Poll: Video Game songs you're nostalgic for

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

The title pretty much says it all. I'm a firm believer that a truly great video game needs a fantastic soundtrack to go with it. Something unique that just encompasses the game. With no disrespect to shooters like COD or Gears of War, their soundtracks of either somber horns or rapid drum beats aren't quiet memorable.

So what are yours? Top 5, 10, singles, honorable mentions. What soundtrack could you just listen to and smile? If you can, post a link or two so people know what you're talking about.


For me:
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Title Screen, any of the Ocarina melodies(Prelude of Light being my absolute favorite), and the Ending Credits theme. I mean need I say more? Ocarina of Time. Although I'd play games before hand, I hold OoT as my first gaming experience.
Title theme: [link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ShzyggtsCs[/link]
Prelude of Light: [link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slcd9ZdZ9cc[/link]
Ending Credits: [link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCEYXAy897o[/link]



Halo: ODST - Defense in the Darkness. I know it wasn't well received, but I loved the dark, moody and straight jazzy melodies of this game. Plus the cast of Firefly in Halo? Worth a play and a listen.
[link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a70h0cX8AMM[/link]


Mass Effect 3 - We face our enemies together. Its the title screen song as well as the pre-last mission speech song. Loved the game, despite the ending. I think the Mass effect trilogy is the greatest trilogy of the last generation. The title screen still takes my breath away sometimes. 'nough said.
[link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gm81jT0Vhk[/link]


Fallout: New Vegas - Begin Again and The Courier Walks softly. I probably logged 500+ hours in this game. When I think open-world RPG, I think this game, bugs and all. Thought it was hand over fist better than Fallout 3.
Begin Again: [link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCkwAgTcDBw[/link]
The Courier Walks Softly: [link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yy7YLOTYEs#t=3478[/link]


Final Fantasy 6 - Decisive Battle. I played this game with my brother so many times. And when this song pops up, you knew shit just got serious! Any fight from any video game is automatically more intense with this song playing.
[link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb-Lhkm93pI[/link]


And finally honorable mentions goes to Conker's Bad Fur Day and its amazing atmospheric song, Windy. When I hear this song I just think cartoonish violence and innuendos
[link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWh7crjCWlM[/link]

 

[The Wykydtron]

Persona 4 has been my favourite game for a long time now but the normal battle song still gets me. How does it not get annoying and repetitive since it's the same 3 minute song looped? Fucked if I know. Singing the chorus as I write this post.

Also this from the Comyu soundtrack:


This makes the transition from a talking scene to a fight scene more distinct and memorable. It's something you could imagine in a Final Fantasy game, it's such solid battle music.

Annnnnnnd a song used whenever Maou styles Haru into the ground with mindgames in Devil on the G-String. He's barely even trying, it's almost comedic how badly she gets played despite her best efforts. The song is aptly named "The Devil". Man when it's first used... The plot twist was fucking awesome. I would link it but I consider the CG on the Youtube a spoiler and fucked if i'm spoiling such a good mystery story in any regard. The entire soundtrack is a spin on many pieces of classical musics. I do mean "spin" not a mere remix or cover, like you'll hear traces of Ride of the Valkyries for a second in the background of a battle song and that kind of stuff. It basically sold me on classical music singlehandedly.

If you like mystery stories play Persona 4 and Devil on the G-String. Persona 4 for a more lighthearted friendship adventure thing with themes about truth and Devil has the most amazing antagonist in Maou but has a darker story. It's not hard to be darker than Persona 4 though, if you'll allow to to rip off a joke from TVtropes, Persona 4 is the happiest story about murder ever made!

 

[PlayerDos]

Most nostalgia ever.

I will never not love this song.

 

[144_v1legacy]

It really depends on the type of game. MK8 and Super Mario Galaxy both got that extra touch of magic by having the appropriate music alongside the experience. Meanwhile, Limbo and Portal hinge on the player feeling a degree of paranoia, and as such the soundtrack is of less consequence.

 

[baddude1337]

Can't get much more nostalgic than this, it's basically the theme for the game:


I kinda dig pretty much any old school 8-bit or midi themes. Honestly most gaming soundtracks are pretty amazing. I have a good chunk of the Souls and Halo series on my Ipod, among many other games and series'.

Begin again from New Vegas is another one I have, a very good song. Sung by the studio intern I believe.

Also, a very recent one, but IMO the funkiest loading screen music ever, even if it is based off a TV show:

 

[T8B95]

I always go back and forth between which Elder Scrolls game has the best music, but I must admit that this song can immediately take me out of wherever I am and bring me back to 2005 when I first started it up.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

Well there's the obvious one...
And the other obvious one...

Spoiler: Plus I have a certain attachment to these...

I could probably come up with more given time, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Godhead]

Fort Kroth from Dungeon Siege, one of the first 'real' games that I've ever played.

Spoiler

KOTOR II is probably my favorite non-flight (X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Rogue Squadron, etc.) Star Wars game out there.

Spoiler

 

[LSHDS]

Music can have varying levels of importance in a game. If a game is trying to be atmospheric, music is one of the most essential things in a game, in plenty of other circumstances though, while I love music, good music is an added bonus, with it only making a large difference once the music is terrible enough to distract you entirely from the game itself.

Metroid as a whole (barring one bad egg) has some killer music, really, anything composed by Kenji Yamamoto does. That man is the absolute master of atmospheric tracks.
Here's a few choice selections of mine from Super Metroid:
Lower Norfair (Ridley's Lair)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9j0oinD6xE
I prefer this version to the redone version in prime, and not just for nostalgic reasons. While there's nothing wrong with Magmoor Caverns, it doesn't have the same weight as the original, and while that's a good thing in context (Ridley's Lair is the penultimate area of Super Metroid, and as the name suggests, base of the primary antagonist, Ridley, while Magmoor Caverns is a lava cave that serves mainly as a passageway between areas) but the point still goes to the original for the extra weight behind the piece.

Tourian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbsz_WV6Zvw
The second in a series I call the "Super Metroid home stretch trilogy", it's a seemingly odd choice due to the fact that it has no real music, and is just background noise. Coming straight off of the Ridley's Lair theme, probably the most melodic theme in the game, you have just slain Ridley, found the broken metroid canister, and are off to the final area of the game, and rather than another powerful piece, you're instead hit with this, which is quite unnerving. To top it off, Mother Brain part 1 doesn't even get its own boss music, really bringing together the feeling that there's something more going on.

Mother Brain Boss Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2CRLDMqeSI
All of the tension crafted by the game for the past segment comes to a head here, with this beautifully ugly piece. The notes blare and clash with each other, driving home the terror of fighting this boss. While it's technically an unkillable boss, the game is brilliant for not telling you that, your hits to Mother Brain's head cause the exact same single frame flash that all other proper hits in the game do, though unlike other bosses, Mother Brain (at least before the metroid's intervention) does not have some sort of stagger animation or cry of pain to signify you're doing damaging her. The feeling of seeing Mother Brain's new body rise from the floor as this started playing for the first time is a memory engraved within me, something I'll never forget, no matter how many years I game.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

In no particular order, off the top of my head, and generally all the songs in the title:

Track and Field 2 for the NES
Taboo this sixth Sense for NES.
Bad Dudes from NES.
Armored Core in general. Especially the PSX era stuff.
Ghost in the shell on PSX.
Anything made by Koei, Especially the heavy metal in Dynasty Warriors. ESPECIALLY the heavy metal in Dynasty Warriors.
Anarchy Reigns/Max Anarchy.
Fallout 3
Fallout New Vegas

That's roughly it.I recommend giving them a listen.

 

[Nazulu]

Music can have varying levels of importance in a game. If a game is trying to be atmospheric, music is one of the most essential things in a game, in plenty of other circumstances though, while I love music, good music is an added bonus, with it only making a large difference once the music is terrible enough to distract you entirely from the game itself.

Metroid as a whole (barring one bad egg) has some killer music, really, anything composed by Kenji Yamamoto does. That man is the absolute master of atmospheric tracks.
Here's a few choice selections of mine from Super Metroid:
Lower Norfair (Ridley's Lair)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9j0oinD6xE
I prefer this version to the redone version in prime, and not just for nostalgic reasons. While there's nothing wrong with Magmoor Caverns, it doesn't have the same weight as the original, and while that's a good thing in context (Ridley's Lair is the penultimate area of Super Metroid, and as the name suggests, base of the primary antagonist, Ridley, while Magmoor Caverns is a lava cave that serves mainly as a passageway between areas) but the point still goes to the original for the extra weight behind the piece.

Tourian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbsz_WV6Zvw
The second in a series I call the "Super Metroid home stretch trilogy", it's a seemingly odd choice due to the fact that it has no real music, and is just background noise. Coming straight off of the Ridley's Lair theme, probably the most melodic theme in the game, you have just slain Ridley, found the broken metroid canister, and are off to the final area of the game, and rather than another powerful piece, you're instead hit with this, which is quite unnerving. To top it off, Mother Brain part 1 doesn't even get its own boss music, really bringing together the feeling that there's something more going on.

Mother Brain Boss Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2CRLDMqeSI
All of the tension crafted by the game for the past segment comes to a head here, with this beautifully ugly piece. The notes blare and clash with each other, driving home the terror of fighting this boss. While it's technically an unkillable boss, the game is brilliant for not telling you that, your hits to Mother Brain's head cause the exact same single frame flash that all other proper hits in the game do, though unlike other bosses, Mother Brain (at least before the metroid's intervention) does not have some sort of stagger animation or cry of pain to signify you're doing damaging her. The feeling of seeing Mother Brain's new body rise from the floor as this started playing for the first time is a memory engraved within me, something I'll never forget, no matter how many years I game.

HA! Forget it! You'll never be a bigger Super Metroid fan than me.

Spoiler

Before you even get into the game the atmosphere is already great. I remember just watching the screen for 20 minutes because I had never experienced anything like it before.

It's only at the beginning of the game, so I used to keep making a new game just to hear it.

Perfect melody for progress. Reminds me of Stairway To Heaven too.

And my personal favourite for an unsettling place.

I completely agree with you about the Lower Norfair theme compared to Magmoor Caverns. The original has more oomph, but it makes sense since it was meant for the most difficult area, like you said.

 

[LSHDS]

It's only at the beginning of the game, so I used to keep making a new game just to hear it.

Oh man, I thought I was the only one who did that as a kid. Brings back memories. If I took the time to write out a response for each track in the game that's amazing in some way, my post would be essay-length, because I would have to write at least a paragraph for every single tune.

 

[Vigormortis]

Does a great game necessarily need a great soundtrack? Not entirely, no. However, that said, damned if I can think of a great game that didn't have an amazing soundtrack to accompany it. So, part of me wants to say that one does need a great soundtrack.

But anyway, as for specific examples of great/classic/memorable game songs and soundtracks that make me smile or wax nostalgic:

Spoiler: Banjo Kazooie

Spoiler: Perfect Dark

Spoiler: Half-Life

Spoiler: Homeworld

Spoiler: Conker's Bad Fur Day

Spoiler: Metroid Prime

Spoiler: MechWarrior 2

Spoiler: Portal 2

Spoiler: Quake

Spoiler: Terraria

Spoiler: MechAssault 2

Spoiler: Halo: CE

Gah. Don't take this the wrong way, but I hate these kinds of threads sometimes. Not because I don't like them but because I'm always so tempted to just keep listing more and more of my favorite game songs and soundtracks. But then my posts become needlessly gigantic and all of the youtube links cause page lag... So I'll stop with these.

 

[Meatrod05]

For some reason, this song always does it for me, which is weird since I only first played the Mother series 3 or 4 years ago. There's just something both the eight melodies that makes me feel like a kid again, and adding the love theme from Mother 3 in there just makes it perfect.

 

[bluerocker]

Well there's the obvious one...

Oh man, that takes me back to when I was a wee lass in middle school and the first game came out. "Final Fantasy + Disney?! AWESOME!"

On that topic, this really takes me back to when I was very young -

Spoiler: And then there's these

I REALLY like video game soundtracks...

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Does a great game necessarily need a great soundtrack? Not entirely, no. However, that said, damned if I can think of a great game that didn't have an amazing soundtrack to accompany it. So, part of me wants to say that one does need a great soundtrack.

I completely agree. I have the soundtrack for all my top ten games. Hell, probably top 20! There are even games I don't like I have the OST for because at least the music was decent.
I honestly can't think of a truly great game that didn't have an absolutely perfect soundtrack to go with it.

 

[Ygrez]

Most of the music from Earthbound... who am I kidding, all the music from Earthbound!
SNES Final Fantasy games had great music too.

Also loved most of the music in Lufia 2.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

Well my favourite soundtrack is the ending theme from Rome Total War . It plays when you finally beat the game. You feel victorious, proud, you have vanquished your enemies, slaughtering all who got in your way. You are a god among men... and then the credits roll, and you hear this music. You hear the song of the wife of the fallen soldier. You are brought back to earth, and face the knowledge of the untold pain and suffering you have caused in your rise to power.... and then you play the game again....


and ofcourse theres always the full soundtrack....
Runner ups : Morrowind and Deus ex .

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

The Halo 3 (maybe 1 and 2 as well) action music. Not too fast, not too intrusive, not too slow as to be unnoticeable.
Thing is, it CARRIED the game along. Not in the way that one thing/person carries something to success, but it was like a river carrying the boat/player through the world/game.

For me it will always be the pinnacle of what videogame music should be.