racketboy.com

The death theme from Shinobi III.

Various songs from Final Fantasy IV:

Theme of Love / Theme of Love (Piano) / Theme of Love (Orchestrated)
Sorrow and Loss / Sorrow and Loss (Piano)
The Lunarians

This was the first truly sorrowful game I played. Nothing before and very little after has moved me so.

dairugger wrote:Donkey Kong country 1 water theme

Totally agree!
Check out Stickerbush Symphony from Donkey Kong Country 2. Sounds pretty similar, in my opinion..

Rurouni_Fencer wrote:

dairugger wrote:Donkey Kong country 1 water theme

Totally agree!
Check out Stickerbush Symphony from Donkey Kong Country 2. Sounds pretty similar, in my opinion..

Great picks! Was about to suggest these myself.
Whenever I think of somber music from DKC2, Enchanted Wood always comes to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Mp8uMammw

boltfanSD wrote:This article from Kotaku really sums up this idea and is a good indicator of why no one has posted tracks beyond the 32/64 bit era. They really had to emphasize emotions through music to help convey the tones reflecting the content of text boxes, sort of a stand in for voice acting.

Thanks for sharing that article... I always thought newer music for games are less involved because composers were getting lazier/could get away without distinct melodies because of the lack of limitations now that were in place back in those days. While I still think some of that is going on, it does make a lot of sense that composers are trying to complement the voice-acting in cases like in films. I still think music is very important for setting the tone emotionally though, voice-acting or no.

One that's always stuck in my head for having such an emotional impact is Blood Tears (Lisa's theme) from Silent Hill.
It's just such an epic scene when it starts up. That game has some seriously well-designed sound. Tears of Pain is another great one from it. The music and ambient sound really adds so much more to the already desperate feeling of the game experience (especially if your speakers are set up right or you're wearing headphones).
A couple months after I'd beaten SH I was playing through Snatcher on Sega CD again and I heard Pleasure of Tension...!?!. Props to Akira Yamaoka and the Konami Kukeiha Club! I've never had the music and sound of a game add so much to the experience as that one game. Even the sequels pale in comparison.

Diablo's Tristram is also very well composed. No matter how many times you hear it it's still got an incredible ambiance to it. I wish Diablo 2's soundtrack had the same mood and feel.