As I attempt to plow through a few final games before scrambling together a top 10 list, I’ve also been thinking about the year in video game music. I won’t say that 2014 has been one of the better years for video game music (just like it hasn’t been one of the better years for the games themselves), but I still played plenty of games with excellent soundtracks. In fact, some of these soundtracks join my all-time favorites, and all of them did a lot to enhance their respective games. Video game music can be a powerful thing when used well, and props to these 10 games for doing it better than any other I played in 2014.

One minor aside before I start. Every year I’ve debated whether I want to consider licensed and/or remixed music for this list, and this year I’ve finally settled on being all inclusive. If a game has great music and uses it well, then it’s eligible, plain and simple. Every year there’s at least one game that uses pre-existing music to great effect, and I’m going to give those games some well deserved recognition too.

Finally, games are ordered by release date, not by preference.

The Banner Saga

Featured track: We are all Guests upon the Land

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Featured track: Homecoming Hijinx

Luftrausers

Featured track: The Original

Child of Light

Featured track: Aurora’s Theme

Transistor

Featured track: Paper Boats

Electronic Super Joy: Groove City

Featured track: Entire soundtrack... it's all I could find :)

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Featured track: Main Theme

Shovel Knight

Featured track: Strike the Earth! (Plains of Passage)

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Featured track: Mega Man 2 Medley

A Bird Story

Featured track: A Bird Story (Piano)