What game music evokes a visceral emotional response from you? (Updated with Playlists!)

  • 110 results
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
Avatar image for trim_fandango
trim_fandango

91

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#1  Edited By trim_fandango

So I played Undertale last year, and huge part of what made that game great was its soundtrack, which I felt was an effective medium for connecting the player to the drama, atmosphere, or epic-ness of what was happening on the screen. I had some of the songs on repeat for about a month before I started thinking more about how the "best" music in video games manages to do this. In my humble opinion, the truly great songs can capture the essence of the entire experience of a game, and listening to these songs is like taking a brass-knuckled fist of emotion to the face. A shining example of a track that does this for me: the title theme from Ocarina of Time.

To put it bluntly, I WANT MORE OF THIS. I would appreciate it if anyone could share any tracks that have evoked this sort of response in them!

p.s. Obviously, since this is a thread about music, everything is subjective AF, so feel free to respectfully disagree!

Edit: I just added my latest post to the top of the thread:

Phewwwwwww! Finally caught up to most of the music on this thread. Thanks everyone for posting! And keep posting, these are all great!

OKAY SO HERE ARE THE PLAYLISTS.

As I mentioned previously, I divided all of the music I heard into 3 rough categories. They are:

1. Get AMPED

In short, this is all music that motivated me to get off my ass and do something, while making me feel epic (or like a badass) for doing it. Some of these, like E1M1 and Megalovania are no-brainers for this category because of their fast tempos and raging solos. Other songs, which have a more orchestral sound like OoT's Last Battle and Frog's Theme, were also selected for this category because they have an epic, "going off to war" kind of feeling to them, or a chord progression that clearly culminates in an epic manner. The main musical theme that ties everything in this playlist together is the heavy percussive element in each track.

2. Introspective

These are all songs that had the exact opposite emotional impact compared to those songs from the first playlist. While the Get Amped playlist made me want to go make an impact on my surroundings, this playlist makes me want to just sit down by myself and look inwards. In general, all of these songs have slower pacing, with broad, sweeping chord progressions and softer instruments like the piano, harp, and acoustic guitar, as well as operatic or choral vocals. Drums are optional.

3. The Escape

The third and final category consists of tracks that managed to do what neither of the other playlists could do. These tracks didn't evoke a response out of me; rather, they transported me to one of the levels in a game or injected the atmosphere of a game into me. For example, it was impossible for me to think of the Super Mario Bros. Underground Theme in terms of how it made me feel. As soon as I heard it, I could only picture the levels themselves and Mario jumping around in them. Other cases for which this happened to me were Gerudo Valley from OoT and Dire Dire Docks from Mario 64. At the same time, songs like the Starcraft Terran theme, the Shadowrun theme, and the GTA 4 theme were great at instilling their respective atmospheres in my mind. Because the essences of these games are vastly different from each other, it was really hard to find a musical through-line for all of these songs compared to the previous playlists.

Final Notes:

I'm pretty sure I managed to include most of the music suggestions from each post on this thread. If I somehow missed you, let me know! I've been going through a lottttt of music over the last couple of days so it's entirely probable that I just forgot to add your song.

Again, music is subjective, so I don't expect anyone to completely agree with how I've categorized these tracks. That being said, I WOULD LOVE FEEDBACK. How badly did I screw up organizing the songs? Did I totally miss the mark with a track, and should it instead have gone into another category? Was three categories too few in this context? Any other musical similarities between tracks that I neglected to mention?

And as I said before, keep posting! I will continue to grow these playlists as more tracks are posted!

Avatar image for blackout62
Blackout62

2241

Forum Posts

84

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

Journey soundtrack.

Avatar image for spoonman671
Spoonman671

5874

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#3  Edited By Spoonman671

The Dollet Theme from Final Fantasy 8 has always stuck with me and, when heard, instantly recalls me back to the first time I played through the liberation of Dollet and fought that damn robot spider.

The main theme of Demon's Souls is has a pretty powerful effect on my mind as well. The entire soundtrack has this wonderfully off-kilter tone to it that inspires dread and curiosity in equal measure.

Avatar image for kasaioni
kasaioni

2397

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Ice Station from TimeSplitters 2.

Avatar image for frostyryan
FrostyRyan

2936

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Anything from Undertale, Persona 3/4, and Shadow of the Colossus.

Avatar image for j_unit2008
j_unit2008

351

Forum Posts

358

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

There's nothing more that I love in a video game than some real evocative music. Undertale had a great soundtrack that I enjoyed so much that I had to buy the soundtrack. The titular song hit me straight in the feels near its conclusion. Final fantasy music has always been a standout for me because it's really good at conveying story and character traits. Particularly I really like:

Terra- FFVI

To Zanarkand-FFX

And some more favorites:

Dearly Beloved- Kingdom Hearts

Baba Yetu- Civilization IV(?)

P.S. Sometimes I would just let that Ocarina of time title screen go just to listen to that song.

Avatar image for westernwizard
WesternWizard

604

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

First thing that comes to mind is You Will Know our Names from Xenoblade chronicles. Every time this song kicks in you know you are in for a fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OfNgkxkM_o

Avatar image for theht
TheHT

15998

Forum Posts

1562

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 9

Avatar image for nime
Nime

567

Forum Posts

386

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

#9  Edited By Nime
Avatar image for berserk007
Berserk007

356

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Late Goodbye - Poets of the Fall - Max Payne 2

Avatar image for danteveli
Danteveli

1441

Forum Posts

735

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 7

User Lists: 30

Loading Video...

Avatar image for csl316
csl316

17001

Forum Posts

765

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

#12  Edited By csl316

The main theme for The Unfinished Swan, it's just a perfect piece of music.

In game, though, Braid. When you start the first level and the strings kick in. Just the art and the pleasant movement combines with the music in such an astounding way.

Avatar image for zeik
Zeik

5434

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#13  Edited By Zeik

I remember a number of songs from the Xenosaga 3 soundtrack did that to me. Especially some of the more melancholy songs like Hepatica. But Godsibb was also epic as fuck and really gets you pumped to beat up psuedo-gods with giant mechs. It was the first video game soundtrack I recall tracking down to listen to outside of the game.

Most recently it would be almost the entire Life is Strange soundtrack. They did an amazing job curating those licensed songs. They all fit their scenes perfectly and enhance them significantly. I doubt I will ever be able to hear the majority of those songs divorced from the game without immediately thinking of the game and the scenes they are connected to.

Avatar image for mattyftm
MattyFTM

14914

Forum Posts

67415

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 11

#14 MattyFTM  Moderator

Aerith's theme from Final Fantasy VII does that to me. I have a huge amount of nostalgia for that game, and that song gives me goosebumps.

Avatar image for bbalpert
BBAlpert

2978

Forum Posts

34

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 16

Does it count if the reaction has nothing to do with the game or music itself? Because I happened to be playing a ton of Bayonetta 1 at a very specific time in my life when some major stuff was happening, so I still get a little choked up when I hear the main theme.

Loading Video...

Weird how that works.

Avatar image for manqy
manqy

65

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Terra's theme from Final Fantasy VI is the first thing that springs to mind, but I feel a connection with almost every song in that game.

Avatar image for schrodngrsfalco
SchrodngrsFalco

4616

Forum Posts

454

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 7

The song at the end of Life is Dtrange. Spanish Sahara by Foals.

Avatar image for mezza
MezZa

3227

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

The main theme to Chrono Trigger. Also Zanarkind in FFX. Just has to start playing and suddenly it takes me back years.

Avatar image for teoball
Teoball

860

Forum Posts

15

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Avatar image for theht
TheHT

15998

Forum Posts

1562

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 9

Avatar image for cthomer5000
cthomer5000

1422

Forum Posts

31

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Plenty of songs from plenty of games.

To this day I get a chill down my spine when I hear the "Championship Roster" song from the end of Tecmo Super Bowl - it plays after you win the super bowl. That game was so important to my childhood and reminds me of so many specific memories.

"A Corner of Memories" from Persona 4 Golden reminds me of all my time with that game - which is fantastic and probably one of the 20 best I've ever played.

"Secunda" from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim similarly reminds me of all my time with that game - which I played obsessively for quite a while when it came out. That particular song really captured the feeling of exploration in that game for me.

Avatar image for ripelivejam
ripelivejam

13572

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Loading Video...

EVERY. DAMN. TIME.

Avatar image for syce300
Syce300

246

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

While I will second the Persona 4 (in particular the credits theme, Never More, for bringing back memories of finishing it) and To Zanarkand (I ended up buying the FFX PS4 theme just to listen to that every time I turn it on), I am appalled at the zero mention of the NIER soundtrack so far!

Loading Video...
Loading Video...

Just about any of the songs in that game can still suck me right back in. NIER Automata might just be my most anticipated game of 2016 right now and most of that hype is just getting another soundtrack by Keiichi Okabe.

Avatar image for babychoochoo
BabyChooChoo

7106

Forum Posts

2094

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 2

#25  Edited By BabyChooChoo

Liberation of Gracemaria from Ace Combat 6. I don't really know how to put into words how it makes me feel or why I feel what I do while listening to this, but this is the first song that came to mind after I saw this thread title.

Oh, and this song from Drakengard 3 is up there as well. Did not really care for the rest of the game at all but this song and the boss that accompanies it are fucking brilliant. They both evoke a very strong sense of dread, yet exude this sad, but somehow still oddly calming nature.

Avatar image for mithical
mithical

425

Forum Posts

20

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

#26  Edited By mithical

This is tricky because music is tied particularly strong to memory for me, so to some degree a song from any game I love provokes a response. Here are a couple that seem to be stronger than most though:

Persona 3 - Kimi no Kioku

Chrono Cross - Dreamwatch of Time, Star-Stealing Girl, Life Faraway Promise

Chrono Trigger - Crono's Theme, Corridors of Time, World Revolution, To Far Away Times

Super Mario Land - Birabuto Land, Rocket Ship Ride

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Kokiri Forest, Hyrule Field Main Theme, Zelda's Theme, Last Battle

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Ganondorf Battle

Phantasy Star 4 - Motavia Town, Rika, Her Last Breath, Laughter, The Edge of Fables, Ooze

I'm sure these won't effect you the same way they do me, though. Sure, maybe there's something about the music that is powerful, but I feel like you're not going to get nearly the same feeling without the memories and experiences that came along with playing the game.

EDIT: For me, these all take me back to a place and time, usually with a slightly heavy feeling in my chest. Even the happy ones are tinged with a bittersweetness of knowing I'm not actually 12 again, losing myself in a game.

Avatar image for tehfedro
TehFedro

492

Forum Posts

43

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 5

The main one for me is the ending songs of Super Mario RPG. My eyes just tear the hell up and I'm happy, sad, nostalgic, just so many things at once. It helps that it's one of my favourite games ever.

There's also this battle music in Paper Mario: TTYD, it's paired with the craziest moment in that game for me and it's just the best.

I could go on awhile but those are two that are high up for me.

Avatar image for betterley
betterley

222

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#28  Edited By betterley

Old Gods of Asgard, from Alan Wake

(Possible Spoilers)

Loading Video...

Dang, Remedy sure knows how to make great set pieces.

Avatar image for tobbrobb
TobbRobb

6616

Forum Posts

49

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

Avatar image for deactivated-5a00c029ab7c1
deactivated-5a00c029ab7c1

1777

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Max Payne 3 when Health kicks in gives me a sense of power and taking control back.

Loading Video...

GTA4 main theme just gives me a feeling of a big scale blockbuster movie love this game.

Loading Video...

Mirror's Edge gives me a feeling and a sense of relaxing on a sunny day makes me think of Spring.

Loading Video...

BF2 makes me remember the good times I had playing in a clan those where the days.

Loading Video...

MOHAA my first real MP experience and the game that got me into PC gaming awesome times.

Loading Video...

Avatar image for loafsmooch
Loafsmooch

545

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Loading Video...

Avatar image for sku
sku

313

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

This is out of left field, but TJ Combo's theme from KI3 evokes the kind of positive emotion (excitement, being pumped up, what have you) that I barely ever feel for much of anything. Not only that, but it's the song that came on my phone when I was finally landing home after a long and painful trip abroad, so it reminds me of a weird sort of triumph in a way.

Loading Video...

Didn't think you'd see Killer Instinct in a thread about raw emotions? Think again.

Avatar image for joey_ravn
JoeyRavn

5290

Forum Posts

792

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 3

I just can't over how good Hopes and Dreams/Save the World from Undertale are. They are my go-to song for running these days.

Avatar image for sgtsphynx
sgtsphynx

2681

Forum Posts

682

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 32

#34 sgtsphynx  Moderator
Avatar image for theht
TheHT

15998

Forum Posts

1562

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 9

Avatar image for hamst3r
Hamst3r

5520

Forum Posts

7837

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 2

#36  Edited By Hamst3r
Avatar image for fisk0
fisk0

7320

Forum Posts

74197

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 75

#37 fisk0  Moderator

There's one track in particular on the SimIsle: Missions in the Rainforests soundtrack, I'm not even sure what it is about it, but it just feels perfect for the game's setting despite having sounds of cities and stuff like that in there despite being a game set primarily on tropical islands with small villages.

The only version I can find on youtube is one with the entire soundtrack in a single video, so if the time code embed doesn't work, it should start at 4:42:

Loading Video...

Avatar image for redelectric
redelectric

195

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Loading Video...

Avatar image for metricchip
metricchip

33

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Loading Video...

Hopes and Dreams... largely a side effect of playing through Undertale (pacifist) in one sitting.

Didn't quite realize until later that the reason it probably hit me so well is that it's peppered with little bits and pieces of about 3-4 other songs from earlier in the game. Basically all the music you were hearing throughout the entire game was a buildup to this song.

Damn...

Avatar image for azulot
azulot

281

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#40  Edited By azulot

A bunch of people already brought up numerous Final Fantasy themes that get me (which we have the philharmonic versions of a bunch of final fantasy tracks and it's great, man).

I'm with @csl316when it comes to Braid. I actually first heard Lullaby in the car with my boyfriend (now together over 4 years) prior to playing the game. It might be cheesy or whatever but I tear up every time, just something about it. I'm gonna walk down the aisle to this damn song.

Loading Video...

Avatar image for zeik
Zeik

5434

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#41  Edited By Zeik

I see Chrono Cross mentioned a few times, but no mention of the actual best piece of music in that game? I must correct this.

Loading Video...

Avatar image for atomicoldman
atomicoldman

833

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

The theme to Daytona USA always puts me in a good mood. Same with the first level music in Ninja Baseball Bat Man.

Avatar image for hayt
Hayt

1837

Forum Posts

548

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

A few people have posted some of mine already.

The main theme from Deus Ex and Health from Max Payne 3.

I am shocked that no one seems to have posted what I consider my favourite piece of videogame music of all time which is the main theme to Morrowind

Loading Video...

I had to take this off my music player just because whenever it played I couldn't do anything but stop and let it soak in. It productivity hurting levels of amazing.

Avatar image for mchampton
McHampton

160

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

This thread is amazing. Talk about goosebumps!

Loading Video...




Avatar image for tackystuff
tackystuff

22

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@theht said:

Mass Effect - Uncharted Worlds

Maaaaannnn.... I need to play some Mass Effect. Probably the most affecting theme for me.

Anything from F-Zero still gets me.They did a killer version of Big Blue for Mario Kart 8.

Loading Video...
Loading Video...

Avatar image for giantlizardking
GiantLizardKing

1144

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

The overworked map from FFVI and the pause music from battle toads.

Avatar image for asmo917
asmo917

949

Forum Posts

437

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 12

This is the one for me too, but I always think of how it kicks in right before the end credits. I didn't really like Max Payne 3 but felt compelled to play it through to the end, and the way he walks off from the beachside bar, still kind of a piece of a shit, with a really terrible bit of dialogue playing from the in-game TV, with this track kicking in with a blend of rage and melancholy was just perfect for the game and where I was personally at the time.

@jec03 said:

Max Payne 3 when Health kicks in gives me a sense of power and taking control back.

Loading Video...

Avatar image for iodine
Iodine

691

Forum Posts

436

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#48  Edited By Iodine
Loading Video...

I played far too much of the battle network games, and the battle music is forever stuck in my head

Loading Video...

So much styyyyyyyyyyle

Loading Video...

I know it's licensed but goddamn

Avatar image for the_nubster
The_Nubster

5058

Forum Posts

21

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 1

@betterley: Oh my god dude, that set piece was worth the whole game. That was really where it all came together: pure fucking bizarre shit going on, combat that was a lot better than people give it credit for, and just unbelievable amounts of tension and fear. I somehow got the achievement for that section on my first try and I needed to take a goddamn break afterward.

Avatar image for trim_fandango
trim_fandango

91

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#50  Edited By trim_fandango

Wow this thread was more popular than I expected! I am looking forward to listening to all of these tracks. I sense some new youtube playlists in my future. To be precise, I'm actually gonna try to categorize these songs into 3 playlists based on how they make me feel. One playlist will be to amp me up, one will be to transport me to a different place/time, and the final one will be for introspection. I then want to see if there are any elements in the music itself that carry through for all songs in each playlist (i.e. instruments, chord structures, rhythm, these are the obvious ones, and I'll of course try to dig deeper). I'll be sure to share my playlists/results/thoughts as they come. It's been a longgg day, and I'm just now getting a chance to look at everybody's posts as I turn in for the night, so there'll be more responses coming later.

In the meantime, keep posting! What really helps is describing the feelings you get when listening to the songs in question. There are definitely a whole bunch of tracks I've never heard on this thread (and, more interestingly, tracks that I don't remember from games that I finished and loved, probably because it's been a while? I'm looking at you SNES games!). As a result, your input on why a song evokes a specific emotional response from you will be super helpful for me (and any others) to connect to the music without having played the game.

And here's another super evocative track that was mentioned previously in the thread by @tobbrobb, but I think deserves a video embed (which, btw, thanks for not embedding all of your linked videos when you have a lot of music to contribute!).

Loading Video...