Best Video Game OST/Single Track

[brsmith77]

I have been meaning to do a YT vid on the best of videogame music for ages now but it's been done, so I'll have the discussion here instead.

What's everyone's stand out tracks? For me it's got to be:

Eswat on the Megadrive, if only for that Boss Battle Theme. Really gets the blood pumping. 

Batman on the Megadrive, Gotham City Streets 1. Thanks to Sega Lord X for this one. 

Streets of Rage, obviously. I normally loathe EDM but here it is so well done. 

Ninja Warriors Arcade: Daddy Mulk. Just the most ridiculously funky track I have heard on a game. 

 

I know the Megadrive gets a lot of stick for its GEM sound driver but damn I loved that crunchy sound. 

 

Links to my picks:

 

 

[infection]

Goldeneye rogue agent ost 

[Dougsta]

Final Fantasy 7's music always stands out for me. So much effort went into every aspect of that game. Brilliance! 

[davep180]

I really liked the music on Demolition Racer PS1. Almost an albums worth of Fear Factory!

[shaun2097]

"panzer dragoo saga",  or "killer instinct"

or this classic theme tune from "worms armageddeon" (if you have not herd it before, listen untill the end, as the vocal doesnt start for a bit...(2.10)

 

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by shaun2097

[slotsmagic]

Tricky one really (I doubt I could choose specific tracks!!) - I sometimes wonder if the music was genuinely awesome, or if it was the euphoria that came from the gameplay associated with the music - epic boss battles, game completion e.t.c. that means the music affects me more than it should! Still get an adrenaline rush from playing some tracks, don't know if that's normal or due to me being odd. Should have known I had issues when I used to take my discman (remember those?) to college with video game discs - both PC and console - so I could play the OSTs since I wasn't really into 'pop' or anything at the time. Several games had the audio stored on the CD in CDDA format so you could literally just take the game, stick it in a CD player, and play the music!

I do still listen to a lot of OSTs from games I've played, and quite a few good cover artists on the internet who reinterpret or play things differently. For reference my history of consoles was Speccy > SNES + Gameboy > PS1 + Gameboy Advance> PS2 + PSP  + DS > X360 + 3DS, and had a few PCs along the way. No Sega console at any point!

Favourites of mine would be from specific series - grew up playing Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy mainly. The soundtracks to Legend of Zelda - Link to the Past (SNES) - also Link Between Worlds (3DS) which features more modern interpretations of the same score with some added bits thrown in. Final Fantasy VII as I played that a lot more than I should when I was a teenager. Whole soundtrack brings back loads of happy memories, and have several physical CDs of the original soundtrack, piano versions, orchestra versions, metal versions e.t.c. of that. Also Final Fantasy VIII and IX had some good moments but they didn't move me as much as FFVII did.

In my slightly more rebellious phases I was rather partial to the obvious games like Doom (which I didn't realise at the time, being younger, owed a lot to bands like Pantera), and Carmageddon on PC which I spent an ungodly amount of time playing... having just had a look online it looks like that was also by Fear Factory if you've not played it @davep180. Had to ask my mum to buy it for me in HMV Oxford Street aged 13 or so

There's really too many for me to list, I doubt I could narrow it down at all. Sorry if it's dragging the thread further off topic

 

 

 

 

[AK45]

Turrican 2 on the amiga

[azaleak]

I loved Turrican 2, er, too, but my fave track from the series is level 5-2, in the first Turrican, where you fight Morgul. Chris Huelsbeck is a genius.

I'm also a big fan (and multiple times kickstarter backer) of Matt Gray, of C64 Last Ninja 2 etc fame. If this weren't the 16-bit forum, I'd go for this latter game as my favorite game music, especially the tracks for The Sewer and The Mansion levels.

Honorable mentions: Pursuit - Cornered from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney DS, Turbo Out Run C64 (Jeroen Tel), Cybernoid 2 C64 (also Jeroen Tel), Tusker C64 (Matt Gray)

Edited September 9, 2021 by azaleak

[Impact]

I know this really should be under Arcade , How ever Sega`s Outrun System16. Which is a Mc68000P12 16bit@12.5mhz. This youtuber hit every note perfectly plus an extra part added to the tune at the end.

 

[slotsmagic]

Some music really hits harder when put into context... so a couple of examples really stand out for me.

A recent one, while playing through Zelda : Links Awakening (Switch re-release) for about the 50th time, is the Face Shrine theme. It's a lovely version of the original song, which features the original Gameboy music which kicks in just after the 50 second mark.

It comes at a part of the game when you discover a truth that changes the way you feel about the game, and your purpose within the world. It starts to become a bit darker. Again you probably won't feel anything unless it's a game you've played and understand the significance of the Face Shrine. 

 

Another obvious example would be something like the Aeris death theme from FFVII. On it's own it's a beautiful piece of music, but taken in the context of when you first hear it play, it's much more impactful.

 

(edit - just realised this is the 16 bit forum - sorry! Didn't notice on my phone browser!)

Edited September 27, 2023 by slotsmagic