My Ten Favorite Tracks from Video Game Soundtracks
5. Braid – Maenam
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kWo8N4QNXM
Anther XBL indie game with a great soundtrack, Braid’s Maenam is one of those instrumental pieces that just stays with you over time.
4. Red Dead Redemption – Dead Man’s Gun
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkAvVqjbUG8
This game had many great tracks to choose from including “Far Away” by Jose Gonzales, but my favirte was Dead Man’s Gun by Ashtar Command, and I still listen to it to this day.
3. Dead Island – Theme
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DV4C9ZZjxg
Perhaps I’m cheating here as I don’t actually know if this track appeared in the actual game or not (I doubt it), but the beautiful piano/violin track from the unforgettable trailer is relaxing and emotional to listen to all by itself.
2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Icarus
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiN6t7K7txw
This entire soundtrack is phenomenal, but the main theme of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Icarus, is its best track by far. It’s futuristic, hopeless and almost reverent, and I can’t get enough of it.
1. Final Fantasy X – Sky Theme
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvxkiBdbEqw
Wow, I’ve been listening to this one since…high school. Final Fantasy X is the only FF game I ever played all the way through (blaspehmy, I know), and I loved the soundtrack when I was younger. I even found sheet music for this track and re-taught myself piano just so I could play it. I was a pretty cool kid.
What are some of your favorite video game tracks? Link in the comments.
This is a decent Rock cover of Icarus from Deus Ex:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liHq08Cayp4
To me, videogame music will always be midi. Terra’s theme from FF6, Schala’s theme from Chrono, One winged angel from FF7.
The twisted metal 2 loading screen has a good finger snapping tune.
There’s so much great videogame soundtracks, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I’ll try a top ten:
10. Sonic 1 – Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles
9. Mega Man X1 – X3 (X5 had a few good tracks)
8. Mega Man 1 – 4 (8 had some damn good music as well)
7. Ninja Gaiden NES Trilogy
6. Castlevania SOTN (I’m sure the earlier games ost’s could go here, but I’ve only played Simon’s Quest)
5. Chrono Trigger
4. Need For Speed 1-5
3. Resident Evil 1&2 (spooky ambiance FTW)
2. Pretty much ANY Mario game (the original trilogy on NES, Mario World 1&2, RPG on SNES, and Mario 64)
1. Metroid series, but most importantly, SUPER METROID. No game soundtrack does it better.
Paul, I hope you’re as familiar with gh.ffshrine.org (Galbadia Hotel) as I am, because if not, GO THERE RIGHT NOW and prepare to spend the entire weekend doing nothing but downloading original vg music, as well as a PLETHORA of AWESOME remixes.
no mention of halo soundtracks?
This here is one of my favorites
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb8PQXPOkCc
Uhh I’m currently playing Deus Ex and I really hope that picture isn’t actually part of the game. Otherwise it’s a huge spoiler D:
I’m aware that all the tracks are available elsewhere, but the soundtrack to SSX3 is pretty killer for good road trip music. Just my 2 cents worth.
@Bernardo
It’s not.
In my opinion, Mass Effect 2 had the greatest soundtrack of any game ever. It’s just far and away better than the generic stuff most roleplaying games (Fable, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim to a lesser degree) throw at you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCk4RiKH9H0
Unfortunately they got rid of the guy who did that soundtrack and replaced him with a film score veteran for the third game. I’ll keep my mind open, but the dude has his work cut out for him if he wants to top ME2’s music.
Note – the Portal soundtrack is avaliable for free download here
http://www.thinkwithportals.com/music.php
No Kingdom Hearts 1 AND 2!!! Those were some of the best piano songs I ever heard on a video game. And lets not forget Utada singing the themes songs for both of them.
Soul Edge Intro Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTFLRhV2vI8
No Skyrim theme or Pokémon fight music? :O Are you ill?
My favorites will always be:
To Zanarkand – FFX
Breath of Fire theme
J-E-N-O-V-A – FFVII
Ronfaure- FFXI
Civilization IV – Baba Yetu
Chrono Cross – Time’s Scar and Dreamwatch of Time
Chrono Trigger – To Faraway Times
Secret of Evermore – Greek Temple and Introduction (still Jeremy Soule’s best soundtrack)
Secret of Mana – The Second Truth from the Left
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles – Kazezone
Tales of the Abyss – Karma
Clearly I’m a sucker for great intro and ending themes.
Soul Blazer – Sad Town
Secret of Mana – The Color of the Summer Sky
Final Fantasy VI – Kids Run Through the City Corner
Final Fantasy VI – Terra
Mega Man 2 – Dr Wily’s Castle
Street Fighter 2 – Guile’s Theme
Castlevania SOTN – Dracula’s Castle
Metroid – Kraid’s Theme
Dragon Warrior – Chateau Ladutorm
Final Fantasy – Town
It’s possible I missed something, but this is a pretty good lineup off the top of my head. NES and SNES really can’t be beaten in the music department…
Final Fantasy VIII – Fisherman’s Horizon
Chrono Cross – the entire soundtrack is great
Heavy Rain – Before the Storm
Rival Schools (opening theme)
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver – Ozar Midrashim
The entire Suikoden 2 soundtrack. Enough said.
Every single track from Final Fantasy IV. Also, the Halo theme cannot be beaten. Search your heart, you know this to be true.
it has anything from the first 2 tony hawk games, influenced what i listened to today
That song isn’t from Final Fantasy X. Here is a link that shows the music of FF X:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_X_soundtrack#Final_Fantasy_X_Original_Soundtrack
There are a lot of good FF songs.Here are a list of a few great FF songs:
FF X – Besaid Island
FF X-2 Eternity~Memories of Waves and Light
FF VII- Cosmo Canyon
FF VIII – Blue Fields
FF IX – Vamo’ Alla Flamenco
As a video game list well…
1) Old Snake – Metal Gear Solid 4
2) You Were There – ICO ( I find it fun to sing the course)
3) (Sorry) Besaid Island – FFX
4) Cohens Masterpiece – Bioshock
5) Witchcraft – Silent Hill Homecoming
6) Dog Ending Music – Silent Hill 2 (have that as a text ring tone pretty awesome to here people tell you that your phone was barking)
7) Megacorp Outlet – Ratchet and Clank Going Commando
8) King of King’s – We <3 Katamari (crazy ass song but pretty awesome)
9) Snake Eater – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
10) Pool of Tears – American McGee's Alice
^_^
No love for the epic Crysis 2 theme?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d2axjnG58g&t=1m28s
The Myst games have great music, so do the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games from Bethesda. A lot of good choices here.
FFxiii has a lot of awesome soundtracks(not the pal version).Its one more reason why i liked this game.
Haters gonna hate
I bought the whole Borderlands Soundtrack. I loved the futuristic western feel of it.
I praise you for including Vigil.
Icarus may be the best theme of any video game ever. That song is (almost inexplicably) haunting and the musical composition itself is brilliant.
Bayonetta! There’s some great upbeat stuff, and one Nocturne that just makes me want to sit by the fire with a drink and chill.
Xenogears – Flight
Breath of Fire III – For Old Friends ~Teepo’s Theme~
Chrono Cross – The Girl Who Stole The Stars
Final Fantasy IX – You’re Not Alone!
Final Fantasy V – Battle at the Big Bridge
Chrono Trigger – Battle with Magus
Silent Hill 2 – Theme of Laura
Wild ARMs – Into the Wilderness
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney – Pressing Pursuit ~Cornered~
OutRun – Magical Sound Shower
Some of my favorites, can’t remember individual song titles at the moment:
Metal Gear Solid. MGS2 was also incredible.
Serious Sam (original). Always pumped me up to kill wave after wave of baddies.
Quake 1. Trent has perfected the art of gloomy environments.
what no snake eater mgs3
No real addition here other than to add that I’ve had Kefka’s theme and Celes’ opera on my ipod since it came out.
Oh, and the final Kefka battle (around 28 minutes; two tracks)… greatness.
Excellent post…. just excellent.
Anything from Outlaws, especially Sanchez the Outlaw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFWOl9XoxC4).
Streets of rage soundtracks.
Icarus from deus Ex is great.
Also in the same style and atmosphere of McCanns work on Deus Ex, – Crysis 2 main theme by Hans Zimmer which I think is in first equal with Deus.
http://youtu.be/sw6cJCNXxHg
Silent Hill 1: Hometown
Silent Hill 2: Room of Angel
Silent Hill 3: You’re Not Here, I want Love
Rule of Rose: A Love Suicide
Dragon Age Origins: Leiliana’s Song soundtrack
Bioshock 1: Ocean on His Shoulders, Empty Houses, and Cohen’s Masterpiece
Seventh Guest: The Game
Final Fantasy 10: Guardian’s sending
Max Payne: Main Theme (Tragedy of a Bullet)
Parasite Eve: Beauty’s Abomination
Any of the Myst series soundtracks, though Riven (Myst 2) is my favourite. Composed by Robyn Miller.
Jack Wall did the later ones and also worked on games like Mass Effect. Myst is an extremely immersive game and the soundtracks really capture the amazing worlds.
Frozen Synapse music is something I cannot but hear everyday.
Quest for Glory 1: Erana’s Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bumra26tjI
Quest for Glory V: Dance of Mystery and Intrigue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3eUJ27MQYs
Quest for Glory IV: Wraith Battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8oSOXPlh0
Bastion has more that I really like, but I’m still trying to identify which is which. And The Singer is already listed.
Skywire.
The pause music from Battletoads.
The end theme of Fatal Frame 2 – Chou.
Megaman 2 – Wiley’s Theme.
To Zanarkand from FFX keeps me up at night listening to it to this day.
Lunar Silver Star Story the boat song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azmm2pN0sfA&feature=related
Chrono Cross – Garden of the Gods, Shadow Forest & Predicament
Okami – Harami Lake, Ushiwaka’s Appearance, Kusanagi Village & The Tribe of the Heavenly God’s Theme
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Lost Painting & Prayer
Final Fantasy VI – Terra’s Theme
Silent Hill 3 – You’re Not Here & Memory of the Waters
Parasite Eve – Missing Perspective, Wheel of Fortune & Kyrie
Kyrie from Parasite Eve is probably one of the most haunting/creepy songs I’ve heard from a game soundtrack. I would really recommend the whole Parasite Eve Soundtrack since it is one of the most unique soundtracks I’ve ever heard for a game.
On a side note: my friend gave me some Mt. Eden dubstep for Still Alive from Mirror’s Edge. I’ve been trying to find out where the original came from ’cause I really wanted to hear the song in a non-dubstep format. Now I know where the song is from, so thanks for that! I really don’t like dubstep, but that one is actually pretty nice.
I used too insert carmageddon cd in my car stereo and listen to the soundtrack. You might say that it influenced my driving style a bit 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbP3a_rsW_0&feature=related
Amazing! 😀
For me Chrono Trigger has always held a special place in my heart for all of the music in it. To me, nothing else will ever quite come close to the musical brilliance that is Chrono Trigger. From the opening of the game, to each character’s own music to battle fights and the end of the game it is a masterpiece.