Criminally Underrated/Overlooked Game Soundtracks

[Xeogred]

If Hiroki Kikuta did more I would probably put him above Mitsuda and Uematsu for me.

[pierrot]

The original panzer dragoon trilogy has some of the most emotionally stirring music I've ever heard in a video game. I could post dozens of examples from those three games, but the title theme from the original always gets me going the most:

I find the OG's intro theme to be one of the most immediately recognizable pieces of video game music, ever. Just the mention of "Panzer Dragoon," and "horn intro," I can immediately hear the song in my head, and I've honestly spent more time with Zwei and Saga, than the original.

Great soundtracks, but my personal favorite is probably ending theme from Saga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Vc2yc ... D92F389DF3

If Hiroki Kikuta did more I would probably put him above Mitsuda and Uematsu for me.

Wow! That's impressive. Especially when the piano part starts up. I might need this game. Looks like the predecessor to Otogi and Shinobi (PS2).

[Xeogred]

Never played it so I don't know if it's good haha, but yeah cool music. Either way SoM and SD3 are enough for me to know he's one of my absolute favorites. Not really underrated themselves, but in a way I'd say Hiroki Kikuta himself is.

[BananaXX]

Ever since I heard it way back when my brother got a 32x for Christmas, this song has been stuck in my head. All the songs featured in Cosmic Carnage are excellent if I may say so.

[garrett123]

I like the sound track from the 4th round of gain ground, not sure how popular the game is in-general but....

[MyNameIsVince]

Here's a couple SNES soundtracks I think don't get nearly as much credit/due:

Doom:



OK so most people probably think the SNES version of Doom is borderline crap, and ok, you have your point, it is hard to look at, and frame rate suffers and blah blah, but honestly, I like playing it, the cartridge is badass looking, but more importantly, the music is awesome on this game. I seriously cannot say enough about it. It's moody, it's haunting, it fits the atmosphere of the levels, and most of all, it's not this shit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2oyweqZ7WM. In fact, if any of you subjugated yourself to that torture, listen to this instead and thank me later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fSSwel ... 56&index=6


Tetris Attack:



Not just the greatest puzzle game on the SNES (to me at least), but one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. A superb game with colorful graphics, great controls, a good selection of play modes, and an excellent soundtrack to boot. With the kind of graphics and gameplay, one would expect the music to be very whimsical, upbeat, and put you in a good mood to smile (gotta love the Yoshis "singing" the title theme) and that is true. What did surprise me was how the soundtrack can also go from calm and relaxing (Poochy Stage) to funky (Blargg, Wiggler) to straight up eerie (The Place Where Evil Dwells). It's great. There is a sound test in the options menu so you can listen to most of this awesome music. Yes I said most, because, unfortunately, not all of it can be heard in the sound test (as far as I know). As I type this, it's getting late again, so how about a nightcap, courtesy of Raphael the Raven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np-3rPJ ... C&index=24

[marurun]

Many people laud Sunsoft's music on NES titles, but Natsume is another developer that had some pretty rockin' tracks. I don't know if their Shadow of the Ninja / Blue Shadow soundtrack is widely lauded, but it's one that stuck with me and I think it is pretty awesome. It's not because they somehow perform miracles with the NES sound chip so much as they did some very good composing.

First level


Parasol Stars on the Grafx / PCE also had some really catchy chiptunes.

Boss music

[ExedExes]

Natsume is another developer that had some pretty rockin' tracks. I don't know if their Shadow of the Ninja / Blue Shadow soundtrack is widely lauded, but it's one that stuck with me and I think it is pretty awesome. It's not because they somehow perform miracles with the NES sound chip so much as they did some very good composing.

Yes. Although I prefer the main title screen music a bit more.

Let's not forget the good music from Shatterhand also by Natsume - Area C comes to mind.

Finally, they also did S.C.A.T. - The part on Stage 3 where you're ascending the long vertical passage you hear this as the screen scrolls faster.

[marurun]

I would go so far as to say that Turbo / PCE chip tunes are almost universally under-appreciated. People immediately go to the Whatever of Thunder titles or Ys for their PCE music fix. The chip tunes deserve credit as well. The audio capabilities of the system were actually pretty powerful and flexible. I will list more examples later.

[Elwood]

Here's a few favorites of mine:

Addams Family Values (Genesis). The game's not very good and the music doesn't necessarily fit, but I love the spooky, dark synth sound of this game's music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0oOX6x9JI

Pulseman (Genesis). High quality platformer by GameFreak. Ranges from typical platformer tunes to more techno inspired tracks, plus a few weird experimental pieces.


Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City (Nintendo DS). While I certainly can't fault Yuzo Koshiro's orchestral soundtracks for the 3DS EO games, I do kinda miss the more retro-styled sounds of the earlier games. "Unrest - Calling That Detestable Name" is possibly my favorite boss tune in a game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_0TeykT5NA

The Smurf's Nightmare (Game Boy Color). Much like Tim Follin, Alberto Gonzalez was one of those who was consistently pushing the hardware of whatever he was working on to the limits, usually to the service of really bad/generic games. This is some of the best music on the GBC, and it's for a Smurfs platformer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnzHTkRLcE4

Skeleton Krew (Genesis). Technically impressive game, if not exactly good. It also has a dark, moody soundtrack, which is sadly often drowned out by all of the shooting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PCeIXgmzgI

YU-NO (PC-98). The PC-98 isn't talked about much, but composers like Ryu Umemoto got some incredible FM synth tunes out of the hardware.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGvu50NtVnk