Let's Sperg Best video game soundtrack -

[JamesFargo]

My first time I got my ass handed to me. I still get chills

The hardest bosses are the most memorable. That's kind of a JRPG truism.

Same reason why everyone remembers John Denver here. He'll snatch your nuts off and use 'em for rolling dice:

 

[User names must be unique]

Probably just nostalgia goggles but Dynamite Headdy had a banging soundtrack for an extremely underrated game.

 

[66andtwothirds]

Imperishable night

super mario 64

super mario galaxy

f-zero

gran turismo 5

GTA 5

 

[JamesFargo]

GTA 5

I didn't know this until recently (the US doesn't compete in Eurovision), but "Wild Dances" broke a streak of godawful winning songs. Lol.

 

[Coelacanth]

Ohhhh boy it's time for me to bring up Mother 3 again!

It amazes me they managed to get six hours and almost forty minutes of songs into the GBA cart.

My personal favourites? These two:

(You guys have no idea how awesome it feels to flex mastering the latter theme's combo pattern on other Mother 3 fans).

 

[JamesFargo]

Ohhhh boy it's time for me to bring up Mother 3 again!

I prefer incidental music to the current trend in gaming: loud, clichéd music to tell you exactly what you're supposed to feel in a scene.

It's no accident that Giygas, Porky, and the Masked Man have tone-deaf music. There's no recognizable leitmotif. The beginning of the MM fight sounds like a machine being switched on.

Itoi plays a similar trick with Fassad: the heavenly synth has been mangled in a disturbing way.

 

[KEKMUHLORD]

I found Nier: Automata soundtrack to be sublime and I want to get Replicant because I've heard that score is just as good, perhaps better. I don't think I've ever heard a bad version of Song of the Ancients.

The Nier: Automata soundtrack is great.

One of my favorite tracks from that game. Just relaxing as all hell.

 

[Titos]

The Killer Instinct reboot soundtrack. Pretty much put Mick Gordon on the map as well.

 

[Drain Todger]

I'd unironically say that he's the best video game composer, his range and skill for creating atmosphere is unsurpassed.

Jesper Kyd is good. Really good.

So are Tommy Tallarico:

Jeremy Soule:

Hitoshi Sakimoto:

And the team of composers at Capcom:

Listening to video game music outside of the game is dumb.

Categorically wrong. There are some games for which the soundtrack was vastly superior than the game itself. Advent Rising? Cyberpunk 2077? Mediocre games that would have been absolute dog shit if their fantastic OSTs didn't elevate them to mediocre overall.

 

[Overcast]

I am shocked and appalled no one has posted music from the Team ICO games.

 

[Str8Bustah]

Spoiler: Armored Core

CAN'T POST MORE THAN 10 PIECES OF MEDIA, THANKS JERSH

Spoiler: Ace Combat

CAN'T POST MORE THAN 10 PIECES OF MEDIA, THANKS JERSH

It's a criminal offence to mention these series and not post tracks from Last Raven or Electrosphere:

Spoiler: Last Raven

Spoiler: Electrosphere

most of the stuff I listen to is actually tied to the artists/ groups I follow; if Manabu Namiki, Noboyushi Sano, STEELPLUS, Basiscape, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Keishi Yonao or Yosuke Yasui are involved, I'll probably give it a listen;

Spoiler: Manabu Namiki

Spoiler: Noboyushi Sano

Spoiler: STEELPLUS

Spoiler: Basiscape

Spoiler: Tetsukazu Nakanishi

Spoiler: Keishi Yonao

(Pipe organs are extremely underrated for EDM)

Spoiler: Yosuke Yasui

EDIT: props for bringing up Sakimoto. The man doesn't get nearly enough credit for the work he's done.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

I don't know if it's the best of anything ever, but Command and Conquer still holds up 25 years later.