The videogame music thread

[Flabyo]

Kotaku have picked their soundtracks of the year, pretty solid selection I think.

And for the tl;dr crowd they picked:

Spoiler: show

Assassin's Creed Syndicate - Austin Wintory
Bloodborne - Yuka Kitamura, Tsukasa Saitoh, and Nobuyoshi Suzuki
Super Mario Maker - Koji Kondo, Naoto Kubo, Asuka Hayazaki
Undertale - Toby Fox
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture - Jessica Curry
The Witcher 3 - Marcin Przybyłowicz
Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky: Episode 2 - Hayato Sonoda, Takahiro Unisuga, Ryo Takeshita
Splatoon - Toru Minegishi, Shiho Fujii
Karmaflow - Ivo van Dijk
Ori and the Blind Forest - Gareth Coker

[Scrustle]

Did the Karmaflow soundtrack actually end up being good then? I was looking forward to that game when they first announced it, and the whole concept behind it, but I watched some videos of the game when it finally came out, and it didn't seem that great in the end.

Some stuff from games I've been playing lately:

[macstat]

Since You guys talked about Mass Effect lately i would like suggest an unsung hero from ME series namely bar music. Not all of them are great, but club Afterlife from ME2 is one of my favorites from whole trilogy.

[Combine Hunter]

Hey, I thought 2015 was another great year for video game soundtracks, so here are a few of my favourite tracks from my favourite games released this year.

Tales From the Borderlands - Ok, so these are licensed tracks, but the musical intros to each episode of this fantastic adventure game series are so god damn good, that I feel ok including these. "Busy Earnin" and "Kiss the Sky" play during the intro sequences for the first and second episodes and are accompanied by some fantastic visual flair. All five intros are fantastic, and are worth seeing.





Axiom Verge - I'm sucker for this style of modernised 8 bit/16 bit music.



Ori and The Blind Forest - The music that accompanies the escape sequences is exhilarating.



Bloodborne - The Bloodborne soundtrack is terrifying and intimidating. These two tracks from the Blood Starved Beast battle and the DLC boss Lady Maria, stand out as my favourites.





The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - This is by far my favourite soundtrack of the year. The way Marcin's orchestral themes work in total harmony with Percival's folk stylings is incredible. My two favourite tracks are "...Steel for Humans" and from the Hearts of Stone DLC "Hearts of Stone."

[Sean]

Oddly enough, while I thought 2015 was an outstanding year for games, I can't think of many soundtracks that stuck out. My favorites were definitely Hotline Miami 2, N++, and Bloodborne. Otherwise, I can't remember many tracks from all the games I played this year.

[Todinho]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - This is by far my favourite soundtrack of the year. The way Marcin's orchestral themes work in total harmony with Percival's folk stylings is incredible. My two favourite tracks are "...Steel for Humans" and from the Hearts of Stone DLC "Hearts of Stone."

I already posted most of my favorite tracks of 2015 here,I definetly echo the sentiment towards Steel for humans it's the best track from that game for sure but other then that in summary I'd say:

MGSV- V has come to(beautiful track that plays at the start of the game)

Spoiler: show

MGSV-Return(it's not exactly this version,the actual version I love plays during the true ending but isnt included in the soundtrack)

Spoiler: show

Undertale-Hopes and Dreams(Dont listen to it if you havent played the game!)

Spoiler: show

Undertale-Spider Dance(just such a fun track to listen to)

Spoiler: show

Read only memories-Main theme(scratches that Snatcher itch really well)

Spoiler: show

If we include licensed stuff then,I'd add all the intro songs to Tales from the Borderlands,Hotline Miami 2 and MGSV of course you just cant beat running around the afghan desert with your dog while Aha plays in the back .

[Flabyo]

I can definitely second Witcher 3, that score is a grower, you don't realise it's wormed your way into your brain at first.

My absolute favourite soundtrack of the year is Splatoon. It has energy and bounce, veering from surf rock to anamanaguchi style chip tune mashups. There's a definite similarity to the way SEGA scored Jet Set Radio, bright and fun and silly.

There's a good pile of music from that game in this thread already so I won't go overboard here. I don't think this one has been on the thread yet though:



Something I really liked this year that came from nowhere. Most people know they have a lot of 50's radio in the Fallout games, but for 4 we also have Lynda Carter as nightclub singer Magnolia with a whole bunch of original pieces. If you've not moseyed on down to her bar, you should get on that...

Here's one of them:

[Alex79]

Rez is in my top five games of all time, and it has a brilliant soundtrack. My personal favourite is this one :

Ken Ishii - Creative State



It just reminds me of the mid-90's all night techno clubs we used to go to in Birmingham. Atomic Jam, House Of God etc. It sounds exactly like something you'd hear Chris Liberator bang out at 4am. Good times, great tune. Although I'm sure, not for everyone!

[Acrobuster]

I've been playing Xenoblade Chronicles X, like many of us have, and the aesthetic of the game really got me feeling nostalgic for the old Phantasy Star Online games. This song is from PSO Episode 3 Card Revolution. I don't think anyone played this game, it is far different from the rest of the series in terms of gameplay, but the music is still wonderful. This is the song that plays over the intro cinematic and it contrasts with the scenes of technology and space travel in such a neat way.

[Acrobuster]

Say what you will about the gameplay of Final Fantasy XIII-2, but there is some really good music to be found there. I got the ost on sale years ago and it is still a staple in my car's music library. In the midst of a soundtrack that is mostly pop and rock tunes, this mournful piece illustrates all of the sad loneliness that the main character Noel feels. He is the last living human, brought back from the end of time to help the heroine Serah ant this song recounts his feelings just before he was saved. I can't help but get a little emotional every time I hear it.

[dezm0nd]

The soundtracks to Jet Set Radio (and Future!) and more are on Spotify now!

https://play.spotify.com/album/3oVKqk9TahxvHpFIUlAEuJ

[Scrustle]

As I've been playing Shantae these past few days I haven't been able to get the music out of my head. It's so catchy and bouncy! I love it.

[Craig]

The Shantae music is great. It's got a real 90s game vibe about it.

[macstat]

Today i was cleaning my house a little bit and i found a Interstate 76 CD! I cant believe i forgot about that. I love every single track on it, but im going to throw "just" 4, i tried to pick different styles of funk so you have something to pick from .

Interstate ost is very special to me. In 97 a lot of PC games still used midi synthesizer music, so at least in my memory I'76 was one of first games that showed me how rich game music can be.
Also, this game was really lonely experience. For hours its was just you, desert, occasional poem in CB radio and ... yes, your trusty cassette player (i assume that's what we had in 70s ). That made music so much more important part of the game.

[zen_anarchy]

just going to add these

epic when it kicks in


something about the music in platinum games that makes me love them epic cheesy 80s hair metal, loved metal gear rising revengence soundtrack and now love the transformers sound track as well

[mikeleddy83]

Another song popped in my head today and I researched the composer to find the creator of some of my latest favourites along with too many from back in the day too. I'm starting to wonder where this guy hasn't worked, the list is endless. MEGATEN, what a name!

[ToQi]

If you want your heart broken, listen to this official piano arrangement of "Ahead On Our Way" https://youtu.be/mOgGZUWOPMc
Album: Piano Collections: Final Fantasy VII
Composer: Nobuo Uematsu
Arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi
Performed by Seiji Honda

Really dark, weird choice for fun: "Interval of Freezed Time" from Star Ocean Till the End of Time - Motoi Sakuraba https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N85mxgIDnIo

Or a bit different - "J.J. Bop" from Andrew Hale's score for L.A. Noire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTXvdayBRvk

[Flabyo]

In a bit of a Zelda mood today, lets have some official remixes/arrangements...

An 8-bit style version of Twilight Princesses overworld theme, this is from Hyrule Warriors, they added a Twilight Princess quest mode in a title update... (Also go check out 'Under Siege' way up thread for my favourite piece from Hyrule Warriors)


The arrangement of LTTP's Dark World theme from Smash Brawl. Quite different in feel to the original piece.


The 25th anniversary concert version of Ballad of the Goddess (still my favourite piece of Zelda series music)


And a couple of fan arrangements, this first is Darkesword's version of the intro to Wind Waker:


And a really lovely rendition of 'Ballad of the Wind Fish' from Awakening...

[KevinC5280]

Although suffering from a severe lack of narrative and clunky controls, Armored Core 2 was a unique experience in my gaming history. I'll never forget nights spent building my very own highly customizable mechs, pitting them against my friends builds and the single player missions. With it's chaotic beat but happy melody, the song Op perfectly captures the childish happiness and freedom one gets piloting a mech through a cool sci fi environment.



Bonus submission:

Bomberman Hero introduced me to Drum n' Bass before I even knew what it was. The song Redial is just a funky, chill and enjoyable tune that brings me back to a simpler time in gaming.



Thank you Cane and Rinse podcast for what you do. I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to the podcast and look forward to more.

[seansthomas]

Has Her Story been out long enough that we can play 'The wind and the rain' yet?



If not, could close the show with it and warn of spoilers?

I loved Her Story. Sam Barlow's previous game Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was one of the best Wii games I played and I was also a big fan of Bikini Atoll and Joe Gideon & the Shark, two bands Viva Seifert played in many moons ago when I first loved to London. So when I learned of this game, I was keen to explore it. On the one hand, I think the song is a bit of an anomaly within the game, yet I think it does a similar thing to 'Still Alive' in Portal and encapsulates the spirit of it.