The Video Game Music Challenge [Official Game Thread]

[Nessy]

Welcome to the Video Game Music Challenge!

A fun daily challenge inspired by a similar challenge/list Lana T. posted on the Lemmings Discord.

Please read before participating:

1) You will be given three short descriptions of a certain type of video game music, and it's up to you to write down the title of one specific video game track from one specific video game that matches each description and essentially creating a list of three different video game tracks. Links to your music track choices such as one on YouTube for others to listen to is not required but highly recommended!

2) Please post your list into a spoiler tag on this thread so that people that have already posted their own list can look but people that haven't posted their list yet won't be accidentally influenced.

3) You will have roughly until the deadline stated during that round to not only get your list of titles posted but in the meantime everyone is encouraged to discuss everyone's choices and list.

4) After that round is done another set of descriptions will be posted. This challenge will roughly end when general interest starts to die down, in the hopes that sometime in the future someone else will take over and revive the challenge!

To discuss any concerns or questions please post them in this dedicated thread


First round

1) Favorite music that's used in a main title screen
2) Music that you like from a game you haven't played yet
3) Music from a game that was first released the year you were born

Second Round

1) Favorite music that plays during the credits shown at the end of a game
2) Music you like from a game that you have played and disliked
3) Favorite final boss battle music

Third Round

1) Music that seems to be underrated in your opinion (basically music you like that may not be liked as much by others)
2) Music you associate with frustration
3) Music that makes you feel nostalgic

Fourth Round (By Turrican)

1) Music with an uplifting beat and sound
2) Music that is more atmospheric sounding
3) Music with a very dark and gloomy sound to it

Fifth Round (By Colorful Arty)

1) Music from a video game that people wouldn't be able to tell is from a video game just by listening to it
2) A really creepy/scary track from a game (Note: unlike dark and gloomy the intention of this one is to actually make you feel fearful/scared)
3) A track from a video game you wish you could forget so you could hear it again for the first time

Sixth Round (By 607) Until August 31 at 18:00 UTC

1) Music with unusual sounds
2) Favorite music that plays in a cave or underground area
3) Music that is technologically impressive (for the system it's on)

[Nessy]

First round!

1) Favorite music that's used in a main title screen
2) Music that you like from a game you haven't played yet
3) Music from a game that was first released the year you were born

Round will end on July 23 at 13:30 UTC July 25 at 13:30 UTC

[Colorful Arty]

Round 1

Updated to include my thoughts on each of my picks.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1) Main Theme: Harvest Moon: Back to Nature - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLJ_o7urUVc
    While this isn't my favorite title screen music, it is up there. My all time favorite is Baba Yetu from Civilization IV, but that's a real song that was put into a video game, not a track made specifically for a video game. I've never actually played Harvest Moon Back to Nature, but I have played Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town, which uses the same song, albeit lower quality as its title screen music too.

2) Deadlock: The Fruit of Grisaia/Grisaia no Kajitsu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ji2W7iRP38
    This is the game I'm going to play when I finally finish CLANNAD. I've seen a mod for Doki Doki Literature Club that is an homage to this game and uses a lot of the tracks from this game, so I've heard the soundtrack. This song really stuck out as amazing to me, and if the actual game is anywhere close to being as good as its soundtrack, it's going to be one heck of a good visual novel!

3) Battle Against a Somewhat Stronger Monster: Super Mario RPG - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNfqL-7PGrk
    I was originally going to pick something from Super Mario 64, since I was born in 1996, but I decided on Mario RPG instead, since I may end up using Mario 64 music for other prompts. I've only played a bit of Mario RPG (made it to Merrymore, but then the Wii we had it on died), but it was very good. Not quite as good as Paper Mario, but I should go back and finish the game. I've always loved this miniboss music.

[Proxima]

First round (click to show/hide)

1) Favorite music that's used in a main title screen

I'll kick off with something from my childhood: Galaforce for the BBC Micro

2) Music that you like from a game you haven't played yet

"The Ground's Color is Yellow" (Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody). This track was my gateway to discovering the entire Touhou series, but 10.5 is one of the fighting games, so I haven't got round to playing that particular game yet

3) Music from a game that was first released the year you were born

...I tried, I really did. I consulted Wikipedia. And I couldn't find anything from that year that I have even played, much less have fond memories of. I guess maybe the closest is Mr. Do!, since I have played a BBC Micro clone called Mr. Ee! and it has the same music (which is just the Galop Infernal, which you all already know from its appearance in Lemmings, but this was where I first encountered it).

[IchoTolot]

My first round:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1) Favorite music that's used in a main title screen

Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 - Grinder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJvPyH8WnMw  (Live version from a concert by the original composer together with a fanband: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYWoxP9jLk0)
No question on my choice here and the thing that immidiately jumped into my mind when reading the category. It's simply one of the best main menu themes of all times and in quite a few top 10 listings as well.

2) Music that you like from a game you haven't played yet

Killer Instinct Season 2 - Mick Gordon - Inferno (Cinder's Theme): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRmwFBK0cyk
I am not a fighting game player, but I just love Mick Gordon's music and this is one of his best tracks imo.

3) Music from a game that was first released the year you were born

I was born in 1991, so the Lemmings t-shirt I have not only represents the game's release year on it but also my birth year! It would be weird to me not to post a Lemmings track here.
So I just post a link to one of my favorite DOS Lemmings track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceESUJ6RWLw&list=PLYnKFyDMmhs1MmwLoEkriIXmnB7sQnfv4&index=17

[SQron188]

Great, here are mine for the first round:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1)Turrican II - The Final Fight
2)Turrican 3 C64 - Factory Action
3)Parodius: Non-Sense Fantasy (SNES) - Even the Patience of a Pierrot Has Limits

And yes, I know I'm predictable

[DireKrow]

Even though you're meant to post your favourite in each category, I'm already posting most of my favourite music on Twitter / Discord each day. Everything I post here would be stuff I plan to post there, so instead, I'll stick to stuff which among my favorites rather than the #1 best pick. (Though if anyone wants to know what the #1 would be, you can ask.)

First Round (click to show/hide)

1) Favorite music that's used in a main title screen
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos - Croc Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mwWkwQjWVY
Very catchy. I remember this song vividly from my childhood. A lot of main menu music these days is understated and atmospheric, but games of this era and older often had these exciting or groovy menu themes. I love that, so I kinda wish we could return to those days.

2) Music that you like from a game you haven't played yet
Zero no Kiseki - A Light Illuminating The Depths
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB9xkXuHquo
This category is essentially a free pick for me, because the majority of music I listen to is from games I haven't played. Instead, I've emphasized the 'yet' by picking something I intend to play at some point. I'm a huge fan of the Trails / Kiseki series, but Zero no Kiseki has only recently been released in English via a fan translation. The series has phenomenal music.

3) Music from a game that was first released the year you were born
Mega Man X - Armored Armadillo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mdLAT8pOZ4
That'd be 1993. This is one of the best soundtracks on the SNES, in my opinion, and possibly my favorite soundtrack in the entire Mega Man franchise. I could have picked almost any of the stage themes from this game, because I like them all.  They really nailed it with MMX. The SNES has a pretty hit-or-miss sound for me too, so I'm always particularly happy to find something there to enjoy.

[mobius]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2942BB1JXFk

1. Buried In Time title screen/intro.
https://youtu.be/nkB7UAG0xCs?t=225
(a cover)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTEirMD4g8U

2. Final Fantasy 6 'Slam Shuffle'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYYGCo4bL5M
(cover)
https://youtu.be/bEn95m2PKiA

3. Megaman 3 Top Man (1990)
https://youtu.be/4dgtHw-uAxY

[DireKrow]

Re:Colorful Arty (click to show/hide)

1) Solid pick! It's catchy. Leaves more of an impression on me than other Harvest Moon music I've heard. Thinking of life sim menu music reminds me of New Leaf's lovely main theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1tvlDEPaXw
2) Wow, this song is excellent. I didn't expect to hear a new song I liked this much so soon. I wish it was longer, so I had more time to enjoy it. I might need to borrow this for my next trivia game / listening party, actually. I can't think of many visual novels that I haven't played that I still know music from, but Rose Guns Days is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H67FyERmrAE
3) Lots of incredible games in 1996, but SMRPG is a reliable pick. There's many, many songs on it that I enjoy, including this one! Another 1996 soundtrack I quite like is Kirby Super Star: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se1uh3PS78Y

Re:Proxima (click to show/hide)

1) This is cool one, thanks for sharing. Particularly happy to see something obscure like the BBC Micro represented. I alluded to it in my writeup, but I love how old games had this catchy melodic main menu themes. So many good ones. I did a bit of digging and found a menu theme I like from another rare system, the Sharp X68000. Code-Zero's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVuEsSnhxRs
2) Touhou has soooo much great music! Also seeing this made me facepalm a bit since I completely forgot about Touhou when I was picking menu themes. Scarlet Weather Rhapsody itself has a great one! That said, this category is for games I haven't played, not menu themes. My favorite from a Touhou I haven't played is probably this one from Hopeless Masquerade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZOnG5vAj60
3) We talked about it on the discord, but 1982 is really hard to find music for. I'm a little impressed you found the one you did. Pole Position is one of the few that comes to mind for me here, personally: https://youtu.be/Wql1DH8PYYU?t=75

Re:IchoTolot (click to show/hide)

1) Hey, this one's really cool. I dig the intensity. Surprisingly, I don't think I had ever heard it before, despite seeming quite popular... so thanks for sharing! It reminds me a lot of the main menu music from Destruction Derby Raw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBl3Qdqd-U
2) Yessss! This song is awesome. It's probably my favourite Mick Gordon song. I actually introduced it to the VGM group I hang out in last year and it was subsequently got into their annual 'Best VGM' contest. In terms of Mick Gordon specifically, I actually haven't played any games he's worked on, so I could also pick a Killer Instinct song for this category: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abDg6kuUscM
3) Lemmings has to be the choice for 1991, doesn't it? I'm quite partial to Miners and Climbers myself. That said, a number of other high profile games came out in 1991 too. Final Fantasy IV is something a lot of people would jump to, because FF is kinda obsessed over in the VGM community. Instead of that though, I jump to different RPG from that year, Langrisser / Warsong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aivoL9NzN5w

Re:SQron188 (click to show/hide)

1) One of the greatest of all time, not just among menu themes, but among all VGM. This was the first menu theme I thought of and would probably be my #1 pick as well. If I was going to pick another Amiga one, then either of the Alien Breed main themes would be what I go to next. I already posted one of those on the discord though, so I'd have gone with Hybris instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Siwd7b0iXOc
2) Solid pick. I haven't played anything in the franchise, or indeed many games at all from that era and older. Pondering C64 other music reminded me of one of my favorites, Monty on the Run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EcgruWlXnQ
3) Parodius music is very overlooked. Some of the best classical arrangements in retro vgm and some sweet original compositions too. Big appreciation for this pick. As for 1990, a lot of my favourite NES pieces came out in that year... perhaps this one from Startropics is something I would have gone with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz5L7hsG79I

Re:Mobius (click to show/hide)

1) Very cool and unique pick. Awesome atmosphere. It's funny, because the vgm trivia game I attended yesterday was focused on adventure games, and this game series actually came up a bit in discussion. I'm not familiar with it at all, but I have friends who would probably be eager to hear of other fans. In the spirit of that, here's an adventure game (of sorts) with a main menu theme I love, The Sexy Brutale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP8RxMnqt94
2) One of my favourite FF6 songs! Probably the non-battle theme which stuck with me the most in the entire game when I played through it. Great pick. As far as FF games I haven't played go, a friend of mine got into FF14 recently and has been showing me songs from it. I'm quite partial to this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1cjZbNvztE
3) Good pick. As I mentioned in reply to SQron, 1990 has a ton of great NES music. Maybe the composers really hit their stride after spending a few years with the hardware? As far as MM3 goes, my favorites are Gemini, Magnet, Snake and Spark. The title theme is also great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2kTeh7FNl0

[Armani]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1) Favorite music that's used in a main title screen

Tetris99 main theme : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63hoSNvS6Z4

2) Music that you like from a game you haven't played yet

Cyberpunk2077 - Spoiler : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ayYeLLT8bs

3) Music from a game that was first released the year you were born

Fallout1(released in 1997) - Acolytes of a New God : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h38zN_vF_dQ

[Nessy]

Here is my own list. I tried my very best to NOT think about any answers to the descriptions while making them. Even though this is purely for fun I still wanted to be fair and... well... still make it interesting for myself

First Round (click to show/hide)

1) Favorite music that's used in a main title screen

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - Title Screen/Main Theme

If you go through the daily ritual of passing the title screen and selecting your save file too quickly, you might actually miss this extremely energetic music track which takes a bit to pick up but when it does it doesn't let up!


2) Music that you like from a game you haven't played yet

Final Fantasy 8 - Force Your Way/Boss Theme

I mentioned on Discord a while back about loving the boss battle music from Final Fantasy 7 and was told that Final Fantasy 8's boss theme was also good. It turned out to be a perfect match for this description.


3) Music from a game that was first released the year you were born

Mega Man 7 - Slash Man's Stage

The year I was born was 1995 so I decided to go with one of my favorite tracks from Mega Man 7 (with second place probably going to Wily Stage 1).

[DireKrow]

Re:Armani (click to show/hide)

1) Does this play on the menu? I thought this was the menu song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s26y2D2MMIA - Either way, Tetris 99 has some super good music. People might be really into Tetris Effect now, but for me, Tetris 99 is probably the best Tetris has ever sounded. Just love the energy.
2) Clever. A game nobody has played yet. I haven't listened to anything from this game yet since I haven't been paying much attention to its development/coverage, but I dig this song. Love those intense, overdriven synths. Nex Machina is another game I haven't played that has a cyberpunky synthwave soundtrack. I'm quite partial to this song from it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRlufMGfh0k
3) Too atmospheric for my personal tastes in music, but the original Fallout is definitely a game I'm interested in. I haven't played it yet, but it's something I want to try! 1997 had a lot of games with dark, moody, atmospheric vibes. One of the most notable is probably Diablo, from which this piece stands out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnMR6SOBa9k

Re:Nessy (click to show/hide)

1) Very topical pick. I'm surprised at how elaborate this song is considering where it plays... seems incredibly easy to miss it. Don't get why they would do that. Super Paper Mario has a long, fun, upbeat, chaotic menu theme as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsxnH-ijjSA
2) Force Your Way's pretty good. FF7's boss theme, since you mention it, is also great and possibly my favourite of the FF1-9 boss themes. I already replied to Mobius with a boss theme from an FF I haven't played... so I'm pondering a different RPG franchise I haven't played, Shin Megami Tensei: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGORm3P0F1w
3) Mega Man 7 OST is underrated. Slash Man is one of my favourites from it too. 1995 has a lot of good music actually, including two of my favourite SNES soundtracks: Chrono Trigger and Donkey Kong Country 2. Since you seem to like classic Square-Enix boss themes, I'll highlight Chrono Trigger's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZI7f1gcyns

[Nessy]

Re: DireKrow's Response To My Picks (click to show/hide)

Super Paper Mario's intro song is probably my second favorite intro in the series. That one definitely gets right to the point with its fun and upbeat intro song. I'm honestly not sure why Thousand-Year Door's intro takes a while to get to that point. Perhaps they assumed you would still be on the save file screen when it finally kicks in, or maybe it was intended to hear only when you select a new save file and be prompted to type in a name for the file, which will definitely be the case if it's your first time booting up the game

I definitely agree about Mega Man 7's OST. Other honorable mentions could probably be Cloud Man's theme, Shade Man's theme, and I would even say Junk Man's stage is another one I like. Also funny you should mention Chrono Trigger I recently purchased it on Steam

[Nessy]

Re: Everyone's Picks So Far (click to show/hide)

Wow there are some AMAZING tracks posted on here

Proxima's "Touhou 10.5", IchoTolot's  "Inferno (Cinder's Theme)", SQron's "Turrican II" title screen, and Armani's "Tetris99" title screen are probably my favorites, and also that "Croc Theme" that DireKrow picked was way more catchy than I gave it credit for at first lol

For Colorful Arty's picks: Super Mario RPG is definitely a top tier soundtrack and that boss battle track perfectly highlights this. I also really enjoy the other boss battle track "Battle Against An Armed Boss"

Also nice rickroll mobius Don't think for a moment that I didn't see it By the way really glad to see someone pick Top Man's theme, that theme is so highly underrated! When it comes to Mege Man 3's soundtrack Gemini, Magnet, Snake and Spark Man's theme are definitely top tier but I believe Top Man's theme is as well... it has such a catchy sound to it with a somewhat creepy undertone to it as well.

[607]

I'll have to wait a little to participate, I'm afraid, as I have drive issues! I am hoping to fix them tomorrow, though. I suppose I could link to music from YouTube, in the meantime, but considering that many YouTube channels uploading copyrighted video game music have been taken down recently, it would be very hard to find good quality uploads, I reckon. (on that note: I hope my channel will survive, as I've uploaded a good few video game soundtracks myself! :$)