The world of video games is one still emerging and finding its way. It’s easy to state that video games aren’t art, or that they are merely children’s entertainment, but I want you to think about the trajectory of film: was film taken seriously when it was first invented? When moving pictures were first invented in the 1890’s they were used only as storefront and vaudeville advertisements. Further still, film in the early 1900’s was characterized by simple slapstick comedies: fun to watch, but not very deep. Now of course, film has grown into trillion dollar industry that is used by directors ranging from the avant-garde to Michael Bay. Video games are on the same track: those storefront advertisements? Those are pong. Slap-stick comedy? The Atari and NES era of 70s and 80s video games.

We are finally reaching what I believe to be the beginning of a golden age in video games, and what’s a better way to celebrate it than telling you some of the best video game soundtracks of all time(besides the obvious ones of course, like Mario Bros., Sonic and the bunch)? Also, I feel as though that even people who love video games intend to ignore the music. Perhaps this is due to the absolute senses overload many video games offer, and other times, perhps it is because of the interactive aspect that video games have that distract the player from the subtle details that add to their experience. In any case, here's an ode to all the fantastic composers that need to be given a bit more praise. So here we go:

1. System Shock 2 (1999)

Before Ken Levine became one of the most famous game designers in the world with the BioShock series, this is the game that really put his name out there. While Bioshock can be incredibly eerie at times, System Shock 2 plunges fully into the horror genre with the unsettling noises found on this soundtrack. Some songs are intense and frenetic, and others creep along into almost ambient territory. In both cases, the computerized instrumentation is simultaneously nostalgic and masterful, and the whole soundtrack emits a sense of urgency just as well as many classical composers can.

2. Crash Bandicoot (1996)

This soundtrack perfectly embodies the carefree, just-have-fun nature of the game, in which you play as whatever-the-hell a bandicoot is that talks to floating tiki head that helps you to defeat Dr. Cortex, an evil scientist that looks like Jimmy Neutron if made a cameo on The Simpsons. And yes, the soundtrack is just as strange as the game sounds, making both so much damn fun. The jumpy keyboards are so 90’s that they make me want to bust out the OG hot wheels just for old times’ sake, and the tropical sounds make for a very beachy and fun listen.

3. Psychonauts (2005)

Tim Shaffer and his Double Fine team have always come together to make fantastically weird and creative games, but this is the pinnacle to me personally. Psychonauts has reached the cult status it’s been able to due to its incredibly broad range of imaginative levels and ideas, and the soundtrack perfectly reflects these aspects. It jumps around to every style of music you could think of: from Russian polka, to western-style harmonica music, to 70’s inspired disco. This is one of those occasions where, because the game is so engrossing, you don’t really realize how great the soundtrack is unless you listen to it by itself. But when you do, it is a fantastically unique experience.

4. Bomberman Hero (1998)

The soundtrack to N64’s Bomberman Hero sounds more like an album from a 90’s English house group than it does a videogame soundtrack. Every single song is catchy as all-hell and never cease to stick in your head, and it’s very obvious that a lot of heart and soul went into the project. The melodies are very spacey and atmospheric, and, when accompanied by the game, truly make you feel like you’re going on an adventure. Bomberman games have always had great soundtracks, even the classic NES/Famicom originals, but this one has to be my favorite.

5. Billy Hatcher (2003)

Another strange one, Billy Hatcher was a not-very-well-known adventure game for the Gamecube, and it was just as fun as the soundtrack makes it sound. I have a theory that this game and its soundtrack was created in order to embody childhood imagination, and, if I’m right, Sonic Team accomplished this in an incredibly fun way. Just don’t try to understand what the lyrics are: I still don’t really know if it’s English. Every once in awhile you recognize a word or two then poof you’re lost in a sea of yips and yells foreign as any distant language.

6.Sword and Sworcery LP (2011)

There are plenty of games that use music as a key gameplay or story element (Guitar Hero, Brutal Legend, etc.), but a game has never implemented the aural world so deeply and lovingly. Sword and Sorcery, which never got released beyond smartphones and PC, is a love-song to all that is music. At its heart though, it’s an adventure game, one that makes the player traverse through a strange and unexplained world with a mysterious past and future. This one is really cool to listen to while doing homework, by the way.

7. Parappa the Rapper (1996)

Nostalgia is oozing out of Parappa the Rappa: the early Playstation graphics, the childlike drawings as a graphical style, and that 90’s rap soaked in so, so much cheese. This is, essentially, a simple rhythm game: all you really do is press buttons that go along to the music. Of course, no one would play this game if the music wasn’t great, and the composers didn’t choke: not by a long shot. I used to play levels over and over just so I could hear the little bits and pieces of every song that I missed in the first playthrough; every song was that detailed, fun, and well-written. Now KICK!

8. FEZ (2012)

Phil Fish, upon receiving a smidge of criticism on Twitter, quit making FEZ 2 in the middle of its production. In solidarity, give the first FEZ’s soundtrack a try, and perhaps the game too. This one is another example of whimsy and exploration being reflected perfectly through great electronic instrumentation and compositions just as vast and daunting as the world it is accompanied by. If FEZ 2 is ever made, I just hope that it brings FEZ 1’s musical style with it.

9. Grim Fandango (1998)

Grim Fandango singlehandedly defined what the point and click standard was going to be in the late nineties upon its PC only release. Our hero, Manny, is dead, and so is everyone else in this Mexican-style underworld titled “Land of the Dead.” While the art-style mimics the Mexican “Day of the Dead” feel, the music and language throughout is reminiscent of the silky jazz music you would find in a early 1900’s film noir. This creates a very visceral, strange, hilarious, and most of all, unique experience. Another Tim Schaffer masterpiece.

10. Kirby’s Dream Land (1992)

This is a classic for me. While the soundtrack is only about a quarter of an hour long, every little song is so full of eccentricities and cool sounds you can just listen to it over and over again. The world of Kirby has always been a colorful and playful one, and, as always, so is its theme music. If you like this, definitely give Kirby 64’s soundtrack a shot too, I would argue that that one is just as good.

11. Hohokum (2014)

Hohokum is quite a strange creature, one not very widely known beyond avid indie-game players. You play as, well, a line, and you basically just interact with everything you see in order to find out what’s really going on in the world of Hohokum. Its soundtrack is full of fantastic electronic artists like Com Truise and Tycho who create the same sense of wonder and aloneness as the gameplay does. Another little gem that needs to be more widely known, not just for its very simplistic and fun gameplay, but also for its beautiful score.

12. Metroid Prime (2002)

Metroid has never been so unsettling. Kenji Yamamoto (who was the main composer behind Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Donkey Kong Country Returns) understands perfectly just how scary it would be to land on a distant planet all by yourself. The Metroid Prime world is filled with the unexplained and the unknown, and the echoed synths throughout its soundtrack reflect these uneasy feeling fantastically. If you’re a fan of the X-Files series’ music, you’ll love this one.

13. Silent Hill 2 (2001)

The sadness in my heart that came from Silent Hills cancellation can only be patched by the beautifully eerie Silent Hill 2 soundtrack. Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind the Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid series’, seemed to have planned out this game along with planning out the soundtrack. The game, since its first installment, has done a great job of just making you feel so uncomfortable. Every single song goes perfectly with each unsettling moment, making the whole experience even more terrifying, a feat that you’ll notice is not easily accomplished once you begin to traverse through the foggy hell that is Silent Hill.

14. Guacamelee (2013)

This soundtrack is a great example of two very different inspirations coming together to form something incredibly lively and endearing. Every song is a mixture between traditional Mariachi music and electronic music, making the guitars, xylophones, and trumpets feel almost robotic in the best way possible since they’re brought together with synth smacks and drum hits. It all culminates into a larger-than-life collection of compositions, an accomplishment for a game about a small-town Mexican wrestler.

15. Gone Home (2013)

Gone Home is, essentially, a coming-of-age story, but one told through a third person view. You play as the sister of Samantha Greenbriar, a very confused and lost teenage girl. As you go through the game, traditional compositions are played throughout, but every once in awhile you pick up a cassette tape that plays proto-punk and Riot Grrrl favorites like the Slits and Bikini Kill. I feel as though videogames are seen as an antithesis to feminism by many. This is simply untrue, and Gone Home and its soundtrack is a great piece of evidence for my argument.

16. The Unfinished Swan (2012)

The Unfinished Swan is a downloadable-only gem that didn’t really build up a lot of hype upon its release, so I feel like both the game itself and its soundtrack needed some well-deserved attention. The songs here reflect perfectly the whimsy and wonder that is plentiful in this game about a boy who’s looking for his mother. It uses classical instruments (pianos, violins, etc.) to beautifully accompany the synths found throughout. A great find here, and a great soundtrack too.

17. Katamari Damacy (2004)

While the stereotype that the Japanese culture is overabundant in zaniness isn’t necessarily true in the broad scope of the culture as a whole, this soundtrack is the impossibly fun embodiment of that very stereotype. It’s a whacky, wild, and strange journey accompanied by a plethora of instruments and vocalists. Katamari Damacy’s world, fully fleshed out by the soundtrack, is one that I would most definitely not mind staying in for a while, even if it might drive me utterly insane if I’m there for too long.

18. Bastion (2011)

Bastion actually wasn’t very hyped up at the time of its release in 2011, but since then, it has become one of the best-selling and most-talked-about indie games of the 2010’s. The soundtrack showcases the dusty, almost space-western feel of the game with slide-guitars and gruff spoken-word. This is one of the more famous indie-game soundtracks ever made, and for good reason too.

19. Hotline Miami (2012)

Another incredibly famous indie-game soundtrack, but one of a much different tone. Hotline Miami is a disturbing study of how some remember the 80’s: over-capitalistic, void of emotion, and dark. The music give an unsettling vibe, a vibe catered to us thankfully by the producers Sun Araw, Moon, and a decent number more. If you want a good dose of Tarantino-esque ultraviolence, or you just want to chill out in a dark room, give this one a listen.

20. Fallout Series (1997-2004)

The Fallout series, since its debut in 1997, have never come anywhere short of greatness when it comes to the score. The dystopian, post-apocalyptic future is matched beautifully with 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s crooner music, including Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, and even names that are less remembered like Roy Brown and the Ink Spots. When the music is coupled with the game, it’s almost disturbingly dark, telling the story of civilization lost. But, by itself, the soundtrack is just a great playlist of old music you might not have heard before.

21. Okami (2006)

First off, understand that Okami is a famously beautiful game in all aspects, even by today’s graphical standards. Its artstyle is an animated version of Japanese watercolors that bursts with deeply rich hues, and the score follows up on the traditional Japanese inspirations by using instruments like the Shamisen, the Koto, and the Shakuhachi. It’s a beautiful composition that sweeps you and the cherry blossoms you are standing on off the ground, lifting you up high over the world that Okami presents you.

22. Kingdom Hearts Series (2002-2016)

There are only two soundtracks on this list that make me tear up a little, and this is the first one. Some of that might be the fact that it’s filled to the brim for nostalgia for me, but that’s not the point. Yoko Shimamura, the now legendary composer, understand the coming-of-age story. She understands the gravity behind each moment, the playfulness in each adventure, etc. The opening song I’ll link below never fails to tug at my heart a little bit.

23. Bioshock series (2007-2013)

This one is similar to the Fallout entry, but with a bit of a twist. While it does indeed use pre existing music (this time exclusively from the 20’s and 30’s), Bioshock takes those songs and changes them up a little, adding perhaps an echo effect, an eerie violin, or any other needed changes to the mix. These changes do a fantastic job evoking the emotions that go along with wherever you’re at in the game, whether you need to be scared, stressed, unsettled, or all of the above. A lot of the time though, it’s all of the above.

24. Shadow of the Colossus/Ico (2005/2001)

As stated earlier, I get choked up at a few of these soundtracks. This is most definitely the other one. Shadow of the Colossus and Ico are symbols of the growing maturity and seriousness in games, and they truly demand respect. These games and their soundtracks evoke an unimaginable amount of intrigue and grandeur in anybody involved, whether you’re just watching, listening, or playing it yourself. The music is impossibly grandiose even though some moments inch towards ambience. Every single song has that larger-than-life aura that Beethoven and Stravinsky emitted so well, and arguably do just as good of a job too. Oh, and it’s nice to study to too I guess.