The Best Game Music

[I am nobody]

As long as we're doing superlatives: We've had the best OSTs overall and tons of threads about the best music in specific categories, but as far as I remember we've yet to call out the best single tracks in games. Time to change that!

My list is restricted to one per composer to keep it interesting but you do you. Videos in spoilers.

I'll probably do another one later because it turns out there's way too much good music to limit it to 10 even with one per composer, but here's my first shot:

Keiichi Okabe - "Weight of the World" (Nier: Automata)

Spoiler.

(I'm referring to the final version but its title is spoilers, so I linked the first one instead)

It's a beautiful song (heh) in its own right, but it's also wonderfully thematic and, like everything else in the game, evolves in unexpected ways as you progress to support the ending. The game's amazing ending just couldn't have been what it is without this song backing it up.

Nobuo Uematsu - "Dancing Mad" (Final Fantasy VI)

Spoiler.

You could reasonably make this entire list from the masterwork that is FFVI's soundtrack, but if I'm picking one track to represent Uematsu, it's gotta be this 18-minute epic that's somehow enjoyable the whole way through. And it was written for the SNES!

Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, and Koji Kondo - "Staff Credits" (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)

Spoiler.

This is kinda cheating because it's mostly a medley of other tracks in the game, but the blend is so much more than the sum of its parts. I've listened to it many dozens of times, and yet it's still pure joy from start to finish.

Darren Korb - "Setting Sail, Coming Home" (Bastion)

Spoiler.

A combination of "Build That Wall" and "Mother I'm Here" from earlier in the game, Bastion's credit theme shows why Korb has a solid claim to making the best vocal tracks in games.

Shoji Meguro - "Life Will Change" (Persona 5)

Spoiler.

Throw darts at the P5 OST and you're pretty much guaranteed something that could be here. I'm going with "Life Will Change" because of how well it's used for the pre-boss sequences in the game, but you really can't go wrong.

Junichi Masuda and Go Ichinose - "Battle! Champion" (Pokemon Gold)

Spoiler.

Of all Pokemon's great battle themes, none of them captures the feeling of an epic final battle as well as Gold and Silver's Lance and Red theme. Nostalgia or no, that opening beat is still probably my favorite lead-in ever.

Christopher Tin - "Baba Yetu" (Civilization IV)

Spoiler.

I mean, how could I not. It was the first video game track to ever win a Grammy, and while I think they were awfully late to the party, there's no denying this is an incredible piece.

Satoshi Igarashi - "Dark Hero (Female)" (Astral Chain)

Spoiler.

AC is an unremarkable game with a top-tier soundtrack. I called out the female version specifically because the male vocals are autotuned and I don't like them.

Takeharu Ishimoto - "The One Star" (The World Ends With You)

Spoiler.

There's really nothing in gaming that looks or sounds like TWEWY, and the international release-only "The One Star" is its music at its peak.

Toby Fox - "Megalovania" (Undertale)

Spoiler.

I don't even really like Undertale and never heard this in-game, but it's "Megalovania". Of course it's on here.

[Marilink]

Ian this is a very big question.

[smol Kat]

My official stance remains "how very dare you make me CHOOSE" but like I said in discord I'm probably just going to post in here as I think of things.

So first off here's my contribution from Undertale: I never finished the game, but I played far enough to hear this song which I absolutely LOVE.

Spoiler.

Aaaand my Uematsu contribution is the Opera Sequence, also from FFVI, because SOMEone already posted Dancing Mad.

Spoiler.

From Pokemon I'm posting Route 26/27 from GSC specifically because of the remix included on the Heart of a Gamer tribute to Iwata. Gets me every time.

Spoiler.

"Game Over" from TWEWY. Totally don't know all the lyrics at this point noooope that's not meeeeeeee

Spoiler.

aight well like I said I'll probably think of more later!

EDIT: I'm well aware I've already posted the boss theme from Secret of Mana this year but I NEED TO POST IT AGAIN BECAUSE IT'S SO GOOD

Spoiler.

[Calamity Panfan]

[DarkZero]

panfans right actually we can lock the thread now

[Marilink]

ok let me tackle this. I'm going to just post some of my favorite songs, following in the pattern of one-per-composer. Not even going to attempt to rank them or be complete in this because it would just hurt me.

Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Trigger, "To Far Away Times"
Starting off with possibly the most perfect song ever composed? I just love this song so much. It's the icing on the cake that is one of the best soundtracks for any game or, really, any medium. Even though this soundtrack put Mitsuda in the hospital, I feel like I can honor his hard work by listening to it basically every week [strike]until the end of time[/strike] to far away times.

Spoiler.

Koji Kondo - Super Mario 64, "Dire, Dire Docks"
Kondo has composed some of the most iconic game music of all time, but I think this is the best thing he ever did. Not as ubiquitous as Ground Theme and not as iconic as the Zelda theme, but the beauty of this piece is just so uniquely beautiful.

Spoiler.

Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy VI, "Terra's Theme"
Beautiful. I debated between this and the FFV Main Theme, but there's just a pain and resonance in this composition that I can't pass up.

Spoiler.

Yasunori Nishiki - Octopath Traveler, "Decisive Battle II"
A relative newcomer to the VGM world, Nishiki kinda came out of nowhere and then dropped the hottest video game soundtrack of the entire decade. Octopath has possibly the best battle music the genre has ever seen, and that's not even to mention the amazing town and environment themes he composed for the game as well.

Spoiler.

David Wise - Donkey Kong Country 2, "Stickerbrush Symphony"
This song deserves every ounce of praise it has ever gotten. It is impossible to overrate this song.

Spoiler.

Hip Tanaka - Dr. Mario, "Chill"
I knew I needed to include Tanaka in this post because of how influential he is. His work is so foundational for the sound of Nintendo music in general. The thing is, I had a hard time picking an actual song, because most of what Tanaka composed himself was iterated upon and improved down the line. But those future composers who built on Tanaka's work were standing on the shoulders of a giant.

Spoiler.

Kazumi Totaka - Animal Crossing, "Title"
Totaka is so weird and so fun. His work on Animal Crossing defined the entire Animal Crossing series with his work on the GameCube title, in a way that runs deeper than just the compositions themselves, I think.

Spoiler.

Jake Kaufmann - Shovel Knight, "La Danse Macabre"
The more I listen to this piece, the more I think it's basically the most perfect up-tempo VGM ever written. The melody is unassailable. The arrangement is perfect. The beat is blood-pumping. The harmonies are exquisite. There is nothing wrong with this music.

Spoiler.

Yoko Shimomura - Super Mario RPG, "The Road is Full of Dangers"
I realize I'm an outlier when it comes to Yoko Shimomura, as most people first associate her with Street Fighter 2. But entirely due to nostalgia, my associative soundtrack with her name is Super Mario RPG. Interestingly enough, I had a hard time picking out one song from the OST, because I think that score is more than the sum of its parts. I landed on this piece, though, as one that I particularly love and wanted to share.

Spoiler.

Smattering of tracks I love from games I haven't mentioned yet and still want to mention:
Mario Kart 64 - Staff Roll
Mega Man 2 - Wily Castle 2
Mega Man 5 - Charge Man
Celeste - Scattered and Lost
Ocarina of Time - Hyrule Field
Majora's Mask - Stone Tower Temple
Twilight Princess - Hyrule Field
Super Metroid - Maridia
Super Mario Kart - Credits
Chrono Cross - Radical Dreamers/Unstolen Jewel
man, so many more, idk, I need to stop

[DarkZero]

OK I just wrote the first five that came to mind, one per composer:

Maniac Mansion - The Boys Are Still Back (Dave Hayes)

Spoiler.

I know Maniac Mansion isn't often considered one of the great video game soundtracks, which is a damn shame, but its my list and to me this song might as well be perfect. It starts off with some very simple but effective Amaj chords, then around 0:11 it really kicks in with a gorgeous melody, accentuated with some cool arpeggiated triangle notes and a groovy bass and drum beat. Then around the 0:30 mark, the song goes into a blues key while the guitar starts to freestyle, and despite the more freeform nature of this section, still manages to drop a few very memorable licks. Around the 1:00 mark, the rhythmic Amaj beat from before kicks back in, with the guitar section continuing to escalate, sending off the loop with probably the sickest guitar solo on the NES before going right back to the simple chords at the beginning. It is INCREDIBLY satisfying.

Donkey Kong Country 2 - Stickerbush Symphony (David Wise)

Spoiler.

ML said it best; this song deserves every ounce of praise it gets. Not only is this song a technical marvel on the SNES (infamously it took a LOT of rewrites to get it to work in-game without taking up all the RAM in the system), but it also delivers one of the most poignant melodies in a video game, all set to a very chill sort of space-synth symphony. It offers a nice contrast to the very difficult bramble levels, and complements the beautiful art direction of the game it comes from. It is beautiful in every sense of the word.

Undertale - Undertale (Toby Fox)

Spoiler.

I won't spoil the context of this song, but let's just say it plays at a VERY emotional part of the game (**** I'm already starting to cry). Even so, the first time I heard his song, I didn't yet know anything about the game, but I still found it such a beautiful and melancholy tune. The soft acoustic guitar melody at the beginning, and the way new instruments come in piece by piece, slowly escalating into a full ensemble, then dialing back to just a stringed instrument. It certainly helps that you hear this melody once before in the game, before you really know anything about what's going on. Hearing it again like this really brings everything full circle.

Mega Man X - Boomer Kuwanger (Yuko Takehara)

Spoiler.

Yuko Takehara composed for many Capcom games in the 90s, including Mega Man, Breath of Fire, the Vs. series, and more. Yet this song is her sole contribution to the Mega Man X soundtrack, but it might be one of her best. The song is great throughout, but my personal favorite part happens at 0:45; the chorus, so to speak. The melody and harmony here has ALWAYS stuck with me because while Mega Man songs are generally catchy and interesting, they usually don't have quite this much gravitas in their melodies. VERY good.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Zelda's Lullaby (Koji Kondo)

Spoiler.

Sucks that I'm doing one-per-composer since there are a lot of Koji Kondo songs that belong here. Zelda's Lullaby is one of the most memorable songs from Ocarina of Time, and for good reason. It's a simple melody but it's one thaghfsfdgsasgd sorry my eyes are full of tears IAN WHY DID YOU MAKE ME DO THIS

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

I'll keep adding to this as they come to mind until I reach 10, I don't want to force it.

This is easily my favorite song from any JRPG, maybe of any game...or anything. It's a melancholic, mysterious, nostalgic kind of song, really a masterpiece:


Yearnings of the Wind (Chrono Trigger, Yasunori Mitsuda):

Spoiler.

This one is just really cool, I don't know how to explain it but it makes wandering around, investigating random crap just very fun. Hotel Dusk has a great soundtrack not just because the music sounds good but because it is inseparable from the game experience itself, it is necessary for the atmosphere. Some games can replace the OST completely and it's fine but I can't imagine this game without these songs:


Monochrome (Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Satoshi Okubo):

Spoiler.

I'm not sure how objectively good this one is, I guess it's no Stickerbrush Symphony but I like it, seems unique. Video game music didn't stand out to me too much as a kid, but this was definitely an exception. Sure, something like Sonic's Green Hill Zone definitely hyped me up, but this kind of more environmental music (I guess?) was something pretty new for me to appreciate. The only game with an OST with a similar effect on me at the time was DKC1.


Jibjig (Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, David Wise):

Spoiler.

I'll admit that the general consensus about Chrono Cross is correct, that its music is the best thing about it, but I feel like saying that undermines the quality of the game. It's visually pretty at times, and the story is interesting. With a such a good soundtrack it's tough to pick, but this is one is worth sitting on the overworld for just to listen to, so it wins.

Dream of the Shore Bordering Another World (Chrono Cross, Yasunori Mitsuda):

Spoiler.

Final Fantasy X has the best soundtrack in the series to me, probably because of the abundance of peaceful music, and this one in particular really stands out.


Besaid Island (Final Fantasy X, Masashi Hamauzu):

Spoiler.

Real sleuthing music here, not just poking around. I like the serious sound it has going while trying to balance it with some kind of "funky" beat or whatever it's got going on. I don't know how to talk about music, but I like this.


Deceptive Proof (Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, Satoshi Okubo)

Spoiler.

[Auron]

Hmmm... I don;t think there is any way for me to pick my favorite song by any composer, so I'm going to just pick a song that I really, really like from each composer.

Yasunori Nishiki - Octopath Traveler, "My Quiet Forest Home"

Spoiler.

@Marilink hit the nail on the head with this game. It was immediately the first thing I thought of when I saw this topic name and I decided I had to come in and rave about it. The battle themes are some of the best that have been put in a game in many years, but the thing that keeps me coming back to the soundtrack over and over again are the area themes. Not only do they fit the setting absolutely perfectly, they are just some of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. If you've never played the game, you should still go out and listen to the soundtrack. It's that good.

Keiichi Okabe - Nier: Automata, "City Ruins - Rays of Light"

Spoiler.

Not going to lie, I'm not as high on this games soundtrack as a lot of other people are. A lot of it probably has to do with the nonsensical vocals (fictional language), but there's just something about this one that I absolutely love.

Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy IV, "Battle II"

Spoiler.

To me, this is the quintessential Final Fantasy battle theme. And thats saying a lot when you have a series as long live and renowned for having great music.

Hitoshi Sakimoto - Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, "Revolt"

Spoiler.

The other Final Fantasy composer, known for composing the music in all 3 Ivalice games (Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, and Vagrant Story), did the composing for this little known and under appreciated SNES game.

Masayoshi Soken - Final Fantasy XIV, "Penitus"

Spoiler.

After Uematsu and Sakimoto, Soken is the "other other" Final Fantasy composer, but that not a knock on him at all. Out of everyone I've gone through so far, this one was the hardest one to pick just one song. Having scored every single iteration of Final Fantasy XIV since its relaunch, he's definitely starting to make a name for himself because there are very few pieces of music in that whole game (and I'm talking well over 500 pieces of music) that I would skip if they came on shuffle.

Revo - Bravely Default, "He of the Name"

Spoiler.

Alongside Octopath Traveler, Bravely Default is a spiritual successor to Final Fantasy. As such, the battle music is pretty good.

Shoji Meguro - Persona 5, "Blooming Villain"

Spoiler.

Also known as the only other song I wanted in Super Smash Brothers from this game other than "Rivers in the Desert".

Greg Edmonson - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, "Crusin' for a Bruisin'"

Spoiler.

There's probably little argument to be had against the idea that the Uncharted series has the most cinematic sounding music. It's basically an interactive movie after all.

What the crap. I got through that many and I didn't get to a single Nintendo game yet. I'll do more later if I don't forget (which I will).

[Valigarmander]

Man oh man. I might have to do more than one of these. Here's some of the first that come to mind.

Super Mario Galaxy - "Heaven's Door/Gateway Galaxy" (Mahito Yokota)
The Mario series has had so many good soundtracks, but I think Galaxy takes the cake for me. The music is absolutely beautiful, and almost every track in the game is memorable.

Spoiler.

Other good tracks: "Rosalina in the Observatory", "Wind Garden/Gusty Garden Galaxy", "Hell Prominence/Melty Molten Galaxy"

Final Fantasy VIII - "The Man with the Machine Gun" (Nobuo Uematsu)
It was tempting to pick a track from FFVI (like a lot of other people here), or from FFV, or FFIX. But while FFVIII isn't my favorite entry in the series, I would argue it has the best soundtrack overall. So many 10/10 tracks.

Spoiler.

Other good tracks: "Liberi Fatali", "Force Your Way", "Premonition"

Duke Nukem 3D - "Aliens, Say Your Prayers!" (Bobby Prince)
DN3D probably isn't most people's first choice when they think of great video game music, but it's definitely up there for me. I love Lee Jackson and Bobby Prince's work, and the music is part of what made this game so memorable for me.

Spoiler.

Other good tracks: "Stalker", "Future Military Conquests", "Departure"

Metroid Prime - "Tallon Overworld" (Kenji Yamamoto)
My favorite sci-fi soundtrack, period.

Spoiler.

Other good tracks: "Lava Caves/Magmoor Caverns", "Ice Valley/Phendrana Drifts", "Crashed Ship Frigate Orpheon"

[Marilink]

@Auron Question for you--do you consider the FFIV Boss Music to be the quintessential FF battle theme at least partially because of how it got used for the Culex fight in Mario RPG? Because that certainly plays into it for me.

[Bomby]

In no specific order except the order I retrieved them from YouTube in. I'm not gonna write about every single track because I'm feeling lazy right now.

"Forest Interlude"
David Wise
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Spoiler.

Everyone and their mother loves "Stickerbush Symphony," but I'm gonna buck the trend and go with "Forest Interlude." However, there's a catch - this song sounds best when it's screwed (slowed and pitched down). I don't know if such a version exists online, and it's definitely not in the game itself, but I did it myself while sampling this song for a beat.

---

"Burning Town"
Jake Kaufman
Originally from Shantae (Shantae and the Pirate's Curse arrangement)

Spoiler.

Such a difficult choice between "Through the Trees" and "Burning Town" for Jake Kaufman's work in the Shantae series. Since there's a lot of chill and ambient music on my list (spoiler alert), I decided to go with the ever so iconic, the upbeat "Burning Town" takes the cake for variety. The melody and isntrumention really capture the Middle Eastern aesthetic, making for a fun and energetic arrangement to whip your hair at bad guys to.

---

"Super Bell Hill"
Mahito Yokota
Super Mario 3D World

Spoiler.

Whoever decided to add a bit of pop-jazz flavor to the repertoire of the Super Mario Bros series deserves a round of applause. The saxophone line is killer.

---

"Maridia Rocky Underwater Area"
Minako Hamano
Super Metroid

Spoiler.

---

"Chill Penguin"
Setsuo Yamamoto
Mega Man X

Spoiler.

---

"Zelda's Lullaby"
Koji Kondo
Originally from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Skyward Sword arrangement)

Spoiler.

---

"Korok Forest"
Manaka Kataoka & Yasuaki Iwata
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Spoiler.

---

"Disco Prince"
Kenji Ninuma
We Love Katamari

Spoiler.

---

"Beware the Forest's Mushrooms"
Yoko Shimomura
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Spoiler.

---

"Ken's Theme"
Yoko Shimomura
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Super Nintendo Arrangement)

Spoiler.

---

"China Vox"
Hideki Okugawa
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Fight for the Future

Spoiler.

Chun-Li is easily my favorite video game character of all time, and 3rd Strike is the game where she gets to shine the most. Not only is she the most dominant character in the game, but her new theme stands out the most among the soundtrack. It's a shame it hasn't appeared in more Street Fighter installments.

---

"Terra's Theme"
Nobuo Uematsu
Final Fantasy VI

Spoiler.

I've never actually gotten very far in Final Fantasy VI. Not that I'm not enjoying it or getting engrossed in it, just happen to haven't gotten that far. I love this theme though.

---

"Secret of the Forest"
Yasunori Mitsuda
Chrono Trigger

Spoiler.

---

"Spread the Wings"
SNK Sound Team
Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Spoiler.

No idea which individual(s) from SNK actually composed this, as it's just credited to the "sound team."

[Marilink]

I love this thread so much. Unless someone beats me to it, I’m going to make a YouTube playlist of the songs posted in this thread.

[DarkZero]

^share a link if you do

[Marilink]

Fully intended to

[Marilink]

All right everyone, here it is. 75 videos (so far) of the music mentioned in this thread.

If there were duplicate entries in multiple posts, I just filled in a track that (I feel) deserved to be in the playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... hgrMiA69K2

Will continue to add as long as people post in the thread. (I'mma tag @Apollo the Just because I wanna see that post and add that music)

I just put the music in the playlist in the order it was posted, and it resulted in some really great variety (Better than I would have been able to arrange myself).

contributors so far: @I am nobody @smol Kat @DarkZero @Valigarmander @Auron @Bomby @I REALLY HATE POKEMON! and yes even @Calamity Panfan

[DarkZero]

hey you uhh. might wanna check some of the videos in that playlist. the mk64 credits has game sfx and the korok forest day is a siivagunner rip.

[Spritedude]

Heck, I've got a few.

Donkey Kong Country - Aquatic Ambience (David Wise)

Spoiler.

Donkey Kong Country 2 actually has my favorite video game soundtrack ever, but since everyone's already pointed those out I may as well pick one of the first game's standout tracks. This is definitely one of them. Beautifully eerie.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Hill Top Zone (Masato Nakamura)

Spoiler.

An underrated track, IMO. Funky as heck.

Dragon Roost Island - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Koji Kondo)

Spoiler.

I legitimately cried when I heard this song again in Rito Village in Breath of the Wild.

Shovel Knight - Of Devious Machinations (Jake Kaufman)

Spoiler.

I could pick every single track from this game, honestly.

Bomberman Hero - Redial (Jun Chikuma)

Spoiler.

that drum 'n' bass tho

Here we Are - Undertale (Toby Fox)

Spoiler.

Hard to say where in the game this track plays without spoilers, but it's one of my favorite parts of the game.

[Valigarmander]

I'll throw a few more in:

Donkey Kong Country - "Ice Cave Chant" (Eveline Fischer)
The DKC trilogy has so much great music. Here's one nobody's mentioned yet.

Spoiler.

Other good tracks: "Aquatic Ambiance", "Northern Hemispheres", "Fear Factory"

Mario Kart 64 - "Toad's Turnpike" (Kenta Nagata)
Fun fact, MK64 was the first game I ever purchased the soundtrack to. Still one of the most nostalgic OSTs for me.

Spoiler.

Other good tracks: "Koopa Troopa Beach", "Rainbow Road", "Staff Roll"

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - "Above the Clouds" (Hirokazu Ando)
The Kirby franchise has always had amazing music. My favorite from K64 has to be this boppin' remix of Butter Building from Kirby's Adventure.

Spoiler.

Other good tracks: "Rock Star", "Shiver Star", "Ripple Star"