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Let's talk about Pokemon OSTs.

entremet

entremet

Member
With the Twitch Plays Pokemon thing going, it just reminded how great the music of the series has been. Very underrated. I guess being an exclusive portable series and it just being a sales beasts, it's easy to overlook the music.

My personal favorite OST is BW/2.

But I'm still very impressed what the original composers managed to do with RBY in that very limited sound hardware of the GB.

On Youtube there's this channel that compares all the Pokemon themes--Gym Leader, Forest, City, Wild Encounter, Rivals--across the generations of games. He/she does a great job, with great artwork and timestamps.

Here's a link to all the Gym Leader Themes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HNQ-Pnu4cE&index=2&list=PL0C047D54A6E704A0

But for BW/2

I enjoyed the Gym Leader Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyf79x97T7A

Undella Town Summer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFlPE2Z650A&index=3&list=FL4QwI-QcbUPgINbWhDKcyuA

Champion's Battle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9ee9lWSbg

Even though I've been a huge game music fan since the 8 bit days, for some reason, I overlooked Pokemon's stuff.

The Pokemon Company has also been releasing official OSTs on iTunes, a rare thing for Nintendo soundtracks, but the Pokemon Company seems to have more autonomy to do this stuff.

Now for my rankings:

BW/2>RBY>DPP>HGSS>RSE>FRLG>XY.

They're all great though.
 
D

Dandalf

Neo Member
The Pokemon soundtracks are great, but I think X and Y have been the best yet.

My main knock on the Pokemon OST's is that they re-use the songs but don't do too much with them.

X and Y changed my opinion on this, and in fact, I think X and Y's reworks of the original songs are what I'd hoped for a long time ago.

For example:

X and Y bicycle theme

And compare the previous versions of the "Trainer Battle Theme "with current X and Y music:

Battle theme comparisons

I just think the X and Y OST is of such high quality. I'd get tired of themes in previous Pokemon games, but I leave the sound on when I play X and Y.
 
G

GooeyHeat

Member
Man, when it comes to Gym Leader themes, my favorites are Red/Blue and X/Y. All of the ones in between those sound like they're trying to evoke the same style as Red and Blue, but not doing it as well. X and Y's slower, rhythmic take really just feels like a strong fight against the best trainers you'll meet.
 
V

Verelios

Member
I find Blue to be the most soothing, perhaps because of the way a lot of tracks sound synthetic. There's a gentleness to Blues stuttering themes.

And for some reason R/B/Y sound a lot less busy than other generations.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
J

JonCha

Member
GooeyHeat said:
Man, when it comes to Gym Leader themes, my favorites are Red/Blue and X/Y. All of the ones in between those sound like they're trying to evoke the same style as Red and Blue, but not doing it as well. X and Y's slower, rhythmic take really just feels like a strong fight against the best trainers you'll meet.
Click to expand...

Grizzo said:
Great thread!

Looking back (and with the help of that Twitch stream, of course), I think the Route 4 theme is the perfect "Alright, the game has just started, we're getting on an adventure, some great hardships lie ahead but in the end it'll be all worth it, are you ready? Let's go!".

(I know you only hear it once you're like 3 or 4 hours into the game, but still, I think it conveys that feeling all too well)
Click to expand...

Agree with both of these points completely. Well said.
 
J

J@hranimo

Banned
The pokemon OSTs are great work. My order goes BW2 > RSE = FRLG > HGSS > RBY = GSC XY > DPPt

Honorable mention goes to the Collosseum/XY battle themes too. So good.
 
D

Drago

Member
Gen 5 has my favorite OST of all the games. Lacunosa Town is a personal favorite. (The Summer in Kagome remix is amazing too)

I didn't really like the XY soundtrack much at all. There are some great tunes but for the most part it was just kinda boring music to me. If I had to rank it would probably go BW/2 > DPPt > HGSS/GSC > FRLG/RBY > RSE > XY, with XY being the only soundtrack I don't like that much.
 
L

LonelyGreyWolf

Banned
I think the Pokémon games have a fitting soundtrack that works well with the game but that's about it. Nothing really worth listening to outside of the games.

However, the Team Flare boss music (Pokemon X/Y) is pretty amazing, and I will say that X/Y's soundtrack far exceeded my expectations. The music in a lot of the towns is actually really, really good and the same can be said for many of the battle themes. The Team Flare boss music is my favourite from the game.
 
T

The12thGripper

Member
Gen V had some great music all around, but Gen VI was a hit or miss. I'm sure all of you have heard those horrendous things they call Gym Leader theme and Elite Four themes? I liked the Rival, Yggdrasil Trio, Flare Grunt, and the Champion themes, but the rest of the battle themes were rather bland. I was rather disappointed with Gen VI because of the underwhelming battle themes and the game felt rushed to an extent. I highly doubt they'd create a brand new Gym Leader theme for the inevitable sequel/enhanced version, but that'd be something I'd like to see.

EDIT: Gen IV has the best music though, hands down. Everything about is just so good, I'd kill for a remake of that over R/S
 
T

The Mango Sentinel

Member
GooeyHeat said:
Man, when it comes to Gym Leader themes, my favorites are Red/Blue and X/Y. All of the ones in between those sound like they're trying to evoke the same style as Red and Blue, but not doing it as well. X and Y's slower, rhythmic take really just feels like a strong fight against the best trainers you'll meet.
Click to expand...

Amazing. These are the exact songs that came to mind when I saw the topic.

It's funny to think that my two favorite songs are from games that are 17 years apart.
 
V

Voliko

Member
I love chiptunes, so Gen 1 and especially 2 are my favorites. There's a lot of great melodies in there. Out of the other ones I like Gen 4's the most. Still have yet to play X/Y but some of the music I've heard has been quite good.

I'm surprised Pokémon music doesn't get more praise considering how popular the games are. It has been consistently good.
 
L

Linkhero1

Member
Grizzo said:
Great thread!

Looking back (and with the help of that Twitch stream, of course), I think the Route 4 theme is the perfect "Alright, the game has just started, we're getting on an adventure, some great hardships lie ahead but in the end it'll be all worth it, are you ready? Let's go!".

(I know you only hear it once you're like 3 or 4 hours into the game, but still, I think it conveys that feeling all too well)
Click to expand...

This is forever engraved in my head. Holy shit....I haven't heard it in a long time ;____; nostalgia hitting hard.
 
R

Regiruler

Member
>Discussion of Gym Leader themes
>No mention of the 3 best themes

Come on now.

Standard Unova Leader mix can take 4th if it really wants to.

This, however, is the true master. You're not as likely to hear it because the frontier brains are really freaking difficult to get to in Gen 4.

I am completely not biased towards 4th generation
 
E

Exterminieren

Banned
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Red/Blue are the stone cold classics that set the template for other games to follow, I imagine most of us have the numerous catchy tunes memorized.
Route 4 is too classic for words and positively overflows with nostalgic charm for me on top of that (anime version is God Tier). The Gym Leader battle is yet to be topped and for whatever reason no remix seems to do it justice for me, its original form really sets the scene.


Black/White and their sequels are a very close second and these are the ones I've got more to say about.
I felt these two games experimented a lot more with styles and had a nice blend of what you could think of as traditional Pokemon style themes and others that were quite far removed from what came before (I mean was anyone expecting the final battle the kick off with a full minute of intense percussion, even the credits that followed were explosive by comparison to the happy ending themes of previous games). They also were that little bit more dynamic in battles incorporating the low health beep of annoyance into a musical motif and switching to a heroic rendition of Pokemon's main theme when you were about to finish off a gym leader. Other similar touches like area music changing slightly (and on rare occasions drastically) depending on season were nice though Gen 4 beat them to the punch on this sort of approach with the day and night themes.

Battle themes really go for it this gen, the first games of this set have childhood friends as your "rivals" and in turn their battle theme is cheerily upbeat and playful like kids having fun with their new pokemon meanwhile the sequels give you a more determined rival to face off against whose theme is much more snappy and fast paced to match their somewhat hot blooded personality. "Boss" themes go all over the place, the previously mentioned Ghetsis theme isn't there to make a memorable melody, it's making a statement, N's battle theme is almost distorted while the scientist Colress has a battle theme that borders on being techno like. Then at the other end of the spectrum is Iris's battle theme that kicks off like a cheery explosion before gradually stepping into more serious territory to match the stakes of the battle but not without throwing away that more upbeat style entirely. Not only are these battle themes playing with different styles they look to fit the characters they represent as well as the situation.
And then in general there's a whole bunch of other themes I love so screw it, its personal Gen 5 picks time whilst trying to limit myself.

Battle Themes
Rival Battle (Black/White)
You cannot stop the ear worm.

Team Plasma Battle(Black/White)
Music that could be considered too awesome for guys who dress like reject medieval knights.

Route Themes
Route 10 (Black/White)
Along with Gen 2 this theme really fits the arrival at vicotry road for the last trial, now with a boss accordion.

Route 6 (Black/White)
It's not quite Red/Blue Route 4 but it channels a similar sense of style.

Route 19 Spring/Summer (Black2/White 2)
When pokemon trainers leave on their adventure in the sequel they jive down the route to these beats making them more peppy than any other regions starting trainers and other Unova counterparts, true story.

Towns/Cities
Aspertia City (Black 2/White 2)
Since you start in a City instead of the usual three building town the music is changed to something a bit grander yet still retains that homely feeling.

Iciruss City(Black/White)
Dig the Celtic festival vibe going on here.

Other
Alder's Theme
This is why Alder will always be the best champion in my heart.

Ending Theme (Black/White)
Wait are you sure I'm not battling someone in the credits? oh okay, it's just credits awesome enough to be a battle theme.
 
E

EhoaVash

Member
I always loved the classic tunes of the original red blue and gold silver music because they're so darn memorable lol anywaywhen orchestrated, they sound soo good. the newer games, imo the music is okay at best but I did like the pokemon center theme in Pokemon D/P

but my latest good pokemon music is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmMT6Pz0vqw

statopolis city from Pokemon R/S/E
 
R

Regiruler

Member
Nocturnowl said:
Team Plasma Battle(Black/White)
Music that could be considered too awesome for guys who dress like reject medieval knights.
Click to expand...

Am I the only person on the planet that actually likes their knight motif.
EhoaVash said:
the newer games, imo the music is okay at best but I did like the pokemon center theme in Pokemon D/P
Click to expand...
6fe.jpg
 
linko9

linko9

Member
I think the RB soundtrack is one of the most enjoyable out there. Every track is memorable, and fits the atmosphere of the game really well.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Regiruler said:
Am I the only person on the planet that actually likes their knight motif.
Click to expand...

I don't actually mind it, they just look kinda funny.
Though it's all been weird since Team Magma/Aqua and more so with Team Galactic.
I think the Rockets were the only ones who weren't a bit nuts with their attire.
 
A

Ambience7817x

Member
Regiruler said:
This, however, is the true master. You're not as likely to hear it because the frontier brains are really freaking difficult to get to in Gen 4.
Click to expand...

Aww man, I completely forgot about this. True god tier music. Thank god for my EV trained Latios, Porygon-Z, and Heatran, or I would have lost way more than i did
 
P

PotionBleue

Member
entrement said:
With the Twitch Plays Pokemon thing going, it just reminded how great the music of the series has been. Very underrated. I guess being an exclusive portable series and it just being a sales beasts, it's easy to overlook the music.
Click to expand...

I want to see proof that it is very underrated. I'm browsing reviews for multiple main series Pokémon games and globally they are neutral to very positive about the music.
 
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