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Overlooked Video Game Soundtracks and Songs


LordMetallix

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After doing some searching I couldn't find a topic talking about obscure or lesser known video game soundtracks so I decided to make my own.

 

Sometimes soundtracks are overlooked because the games they are from didn't get international releases, weren't well known or advertised, or other aspects of the game were so bad that no one payed attention to the music. This topic is where we can share some of our favorite songs and soundtracks that are overlooked compared to more famous series like Sonic, Mario, or Halo.

 

I'll start this topic off with one of my personal favorites that I have never seen in a Gamestop or in any sort of store.

 

rhythm-thief-and-the-emperors-treasure-w

 

This soundtrack was created by Naofumi Hataya and Tomoya Othani. It features some fantastic orchestral and techno styled tracks. I like Rhythm games for their music since if I'm not a big fan of the soundtrack then I don't want to work through the minigames to do extra stuff, and this game is my personal favorite rhythm game and has one of my favorite soundtracks to boot.

 

These are just a few of my favorite songs from the game:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0QVhhT-vqE

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSxE6dIjIk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjLCm-jtN68

 

What are some soundtracks or songs from games that you feel are overlooked compared to the bigger more hyped up titles?

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I never played this game but I know this is an awesome song.

 

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Absolutely anything from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, the main theme in particular.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DtVBD6W5_A

 

This just gives me chills. It totally captures the feeling of a bleak journey across the galaxy, before shifting into a sense of dread, hence the "Sith Lords" in the title. 

 

Mark Grisley's work in this game cements it as my favorite Star Wars soundtrack, hands down.

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I could go with the Follin brothers, but that's really all that needs to be said there. Anything outside of Ecco has pretty much been; bad gameplay, phenomenal music.

 

Grounseed for PC98, probably one of the greatest FM-based soundtracks and it was criminally overlooked up until the advent of hoot music player and the death of Ryu Umemoto back in 2011. Personally, the soundtrack made me fall in love with FM synthesis.

 

 

 

Knight Arms for the X68000 is another game with a great FM soundtrack. Won a lot of awards and acclaim in Japan but is barely known outside of that. The full name of the game still gets lost in translation to this day but it has wild basses and has tons of heavy rock tracks.

 

 

It's still pretty interesting to see what techniques composers used to churn quality tracks with the limitations.

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Xenoblade Chronicles has one hell of an amazing soundtrack. These are some of my favourite songs (spoilered because there are 4 videos and I don't want to make a massive stack on this post).

 

 

 

 

 

Hell, it's all good. Go have a listen to the entire soundtrack.

 

I know this game was universally acclaimed but I don't know how much it sold, but considering the amount of hoops you had to go through to get the game I don't think it sold too well.

 

EDIT: It sold 0.86 million. Shame really, this game is one beast JRPG.

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I really think that LEGO Isoand and LEGO Universe both had great soundtracks, and are oftenly overlooked. LEGO Island has a more zany but catchy vibe, and LEGO Universe had a more epic and atmospheric soundtrack (composed by Brian Tyler).

http://youtu.be/8Ap3Q5_atXY

(I can't help but love the earlier, it's really catchy in some wierd way)

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I never played this game but I know this is an awesome song.

 

*snippet of TLR's awesome OST*

Warp, you should play the game too, it's pretty alright. But the OST, mah gawd, the OST makes it so much better.

 

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I swear Mario Land has the most overlooked and underrated Mario soundtrack.

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Dust An Elysian Tail has an amazing soundtrack which is hardly, if ever, recognised by many. The game was composed by Alexander Brandon (who worked on Jazz Jackrabbit 2's soundtrack!) and HyperDuck SoundWorks. Not only is a lot of the music really epic sounding, like this one;

 

 

There are also a few tracks which sound beautiful and even emotional, especially within the context of the game's story. These two in particular are my favourites because of this; the first for being great main menu music, the other for being such a beautiful, mysterious piece of music that draws you into Dust's world and his past (which is a fairly shocking twist).

 

 

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Dynamite Headdy. Listening to this game's soundtrack was just pure awesome. For such an underrated gem of a game, it had a pretty damn good soundtrack to boot too on the Sega Genesis. Especially these ones being my favorite tracks in the game:

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

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IuoQpiDu3I

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOUkbT64ESo

 

I also want to add this one too from Marvel VS Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. People might not like the game's soundtrack because of Marvel VS Capcom: Clash of the Superheroes' soundtrack was mainly character themes, but there is something I do actually like about it. Maybe it's just that I have a taste for Jazz music in video games, but this soundtrack did wonders for my ears. The Clock Tower stage's theme is one of my all time favorite tracks in the video game series to listen to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQSl5U2HzvM

 

It feels so damn good listening this. <3

 

I swear Mario Land has the most overlooked and underrated Mario soundtrack.

 

I agree.

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Fur Fighters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjQJ1PVR_rM&list=PL9D7C5AA0F995844D&feature=player_detailpage

I mean, this game's entire OST is amazing. Plus, every stage, barring the last few, has 6 versions of a song, one for each character. So that one I posted is Juliette's, so it sounds French. But when you're Chang, for example...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bc77MUdK1c&list=PL9D7C5AA0F995844D&feature=player_detailpage

You get Chinese instruments. It's amazing. Here's most of the soundtrack.

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I can't stress this enough, Clockwork Knight 2 is an underrated gem of a game from SEGA's past. Don't believe me? Check out how good the music is.

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJQ-U0INil8 

 

This is the Study Room boss music, You play as pepper, a toy clockwork knight with a key blade as a weapon (Sora eat your heart out) and the second boss of the game you fight a piece of paper that dips itself into various inks and transforms into a Gorilla at first until you deal enough damage, it then turns back to paper and dips itself in yellow ink and becomes a leopard, deal enough damage and it dips itself in blue ink and becomes a bat. This is like, amazing creativity for it's time, the game was incredibly fun and varied and it really embraced the whole "toy" "life style" "home" theme about it as levels were set in rooms in the house, enemies were made up of every day objects like pencils and springs, or just toys.

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8yL_Jp5MpY  

 

First level is set in a kid's bedroom where you traverse building blocks, coloured pencils and books and eventually toy building structures. The music is so good I can't even...

 

That's the problem, this game is so obscure and forgotten in SEGA's past, there's barely any videos of it on Youtube and there's no full, complete soundtrack to this day which is a raging shame because the soundtrack is incredible from beginning to end.

 

The game is definitely something that got a stronger audience in Japan as it definitely had more of presence there.

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7UuYxHyH4g 

 

 

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This plays during the 'First World Bank' mission of Payday: The Heist, in which the crew rob a large bank. While the whole game is an homage to Heat (the 1995 Michael Mann film), this tune in particular is a throwback to the score for this scene from the movie:

 

 

Takes a while to get to it, but you'll notice it eventually.

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Bomberman 64 The Second Attack has one of the best soundtracks, especially for a 64 game....the quality of the OST is just overwhelming for Bomberman and the generation of gaming it came out in if you ask me.

 

 

http://youtu.be/XHrD8ntoZlw

 

I mean, just listen to it, I implore you to just give any of the two videos a listen. The music is very exciting and uplifting.

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I'm not really a massive fan of game soundtracks like a lot of people here, I rarely go out of my way to actively listen to them, but when I do.....it's Light Crusader.

The Green Row Pub especially is just fantastic, and as far as I remember, it's a piece of music you never hear outside of the pub in the village so you could easily play the game and ever hear it.

 

 

Also, it could just be coincidence, but it seems to have inspired To Zanarkand from FFX

 

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I've got a lot of time for the soundtrack in the PS1 game; Bugs Bunny & Taz Time Busters. 

 

There's quite a few gems. One being the stage, Moon Valley. The music perfectly fits the relaxed night-time atmosphere of the level.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2iZQL6smsg

 

 

Here's another catchy piece of music: 

 

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

 

 

The soundtrack definitely enhances the game's overall experience.

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I loved this 8-bit piece of soundtrack. Despite the first level was nothing but collecting eggs and hacking computers, this music made it feel like it was a thrilling adventure

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Another LEGO game soundtrack, but this one is a game that I forgot even existed. And I actually have the game.

I love how ambient yet tense this track is. From what I remember, it took place in a rocky area on a coastline towards the beginning of the game.

This track is brilliant too. It's very heroic and epic, and this is actually one that I remembered but could never remember what game it was from, or if it was even from a game.

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Sonic riders zero gravity definitely had some amazing tracks, and its a shame that its not apreciated the way it should be :(

 

 

 

 

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Ctrl+F - "Monkey Island"

 

0 of 0 results

 

I know what I must do

 

Michael Land is a god among videogame composers. Really, please, listen to the main theme of the series...

 

(at :50, holy crap) 

 

And of course, this music goes as far back as the MSDos games..

 

 

There's so much to love about the music of these games, I just can't get enough of how ambient it is, yet it's so catchy and memorable. My favorite of the bunch, though?

 

 
Curse of Monkey Island. Why?
 
For THIS alone: 
 
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Ctrl+F - "Monkey Island"

 

0 of 0 results

 

I know what I must do

 

Michael Land is a god among videogame composers. Really, please, listen to the main theme of the series...

 

(at :50, holy crap) 

 

And of course, this music goes as far back as the MSDos games..

 

 

There's so much to love about the music of these games, I just can't get enough of how ambient it is, yet it's so catchy and memorable. My favorite of the bunch, though?

 

 
Curse of Monkey Island. Why?
 
For THIS alone: 
 

 

XD Monkey Island isnt an underated game, its very well known

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I have long been a great believer in the power of music to not only enhance our experience of gameplay, but to transform it into a transcendent experience, bordering on the religious at times. At its best, it moves away from being "that noiz wot 'appens wen I play gaemz," and becomes a central part of the experience itself, sitting alongside, rather than behind, gameplay and graphical fidelity, as a key element of our (and certainly my) enjoyment of the product. I am not joking when I say that, without good scores, videogames would not be worth playing.

 

 

One of the best known composers of the last generation of consoles has been Jesper Kyd. His work with Ubisoft on the Assassin's Creed game series is deservedly very well known and much loved (if perhaps a tad over-egged at times), but that wasn't all he was involved with. Nope, no sir! Among other things, he was also brought in to do the soundtrack to the phenomenally enjoyable Darksiders 2... and this is among my favorite pieces of his music from that oft-overlooked game:

 

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So I just remembered that there's another game out there with a superb soundtrack, a soundtrack which nobody ever talks about. It's a Disney game called The Emperor's New Groove. Not only is this one of my favourite licensed Disney games, it also has a soundtrack with some of the catchiest and coolest tunes around...with a Latin American twist of course!

 

 

 

 

 

Omgosh I LOVE this so much! <3

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