When video game music is good, it can really heighten the experience of a great game. Fast-paced shooters need killer beats, and wistful RPGs would not be the same without breezy woodwinds and power ballads. But when video game music is bad, it’s very, very bad. There’s nothing worse than repetitive, 8-bit tunes going round and round on a 5 minute loop.
That might be the reason, in fact, why some of the biggest games of the past few years have used music very sparingly. For games like Factorio or Kerbal Space Program, both huge time-sinks that players typically devote hundreds of hours to, having no music is a safe (if a slightly boring) choice.
So spare a thought for video game composers. When they get it right, we hardly notice the music they have lovingly crafted, because it fits so well with the game we are playing. When they get it wrong, everyone notices. Their failures stick in our minds far more than their success.
With that in mind, today we’re going to take a look at the 22 (plus one) best video Game soundtracks of all time, and give credit where credit is due. 🎶 🎮 🎶
#1 Tetris
Let’s start right at the beginning. One of the most recognizable video game tunes in the world is the theme from the original Tetris.
The thing is this tune kind of breaks my rules for this list, where I’m supposed to be listing original video game music that was made specifically for games. The Tetris theme was actually written way back in 1861, as a poem by the Russian poet Nikolay Nekrasov. It was then turned into a popular folk song and was well known in Russia already by 1946, the year that a museum to the poem (yep, a whole museum) opened.
So it sort of breaks the rules because the music was made 130 years before the game. On the other hand, I want to give Hirokazu Tanaka credit for his genius in rescuing an obscure Russian folk song from obscurity and making it the soundtrack to the most successful game of all time.
You can listen to the theme here, but on second thoughts DON’T DO THAT because you’ll be humming it for the next month if you do.
If you’re a fan of virtual reality systems and also huge on Tetris, we recommend you check out the PSVR game of the same name. You won’t be disappointed.
#2 Secret of Mana
The Secret of Mana games are some of my favorites from the classic SNES era. Though the gameplay of these RPGs now feels pretty simplistic in relation to more modern examples of the genre, the visuals and audio remain simply glorious.
What also makes the music in the Secret of Mana games so amazing is that it was Hiroki Kikuta’s first soundtrack. He was also working with some pretty basic hardware but managed to get sounds from the SNES sound chip that no-one else had imagined were possible. Like whale song, for instance.
This music is certainly trippy, but that fits perfectly with the over-saturated, pulsating visuals of the Secret of Mana games.
For fans of games like Secret of Mana 2, Custom Keychains offer the perfect blend of nostalgia and practicality.
These keyholes can be customized with images of your favorite characters, iconic in-game items, or even personalized gamer tags.
Whether as a collectible, a convention giveaway, or a gift for a fellow gamer, these custom keychains transform gaming memories into tangible keepsakes.
If you’re in urgent need of a custom keychain, GSJJ’s express customization service may be the solution.
#3 God of War
The God of War soundtracks have been the stuff of legend (literally) for years now, from the original game up to the most recent. That’s the benefit, I suppose, of setting your game in a culture – Old Norse – that comes with it’s own rich musical heritage.
What makes the God of War soundtracks among the best video game soundtracks ever is the way that they draw on Norse folk traditions without seeming cheesy or overdone. The strings, the ethereal voices, and even the hurdy-gurdy (yes, a hurdy-gurdy 🙂 ) manage to lift the experience of playing the game without ever getting annoying or silly.
Full points, then, to Bear McCreary, the composer of the music for one of the best PS4 exclusives, who says that he explicitly drew inspiration from earlier games in the series:
“I took my memories of that classic God of War soundtrack – the deep choirs, pounding drums, and shrieking brass – and reinvented them for a Norse age,” writes McCreary. “I wrote new themes, and introduced to the music exotic instrumentation and languages from various Northern European folk traditions.”
Make sure to check out the God of War treasure maps if you’re interested in experiencing this musically elevating adventure.
#4 Nier
Yeh. Neir was a weird game, right? If you’ve never played it, I recommend giving it a few hours. Preferably with friends, so you can experience the baffling, hilarious nonsense that the game is composed of.
Neir, for those of you who don’t know, was an attempt by Square Enix to make an outstanding RPG that appealed equally to the Japanese and American markets. They made different characters for each region the game was released in, and the result is a glorious weirdness.
The soundtrack is equally strange and equally glorious. Here we have a mix of Spanish Guitar (?), breakbeat (??), and Emi Evans warbling away in what she once described as ‘made-up futuristic languages’ (???). Yep.
The soundtrack for Neir, in short, perfectly fits the game. But actually, part of the reason it’s on this list is that it makes a great soundtrack for other RPGs as well. Seriously, next time you play Final Fantasy, stick the soundtrack to Neir over the top. Trippy, right?
#5 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
I can’t believe the Ocarina of Time is so far down this list, but I had a lot of classic soundtracks to fit in before it. The soundtrack to the Ocarina of Time is amazing, of course, just like all the other Zelda games. But the tunes in Ocarina stand out even among that amazing selection for a couple of reasons.
One is that music is an integral part of the game. If you haven’t played Ocarina of Time, let me explain: you play your Ocarina (kind of a flute, I guess) to move around the game world, make plants grow, summon your horse, and do all kinds of other things. Actually, if you haven’t played Ocarina of Time, stop reading this right now and go play it, it will make you a better person.
Anyway. So the tunes that Koji Kondo made had to be good because you’re going to be playing them yourself. And they are. I can still remember, believe it not, the button combination for the Song of Storms.
Add to this the fact that the music in the Ocarina of Time has left a long legacy. It has been reprized in every Zelda game since, and occasionally makes appearances in other games too. One of the best Terraria mods, believe it or not, adds the Ocarina of Time music to that game. And that’s the biggest compliment there is.
#6 Metroid Prime
The music for the Metroid games has always been great. The pleasure of these soundtracks has always been that they work seamlessly with the technology the game runs on. The Metroid universe is a kind of 8-bit, retro-futuristic, glitchy place anyway, so sound designers have had a lot of fun messing around with the limitations of the NES, SNES, and Game Boy.
I’ve chosen Metroid Prime, though, because it manages to mix this choppy, electro sound with passages of genuine emotion. Because of this, it adds a sense of sadness to exploring Tallon IV that is sadly missing in many side-scrolling shooters. The music here, in short, manages to do that rare thing: heighten the experience of the game, and add emotional overtones that would simply not be there without the soaring strings.
#7 Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse
Castlevania is another series of games that are legendary for their music. The series has always been a pioneer when it comes to getting genuinely catchy tunes out of limited hardware, right from the original game’s “Vampire Killer”.
I’ve chosen Castlevania 3, though, because this is arguably the peak of the series’ soundtracks. The game developers took the music for this title more seriously than ever, to the extent to adding a dedicated extra sound chip to the Famicom version to give their composer’s even greater freedom. The result is a thumping, driving a selection of electro beats that makes killing vampire Nazis even more enjoyable than it is already.
#8 Streets Of Rage 2
I promise I’ll stop talking about 16-bit games soon, but I can’t leave this classic era behind without giving a shot out to arguably the best soundtrack on the Genesis. That’s Streets of Rage 2.
While we’re giving a shout out to video game composers, it’s a rare pleasure to notice that Yuzo Koshiro, the composer for Streets of Rage 2, gets his name on the title screen. There’s a reason for that, of course: the music he created for the game is an integral part of it’s aesthetic.
Musical influences here come from everywhere. Eurobeat, Detroit House, and 80s Techno are all blended into a dystopic (and weirdly disturbing) soundtrack that adds a lot to the game. Though the visuals in Streets of Rage are already great, the music here manages to turn the gritty city settings into a dystopic action movie.
#9 Halo 3
Now for something a little more modern. You might not think you remember the music from Halo 3, but trust me, you do. That, in fact, is the beauty of the music in the game. Where other FPS games went for thumping, driving beats to try to add a little spice to their games, Halo went the other way. Here we’ve got soaring strings and that Gregorian Chant that would become so associated with the series.
Listening back to the tracks from Halo 3, even though you probably don’t know them by name, will bring back memories of your greatest victories. But you probably didn’t even notice that the music was playing at the time. And that’s one of the biggest compliments I can pay to Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s work on Halo.
#10 Final Fantasy … 8?
Ok, now I’m going to get into trouble. The music in the Final Fantasy series is amazing, obviously. But just as everyone has their own favorite game in the series, everyone has their favorite soundtrack too.
So feel free to disagree in the comments section below, but I’m going to go for FF 8 as the best soundtrack in the series. That’s because the soundtrack for FF 8 is just a little more sublime than the other scores in the series. In 8, Nobuo Uematsu has included the prog stylings that we all recognize from the other FF games, but here there are also Classical elements that give the whole game a more orchestral feel.
Another great feature of the Final Fantasy soundtracks, of course, is that they are massive. FF 8 has a full 74 tracks, for instance, and later games have even more. So even if you don’t like the theme tunes, you’re going to like something.
#11 Donkey Kong Country and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
These games have two great soundtracks that I’ve put together because they are the work of a single man: David Wise. The Donkey Kong Country games have always had an irreverent, slightly trippy feel, and Wise’s music is the perfect accompaniment to them. What’s so impressive here, though, is that the range of music he has created for these games manages to mirror the huge range of environments that the graphic artists have created.
The theme tunes for these games are jazzy, funky tunes scored for piano, brass, and monkey noises. Because why not. But then you’ve also got some chill out tracks for underwater sections, and moody ambient music for the underground mines.
#12 Parappa The Rapper
Parappa the Rapper is a game, like the Ocarina of Time, where music is an integral part of the gameplay. If you’ve never played Parappa before, you’re in for a real treat. Basically, you are a dog who wants to impress your girlfriend, who is a flower. And you do that by learning hip hop songs from a range of wacky characters.
The game is kind of like Guitar Hero, but for the Genesis generation. With a dog. And a karate onion. You know, normal things like that. Some would say that the soundtrack for Parappa is the best soundtrack around, and they’ve got a good case. The songs are, after all, what the game is based on.
But here’s the thing. They are a bit annoying, aren’t they? I mean, the songs work really well in the game, and have to have pretty obvious repetitive tunes in order to work. But the music itself is not going to make you braver or melancholic or poetic. Still, it will make you laugh, and for that reason alone Parappa deserves a place on this list.
#13 Mass Effect 2
A real change of tone from Parappa, but the soundtrack to Mass Effect 2 is also a great selection of tracks.
The original Mass Effect started something of a new genre when it comes to video game soundtracks. It’s synth-heavy, experimental style managed to genuinely break away from the idea of ‘video game music’, because there were tracks that you could actually listen to and enjoy without the game. I remember playing non-gamer friends these tracks, in fact, and then surprising them by mentioning where they came from.
Mass Effect 2, which was also featured on our list of best RPG games to play, took this idea and ran with it. The tracks on this soundtrack are complex, mysterious, and yet still manage to provide a driving soundtrack to the action in the game. There is plenty of variety on show, as well, from the more orchestral music of the map screens to the thumping action tracks. So if you haven’t played Mass Effect 2, do that. But if you’re short on time, you can just listen to music.
#14 Neon Drive
I love Neon Drive. If you haven’t come across it before, it’s an arcade-style ‘racing’ game, where you take control of some 80s-style sports cars, and try and weave them past obstacles. That sounds simple, and in fact, this simplicity is one of the joys of game: it’s one of the go-to games I put on when I have non-gamer friends over because the mechanic is so straightforward that everyone understands how to play it.
Don’t confuse ‘simple’ with ‘easy’, though. Neon Drive is stunningly, brutally, hard by the third level. Yet you’ll keep playing it because you might (just might) get a little bit further each time. Or at least every 10 times. Or just once.
This replayability has a lot to do with the music in the game, which is incredible. Like the rest of the game, it takes inspiration from the 80s. This is a soundtrack made of thumping tunes, full of synth and drum machines, and that sets off the levels of the game perfectly.
I could go on about the music in Neon Drive forever, but I’ll just say two things and leave it at that. The first is that it’s the only game I’ve ever seen on Steam where the soundtrack is more popular than the game itself. That’s a bit weird, I know, but it says something about the soundtrack. i.e. that it’s great.
The second thing to say is that Neon Drive is the only (modern) game I know where you get a music delay/advance option right in the game’s main menu. That’s because, even though it’s technically a ‘racing’ game, it’s really a car-themed rhythm game like Guitar Hero (or, in fact, Parappa). Because of this, the soundtrack really needs to deliver. And it does.
#15 The Talos Principle
Composing the music for CroTeam’s masterpiece The Talos Principle must have been really hard. Like all great puzzle games, in the Talos Principle, you’re going to spend a lot of time stood still, looking at the gate you have to open, and thinking through what you’re going to do. This is particularly true in the game’s latter stages, where it gets super hard.
Because of this, you’re going to spend a lot of time listening to the music in the game. A lot of time. And if it’s bad, it’s going to get annoying. Thankfully, it’s not.
That’s not to say that the music here is stunning. Quite the opposite. But that’s an achievement in itself. There are no thumping beats or catchy tunes here, thank god. Instead what you get is ambient, atmospheric strings. There are a few voices in the background to add a bit of mystery, and the occasional soft beat here and there. Sometimes, there is a bit of piano.
The achievement here is that you can play the Talos Principle for hours and hours, and the music is still great.
#16 Persona 4
Persona 4 is a bit of an obscure game with an equally obscure soundtrack. Listen to just a few of the tracks from the game, and one thing will become instantly apparent: this could only have come from Japan.
Lesser sound designers than Shoji Meguro would’ve picked a genre for their soundtrack, and gone from there. Not Shoji, though. Why not have Heavy Metal tracks right after Hip Hop, he thought. Why not mix J-pop with classic 8-bit midi melodies?
The result is … weird. Great, but weird. I’m actually at a bit lost when it comes to describing the music. The best idea is to give it a listen. The soundtrack for Persona 4 is definitely not going to be to everyone’s taste. But I think it deserves to be on this list of the best video game soundtracks, if only for the ambition of what Shoji Meguro is trying to achieve here.
#17 Silent Hill 3
Silent Hill 3 is another one of those series that is famous for its scores. Each game in the series has taken the classic themes that were established in the original Silent Hill, and gradually updated them as more powerful technology became available.
Unlike a lot of game series, though, this classic horror game has had the same composer since the beginning. That’s Akira Yamaoka. His music is instantly recognizable for its mixture of Rock, Trip Hop, Industrial, and Drone, to the extent that people who’ve never played the Silent Hill games still remember it.
Silent Hill 3 is probably the height of these soundtracks, though. There is a huge range of different tracks, each perfectly suited to the various situations you’ll encounter in the game. There are mysterious, almost-relaxing strings that give way to classic rock tunes, and yet every track is great.
#18 Elder Scrolls (All of Them)
Ok, I’m going to cheat a little now. I tried really hard to decide which of the Elder Scrolls games to choose for this list, and in the end, I just couldn’t decide. So I’ve chosen all of them.
As a result, picking individual tracks to discuss is a little difficult, because there are literally hundreds that have appeared over the course of the Elder Scrolls games. But what’s really amazing about them is that they are completely associated with the games, and with Tamriel.
The approach in the Elder Scrolls game is also unique. Oblivion goes for crashing crescendos and Skyrim heroic tunes that lift the spirits. The soundtracks to the Elder Scrolls game are something different. They capture the loneliness of being a sole hero against the world and inject a note of melancholia that is missing in a lot of games of this type.
Ultimately, the music in the Elder Scrolls manages to do something quite special: it makes you feel as if you are doing something important, rather than playing a game. And that’s the best review a video game soundtrack can have.
#19 Journey
2012’s Journey has been somewhat forgotten about in the years since it’s release, and that’s a real shame. When it first appeared it attracted glowing reviews and claims that it had single-handedly launched a new genre of games.
Today, that hype seems justified. In the game, if you’re not familiar with it, you play a robed figure wandering around a huge desert. You meet companions as you progress, but are totally unable to communicate with them except through a single musical chime. You turn pieces of cloth red, and in this way progress in your mysterious journey.
A large part of the game’s appeal is the music. This was the first game to be nominated for a Grammy for sound design, and with good reason. The Cellos here are simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful and lend serious emotional weight to the gameplay.
Best of all, the soundtrack is reactive, responding to your decisions in a way that is seamless and always right on cue. It revolves around variations on a single theme, and after a few hours playing the game, I challenge anyone not to be on the edge of tears.
#20 Katamari Damacy
Katamari Damacy is another contender, alongside Persona 4, for the weirdest video game soundtrack out there. This is immediately apparent: even the loading screens present you with some kooky acapella tracks.
It only gets weirder from there. The soundtrack here is clearly, joyfully inspired by J-Pop, but it bends the genre as far as it will go. The result is a selection of tunes that will put a huge smile on your face, even if they don’t fit all that well with the gameplay.
In the end, though, the soundtrack to Katamari Damacy will keep you entertained even after hours of playing the game, and that’s all a gamer could ask for.
#21 Street Fighter 2
Now we’re getting toward the end of this list, I want to give credit to some games that are not normally talked about for their music. One of these is Street Fighter 2.
Perhaps no-one has talked about the music in SF 2 because the rest of the game is so damn good. It’s amazing, actually, to think back to 1991, and to recognize the sheer ambition of what the creative team were trying to do with this fighting game. There are eight characters, each of who has become a cult icon in their own right, and each of which has a totally different fighting style and set of techniques to learn.
I won’t go on about how good the game is – that’s been done before, everywhere – but just listen to the music. Yep. It’s great. Like the game itself, Yoko Shimomura’s themes for each of the characters manage to be completely different from each other.
This is all the more impressive given that this was her first job composing music, and the first time she had worked with the limited hardware of the CPS-1 sound chip. So next time you give SF 2 a spin, forget everything else that is great about the game, and just listen.
#22 Shadow of the Beast
Whilst I’m talking about how hardware limitations affect game music design, let’s also give a shout out to the pioneering composers of the Amiga era. It’s amazing, looking back, just how much they managed to get out of the simple machine, from the instantly recognizable covers of Lemmings to the iconic theme to Final Fight.
The pinnacle of this achievement, though, is Shadow of the Beast. Though the game itself is kind of rubbish, it had a visual and musical style that was way ahead of its time. It manages to create a dark, surreal feeling that other games wouldn’t match for decades.
So whilst I wouldn’t recommend playing the game, have a listen to the soundtrack, and look at some of the artwork, and take a journey back into video game history. And that’s it. All of the best video game soundtracks ever. Except one, of course …
#22 + 1 GTA: Vice City
Yeh. I know, I know. Vice City doesn’t contain any original music, I hear you say. I agree. It shouldn’t really be on this list. But I’m going to add it anyway.
That’s because Vice City is simply a glorious piece of sound design. Though it relies on third-party tracks (mostly), everyone had to be picked by hand, and everyone contributes to the game. The radio stations that are available in most of the vehicles in the game have the same purpose as many of the bespoke soundtracks in the list above. That’s to create a living, breathing, believable game world. And Vice City is certainly that.
I could have picked any of the GTA games, actually, but for my money, the soundtrack to Vice City is the best, because it was (probably) the hardest to put together. What Rock Star managed to do was to create a soundtrack of 80s pop and rock classics that fit the trashy, laid-back vibe of Vice City perfectly. So I’m including it on this list, whether that breaks the rules or not.
Final Words
As always with this kind of article, I bet I’ve missed some of your favorite soundtracks, and I’ve picked some that you absolutely hate. Sorry. But that’s what the comment section is for.
But what I hope I have done is to address an injustice. Video game sound designers and composers just don’t get enough credit, because if they do their job well we don’t notice. So here’s to them for making good games great, and bad games sound nice. Also, you should definitely check out some of the most amazing indie games on Switch.