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[Marvel14]

I'd like to run a Neogaf Poll for the best videogame soundtracks of all time. Not sure if it will work but want to use this thread to compile nominees. I will pick the 10 most frequently mentioned in the thread and then run a poll for a community vote.

If mods want to make this official and have better tools then please PM me and feel free to replace this thread.

My picks in no particular order with a small comment for each:

- Red Dead Redemption 1 - music that reacts to your play.. Revolutionary and essential to the feeling of being there in that time in melancholy.

- Diablo 1- creepy and isolating ..added so much to the atmosphere of dread.

- Super Mario Galaxies - unbridled joy

- Hollowknight - such a surprise how well the soundtrack sets the sombre yet little bit hopeful mood.

- LoZ Windwaker and Skyward Sword- both soar with the feeling of pure adventure.

-Venus the Flytrap sure it's cheesy 16 bit but the main theme was an instant hookladen classic.


If the thread takes off I'll post samples. Might also edit the Op with a few more. Feel free to do the same.

 

[Danjin44]

 

[k_trout]

 

[killatopak]

Off the top of my head

NieR - The vocals are elevated because it’s a made up language so the vocalist can fit any sound that fits into the music

Final Fantasy 13 - Great blends of orchestral and synthetic sounds.

Dragon Quest VIII - Very whimsical, adventurous and evokes a feeling of flight

Diablo 2 - Dark, brooding and very eerie. The feeling of loneliness and foreboding is magnified.

Legend of Legaia - I dunno but every time I hear it, it just evokes a sense of nostalgia and wonder in me

Resident Evil 2 - Same with D2. You can’t help but feel there’s something wrong around you when you hear it. Especially so when the music uses some similar sounds to slamming of doors and crashing of windows.

Clannad - I feel very emotional but I understand it’s very much tied to the story so specific soundtrack evoke specific emotions and scenes when I hear it.

 

[worldwithpyramids]

Castlevania III (Famicom) and Phantasy Star Online.

 

[Stephen Curry]

Halo 1-3

 

[Banjo64]

OOT and Banjo are the best soundtracks overall but Skyrim, Halo and Shadow of the Colossus have some incredible tracks.

 

[jufonuk]

Streets of Rage 1 and 2
Three went a bit experimental

Super Mario Bros
Contra on the NES

 

[Ellery]

Final Fantasy VIII



Final Fantasy VIII has by far the best OST of all time in my opinion. Well Final Fantasy games in general, and especially Nobuo Uematsu, have blessed us with years and years of music that are well and above what anyone would expect from a video game in the 90s and still to this day everyone that played Final Fantasy games has countless favorites from that franchise.
The one I listed above is my personal favorite. It is a piece that to this day still gives me goosebumps. It is as invogorating as a nostalgic smell. The OST in this game is so good it makes me emotional.

And they didn't stop there. Nobuo Uematsu composed Eyes on Me for Faye Wong and it is the sweetest pop ballad that any FF8 fan can sing by heart. I know you are humming right now with slightly watery eyes my friend I have never met.




I picked those two, because they mean the most to me personally, but I could've picked anything from that stunning 78 song 4hour spectacle of audio goodness. Balamb Garden, Blue Fields, Fisherman's Horizon, The Landing, The Oath and The Extreme are also great if you want to check out more.

 

[SoraNoKuni]

Nier, also anything Shimomura as a personal preference.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Japan Studio

 

[DonJorginho]

Skyrim
Nier Automata
Persona 5
Halo ODST
The Last Of Us Part I & Part II
Super Mario Galaxy
Death Stranding
DOOM
Final Fantasy VII
Journey

 

[Bloobs]

Mega Man 2
Metroid Prime
Deus Ex Human Revolution

 

[Come On Tars]

it's Skyrim

 

[Skull-Knight]

BLOODBORNE
The Witcher 3
Tlou P1

 

[UnNamed]

Donkey Kong Country

 

[GymWolf]

Easily one between donkey kong country 2, castlevania symphony of the night and killer instinct snes.

From modern stuff, yakuza 0 is a good runner up.

 

[mxbison]

Street Fighter 2

 

[GymWolf]

Street Fighter 2

Turbo on snes was better.

 

[mxbison]

Turbo on snes was better.

Yeah I just picked out the first that showed up on Youtube.

 

[GymWolf]

Yeah I just picked out the first that showed up on Youtube.

Jesus the difference in the ken theme is atrocious, it sound like the kiddy version...

 

[saturnalian]

Edit, wrong quote

 

[Radical Dreamer]

Chrono Cross easily.

 

[Wohc]

Max Panye 2
Most Mega Man 1-3 stages
Zelda
Super Mario Bros.
Halo 2
Doom II
Old Hitman games

 

[Hugare]

Chrono Cross easily.

Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger
The Last Guardian
The Witcher 3
The Last of Us

 

[Frwrd]

MGS 1-4
Max Payne 1-3
The Last Guardian
The Last of Us
Gran Turismo 4-5 (lol)

 

[Graciaus]

Bloodborne
Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger
Doom (2016)
Electronic Super Joy
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VII
Halo 3: ODST
Hollow Knight
Hotline Miami
Lost Odyssey
Nier
Nier: Automata
Persona 3
Persona 4
Xenoblade X
Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana

Final Fantasy Tactics is the GOAT. I would accept the original Nier winning.

 

[Meicyn]

Final Fantasy XIV. Fantastic soundtrack, largest ever due to the volume of music the team produces. The vocal tracks are bangers too, some in English:




…and some in Japanese:




Or if you prefer some serious bass guitar:




…and one more track:

 

[Sybrix]

 

[PlayofSparta]

Well since I'm that dude that made the Yakuza OST thread...

Yakuza 0
Yakuza 1
Yakuza 2
Yakuza 3
Yakuza 4
Yakuza 5
Yakuza 6

...you think I'm done?

Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!
Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!
Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō
Kurohyō 2: Ryū ga Gotoku Ashura hen
Yakuza: Dead Souls
Yakuza Kiwami
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Judgment
Lost Judgment

Spoiler

fuck my life

 

[saturnalian]

Edit, wrong quote

 

[PsyEd]

For me it's

Yakuza 0 OST - my god how does a game have this many good songs? I don't even understand Japanese yet I have this playing randomly.

But my all time fav is Baka Mitai - Sky Finance Edition from Yakuza 5 though...have a listen (with translation)

 

[PlayofSparta]

Masterpiece

 

[Elog]

BLOODBORNE
The Witcher 3
Tlou P1

Imo you nailed it.

 

[SegaShack]

 

[SegaShack]

duplicate

 

[RayBoy]

Lords of Thunder

 

[adamsapple]

Crisis Core, Nier Automata, Chrono Cross.

 

[klosos]

Shadow of the Colossus
Planescape Torment

 

[.Pennywise]

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Both Mirror's Edge games, Red Dead Redemption 1, Silent Hill 2, SMT Soul Hackers, King's Field IV, SIREN New Translation. Some of my favorites, but there's so many excellent soundtracks out there, spanning the generations.

 

[ANDS]

SILENT HILL: The Room. The actual game does not live up to the suffocating nature of the OST, so you'll have to imagine the kind of game that is attached to the music.

PORTAL 2. If you're at all into a mesh of nerd-synth-pop-dissonance and "dread" this is a fantastic soundtrack to have on in the background. One of my favorites is "You Know Her" and "I Am Not A Moron". Good stuff.

CP77 has a good mix of licensed and original soundtrack music. "You Shall Never Have to Forgive Me Again", "Been Good to Know Ya" and "Never Fade Away" (the one that plays at the end) are standouts.

Similar to the above, TW3 has just generally good fantasy tracks. CDPR is really good at finding music that REALLY fits the mood of their games ("Lair of the Beast" from TW:TB really fits the mood of that fight).

DARKEST DUNGEON. Probably one of my all time favorite game soundtracks. "Bloodletting of The Crimson Court" came out with the Crimson Court expansion and I dare you to think of anything but Insect-Vampires when listening to it. The rest of the soundtrack is also very good, notably "The Cove" (both versions) and "Final Battle."

Those are just the ones off the top of my head. There are definitely one off songs from other soundtracks (like "Journey" from Destiny 2 - though that one has more than a few good songs), but the mentioned are to me the most complete package.

 

[Ristifer]

Mega Man 2
Metroid Prime
Deus Ex Human Revolution

I consider Human Revolution to be the top-tier OST. Not many game soundtracks come close to it for me.

 

[Neff]

Final Fantasy VII
Street Fighter EX+α
Soul Edge
Ridge Racer 2
Marvel vs Capcom
Sonic Adventure
Super Mario 64
Einhänder
Secret of Mana
Gunstar Heroes
Guardian Heroes
GoldenEye 007

 

[cireza]

Panzer Dragoon Zwei/Orta
Sonic Adventure/2006
Jet Set Radio
Phantasy Star Online Episode 1/2/3/4
Ecco the Dolphin CD
The Terminator CD
Final Fight CD
Lunar Eternal Blue Sega CD
Dungeons & Dragons MegaDrive
Sub Terrania MegaDrive
Red Zone MegaDrive
Dune II MegaDrive
Gauntlet IV MegaDrive
Master of Monsters MegaDrive
Verytex MegaDrive
Mega Turrican MegaDrive
Xeno Crisis MegaDrive
Devilish MegaDrive
Elemental Master MegaDrive
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic 3D MegaDrive and Saturn
Hexen Saturn
Grandia Saturn
Guardian Heroes Saturn
Nights into Dreams Saturn
GG Aleste 1/2/3
Shinobi GG 1/2
Knuckles Chaotix 32X
Cosmic Carnage 32X





Too many to list them all...

 

[EverydayBeast]

Twilight princess, breath of the wild is there for greatest original soundtracks.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

How in the hell has nobody mentioned Xenogears yet? It belongs up there with Final Fantasy VIII, Chrono Trigger, and the Xenoblade games.

 

[synchronicity]

King's Field IV

Love seeing this mentioned. Such an incredible soundtrack. (and game)

I don't think I've seen TES IV mentioned yet, and that's one of my favorites.

Another underappreciated soundtrack is Okami. Such a phenomenal package overall.

SMT Nocturne has some great pieces.

So many great OSTs. It would take forever to mention all those worthy.

 

[MadchesterManc]

House of the Dead: Overkill has one of the greatest OST out there but never gets a mention.

 

[JOEVIAL]

Have to put my vote in for Skyrim. I'm very much into high fantasy... Skyrim's soundtrack was too perfect for words. Absolute masterclass in melody, theme, and ambience. Not just one of the best video game soundtracks, but also one of the best soundtracks I've listened too. Only soundtrack that could stand toe to toe with Howard Shore and his compositions for The Lord of The Rings.


There are so many more to name though. I listen to a lot of western soundtracks. I fully admit I don't really enjoy listening to most Japanese soundtracks. Yes their soundtracks typically have a lot of great character themes, but I do not enjoy all the brash/loud battle music mixed in (which is basically just noise). I'm more into ambience and melody.

Anywho, here are so more that should be in the competition. These are soundtracks that I listen to all the way through without skipping any tracks:
Super Mario Galaxy
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill Origins
Halo 3 ODST
Halo 2
CREAKS
Samarost 3
Machinarium
Mirrors Edge
Mirrors Edge Catalyst (love Solar Fields so much)
Donkey Kong Country 2
Cuphead
Bioshock
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Mass Effect
Minecraft