General Video Game Music Discussion

Basically (almost) everything Square had a hand in. They've always focused on music ever since Nobou Uematsu proved music meant something in video games.

Nintendo has been one of the leads too, starting with Mario. That World 1-1 music..., though to me SMB 3 has the most memorable music, but Mario 64 is no slouch either.
Capcom has had some hit tracks here and there. Mega Man has some great stuff, and Guile's theme goes with everything. Meanwhile, Breath of Fire 4 had some great music.
Atlus has been on the rise since Persona 3. They came into the realization that they were actually pretty good at this music stuff, and keep coming out with hit after hit in the Persona line, at the least.
Konami has great sound direction, but I never could rely on them for consistent quality music. Most of it can ONLY be considered background music, and has no listening value other than for atmosphere.

As for American developers, I don't feel comfortable putting my money on... well... any of them. They can churn out some great stuff from time to time, but once you escape the indie scene, it's all atmospheric background music. It's great to give you a certain vibe to games, but you'll never be actively listening to it, or at least I won't. If I were to point out anything in particular, it would be Guild Wars (1). Although it had mostly atmospheric music, it didn't solely rely on the game to provide that atmosphere, at least not for all of it.
Take this one for example:


Although Retro's work with Metroid Prime tells me not all American developers are without hope.

Ah, one of these threads.  Well, time for my obligatory Ar Tonelico post.

Ar Tonlico is an RPG that revolves around the idea of singing as magic.  In most cases, the fighters are secondary damage dealers, with their real purpose being to guard the caster against attacks so she doesn't get interrupted(spells are channeled and their strength grows the longer you let them build).  It also has visual novel sections that let you form a connection with your spellcasters.  In any case, as a song-focused game, the music tends to be spectacular.  The writer even created a full language called Hymmnos(which you can read about here and here that is used for a lot of the lyrics(though some is also in Japanese).  Here are some examples:

Have you people played The Binding of Isaac? I find the OST great, give it a chance and listen to it if you haven't!

Also I think the original Isaac OST (Edmund McMillen) is the best (for me). I think is much darker and mournful than The Binding of Isaac Rebirth OST (Ridiculon) , yet there are masterpieces in this one too.

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So far some of my favorite video game songs/soundtracks have come from the games listed below:

NES
Castlevania
Double Dragon
Ducktales
Mega Man 2
Ninja Gaiden
Super Mario Bros 3
The Legend of Zelda

SNES
Super Metroid
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Sega Genesis
Aladdin
Castlevania Bloodlines
Mortal Kombat II
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Streets of Rage 2
X-Men 2: The Clone Wars

Playstation
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Final Fantasy VII (never played the game before, but I have heard a few of the songs from the game's soundtrack and for the most part enjoy them especially "One Winged Angel")
Metal Gear Sold
Parasite Eve
Resident Evil 3
Road Rash

Playstation 2
007: Everything or Nothing
Jak and Daxter:The Precursor's Legacy
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Onimusha Warlords
Primal
Silent Hill 3
Sly Cooper & the Thievious Racoonus
SSX 3

Playstation 3/Xbox 360
Bioshock (Xbox 360)
Dark Souls 2 (PS3)
Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
Mortal Kombat 9 (PS3)
Red Dead Redemption (PS3)
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition (PS3)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD ReMix (Xbox 360)
Tomb Raider (PS3)

Wii/Wii U
1001 Spikes
Bayonetta 2
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Ducktales Remastered
Mario Kart 8
Rayman Legends
Shovel Knight
Super Mario 3D World
Super Mario Galaxy
The Last Story

3DS
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Bravely Default
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Retro City Rampage
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

PC
Contrast
Portal
Skullgirls
Super Meat Boy
Unreal Tournament 2004

Old topic resurrection! (and/or paging Dragon_of_Dojima )

I can't stop listening to the songs from the various entries in the Yakuza series. They're all amazing, span a TON of genres, and sound great while checking off all the points I consider to be necessary for good video game music: having a unique sound that fits the situation, being memorable, and being a good piece of music in its own right.

Of particular interest is this awesome boss theme from Yakuza 0:

This intense chase music from Yakuza 4:

And an arrangement of a classic in Project X Zone 2:

You really went in on that post, perfect prosecutor sir. Very good.

I first heard SSH in Guilty Gear combo videos in the early 2000s, looked him up and found a lot of remixes of games I loved (Lufia 2, FF4-6, Thunderforce, etc). I have a thread about virt's stuff in the music section, actually, too.

99% of ocremix, i seriously have like 20 gigs of it in a massive playlist on my ipod, looots of music
anything Zelda Castlevania or FF, almost everything else square has made pretty much

FFMQ doesnt get enough love, for how simplistic the game is the ost and the remixed tracks are pretty badass, especially the final area and boss


BoF \^_^/

Ys, all of them, but heres 1&2

Faxanadu yeee

Phantasy Star 4 ^_^

HELL FUCKING YES, ALL THE YES \/

theres a lot more games, but then it starts to get into the categories of i either like a couple songs and listen to the rest as bg music, or ambient music that is good but much better when its with the game (re, silent hill, etc), or its in my list to play but i havent gotten around to it so i really havent listened to the music yet

Aah, "I Sawed the Demons" is a great Doom song, too!

And well, I did bring up Demetori there

That's my favorite game and one of my favorite soundtracks! Ginza is good jogging music.

My favorite soundtrack is Nier's[1]. I'm also fond of Shinji Hosoe[2] and his associates[3].

[1]Nier - Hills of Radiant Winds
[2]999 - Ternary Game
[3]Street fighter EX Plus Alpha - Strange Sunset