Anything by Nobuo Uemastu or David wise.  The majority of all the tracks in Castlevania games.  Also the 16-bit era had tons of games with great soundtracks on the SNES and the Genesis/Mega Drive.  Games that I recently played that have great music: Uncharted 1&2, Assasins Creed series, Tales of Vesperia, and Prince of Persia the Forgotten Sands.

Grant Kirkhope > David Wise, though probably Stickerbrush Symphony > Grant Kirkhope.

I want to start a Rare Flamewar. (not really)

Mega Man. Especially 3 and X.

Nothing else even comes close to coming close for me.

That might be true but I'm not really familiar with Grant Kirkhope's work.  Also Stickerbrush Symphony just might be my favorite composition of the 16-bit era.