Game soundtracks that overdelivered

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon by PowerGlove, it essentially got me hooked on sythwave for the last 3 years.

Other than off the top of my head.
Mario Kart 8
FF3(6) on SNES

grascher said:
Hotline miami for me. So many great tracks and normally I don't even listen to that type of music.
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Yep, actually heard most of the tracks on their own before actually playing the game. So many good ones.
 
Katamari Damacy. I had no idea what to expect but it sure wasn't the eclectic mix of amazing songs that it had. You got a bit of everything in this game. Some favorites of mine were:

The simple piano version of the main theme at the start menu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUJrhs5jH1A&index=3&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu

The big band swing number that feels like a Japanese take on Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_olRp55Zs0I&index=10&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu

The Frank Sinatra-esque Que Sera Sera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhlW2roqg7Y&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu&index=12

The super chill bossa nova number Katamaritaino: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qfm2WRY8Us&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu&index=14

And this feel-good song that sounds like an elementary school choir singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-1JHvQbspM&list=PLhHcMbVmbwCeYqZmiJDnlqsA-Ek739IYu&index=16

I look forward to the next soundtrack that surprises me like this one did.
 
RockmanBN said:
Undertale is a good one. It's amazing that it was only him who made the game, but composed the soundtrack as well.
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I will never not say Undertale. Not only it's a fantastic game, but it also has one of the best OSTs I have ever listened to. It's one of the few game sountracks that I listen to outside of the game it comes from!

His Theme and Hopes and Dreams/SAVE the World are two of the best songs ever. Finale is incredible and Last Goodbye gets me pumped every single time.
 
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This game is an average N64 sequel to a pretty good game (Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon).

It's soundtrack is one of the biggest (100+ songs) and best i have heard on the system (in that generation even). Even the audio quality is above of what N64 games usually have.
 
Any Vanillaware game. Regardless of how much criticism their games garner (I love them, personally), they absolutely nail their OST every.fucking.time. Basiscape/Hitoshi Sakimoto is my OTP.
 
Fasty said:
After listening to the most recent Super Marcato Bros podcast on sports games, and reading the "games that overdelivered" thread, I thought this might be a fun topic.

My suggestion comes straight from the podcast... The Mario and Sonic at the Olympics series. I mean, check out the music to the Uneven Bars event

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTb9Gws8xdY

Not to mention incredible arrangements of other classic Mario and Sonic songs, including this legit big-band arrangement of the Super Mario World staff roll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6JaN1zt_mY

And the solos in this ska rendition of Cool Cool Mountain from Mario 64 are out of this world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4226ScF5tU

For a series that I'd expect to have Mario Party tier music, this game goes above and beyond. I'd love to hear any other recommendations for terrible-to-average games that have outstanding soundtracks!

Edit: To be clear, I'm not talking about good games with good soundtracks to match. I mean mediocre games that have soundtracks that have no right to be so good!
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Wow, those are awesome. This Super Mario Land remix is excellent too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAb4m-Y4LUM&list=RDm6JaN1zt_mY&index=4

Seems those Nintendo + Company spinoffs produce good soundtracks.
Here's one from Fortune Street, which has the only Super Mario RPG arranged music I know about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjZQV-3GS2A&list=PL9AA066CB1256F8D6&index=9
 
Huge Succeeded said:
Let me tell you, if you've never played this game, it's music is DEFINITELY not what you'd expect from a Mario game! And that's what's so great about it, it's got its own unique flavor. Check out the first two links if you want to have your expectations fucking shattered

Luigi's Theme

Road to Striker Cup

Classroom Stage

Post-Match Results

Match Highlights

Vice Stage

God damn I miss playing this game. I might load it up again on Dolphin one of these days.
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You forgot the best ones:

The Wastelands
Crystal Canyon
Stormship Stadium
 
Does Deadly Premonition count?

I would say that the soundtrack is one of it's strong points despite the game being, let's say, interesting.
 
Agree with the everyone saying Hotline Miami, it added so much to the game.

I will also add The Order 1886, so much work must have gone into it. classic Fm (UK) even started playing tracks from it.

Game soundtracks are at the point I often find them more memorable than the game, Everyones Gone to the Rapture being a good example.
 
Unfortunately I can't find examples anywhere. But I'm playing Paint it Back at the moment and a Picross game has no right to have music as good as it does.
 
I'm feeling this heavily with No Man's Sky right now. I was pretty disappointed in the game, but man 65daysofstatic really knocked the album out of the park. The ambient stems stuff is really good in-game, and the arranged album is fantastic.

The Battlefield 3 and 4 campaigns are also this for me. They're dire games, but the music is super cool. Yes, the WUBWUB versions of the Battlefield theme kinda suck, but the actual campaign score is really cool. I wish more games would go this super-abrasive, noisy route:

Solomon's Theme
Thunder Run
Fire from the Sky
The Majestic Valkyrie
Guilin Peak

It sounds like a John Carpenter soundtrack run through several effects pedals, or something. Hated the campaigns but happily snapped up the soundtracks.

Also, I'd be remiss to not mention Drakengard. Such a unique, terrifying soundtrack.
 
Tales of Zestiria has a very good soundtrack, while the game itself (though I dig it very much) is considered kind of mediocre.
 
I'll say The Witcher. The game is very divisive (to me, is a masterpiece and the best in the trilogy), but the soundtrack is utterly fantastic (and again, the best in the series).
 
I was fucking blown away by Super Mario Galaxy's score. Holy shit it's fucking amazing. Did not expect so much amazing out of it but there it is, it's indisputably crazy good.

Going back a few years . . . how about Batman for NES? Also I remember the Tom & Jerry NES game to have rather unexpectedly good music, and the animation in that game is pretty tight too.
 
I always thought the saving graces of Xenogears were the story and soundtrack. The gameplay was mediocre as hell but good lord Mitsuda brought the thunder.
 
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Step and Roll was a really bog standard Monkey Ball game when it came to level designs. Everything was oversimplified to compensate for controlling with the balance board but the team went above and beyond with the music.
Each set of levels has a theme that slowly builds and adds instrumentation with each succesive level. When you complete a level set you get a j-pop version of the world theme while credits roll

The presentation really elevated my enjoyment of the game
 
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