Well, this is simple. Since there are a lot of bands or musicians that only do music for games, it would be cool that you mention bands or musicians from games that you like. Example: I like a lot Econoline Crush from the PS game Sled Storm, Saki Kaskas from various Need for Speed versions, and obviously the VRock station form GTA Vice City. You can mention only the game if you want to, since not all the games have music credits.

Econoline Crush is a pretty big industrial rock band in Canada, they dont just make music for games...

As for music made excusively for games, I think my two favorites ever would be Quake (with an ambient soundtrack from NIN) and Descent II, with its industrial metal soundtrack made by Ogre from Skinny Puppy. Naturally neither of these guys are just game music composers but these soundtracks are available exclusively with the games.

I know only 2 or 3 songs from a game that I've never played but it seems that is quite known and good: castlevania, but I don't know what band makes the music

The soundtrack of Valkyrie Profile is amazing. Motoi Sakuraba's best work. I also really like the Lufia I and II soundtrack. A lot of memorable songs. I am also into the Skies of Arcadia, Secret of Mana, and Suikoden soundtracks. A lot of these tunes are memorable. Also, they remind of the events in the specific game.

i reckon the first ever doom level on doom 1 has a very catchy riff or watever sorta like m o p if you no what i mean

Thats because a lot of the audio tracks in Doom were indeed midi versions of metal riffs, especially of Slayer...

UT 2004 ! \
What music ! Feels u up with adrenalin .

I am currently hooked with this opening song from the videogame Zone of the Enders 2: Second Runner. I bet it may sound lame for other people but I just can't keep from listening to it. The song is titled: "Kiss Me Sunlight". I also have some songs from Final Fantasy (of course) that include Aerith's theme song (the one from her assassination scene), Red XIII theme song (the one from Cosmo Canyon) and both songs I have just mentioned in an orchestrated version from the Advent Children movie.

I also have the ending result of the collaboration of Ritsuki Nakano (Rikki) in singing, Kazushige Nojima composing the lyrics and Nobuo Uematsu composing the instrumentation, which spawned a majestic song titled: "Suteki Da Ne" (Isn't It Wonderful?) for my second favorite Final Fantasy, the tenth one. I cannot forget to mention Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty theme song which brings chills down my spine each time I listen to it.

@The Alchemist : ahh my favorite game and yes I love the music .

Also I found myself liking a lot of the Final Fantasy music , it just great and I love the way they combine the music and stuff ...Good thread let me see If I can remember later... of more .

Who doesn't love the music from the Final Fantasy games?

Well said, Warman. Nobuo Uematsu is amongs my favorite composers, easily beating most metal bands. I won't even bother mentioning great FF albums or songs. Though you should try The Black Mages, Nobuo's band that play FF music with real insturments, in a metal-ish style.

I listen to a lot of video game music, but lately I've been hooked on the MGS soundtracks, especially the first one and Snake Eater. Sons of Liberty is alright, but doesn't stand out, IMO. Also, the Silent Hill soundtracks by Akira Yamaoka are magnificent, I recommend getting SH4:The Room OST if you are into atmospheric music that is not some sort of folk.

In addition, you can't go wrong with Wild Arms, Xenogears or Castlevania. Lament of Tears and Symphony of the Night just make me want to.. err.. let's just leave it at that?

All the aforementioned are games and soundtracks that are widely known and recognized, so I'd like to recommend an album that is not so often mentioned. Violence Killer: Turok New Generation has a nice soundtrack of orchestral music fitting an action game. Might not be as grand as the compositions by Harry Gregson-Williams in MGS3, but it's definetely worth a listen.

Dream Theater didn't make Overture 1928 for the game it was in (I don't remember) but it was in some game...in the intro...

Written by IronAngel on 05.06.2006 at 13:18

Well said, Warman. Nobuo Uematsu is amongs my favorite composers, easily beating most metal bands. I won't even bother mentioning great FF albums or songs. Though you should try The Black Mages, Nobuo's band that play FF music with real insturments, in a metal-ish style.

Well, am I the only one who thinks that every Final Fantasy OST only has a few magnificent tracks and that the rest of the tracks are just very mediocre? The Final Fantasy VII OST had great songs such as "Aerith Theme", "World Crisis" and "The Great Warrior". The OST exists of 4 discs, and on 4 discs Nobuo could only create a few excellent songs. A bit weak IMO.

For example: Motoi Sakuraba. The OST of Valkyrie Profile is enjoyable from the begin untill the end. Not one song is boring,every song is different and just very unique. It is something that I like about Motoi Sakuraba when Nobuo Uematsu completely miss this.

In my opinion, a game OST should give you shivers when listening to it, the OST should complete the quality of the video game. Nobuo does this, but most of the songs are just boring if you aren't playing Final Fantasy. Composers such as Motoi Sakuraba(Valkyrie Profile/Baten Kaitos/Tales of../Star Ocean), Yasunori Shiono(Lufia I/II) and Hikori Kikuta(Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu) have a better talent for this. The songs are also very enjoyable when you don't play the game.

Hmm.. If you put it like that, yes. I agree, most Final Fantasy OSTs include boring songs. The games are huge, and 4 discs of backgrounds music ought to feature some less amazing song. I do find myself skipping some songs when listening to, say, FFVII OST. But in my eyes this doesn't lower Nobuo's value one bit. The amazing songs are still there, and I have yet to find a game music composer that has as good pieces of work as Nobuo's best. It might be partially because of my sentimental bond to Final Fantasy music, them being the first RPGs I played, but I like to believe Nobuo's best songs are on the top of the genre.

I can't say I have heard Sakuraba's work, only while playing Tales of Symphonia and Star Ocean at my friend's. Which album would you recommend me getting first?

Written by IronAngel on 09.06.2006 at 13:52

I can't say I have heard Sakuraba's work, only while playing Tales of Symphonia and Star Ocean at my friend's. Which album would you recommend me getting first?

Well, a better question would be "which game should I play first?" Listening to an OST without playing the actual game is a bit strange..

Anyway, if you had to choose between the Tales of Symphonia OST and Star Ocean OST, then I would go for the Tales of Symphonia OST. However, both OSTs aren't really one of his better works. The Tales of Symphonia OST had a few repetitive tracks. The good thing in this OST is that all the character themes, battle themes and some dungeon themes are quite memorable. The tracks instantly remind you of certain characters, or events in the game. My favourite character was Shihna, and listening to Shihna's theme made me remember how much fun it was to play with her Also, the final boss theme is one amazing track, but Motoi Sakuraba's special talent is creating amazing final dungeon/boss themes (IMO)

Nothing beats Thunder Force IV! Well, most of you won't understand, as I'm talking about a Sega Genesis issued in 1991 by Tecnosoft, therefore, nothing like most of the games released on CD mentioned above.

If you like shooting games, you have to play ThunderForce IV - possibly one of the best in the genre, even nowadays. It's hard, intense but it was also a graphical and musical revolution that eventually brought me to metal.

You can listen to all the tracks (including the bonus tracks only available after finishing the game) here:
http://bennifromhere.free.fr/radio.blog/radio.php

Try out the Opening track, Stage 5 (Docking), Stage 8, Boss 1 to 5, Boss 10, Staff Roll (the other tracks are excellent but less metal).
And of course, don't expect CD quality...
Alternatively, you can check a remix of Stage 8 done by a very talented Japanese guy here.

I hope some retrogamers out there will have a nice time

Anyone knows Jesper Kyd ? The responsible for the subtle and incredible ambiance of all the Hitman serie.

Other favorites are Warcraft II's soundtrack. Ben Hounge's work in Arcanum : Steamworks and Magik Obscura. Jeremy Soule on the Neverwinter Nights ST is also great.

@ylside: Don't know the guy, but I have played Hitman series and the musci is simply awesome. Great soundtrack for a great game. Someone told me that the music should be more like hip-hop, and I swear I beat the shit out of him for such a blasphemous comment. I think you will agree with me in beating the idiot.

Anyone remember that Rammstein-esque metal song Uematsu put in the beginning of Final Fantasy X?

... freaky!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5JlGQ5orL8
Check out what this guy does to one of the tracks from the original NES Contra. This actually sent some chills down my spine cos I was a big Contra-head back in the day...

Written by jupitreas on 30.06.2006 at 13:29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5JlGQ5orL8
Check out what this guy does to one of the tracks from the original NES Contra. This actually sent some chills down my spine cos I was a big Contra-head back in the day...

up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-start.

And that vid ruled!

When we are taking about game music we musn't forget Yuzo Koshiro and Koji Kondo.

Yuzo is the main composer for such series as Streets of Rage and Shinobi(not the newest game though), and is also the composer for Actriser and Shenmue's music. In my opinion, he is one of the best game composer in the world. The music for Revenge of Shenobi is absolutly gorgeous, a perfect game soundtrack.

I'm sure you all know who Koji kondo is, the living legend who created the music for mario and the legend of zelda series. This man has an unvelivable sense of creating a feeling in each music he compose. To create cathy, memorable AND beutiful music is few who can.

If we are talking about games in general, here is a selection of games with great soundtracks: Sonic the hedgehog, Silent hill series, Megaman series, Skies of Arcadia, Perfect dark, Timesplitters 2 etc, etc....

"Into Sandy's Keep" from Doom II. Enjoy
http://www.sirgalahad.org/paul/doom/mp3/map9.mp3

@jupitreas. the song uis great! and teh game is great, awesome. Thanks, partner.

Nobou Uematsu or whatever it is spelled is the greatest game music composer ever. Just check out the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack and you will understand what I mean. And dont believe that is everything he has to offer either.... just search for the amout of games he has worked with and the quality of each release... amazing

I don't know the bands, but I loved the music from super nintendo's Street Fighter II, and from nintendo 64's Perfect Dark.

I loved the music of the game Chrono Trigger for Super Nintendo.
The only game that I could play.
One of the best games ever and the music just blow my head.
The music isn´t metal but is amazing.

Written by Guest on 15.09.2006 at 04:12

I loved the music of the game Chrono Trigger for Super Nintendo.
The only game that I could play.
One of the best games ever and the music just blow my head.
The music isn´t metal but is amazing.

That sure is a great game with just as good music

I'm getting... Downloading, yes, the Quake II soundtrack. It's greatly made by a band called Sonic MAyhem. They're very good. Check them out!.

@Reinhardt - the theme of Q2 is actually made by Rob Zombie, although the rest of the tracks are indeed created by Sonic Mayhem. Still, nothing beats Trent Reznor's soundtrack to the first Quake....