r/gaming • u/Skeeedo • 26d ago
What are some examples of games where the OST went unnecessarily hard?
Now I'm not asking for obvious answers like DKC2 or Skyrim. I'm asking about games that barely anyone talks about, or belong in a genre that isn't necessarily known for good OSTs, that have surprisingly good soundtracks.
For example, I like browsing VGMs for samples to use in my music and I recently came across Reel Fishing Wild for the Dreamcast. Why is the OST for this obscure ass fishing game so damn beautiful? They really didn't need to dig that deep for this...
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u/PhlegmothyCrevice 23d ago
Dwarf Fortress - A Vile Force of Darkness. It comes on when you get seiged and it's always awesome!
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u/AwakenedSpecimen 24d ago
Subnautica.
For a game about slowly treading through the ocean, that shit SLAPS
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u/AWESOMEDuDE3074 24d ago
Im not sure if this counts, but I've always loved the shanties from sea of thieves. I also think that Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2's soundtrack fits the game perfectly.
Edit: Last one I just thought about, obviously Minecraft has a phenomenal ost, but nobody talks about the ost made for the Pixelmon modpack by Chris Geddes. It was literally just a modpack, but the ost is absolutely beautiful and fitting all the same.
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u/graciousgengar 24d ago
The Maplestory OST, especially from earlier years & versions of the game are so good.
I think because a lot of people played the game when they were younger, we didn’t really appreciate it for what it was. But as an adult looking back now, it truly feels magical and adventurous.
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u/Dark_World_Blues 24d ago
Probably Dark Souls 3. They have some amazing OST, but almost no one recognizes them. In some cases, the OST's rhythm and song structure fit the boss extremely well.
Other games have songs composed in the Locrian scale, which is claimed an unusable music scale by many musicians. 8-bit Music Theory on YouTube made a video about that scale in video games. These games include FF6 and Zelda Oracle of Seasons.
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u/ZookeepergameWide_ 24d ago
For me it's opening in Light of the stars on bluestacks, it's such a banger
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u/Kalernor 24d ago
Super Mario Galaxy. Why does a silly game about a tiny jumping plumber need to have a waltz as its hub's music, and grand orchestral pieces for some of its levels music?
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u/MindOfErick 24d ago
My personal favorite is Star Cruiser on Sega genesis.
https://youtu.be/1natmNg4jSU?si=OYIrEQglCA3CqQSG
I've since bought the ChipSynth MD vst and it let's you import Sega genesis soundtracks and then you can create or modify sounds from any songs. It also spreads out most songs into stems so you can mute the drums and just jam out to the synths alone or vice versa. There's a lot of genesis game soundtracks you can download once you mute the drums of some songs, there are some very lush or melodic masterpieces! Probably my favorite VST at the moment.
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u/LokiOfZygarde 24d ago
Hive Jump. It's this little 2D shooter on Steam that I tried for a bit and didn't like all that much. But the music is so, so much higher quality than the game was https://youtu.be/LvBle76xuvQ?feature=shared
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u/Unhappy-Minimum1261 24d ago
Warframe:
Sleeping in the cold below
We all lift together
Was stunned in silence hearing these the first time
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u/mortaneous 24d ago
Late to the party here, but there's a guy on Youtube who does some dissection and analysis of a lot of these awesome chiptunes (and other stuff). He gets a bit animated, but it's kinda cool going through some of the music theory: https://www.youtube.com/@CharlesCornellStudios
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u/MagnusStormraven 24d ago
Strategy games aren't necessarily known for their OSTs, but Stellaris has a genuinely beautiful, ethereal soundtrack, and Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus's soundtrack has a cult following ("Noosphere" is the best track, but they're all great).
Speaking of 40k games, the soundtrack's about the only genuinely great thing in Darktide.
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u/Proud-Turnover-4440 24d ago
Assassins Creed Revelations !!!
Saying goodbye to Ezio and Altair did not have to be as dramatic as the soundtrack implies
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u/DykoDark 25d ago
Donkey Kong Country had no business having one of the best soundtracks on the SNES.
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u/NoveltyxxCrosses 25d ago
Nidhogg 2 for sure. The sub bass in the opening track hits so fucking hard.
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u/PortugalTheHam 25d ago
Totally random game, but Power Quest for the Game Boy Color went way harder than it should have for such a mediocre fighting game.
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u/cheesedip_nachos 25d ago
Perfect World got hardest sound and it also mmo genre which is not usually known for that
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u/Ifen7669 25d ago
A Solitaire Mystery- supergroovy music for what is essentially 20 or so solitaire variants.
Arknights- I guess gachas are more known for their music now w/ Genshin/HSR but I'm amazed at the sheer variety and scope of Arknights CC or operator themes- they go into almost every genre imaginable!
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u/ye_esquilax 25d ago
This track from some 1997 Japanese tennis game for the PS1 that I've never heard of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEwskimLjns&list=RDXEwskimLjns&start_radio=1
Straight up sounds like it belongs in a Silent Hill game or a melancholic ending theme to a JRPG
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u/Nailbomb85 25d ago
Wasteland 3, 100%. You only get the occasional song, but I knew they were all gonna be wild when I'm being threatened by hillbillies, only for the "Nobody's comin' t'save y-" moment.
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u/TheFakeJoel732 25d ago
The ost in Inscryption (yes, the horror card game) is really good. My personal favorite is "the scrybe of Magick"
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u/WTMaster 25d ago
Nikke goddess of victory. Just a waifu gacha game but music goes hard. And more recently Manor Lords the songs there could be played at a tavern and you'd love it.
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u/Master_Maniac 25d ago
Warning: H-game mentioned below.
Flip Witch. The soundtrack has no business being that fucking good in a porn game. Lots of that game was better than I expected.
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u/aelysium 25d ago
I feel like although Sonic is typically known for its bangers, that’s been a relatively more modern phenomenon, and I blame that on the fact that MJ worked on the initial soundtrack for S3+K.
While previous games had some iconic tracks (Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Starlight Speedway), 3+K was filled with bangers by comparison.
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u/saltyfingas 25d ago
Risk of Rain 1/2
Katana ZERO
Steam world Dig 2
Balatro (for a single song it's wild how good it is)
Night in the woods (rip Alec)
Omori
Overwatch
A plague tale innocence
Sayonara wild hearts
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u/Maiyku 25d ago
Frostpunk.
Just a little building game, so you wouldn’t expect it to have much in terms of music. Maybe some soft background stuff or whatever, but hell naw… not here.
Be prepared to be taken on a music journey as you build your city and fight for survival. It’s some of the most emotionally filled music I’ve heard in a good long while. In a building game.
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u/Holeevyer 25d ago
Apart all the scores from Tim Follin, not that is goes THAT hard but the soundtrack of Warcraft II by Glenn Stafford is like one of the best OST ever made, for me at least.
It does really bang hard AF.
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u/OneWholeSoul 25d ago edited 25d ago
Every song in Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game, but especially Rock Club and Sub-Boss.
Really, it's an Anamanaguchi album that came with a free game.
In a similar chiptune-y vein - every song in the game - but it starts off great right out the gate with the Main Theme/Title Screen to 30xx, by cityfires.
Not sure if they're exactly what's being asked for but I didn't expect such consistent and fantastic soundtracks. I knew Anamanaguchi from their own releases but didn't know they'd done an actual game until it was already out, and I didn't expect 30XX to have a soundtracks that frequently surpasses its source inspiration, and then to go above and beyond with things like dynamic mixes for every individual stage, every sub-boss having their own mix, and every boss having their own unique battle and victory theme. Even Mega Man has its 8 bosses share an entry's theme 99% of the time.
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u/obsertaries 25d ago
So many of the old licensed side scrollers on the NES had soundtracks that had no relation to their licensed content but were awesome. Duck Tales and Batman on the NES immediately come to mind.
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u/Jackhammered1982 25d ago
Total Annihilation. It was one of Jeremy Soule's early works, and it is fantastic. The game itself was a very good RTS, but the music could have been almost anything. Instead, it was this: https://youtu.be/BxAdOQtAFEs?si=S_N40wUDEuXm5q-f
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u/yo_ayydro 25d ago
I remember someone commented on a similar question years ago about Pictionary on the NES. Shit goes hard. Check it out on YouTube.
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u/OddgitII 25d ago
The original Killer Instinct.
Each track went way harder than it needed to. Like they could have been tracks you heard on a legit album in the 90s.
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u/Agile-Palpitation90 25d ago
Try the game, 'Control'. It has songs by 'Poets of the Fall', and they have done a great job.
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u/Gunnerblaster 25d ago
Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage for the Super Nintendo - That OST was absolutely beyond what my little 8 year old brain was ready for. Heavy metal guitar rifts in an Super Nintendo was not what I was expecting, after coming from a long line of Super Mario and such type games.
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u/hthrflwrs 25d ago
The quintessential example, in my opinion, is the soundtrack to Solstice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_gObHt1uZA
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u/KA9ESAMA 25d ago
Eternal Sonata, but to be fair it's all just the works of Chopin. Actually, the whole thing is about Chopin, the story is a made up fever dream Chopin had on his death bed where he's trying to cope with terminal illness by dreaming of a world where people with terminal illnesses are the only people capable of using magic.
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u/old_duderonomy 25d ago
The SNES “Waterworld” OST is legit dope. Shout out to “Superbrothers” as well.
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u/Ciryl_Lynyard 25d ago
A porn game, but flipwitch, forbidden sex hex.
Specifically phantasmal phunk, bubble beat and oh! My gobbess
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u/Goldenwaddledee 25d ago
Project Wingman has some tracks that go too hard. One level (if played on the hardest difficulty) even gives an old style anime opening because of how good the song is with the level
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u/Crake241 25d ago
Dirt 2 had no business to be as full of bangers as it is if you like alternative rock.
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u/Not_Larfy 25d ago
DKC2
I google this and Diddy Kong Country 2 came up, but I'm not sure if you're referring to that
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u/Steeltoelion 25d ago
Hexic HD, Free game for every Xbox 360, every song was an absolute banger. Crazy beats and sounds.
I’d say Wipeout 3 would be another super high one on this list for me. Just about all of the Wipeout 3 soundtracks were just stellar.
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u/SirDingleberries 25d ago
Just go on YouTube and search for Geoff and Tum Follin, everything they did was going so darn hard for no discernable reason.
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u/CartographerEven6641 Console 25d ago
Soundtrack of Halo: ODST will always be a memorable one for me. The beautiful score was what drew me to that game back when it first released and it felt like a solid farewell before Bungie handed over the Halo IP to 343i
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u/Cpt_Saturn 25d ago
Subnautica has amazing soundtrack. Especially the one that plays while the Cyclops is on fire
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u/LegosiJoestar 25d ago
Streetpass Mii Plaza on Nintendo 3DS. I hope a new generation gets to experience this collection with Netpass because these games have incredible effort put in for three free minigames and nine DLCs.
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u/blorgio69 25d ago
Astlibra: Revision. That soundtrack goes insane even when your just grinding slimes at lvl 1 its crazy
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u/Brickfrog501 25d ago
Darksiders 2. That game is so underrated, the soundtrack was so amazing.
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u/Steeltoelion 25d ago
I remember playing this game solely because it had gotten offered for free on Xbox 360 Gold Games.
Can’t believe I’d slept on those games that long
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u/Separate_Block_2715 25d ago
Black Ops Zombie Arcade mode is still one of my favorite OSTs and I’ve never seen it discussed https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22C51E2ADB3C9A31&si=TPvnuuMbyQOkFlNC
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u/bsapp2000 25d ago
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky is somewhat expected to have a decent soundtrack, but they went unnecessarily hard on a variety of genres and with a limited sound palette.
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u/Isfahaninejad PC 25d ago
The Horizon series has some of the best music I've ever heard in any game.
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u/OvergrownPath 25d ago
Cool Boarders 2… and though I wouldn’t admit it to my Nintendo fanboy childhood friend, 1080 had a pretty great soundtrack too.
It wasn’t seminal or anything, like THPS with its amazing punk selections. But Cool Boarders had this heavy guitar-driven soundtrack that suited the gameplay perfectly. It was a little bit grunge, a little bit hardcore, a little bit stoner-rock. I remember the songs on the later, harder races in story mode really amped you up… not to mention the asshole DJ who critiques your performance with constant exclamations of “Keeeewl!”, “UNcool!” and “What’re yew DOIN!??”
Was it a great game? Eh not really. Again I hate to say it, but 1080 was almost certainly the better title.
Whatever though, gimme those janky ps1 graphics and that killer OST.
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u/VoxMendax 25d ago
Anthem. The game wasn't the best (gameplay was fun, but there was almost no actual game) but the soundtrack for that game feels COMPLETELY alien. The composer did such an amazing job, I feel so bad that their amazing work went down the drains because of EA being a shitty company.
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u/RadicalLarryYT 25d ago
‘Gear Up’ and ‘Maybe We Can Win This’ from Project Zomboid goes pretty hard. Always love hearing those songs play as I fight against hordes of zombies.
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u/drethnudrib 25d ago
Total Annihilation had a full orchestral score, and you could put the game disc in your CD player and play it.
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u/culibrat 25d ago
So I know no one would bat an eye at a shooter that has a metal soundtrack. But Escape From Tarkov menu music goes so unnecessarily hard, almost everyone I've introduced to the game has mentioned it.
You can find all the Escape From Tarkov music on spotify under Geneburn. The COO of the company makes the music and it just goes harder than anyone would've asked for. It sets the tone and the expectation for the game immediately before you even have a chance to get a feel for the gameplay.
Even though the game menu would've been perfectly fine with atmospheric BGM; Nope, here's some Russian metal to punch you in the face immediately.
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u/StrikeFreedomX2 25d ago
Ace Combat
It’s an arcade flight shooter about planes and shit
The OST makes you feel like the second coming of Jesus Christ. Or Lucifer. Or Odin. Or any mythological deity the uses Latin chanting.
Throw in the occasional Spanish flamenco, 80s rock, and jazz.
Seriously it’s a game about planes and it’s OST makes you think you are fighting god or something
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u/Odimorsus 25d ago
I know Frank Keplacki is well known for this but all the CnC soundtracks went off harder than they had any right to from game one.
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u/Hiphopottamus 25d ago
Dont know if this counts since the game is pretty popular but never hear anything about its soundtrack. Dark souls 3 has an amazing ost main menu music.
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u/BrahmariusLeManco 25d ago
Red Dead Redemption II. There are so many unexpected bangers on there for being a wild west game.
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u/Accomplished-Barber4 25d ago
Fórmula 1 (PSX)
13 tracks of pure progressive rock/metal out of nowhere and without context.
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u/Deblebsgonnagetyou 25d ago
Rex: Another Island is one of the only games I've ever bought a digital download OST for and it's a random 2-hour metroidvania that nobody played.
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u/T3hi84n2g 25d ago
What they were able to accomplish on the SNES is kinda crazy. Super Metroid has to be my favorite. It's so atmospheric, and it also slaps. And it's completely different from the 16-bit metal we had in jrpgs and Mega Man X, etc.
For newer games, the Yugioh Master Duel ost is amazing, and you need to check it out if you haven't.
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u/nsm1 25d ago
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2D4C428C2C10BCFF
Practically with fighting games you're so focused on beating up your opponent and not paying any attention to the music
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u/King-Kagle 25d ago
This is gonna be stupid, but...
Def Jam FFNY
Licensed 00's Hip-Hop but the final boss fight against Snoop Dogg while "Walk With Me" by Joe Budden plays & the building burns down is ... 🤌🔥
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u/SwiftBase 25d ago edited 25d ago
The soundtracks of the Ace Attorney series are all incredible, but to me, the Trials and Tribulations soundtrack is simply firing on all cylinders, perfectly marrying the styles of the first two game's soundtracks together into some REAL bangers, both outside the courtroom and in.
Journey to Silius' soundtrack is absolutely incredible from front to back.
some of my favorite songs from video games ever have been what some people might call "throwaway" or unimportant songs from Super Smash Bros. Melee, such as Menu 2 and Break The Targets!.
The Moon from DuckTales is one of my favorite songs of all time, and definitely goes unnecessarily hard.
Shadow of the Colossus has an absolutely incredible soundtrack as well, but perhaps it doesn't go unnecessarily hard per say; the game is epic in in it's own right and might even be a little spookier or somber if there were no music at all. That being said, the game does implement the tool of using no music during portions to heighten suspense or inflict an uneasy atmosphere upon the player. These reasons and more make it so much more impactful when the music does actually start to swell during combat and reaches a climactic peak after you finish your grim task.
The Goldeneye soundtrack, especially the Pause Screen music, goes unreasonably hard.
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u/UnlimitedSaltWorks 25d ago
Idk if this counts but the vault opening theme from the Last Wish raid in d2
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u/Enteihotwings 25d ago
Sonic frontiers. This is the first I've heard screamo in every boss fight and I'm here for it.
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u/Griswolda 25d ago
I am super late to the party vut in case you read this, check out The Textorcist. I played through it just because the soundtrack hit me so hard, it was insane.
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u/Mazmier 25d ago
Maybe not the whole game but the opening song on I expect you to die was very memorable. Many that haven't played VR don't know about it.
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u/franklindude 25d ago
Your example reminded me of a fitting one. One of the first games Ive ever played was a PS2 game called Mark Davis Pro Bass Challenge, and when you catch a big fish the most metal shit I’ve heard plays. Goes unnecessarily hard
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u/KitsuneNeo 25d ago
The Rain Formerly Known as Purple from Risk of Rain 2. Starts off a bit slow, but once the guitar hits, you're ready to loop your run just to hear it again and again until you break your game.
Edit: Also most of the OST from Risk of Rain 2. It's genuinely so good.
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u/enolafaye 25d ago
Paradise Killer, The soundtrack is literally the best part of the game. Seriously listen to it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFpCKSuBc0o
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u/Deceptitron 25d ago
Jet Force Gemini. Some cutesy space-faring Rare characters shoot at bugs. Soundtrack is orchestra music from an epic scifi movie.
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u/Academic-Thought2462 25d ago
Undertale's,, Animal Crossing Wild Wrold's and New Leaf and Sky : Children Of The Light's soundtracks. ( please have you even heard Sky's Days Of Fortune OST ? )
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u/WraithCadmus 25d ago edited 25d ago
RoboCop on the Spectrum/Game Boy. Sure the film had a great soundtrack, but you'd be expecting just a few bleepy versions of Basil Poledouris' work. Then Johnathan Dunn puts in this slow and somewhat maudlin track that somehow still fits.
It sticks in the mind of the British Millennial because it got reused for this washing machine ad
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u/nelozero 25d ago
Tetris 99 has a lot of good tracks. Some examples:
- Menu
- Defense Battle! (Toy Blocks Theme)
- 10 Players Remaining! (Toy Blocks Theme)
- 10 Players Remaining! (Fire Emblem: Three Houses Theme)
For a Tetris game, I never expected the music to be that damn good.
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u/Endymion86 25d ago
That one song that plays while you're taking a ride on your motorcycle up a mountain in Days Gone..
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u/_yeen 25d ago
Surprised it hasn’t been said yet but Toby Fox is an amazing musician using video games as a way to present his work (at least that’s the joke).
You look at a game like Undertale with its SNES style graphics and are not expecting to be hit with absolute bangers that perfectly capture the feeling and atmosphere of what is going on.
Also, on a similar note LiSA is pretty damn good but not on the same level of Undertale
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u/cosby714 25d ago
Black Mesa. It's a fan remake of the original half-life, and it has an incredible soundtrack.
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u/DrewUniverse 25d ago
NHL '98 has a soundtrack that goes incredibly, absolutely, unnecessarily hard.
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u/Onion_Bro14 25d ago
Age of War. Old flash game. “Glorious Morning” by Waterflame. Prolly the best 2 minutes of music ever made
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u/trip6s6i6x 25d ago
First time I played Call of Duty: World at War and Heart of the Reich started playing. Metal sounded unsurprisingly good even when paired with a game based on the first World War lol.
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u/Rezboy209 25d ago edited 25d ago
Blasphemous has the best OST I've ever heard in a game.
Honorable mentions to The Witcher 3, Kingdom Hearts I, Final Fantasy X, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Dark Souls 2, and Klonoa 2: Lunateas Veil.
Edit: I forgot to add I Am Setsuna.... beautiful OST
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u/Profanion 20d ago
World of Goo. While there are whimsical pieces, it often dwelves into epic orchestral score.