Gaming

The Great Giana Sisters (C64) Turrican (Amiga) Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasy 6 (the opera aria was played at my wedding)

Castlevania 3, specifically the six channel Famicom version

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

I'm old, if you couldn't tell

Doom 2016 on some days, Pillars of Eternity on others

Chrono Trigger

Eve Online

Donkey Kong Country 2

Literally any Final Fantasy for me. Nobuo Uematsu is just an incredible composer.

Dragon Quest series too, although Koichi Sugiyama was a…not great person.

Monkey Island 2 holds a special place for me because it introduced iMUSE and dynamically altering the music with the environment which was years ahead of its time.

Oh I can’t forget the To the Moon series of games by Kan Gao too. The music is a big part of why those games are such tear jerkers

All 3 Xenoblade Chronicles games have some of my all-time favorite game music

Pyre's both my favorite game and has my favorite OST. The tracks are layered in a way that they can change on the fly - and the instruments of certain characters kick in during the magical superbowl theme in really satisfying ways. Here's a couple examples:

The Dissidents' theme: Thrash Pack

Final showdown theme versus Dissidents: Never to Return

The Essence's theme: Sky Dance

Final Showdown theme versus Essence: Never to Return

Favorite tracks gotta be Path to Glory, though.

Vanilla WoW, Celeste, and Mirrors Edge all makes me feel like when I played the games for the first time as soon as I hear them. Fantastic evocative soundtrack.

I think the Elder Scrolls games all have great music, but Morrowind's OST has always stood out as amazing. Hearing that opening soundtrack immediately sends me back to playing it for the first time!

https://youtu.be/xULTMMgwLuo

Chrono Cross remains my fave even after all those years.

Oh gosh where do I even start. I have a massive list of VGM soundtracks that I listen to but if I had to pick some favs currently:

• Gran Turismo 5/6 - been playing these games recently through the PS3 emulator and the vibe and feel these games go for is so much more amplified with the soundtrack, lots of chill jazz and downtempo music mixed with other genres like Dance and Rock.
• Pokémon (really any of them) - I've always loved the Pokémon soundtrack in all the mainline games, my favourite games in the series are HGSS so probably that soundtrack if I had to pick one.
• A Hat in Time - Soundtrack is so fun and upbeat, really regret buying this game on 2 separate platforms and then not playing through either of them.
• Celeste - Trans girl climbs gay mountain simulator with Lena Raine's simply amazing piano and synth soundtrack is so damn good I can't give it enough praise <3 (also all her other work on games like Minecraft and Chicory is super good too!)

• Nanashi no Game
• Soma Bringer (only one song linked, there was no playlist available)
• Final Fantasy XIV
• The Last Guardian

FFXIV and Nanashi are notable as they're by the same composer (latter game was done under a pseudonym) and even happen to share at least one song, in some form.

Soma Bringer has the most beautiful music of this list.

Last Guardian has the most inspiring music.

Celeste, especially Farewell.

The halo theme original and mjolner mix, a walk in the woods from halo 1 . ff7 tifas theme and aeriths / aeris theme and the mass effect 3 ending theme to name a few

I love Amplitude Studios soundtracks (Endless Legend, Endless Space 1&2, Humankind). They're great background music while thinking about stuff (like at work). Though maybe I just got Pavlov'd into thinking that since they're strategy games 😅

Also, Persona 4! The soundtrack is so nostalgic and reminds me of my childhood somehow.

Totally agree on hollow knight. Specially 'City of Tears'. Can listen to that all day.

Legend of Dragoon soundtrack composed by Dennis Martin.

Bajo Kazooie soundtracks by Grant Kirkhope.

Donkey Kong soundtracks by David Wise.

Metroid soundtracks by Kenji Yamamoto.

All made insanely long lasting impressions where I could hear just a bit from one of the songs and instantly know what it is. Having played lots of video games, these seem to be the ones that have created the most lasting memory. They also absolutely slap as well.

The Legend of Zelda games BOTW and TOTK get mention here as well, though I don't find it as memorable. the sound design in these games is just top notch though.

Tetris definitely deserves a shoutout.

LA Noire by Simon Hale is fantastic though it's mostly just riffing off of Chinatown's soundtrack and I wouldn't say it really implants itself in the memory like the 4 mentioned above.

Other honorable mentions

Vice City

Jet Set Radio – Hideki Naganuma

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Really anything by Grant Kirkhope, Banjo Kazooie Yooka Laylee, etc, and on the Rare train, Donkey Kong Country 2 had great music.

Also love the Undertale soundtrack.

Halo 1-3 and probably reach too. There is just something about those strings that hit differently. The music perfectly portrays the feeling of loneliness and being the "last" spartan trying your best to save the human race from extinction.

For me it's Skyrim. Streets of Whiterun, Masser, Jerral Mountains, Under an Ancient Sun, so many tracks that just instantly transport me back to the world I was immersed in throughout most of high school. They bring a sense of peace that comes from exploring in a simpler time.

Doom Eternal, Destiny and Halo

Chris Christodoulou killed it with the Risk of Rain 2 soundtrack, personal favorite is The Rain Formally Known as Purple

Kingdom hearts had some amazing original pieces and spins on classics.

One of my fav from the piano collection; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqmBRC6IOAs&t=11

Of course Halo 1, 2 and 3 aaand sims 2.

Games I've played:

Deep Rock Galactic, Terraria + Calamity, RuneScape

Haven't played, but love the soundtrack:

Ace Combat 7, Payday 2, Nier: Automata

Definitely the Halo games for me. I think Halo 2 would be my fav.

I also just really like the music from Sonic. Sonic Generations had a great OST.

The Metal Gear Solid series, particularly Snake Eater.

It's just so dramatic and over the top like the rest of the game.

They even wisely use it as a pallet cleanser after fighting The End and you have to climb that long ass ladder.

Stellaris, Crypt of the Necrodancer, FTL, Invisible Inc, and basically any Supergiant game

I haven't finished the game yet, but Journey's OST is simply amazing.

Bloodborne! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzdhTGaWzec

Final Fantasy VIII holds a special place in my heart for sure.

One that I love (in addition to Ori and Hollow Knight) is Spiritfarer. Beautiful all the way through with lovely orchestration and colorful melodies.

Gonna have to say this in no specific order because it's too hard to pick true favorites:

-Assassin's Creed 2

-Xenoblade Chronicles

-Pizza Tower

-Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword (or... any Zelda game but damn Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess are so damn memorable)

-Metal Slug 5

-Yakuza 0

And a lot more that I'm spacing right now.

Edit: BLASPHEMOUS!! That game has a beautiful, haunting soundtrack.

I'm this thread I've missed Bastion, once the top answer of these kind of threads.

Personally I'm very fond of the germanized versions of pop music songs in Wolfenstein: a new order.

Okami and Katamari Damacy. I also love interactive music, some examples are Pokémon Sword/Shield, Banjo Kazooie/Tooie, and Journey. If anyone has other examples please let me know.

Doom 2016, Mirror's Edge, Metal Gear Rising, Nier Automata, ah so many options... probably a bit of recency bias, but I think I'll say Neon White.

When it comes to licensed soundtracks, DiRT 2's soundtrack is perfection.

Soundtracks filled front-to-back with bangers that have stuck with me over the years:

Sonic Mayhem's Quake 2 -- and, of course, Trent Reznor's Quake. 植松 伸夫 -- Final Fantasy 7. Grant Kirkhope/Graeme Norgate's GoldenEye 64. Max Lichtenstein's Pax Imperia 2. Richard Joseph's Chaos Engine. Just about anything Mick Gordon touches. ...aaaaand just about every Mario, Metroid, Sonic, DOOM (Heretic included), Command and Conquer, Advance Wars...

Persona 5 Royal. Close 2nd is Nier: Automata. Both amazing OSTs

Probably showing my age with this, but Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has an amazing OST