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[Kornel Kisielewicz]

Being currently hooked on Aquaria's excellent soundtrack, it hit me, that there was no "favourite soundtrack" topic on TIGS! I'm really hooked into music, especialy sound scores, and at least for me, a good soundtrack can break the barrier between "good game" and "excellent game". So, in no particular order, here are my favourites (no particular order):

1. Doom/Doom II -- surprised? The tracks are all excellent. Up to day I listen the more modern remixes on my MP3 Player . Also, the "Doom 3 Classic" got WONDERFUL remixes of the first Doom episode tracks (you can get them here)

2. Deus Ex -- the most recent favourite. I loved the fact that they used trackers instead of MP3's, the music is dynamic, and really suits the action.

3. Tyrian -- OMG for "Tyrian, the Song". A great example of old-skool music genius.

4. Warcraft II -- when I was younger I used to play it in my fathers room while he was working on the couch (yeah, that sounds lazy xP) -- up to day I hear him humming the tune of one of the songs. Blizzard was the master of abusing the MIDI format.

5. Dune -- probably the first soundtrack that got a dedicated CD remix release. Ecolove still is one of my favourite game music tracks.

6. Duke Nukem -- same school as Doom, but with a different mood. You got to love Bobby Prince xP (check out his webpage and download the Doom IIV theme xP)

7. Lotus 3 -- my first game music love -- hearing the Amiga version 6 years after playing the PC version on PC Speaker gave me an orgasm.

8. Diablo -- once again Blizzard shows it's mastery, mainly in the forever now remembered Town Theme :]

Post your types ;]

[siiseli]

It would have to be sonic the hedgehog 3 or maze of galious, bot have excellent soundtracks.

[Guert]

I always loved the music from Megaman 2.
the 2 first Earthworm Jim games had good songs too...
There are alot more but those are the two first that popped in my mind

[PoV]

I can't think of many full/entire soundtracks off the top of my head that stick out, short of a few tracks/themes.  Early level Castlevania 1-3 NES songs.  Much of the level music in Megaman 2.  The C64 Commando theme, but sped up (a strange shooter called Crazy Commando leeched it?).  C64 Neuromancer Theme.  C64 Master of Magic, awesome.  Dragon Warrior NES. 

And I agree, Diablo had an excellent soundtrack.

[TeeGee]

Diablo, Fallout, HoM&M3, Total Anihilation... I guess I like those the most, but once there were really many games with good soundtracks.

Right now it's all the same Jeremy Soule's epic, pathetic, high-quality boredom...

[Akhel]

It's hard to choose, but probably Chrono Trigger's. Morrowind, Wild Arms and Tales of Phantasia also had awesome OSTs, though.

[Alevice]

Planescape: Torment
Yoshi's Island
Plok!
Doom 2
Diablo 1 & 2
Starcraft
Super Metroid
King of Fighters 99
Metal Slug 3

and, as I always say, many more

[fish]

jet set radio/future
megaman 2
super mario bros. (which i can probably hum from begining to end)
the legend of zelda
Rez
silent hill
bully
katamari damacy
beyond good and evil
dotstream

[bigbossSNK]

Final Fantasy VIII
Unrivaled in terms of scope, execution and pacing. Sure, other games might have a couple of nostalgic blips here and there (like Street Fighter 2's catchy music), but from a musical stand point, no game has walked the walk since.

[rey-o]

Alevice - eah yohsi's island! my fav. game in the universe.

im with fish on rez, katamari (1 more than 2)

megaman soundtracks are also pretty sweet - especially 2. and parappa the rapper! 'kick turn punch!'

anyone have an indygame soundtrack they like?

[AdamAtomic]

Thought I'd add Koshiro-san's amazing soundtracks for Act Raiser and Streets of Rage 2, as well as Hitoshi Sakimoto's soundtracks for Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII.  Those get some seriously heavy rotation in my mix...then of course symphony of the night, warhawk/twisted metal, dynasty warriors, sands of time, batman and journey to silius on the NES, castlevania IV and bloodlines...i'm stopping there, this is gonna be a crazy long list otherwise!

[moi]

I've played too many games to remember the best songs Plus I'm not very difficult and whenever I like a game I tend to love the song too so...
The only song that really impressed me so that I remember it were the songs from RodLand (arcade). First time I heard so high quality tracks in a game.
Oh and the music from Arcanum , it was so damn good that I heard it once used in a documentary on TV.
Of course there are also dozen of tracks from 2D console and arcade games that I love to listen just out of nostalgia (Strider for example). Also Defender of the crown for amiga.

[sega]

First, I have to say Shinji Hosoe is a god among mortal game music composers.  Now, here are my picks, hopefully nostalgia-free.  I tried to pick music that stood or would stand the test of time for me, and it's no way an exhaustive list of favorites.  Just what pops into my mind right now:

For the music itself:
Sonic the Hedgehog 1
Street Fighter EX plus Alpha - PS1 soundtrack, done by Shinji Hosoe.  Very well done use of synth, good mix with rock guitar, and nice melody progression.  Rising Dragon, Light Guardian, Strange Sunset, Spinning Bird... awesome pieces.  The music was done by a few people, so not all of it was great, but Shinji Hosoe's work is top notch.  He has yet to top it.
Sega Rally - More the replay soundtrack than the in-game soundtrack.  Different styles were used in each.
Megaman 2
Katamari Damacy 1 - Wonderful mix of musicians and music.  I love that they found some people who never had a record deal, or worked in music before, but had some MP3s on their website that showed they could make music to fit the game.
Dr Mario - Great work as usual from Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka.  It's my favorite of his.
Gradius 2


For sound design:
Sonic CD - Way cool to have 3 different versions of the same song representing different time periods. Japanese version only.  The American version, while it had great music, did not keep the common theme throughout all time periods.  Only between present and future, which threw the original design off.
Nights - Awesome technology.  If you and someone you knew played the game, and had an A-Life file, you two had different soundtracks.  The songs didn't change based on how you were playing at that moment, but based on what you've done in the game  over the past day, week, or more.  It'd change a particular instrument melody depending on the feelings of certain Neotopians.  All of the melodies went together well in every combination, which was awesome.  I wish more games would be creative with sound like that.

[Guert]

So many soundtracks to listen to again (and again )
For those who could be interested, I usually check out this site for soundtracks and remixes...
http://www.ocremix.org/
And for the snes only soundtracks: http://snesmusic.org/v2/

[Bad Sector]

I loved most Doom tunes and some from Duke Nukem 3D. It's a shame that today's FPS games do not put some background music... but anyway.

Beyond these, i love most Mario games music. Also i like the first prince of persia music.

[AdamAtomic]

other good game soundtrack hookups:

http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks.php
http://www.zophar.net/music.html

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I have strange taste in music, but these are my favorites:

Wanderers from Ys 3
Wild ARMs
Brave Fencer Musashi
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Secret of Mana
Destiny of an Emperor
EVO
Genghis Khan 2
Pocky & Rocky 1 and 2

[lowpoly]

The Megaman 2 soundtrack is always ranked as an all-time great and rightly so, however, I think Megaman 1 gets the shaft anytime the series is brought up. Totally underrated.

Switching gears, but if you haven't played EVE: Online, you are missing out on a fantastic electronic soundtrack. Go here now and sample:
http://www.eve-online.com/download/music

I haven't played in over a year but I still listen to the soundtrack to this day.

And some old favorites: Wing Commander I, Need For Speed 3, F-Zero, Zelda 3

[Xander]

Guilty Gear gets my vote. Some absolutely kickass music in there, with 'Guilty Gear XX The Midnight Carnival' being certainly the best of the bunch for allround awesomes, but there are also other CD's in the series which have their own distinct flavour.

'Sound Alive' is impressive for being live versions of the XX OST, where they do play around with a select number of tracks to achieve a unique sound in the series. The slow version of Holy Orders is definitely the highlight, though you can't ignore the title song itself, 'The Midnight Carnival', a perfect crescendo to a 2D-Beat 'em up as over the top and psychadelic as this.

Guilty Gear Isuka is the odd one, as the tracks sound very different to previously featured ones in the games, though the game itself is a fairly odd beast. For instance there is no typical arcade mode. The game itself is just one long 4-player survival mode, with Leopaldon and his heavy thrashy track playing over the background every 100 levels or so. Leo is fantastic for being a Giant robotic hippo who is controlled by a small black knight/puppet inside his face. Oh, and he shoots meteors our his hungry hungry hippo head.

I know I sort of slipped into a game review more than a soundtrack praising, but what makes the Guilty Gear soundtrack great is that it is as much a part of the game as anything else. Like Big Bang Beat (God I do love THAT soundtrack), what makes the soundtrack so great is that it really adds to the pace of the battles. It isn't some throwaway background jazz or Marvel Vs Capcom 2 style ear-rapage (I wanna take you for a ride, I wanna take you for a ride, I wanna- *implodes), it's a symphony of sound, a ballet of blades and bloodshed that dances smelling of angel down to the kinetic rock of the awesome Daisuke Ishiwatari.

To conclude; It's really quite good. 

[Pigbuster]

Fur Fighters was the first game that made me think "Damn, this music is good".

Others:
Katamari Damacy
Viewtiful Joe 1 & 2
Killer7
Star Control 2
Cave Story

I really should find a copy of Rez somewhere. I hear nothing but praise for it, and I don't want to miss out.