Themes you still hum decades later: music is an integral part of video games. This Top 100 gathers the retro games with the most memorable soundtracks, from 8-bit sound chips to CD orchestrations, based on RomWize's reassessed scores. For each title: its current score, its versions, their rarity and their collector value.
"Signed by Inon Zur, the music combines a desolate orchestra and nostalgic hits of the 1940s and 50s broadcast by the radio, from the Ink Spots to the crooners. This contrast between retro sweetness and devastated lands elevates the post-apocalyptic atmosphere. This singular sonic identity, ironic and touching, leaves a lasting mark."
"A compilation of several masterpieces, the box brings together the electro-ambient of Half-Life 2, the hushed pads of Portal and the unforgettable "Still Alive", sung over the credits. Each game unfurls a singular, striking sonic identity. This musical generosity, at the crossroads of minimalism and humour, makes it a treasure for music lovers."
"Between dread and melancholy, Koji Kondo's music makes the moon's threat loom over Clock Town with rare evocative power. Anxious themes, the countdown waltz and ocarina melodies weave a strange, poignant atmosphere. This sonic singularity remains one of the most striking in the saga."
"Christophe Héral and Billy Martin dress each world in its own sonic color, from hushed jazz to mariachi fanfares. And then come those musical levels where every jump syncs to the melody: "Castle Rock" and its cult rock covers turn platforming into a gleeful rhythmic choreography. Few games fuse sound and motion this completely."
"Ever more colossal, the music combines unleashed choirs and a titanic orchestra to magnify Kratos's revenge. Each titan confrontation rises into a sonic deluge of unheard-of power. This epic breadth, overwhelming and grandiose, remains one of the peaks of action music on the machine."
"Signed by Jason Graves, the music favours dissonance and orchestral chaos over melody, instilling a visceral terror. Strident strings and atonal clusters make dread rise in the slightest corridor of the ship. This sonic horror, daring and suffocating, remains one of the peaks of horror sound design."
"A frenzied military march, roaring brass and martial rhythms: Metal Slug's music gives the warlike chaos an energy at once heroic and comic. Each level pulses with a nervy theme that sticks to the action's sustained fire. This cult soundtrack, now iconic, is inseparable from the run-and-gun legend."
"For the conclusion, Steve Jablonsky delivers his most sweeping and moving score: grand orchestral themes, poignant choirs and elegiac surges carry the trilogy's climax. The music embraces grief and sacrifice as much as the fury of battle, giving the saga a sonic farewell of rare emotional intensity."
"Rousing and mischievous, the repertoire of Super Mario Bros. 3 signed by Koji Kondo varies its themes with the worlds, from the desert to the sea by way of the skies. Each melody, lively and catchy, perfectly matches the rhythm of the jump and the challenge. This timeless chiptune classic keeps all its joyful power."
"A few notes of the ocarina are enough to summon a whole world: Zelda's Lullaby or the Song of Time are etched into collective memory. Koji Kondo's compositions, woven into the gameplay, turn music into a genuine tool of adventure. This melodic magic, intact on 3DS, remains an absolute benchmark."
"Signed by Jason Graves, the music favours dissonance and orchestral chaos over melody, instilling a visceral terror. Strident strings and atonal clusters make dread rise in the slightest corridor of the ship. This sonic horror, daring and suffocating, remains one of the peaks of horror sound design."
"Sunnier still, Shoji Meguro's music combines sparkling pop-funk and irresistible sung themes, from "Reach Out to the Truth" to "Pursuing My True Self". Every day in Inaba pulses with a stylish, rousing groove. This sonic identity, joyful and inimitable, remains one of the most beloved of the whole JRPG."
"Dramatic and solemn, Hiroshi Iuchi's work cloaks the chaos of gunfire in an almost sacred gravity. The orchestral pads build tension as the screen saturates, supporting an extreme concentration. This controlled intensity, far from the genre's usual din, heightens the game's glacial elegance."
"Christopher Larkin sets piano and strings at the edge of silence, a perfect echo of Hallownest's deserted corridors. Tense in duels, elegiac before the relics of a dead kingdom, the theme turns poignant at every revelation. That hushed melancholy turns exploration into contemplative mourning and has made the score an absolute landmark of the modern metroidvania."
"Rousing and mischievous, the repertoire of Super Mario Bros. 3 signed by Koji Kondo varies its themes with the worlds, from the desert to the sea by way of the skies. Each melody, lively and catchy, perfectly matches the rhythm of the jump and the challenge. This timeless chiptune classic keeps all its joyful power."
"A reflection of the early 1990s on the West Coast, the game rolls out an anthology of hip-hop, G-funk, soul and rock of striking authenticity. Each radio recreates the atmosphere of an era with rare accuracy, from gangsta rap to funk classics. This gigantic licensed selection remains one of the most striking in video games."
"Wind in the sails and triumphant brass, the score by Yutaka Minobe and Tatsuyuki Maeda breathes adventure and the open horizon. Heroic themes and seafaring flights accompany every celestial port of call with an epic gust. This generous, rousing music remains the soul of this sky-pirate odyssey."
"Playful and inventive, the music piles up rousing melodies and zany finds, right up to levels entirely choreographed to music. Each world overflows with a joyful, colourful whimsy. This sonic generosity, creative and sunny, makes the game a pure pleasure for the ears from start to finish."
"Takeru Kanazaki and the Intelligent Systems team let Garreg Mach breathe, swinging between hushed choral solemnity and the blazing brass of combat. Each house carries its own tonal color, and the central motif returns in countless guises as the story darkens, binding you emotionally to a cast you command for dozens of hours. Years on, those arrangements still surface unbidden."
"An ode to lightness, the main theme of Super Mario World signed by Koji Kondo varies mischievously with the settings, from the underground to the sunlit sky. Its skipping melody, etched in memory, accompanies every jump with an intact joy. This timeless chiptune classic irresistibly lifts the mood."
