I don't know if I've ever actually done a top ten list before here at the Mag. Lot of people have, so I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring. What I want to do is a top ten best original sound tracks. What makes a game's OST qualify is that it must have either ALL good tracks within the entire game, or such amazing tracks that the not-so-good ones are easily overlooked. Other than that, it's only one-per franchise. If I didn't do that, they would likely end up with more Sonic games than necessary. As a side not, it was really hard not to put Chrono Trigger on this list. But I tried my best to take off my rose-colored glasses for this. Also, this is just my opinion... which I know differs greatly from majority of people. I'm not trying to step on toes.

Links to the full OSTs of all games mentioned will be linked in the game's title, so you can just click to listen. And please do. Click around and see for yourself what makes me believe they are so great.




#10) Devil May Cry 3


I'm a huge fan of the series. But what helps make the series is the music in it. You can really get into slashing the hell out of enemies when you've got something in the background that fits the mood as well as this. It's kind of like driving with 'driving music'. Not to mention that the DMC3 sound track has a few remixes of some DMC1 tracks. Which is always awesome. It'll fill your dark soul with LIIIIIIIGHT.


#9) Mario Galaxy


Out of all the Mario games, I don't think that any single game managed nail down the soundtrack as well as Galaxy... even more so than Galaxy 2 (which mostly just copied tracks over and added very little). The fully orchestrated music really blew it out of the water, and Good Egg Galaxy is one of the best pieces of music in all of Mario's history.


#8) Radiant Historia


For a while, I was thinking that RPGs might have just up and died off. Before Radiant Historia, it had been a very long time since a really amazing RPG has come out. The story, the battle system, and obviously... the music. Everything fit so well. And it felt really reminiscent of older style RPGs as well. Atlus knew what they were doing with this one. The Edge of Green is a wonderful battle theme and shows how a violin should be used! *glares angrily at Chrono Cross*


#7) Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance


Holy crap. Remember everything I said about DMC3? Multiply that time 5. Not only are the tracks amazing, they did this thing where they got certain parts of the song to play at certain parts of the battle without making the track sound cut up or spliced. I don't know how they did it, but it's super effective. When fighting Metal Gear Ray, I got legit goosebumps when the vocals "RULES OF NATURE" kicked in (from the song of the same name). And the entire sound track is just full of this. Honestly, the sound track is probably the best part of the entire game. And it was me realizing just how much I was enjoying the OST that made me want to put this list together.


#6) Dissidia: Final Fantasy


This is kind of cheating, I know. But I can't help it. Dissidia was a fighting game feature all the main characters and villains from the FF franchise all the way up to FFX. And all the tracks are remixes from the original. And they did SUCH a good job on these. And even the Dissidia specific tracks are good too. Not to mention Clash on the Big Bridge is like the best FF track of all time. So it's like the best of the FF series, but remixed amazingly.


#5) Scott Pilgrim Vs the World


I'm a huge fan of chiptunes. And the game, of the movie, of the graphic novel nails it. Unfortunately, this game was looked over by most people since it was a co-op beat-em-up with no online support. And by yourself, it genuinely isn't very fun. But holy hell I love the songs in this game. Best chiptune based sound track of all time.


#4) Bastion


I don't really know how to explain this, but there's just something about the theme of all these songs in this game. It fits the game so perfectly. Tracks like The Singer and Home Sweet Home are just so damn good. And the credit song is a mix of the two appropriately named The End. Paired with what happens in the game, straight up goosebumps. Can't praise it enough.


#3) Sonic Adventure 2


This one kills me. The whole one-per-franchise thing really hits hard here. Because I just love the classic Sonic songs. Way back from Bridge Zone to Lava Reef. But Crush 40 tips the scales. While I am not a very big fan of the 3D Sonic games, these songs pop up in my head all the time. Not to mention at the Mag when we're in a hangout, or xbla party, we could end up just humming or singing a lot of these songs out loud. Even songs not from SA2. Live and Learn, It Doesn't Matter, Escape From the City, all these and more I know by heart. If it wasn't for Crush 40, this game wouldn't be on this list.


#2) Donkey Kong Country 2


Every. Single. Track. In this game is just so awesome. There's simply not a bad one in there. Not to mention this has Stickerbrush Symphony, one of the most commonly referred to songs when talking about video game music. Arguably the best OST of all time. If only it wasn't for...


#1) Beyond Good and Evil


If you guys remember back when BGaE released on XBLA, I rode you guys pretty hard about getting it. It is one of the best games of all time. The environments, game feel, story, character development, exploration of the world... just everything is done so well. And the OST is right there with it. These songs are so good, and mean so much to me, that I had a track or to play at my wedding. And even the downright annoying hover racing tracks can't knock this from my number one spot.

Good list, bro. Out of the ones I've heard on your list, I extremely agree with Super Mario Galaxy and Donkey Kong Country 2. The latter, especially. It's just perfect. I was surprised to see Sonic Adventure 2 on there, but live and learn, I guess.

I'm really not surprised by the Sonic Adventure 2 pick. The SA2 tracks play I my head all the time, and these are the stage themes, not the songs, which are good in their own right. But for me, SA2 is the one Sonic game that I love almost every track. Maybe some of it has to do with the rockfish feel or whatever, but each character stage has it's own genre. Sonic is more rock/metal, Tails is poppy, Knuckles is rap, Shadow is also rock/metal, but a bit different from Sonic, Robotnik is like electronic/rock, and Rouge is jazzy. In any case, I feel it is the most diverse and solid soundtrack out of the series.

A nice list you have compiled, sir.

I'm surprised Chrono Trigger didn't make the list. But nonetheless, these are some really great choices. I should think about my Top 10 OST's as well.

#1 on that list should be Chrono Cross

While a lot of parts pertaining to Chrono Cross may have disappoint, the OST wasn't one of those. I swear that is one of the best OSTs ever.

I agree. That's the ONE thing that Cross did right. Though they still had horrible tracks mixed in there that ultimately left it off my personal list. Like the one track you here more than any other one (including the good ones)... the battle theme. It's just awful.

This song makes up for poop.



HOWEVER. Back on topic, this list is solid.