Outstanding videogame music

[Eternal_Freedom]

I'd forgotten DEFCON. One of the best gems i ever played. And, yes, it's sounds where incredible.

Dawn of War, I'll agree has some great music in it. rouble is, most of it is just background stuff your hear repetitiviely. Oh well

I would also suggest the Call of Duty games. They have some excellent music, although the "heroic last stand" motif kept coming up alot. Admittedly it was on missions where you're making a heroid last stand, but it was still all good

[Edi]

Morrowind had a very good soundtrack overall.

I'm also partial to the music from the first Age of Wonders game, particularly Battle Macabre, Heartwood Forest and Mountain Song as well as the title tune, but overall the soundtrack in that was excellent in that it rarely intruded. The sequels didn't get anywhere near in my opinion and they had far fewer songs in the soundtrack.

Wing Commander had some music I absolutely loved and still do, such as the mission briefing score, never mind that it was midi.

The Heroes of Might and Magic series has had some pretty good music, particularly HoMM2. HoMM3 was a step backward in quite a few themes and HoMM4's music is mostly nothing to write home about.

Some of the songs in Witcher and Dragon Age have been good too.

[Eleas]

Morrowind had a very good soundtrack overall.

I'm also partial to the music from the first Age of Wonders game, particularly Battle Macabre, Heartwood Forest and Mountain Song as well as the title tune, but overall the soundtrack in that was excellent in that it rarely intruded. The sequels didn't get anywhere near in my opinion and they had far fewer songs in the soundtrack.

Wing Commander had some music I absolutely loved and still do, such as the mission briefing score, never mind that it was midi.

Not entirely. There was the Amiga version, which was in mod format (16 bit, in other words, as compared to the original 8-bit tune).

[Nephtys]

How has this thread not mentioned Star Control and Megaman series? Especially the latter, which is still highly regarded as some of the best NES Midi muzak.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Shadow of the Beast II had awesome scoring too, which made up for the graphical capability being less advanced than the first game.

No other game has made me actually not mind being killed and facing a game over screen. Very Eric Clapton.

[The Jester]

Hangarmageddon.
Also, if you're a fan of Final Fantasy music and Nobuo Uematsu and haven't already, you should check out The Black Mages.
Promise and Theme of Laura from Silent Hill 2.
Heroic Blues from Disgaea 2.

[Eleas]

Shadow of the Beast II had awesome scoring too, which made up for the graphical capability being less advanced than the first game.

No other game has made me actually not mind being killed and facing a game over screen. Very Eric Clapton.

Huh. I thought it was Jogeir Liljedahl who had done that scoring; apparently, it was Tim Wright. Guess you learn something new every day.

[Ritterin Sophia]

How could you all forget Battlefield 1942 main theme

Speaking of Battlefield

Battlefield: Vietnam
Fortunate Son
War
Surfin' Bird

As for newer games, I finally found the soundtracks for MAG.

MAG
SVER Soundtrack by Apocalyptica
The Crushing Heel of Tyranny
256
SVER Shadow War
The Fire Within
Survival and Rebellion
Overkill (Aptly named since it triggers when you get a killstreak.)
All That Remains

Raven Soundtrack by Sascha 'Sonic Mayhem' Dikiciyan
Laser Precision
Raven Shadow War
A Force For Order (This is probably my favorite Raven Track)

Valor Soundtrack by Tree Adams
A Soldier's Pride
The Long Haul
Smoke 'Em Out
Pushing the Line
Skin of Your Teeth (My favorite Valor Tracl[/url]
Return to Glory

There's more, I just picked the ones that were noticeably better.

[General Zod]

Regardless of what you think of the gameplay, the Tekken series has always had awesome music.

[Qwerty 42]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl's borderline obsessiveness when it came to music was nice to see. You really got to hear a lot of interesting takes on some pretty classic tunes.

I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere, so I'll throw out Golden Sun. This was the first portable game I'd ever played that really moved beyond beep-boop soundtrack, and man, but did it do it with aplomb.

Venus Lighthouse theme
Title theme
Felix Battle theme

Zelda: Wind Waker was, possibly, the most musically complete game I've ever played.

Dragon Roost Island
I used to really hate Molgera, but it works really well for the boss fight it's used for. The percussion gives it a very "single-combat" feel, if that makes any sense.
Ganondorf is also great for its scene, since the sky is basically nearly literally falling down around you. It's a very tense moment.
Title Screen
Sailing theme
Prologue- my favorite version of the iconic Zelda theme

[wautd]

A particular song for bosses in UN Squadron (SNES) is also one that'll never go out of my head. I don't know why, I just find it catchy and foreboding.

[Dooey Jo]

Outrun seems to have pretty sweet music, but I have never played any of the games. Car games...

Of course, there's always Konami Kukeiha Club.

Tekken

Clearly a rip-off of Wicked Child

[Gaidin]

The only recent soundtrack that I think's great but haven't seen mentioned is Tropico 3.

[Civil War Man]

I probably sound like a heretic for not trashing WoW every chance I get, but Warcraft series has good music and it's generally used well too.

I was wondering if anyone else was going to bring up Blizzard.

Some highlights:
Grizzly Hills
Howling Fjord
Stormwind
Undercity

Of course, due to the nature of WoW, music is mostly to add to the atmosphere of the zones, so there aren't as many character themes as you might hear in movies or some single-player games. Unless the character is big enough to require their own theme. Like Arthas.

Or Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls. The music adds a lot to that fight.

EDIT: Obligatory boss voice remix

[RogueIce]

I probably sound like a heretic for not trashing WoW every chance I get, but Warcraft series has good music and it's generally used well too.

Let us not forget possibly the greatest musical contribution the Warcraft series ever gave us:

I'm a Medieval Man

For a bit of more old school, the FF7 Shinra Theme is damned awesome. The version used for Crisis Core is also good. A little less evil, though no less awesome.

If you want something more recent, I have Modern Warfare 2. Specifically, the opening of the level The Enemy of My Enemy (before you get on the airstrip) and the opening of Wolverines! are made of win. Played once more for when Spoiler

Roach and Ghost die

in Loose Ends.

[GuppyShark]

The only game I've ever really enjoyed the music of was a little-known console port called Slave Zero. It is set in a typical dystopian future and you play a big stomping robot.

The music is some great, inspired techno-electro that perfectly evokes the setting and there are some great little touches like a DJ voice saying in one of the bridging pieces "You are calling up an old music file." As if this future techno music is actually really old-school in the future setting.

The soundtrack was available as a free download from the game's website (which IIRC is now defunct) and went straight into my MP3 playlist, the first and only game to earn that honour.

[The Grim Squeaker]

The only game I've ever really enjoyed the music of was a little-known console port called Slave Zero. It is set in a typical dystopian future and you play a big stomping robot.

The music is some great, inspired techno-electro that perfectly evokes the setting and there are some great little touches like a DJ voice saying in one of the bridging pieces "You are calling up an old music file." As if this future techno music is actually really old-school in the future setting.

The soundtrack was available as a free download from the game's website (which IIRC is now defunct) and went straight into my MP3 playlist, the first and only game to earn that honour.

Man that was a fun game. Wish I could find a copy of it.

[eyexist]

Obscure Title music dump in 5, 4, 3, 2...

Panzer Dragoon Saga - Sona mi Areru ec Sancitu

Panzer Dragoon Saga - Mutation

Guardian Heroes - Toki Meki Saxophone

Guardian Heroes - Valgar's Theme

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs - Hollow Tree

Capcom Vs. Snk: Millenium Fight 2K - Menu Display 2

Actraiser 2 - Tanzra Returns

Actraiser 2 - Industen & Benefic

Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side - Slash

Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side - Senator

[Jade Falcon]

How could you all forget Battlefield 1942 main theme

Then you've got the remixed version for BF2142

And no matter how panned the game was, Modern Warfare 2 had some good music.

An example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsSnGRsh ... qodLa7w0V0

[General Zod]

Obscure Title music dump in 5, 4, 3, 2...

None of those are very obscure.

[Jade Falcon]

Deleted

Damn, can someone erase, I posted this in the wrong thread.

[Vympel]

How could I forget?

Metal Gear Solid 2 - Main Theme

So good.

I'm very partial to MGS3's theme as well. In fact, when it came on during the final fight in MGS4 it was easily one of the most awesome gaming moments I've ever experienced.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Heavy Gear 2 had some pretty decent music. Especially the music in the background of the opening menu. Very martial

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'm very partial to MGS3's theme as well. In fact, when it came on during the final fight in MGS4 it was easily one of the most awesome gaming moments I've ever experienced.

I may have orgasmed a bit when "Metal Gear Saga" played during that fight with Liquid Ocelot. It's like the greatest hits of the series (which it was, since after that track, they play tracks from the MGS series).

Also, I can't help but feel solemn when listening to "Debriefing" from MGS3, or the rather chilling "BB Corps" from MGS4. LAUGH WITH ME!

[Dooey Jo]

I must say I'm liking some of the songs from Xenosaga III. Oh snap! They seem to have a pretty nice classical-inspired style going there. I especially like the choirs.

I haven't played that game either, though.