10 Best Video Game Music Soundtracks

In the beginning, video game music was nothing but a bunch of blips and bleeps. Today, the intricacy of game music has evolved to the same artistic level of blockbuster movie soundtracks. Based on the highest rated music by AOL Radio listeners on the Video Game Scores station, we've compiled a list of the 10 best video game soundtracks. Since the radio station focuses on modern game music, so does this list. Let us know what video game music is your favorite in the comments!

Shadow of the Colossus Soundtrack 10) Shadow of the Colossus

About the music: The moving orchestral score by Kow Otani was only used during the battles with each colossus and during cut scenes. The rest of the game used no music while the protagonist traveled the vast landscape searching for the next colossi. In 2005, Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded the game's soundtrack album, titled 'Shadow of the Colossus: Roar of the Earth,' as soundtrack of the year.

Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack 9) Super Mario Galaxy

About the music: Composer Mahito Yokota originally wanted to use Latin sounds for the game, but the 28 tracks he completed were turned down. Yokota then took three months developing three different music styles for the game -- an orchestral sound, a mix of pop and orchestral music, and one that was only pop music. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto chose the full orchestral version. The soundtrack went on to win many awards, including Edge Magazine's "Best Design in Audio."

Silent Hill 2 Soundtrack 8) Silent Hill 2

About the music: The music for this video game soundtrack was composed by Akira Yamaoka, graduate of Tokyo Art College. He is most well known for his music contributions to the 'Silent Hill' series, where he also acts as a sound director and producer for the game series.

Castlevania Lament Of Innocence Soundtrack 7) Castlevania: Lament Of Innocence

About the music: Michiru Yamane is well known for her music in many Castlevania games, but AOL Radio listeners rated 'Lament of Innocence' as the best in the series. The soundtrack is a perfect match for the spooky atmosphere of the Castlevania games -- mixing classical music, choirs, and even a dance beat in some tracks.

Chrono Cross Soundtrack 6) Chrono Cross

About the music: To compliment the parallel worlds depicted in 'Chrono Cross,' composer Yasunori Mitsuda (who previously worked on the prequel 'Chrono Trigger') created alternately dark and bright tracks. The theme of the score was centered around old world cultural influences, such as Celtic, Mediterranean and percussive African music.

Final Fantasy 7 Soundtrack 5) Final Fantasy 7

About the music: Released on four CDs, the game soundtrack was the first in the series to include a track with digitized vocals titled 'One-Winged Angel.' The score is considered by many Final Fantasy fans to be Nobuo Uematsu's greatest music score.

Halo 2 Soundtrack 4) Halo 2

About the music: While the score was composed by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, volume 1 of the 'Halo 2' soundtrack also includes songs from bands written specifically for the soundtrack that do not appear in the game such as Incubus and Breaking Benjamin. Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger said, "'Halo' is the only video game that ever inspired us to write a whole suite [of music]."

Metal Gear Solid Soundtrack 3) Metal Gear Solid

About the music: Most of the music for the soundtrack was composed by the Konami Computer Entertainment Sound Team Japan. The song 'Metal Gear Solid Main Theme' is one of the exceptions, as it was composed by TAPPY who has done music for many other Konami games including 'Policenauts' and 'Contra III: The Alien Wars.'

The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker Soundtrack 2) The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

About the music: Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, and Koji Kondo used an Irish influence for this video game soundtrack, featuring uilleann pipes and the pan flute on some songs. Many songs from 'The Wind Waker' appear on fellow Nintendo game 'Super Smash Bros. Brawl.'

Kingdom Hearts 2 Soundtrack 1) Kingdom Hearts 2

About the music: While the majority of the game's music was composed by Yoko Shimomura, the main vocal theme, 'Passion,' was composed and performed by Hikaru Utada. The music used in the opening and closing credits was composed by Kaoru Wada and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Listen to Video Game Scores on AOL Radio

Video Game News

Filed under: Best Songs, Top 10 Lists, Soundtracks

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. Wow I just saw this track today from a joystiq post abotut the top 10, should definitely do this more often.

Anyway, the castlevania songs and the metal gear solid songs are awesome!

Posted at 5:25PM on Oct 26th 2009 by PopnFrsh

2. How in the name of holy hell do you leave out the Homeworld soundtrack?

Posted at 11:03PM on Oct 26th 2009 by MIchael Haines

3. I'm sorry, but the Halo soundtrack(s) suck. Most of the songs are slow, quiet and uninteresting, yet AOL Radio chooses to play Halo more than any other game series.

Posted at 1:40PM on Nov 10th 2009 by Harb

4. What about the Alone in the Dark soundtrack? It is absolutely stunning!

Posted at 10:56PM on Nov 10th 2009 by Mellissa

5. I don't see Final Fantasy 8. That is messed up. This list sucks.

Posted at 8:43PM on Dec 22nd 2009 by John

6. pardon, i would like to add sim city 3000 and mirrors edge, thank you:)

Posted at 4:38PM on Jan 10th 2010 by gggrzesiek

7. Lack of any mention of Donkey Kong Country 2 music makes this list laughable.

Posted at 6:35AM on Jan 12th 2010 by booned

8. wtf what abbout assassins cread 2 that music is better then halo and kingdom hearts!!!!

Posted at 12:09PM on Jan 14th 2010 by dakota

9. YES!!! YES, YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!! KINGDOM HEARTS 2 IS THE BEST VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACK!!! DISNEY EUPHORIA, SQUARE ENIX BLISS, AND ONE OF THE BEST THEME SONGS I'VE EVER HEARD, YES!!!

Posted at 12:39AM on Jan 16th 2010 by Nait Phoenix

10. I don't really see why any of the American games are on here. Kingdom hearts I can see,but the Wind Waker soundtrack was SO much better than that.Probably because it's completely Japanese,and didn't have any clueless American company screwing around with it.

Posted at 7:36PM on Jan 25th 2010 by Minene Tsutsukasa

11. Varun Nair is coming this February to India's first and independent annual summit for the game development ecosystem - India Game Developer Summit (gamedevelopersummit dot com) and will talk about designed sound and their uses, foley and real world sounds and its importance in enhancing and adding depth to game play. He will teach dialogues, learning and adapting from other media and forms of entertainment such as films, theatre & music. He will also cover common queries on making a brief and time and asset management. The talk will also cover technicalities and their creative applications including choosing the 'right' sound, and space, perspective, timbre and pitch, quality, delivery and working formats.

Posted at 4:03AM on Feb 10th 2010 by Roopa Sharma

12. Halo 2 ROCKS!!!!! I believe the Halo games have the best soundtrack(s) EVER!!!!!

Posted at 5:57PM on Feb 15th 2010 by Tglvg11

13. Halo 2's tracks r awesum.
My favorites r Assassin's creed(both 1 & 2)
n Oblivion's soundtrack

Posted at 6:19PM on Feb 21st 2010 by DrGamer

14. KINGDOM HEARTS RULES! its like the best game in the WORLD!!! but i like the english verson of the song better. idont have kingdom hearts 2 but i have but i have the one for the nintendo ds and im on day 301 im almost finshed the game!! and yes im a girl

Posted at 12:00PM on Mar 2nd 2010 by raina miles

15. kingdom hearts is the best

Posted at 7:35PM on Mar 11th 2010 by taishi9

16. ha, this one's right for sure! lawl

Posted at 6:28PM on Mar 14th 2010 by Chris

17. uhh...LittleBigPlanet anybody?

Posted at 11:39AM on Mar 25th 2010 by DahcDerron

18. No Donkey Kong Country 2? This list is a joke.

Posted at 1:51PM on May 7th 2010 by no way

19. No doubt Command and Conquer 1 is the best I've ever heard. In fact, that was one of the first things I noticed when I first got the game. This stuff rocks ass!

Posted at 8:26PM on May 8th 2010 by JM

20. Where's Fire Emblem?

Posted at 7:35PM on May 11th 2010 by mochico88

21. where's oblivion??? one of the best soundtracks in any video game i have ever heard, hands down. kingdom hearts 2 is still pretty good though.

Posted at 11:31PM on May 12th 2010 by capstrain

22. how can you just ignore MAX PAYNE??????????????
its the best music for a game ever

Posted at 9:48AM on Jun 4th 2010 by ali

23. The list says right at the top that they didn't decide the list, this listeners did. They chose to put the tracks that were voted highest on the list. If you want the list to change just vote. :P

Posted at 8:26AM on Jun 11th 2010 by Thomas

24. Kingdom Hearts 2 ftw. How did I know One-Winged Angel would make the cut, too? XD

I know this wouldn't count because in America this game (actually a sound novel) is more or less unheard of, but Umineko no Naku Koro ni has an amazing soundtrack spanning the 6 novels out thus far. Happiness of Marionette, Daydream's End, Black Lilliana and the actual opening theme are all incredible.

And where the heck is 'Still Alive' from Portal? :P That one's practically a given!

Posted at 2:16AM on Jun 15th 2010 by Rin

25. I personally like Chrono Cross and Kingdom Hearts 2 the most. Halo 2 really brought back some good gaming memories. I thought FF7 music was overrated, but the track chosen to play was surprisingly good.

The rest is kind of meh. Most of them don't sound good out of the game. The worst of the meh ones would be the GoW2 music and the best of the meh is probably Silent Hill's track. Castlevania's track would've been good since it was decent at the start, but it later got dull and repetitive.

Posted at 2:45PM on Jun 27th 2010 by Varaxis

26. ...Uh...what about the music from TES IV: Oblivion? That's the best video game soundtrack I've ever heard. And the music from Halo is boring and slow. I don't understand why that's even on here.

Posted at 7:11PM on Jul 5th 2010 by Hal

27. Hello that is a very good list of VGM but i have a question is there an actual playlist to see every song on the radio or will we just have to be surprised? And i see there's no little big planet on the list that had nice music (ps3 and psp) so you should put that on the radio along with the ps3 game modnation racers. While most of the music i listen to is from Mario games i owned Nintendos for a long time, i've come to appreciate other games music, like Halo all thanks to this radio! Also i have a quick question is there a way to contact AOL by e-mail, about getting my game remix album,when it's done, on the radio? I hope i'm not really advertising my music but i dont know where to ask. Thanks

Posted at 7:51AM on Jul 9th 2010 by MikurotoroGamer

28. The Legend of Spyro series? Cynder Boss Convexity song?

Posted at 2:53PM on Jul 30th 2010 by Mora

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Off-topic, promotional or otherwise inappropriate comments will be removed.