Obscure or Random Videogame Songs That Have Stuck With You?

I'm not talking about One Winged Angel or the underground theme in Super Mario Bros. I'm talking about the random songs. Songs from games nobody you know has played. Songs that you think nobody listens to anymore.

For me, it's the Embassy music in Mission: Impossible.

I haven't played this game in 20 years, but I still occasionally think about it just because of this song. Just this week, I went to YouTube and started to listen to this song while at work. I kind of love, but am worried I will listen to this song for 5 hours straight and it will be the end of me.

I sing this every time I go swimming and submerge myself underwaterTMNT NES Underwater Level Music

It's always a crapshoot to try and predict which song is most obscure, but a couple came to mind:

Astro Boy: Omega Factor's sad/dramatic music. They used this for a lot of the poignant scenes in the game, so it stuck with me because I remember those.

This song was a minor meme for a bit, so I suppose that disqualifies it, but it's not like anyone ever talks about this game or this song aside from that meme. It's based on some folk song I think, but it's pretty much an unrecognizable remix. I've never played the game, I just arrived at it at random after seing some Sexy Parodius boss videos or something. But it's a very catchy melody, and way too energetic. When a buddy of mine was playing Dark Souls for the first time and I was on DJ duty to liven up the mood, this was the song I played when he ran through Blighttown and other nasty areas with a lot of enemies. It's got the perfect pace for that mad sprint, and it sounds ridicilous enough to make it funny.

Maniac Mansion - Main theme

The Goonies 2 - The Goonies R Good Enough

Castlevania - Stage 4 (I died a lot here as a kid, Castlevania has other FAR better songs, but this F’er stayed in my head...)

River City Ransom - Overworld theme

Shadowrun (Genesis) - Hand Jive bar song

I don’t think any of these are particularly deep cuts (Hell, one’s an 80s pop song and another is a blues staple), but they stuck with me.

Holy shit that Mission Impossible music you shared brings some memories. Used to love that game as I kid.

Most obscure is probably this:

Eh, yeah. Actually, coincidentally I was watching some video earlier today (it was an 80s song, just instrumental) and my brother says 'oh man, I thought you were listening to the Mission Impossible soundtrack', referring to the N64 game. Actually, you listen to the PS1 version? I'm not sure that this song is in the PS1 version actually. Personally, although I've never played the PS1 version, I quite like it compared to the N64 version. If nothing else, Mission Impossible has good music in my opinion. For me, music from Turrican as well as Ninja Warriors (Again) on the SNES.

There are more, but these two are on my mind now I guess. Many of the songs from both games actually stick in my mind. Take a listen. Currently listening to City Center on the Ninja Warriors soundtrack.

There's one track in Mass Effect 1 that has been sticking in my mind ever since I first played that game, and it's not even included in any of the official soundtracks: Protecting the Colony

There's this one piece of sector space music from Star Trek Online: Sector Space 1

There's the fucking amazing soundtrack for the Dark Reign: Rise of the Shadowhand expansion, which GOG apparently were unaware of and didn't include in their release - even playing the expansion content in their release it plays the base soundtrack instead.

There's the music from the Mansion level of SiN:

And as in every thread of this nature I have to include this amazing track from the Descent 2 redbook soundtrack. For whatever reason Johann Langlie's contribution to that soundtrack is never getting the recognition it deserves:

Serious Sam is not a franchise that I associate with having memorable soundtracks, but this song from a late-game boss in First Encounter has stuck with me for a decade now.

The elevator music from the Bill Nye FMV* adventure game, Bill Nye The Science Guy: Stop the Rock.

(go to about 11:26)

*edit: Strictly speaking, it might not qualify as FMV, as it's generally not FULL video. Usually video characters over a background. But you get the idea.

I never played it, but after I heard the Main Theme to Resident Evil: Outbreak in a demo derby, it lingered in my mind for quite some time. It’s impressive.

When it came out, I felt like the only kid in England who loved this dope Buffy game, and this theme is one of the reasons it hooked me immediately. It's also the track that made me want to become a composer, mixing light elements with dark.

Pure atmosphere. Cold, dark, nostalgic, fantastical... It resonates with the setting perfectly.

Few played this absolutely terrifying gem, but it's one of the very best -- its soundtrack equally so. Borderline outsider art, but this sweetly creepy little tune pops in my head all the time.

Been playing the Megaman X collection, and I immediately remembered each and every song, most of which I hadn't heard in over a decade. Boomer Kuwanger is a jam!

Probably the entire Einhänder soundtrack, and that one song from Tekken 4.

...By the way, am I the only one that thinks fondly of Tekken 4?

@rejizzle: Mega Man X1 has one hell of an OST in the first place, easily the best out of any Mega Man game. I don't know if it fits in as obscure, though.

I like 4 in a way -- it's a fun Tekken vacation -- but every outfit and stage feels like DLC for the real Tekken 4 base game they forgot to make. It was a bit too laid back to be welcomed by fighting game enthusiasts, and lacked conviction as a numbered entry, especially after the amazing third game. It never seemed to convince you that it needed to exist. It's fine, though.

@brunothethird: That Alice track's so good. The soundtrack has a bunch of songs I really like, but that has to be number one.

This is probably the most random pick I can think of. It's basically been stuck in my head since 1996/1997, when I played the demo of Neverhood.

I don't know if MDK 2 is all that obscure, but the soundtrack from that also lingers on. Obviously though, because it's by Jesper Kyd.

@brunothethird: That first Buffy game on Xbox was amazing. I could give a damn about the show, but that was a hell of a brawler.

I was bummed out their Indiana Jones game wasn’t better (it was fine, but I’m WAY into Indiana Jones, so I probably gave it some slack).

Pretty much anything from the numbered Grandia games. Noriyuki Iwadare is the man.

There was this educational game named Bas de Beer (Bas the bear). It was basically about a bear going on adventure and finding a treasure while an evil scientist tries to prevent them from succeeding. It came with a music CD, so i listened to the music on the regular. But the playable scenes would also be seated between musicvideos, so there was no way you weren't going to experience all that good stuff.

At the end of elementary school we had this thing where we got to do something on a stage, so we built some fake palmtrees and playbacked to this song as a goof.

If that's not obscure enough, i don't know anymore :D Have another one.

I remembered this game maybe six months ago and when I did this song brought so much back to me including why random gameboy music stirs something in me.

Not a video game, but thank's to this website the Japanese version of "Vegeta's Theme" has been constantly popping in my head the past few months.

Also the whole of the New Vegas soundtrack. Sometimes one of those songs will just find it's way into my head.

Not the most obscure thing, but I feel it doesn't come up a lot in conversation aside from me. Chaos theory has an amazing soundtrack, and a lot of the early missions especially has really stuck with me for years and years. It's still one of the first things that comes to mind in conversations like this.

I played so much The Settlers in my youth that I still get the theme song in my head at times.

Erana’s Peace from Quest for Glory, the theme from Conquests of Camelot, the Leisure Suit Larry theme (yeah, I know), and Chuck Rock’s intro are all my picks.

It's probably not that obscure, but the Snake Eater song always stood out to me because of it's epic cheesiness in this scene. I can see what they are going for with the 'break in the chaos' thing, but it always seemed hilarious and ham-fisted to me (in the best possible way).

@nutter: Darn straight! Didn't know they made an Indy game, that's a shame.

@glots: It really is a great game and soundtrack; the second one has some gems, too, like "Vale of Tears".

@tobbrobb: A few people here (including me) were gushing about the Chaos Theory music in a thread recently, it owns! "Battery" is my favourite.

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This is a cool game, and the soundtrack is seriously beautiful. It's Silent Hill good, give it a listen.

Underrated. You get to meet some of the graffiti world's most legendary artists whilst fighting an Orwellian regime to the music of the brilliant RJD2. Come on, that's a strong pitch.

Not the greatest game, but the music is frequently genius.

Legendary game, but when's the last time you saw the music given its props?

ICO "You were there" and the main theme from Majesty are two that come to mind.

Most, if not all, of the DKC OSTs absolutely slap but this track has always stuck with me in particular:

This little ditty from Power Quest has stuck in my brain for a few decades now. Also of note is they built a working equalizer for sound test. Power Quest was great, despite its flaws. The entire sequence starting at 0:28 is almost without compare on the GBC if you ask me.

The Silent Hill games folkish acoustic rock shouldn't work so well for the genre but for some reason it really stands out to me. I've noticed this style of music being used for Alan Wake's chapter music and even for the intro to Resident Evil 7. Not sure if anyone feels the same way but the music screams Silent Hill to me even if it has nothing to do with SH.

People always talk about Stickerbrush Symphony but I always had a soft spot for Bayou Boogie in DKC2 . I like the way it starts out like In The Air Tonight and feels appropriate to level's setting.

Yup, I always love a good Roland CR-78 drum beat.

The old Lego Island games hadsometracks that have stuck with me for a very long time.

Growing up, I played an obscene amount of PS1 Digimon games so this track from Digimon World 2 has always been stuck in my head (for better or worse):

If you're looking for something with a teensy bit less repetition, the theme for the first boss is pretty good:

AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH AH RUN SABER.

Two come to mind for this, one a little less obscure and from a game I've played, but a track I find myself humming more often than just about anything.

And then this, from a game I've never played, but the NJPW fan in me is constantly thinking about it... you could say Subconscious-ly. (Track 3, First Battle, its basically Shinsuke Nakamura's NJPW theme years before it was actually Shinsuke Nakamura's NJPW theme).

I love video games

This track is one of my all-time favorite Game Boy themes. Underrated game in general, really, and a surprisingly faithful recreation of the other versions.

The 11th Hour soundtrack is generally awesome/utterly bizarre, but this takes the cake, and will never leave my head:

Shivers 2 had a really unique soundtrack, in that it was part of the plot and performed by a fictional band in the game's universe, and the lyrics and videos were hints to the puzzles. They're corny, but also shockingly well-produced and performed. Burn The Pain is my favorite, in that it could have been a minor goth rock classic if anybody had actually heard of it. Same goes for another track, "Was I Even There", which legitimately could have been a radio single. (also, I implore people to play this game... it's actually really good, and woefully forgotten. Skip the original, though, as it's sub-Goosebumps material)

I'll stop with the videos here, but there are so many random/obscure tracks that will never leave my brain's playlist:

The Neverhood - Klaymen Shuffle

Blood - Infuscomus (Redbook Audio version)

Nitemare 3D - Menu theme

ROTT - Going Down The Fast Way

And I could go on and on, but now I just want to replay Shivers 2, haha. I kinda want to do a write-up on it, honestly. Keep an eye out for that, in case I actually do it.

WHY DOES THIS MENU MUSIC HAVE TO SOUND SO FUCKING TERRIFYING.

Seiken Densetsu 3's Powell gives me intense nostalgic feels.

#ApeEscape4Dammit