Oh boy, I'm in a mood to talk about GSTs. A while ago I got hooked on the
Gimmick! GST. And just recently, while going through my PSP I found the rom and started playing again, thus getting me back into the soundtrack. It's such a beautiful soundtrack and it REALLY sets the mood for the game. Example:
Sophia - Masashi Kageyama (Gimmick!)
In Redbull's documentary on the Japanese video game music industry,
Diggin' in the Crates, they did a segment on Kageyama and about his game. And he's SUCH a wonderful guy! A character you would totally expect to compose that soundtrack.
Another soundtrack I'm really fond of is the
Ridge Racer 4 GST. Listening to the whole album in one sitting is a much better experience than listening to just one or two songs from it, as the whole thing shifts in moods in away that you could use it to get through a whole day. but here are 2 of my favorites: '
Lucid Rhythms' and '
Move Me'
The first
Quake soundtrack, composed by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails), was really nice, that one's another classic of mine. The whole soundtrack is pretty ambient so it's not necessarily something you can just pick a track from but if you're into that dark ambient, Trent Reznor-type stuff and haven't heard it before you should definitely give it a listen.
Undertale's been mentioned a bit in this thread but I'm gonna go ahead and emphasize that, It's not so much as a recommendation to listen to the soundtrack, but to actually PLAY THE GAME. Like yeah, I'm sure for a lot of people, it's been ruined by Tumblr, but I wish that wouldn't let that stop people because it's a truly amazing game.
VERY Earthbound-y, very unique from other RPGs (the bullethell-type defense system is what made me want to download it asap)
But yes, please please play that game. It surpassed all my expectations for it and I'm sure it will do the same for you.
Uh.. The soundtracks for Sonic 1-3 seem like they get sufficient praise to not need to be mentioned but video game music is weird in a sense that it can be something that isn't needed in order to remember the existence of a certain video game. So people can remember Sonic, but may not remember:
Chemical Plant Zone ,
Mystic Cave Zone from Sonic 2 or
Hydrocity Zone from Sonic 3. ect ect
I'd also like to mention an underrated video game composer named Tim Follin. None of the games he's worked on have gained enough notoriety (Considering that a good portion of the games he worked on were C64 and ZX Spectrum ports...) for his talent to be properly recognized. So he's definitely been looked over. Though his most notable track is the
Title Screen theme from Solstice for the NES because that track will have anybody who is even remotely familiar with the NES sound system scratching their heads at how he managed to pull off that sound with the limitations he had. All of the games he's worked on are worth checking out, but to name a couple.
Gauntlet III for C64 and
Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future for Dreamcast
.
aaaaaand since this went on for
way too long, I'm gonna end on a soundtrack that is very special to me, that doesn't need to really be spoken for too much: Animal Crossing for Gamecube. That soundtrack means the world to me and through the beauty of the hourly songs and how wonderful the morning tracks where, that game has made me a morning person. lool
sorry this is a loooooooooooong post I just love VG music and could go on forever about it.
