Underappreciated Soundtracks?

What are some of your favorite video game soundtracks that people don't talk about, don't know, or in general just don't get the love they deserve?

My pick is definitely Sim City 3000. I first played the game when it came out and have yet to get tired of it's OST. I don't think I've seen it on any "Top" lists, but the YouTube comments seem to adore it. Every piece captures city life and many pieces feature building and stacking themes, which I doubt is a coincidence, given the game. It even features a nice repetition of motives throughout. Highly recommended.

Favorite track: Concrete Jungle, but they're all great.

1. Pinapple smash crew's OST is still going strong in my playlist. Chiptuney/rocky awesomeness with a splash of some dub in there.
   https://syphus.bandcamp.com/album/pineapple-smash-crew-soundtrack
   
2. Under appreciated game and soundtrack, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. Also very chipyuney (except for the splash screen track). Lots of middle eastern vibes here.
   http://virt.bandcamp.com/album/shantae-and-the-pirates-curse-ost

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is a turd of a game, but has an excellent sound track.

Any work by Jesper Kyd is up at the top for me. I mean he has fans, but man, that guy is just so good. Particularly his work on the Hitman games and Freedom Fighters is so fantastic. Also did a great job on Assassins Creed 2. Just listening to these tracks gives me chills.

Sexy Parodius' soundtrack is fucking amazing:

Splice

Honestly the Persona soundtracks don't get enough love in general. On GB they do but we are cultish followers of the franchise.

Also have to post again to mention Fez. That OST got credit and all, but to me, it's a legitimately a masterpiece of an album game soundtrack aside.

The inFamous games in general have had good music, but Second Son really takes the cake. It's not so good that you immediately pick up on it playing the game, but I have listened to the soundtrack many a time whilst doing work.

Mega Turrican and Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! (both on Genesis) have amazing soundtracks! Both are not too well discussed so I guess that makes them under appreciated.

Donkey Kong Tropi-

Ahem, is the Terraria soundtrack well regarded? I always thought that was some great building and exploring music.

And along the lines of what @toastycrumbs already mentioned, SimCity 4 has some fantastic tracks (including at least one where someone just goes fucking bananas with a saxophone).

Wolfenstein: The New Order. Terrific soundtrack all around with this wonderful gem:

I also recommend looking up Driver: San Francisco(original soundtrack, not the licensed stuff).

Prince of Persia for the SNES.

Also, the original Star Fox.

Nier!

Remember Me

Atelier Shallie

Valkyria Chronicles

Puzzle Agent Soundtrack is great

The Dungeon Siege 1 sound track.

Hearing it makes me want to play again.

And Bravely Default.

Always loved the OST for Road Rash. It was the first game I remember loving the music in.

I feel like the same goes for the game in general, but Outland.

Also, I was a pretty big fan of The Walking Dead Season Two's soundtrack.

Pretty much anything by Ian Stocker aka Magical Time Bean. He did some work on old GBA and DS titles like Lemony Snickets but more recently he's gotten into game dev and he's been doing soundtracks for his own games including Soul Caster 1 & 2 and Escape Goat 1 & 2. His more recent stuff has a style that evokes the atmospheric electronic trippiness of Tangerine Dream with a strong groove throughout. I've loved his first few games as a developer but he doesn't get enough credit for abilities as a composer.

Escape Goat 2 - Restoration (Draft) on SoundCloud

Escape Goat 2 - Heavy Forest (Draft 2) on SoundCloud

Ratchet: Deadlocked's was criminally overlooked. And then there's the surprisingly amazing OST for Pictionary on the NES:

F-Zero GX. Some real jamming tunes are in their, but they are probably overlooked by the uninteresting re-do's of old tunes.

Chrono Cross and Valkyria Chronicles are both great soundtracks. Don't know if they're underappreciated, as they seem to be fairly well-loved. Same with Skyrim.

Maybe the Super Mario All Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 2? I'm always disappointed when I try to find it on youtube and only come up with the original NES version.

BLAZBLUE OSTs.

SimCity SNES is another good one. And SimCity 4's always good.

The Neverhood soundtrack. More people need it in their lives. It's insane and wonderful. That goes for the sequel, Skullmonkeys, as well.

Also, Rise of the Triad. Mostly the original, but the remake soundtrack is great as well. For comparison, the same track in both:

Seriously, give both ROTT soundtracks a listen. There's some incredible stuff in there. Choice cuts: "Mist Ache", "Run Like Smeg", and "Adagio for Strings and Organs" ("Adagio" especially on the remake. Holy shit. Beautiful piece of music.)

SimIsle, both the most underappreciated Maxis release (developed by Intelligent Games who later made the underappreciated Emperor: Battle For Dune) and most underappreciated soundtrack in my opinion:

Thanks for this. I played SimIsle, but had forgotten about the soundtrack. It gave the game a real specific feel. Lots of nice environmental touches, too.

Listening to it now, it feels very 80s/early 90s.

Shadows of the Damned

One of the best soundtracks ever, but you really have to play the game to appreciate it. Searching the OST on Youtube will leave you without some of the best songs in the game. I think it's Yamaoka's finest work, and he's done a lot of classic soundtracks.

I have two others to recommend. The first one is Rome Total War. The music just fit the tone of the game so perfectly as if you really were a Roman general leading your legions into battle, or a general of another ancient power. Never really hear this game brought up for best OST's in strategy games.

The other one is a game that I never actually played, but after watching videos of it and listening to its soundtrack, I desperately want to play it. The game I'm talking about is the forgotten Sega Saturn game, Mr. Bones. The game itself is supposed to be nuts as the levels rarely stay in one gameplay style, like going from 2D platforming in one level to playing a guitar in the next. The soundtrack was composed by the late and great Blues guitarist, Ronnie Montrose, and its amazing.

Metroid: Prime. Great soundtrack.

Although probably the award should go to Lazy Jones, as it basically turned into Kernkraft 400 and is still heard a lot today in the right circles.

I've voiced this before, and I'll do it again: Max Payne 3. Unbelievably amazing, blood-pumping, atmospheric music that fit perfectly with each moment within the story.

A soundtrack thread! Perfect time for me to once again beat the "Luftrausers has a fucking amazing soundtrack" drum. I still have a hard time believing that it wasn't appreciated much anywhere besides GB around GOTY time last year. Listen to the modular awesomeness.

Well Guilty Gear, Chrono Trigger, Streets of Rage 2 and many others are awesome, don't know if they get nods. But I know I'm probably the only dude here who remembers this boss shit:

Generally I only find soundtracks for games good within the context of the game. But there's been a few OSTs that I've been pretty into. Probably the most under appreciated, or I don't see people talking about it much, is the soundtrack to Dustforce.

A more recent OST that I've enjoyed from a game was the soundtrack to Lisa.

I think the whole soundtrack to the game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters for the NES is pretty amazing; never hear anyone talk about it. Definitely recommend anyone who likes 8-bit music to take a listen.

Persona4

Critical Depth is pretty great and fits the underwater setting perfectly. I listen to it regularly, actually.

Really, all the old Singletrac games had an awesome sound team. Jet Moto 2 had some ripping guitars. The leads in that link are fantastic and fit the wide-open sensation in that track so well. The original Twisted Metals are probably a big reason why I eventually started playing guitar.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

No One Lives Forever

Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Majesty

Wing Commander 2

Ace Combat: Joint Assault

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3atIvMfAX04 <- Steel Axe
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZg3i9VIOAA <- Spiridus
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6HYiLS8dUQ <- In The Zone
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bazWnY2gE14 <- Joint Assault
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR6NJi6O9ag <- Nightwatch
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osbJt4iTExA <- Sanctify (Tunnels)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cYbuk0qdFk <- Footsteps in the Night Sky
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scaAjYqQm7g <- Varcolac

Chaos Legion had some really good BGM that perfectly accentuated the game's style, lots of chanting choirs and orchestration, but it didn't really try to make it sound 'epic' kinda focused more on the actual melody and progression, also has so really great sounding percussion that was often the main beat, here's the track to the first stage, it really sets things off!

There has to be a better way of imbedding Youtube videos in threads like this. Maybe some kind of expand option that doesn't actually load the video in until clicked?

Anyway, my contributions.

-Killer7 OST, which I own a physical copy of, probably the rarest gaming thing I own. Masafumi Takada overall is great, so dump No More Heroes in there as well. Oh, and God Hand. And Danganronpa.
-For non videogame stuff, the Escape from New York OST is excellent. Made by kind of friend of the site, John Carpenter.

@mystyr_e: great recommendation dude! Haven't heard it before but that atelier shallie soundtrack is amazing!

On the note of John Carpenter, he actually did write the music for a PS1 game back in the 90's. And it's a great and underappreciated soundtrack too.

Here it is:

The Machinarium soundtrack by Floex grabbed me immediately.

Digging through some old Genesis soundtracks and came across this gem that flooded me with nostalgia upon listening: Samurai Shodown. I know there are clearer versions with real instrumentation or at least more accurate, but damn is this moody. It's sparse and dark sounding in a very effective way that gives this version it's own flavor.

I really liked this soundtrack playing the game back in the day but not until now do I realize how weird it is.