What games/songs have music that you remember to this day?

I've always been a fan of Mitsuda's work on Chrono Trigger/Cross and Xenogears, and of course the classic Sonic 1-3 tunes. I'm also a fan of the rockin' soundtrack to the Guilty Gear fighting games... but I think overall, my favorite VG song would have to be the Ending Theme to Final Fantasy X:

I always liked To Zanarkand, but the end theme to that game blows it--and everything else--out of the water. I've never been that big of an Uematsu fan, but this song is just gorgeous, especially played by the full orchestra. If there's any videogame track I would ever recommend to a non-gamer to introduce them to the fact that VG music can be more than bleeps and bloops, it's this one.

GodDAMN it's a beautiful piece.

http://media.putfile.com/FFX---Ending-Theme

Even if you hate the FF games or just FFX, even if you hated the scene it was with... listen to that song. It's chillingly phenomenal.

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus both have excellent music. Metroid Prime. Katamari Damacy.

BioShock sounds promising, judging by the demo.

SotC had amazing music. Can't say I remember much about ICO's soundtrack (despite it being one of my favorite games of all time...), but didn't it just have that one little ditty that played when you went to save?

The music was there, just really understated and intermittent. A lot of it was event-triggered themes (e.g. attacking shadow monsters), and even then, it was easy for it to blend into the background.

Also, I love that little save ditty. I even have a t-shirt with the boy and the princess on the save game couch. :D

Argh, that was a fantastic game. I need to dig it out and play it again.

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01056/ is a great trance/dance remix of the save music in question.

I don't know if this qualifies as GOOD music, but for music which both occasionally pops into my head, and is immediately recognizable, I'd have to say Legend of Zelda themes and Mario themes. Oh Super Mario song...

And I second Katamari Damacy, and We <3 Katamari; both have amazingly catchy soundtracks, which I found myself humming to myself for days afterwards, and intermittently pop into my head at work.

Okay, on my Desert Island Disks, I'd like to choose...

"Propaganda" in Beyond Good and Evil. "Hell March" in Red Alert and the "Transport Tycoon Deluxe" theme stand out as memorable to me immediately.

General themes, Max Payne really stood out well (they used the same underlying theme in both games usually in the cutscenes). There was a few good battle tracks in Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark too, including one for a huge siege battle which was really over the top and dramatic.

Oh, and GTA music really sticks. I mean the original (yes, GTA1) I can still recount the "Ballard of Chaplips Calhoune" on the pickup truck channel (as well as the "GTA" song too).

Anaronox's track "Blind Ambition" is very fun and apt, as are a few other tracks from the game (not played the game but the Machinima is great).

Phoenix Wright 1 also had a great build up (if repetitive after a few cases) court drama music. Yes, even a DS game goes on my list.

Saying that, the final final battle music in Pokemon Gold is good, much better then most of the other ones. Really makes it dramatic (well paced, starts with very few bars of music and builds up).

The music in Baldur's Gate was good too, but the theme of the second game really stood out ("You are basically a god!"), and some of the battle music was well paced.

And who can forget the original Doom music. The first level especially is great (I recommend hearing "The Dark Side of Phobos" for some proper instrumental versions of the tracks).

I think that's enough. ;) I've obviously missed out on some console music, Katamari Damacy is one I need to play.

Oh yeah, BG&E! I've got that soundtrack, it turned me into a Jack Wall fan.

Obligatory Guitar Hero reference.

Also, Max Payne's soundtracks were both pretty awesome, just in terms of cinematic presentation.

Jet Set Radio and JSR Future have some of the funkiest music in gaming ;)

FFVII has iconic music. It might be midi but things like Aeris themes have lasted a long time in the gaming world, as has the simple battle victory music. Oh, and the Turks - simple but memorable.

Quake had some excellent music, rocking soundtrack.

WipEout has matched its racing style with the perfect beats for years.

SoTC of course it was brilliant!

Gaming music now a days I feel has lost that spark it used to have. The mind numbing repetitiveness of the old school games has given way to orchestral pieces but honestly, I've been playing BioShock for a good 20 hours and there isn't one piece that stands out in my memory. Not even a phrase.

Oh, Comix Zone also had pretty catchy music. Especially the boss and battle music.

StolenName:
I've been playing BioShock for a good 20 hours and there isn't one piece that stands out in my memory. Not even a phrase.

What, not even "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" from the bathysphere? I mean, that isn't an original work, but it's a great piece of music.

I've actually found the ambient music very good, though not necessarily memorable because it blends in so effectively. It contributes a great deal to the atmosphere, though -- try playing with the music off, I think you won't be quite as on edge without those dissonant strings.

I'll add a second for Quake and Jet Grind Radio. And a first for Chibi Robo, in which the most interesting music is made by playing it. The Robo's every action creates a music note or tone, and even walking creates a little melody that's really quite entrancing.

@StolenName - check out the Phoenix Wright series if you want memorable "classic-style" game music. Some of the most pulse-pounding tunes I've heard in a game that make the already over-the-top court scenes even more intense.

And I can't say that overall the quality has been declining... I mean, the FFX Ending Theme I linked in the first post is just staggeringly beautiful even if it isn't as simple as old-school music. It blows me away.

Ajar:

StolenName:
I've been playing BioShock for a good 20 hours and there isn't one piece that stands out in my memory. Not even a phrase.

What, not even "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" from the bathysphere? I mean, that isn't an original work, but it's a great piece of music.

I've actually found the ambient music very good, though not necessarily memorable because it blends in so effectively. It contributes a great deal to the atmosphere, though -- try playing with the music off, I think you won't be quite as on edge without those dissonant strings.

You've got a point. It all blends beautifully together - and I really enjoyed the period music that gets churned out throughout the game via juke boxes and radios. I'm probably being overly critically because I love the classic tunes and basic melodies of the old-school titles - but really they had to be so repetitive to keep you addicted. Completely different context now I think about it! BioShock = music for effect, Arcade = music for addiction.

And yes, the sound is amazing in BioShock. Some of the tracks during combat or approaching combat or just "hey we'll creep you out" are amazing and extremely tense and ... ah hell. I guess the music is brilliant, though I still haven't taken any of the tracks away with me.

FFX - I think my favorite track in that was the metal-like track that played during the first Blitzball cutscene. That was awesome!

Okay, now we're talking my kinda shit.

I'm going to have a hard time picking out individual tracks so don't be surprised if I just start throwing out entire soundtracks, or if I ramble. I will.

The Planescape: Torment soundtrack is brilliant, possibly my favourite overall. It scores points not just for its artistry, but for its radical departure from "normal" RPG music. Amazingly atmospheric. I'm quite fond of the Fall-From-Grace Theme in particular.

Half-Life 2 and Ep1 have some great music. So does the original, for that matter. A lot of it is just ambient but if you root through it enough to find the "real" music, it's a treat.

Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity both pack some seriously good tunes. Kirill Pokrovsky is kind of like a Euro Jeremy Soule: Great talent, sometimes he phones it in but when he's on, nobody's better.

The open source remake of Star Control 2 (the Ur-Quan Masters, I guess) is filled with awesome music. I'm a bit ashamed to say it, but the music was the best part of the whole thing, in my ever-so-humble opinion.

VTM: Bloodlines was so damn good, I burned it to cd and listen to it in the car. If you don't appreciate the goth styling of the game you won't be much into the music either, but otherwise it's stand-out stuff.

X2: The Threat (and X3: Reunion, which just uses the same soundtrack) is awesome for orchestral, bombastic, BEHOLD THE MAJESTY OF THE COSMOS music. Homeworld is notable for similar qualities, although I don't think it would stand quite as well on its own. It has a much more ambient feel, minus two exceptions that leap immediately to mind: Adagio For Strings, the main them (which was frikkin' brilliant), and that godawful prog-rock abortion Homeworld by Yes (which was frikkin' ear-bleeding shit).

It's becoming clear I could go on like this for most of the afternoon, so a few more notables, quickly: System Shock 2, Freedom Fighters, Uru (all the Myst games, really, although they tend to be hit-or-miss), Mechwarrior 2 (the original, Ghost Bear's Legacy and Mercenaries didn't quite measure up), the No One Lives Forever bonus music, Crusader: No Remorse (again, a bit spotty but some really great tracks, check out Rebel Base A), Max Payne as Joe already pointed out (and wasn't that Poets of the Fall song pretty much the Best Closing Credits Music EVER?), oh god I better stop or we'll never get out of here.

ONE MORE THING: For videogame music fans, check out Matt Uelmen's Diablo 2 outtakes, which last I checked (admittedly a few years back) were available on the Blizzard website (oh hell, just go here and get them: http://www.diabloii.net/files/sounds.shtml) and are close to on-par with the music actually used in the game.

Coming to mind in no particular order for me:

The music from when you fly in the airship in Final Fantasy V.

One of the really rhythmic, distorted, dark, squealy post-Ministry industrial tracks which plays when you get the pheropod and can first control the insectoids in Half Life 2.

The forest music from Ocarina of Time, because I was just playing it-- A great, cheerful little tune, but composed of very strange sound samples--reminds me almost of The Residents.

The pompous, quasi-Wagnerian orchestral surgings of Halo and Halo 2. (I also really like the parts in the Halo games where they put slow, introspective, almost ambient music with sequences where you are violently spattering spacecraft walls with flourescent alien blood-- I think its a weird juxtaposition that really works for the science fiction setting.)

I love many of the recurring tunes of the Metroid franchise, in all their different variants.

The overworld music in Oblivion is really nice.

Another vote for FFX here too--I like the music when they are traveling on the boat, but what sticks with me is the goofy disco version of the crystal theme at the beginning when you first meet Tidus.

Also, the songs that you can get from the guitar-playing dog on Saturday nights at the cafe in Animal Crossing are prettty much all little gems-- They sound very much like Residents tunes, or late 70s/early 80s Ralph Records music of some kind. (What is it with Nintendo and this kind of musical sound?)

Oh yeah! I forgot: The music fom where they go to the big city (Deling?) in Final Fantasy 8. Excellent piece.

Hey, StolenName, the piece I'd recommend checking out from the BioShock soundtrack is "Cohen's Masterpiece." 2k released the full soundtrack online for free through Cult of Rapture; most of it is the atmospheric strings we've been talking about, but Cohen's Masterpiece is a piano work in the style of Sergei Rachmaninov. As a pianist myself, and one who's played a little bit of Rachmaninov, it's absolutely bang on, and a great piece. A couple of the others are good as well (notably ones from near the beginning and toward the end), but the piano one really stands out.

I liked some of the music from Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean. Fairly standard orchestral JRPG stuff, but some solid melodies in there -- and no, I don't mean the jpop bits. ;)

There's an obscure little N64 game called Space Station Silicon Valley with a fantastically quirky soundtrack. It's like elevator music but really good, as odd as that sounds.

Space Station Silicon Valley!! Oh. Em. Gee.

I thought I was the only person to ever have owned or played that game.

Agreed on the soundtrack. I don't think I would ever listen to it outside the game itself, but it was very well done. I now have the strong urge to go put that game into my N64 and play for a while.

Okay, so it turns out Blizzard has pulled all the outtakes (and just about everything else) from their FTP. Does anyone have an alternative source? I haven't had a chance to go looking yet, but based on the list on DiabloII.net it looks like I missed a few, and I want 'em.

Amazing sound design:
System Shock 2
Bioshock
Quake

Amazing musical score:
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Silent Hill

Of all time, I have to pick Secret of Mana. Even being 16-bit, the music itself was just so incredibly polished and integral to the experience. It's unfortunate that it really is little more than a MIDI though, so the audio doesn't hold up as well. I keep a few 'remixed' tracks in my library - http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00859/ is one of my favorites.

I also have to mention The Black Mages, Nobuo Uematsu's 'metal' band that plays remixed versions of some of the best Final Fantasy music.

I had a massive fetish on the dodgy ass music from jazz jackrabbit back when I was 11. I spent hours finding a player that could play the proprietary music data files, and then listened to the soundtrack for a good couple days straight.

Strangely I got much more enjoyment from the music than from the game itself.

I like the Black Mages' rendition of the final battle from FFVI -- not that I ever finished FFVI.

The opening to Fallout 2, with Louis Armstrong's version of "A Kiss to Build a Dream On."

The only music in a game that gets any notice outside of the game for me now is Amon Tobin's work on Spliter Cell.

and to stick with Red Storm for a second, i always enjoyed the prebattle rainbow six music. It always made me feel like i was in some cheeseball Jerry Bruckheimer super action movie, arming myself to the teeth for that dramatic world saving romp where i get the girl and kill the baddies.

Halo, Ico, Morrowind, Oblivion, the music that is playing when Samus first lands on Tallon IV in Metroid Prime, Final Fantasy IX, and the song "Red Moon" from Disgaea.

I just can't get enough of the Grim Fandango soundtrack.

I love the music from :

Grim Fandango
Psychonauts
Quest for Glory ( all of them )
Monkey Island ( wooo! )
Zelda : Ocarina of Time
One Must Fall : 2097
Metroid ( any of them really, they tend to recycle the same tunes )
Bioshock ( The Orchestral Soundtrack, not that horrible Moby stuff )
Civ4 and Battlfield 1942 Title Music
Mafia
Kings Quest 6
Gabriel Knight Theme

ooo there's just so many!

To me, Capcom makes the best game music
Inti Creates also make good remixs to their own music, like ZXA Tunes

Admittedly I'm a big Halo fan, so maybe I'm not the most unbiased voice to volunteer the Halo soundtracks, but the music and sound-design is a significant part of why I'm such a big fan.

I still have the soundtrack CDs for Mechwarrior 2 and the first Aliens vs. Predator kicking around; they make occasional appearances on my mp3 player.

BioShock had lots of stuff I enjoyed.

And to bust out the Golden Moldies, Spy Hunter, Outrun, and Moon Patrol.

-- Steve

edited to add: Going to the Video Games Live concert was an amazing experience if you're into game soundtracks. As many thumbs up as are permissable by your species.

I've always had a soft spot for Ace Combat. A lot of the stuff doesn't really work independently of the game, but I think they did a pretty good job of using the music to help subtly insinuate the "noble aerial knight" feeling of the game. It really sets the pace for the game, and the final mission tracks are darn fitting for those last-stand, final-battle sorts of things.

I've also thought Halo tends to do a pretty good job with music, at the very least in the cut-scenes. Also, did anyone play the original Kingdom Under Fire? I thought that stuff added a different feel to a medieval combat game, and really liked it.

As far as older stuff goes, early Mega Man games had some seriously catchy 8-bit jams. The ending music of Streets of Rage 2 always gave me a pretty satisfied feeling when I beat the game in those Genesis days, and it still does today on Live Arcade.

It may not be out yet, but Guitar Hero III is going to have what is easily one of the greatest soundtracks to ever grace a game.

I mean, have you seen the huge list of songs that have been announced for the game?

And adding downloadable tracks further on down the line, plus rerecordings of lost master tracks, and co-op career.... dammit, I want this game, solely because the music will kick so very much ass.

There's an artical about it on this site somewhere, but I don't know how to do links, so you'll have to find it yourself.

Anyway, for games that have good music with being built for said music, I'd have to say I'm pretty surprised nobody's mentioned Super Mario 64 yet, as that game had some really good stuff, it's good enough that you often times can't tell it's midi.

The Guitar Hero soundtrack.

:3