[Emperor Charlemagne]

Older arcade soundtracks like The NInja Warriors and Zuntata albums often are pretty pricey - usually between $30-40 for their soundtrack releases. The games were from the 80s, so supply was a bit lower, as well as demand. There are periodic rereleases from time to time but they are still roughly comparable in price range. It's a pretty profitable niche market though because some crazies (I'm not far off from joining them) will pay many times for that type of stuff.

That's what is great about sega saturn games (and I think Mega-Cd games) - redbook audio on all the games. Just pop in a Saturn CD and the soundtrack is yours for the ripping (E.G. for anyone interested my rip of RayForce's soundtrack*** - I haven't gotten around to ripping my other games in my moderate collection).

For newer games I don't know - you never hear any press over the release of a game's soundtrack, outside of exceptional cases like Bioshock, and media darlings like Portal 2.

***If this is against site policy DO NOT HESITATE TO REMOVE THIS LINK - I am sorry if that is the case -in my defense I own the game and derive no profit from sharing its soundtrack!

[K.B.]

Originally Posted by Kainchild

shooter games

Ikaruga. Ex: Butsutekkai, Reality.

U.N. Squadron / Area 88. Ex: Enemy Air Force.

Sky Shark. Most of the soundtrack.


Everyone should listen to Ikaruga's soundtrack. It's bloody amazing.


Edit: I just remembered CHz linking this from Android Assault in irc ages ago. Haven't heard the rest of the soundtrack but hot damn that sax is sexy.

And sure, what the hell: Subterranean Animism's soundtrack is worthwhile if you can put up with bad samples (although I think they're tolerable by that point in the series [trumpet notwithstanding]).

[Emperor Charlemagne]

Ha ha, the less of ZUN's work you actually end up listening to, the better (I feel); if you listen to too much of his work you realize that they all kind of sound the same.

[Kainchild]

Awesome selection guys. Keep em coming! Still got gigs free for use.

[SgtYayap]

Anyone contributed the soundtracks to the first two Myst games? I highly recommend those if you're into slower game music.

[Kainchild]

Originally Posted by SgtYayap

Anyone contributed the soundtracks to the first two Myst games? I highly recommend those if you're into slower game music.

Got every Myst soundtrack AND beat every Myst game. I loved Peter Gabriel's contribution to the fourth one.

[K.B.]

Tangent incoming. Please ignore if looking for recommendations.

Originally Posted by Emperor Charlemagne

Ha ha, the less of ZUN's work you actually end up listening to, the better (I feel); if you listen to too much of his work you realize that they all kind of sound the same.

With regard to some samples, sure. Compositionally, however, there's enough variety for each piece to be distinct. He's not immune from occasionally re-using motifs, but they're just that - motifs - and they usually aren't noticeable since they're in a different context.

The chief problem with a good number of ZUN's pieces from a compositional (not production [what production?]) standpoint is that there's a good amount of repetitiveness within them (again note: not between them). Stuff like Fall of Fall and Infinite Nightmare have some neat ideas and are enjoyable until you get to the third minute of what should have been a one-minute track. Or Mooned insect with its whopping four unique bars of melody (not including key changes) for fifty seconds. That said, there are still a good number with enough actual writing to remain interesting throughout.

There are plenty of reasons to criticize or even to have an aversion to his work, but saying everything sounds similar - from a compositional standpoint, anyway - is simply wrong.

Just like pointing out the games amongst other shmups, it's fair to point out the music amongst other vg soundtracks. "Here's something else you might want to try". That's it, really.

[PriZm]

Xenosaga soundtracks (basically anything by Yuki Kajiura)
Silent Hill soundtracks, especially the vocal tracks

[Unstable Hamster]

Hey, check out God Hand OST. It's got some groovy stuff. And while you're at it, check out God Hand, it's a groovy game.

[The Coop]

A few more OSTs to look up...

Black & White (PC game)
Black & White 2 (PC game)
Both can be listened to on YouTube here.

The I of the Dragon (PC game)
Can be listened to on YouTube here. There are two versions of this OST; the import that's more dramatic (which is in the link), and the US version that was altered to be more ambient (and is a bitch to find).

Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD)

Master of Monsters (Genesis)
Can be listened to on YouTube here.

Soul Star (Sega CD)