Enter the Game Music Thunderdome

The whole soundtrack link as well. Probably one of the best sci-fi game ambient soundtracks, and it’s from a game made in 1995.

I LOVE this idea for a thread, Thraeg! Well done. Since @wumpus stole Rocket Jockey from me, and @Skipper stole Ascendancy , here are my OTHER picks. ;)

  1. Interstate 76 - Revenge Rocco Style
  1. Fantasy General - Dies Irae
  1. Emperor of the Fading Suns - Battle
  1. Titanfall 2 - BT-7274

Many I could choose just from Final Fantasy & Chrono Cross, but this might be my favorite:

Final Fantasy 9 Melodies of Life (Japanese)

It would have been on my list but then I got all carried away with the Amiga theme!

I had a rough time picking a leading track, particularly since @Left_Empty already posted the strongest track in the thread, but here goes:

Hiro and the Sega AM2 Sound Team - Magical Sound Shower (OutRun 2)

And the backups:

Manabu Namiki - Vertigo (Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu Black Label)

Hisayoshi Ogura - FAKE (Darius Gaiden)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7l05t0pdcU

Yuzo Koshiro - Dreamer (Streets of Rage 2)

EDIT: Since @WhollySchmidt took one of my backups as his stellar choice of a lead, I’ll replace it with:

Shoji Meguro and Lyn - Rivers in the Desert (Persona 5)

1. Streets of Rage 2 - Dreamer

2. ICO - You Were There

3. Donkey Kong Country - Jungle Groove (also called Island Swing?)

4. Street Fighter II - Guile’s Theme

*edit - looks like in the 20 minutes it took me to put this together @WarpRattler also mentioned Dreamer, but I’ll leave it in since it’s my first pick so it’s guaranteed a slot.

Oi! I resemble that remark. And also never played Brutal Legend.

You. I like you.

Michael Hoenig’s whole OST for Baldur’s Gate 1 is half of what made that game awesome, but if I had to pick a track today, I guess I’d go with “Attacked by Assassins”

Similarly, Jeremy Soule’s Total Annihilation soundtrack is basically perfect from top to bottom, but let’s say “Attack!!!”

Not much about Final Fantasy VIII was particularly good, but man that opening cinematic track “Liberi Fatali” was badass as fuck.

Tragically the album release for Yes’s The Ladder predates Homeworld’s release by about a week, so “Homeworld (The Ladder)” doesn’t meet the thread’s strict criteria (damn you, @Thraeg!), so I’ll go with my second favorite scifi game music: this little number from Stellaris, “Creation and Beyond”:

  1. International Karate, Rob Hubbard (inspired by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’ music)
  1. Cybernoid II, Jeroen Tel
  1. Battle Squadron High Score Theme, Ron Klaren
  1. Green Beret (aka Rush ‘n’ Attack) Title Theme, Martin Galway

Baldur’s Gate 2 main theme:

Ultima Underworld:

Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption

Morrowind:

Awesome thread, just hope some of the tracks I’m thinking of exist out in Youtube land as they’re very very old.

  1. Nier: Automata - Amusement Park
  1. Make Up and Vanity Set – Solo Nombre Must Fall (Theme From Brigador)
  1. Amon Tobin - The Lightouse
  1. Ed Harrison - Scrap I/O

Beat 'em ups often have the best OSTs. I also dig tracks that recall the game instantly to mind.

Anarchy Reigns (Max Anarchy JPN) - Play My Ass Off

Jet Grind Radio (Jet Set Radio JPN) - Humming the Bassline

Bayonetta - Fly Me to the Moon

God Hand - End Credits/Outro

DON’T ACT LIKE YOU DON’T LIKE THE BALL BUSTER!

Looking up above, maybe we should have a Platinum Games version of this thread. :)

  1. I’ll start with the track that sold me a soundblaster card. Secret of Monkey Island 2 theme. (link is to the entire soundtrack, but the intro theme is just the first 2:15 of it)
  1. I see Dave beat me to the God Hand outro, I guess that makes room for this: Saints Row 3 menu theme. By Junkie XL I believe, who also worked on the Mad Max soundtrack.
  1. I don’t know of any other game/series where the composer gets third billing, but for the Persona series it’s well deserved. Backside of the TV:
  1. The Mass Effect series had some really good tracks. ME3 has the melancholy Leaving Earth/An End Once and For All, but ME2 had better music overall. I remember the Grunt theme going really well with that gunfight on that planet and the aliens. Well, the song was the highlight. Honorable mentions to the Tali theme and Suicide Run.

Mass Effect - Vigil

Great choice, of course, but to be fair it should stick to the in-game version with Ron Ragin, rather than the album version re-recorded with the Soweto Gospel Choir.

E1M1
MAP01
MAP07

Video links or no sale. I’m not going to track them down for you.

Stolen, literally, from my pile of possibilities.

Though Vamo Alla Flamenco would be my pick.

@WhollySchmidt

https://youtu.be/4qwKCQ4M2Nw

He’s got my #1 pick as well, it’s one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time.