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Underrated Game Soundtracks...


SwordBreaker
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Alisia Dragoon- The only cart GameArts ever made, and it has wonderful music in it.

I forgot all about Alisia Dragoon! That game had such an awesome soundtrack (especially the tune for Stage 1-1).

Also, Jim Power had an amazing soundtrack, definitely some of Chris Hülsbeck's best work. With the exception of a few boss themes, almost all of the tracks on the SPC are absolutely amazing. I think I might take a stab at remixing a track from the game someday, as it desperately needs some coverage here.

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I don't know if he is underrated, but probably not, since he's worked on some pretty famous games, but in a preview of the game Eternal Sonata, they mentioned that Motoi Sakuraba is the musician and that he was really at his best for this game but that he's usually thought of as "harmlessly mediocre." I think that was the exact phrase used. And a gaming magazine, I once read that Star Ocean 3's music was extremely typical, Satriani-esque, uninteresting progressive rock. That wasn't the exact phrase but it was something to that effect. So anyway, what do you all think? Motoi is my all-time favorite musician and I recently decided that the soundtrack he created for Star Ocean 3 is my all-time favorite album but more than one publication has referred to him as mediocre or uninteresting. What's up with that?

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Shadow of the Beast

I really wouldn't consider this underrated personally. This is arguably the best known Amiga soundtrack out there, as a good amount of people who've never even owned an Amiga have heard the SotB soundtrack (or at least a couple tracks from it). I've even seen the SotB music mentioned in magazine articles in the past. SotB2 might fall into the underrated canopy, but not SotB1... in my opinion anyway.

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@ The Coop

While I haven't played The Hyperstone Heist, I did play Turtles in Time and yes the game had a phenomenal soundtrack. In fact, aside from TMNT II for NES, I fell in love with most of the soundtracks of the NES/SNES era games. The first one for the NES had a pretty catchy overworld tune. The Manhattan Project had some really cool tunes, too. Tournament Fighters for SNES had AWESOME, AWESOME music (I occasionally hum Shredder's level to myself even though I haven't played this game in YEARS). Radical Rescue for the GB was an underrated Turtles game with an underrated soundtrack.

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I don't know if he is underrated, but probably not, since he's worked on some pretty famous games, but in a preview of the game Eternal Sonata, they mentioned that Motoi Sakuraba is the musician and that he was really at his best for this game but that he's usually thought of as "harmlessly mediocre." I think that was the exact phrase used. And a gaming magazine, I once read that Star Ocean 3's music was extremely typical, Satriani-esque, uninteresting progressive rock. That wasn't the exact phrase but it was something to that effect. So anyway, what do you all think? Motoi is my all-time favorite musician and I recently decided that the soundtrack he created for Star Ocean 3 is my all-time favorite album but more than one publication has referred to him as mediocre or uninteresting. What's up with that?

Like I mentioned before, I think that Sakuraba is a love him/hate him composer. A lot of people don't like the fact that he reuses elements of his melodies in other soundtracks, while I think that's actually one of his coolest talents. Aside from Star Ocean 3 and the Tales Series, I love the soundtracks Sakuraba has worked on. I recently listened to a couple of Eternal Sonata tunes in the official website and was AMAZED by how soothing the soundtrack is. Again, Baten Kaitos and Valkyrie Profile are up there as my all time favorite game soundtracks. Believe it or not but Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour has one HELL of a soundtrack, too. I also imported his two live albums so I guess that makes me an avid fan of him. For those who listened to the live albums, nothing beats the really cool "Jam Session" tracks in each album, with lots of soloing from Sakuraba and his bandmates.

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I'm here to nominate the Quest for Glory series, especially the the fifth installment, Dragon Fire. The tracks are done by Chance Thomas and never really got the recognition it deserves IMHO.

But my favourite is still Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness. Rock and roll battle themes in Russian-style Mordavia! Themes like "Tanya and Toby" sometimes still bring a tear to my eyes.

And I will pay good money for a remix of Erana's Peace from Quest for Glory I.

(Hint: All the midi tracks are available from www.queststudios.com

And oh yes. Divine Divinity.

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Nobody ever noticed how good was Tetris Attack's soundtrack ? You know, the SNES tetris game starring Yoshi... Musics are so catchy, and just listen to these bass melodies... I just love it ! (remix anyone ?)

Grandia II got great tracks too. I don't know if they're underrated, but many of them are still in my Ipod.

Anyone knows Global Gladiator ? It's on MegaDrive, with MacDonald sponsoring it... well, yeah, it's not really that glorious, but its soundtrack is just badass sometimes.

Also, Super Mario Galaxy. Yeah, everybody's saying musics are "great"... but it means underrating them, right ? :-P

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Virtua Fighter 4. It had the King of Fighters/ Street Fighter 3 style music theme that changed with each round AND it had the best music of the series, ever. Putting them back to back, I preferred VF4's music to SF3's.

And Phantasy Star 1 and 2 had great, but too-tinny soundtracks. But a few tracks were very memorable. Some dungeon tracks won't leave my head.

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Like I mentioned before, I think that Sakuraba is a love him/hate him composer. A lot of people don't like the fact that he reuses elements of his melodies in other soundtracks, while I think that's actually one of his coolest talents. Aside from Star Ocean 3 and the Tales Series, I love the soundtracks Sakuraba has worked on. I recently listened to a couple of Eternal Sonata tunes in the official website and was AMAZED by how soothing the soundtrack is. Again, Baten Kaitos and Valkyrie Profile are up there as my all time favorite game soundtracks. Believe it or not but Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour has one HELL of a soundtrack, too. I also imported his two live albums so I guess that makes me an avid fan of him. For those who listened to the live albums, nothing beats the really cool "Jam Session" tracks in each album, with lots of soloing from Sakuraba and his bandmates.

That's right I remember you saying that, actually. I guess I agree with the love or hate sentiment about Motoi. I mean, all those progressive rock tracks for the dungeons must drive a lot of people crazy. Valkyrie Profile was the 2nd soundtrack I heard by him (the first was Star Ocean 2) and that was enough for me to decide that he was my all-time favorite and my new favorite hasn't come along to best him yet. Valkyrie Profile stood out to me for having crazy boss battle themes that had crazy time signatures like 5/8. That, and TONS of progressive rock dungeon tracks. Hahaha. As for his live stuff, I am REALLY interested in his best of Star Ocean 2 and Valkyrie Profile concert. It must have been sweet because I think it was just a bassist, a drummer, and Motoi with like 12 keyboards! Hell yeah! When I listen to Motoi's piano stuff, I think to myself, "Yasunori Mitsuda needs to practice more." Hahaha.

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That's right I remember you saying that, actually. I guess I agree with the love or hate sentiment about Motoi. I mean, all those progressive rock tracks for the dungeons must drive a lot of people crazy. Valkyrie Profile was the 2nd soundtrack I heard by him (the first was Star Ocean 2) and that was enough for me to decide that he was my all-time favorite and my new favorite hasn't come along to best him yet. Valkyrie Profile stood out to me for having crazy boss battle themes that had crazy time signatures like 5/8. That, and TONS of progressive rock dungeon tracks. Hahaha. As for his live stuff, I am REALLY interested in his best of Star Ocean 2 and Valkyrie Profile concert. It must have been sweet because I think it was just a bassist, a drummer, and Motoi with like 12 keyboards! Hell yeah! When I listen to Motoi's piano stuff, I think to myself, "Yasunori Mitsuda needs to practice more." Hahaha.

Man...the live albums are so worth importing. Awesome stuff there.

I'm in the same boat as you. Star Ocean 2 is what initially introduced me to Sakuraba and Tri-Ace as a developer. When I first saw Tri-Ace attached to VP back in the PS1 days, I immediately bought the game. I just can't get enough of its soundtrack. Tracks like Valhalla, Distortions and the Void of Despair, All is Twilight, Battle with God Syndrome...so addicting...

I just noticed that your VP track is going on overdrive thanks to the people collabing with you. Can't wait for the final result.

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Dune (not the full RTS versions, the rpg one)

Sonic Spinball (had some pretty funky tunes if you ask me)

Vectorman (it's well known but i'd say there's a big lack of mixes on this)

Hamsterball (errr...yeah, they're catchy yo!)

Lost Vikings 1 & especially 2

Raptor Call of the Shadows (damn awesome game and a pretty good soundtrack to boot!)

Errr, that's all i can think of now...there's more i reckon in the archives of my head.

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Legacy of the Wizard and Fantasy Zone (that's right, I'm mentioning them for the 1,000th time). Amazingly catchy, unique music but not a single remix from either game on this site. Legacy of the Wizard's music is similar to melodic power metal, and Fantasy Zone has some crazy acid jazz thing going on. There's nothing like it.

Other games with good soundtracks (and a severe shortage of remix attention):

Final Fantasy Mystical Quest - Final Fantasy with heavy metal? It was quite a shock when I first played the game. The non-metal tracks are solid too.

Ninja Gaiden 3 - the first two haven't even been milked completely, but 3 gets no respect). Has lots of cool 'power metally' songs with minor 'verses' and major 'choruses'

Little Nemo: The Dream Master - I know there are mixes, but c'mon, there's not one for every single track lol. Soundtrack has much variation in style (from rock to jazz to classical), but is extremely consistent in goodness.

Smart Ball (a.k.a. Jelly Boy) - This game has cool music that fits the surroundings in the game. I can't explain it. Get an emu and play the game.

Blaster Master - still underrated

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Little Nemo: The Dream Master - I know there are mixes, but c'mon, there's not one for every single track lol. Soundtrack has much variation in style (from rock to jazz to classical), but is extremely consistent in goodness.

The game had some insane tunes, indeed. I remember that it was extremely challenging back in the day. Believe it or not, but it's the game that introduced me to the animated feature, which remains to be one of my favorite movies of all time. Proud owner of the DVD. :)

Anyway,

http://dod.vgmix.com/past/sep07/

Download the 2nd place song. Awesome remix there.

You just reminded me of another underrated game with an underrated soundtrack; The Boy and His Blob for NES. The whole game had like 3 tracks or something, but they were extremely catchy and very dynamic. Mazdude did a good job in his remix on OCR. I suggest you check that out.

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