What games have an under appreciated OST?

I thought Bayonetta 3's was really good, surprised it didn't get much mention. Nintendo even released a music video for one of the songs lol.

What about you, SW? What games have an under appreciated OST?

Out Run. lol :P

You play this in your car on the way to work?

@SolidGame_basic:

Nah, that's how I drive to work. lol :P

DK Country Tropic Freeze. Got a 6 here on Gamespot on release when many consider it one of the best platformers of all time. Similarly, the music of that game should have won award shows everywhere, but it want nominated for anything nor spoken about at all.

Thankfully, folks here at Gamespot realized their error and gave it a 9/10 for the switch re-release.

😆

Wow, forgot about that. It's literally the same game too lol.

The Ratchet and Clank games on PS2. Going Commando in particular. Great track after great track

Amid Evil comes to mind. In particular Mage themed levels, those things are like an art-show where you shoot stuff.

@SecretPolice: Ah, I remember the 1980s and 1990s where the arcade was king. Everything was vastly superior to consoles and computers and I wanted my own Outrun / Double Dragon / Golden Axe / Final Fight arcade SO much.

in recent years, The Ascent

great synth sci-fi type soundtrack

Not sure if they're "under appreciated" but Hollow Knight and Minecraft are my GOAT soundtracks. I might be more excited for Silksong's soundtrack than the game itself xD

the answer has to be halo infinite.

Darksiders II.

Shadow of the colossus.

Homeworld.

Nine times out of ten people list Japanese games and that's fine and all they often have really well-orchestrated soundtracks, but they don't really match the mood of the game or what's going on at the time, and frankly their whimsical nature tends to get old after a while. It's impressive simply for impressive's sake and that gets tedious.

But Homeworld had a really diverse, inspired soundtrack and it set the mood really well. From the choir version of Adagio for Strings when your people were being subjected to genocide, to the Bedouin-inspired beats that fueled your similarly-nomadic people's voyage, it was a great soundtrack from start to finish.

Good sound design in general, too, not just the music.

really though? Didn't previous Halos have much better OSTs?

Age of Mythology and Dokkan

Rock music

After Burner (FM Towns) − "Final Take Off" (1989) − by Hiroshi Kawaguchi

Thunder Force IV (Sega Mega Drive) − "Metal Squad" (1992) − by Toshiharu Yamanishi

Guilty Gear X (Sega Dreamcast) − "Still in the Dark" (2000) − by Daisuke Ishiwatari

Ys: Foliage Ocean in Celceta (PlayStation Vita) − "Underground Ruins" (2012) − by Falcom Sound Team JDK

Chiptune music

Fantasy Zone (Arcade) − "Keep On The Beat" (1986) − by Hiroshi Kawaguchi

Zero Wing (Sega Mega Drive) − "Hit Man" (1991) − by Toshiaki Tomizawa

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (PlayStation 2) − "The Akindo" (2005) − by Falcom Sound Team JDK

Mighty Switch Force! (Nintendo 3DS) − "Love You Love You Love" (2011) − by Jake Kaufman

@Jag85: always love your posts on video game music!

I think Lotus Juice is damn under appreciated! Was listening to Day by Day the other day.

I will not stop shilling Pizza Tower.

But really, soundtrack is dope. Shifts from chill to completely unhinged just perfectly.

Won't say it's underappreciated yet. Just new game, indie title, PC exclusive for whatever reason, probably had its release day crushed by Hi Fi, etc.

Really hope more people play it.

@ConanTheStoner: lol now you got me interested. Hopefully it will come to console.

Celtic music

Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki (Super Famicom) − "Le Trésor Interdit" (1996) − by Yasunori Mitsuda

Xenogears (Sony PlayStation) − "Small Two Pieces" (1998) − by Yasunori Mitsuda (feat. Joanne Hogg)

Ragnarok II: Legend of the Second (PC) − "Din Don Dan Dan" (2007) − by Yoko Kanno

Brother and I played Gris together, which has bland ambient music that could be composed by artificial intelligence in a few years. Briefly tried out Ecco: The Tides of Time (Mega Drive OST, not Sega CD) in the background and it was a marked improvement for that little while. Music has declined in every medium.

Classical music

Teitoku no Ketsudan (NEC PC-88) − "Bokō Kure no Thema" (1989) − by Hiroshi Miyagawa

Far East of Eden: Fū-un Kabuki Den (PC Engine Super CD-ROM²) − "Kyō wo Iku!" (1993) − by Kohei Tanaka

Clannad (PC) − "Nagisa ~Parting at the Foot of the Hill~" (2004) − by Jun Maeda

Nex Machina

I don't think anyone considers it underappreciated, but I just love the music from TLOU series. That stuff is good.

Drum and bass

Soldier Girl Amazon (Arcade) − "Gorgon Head" (1986) − by Kenji Yoshida

Ace Driver: Victory Lap (Arcade) − "Haze in Daylight" (1995) − by Keiichi Okabe

Fate/stay night (PC) − "This Illusion" (2004) − by Number 201 and M.H.

8-bit music

Jet Set Willy (Atari 800) − "Main Theme" (1986) − by Rob Hubbard

Dragon Quest II: Akuryō no Kamigami (Nintendo Famicom) − "Menu Theme" (1987) − by Koichi Sugiyama

Golvellius: Valley of Doom (Sega Master System) − "Overworld 1" (1988) − by Masatomo Miyamoto

16-bit music

Altered Beast (Arcade) − "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" (1988) − by Kazuhiko Nagai

Putter Golf (Sega Mega Drive) − "Title Screen" (1990) − by E. Fugu

Emerald Dragon (Super Famicom) − "Town" (1995) − by Yasuhiko Fukuda

Oh yea, Golden Axe 1/2.

Epic. Still waiting for the SOR4 sequel.

Breakbeat music

Ninja Spirit (Arcade) − "Karakuri" (1988) − by Masahiko Ishida

Grounseed (NEC PC-98) − "Shop Demo" (1996) − by Ryu Umemoto

Mushihime-sama Futari: Black Label (Arcade) − "We Did It!" (2007) − by Ryu Umemoto

Ambient music

Far East of Eden: Ziria (PC Engine CD-ROM²) − "A Pile of Time" (1989) − by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Legend of Dragoon (PlayStation) − "Grassy Plains" (1999) − by Dennis Martin and Takeo Miratsu

Clannad (PC) − "Town, Flow of Time, People" (2004) − by Shinji Orito

Chinese music

Fighting Street (PC Engine CD-ROM²) − "Theme of Gen" (1988) − by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi

Live A Live (Super Famicom) − "Birds Fly, Fish Swim" (1994) − by Yoko Shimomura

Mushihime-sama Futari (Arcade) − "On the Verge of Madness" (2006) − by Manabu Namiki

Dance music

Terra Cresta (Arcade) − "Terra Cresta no Thema" (1985) − by Kenji Yoshida

The Ninja Warriors (Sega Mega CD) − "Daddy Mulk" (1993) − by Hisayoshi Ogura

Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix Plus (Arcade) − "Cutie Chaser" (2000) − by Club Spice

Dancehall music

Yōkai Dōchūki (Arcade) − "Main Theme" (1987) − by Hiroyuki Kawada

Rad Racer (Nintendo Entertainment System) − "Sunset Coastline" (1987) − by Nobuo Uematsu

Exile (PC Engine CD-ROM²) − "Zen Gun" (1991) − by Shinobu Ogawa and Hiroto Ōtsubo

CD audio

Ys I ・ II (PC Engine CD-ROM²) − "Feena" (1989) − by Yuzo Koshiro and Ryo Yonemitsu

Daikōkai Jidai II (FM Towns) − "Wind Ahead" (1993) − by Yoko Kanno

Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega Mega CD) − "Lucia's Theme" (1994) − by Noriyuki Iwadare and Chisa Yokoyama

The way this creates atmosphere for such a rudimentary old game makes it one of the most awesome tracks heard for any game.

Yet barely anyone has heard of the game itself. At least around normal folk circles, who go outside.

@uninspiredcup:

Over 30 years later... and Ys is still a niche franchise! One of the GOAT action RPG franchises deserves a larger audience.

God of War (PS2). A lot of people praised the gameplay, but I would say that the soundtrack was just as good.

Disco music

Birdie Try (MSX) − "Short Hole" (1986) − by Compile

Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy) − "Star Maze" (1992) − by Kazumi Totaka (feat. Van McCoy)

Bomberman '94 (PC Engine) − "Jammin' Jungle" (1993) − by Jun Chikuma (feat. Aneka)

Acid music

Bega's Battle (Arcade) − "Attract" (1983) − by Data East

Dunk Shot (Arcade) − "One on One" (1986) − by Tohru Nakabayashi

Dynamix (Commodore 64) − "Kinetix" (1989) − by Jeroen Tel

Dub music

The Revenge of Shinobi (Sega Mega Drive) − "Ninja Step" (1989) − by Yuzo Koshiro

Streets of Rage 3 (Sega Mega Drive) − "Dub Slash" (1994) − by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima

Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar) − "2000 Dub" (1994) − by Alastair Lindsay and Ian Howe

Bioforge

I can see Conan bobbing his head to this.

Electro music

Cosmos Circuit (MSX) − "Intro" (1985) − by Taito

SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative (Arcade) − "System Down" (1987) − by Katsuhiro Hayashi

Xenon 2: Megablast (Amiga) − "Credits Intro" (1989) − by Bomb the Bass and David Whittaker

I can bob my head to almost anything from Yuzo Koshiro... well, except for maybe Streets of Rage 3. That one's a bit hit-or-miss, but still has some gems here and there.

MDK is better, but MDK 2 soundtrack is through the roof good.