Video game music, huh? It’s pretty good! Great, even. Here we are nearing the end of 2023, which means it’s time for one of my favorite annual traditions: recognizing my favorite video game music of the year. I’d say it was a pretty solid year for music in games too, with a couple of these soundtracks joining my all-time favorites. It was a deep and varied year as well, so much so that I couldn’t play all the games I wanted to, and I’m certain I missed some excellent soundtracks along the way (shoutout to Octopath Traveler II and Final Fantasy XVI, a pair of games I have yet to play but I know have great music). Music continues to be one of my favorite things about this entire medium, and this annual exercise of mine always gives me renewed appreciation for just how dang good video game music has gotten. This is my way of honoring that. Thank you for reading and listening; I hope you enjoy it, and that you have a wonderful day.

The usual disclaimers: I only considered soundtracks from games I’ve played, I picked a single representative song from each soundtrack to feature, and these games are ordered by their original US release date; not by preference. Finally, I apologize in advance for overlooking your favorite game soundtrack.

Fire Emblem Engage

Composer(s): Yasuhisa Baba, Kazuki Komai, Hiroki Morishita, Takeru Kanazaki, Fumihiro Isobe, and Takafumi Wada

Featured Track: Bright Sandstorm

Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ soundtrack is one of my all-time favorites, and while Engage’s score doesn’t hit those same heights as consistently for me, when it does hit, it’s nearly as good. Like its predecessor, it sprinkles its main theme throughout many other songs to great effect, particularly in its excellent battle themes; the music during the late-game climactic encounters really got me going. It’s a simple application of leitmotif, which Fire Emblem has leveraged for multiple games now, yet it remains just as powerful as ever in Engage.

Pizza Tower

Composer(s): Ronan de Castel, ClascyJitto, and Post Elvis

Featured Track: It’s Pizza Time!

I’m still in the early stages of Pizza Tower, but what I’ve heard of the music so far is a trip. It’s frenetic in a way that I don’t normally care for, but it works so well here because, well, that’s what Pizza Tower is. It’s a game with a clear, funky vibe, and video game music is often at its best to me when it enhances a game’s vibe. This soundtrack absolutely does that, and it also contains one of my favorite songs from any game this year in “It’s Pizza Time!” I get excited every time it plays.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line

Composer(s): So many!!

Featured Track: Opening Movie

Is this cheating? Should I include a rhythm game that is almost entirely a collection of songs from other games? Especially when those songs are already considered by many (myself included) to be among gaming’s best? Probably. But I’m going to do it anyway. To state the obvious: Final Fantasy has a long legacy of great music, and Theatrhythm Final Bar Line collects all of that music into an excellent rhythm game. It doesn’t change or update those songs, and it doesn’t do anything particularly fancy with them. But it’s still worth celebrating the sheer number of amazing songs (385 of them in the base game alone!), spanning decades of wonderful games, packed into this gem.

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp

Composer(s): Maddie Lim, Michaela Nachtigall, and Tommy Pedrini

Featured Track: Sensei’s Power

The original Advance Wars soundtracks were already personal favorites, but Re-Boot Camp gives them such a substantial glow-up that it stands tall all on its own. The improved instrumentation and sound quality across the board bring new life to old classics; Sami’s and Grit’s themes sound much fuller without losing any of their original charm. What’s more, plenty of themes are overhauled to fit a different interpretation or style entirely, and everyone gains an additional arrangement for their power theme, too. Drake’s theme gets so many new layers, Andy’s power theme goes to a rave, and that sax in Sensei’s power theme utterly slaps. I’m genuinely blown away by how much they go for it in many of these arrangements, which further elevates the peppy, exciting vibe that makes playing Advance Wars so damn fun.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Composer(s): Manaka Kataoka, Maasa Miyoshi, Masato Ohashi, and Tsukasa Usui

Featured Track: Main Theme

I was initially hesitant to include Tears of the Kingdom on this list, as many of its songs are the same as they were in Breath of the Wild, and I tend to favor more new material. But I think Tears’ soundtrack has enough new, quality music to make the cut. The incredible new main theme is a clear standout, and there are a couple new killer boss themes, too. I also appreciate the peaceful melancholy of the sky islands, along with the creepy undertones of the depths. It’s perhaps no surprise that much of the new music accompanies the game’s biggest new zones, which does a lot of work towards lending this sequel its own identity.

Humanity

Composer(s): Jemapur

Featured Track: Thrive

Humanity’s airy soundtrack lacks the kind of identifiable melodies I normally gravitate towards in video game music, yet it sets such a chill, mesmerizing tone that it won me over anyway. It suits not only the contemplative nature of the puzzles, but also the contemplative nature of the narrative, and I really appreciated that headspace it reliably got me into. It’s a wonderful example of music’s ability to bring together all aspects of a game in an enhancing, cohesive way.

Pseudoregalia

Composer(s): potatoTeto

Featured Track: Outside the Castle Walls (Empty Bailey)

Pseudoregalia is a pretty short game with an even shorter soundtrack, yet these songs still wormed their way into my ear. The exploration themes have a strong vibe that lend each zone their own identity, and the boss themes go way too hard (in a good way) for how few actual boss fights are in the game. It’s a short and sweet (and catchy) soundtrack that is also, like the game itself, very evocative of the N64/PS1 era in a way I can appreciate. My only wish is that there was more of it.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Composer(s): Borislav Slavov

Featured Track: Main Theme Part 1

What an appropriately epic soundtrack to match an absolutely epic game; and I mean that in every sense of the word. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a lengthy adventure full of danger, wonder, beauty, romance, loss, and so much more. It would take a special effort to do such an adventure justice, but Borislav Slavov did just that with this all-encompassing score. It swells magnificently with all the emotional highs and lows of the tale itself, and leverages leitmotif expertly to tie it all together with surprising thematic cohesion. The result is an iconic sound that defines Baldur’s Gate 3 as much as anything, topped off by a handful of truly memorable music moments that left me in awe. Like, seriously, Raphael sings his own goddamn boss music. What a guy.

Sea of Stars

Composer(s): Eric W. Brown and Yasunori Mitsuda

Featured Track: The Lost Village of Docarri

Picking a featured track was especially difficult for Sea of Stars, because my favorite thing about its soundtrack is how lengthy and diverse it is; no single song can capture the sheer breadth of excellent music on display. Upbeat traversal themes (including some wonderful nods to The Messenger) bring each zone to life as you explore. Homey vibes permeate the world’s villages. Vigorous battle themes intensify the game’s many encounters. And the cinematic moments are always accompanied by the appropriate tone, ranging from somber to bombastic. It’s a soundtrack that runs the gamut, and each song is a joy to listen to in its own way.

Cobalt Core

Composer(s): Aaron Cherof

Featured Track: Self-Defense

Cobalt Core’s music is relentlessly upbeat in a low-key way that I can’t help but appreciate. It has a few catchy melodies that work for me when they pop up, but most of the time, it’s content to settle into background vibe territory. That certainly works here for the chill game this is, as do the spacefaring undertones. It’s a soundtrack that lacks the bombast of most others on this list, yet is always one I’m happy to bob my head to as I think my way through another delightful space battle.

Bonus: Star Ocean The Second Story R and Super Mario RPG

I’m partially breaking my own rule here, but allow me to give bonus shout-outs to soundtracks from two games I have not played… kind of. I have not played either of these remakes (yet), but I did play the original Star Ocean: The Second Story and Super Mario RPG extensively; I adore both of these games and their soundtracks. I’ve listened to their respective remake soundtracks as well, and I think both are good to great updates to these classics that would easily stand among the others on this list. One of my favorite things about the current remake trend is getting fresh new takes on classic video game music, and both of these do that admirably. So allow me to give them their due here.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R

Composer(s): Motoi Sakuraba

Featured Track: Stab the Sword of Justice

Super Mario RPG

Composer(s): Yoko Shimomura

Featured Track: Fight Against a Somewhat Stronger Monster