Gaming

Deus Ex and Oblivion

Chrono Trigger

Eve Online

I'm this thread I've missed Bastion, once the top answer of these kind of threads.

Personally I'm very fond of the germanized versions of pop music songs in Wolfenstein: a new order.

The first Fable game has such an amazing soundtrack. Every one of those tunes is etched into my brain. They capture the feeling of the areas they play in so well.

I’ve always been a big fan of pretty much all of the Persona series’ soundtracks.

Mass Destruction from Persona 3 is just *chefs kiss*

a lil bit of payday

I really love Divinity 2's soundtrack.

The Metal Gear Solid series, particularly Snake Eater.

It's just so dramatic and over the top like the rest of the game.

They even wisely use it as a pallet cleanser after fighting The End and you have to climb that long ass ladder.

Need for Speed Underground. Both of them.

Hollow Knight ofc, but also love Risk of Rain 2's OST, cyberpunk 2077 has a lot of bangers in there too. Unironically Spore has a nice soundtrack, but ofc it's better when you're in-game. Mass Effect has several bangers per game, especially love the OSTs of ME2 and 3. I love a lot of game music, especially when it's enhancing a moment in the game. Like in Spore when you're on the main menu with the spiral galaxy, or in ME2 when you're on the final mission. The thing that sold me on Cyberpunks OST was two fold: the radio stations are great, but the secret ending while listening to The Rebel Path is an adrenaline rush.

I love the soundtrack for the original Risk of Rain and also FTL

Halo Reach!

StarCraft: Brood War - Terran theme

Super Mario Odyssey - 1 UP Girl is a phenomenal song, and the rest of the soundtrack rocks as well. Bonus points for every track having an 8-bit version

Final Fantasy IV - My first SNES game. I still have that entire OST burned into my mind. The first time I heard the full orchestral version of the FF theme (I had played FF1 previously) blew me away

Outer Wilds - Better when heard in-game. I still tear up hearing certain pieces

Mega Man X2 - SNES era Capcom music at its best

The Great Ace Attorney - Really the whole series, but I think this one is my favourite. Capcom has great composers

Far too many to list, but Final Fantasy IX's soundtrack is a tremendous work of art, and a perfect final bow for Nobuo Uematsu from the series. It's always stuck with me among nearly ever other soundtrack.

Notable Mentions (in no order):

• Sonic 2 and 3&K
• Hotline Miami 1 & 2
• Street Fighter 2
• Nier Automata
• Castlevania (Whole Damn Series)
• Donkey Kong Country & 2
• Doom I & II
• Undertale
• Freedom Planet
• Golden Sun 1 & 2
• Hollow Knight
• Skyrim
• Kirby Series
• Mario Series
• MegaMan 2 & 3 (Shout-out to The Megas)
• Super Meat Boy

And so many others, but I'll be here all day if I keep going.

Jake Kaufman always does amazing work, here's some of my favorites of his from the Shantae series: https://youtu.be/ovk4ygEzMCI
https://youtu.be/3OhJnSL4XWA
https://youtu.be/MZ7bCDjif9M
https://youtu.be/6wJmVxvJTEs

Cave Story has some great retro tracks. Some people prefer the originals but I played it with the arranged versions: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr5fTLogAd5tW_oPORRtgznxL-kUt9z7h

Little known PC game called Chenso Club has a pumping soundtrack by Knasibas: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nHBZFT82t4__lHXCD8bi3WhA98hQaSGuo&feature=share

Chrono Cross is my favorite.

Dream of the Shore Near Another World makes me tearful every time I listen to it.

I really vibe with Minecraft. The nostalgia just hits different when I listen to it.

Wild for me to scroll through a thread like this without seeing Halo: ODST mentioned.

Basically every persona game

Legend of Dragoon soundtrack composed by Dennis Martin.

Bajo Kazooie soundtracks by Grant Kirkhope.

Donkey Kong soundtracks by David Wise.

Sly Cooper soundtrack (first game) by Ashif Hakik.

Ratchet and Clank soundtrack (first game) by David Bergeaud

Metroid soundtracks by Kenji Yamamoto.

All made insanely long lasting impressions where I could hear just a bit from one of the songs and instantly know what it is. Having played lots of video games, these seem to be the ones that have created the most lasting memory. They also absolutely slap as well.

The Legend of Zelda games BOTW and TOTK get mention here as well, though I don't find it as memorable. the sound design in these games is just top notch though.

Tetris definitely deserves a shoutout.

LA Noire by Simon Hale is fantastic though it's mostly just riffing off of Chinatown's soundtrack and I wouldn't say it really implants itself in the memory like the ones mentioned above.

Other honorable mentions

Vice City

Jet Set Radio – Hideki Naganuma

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

FFVIII or FFX

BLOODBORNE

Portal 2

Red Dead Redemption 1

World of Warcraft: Grizzly Hills OST

Journey (PS3)

Pretty much it as I am very picky with OSTs

Guild Wars 2

Legend of Heroes has many of my favorite soundtracks. Hard to pick which one is my favorite because so much of them are absolute banger

Chorus is an underrated game with an amazing main theme

Maybe because of nostalgia, but I will always come back to the Fable 1 and 2 OSTs. Especially Fable 1. Bowerstone especially I love.

Mega Man X for SNES is one of my favorites. In the PSP remake, the re-recorded all the original 16-bit songs with live instruments. It's amazing.

Primarily a mix of Old School RPGs (FFVI, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger) and some current RPGs (Persona 5, NieR: Automata)

Sim City 4 is definitely in my top five - love the chilled out jazzy stuff. Also, this is kind of out there, but does anybody remember the Harry Potter RPGs on gameboy color? Those had some great magical 8-bit tunes!

KOTOR and KOTOR 2, Mass Effect (Vigil, Leaving Earth, An End Once and For All), Hogwarts Legacy (very reminiscent of the movie scores but its own thing)

Nier Automata and FFXIV immediately spring to mind

RuneScape of course

These:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D0YwnEWK-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tXuSsEnXJo

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

OST's are my JAM!

Ori is a classic. - It's equal parts haunting and jubilant.

Death Stranding - Don't be so serious. Every song is a masterpiece.

Overwatch - It's just good fun

Witcher 3 - hey lele lelele lele lele ley!

Cyberpunk - Dark, broody, and invigorating

Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2 - Absolute fantasy. If you want a VGM OST to plan your d&d session to, this is a great option

Red Dead Redemption 2 - Maybe it's partly because Arthur Morgan's story is so incredible but this soundtrack gives me the shivers. "May I stand unshaken... Amid, amidst a crash of the world?" omggg give it to me D'Angelo

There's tons more I'm missing here. But these ones stand out to me.

Edit: Formatting

It’s got to be Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, and really everything by Nobuo Uematsu.

Also you can’t go past Koji Kondo. Ocarina of Time is a great example of how talented he is.

I was completely obsessed with the Final Fantasy 6 sound track as a kid and even did a playthrough with a tape recorder to make my own sound track.

Chrono Trigger is a close second.

I want to throw out an honorable mention to Dust Force, the sound track may be some of the best "get into the zone" music I've ever heard.

Crypt of the Necrodancer and Cadence of Hyrule both require me to stand, so I can bounce in time to the music with my character.

Final Fantasy XIV. I'm so excited to hear what Masayoshi Soken will cook up next. Other ones to mention are Guilty Gear Strive, MegaMan X and Zero series, and The World Ends With You.