So guise, lots of games have memorable/exceptional soundtracks that really help set the mood and atmosphere of a game and just make it seem that much better. List and discuss your favorites here.

Some of mine;

Last Battle - Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, used in Xenosaga Episode 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIBmp-y9Dr8

Dragon God - Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, used in Chrono Cross
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFiSb9SBOW0

Feldschalt III - Composed by Masashi Hamauzu, used in SaGa Frontier 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaReScmD77k

Tanker Incident - Composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, used in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgWCvcGr ... re=related

The Best Is Yet To Come - Composed by Muranaka, used in Metal Gear Solid (Sung in Gaelic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URTt_imRTlM

The Unsung War - Composed by Namco, used in Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War (Sung in Latin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RlaOH6HWyk

Access The Animus - Composed by Jesper Kyd, used in Assassin's Creed (Partial snippet of the 9+ minute long song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m48Q-fRZSFs

The soundtracks from the following games are kick-ass:
Valkyria Chronicles
Radiata Stories
Final Fantasy _
Zelda games
Metal Gear Solid
Phoenix Wright games

Morrowind, Oblivion (title soundtracks)

OH AND THE OPENING SOUNDTRACK FROM THIS GAME CALLED CORTEX COMMAND, IT IS REALLY PHENOMINAL, RIGHT?

Sonic 2 - Chemical Plant Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LYB7iLZ ... re=related
Sonic 2 - Metropolis Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRuJfhEe ... re=related
Sonic 2 - Mystic Cave Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEyGntyOZQ
Sonic 3 - Ice Cap Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYxlqTpZ-24
Sonic & Knuckles - Doomsday Zone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FAffWEmB3I
These are all songs that stick out to me because I grew up on these games (I never actually had the first game).

Soundtrack of the Scott Pilgrim game. Anamanaguchi hells yes.

Need For Speed 4: High Stakes OST
Naked And Ashamed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrR-S4wCGQs
Paradigm Shifter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbxlH-uDr_c

and the rest of NFS 4 OST

I'd love to like these threads more but they usually get a plethora of generic orchestral music from RPGs that obviously has a significant impact on the person who posted it but it sounds very basic to others.

That aside: I just dug up all songs from THPS2 and combined a playlist of them: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... A881E12C27

Homeworld has some very unique music that really builds the atmosphere and immersion (immersion in an RTS? Yeah.)
Let's start with my favorite scene of the game: The introduction of the Turanic Raiders (full song here).
How about the unforgettable scene, when you return to Kharak, to find the world burning? (full song)
Finally, the Imperial battle song heard often throughout the game. A fine example of the incredible soundtrack the game has.

Now, say what you will about Modern Warfare 2, but in my opinion the game had really good music. That's what you get when you hire a Hollywood composer I guess.
Anyway, there were lots of great songs on the OST but I couldn't find them on Youtube so I'll link just one: the song that plays during the boat chase on the last level.

Mirror's Edge was pretty interesting, and the ending song was gold.

Phoenix Wright series has already been mentioned, but this song stood out in particular: Cornered (and its numerous variations). When this song plays, you just can't help to think "YES. YES. IT'S OVER. HAHA. GOT YOU YOU BASTARD."

Now. Dead Rising had mostly very neutral mall music, which of course fit the game very well. But when I played through it I couldn't help to notice this one song. Oh, those who have played it should know.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEELL HE AIN'T MY BY BUT THE BROTHER IS HEAVY

Guess I'll reserve the last spot of this list to a Capcom classic: the songs from the Dr. Wily levels of Mega Man 2.

I have an uncountable number of other amazing songs, but I can't be assed to dig them up just for people to ignore.

Pretty much all the music in Dawn Of war 1 & 2

Majority of this.


Metal Arms had good music, amongst everything else, obiviously.


I loved Iji's last boss theme. Other tracks were good too, though.


Any music composed while drunk is automatically good.


Also:

Halo.
Doom.
Duke Nukem.

DONT LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT

The main SSBB theme... it's all in Latin but the words are still pretty cool. I don't speak Latin but...

http://www.gamefaqs.com/wii/928518-super-smash-bros-brawl/faqs/53126

Please don't murder me.

Halo, man

1

2

3

4

such good music

Rock on allstoner and TLB, 8-bit music is where it's at.

I'm sure this slightly derails the topic but my fav Tony Hawk's Pro Skootr track was Superman by Goldfinger

Yeah the Scott Pilgrim game has decent tunes, and I'm not even that big of a fan of 8bit.

The only video game music I listen to outside of the context of the game it's in is Simple and Clean by Utada Hikari. It's the opening song to Kingdom Hearts. I'm not sure it counts, though.

Edit: Actually SP is like the best 10 bucks I've ever spent. We need a thread on it if a lot of people have it.

Jeez, I can't believe I forgot these:
Jet Set Radio - Mischievous Boy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmZjsJ7P ... re=related
Jet Set Radio - Sneakman - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64paltqn ... re=related
Jet Set Radio - Sweet Soul Brother - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjXh3d_v ... re=related
Jet Set Radio Future - Funky Dealer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSZIej-ZraE
Jet Set Radio Future - Oldies But the Goodies - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NZHJczt388&NR=1
Jet Set Radio Future - Shape Da Future - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6GhCTk_ ... re=related

The entire soundtrack for both of those games is excellent.

What, you didn't link UNDERSTAND UNDERSTAND?

Yes, I know it's from JSRF.