Top 10 Video Game Songs

There are many things that define a great game: attractive presentation; competent graphics, physics, and sound design; intuitive controls; and, above all else, mechanically-sound gameplay. But there's also something else, something that doesn't necessarily define how a game plays, but very much defines how a games feels, and how we remember it. That something else is music, and it's an important, if sometimes overlooked, part of the modern video game industry.

Below is a list of what I consider to be the top ten video game songs, sampled from the last thirty years of video games. Some of the songs are bombastic, others soulful and mellow, others subtly sweet. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, and I hope they bring back some fond memories.

Without further ado, I present the top ten video game songs.

#10
Dr. Wily Stage 1/2 
(Mega Man 2)

Feeling the urge to play air guitar? I don't blame you. Few video game themes are as catchy and invigorating as the music used in both Dr. Wily stages in Mega Man 2. Traditionally, Capcom used separate themes for each Wily encounter, but when you have access to a song this good, why bother?

#9
Romance Theme
(The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword)

I know what you're thinking. Where the %*#$ is Gerudo Valley? And where's Dragon Roost Island, you $@*#? As much as I enjoy those songs, I think Romance Theme from Skyward Sword just might be the finest track from the entire Zelda discography, and that's saying a lot. It's a beautiful medley of instruments -- flute, oboe, bassoon -- playing melodies and counter melodies. It's impossible not to smile when you hear it.

#8
The Sun Rises 
(Okami)

A game as beautiful as Okami deserves a beautiful soundtrack. And no song in Okami is quite as beautiful, or as complex, as The Sun Rises. Five instruments -- cello, violin, piano, shamisen, and shakuhachi -- are deployed to great effect in this song, which plays during a climactic boss battle.

#7
Wicked Child 
(Castlevania)

Some series have so many excellent songs that they could fill up a top ten list on their own. Castlevania, which has been delighting video game fans for almost 30 years, is one such series. I was tempted to include songs from Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, but none matched the rhythmic intensity of Wicked Child, which first appeared in Stage 3 of the original Castlevania. Those damn hunchbacks...

#6
Gusty Garden Galaxy 
(Super Mario Galaxy)

Rumor has it that Nintendo Gamer editor Matthew Castle loves Gusty Garden Galaxy so much that he played it on a loop while he wrote his Super Mario Galaxy review. Can't say that I blame him. Super Mario Galaxy boasts one of the finest orchestral soundtracks in any video game, ever, and Gusty Garden is probably its best track.

#5
Fear Factory 
(Donkey Kong Country)

There are only so many musical geniuses in the video game industry: Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu, and, yes, David Wise. His work in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy is especially good. The standout track in the premiere game is Fear Factory, a masterpiece of industrial, ambient sound.

#4
Big Blue 
(F-Zero)

The original F-Zero features several bold, original songs, including fan favorite Mute City, but to me Big Blue will always come out on top. Flashy, frenetic, almost hyperactive, it represents the breakneck speed of the game perfectly.

#3
Terra's Theme 
(Final Fantasy VI)

Like Castlevania, Final Fantasy could dominate this list single-handedly. It's a series well known for its rich, diverse, and imaginative songs, including this gem from Final Fantasy VI. Terra's Theme is the most ubiquitous song in Final Fantasy VI, as it plays in the background on the world map. Smooth, steady, at times vaguely militaristic, it's probably the greatest overworld theme ever written.

#2
Halo Theme 
(Halo: Combat Evolved)

What do Mr. Clean, Flintstones Vitamins, and Halo have in common? The same musical mastermind, Martin O'Donnell, wrote the themes to all three. And while his TV jingles are catchy, it's his bombastic, layered music in the Halo series that truly defines his skill as a composer. His greatest achievement is the main theme from Halo, which is heavy on deep drum beats, fast-paced strings, and, for good measure, a chant. It's the perfect invitation to the thrilling, alien, and mystical world of Halo.

#1
Stickerbush Symphony 
(Donkey Kong Country 2)

Here it is, David Wise's magnum opus. Filled with the jazzy, ambient music that defined his work in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, Stickerbush Symphony is a true work of art. It's soulful, earthy, and, in rare moments, even plaintive. It's a testament to Wise's skill in creating not only music, but sound as well. 

The Wind Rises

Title: The Wind Rises
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Martin Short, Werner Herzog

In one of the many dream sequences that populate Hayao Miyazaki’s latest masterpiece, The Wind Rises, Italian aeronautical engineer Caproni says to the movie’s protagonist Jiro, “artists are only creative for ten years.” It’s here, and during other moments, where Miyazaki, who announced his retirement (again) before the premiere of the movie, seems to be channeling his own creative career. Anyone familiar with Miayazaki’s resume knows that the ten-year rule hardly applies to him; for over thirty years, he’s been making some of the world’s most beautiful, expressive, emotionally powerful animated feature films, many of them masterworks. Yet The Wind Rises looks to be the last, at least according to Miyazaki, who hopes to pass along his work to a younger generation of animators. Miyazaki has entered retirement before – at one point he claimed Princess Mononoke (1999) would be his final film – yet there seems to be a sense of finality to his most recent announcement. Thus, the watching of The Wind Rises is a bittersweet affair, bitter because it may be his last, sweet because it stands as one of the finest, most elevated movies of his long, brilliant career.

The Wind Rises is a fictionalized account of aeronautic engineer Jiro Horikoshi, who famously designed the Zero fighter, used by the Japanese navy during World War II. Although the movie faithfully recreates Jiro’s professional career, it invents his private life. As a result, The Wind Rises is part biopic, part historical fiction.

Fans comfortable with Miyazaki’s earlier works may be surprised by the contents, artistic and thematic, of The Wind Rises. There is very little of the fantastical that so often accompanies his stories. Only in dream sequences does the movie adopt the surrealistic visuals and other-worldly creations that define Miyazaki’s imaginative landscape; much more often the movie is dominated, atypically, by realism. The Wind Rises, in other words, is more David Lean than Walt Disney. It’s also, by far, his most difficult, abstruse feature. The movie demands some knowledge of world history, and the ability to follow a story that moves, often seamlessly, between reality and fantasy. In this way, The Wind Rises recalls 8 ½, Federico Fellini’s challenging, sometimes impenetrable semi-autobiographical masterpiece.

This uncharacteristic realism and density, however jarring, points to a significant elevation and evolution of Miyazaki’s filmmaking. It may not be his best movie – that honor still goes to Spirited Away – but it’s his most dramatic. In terms of narrative, storytelling, composition, cinematography, and editing, The Wind Rises is Miyazaki’s finest work. It’s also his most transcendent. It breaks down the traditional barriers of animation to produce something amazingly lifelike, not in terms of its aesthetic but in terms of its structure.

If The Wind Rises is indeed Miyazaki’s final film, it’s a worthy swan song for the greatest living animation director. It’s his most complex, elevated, theatrical feature yet.