I'm going to go ahead and post all the un-"cool" choices that everyone probably already knows, because this thread needs those. Also, they are genuinely my favorites.
note: i should give credit to
cly5m for introducing me to some of these things and getting me interested in chip music in general.
- never played this game, but who even cares
- very creepy game with a really brilliant soundtrack by an anonymous composer.
Metroid - my personal favorite. One of the most brilliant yet uses of a chip... its minimalism is perfect. It uses the limitations of the medium to its advantage, and that makes it great.
The Legend of Zelda - lacks the subtleties of the Metroid soundtrack but has great tunes nonetheless.
Super Metroid - the best music that ever happened for the SNES. Atmospheric as anything ever.
Donkey Kong Country games - not atmospherically on the same level as Super Metroid, but in terms of composition i think they are some of the best tunes to ever be in a game.
The N64 Legend of Zelda games - no explanation needed
Planescape: Torment - a great atmospheric soundtrack. Fallout is also really good, and done by the same person.
Morrowind - i'm not fond of orchestral scores in general but i think that Jeremy Soule usually does a praiseworthy job. It helps that he tends to score the kinds of games that i'm into.
my favorite independent game scores:
Knytt - i guess i like atmosphere.
Within a Deep Forest - actually probably contains two of my favorite video game tracks ever. That was one.
Here's the other.
Clean Asia! - John Marwin kills. The music in Cactus' games is pretty much always well-chosen though.
Garden of Coloured Lights - mainly the second level, which starts at about 5:20.
An Untitled Story - the only good MIDI soundtrack there ever was. It's weird and undisciplined and meandering but that's precisely why it works, in my opinion.
Random loose ends... Cave Story is pretty good but everyone knows that. Kirby games tend to have really overbearing, excessively cheerful music that i can't help admiring.
Soldexus is a really good Castlevania clone whose music i love but can't find anywhere.
The Cleaner is a really good platform action game whose music i love but can't find anywhere.
Space Funeral and
Seiklus have fantastic music but none of it is original.
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