Best NES/SNES era videogame soundtracks?

That goes for Sega, Turbographix and arcade games too. I realized lately that there were a few levels on one of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and Megaman series that had really catchy, good music. I also was into YMO when I was younger and read that Haruomi Hosono wrote a lot of music for videogames in the 80s.

I'm assuming there are some videogame music connoisseurs out there and I'm curious to know what music is the best on old games.

P.S. Pocky and Rocky has some very good music too. Anything that sounds YMO-ish is up my alley...

Donkey Kong Country I thought was really good.

Super Mario Bros. 2 has my favorite soundtrack of all time.

little nemos adventures in slumberland

startropics also

that koei airplane mgmt game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Ao63nmzuE

Ducktails NES moon theme

Monkey Island 2 soundtrack (IBM/PC but still....)

Contra 3 the Alien Wars

Obviously Zelda and most anything Koji Kondo has ever done.

DK Country
Street Fighter 2

sfII music is p ass

http://www.xocmusic.com/kirby/

kirby's adventure, i am partial to grape garden stage select. i sampled it for a song once.

::hair flutters in tha wind::

Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III, Donkey Kong Country series (especially 2), Earthbound (for being fucking weird)

magus' theme is the best ever

magus's theme was my shit back in the day. now I'm all about corridors of time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESqZb7hY1S0

that is the hotness too

damn it's crazy how much nostalgia i get listenin to this shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h2V8CFtGZE

*stares at the moon, single tear sliding down my cheek*

lmao

unhhhh, cidu-chan.... uguu~~

youve unlocked the hidden summon spell u can now summon

^_^ TRUE EMOTION ^_^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hil1F2T19GY

any excuse

lamp i know we have a tumultuous history but i would like to say you are my all-time favorite poster

Castlevania always good for some tunes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjazC45Qkww

^ Most Castlevania games have omazing soundtracks, particular favourite is Super Castlevania IV.

Mega Man II, Metroid, the first Contra, fuckin' Batman

castlevania 2: belmont's revenge has a grebt stk also.

for YMO sounding stuff: Legend of the Mystical Ninja

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HkyAiV4Kbc

Also I remember Batman: Return of the Joker's soundtrack kicking ass, but I wouldn't trust that eight-year-old me had any sort of standards.

Wow that Mystical Ninja game looks pretty great. Have you ever played Pocky and Rocky?

Mystical Ninja is totally bonkers and amazing. Can't remember the soundtrack though.

Haha, was just coming to say Castlevania IV! Glad to see it already got a mention.

Metroid has some good stuff too. Not SNES era, but Prince and the Wu-Tang have both done tracks that sound like they could have sampled Metroid Prime.

mystical ninja is super fun

I always enjoyed the sparse, moody soundtrack to Secret of Evermore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyJYQVpnf9c

castlevania 3 is prob my all time fave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SJaF8no9t0&feature=related

earthbound is pretty much sick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd1njB6SQok&feature=PlayList&p=E4A1A079AF6E3EA3&index=0&playnext=1

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

boards of canada!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLaqz900Q8I

this sounds like Early Underground-era Moby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D20dF5Ao1mE

Castlevania seconded - the first game is just one SWEET 8-bit metal tune after another.

Also love the one, single, long looping tune from River City Ransom. Karnov's theme is fun too.

Oh! And SONIC! A lot of it is kind of nakedly trying to sound like outtakes from Michael Jackson albums but that's a good thing. The first two have a lot of good tracks, and I also have a soft spot for the theme song (with vocals!) from Sonic CD. YouTube for that I think.

Most of my favorite music from this era isn't on consoles, though - this was the golden age of MIDI soundtracks for PC games. Mark Seibert (I think was the name) did some great stuff at Sierra - love Hero's Quest for one. Also whoever did Conquest of Camelot. But the real winner is Origin - the soundtracks for Ultima 7 and Ultima Underworld are just burned into my brain, and the looming, not-quite-Imperial-March Kilrathi theme music in Wing Commander 2.

Oh, and DOOM and DOOM 2 had great, GREAT music, exactly what the games needed.

The great thing is you can find the actual midi files from the games out there on the net! Bliss.

IMO Donkey Kong Country factory/warehouse levels music rips heavily from "Tonight x3" by Genesis.

doot doot doot da-doot doot doot da-doot doot doo-doo dooooo dadadoot doot
BONEY WHALE APPEARS
dododoodododododododotododoo dodododododododdodododod dadada

Have you ever played Pocky and Rocky?

why yes, I rented it from my local video store back in 94 or something. You should check out Parodius if you like that stuff.

For years my brother aspired to write music for video games and his idols were Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Hip Tanaka (Metroid) and Dan Forden (Mortal Kombat).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D65TT5Ieb4M&feature=PlayList&p=28A6F84189D36D57&index=7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF32DRg9opA

koji kondo in link to the past - kakariko village is wicked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xCp6ngH_mQ

Duck Tales moon theme OTM! I used to imagine that the mouth motions of the enemies on that stage were them sounding out the main riff. That game had pretty great music in general though, nice long elaborate tunes with several parts. The Amazon track is pretty clear in my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ9xwkMr3e4&feature=related

OMG YES. Worth it if only for the loopy, unbelievably irritating but still kind of jaunty "you're about to die" theme.

Also great bassline on the main gameplay theme music.

Reminds me indirectly of GAUNTLET.

Jim Power: Impossible game; great music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkplK2KnQ2E&fmt=18

Not from nes/snes but keygen and chiptune at that but I couldn't find any other thread to post it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp1mVv8lgGk

happy to see blades of steel here, that is some boogie shit

I never know if I hate or love keygen music.

A friend showed me this game, an R-Type-y vertical scroller, just for the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wy7WT-s8OI&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2A4CdbRDow&feature=related

<3 super aleste

soooo many youtube links

i always dug the music in the original TMNT game. so hip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYL1ZVsIM_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV6Y59-jYhE&feature=related

Star Tropics 2

I remember having my mind blown the day someone revealed that the title theme in the NES TMNT game was actually "Stone Cold Crazy."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NWygbzmQrA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnGaEk0rZdU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB6XeZrYjf0

Got a projector the other day, and it's a bit old so the resolution isn't all that, but it is PERFECT for playing emulated NES, SNES, and Genesis games. Suddenly something that was bleeping out of a tiny box is larger-than-life and devastatingly cinematic. When i have the projector going (an InFocus DLP, $200 used on amazon) I crank the volume and have a drink and a smoke and last night when I tried Ninja Gaiden 2 the opening cutscene blew my freakin' mind. The sound is a little crappy on that youtube video but with bass boost on a stereo the drums are nearly perfect old school metal. I use NesTopia, which allows you to mix the individual sound channels, and turn down the square waves just a little bit.

I was having a great time w this game until i got to level 2 or something and the eagles started and i ran into a half hour straight of cursing "I hate the effing eagles!" before quitting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAfTLSGxFxc&list=PLB0xooEkKbSY6eXEfztYHdFLKokmN13vU

This is a brilliant song in the Genesis Castlevania when you are at the character select screen. Some killer drums here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOg0GZZuCak

One last one. I learned how to play this on a piano. Play it at half speed and it sounds like a Yma Sumac backing track.

I'm sitting down w Megaman 2 theme music trying to figure it out and damn if it doesn't start off sounding really close to Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning". You have the droning bass notes (pretty much playing the exact intervals and timing of John Cale's viola) and a responding arpeggio up a few octaves that starts on the 1&.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRPXRHS4XNQ

all u ever need

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAD0E16116DDDFB9E

amazing music throughout though

the music in rare's games was often great

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wise_(composer)

man what a genius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4guZ5SozW8&list=PLC600EF6ACFCD6654

It sort of makes sense that Ecco The Dolphin would have a killer soundtrack. But this song is just devastatingly cool.

Charlie Brooker brought my attention to this one. pretty nice eh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-02RffS0E

i ran into a half hour straight of cursing "I hate the effing eagles!" before quitting

take it easy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fnTJ5SF2uM

This ambient synth jazz could have been written by Angelo Badalamenti. Someone photoshop a Moogle dancing w the drawf in the Black Lodge.

robocop otm, was the same on the amstrad...best thing about the game by some distance iirc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx-BhyAkDdY

Here is another song from Final Fantasy VI that has a really great bass line. The bass sound is wonderful in this game, it almost sounds like a live take rather than sequenced. To me, it's a very Sgt. Pepper bass line!

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsxJyJ-SLiA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1nKAZ1uJY8

Hah I've been playing along to my friend playing Super Mario Bros. I guess I should've grabbed a fedora and filmed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTSW4M28XQg&list=PL2A1A350EBB242BDF

Really insanely cool guitar solo on this one. Hard to believe it isn't a real guitar!

a lot of Treasure games have good soundtracks but Dynamite Headdy's is the most slept-on, it's so theatrical and suits the world perfectly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhGKsDze8gs

sometimes i'll fall into a k-hole where i just listen to this credits music for half an hour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn_onEJ82rk

There was a time when video games (especially NES/SNES ones) were my life when I was a kid.

These were cool:

*Goonies II - guide song (NES)
*Goonies II - first-person mode (NES)

But my ultimate favourite, which I was pretty much beyond obsessed with was Metroid for the NES. Every. Single. Song.

I hear it now, and it's like a hundred memories hit me. Place, time, smells (!), environment, touch, everything. It's insane. There was probably something wrong with me.

Metroid's escape scene (NES):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2k01qmi99k

Metroid's ending (NES):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFUGG6SFiQQ

I was also into bands porting the tunes into traditional rock instruments. Even though The Advantage is one of my favourites, the Metroid Metal tunes really nail the intensity for me:

Escape:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OK09_eyiQs

Ending:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKXGYx4BRBs

Also, T&C Surf was cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciigfD7Li0U

And another fave was Punch Out's training theme

for those about to metroid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuzzV6xtSFE&t=2m35s

is that liz lemon's agent?

Journey To Silius
Mega Man 2 & 3
Demon's Crest
Super Metroid
Chrono Trigger
All The Castlevanias
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Yoshi's Island
Zelda: A Link To The Past & Link's Awakening
Strider
F-Zero

I also love modern throwback games that have 8/16-bit inspired soundtracks, like Fez, Super Meat Boy & VVVVVV

One time on my birthday a friend gave me a CD with the complete Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack. Some of it is absolutely crushing industrial techno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0UG6auhzs&list=PL0D7D875A11C51ECE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZnIWJA0WN0&list=PL0D7D875A11C51ECE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofmHCsZMMjw&list=PL0D7D875A11C51ECE

Yeah, those are some pretty great soundtracks. Always was fond of this Enigma ripoff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdloNuj-RhE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2IIKv9e6q4

Not sure if this quite the right thread, but, man, I always dug the Last Ninja soundtrack but I'm not really sure how far I ever made it as a kid and the second level ("Wilderness") theme is blowing my mind right now. The sounds they got out of the SID chip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RsRszs2_9U

I remember Kirby's Adventure having a pretty ahead-of-its time soundtrack, all blippy and minimal, and unless my TV's audio is weird, surprisingly deep bottom end on some tunes

these are pretty amazing. Wolvertine Adamantium Rage for SNES and Genesis both have mind-blowing OSTs in completely different ways. Genesis has some kind of fantastically noisey slowcore industrial stoner metal thing going:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcV4lduB1uQ

SNES has some really crazy electro drum kit sounds and samples of thing like record scratching and someone going w-w-w-w-wolverine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBwVsgLYP9Y

lol Wolvertine

https://laurelrusswurm.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/maxhead.gif?w=320&h=200

B-be-be sure to drink your W-w-Wolvertine

Genesis had some pretty epic soundtracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7-AHModlMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTQIiIKummw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2-PtDDS2Lw

most of the Terranigma score is generic, but it has some pretty weird / worthwhile moments like this one

https://youtu.be/J3vk5N8TyYU?t=51m3s

god i love that Genesis synth sound

NES

duck tales
bugs bunny birthday blow out
bubble bobble
meagman
castlevania
battle toads
river city ransom
pac-man
contra
dr. mario
legend of zelda
kirby's adventure
ghosts n' goblins

The Gunstar Heroes soundtrack is my all-time favorite Genesis OST, but you almost don't notice it when you're playing because the game keeps you busy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjuyQP__4kI

You all ought to check out Smooth Mcgroove’s acapella (probably autotune assisted) covers of videogame classics. There’s almost a hundred of them so here’s a sampler with my three favorite game songs:

Ducktales - Moon
https://youtu.be/Nhy2aNEPshw

Chrono Trigger - corridors of time
https://youtu.be/JtKCt8Afk9s

DKC2 - Stickerbrush symphony
https://youtu.be/_fxEPM8OKFU

xpost to Moka, that guy rules

yeah wow this is a major songwriting step up from the last couple of AC records