The challenge, I think, would be to pick only one, but since we never can seem to grasp the concept of a hard cap on choices, I guess three would be more appropriate.
Anyway, my top three:
Gonna pick a few that I also think deserve mentioning in a thread like this (because nobody has so far)…
Super Meat Boy
Forza 2
Shatter
Dragon Age: Origins
Ace Combat series
I really dig the American McGee’s Soundtrack to American’s McGee’s Alice’s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGPjYbNAgzk
The use of toys, music boxes, and other weird things is interesting to me.
If I had to pick one musical bit from Monkey Island, I think it would be this:
I love the music for Hannibal: Rome and Carthage in the Second Punic War. In fact I want the damn sound track so I can listen to it while I play other stuff. I’ll probably end up buying the game one of these days just for the art and music.
Star Control 2, seconded, thirded, whatever. So many excellent tunes, but the one that’s always stuck in my head (besides the bombastic Ur Quan theme) is the hyperspace music. Can a single song be both perky and epic? Why yes, yes it can (the bit starting at 1:15 gives the MULE theme a run for its money in pure toe-tapping catchiness).
I think Cave Story has my favorite indie game music. (Link, but I’m at work so I didn’t verify it.) It fit the theme of a cutesy platformer while I was playing the game. Especially some of the boss battles.
I’m not sure if he changed it or added new stuff for the Wii release.
Apparently the Wii version uses remixed music that most people hate.
Bioshock and Bioshock 2 definitely added to the atmosphere and the games would not be the same without them.
This is kind of a cheat since the whole song was not in the game, curse those C64 limitations, but Devo’s them song to Neuromancer has been stuck in my head for years.
Some Things Never Change - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9yO82AhMrM
I’m loving the music for Atom Zombie Smasher. More games should have a surf music soundtrack.
Wow, no mentions of Braid?
For shame.
Doh! Agreed. And I was just listening to the music like 5mins ago.
Also while on the indie tip: VVVVVV.
Damn, just lost a post with 20 urls. Sigh. Here goes again.
Firstly. Heretics! Only one mention of Total Annihilation ? In particular Brutal Battle and Warpath
For me, videogame music was defined in the Eighties. I more or less have all of the following burnt indelibly in my memory. I loved was shmup music, in particular the work coming out of the Konami studios. Salamander. My most played coin-op, and most loved too. In particular Stage 2 and 4.
Vulcan Venture followed, and featured the heavy basslines that featured throughout the Gradius series and other Konami games, like Axelay, with the stage 1 music being a particular favourite of mine.
I also loved Vapor Trail and Afterburner, as it was a bit Top Gun, something my friends and I watched on loop at the time. Talking of Top Gun, Rob Hubbard did a great guitars and jet fighters soundtrack for Ace 2. I don’t often use the phrase God Like Genius, but really have to when it comes to Rob Hubbard. Did he do one tune that wasn’t technically awesome and catchy as hell? Here is Play on Tape, a C64 SID chip tribute band doing Crazy Comets and Mega Apocalypse. Also on the SID chip, Ben Daglish gets special mention for The Last Ninja, a game with stunning music and graphics when released. Martin Galway also did some great music, Wizball standing out from the rest. This is music that has inspired people for decades, evidenced by a man playing the same tune on his guitar two decades later.
There was some good stuff for the Megadrive too. We hooked up my Japanese import to my friends dads’ stereo and played Revenge of the Shinobi as we so blown away by the music. There was some good stuff on the SNES too, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Secret of Mana OST.
Going back to the arcades I end on not just one of the greatest video game tunes of all time, but possibly the greatest driving song ever. Magical Sound Shower.
Good call. Ace Combat 6 has a particularly good track called Liberation of Gracemeria. (The awesome kicks into full gear around 2:50.) Really adds to the big budget action picture flavor of the game.
Ah, how could I forget Tempest 2000, the game that was almost known more for its music than its gameplay. Which is saying something, since the gameplay was damn good.
Wow, that really brings back memories. :-)
This thread needs more goo! Needs… World of Goo!
So much epic…just for goo.
Download the whole thing here.
This game’s music (together with Battlefield 1942’s two songs) is probably the quintessential WW2 soundtrack. I’d have a tough time deciding between the two of them or Morrowind’s theme as the greater greeting upon return to a virtual world, but I’d probably decide in favor of Allied Assault for having more than just one perfect song. Red Alert 1/2 also had some great themes.
Even so, I return to Zelda music more than anything (I like playing the songs on piano) & the soundtracks to The Longest Journey & Dreamfall are the only two game soundtracks I own.
It’s also completely impossible to play Monkey Island 2 without humming those wonderful tunes for weeks after. (Also fun to play on piano, though I’m better with the Secret of Monkey Island™’s songs) IMUSE is just wonderful.
I guess it’s worth mentioning that the original Phoenix Wright soundtrack makes up my ringtone library, with the more frantic Objection! theme being my default ringtone.