Amazed no one mentioned the two sensible classics. I know they’re not classic full game compositions, more like theme tunes, but damn I loved these when I was a kid. And from when I was a bit older, the intro to one of my favourite games of all time. Come get some!!
Video Game Soundtracks
redtaperecorder
#43
Secret of Mana was an epic RPG for the SNES and the soundtrack was equal to what it demanded in its depth a beauty. 25 years later it still sounds ahead of its time…
DAICON
#45
Since we’re talking about compiled soundtracks now…
The SSX 3 soundtrack was basically my introduction to dance music.
Petey
#46
SSX On Tour was one of my favourites. Some big tunes on that one.
The original Tony Hawks game had some choice cuts, too. I actually went out of my way to track down this disc by The Ernies, 'cause I really loved the track Here & Now. The rest of the album was… not so good.
jomes.bloke
#47
@DAICON The new season of Digging in the Carts focuses on “western” 8-bit/16-bit music and the first episode has a bit on David Wise (and thus DKC) https://www.redbullradio.com/shows/diggin-carts/episodes/nolan-bushnell-and-nightwave
To be honest Aquatic Ambience always reminds me of Chrono Trigger (Mitsuda) but only because I spent more time with CT than DK2.
But in general I tend to like “aquatic” themes in games for some reason haha. One of my other SNES favourites was
(actually all of metroid in general, especially the more “ambient” bits)
pmodel
#48
Rockstar put together some good soundtracks eh. Midnight Club series def underrated!
Driving about Tokyo listening to Underground Resistance 
pmodel
#49
Didn’t know Digging in the Carts was back, thanks for sharing!
Completed Chrono Trigger and then Chrono Cross a couple of years ago when I first got a Raspberry Pi set up with retropie, brilliant, epic games. I think Chrono Trigger might actually be one of my all time favourites, and soundtrack too, so good!
irritatingsteppa
#50
Speaking of diggin in the carts. Hyperdub just reissued their Pioneering Japanese Video Game Music
Petey
#51
New ToeJam & Earl game coming, and these new takes on the old soundtrack have me feeling a lot of ways.
max-renn
#55
Can’t have a video game music thread without Tim Follin. Despite how awful a game it was, the music for Silver Surfer hooked me as a little kid. On a technical level it’s insanely impressive, especially when you know the architecture of the 2A03 chip. Pretty much everything Tim did for the NES was superb, even if some of the games were well…not great. Even his later period work was still fantastic. It’s a shame he quit composing around '05.
Going to bump this thread because I’ve been getting into a ton of classic 16 bit game soundtracks recently and have been realizing that the early era of game music is some of the most innovative electronic music of its time. This is especially true considering how far they were pushing such limited technology.
I just copped “Lagrange Point” OST on record recently. It was technically made for an 8 bit system but the cartridge for this game contained an extra chip that allowed the composer to include FM synthesis. Probably blew a lot of minds back in the day.