The music from video games has come a phenomenally long way since its inception, and plays a vital role in how engaged we are in the game world, subtly conveying the playable character's thoughts, feelings or motivations.
We've come a long way from the basic beeps, bloops and even clicks from early systems, progressing to the more advanced sound chips of the 16-bit systems; onto the CD-quality sounds of consoles like the PlayStation and now, the HD sound, orchestral and experimental soundtracks of today’s games.
They don’t just pair together well with their respective games, but enhance our experience and play a pivotal role in keeping us invested and add extra emotional weight.
To help rank these tracks, I’ve been listening to them on Deezer Hi-Fi.
Deezer is a free music streaming service with a library of over 73 million tracks. However, with a Deezer Hi-Fi subscription you also get access to higher audio quality for £14.99.
Deezer Hi-fi uses FLAC or Free Lossless Audio Codec, which is a file format like MP3 or MP4, but with less compression and without any detail removed or cut down and Hi-Fi includes 16-bit 1,411kbps lossless audio quality, which makes the files larger you don't have to worry about this as you'll be streaming and not storing the files anyway.
Using Hi-Fi gives you noticeably clearer, sharper music and provides the best way to listen to your music wherever you are.
Best videogame soundtracks
These are 10 of the best video game soundtracks chosen by me.
10) Super Mario Galaxy
Best Track: Gusty Garden Galaxy
Composer: Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo
I couldn’t do this list without including Mario, creating iconic musical masterpieces that live rent-free in my head.
While classics like Super Mario World or Mario Bros 3 are definitely the soundtracks to my childhood, it’s just accepted that those a legendary.
Mario Galaxy elevates Mario by adding a symphony orchestra, giving the game a grander scale and sound that matches the galactic journey and making it feel even more adventurous and heroic than before.
As soon as you hear Gusty Garden Galaxy kick in, you know you are in for an epic adventure; with its vibrancy and enthusiasm, this is Mario that you know and love on a much grander scale than ever before.
The bold theme as you soar through space, travelling from planet to planet just feels so epic and compelling. The New solar systems and planets provide rich and varied ideas for the music.
Mario Galaxy represents the infinity of space with quieter themes like "Space Junk Road", as well as the more sci-fi sounding ones like "Space Fantasy" and "Overture", mimicking the floating feeling of space.
9) Final Fantasy VII
Best Track: One-Winged Angel
Composer: Nobuo Uematsu
It's incredibly difficult to pick from a series like Final Fantasy due to the incredibly high standard of music produced for these games, but 7 just about cuts ahead of 10 and 6, which were my favourites.
The FF7 soundtrack really takes you on an epic journey with the calming "Prelude theme", to the bells of "Mako reactor" and finally to "One-Winged Angel", the best boss fight music ever.
Composed by legendary Nobuo Uematsu, who also worked on nearly the entire series of Final Fantasy games and single-handedly composed the music for the first nine games, FF7 is Uematsu's finest work on the series.
FF7 really highlighted the transition from the SNES chiptune sounds to the more powerful and much better audio quality of the PlayStation.
In a game without any voice acting the music has to do a lot of work and FF7 excels at this, perfectly conveying the emotional pulse of the game.
The battle theme or "Let the Battles Begin!" is a great track to make you feel powerful and ready to fight but there are some slower-paced tracks too, like "Aerith's Theme", and even more light-hearted tracks like the Chocobo theme.
While nothing else oozes terror and the feeling of helplessness than Sephiroth's theme, "One winged angel".
8) Silent Hill Series
Best Track: You’re Not Here
Composer: Akira Yamaoka
The paranormal horror series broke from the mould established by games like Resident Evil, by creating a more disturbing emotional experience that moves away from gore and action to creepier psychological horror - and the music plays a key part in that.
The deeply terrifying and atmospheric tracks are composed by Akira Yamaoka, and span several genres including rock, pop and trip-hop, and feature ambient tracks alongside fully performed songs including fantastic vocals of renowned voice actress and singer Mary Elizabeth McGlynn.
The terror of the Silent Hill games was often a slow burn, and the music was a key component in creating an oppressive atmosphere with its harsh, industrial sounds, and strange melancholic melodies.
The use of jarring sounds to convey isolation, urgency, danger or sometimes just to make you feel uncomfortable contrasts with those that provide calmer, more ethereal sounds, highlighting the series' supernatural and tragic elements.
The music has an emotional depth that helps elevate Silent Hill into more than a mere horror game. To this day the mandolin and guitar arrangement from the first game still gives me chills.
7) Fallout 4
Best Track: I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire
Composer: Various
I guarantee most people wouldn’t have heard these tracks outside an old people’s home if not for the Fallout Franchise, and set against the backdrop of a nuclear annihilation they gain a darkly comedic tone.
And while the ambient soundtrack by Inon Zur is a powerhouse, we are going to talk about the radio stations, which feature tracks from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, with legends like Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby the Ink Spots and even Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Sinatra.
They help us merrily crawl out through the fallout and relive the glowing age of American exceptionalism.
These songs and their messages of hope in the future clash perfectly with the bombed-out husks of the American cities you explore, creating a great counterpoint to the grim atmosphere and violent dangers within.
6) Streets of Rage
Best Track: Fighting in the Street
Composer: Yuzo Koshiro
Sega’s Mega Drive was the main competitor to Nintendo in the 90s, and while the Z80 sound chip of the Mega Drive may have seemed less impressive compared to the SNES, those limitations combined with musical wizard Yuzo Koshiro created magic.
Koshiro was already known for his brilliant work on Shinobi, but with the Streets of Rage series, he created the best soundtrack on the Mega Drive.
Streets Of Rage does a great job of emulating the style of house and techno dance music of the 90s, giving the game energy that couldn’t be matched by its rivals.
The music from Streets of Rage is great for beating down street thugs while cleaning up the streets.
Streets of Rage has one of the best soundtracks of its era, and still hold its own today - I dare you to put it on and not feel pumped.
5) Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Best Track: Main Theme
Composer: Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, Hajime Wakai
The soundtrack of Breath of the Wild, the latest in the long-running fantasy series, uses its minimalism to devastating effect, with its breath-taking ambient, lonely, piano music and wind score.
The mostly quiet game establishes the setting perfectly, helping you feel isolated in the broken, ruins of the once-grand Hyrule, and it does this without being depressing.
The evocative, yet sparse soundtrack stands out as such a departure from the usual heroic, bold Hyrule theme and soundtracks of past Legend of Zelda games.
This really subverts our expectations much like BOTW does by breaking series conventions to create something more impactful that resonates with fans.
I love the calm quiet tone and how well they are punctuated, as they are broken by coming across enemies like the strange synth sound the menacing clockwork ominous threat of the guardians.
4) Disco Elysium
Best Track: Whirling Rags
Composer: British Sea Power
The melancholic, yet beautiful sound of Disco Elysium’ s soundtrack bleeds nostalgia, decay, broken dreams and a thin veil of hope, which makes it the perfect accompaniment to ZA/UM Indie hit.
The 2020 BAFTA award-winning soundtrack was produced by the British indie rock band British Sea Power, known for their experimental and conceptual music that blends post-punk and art-rock.
Their music provides some real emotional gut punches, especially in the moments when Harry realises how badly his life is in ruins, adding further depth to the already incredibly layered game.
The haunting song Harry sings at karaoke, in a wounded gravelly voice, is called The Smallest Church in Saint-Saëns, and once you learn about that character is heartbreaking.
It is a powerhouse of a soundtrack that drags you through the decayed streets of Revachol, and its broken people as well as failures and triumphs.
I cannot imagine any other soundtrack to better represent this masterpiece role-playing game.
3) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Best Track: Another Winter
Composer: Anamanaguchi
The hyperactive Chiptune music of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World fits so well with its retro style and classic video game references, yet is wholly original
This is thanks to retro gaming era-inspired chiptune rock band Anamanaguchi, who merge NES and Game Boy hardware with modern sounds to create that authentic classic 8-bit, Nintendo sound.
Music is a huge component of the Scott Pilgrim story and Anamanaguchi do a great job of being referential without being predictable or boring, getting players pumped and bashing those buttons a little faster.
2) Minecraft
Best Track: Subwoofer Lullaby
Composer: C418
This edition offfers a deceptively calming instrumental ambient soundtrack that lulls you into a false sense of security and yet it manages to add to the sense of wonder and exploration while you build, create, and explore in the phenomenal Minecraft.
With its weird but beautiful electronic sound composed by Daniel Rosenfeld, AKA C418, the music suits nearly every situation - which is much needed in such a versatile game as Minecraft.
Every time I put this soundtrack on it’s like getting into a warm, comfy bed. Its warm, soothing tones never get old - sometimes quirky, sometimes profound, the Minecraft soundtrack is one of the most interesting to come out in the past 10 years.
The soft piano or gentle synth tracks often inspire creativity while injecting some emotional weight in a game without a narrative.
1) Hotline Miami 1&2
Best Track: Hydrogen
Composer: Multiple
This is a blood-pumping, heart-pounding soundtrack to match the brutal, bone-crushing, psychedelic game that is Hotline Miami, including some hyper-energetic tunes from M|O|O|N, Jasper Byrne, El Huervo that provide the perfect accompaniment to violently murder vicious gangsters.
Part 80s action film, part bad acid trip, the fast-paced electronic thumping beats thoroughly match the pace for the violent, chaotic top-down shooter.
The tracks often put you into a trance-like state that will have you taking down your opponents to the beat of the songs with eerie precision.
Both Hotline Miami and its sequel feature a killer soundtrack with the sequel, Wrong Number, expanding on the 80s action theme and including 49 new tracks to lose your mind to in this strange, surreal, synthwave series.
Honourable mentions
There were too many brilliant soundtracks to include them all, so here are some honourable mentions, including:
Final Fantasy, Doom, Red Dead Redemption, Jet Set Radio, Parappa the Rapper and the iconic Korobeiniki or - as it’s better known - the Tetris theme.
Don’t forget to check out these tracks and if you want to level up your listening experience, listen to them on Deezer Hi-Fi.
What did you think of this list, are there any you feel were left out? Let me know in the comments
Deezer is a free music streaming service. Deezer Premium is £9.99 per month and Deezer Hi-Fi is £14.99 per month available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac and many other devices.
