Just wanted to make a thread to discuss some great videogame soundtracks some of y'all may love. I've been playing a lot more indie games due to Xbox Game Pass and now it's become one of my favorite hobbies. So many great, immersive, and short experiences that bring me joy in a similar way music does.
I've noticed there's not much love for videogame soundtracks here or on RYM so I figured I'd make a thread to bring a bit of discussion around the topic. I suppose a lot of videogame soundtracks aren't a good listen out of context of the videogame, which may be the main reason for the lack of interest. For games like Witcher 3 and Skyrim the soundtrack is such a huge part in the RPG experience. I have both of those soundtracks at 10/10's, but yet I wouldn't be all that likely to listen to them separately from the videogame even if they're masterpieces imo. There are some soundtracks however that work well even as standalone pieces (even better in context of course). Two recent examples are the soundtracks for Outer Wilds and Omno.
Oh man, so many good ones. Probably my favorite soundtrack is the Mother trilogy. They each have their own identity musically but Mother 3 especially is a masterpiece in soundtracking with tracks that perfectly accent the emotional moments in the story. But I also have soft spots for Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last of Us, and the Zelda franchise
I personally don't play videogames (often/anymore), but I have listened to several scores, and I'm near always impressed (albeit they're usually overlong to play as records).
I've noticed there's not much love for videogame soundtracks here or on RYM
I'm gonna have to disagree there because video game soundtracks do seem fairly highly regarded on RYM (much more so than here or pretty much anywhere else that reviews/ranks/rates albums).
For what it's worth, I've put together a list of my favorite video game soundtracks. I've grouped similar games when the soundtracks are mostly similar
1. Super Mario Galaxy 1/2 \ Koji Kondo & Mahito Yokota
2. Metal Gear Solid 2/3 \ Harry Gregson-Williams & Norihiko Hibino
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time \ Koji Kondo
4. Halo 1/2/3 \ Martin O'Donnell & Martin Salvatori
5. Cuphead \ Kristofer Maddigan
6. Super Mario Odyssey \ Naoto Kubo, Shiho Fujii, & Koji Kondo
7. Final Fantasy X \ Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, & Junya Nakano
8. Katamari Damacy \ Yuu Miyake
9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword \ Hajime Wakai & Mahito Yokota
10. Donkey Kong Country 1/2 \ David Wise & Eveline Fischer
11. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum \ Go Ichinose, Junichi Masuda, & Hitomi Sato
12. Final Fantasy VII \ Nobuo Uematsu
13. Pokemon X/Y \ Shota Kageyama, Minako Adachi, Hitomi Sato, & Junichi Masuda
14. Castlevania I/II/III/IV \ Konami Kukeiha Club
15. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker \ Kenta Nagata & Koji Kondo
16. Tetris \ Hirokazu Tanaka, various Russian composers
17. Skyrim \ Jeremy Soule
18. Star Fox 64 \ Hajime Wakai & Koji Kondo
19. Street Fighter II \ Yoko Shimomura & Isao Abe
20. Hades \ Darren Korb
21. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night \ Michiru Yamane
22. Final Fantasy 8 \ Nobuo Uematsu
23. Super Mario Sunshine \ Koji Kondo & Shinobu Tanaka
24. Journey \ Austin Wintory
25. Sonic R \ Richard Jacques
26. Grim Fandango \ Peter McConnell
27. Mother/Earthbound \ Keiichi Suzuki & Hirokazu Tanaka
28. Persona 5 \ Shoji Meguro
29. Mega Man II \ Takashi Tateishi
30. Monument Valley 1/2 \ Ustwo [I haven't been able to figure out if the soundtracks to these games are credited to a specific person or people, or just to the game development studio]
31. Doom \ Robert Prince
32. Shadow of the Colossus \ Kow Otani
33. Shovel Knight \ Jake Kaufman & Manami Matsumae
34. Metroid Prime 1/2/3 \ Kenji Yamamoto
35. Chrono Trigger \ Yasunori Mitsuda & Nobuo Uematsu
36. DuckTales \ Hiroshige Tonomura
37. Animal Crossing \ Kazumi Totaka
38. Banjo Kazooie/Tooie \ Grant Kirkhope
39. Undertale \ Toby Fox
Also, the Super Smash Bros series has the all-time best video game music, but that's also a compilation/greatest hits of sorts. I will say there's a few game series which I'd like to include (Fire Emblem, Tekken, Mortal Kombat) that I haven't played some of the earlier games which have most of the original themes, so I haven't included them.
I've been gaming more during the pandemic and enjoying a few that I'll need to add to the list (forgot I didn't include Breath of the Wild yet) _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
I'm gonna have to disagree there because video game soundtracks do seem fairly highly regarded on RYM (much more so than here or pretty much anywhere else that reviews/ranks/rates albums).
Yeah I think you may be right, I may have spoken prematurely before actually looking up some of the classic videogame soundtracks.
With that said, I'm gonna have to checkout some of the soundtracks listed! Believe it or not I have never played a Zelda game in my life (disgraceful, I know) but one of my friends just let me borrow Breath Of The Wild, so I'll check that out as soon as I clean up my backlog a bit more. Hades is now on Gamepass so I will be playing that soon as well. Cuphead seems to be a favorite of many, I've never played the game but I'll look into it. Does it work well as a standalone listen?
With that said, I'm gonna have to checkout some of the soundtracks listed! Believe it or not I have never played a Zelda game in my life (disgraceful, I know) but one of my friends just let me borrow Breath Of The Wild, so I'll check that out as soon as I clean up my backlog a bit more. Hades is now on Gamepass so I will be playing that soon as well. Cuphead seems to be a favorite of many, I've never played the game but I'll look into it. Does it work well as a standalone listen?
1) BotW is my favorite single-player game I've ever played. It's loads of fun, and kept me engaged in the game's world for a lot longer than most games do. BotW is the first Zelda game where wanted to keep playing after beating the story (to be fair, I've never played another Zelda game that actually has any substantial post-game content). The music is very minimalist/ambient in most of the game, which I guess is why I didn't include it in my list. But there are some fantastic cinematic/symphonic moments and songs throughout the game. I don't want to spoil because they often end up being during boss battles. There's also a few songs which interpolate old Zelda music, in particular you might run into an accordion player across Hyrule occasionally, I'd always stop and listen to him/her because they'd occasionally play fun takes on themes from prior Zelda games (and new stuff too which is also good).
One thing I will say, this game is not a typical Zelda experience, so if you love/hate BotW, that's not necessarily an indication that you'll love/hate any other Zelda title. BotW has been criticized for weak dungeon design and boss fights(which is central to all older Zelda games), but easily has the best overworld of any Zelda game so I'd say it's worth it. It's also insane how much freedom it grants you. If there's a mission you don't like, you can just ignore it. Very very few dungeons/missions/etc. are actually "required" to finish the story. I love video games, but I'm often not particularly skilled, so having a system like this was really good for me.
2) Cuphead's soundtrack is pretty good standalone. Almost better than playing the game lol, this was a game that was way too difficult for me. It's a 2D side-scroller in the vein of old NES games like Mega Man (which were known for being very difficult, you had to keep a player coming back again and again, but find a way to do it using limited assets and limited space on a game cartridge). So Cuphead was a bit too tough for me. So honestly I might say the soundtrack was better standalone than in game lol.
3) Sea Shanty 2 is a 100% certified banger haha. I never played Runescape but recognize the track from friends who did play. Also it has a lot of similarities with some music from Fire Emblem (which is probably a coincidence since Runescape was created by a British studio before Fire Emblem was even available outside of Japan). _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
EyeKanFly's list is amazing Even included Castlevania 4 which brings so much memories back _________________ More needs and less greed
Yesterday is not you, it is a resource to be looked back on.
EyeKanFly's list is amazing Even included Castlevania 4 which brings so much memories back
Thanks! I think I made this list a year or so ago, there's a few games I've been playing recently which I'll need to add. I'm currently playing through Kentucky Route Zero and man the atmospheric soundtrack is so good. Sometimes it's just ambient/soundscape nonsense, but when the bluegrass hits, it's damn good. There's also a few other soundtrack surprises. It's also more of a point-and-click adventure than a video game, but for me it's fun and an intriguing story. I actually picked it up since it was recommended to me as a game I could play without paying attention to the audio (since I wanted to listen to other music in the background), but I've found myself enjoying the soundtrack a lot.
I’ll throw together a cohesive list tomorrow when I’m awake and functioning but I’m a fairly avid gamer and instrumental game soundtracks have been the lifeblood to me studying my way through multiple degrees. Can’t ever gather the same focus with regular albums, Ocarina of Time (which is still firmly in my N64) is one of my go-to’s, but wanted to shout out the yet to be mentioned Diddy Kong Racing.
Currently burning my way through the remakes of Tony Hawk Pro Skater/Final Fantasy 7, games with top tier soundtracks.
Off the top of my head I love the music of Doom/Wind Waker/Spyro/Mario Sunshine/Street Fighter and many many more, I used have a chart on something vaguely like this but it’s horribly outdated and I reckon I could (and now must) make a decent one that’s actually up to date! _________________
I honestly find videogame soundtracks pretty terrible for the most part.
Although this one was pretty pivotal to the game and can stand on its own pretty well. Humming The Bassline is something I'd chose to listen to without the game, as would many of these tracks. MANY of the acclaimed ones people talk about, I wouldn't really want to listen to without the context of the game.
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Even included Castlevania 4 which brings so much memories back
