Videogame Soundtracks, And Their Awesomeness
 

My two favorite video game series for music alone have got to be Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid. I love the games, their game play, the graphics - but... come on; it's what you hear that makes you feel how you feel when you play the game.

I love the work that Akira Yamaoka has done on the Silent Hill games - it's spooky and dark, but at the same time he's done some lighter pieces - like "You're Not Here," and "I Want Love." I was introduced to the series when my big brother picked me up a copy of Silent Hill 3 (which included the soundtrack) and ever since I've been playing/listeing to the series non-stop. My favorite Silent Hill piece is a toss-up between "Theme of Laura (Reprise)," "Room of Angel" and "Lost Carol."

The Metal Gear Solid soundtrack is composed of songs done by the KCE Japan Sound Team, while the theme is done by TAPPY. My favorite tracks for this series are the opening song to MGS, which I can't remember the name of at the moment, and Fortune's Theme.

These games had great stories, great characters and a dynamic playing style - but what I really loved about them was the music, that made me feel sad when Sniper Wolf died, or terrified when Pyramid Head came after me. What are the video game soundtracks you guys loved the most?

In Super Mario World, every single BGM is actually the same song.

It's true. Listen closely, every damn track is the same song. And I love it every time. That's good song.

Of course, that trick hasn't work since, and it's really annoying when they try - I am looking pointedly in your direction, Yoshi's Story. Also Supreme Commander does this, I think.

The Terran Theme from Starcraft was great, too.

Final Fantasy 6.

Now for some less obvious ones...

Legend of Zelda :OoT. I can't think of a track off-hand that I disliked. Special kudos for the Gerudo Valley theme.

In KOTOR II, I really liked the track they had playing when you entered the destroyed Jedi Academy on Dantooine near the end.

I like a good majority of the CO themes in Advance Wars, as well.

The track for "Ancient Tetris" in Tetris DS.

The Fountain of Dreams from Kirby/SSBM is also really good.

That's all I can think of for now.

Well obviously FF6.
I was always partial to Command and Conquer soundtrack myself. Though that Hell March always scared me as it sounded like an army was coming down to get me. Ah!!

Hell March is just sheer awesome. Hell March 2 on the other hand is not so sheer awesomey.

I always liked the UT 2004 tracks as well. Especially the ONS-Arctic Stronghold tune. That just screamed epic, exploding fights in a frozen, wintery environment.

Painkiller's soundtrack. Sure it was maybe about six different songs. But they were all awesome.

I'm also partial to Guilty Gear X2's music.

Though Final Fantasy VI is seconded, I've got to say that the crown of the series (music wise) goes to the original Crystal Chronicles, a game overlooked so many times because of its money sucking nature, but one that has a very moving soundtrack.

Chrono Trigger. God, everything about Chrono Trigger is fantastic.

Final Fantasy XII's soundtrack is also one that I'm very fond of. It's quite sad that the music in-game had to be toned down due to memory constraints, but when you get past that you find that it is very beautiful. The Symphonic Poem: Hope track is made of almost ten minutes of pure musical orgasm, and the remake of Clash on the Big Bridge makes the fanboy inside go squee.

We reached post six with no mention of the Guilty Gears? For shame NPF. That should have been the top.

I second Silent Hill, Metal Gears Solid, SSBM, and Advance Wars.

I've never really played Silent Hill, but once I was playing guitar over the internet for a friend and she asked if I knew the Silent Hill 2 theme, and I didn't so she sent it to me (apparently it's also Laura's Theme? (This is a close rendition of the version I have, but it's different.)) And I LOVED it. I love playing it on the guitar now too.

Metal Gear Solid 1 has the most solid soundtrack of the series. Every place has awesome ambient music, and The Best Is Yet To Come is a powerfully moving piece. I got the entire soundtrack and my favorites are Tank Hanger and Cavern.

The opening to MGS 3 is the same as the game name, Snake Eater.

Advance Wars has AWESOME CO music that really represents a wide diverse range. Olaf has perhaps the only standard video game military style soundtrack. Favorites include Andy, Sami, Grit, Jess, Lash, Sturm, and occasoinally Kanbei.

SSBM really did an awesome job with remixing old themes. Hyrule Temple's revamp of the Adventure of Link's palace music is awesome. The only tracks I don't consider superior to the originals are the F-Zero musics, because the F-Zero X soundtrack was made of pure rocking win.

Now that that comes up, F-Zero X also has my vote for awesome soundtrack. Gaaawwd that game's music ROCKS FACE. WAY harder than GX.

Old NES titles that have really well done music include Crystalis, Guerilla War, Demon Sword, and Metroid.

Metroid Prime is also a GREAT soundtrack.

This is my thing.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night has some of the best music available for a game already tightly packed onto a CD.

Devil May Cry 1 had good ambiance music for evil, but #3 had some awesome metal songs in there, as well as the fantastic orchestral remix of it for the Vergil Battle 3.

Earthbound's music, for some reason, gets me every time.

F-Zero is memorable, and I love the Guitar Arrange they did a few years ago. That was fantastic.

Guilty Gear needs no introduction.

Metroid is another one like Earthbound - for some reason, the music stays with me. I really want Hip Tanaka to do the music for Metroid Prime 3.

Prince of Persia was terrific, at least 1 and 3. I don't know why Godsmack was in there. That must have been on accident.

Shadow of the Colossus is like the definition of 'epic,' even in music form.

And there's tons of others I can't even name.

Again I'm going with Advent Risings soundtrack. It was pretty good for me anyway.