The gaming music appreciation thread.

[dougsdad0629]

noname2200 said:

There's an action RPG series that many of you might not be familiar with called Ys (pronounced "ease"). The games are fairly popular in Japan, but are only modest sellers out west. It's a fun, if shallow, series in which you will wash up on shore, you will be nursed back to health by a girl you'll shortly save, and you will defeat some ancient evil that just happens to threaten the sleepy little hamlet you've wandered into.

More importantly for this thread, it's a series that has some of the most consistently good music I've heard in video games. Granted, none of these songs would ever win a Grammy, but it's had dozens of catchy tunes over the course of twelve games and twenty years, which is no mean feat. I've posted some links to Youtube samples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDm9LaJeN9w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0odS0Ucw1M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uxBPDYg14c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GalGNBExNdU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CuXRyy-t4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smHagLq08yM

So how about you? What series do you feel has consistently good music, whether it's got catchy synth tunes or epic, dramatic scores? My personal runner up is the Ace Combat series, but I know we'll have as many different tastes in music as we do in games, so please share your favorites, with links when possible.

 

 Y's had FANTASTIC music.  I had the first 3 for the Turbo-Grafx CD.  It blew me away.  At the time I never knew a videogame could sound so good.  Some other game music that stands out for me is the end theme for Nights on the Saturn (the kids singing are very cute and the tune is catchy) and Simple and Clean from the original Kingdom Hearts.  I also really like the Metal Gear Solid theme.