Surprisingly Good Game Soundtracks
 

Ever bought a game never even thinking about whether the soundtrack will be good, only to be blown away by the sheer catchiness of some of the songs? That's what this topic is for. Feel free to chat about some of your favorite unexpectedly good game tunes.

For me, the biggest one has to be just about any of the WarioWare games. You wouldn't think a series built around five-second minigames would have particularly good music, but I'll be damned if I wasn't humming music from these games for days after playing them. Mike's Song, Mona's Pizza, Dr. Crygor's theme, and Dribble & Spitz's music (from the original WarioWare) were particular highlights from the series for me.

I never really listen to 8-bit music outside of the games from which they hail, but this... this changed everything: Anamanaguchi - Another Winter from the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World game.

I also really like this and this from the same soundtrack. That last one reminds me of the original Sonic games for some reason.

This. I plan to both get the game and rent the movie tomorrow, so I have had that track playing a lot today.

Also, Super Meat Boy.

Holy crap that was amazing!

Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

I've always liked the soundtrack from the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games, particularly from 1 & 2 (never played the third). The music is very nice, with an appropriate mix of guitars and percussion that sets you in the Australian outback nicely. I still listen to some of the songs on my mp3.

Some of my favorite tunes from Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games:

Ty The Tasmanian Tiger - Bridge On The River TY

Ty The Tasmanian Tiger - Boss Cass Robot

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 - Outback Wandering

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 - Sulphur Rocks

Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 2 - Madam Mopoke

Parallax blew me out of this world. There exist many other awesome tunes as well but Parallax was taking things so much to the next level. I recently ripped Eco, weird game but i liked it as well as the music. And here's a secret. Honestly you could post tons of sounds here...

I seem to always keep bringing up Return To Zork, but they did put a lot of work into their orchestral soundtrack.

And of course, here at Telltale, anything by Jared Emerson-Johnson is awesome. That's not unexpected, though.

The soundtrack to the fanmade King's Quest: The Silver Lining surprised me with how good it was. Sounded almost as good as a professional game.

Another good one was the soundtrack to Digital Devil Saga. When I heard a scene summary of "Devil Infested post-apocalyptic deadlands" I never thought "crunchy rock guitar and a subtle string section". That should teach me to never under-estimate Atlus in the soundtrack department.

Grim Fandango.
Final Fantasy X
Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (contains beautiful renditions of all of Nintendo's popular game music)

/topic.

Megaman Legends 1 and 2.
Megaman Battle Network.
Castlevania series.
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga.

Enjoy both. :D

SP is my favorite thing in the world at the moment. Seems like everything that's connected to it is sheer win. I'm just glad I got into it after the full series of graphic novels was released, as the wait between chapters must have been hell.

But back on topic: I should also mention Silent Hill (as a collective series, no game in particular), which has my favorite soundtracks in gaming. The lyrics can be extremely cheesy, but damned if Mary McGlynn can't make them sound amazing.

I look forward to each new SH game like I do a new album. Track listing news, leaked songs, etc. The games themselves are almost just a bonus to me.

Favorites:
Promise (Reprise)
Alex Theme
Letter From The Lost Days

And I'll stop there lest I get carried away and just post every single song. :p

@Guy who posted Scott Pilgrim song

That's some pseudo-8 bit song.
Listen to this!!!:

Ninja Gaiden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP_D_YKnwi0
MM2 Wiley's Castle (epitome of 8 bit) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJRoRt155mA
MM2 Metalman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y82DgpgrC0
MM3 Hardman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXvyGNOqlZk

@Guy who posted about my post:

I know it's not true 8-bit, I should have said chiptune. But yeah, the ones you posted are awesome in-game, but I have no inclination to hear them outside of their respective games.

I guess it helps that Anamanaguchi were an established band before they did that soundtrack, and so they pull from more traditional influences.

Yeah people look weird at me when they listen what songs are on my MP3 player.

I refused to play Halo until I heard the music. Then, I decided that I'd play it even though I suck at FPS.

I also nearly bought Super Mario Galaxy 2 just for the music before I remembered that I don't have a system that can run it. :D

Ace Attorney series, Final Fantasy series, New Super Mario Bros., and of course ToMI. :)

All the tracks in MDK2 is just pure awesome!
I also like some of the tracks in Commandos 2.
And the tracks in Advent Rising is epic. If you like the live orchestra and choir. :)
And a lot of the music from the Monkey Island games, but that is a given. :)

The Time has Come - from Devil May Cry 4 that appears when ever Nero fights is also really cool, not the "We Will Never Surrender". Once you get to the slow end part, it just looses it's awesomeness.

As of late, I've been listening over and over again to the Professor Layton soundtracks. So beautiful and catchy, I have the theme song as my alarm clock.