you're talking with an ancient dragon girl.

EDIT:

Also special shoutout to Asura's Wrath for the first 50 seconds of Yasha's theme (the rest is okay but doesn't compare). Also from Asura's Wrath (spoilers ahead)...

Spoiler: show

the song from the battle with Augus. Using Dvorak's New World Symphony while having a showdown with your sensei ON THE MOON. Here's a link to the actual fight

...or if you're just interested in the music, look here.

[Ethereal]

The original two Paper Mario games have some ridiculously good pieces and stick in my mind as clear favorites. Shiver City and Freeze! (Crystal King fight) are two really good examples in the first game, and the Shadow Siren Battle and Doopliss Battle tracks are also pretty stellar from the sequel. Each chapter of the games has such a characteristic sound, and there are so many little nuggets of amazing stuff spread here and there. Something I didn't know till know is that PM's composer is the same as Fire Emblem's (Yuka Tsujiyoko).

GSC has a lot of my favorite tracks for the Pokémon series, but the GB Pokemon puzzle game with the remakes of the second gen tracks is probably my favorite out of the whole series (I've probably posted the Goldenrod and Igglybuff/Cleffa tracks in the WAYLT? thread.)

Also worth mentioning is DQIX's BGM; I wasn't the biggest fan of the songs as they sounded in the game itself, but the Symphonic Suite of the music (recorded by Sugiyama and the London Philharmonic Orchestra) is spectacular, especially the Alltrades Abbey/Coffinwell/something else medley.

[Sparkbeat]

Agreeing with Ethe about the Paper Mario series. PM: TTYD is probably my favorite game of all time, and its sound track is definitely up there as well. Tubba Blubba's theme from the first game is really great.

[OkikuMew]

I second/third/forth/whatever the love of the soundtracks of Ace Attorney. I especially dig the official two orchestra soundtracks and that jazz soundtrack. Jazzified Godot's theme? Heck yes.

The Zelda series also offer some beautiful soundtracks. One in particular that hits me is The Ballad of the Wind Fish from Link's Awakening. I dunno if it's just the situation where they play it and every time I hear the song it reminds me of it or what, but I get teary-eyed almost every time I hear it.

Last but not least I would like to give a nice shout-out to Okami music. It sounds as beautiful as it looks. ...Okay I may be biased as I have a soft spot for Japanese culture, but man, it can't just capture the feel of the game better than that. And did I mention that said soundtrack is massive? Man, I would spend the whole work day just listening to it.

[Chalis]

Originally Posted by Sparkbeat

Agreeing with Ethe about the Paper Mario series. PM: TTYD is probably my favorite game of all time, and its sound track is definitely up there as well. Tubba Blubba's theme from the first game is really great.

Oh yeah, Paper Mario is up there for me too. Yeah, Tubba Blubba's theme is great, love that icy mountain theme, and that underused Sun Tower theme. Maybe the Crystal King battle theme too.

Oh, how did I forget Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG? Corridors of Time and Frog's theme from the former; Beware the Forest Mushrooms, Barrel Volcano and And My Name Is Booster.

Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask too. Song of Storms, Gerudo Valley, Forest Temple and Deku Palace are highest.

And a mention to Platinum purely for that Game Corner song and Cyrus theme.

GSC for Dark Cave alone.

Finally, Red Rescue Theme for Great Canyon and the Boss theme.

[big bad birtha]

The Atelier games have a nice soundtrack. Most noticeably is Ayesha's final boss theme, MARIA.

I haven't played them, but I wouldn't doubt Ar Tonelico having an amazing soundtrack. Hearing a theme from that game is always a very nice experience. I need to try them out sometime.

Windwaker has an excellent soundtrack. That freaking Laruto theme! On the subject of Zelda, Oracle of Ages solely for Nayru's theme. Would love to see an updated version of it.

[Loki]

https://youtu.be/LLgiYE6f4u4

The Charr have the best everything.

[SoS]

No pls dun make me pick

[MCXD]

I could write a big essay response to this question but eh, it'll probably just step on everyone's toes.

My favorite game series soundtrack belongs to Umineko no Naku Koro ni - The full soundtrack consists of 250 songs and 230-240 of them are, in my opinion, good if not great. There is no other game series I've ever seen which, to me, comes close to that achievement. (To anyone who looks it up, make sure you listen to the game soundtrack and not the anime soundtrack - though the anime soundtrack has some good stuff too.)

Also I guess I'm biased since I made a thread gushing about it already, but Ori and the Blind Forest deserves to be in discussions for the best game soundtracks of all time as well. It would be #2 behind Umineko for me.

[phoopes]

Omg how did I forget Valiant Hearts

[Doppleganger]

Who's yo' daddy?

BALDUR'S GATE's yo daddy!

[Marion Ette]

I don't know if The Cat Lady has the best soundtrack of all video games in an objective sense, but it's the one that has resonated with me and meant the most to me. The atmosphere and emotion each track evokes is beyond anything I've ever experienced with any other video game soundtrack.

To add to what phoopes said about the Souls series having hit-or-miss soundtracks... I'd argue that Demon's Souls actually does have its share of epic, memorable boss themes, but that number is a bit reduced in Dark Souls and dramatically reduced in DS2 to the point where I can't really think of a DS2 theme off the top of my head despite beating the game twice. Bloodborne had a few good ones but, again, not quite to the caliber of Demon's Souls soundtrack-wise.

[Heather]

Having a playlist all of VGM, I can't pick one series.

[Chalis]

Originally Posted by Marion Ette

I don't know if The Cat Lady has the best soundtrack of all video games in an objective sense, but it's the one that has resonated with me and meant the most to me. The atmosphere and emotion each track evokes is beyond anything I've ever experienced with any other video game soundtrack.

To add to what phoopes said about the Souls series having hit-or-miss soundtracks... I'd argue that Demon's Souls actually does have its share of epic, memorable boss themes, but that number is a bit reduced in Dark Souls and dramatically reduced in DS2 to the point where I can't really think of a DS2 theme off the top of my head despite beating the game twice. Bloodborne had a few good ones but, again, not quite to the caliber of Demon's Souls soundtrack-wise.

I haven't played the Souls series, but have played all of the Golden Sun series and some of the Tales series, which are all mostly scored by Motoi Sakuraba, so I had a feeling Souls would have a good soundtrack

[Deebs]

Transistor

[Sneaze]

Previously I would have agreed with most of these but Ori and the Blind Forest has stolen my heart with it's perfect soundtrack.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, hopping off the Ori train for a quick second, I'm gonna be the guy here who brings up that Monster Hunter has had some absolutely fantastic music throughout pretty much the entire series.

[Loki]

>MH

Zinogre probably has the best battle theme of late that sounds great without even playing the game.

I know the music isn't affect by my in-game actions, but I usually feel like the music becomes more epic the better I'm playing MH. xd

[Mew The Gato]

Definitely the MOTHER series, which has a huge variety of different kinds. But I also like the Golden Sun series and Pokemon (Especially the Mystery Dungeon series). To some extent, The Legend of Zelda, too (Especially The Wind Waker).

[MCXD]

Originally Posted by Mew The Gato

But I also like the Golden Sun series and Pokemon (Especially the Mystery Dungeon series).

PMD's music is quite underrated outside of the Pokemon community, in my opinion. I really, really like Dark/Time/Sky's soundtrack, even if it might be too "gamey" sounding by a lot of contemporary gamers' standards.