Awesome Music / Fourth Generation

This is the Awesome Music page for SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo, TurboGrafx-16, Jaguar etc.

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• Last Armageddon is a game about Demons vs. Aliens. While the gameplay may be okay at best, and the monsters nightmare fuel-inducing, the main thing that stands out is the AWESOME battle music. Then there's a Doujin metal version from the Newtype Destroyer album.
• That Old Army Game, Nightmare Buzz, Buzz Battle, and Inside the Claw Machine from the SNES Toy Story Game.
  • The Mega Drive version of Inside the Claw Machine is somehow even more awesome, replacing the piano line with a synth lead and making the drum line even more prominent. Similarly, Nightmare Buzz sounds even more nightmarish.
  • The Mega Drive version of the final stage theme Rocket Man manages to be incredibly awesome with its heavy bass.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time: Sewer Surfin' and Technodrome - Let's Kick Shell!
  • "Bury my shell at wounded knee!"
  • "Neon Night Riders".
  • "The Final Shell-Shock!"
• Eek! The Cat for the SNES is a shining example of The Problem with Licensed Games, but its soundtrack was a different story, sometimes pushing the limits of the sound chip. Hell, if we listed examples, the whole soundtrack would be here. So, behold!
• Daddy Mulk from The Ninja Warriors (1987) is one of the most awesome, catchy and unique songs ever.
• Area 88 (known in the West as UN Squadron) gives us the Forest Fortress theme.
  • The sky stage music may be one of the best tunes in any shmup game ever.
  • The intro theme pretty much tells you right out of the gate that the game is going to kick ass.
  • Likewise, the final stage theme is a fitting climax, giving off the perfect feeling of "this is it."
• Similarly, much of the soundtrack of Terranigma deserves mention here.
  • Some of the better tracks include the opening movie (and fanfare), the Underworld Theme, the boss music Those Who Stand In My Way, and the Final Boss music Overcoming Everything.
  • Elle's Theme.
• Any soundtrack for a Sega Genesis game composed by Howard Drossin, most of which pushed the sound processor to its limits. Try Sonic Spinball, Comix Zone, and The Ooze.
• Ecco the Dolphin: The whole damn soundtrack. Choice mentions go to "Aqua Vistas", "The Machine", "Jurassic Beach" and "City of Forever".
  • Sea of Darkness from Tides, which plays in two levels — one of which is pitch black and has aliens that can instakill you, and the other is a terrifying game of cat and mouse with the Big Bad during the Playable Epilogue.
  • Also, the Tides title theme.
  • The Sega Mega-CD versions are equally awesome!
• We are Worms, we're the best, and we've come to win the war...
• Amiga shooter Superfrog had some great tunes, but World 5 particularly stands out.
• Two words: Dynamite Headdy. The entire soundtrack is downright amazing, but Sky High and Dark Demon's Song are quite possibly some of the most intensely awesome 16-bit boss themes ever, and Crosswalk of Love stands out for really making you feel victorious at the end of the game.
  • "You're Izayoi", "A Man of Sun", and the surprisingly moving "Ballad for You". "You're Izayoi" gets double points for being played during an utterly badass boss (if very hard), and triple for the epic Mood Whiplash that leads into it.
  • Maruyama Hustle. The opening to that song was what made the Backstage and Flying battles against Trouble Bruin so entertaining. You are grabbed by a metal claw rigged to a rocket, dragged through the background, and Maruyama pulls you at extremely high speed through the backstage trying to smash you into scaffolding.
  • South Town, a rag style theme fitting for the chaotic nature of the level.
  • Ohnami-Konami, for the slightly unnerving Puppeteer, and I Sing, which marks the point where the game starts to get really weird.
  • Danzem Dungeon, fitting for the Lethal Lava Land setting. A shame you don’t hear it for long before you are dragged backstage.
• The Ristar soundtrack. Made all the more awesome by Planet Sonata making the BGM into a gameplay element. Round 4-1 is one big MacGuffin Escort Mission where you must literally build the BGM a piece at a time by transporting metronomes through the level to a composer. At the end of the level the composer summons a mini-boss that not only attacks in time with the now-complete tune, but times its attack phases to the different phrases in the song.
• Earthworm Jim. Who could forget this lovable worm and his game full of music goodness? If the music were chocolate then we'd be fat.
  • What the Heck? especially. It may not be strictly the best of the game's OST, but it's certainly the most entertaining.
  • Andy Asteroids?. Who would've thought one of the most awesome tracks in the game would involve a banjo?
  • Then there's the numerous renditions of New Junk City.
  • The Sega CD/PC version of Use Your Head.
  • The sequel also had some good songs, like Anything But Tangerines and Subterranean.
• While Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals had many great tracks, the Boss Theme stood out as one of the most orchestrated-sounding pieces of the SNES's early days, proving that a lot could indeed be done with mere synthesized music.
  • Speaking of Lufia II's music, how about The Land Nobody Knew? It's incredibly fitting for an isolated town that happen to be situated right underneath Doom Island.
  • The boss theme=great. Sinistral theme=the utter bullshit sickness!!!
  • The Savior of Those On Earth. Just...listen. Remixed for the DS. Too bad the game itself did not live up to the soundtrack.
• Lufia and the Fortress of Doom had plenty of awesome music too. Of particular note are the boss battle theme and the remix that became the final boss's theme.
• The intro music to Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge is unbelievably awesome, sounding like something straight outta Guns 'n' Roses. It really gets you pumped to see what's in store (though you may feel betrayed once you see how Nintendo Hard the game is).
• Also, many of the songs in 1994's Aladdin video game. They sound best in the PC version.
• Romancing SaGa 3 is an Awesome Soundtrack. From the Light King's Palace to the battle theme to the Winter Galaxy. It also pushes the SNES's sound chip to its limits with orchestral sounds.
• Treasure of the Rudra is not a very well known game, which is a shame, not only is this game one of the most well done RPG of the SNES era, it has an awesome soundtrack. Those Three Boss Themes are Actually remixes of the three main characters themes. Basically a Theme Music Power-Up, which does a lot to show that despite the fact that the game's story happens Just Before the End, the heroes are NOT going to give in to despair.
• E.V.O.: Search for Eden has once been described as having some of the best music tracks in the SNES era, marred by a spattering of absolutely horrid 10-second loops. Some of the better ones: The Ocean, the Boss Battle theme, and the Final Showdown against the Big Bad Eldritch Abomination.
• Live A Live has several:
  • One of the greatest standouts is the impossibly epic BURIKI DAIOH THEME! GO! GO! BURIKI DAIOH!
    • The translated version was kind enough to give us Romaji, making it karaoke giant robot battle theme. It doesn't get any more epic.
    • Some Nico Nico Douga folks got together and made a Jam Project-styled Buriki Daioh remix. Not only does it precisely follow the lyrics that were given in the translation, it's every bit as ludicrously Hot-Blooded as you'd expect such a thing to be, especially since it includes the ever popular Audience Participation Song section from Skill.
    • In an amusing twist, the Switch remake of Live A Live features a vocal version of the song (now titled Go Go Steel Titan), except it's sung by Kageyama Hironobu himself. Yes, the Hot-Blooded lead vocalist of JAM Project, singing a video game track for a loving Homage to Super Robot anime.
  • The Bird Flies In The Sky, The Fish Swims In The Water is very nice.
  • Also, the game's main theme/final chapter battle music Live-A-Live, and the Medieval Chapter battle theme, Awe-Inspiring Battle. And there's the two remixes from Drammatica.
  • A lot of the battle themes are great, like Akira's Murder By A Psycho!, Sundown's The Wilds, Masaru's Knock you down!, and the Shinsanken Master's War In China (which, by the way, you will now never be able to not think of as the Singing Ninja Tank theme).
  • The boss theme Megalomania rocks pretty hard too. It also remixes pretty well.
    • The 25th anniversary live mix is great fun, and deliberately drops a little bit of Megalovania as a sort of recursive Shout-Out (as Megalovania draws its title and some inspiration from Megalomania itself).
    • The 2022 remake brings us an updated version of Megalomania that keeps the feel of the original and updates it with a stronger synth/EDM feel to go with the HD-2D graphics. Square is fully aware of the song's popularity, as their character trailers all end with short montages set to the new mix of Megalomania.
  • But in terms of creepy ambience, there is simply no beating The Demon King Odio. More than any track in the game, it tells you that things have just gone wrong.
  • Oersted's theme, AKA Wings That Don't Reach is a heroic-sounding, but melancholy theme with hints of sadness, that fits Oersted very well before and after his transformation into Odio.
  • Prelude to the Demon King is just awesome.
• As The Angry Video Game Nerd points out, The Terminator Sega CD version's music. According to his IMDB Biography page, with this game, Tommy Tallarico became the first person to ever use a live guitar and 3-D audio in a video game. Awesome and innovative. You can't beat that.
• SoulBlazer is FULL of truly good music... especially this one.
• The music playing for the first track in any national cup, or just the Stonehenge track from Top Gear. Once those opposing cascades kick in, you'll feel the hair on your neck stand up.
• The original arcade version of Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair had ear-bleeding FM synthesized music, but the TurboGrafx-16 CD port had a funky awesome Redbook soundtrack. Listen to this.
• Rocket Knight Adventures has what is possibly one of the best boss themes to ever grace the Sega Genesis.
  • Also worth checking out: the music from the inevitable Mine Cart Madness level. Starts off as a dark classical tune, then changes keys and sounds like something from a carnival, before finally turning into a jazzy syncopated number in the end. The level may be frustrating, but the music more than makes up for it.
  • The incredible Stage 1 theme. Stage 4 is similar and is perfect for a sky level.
• Mind's Eye from Tempest 2000. A funky, electronica piece that would fit at a rave no questions asked.
• The Sega CD version of Batman Returns had this trope in spades, the ending theme being especially epic.
• Bio-Hazard Battle isn't exactly a household name, but it had an epically atmospheric and creepy soundtrack, especially for a Genesis title.
  • The background track from Stage 2 and 6 is particularly memorable.
  • Stage 7 isn't as creepy and abrasive as the others, but is instead a complex series of harmonic notes that create a catchy, serene tune.
  • Meanwhile, Stage 3 has a pulsating, wavery bassline that's backed up by sinister rising and falling synth leads.
  • The Title theme is the personification of slow, creeping fear with a blast of synth that's sure to catch a listener off guard.
• Though Bonk's Adventure (a.k.a. BC Kid) was perhaps best known on the TurboGrafx 16, there was a sequel, Super Bonk, released on the SNES. That game's outer space levels had this epically awesome theme.
• The SNES RPG Brain Lord may be obscure, but its music rocks. In particular, the first town theme has serious ear-worm potential (and an awesome bass line).
• EDF Earth Defense Force (the arcade Shoot 'Em Up, not Earth Defense Force 2017): Most of the music, especially Stage 2 and the boss theme.
• An obscure Neo-Geo puzzler named Money Puzzle Exchanger had this incredibly catchy opening theme that wouldn't have sounded out of place in a '90s anime. This level theme from the game is also great.
• Twinkle Star Sprites' soundtrack includes "Love Me" and "Love So", two variations on an incredibly catchy house tune, as well as Memory's Theme.
• Contra: Hard Corps. FM synthesis roxors your soxors. Hard driving techno with metal overtones (or maybe the other way around) are not to be argued with. Especially "The Last Springsteen". And because Konami can't resist referencing their other games, they even threw in a gabber version of "Vampire Killer".
• Yes, we all know Zero Wing for a few reasons, but the soundtrack may be some of the best 16-bit music the Genesis ever pumped out, even on par with the blue blur himself. Just listen to the introduction, Open Your Eyes, Hit Man, and the second end theme. Then there's the Megadriver cover... The Arcade and PC Engine CD/TurboGrafx-CD versions of the songs are quite epic as well.
• The morgue theme from the SNES version of Shadowrun.
• An after-market example - Eternal Champions has some pretty good music, but this mash-up of the game's extremely gory finishers is great. To sum up; the game is about a god of balance bringing together several fighters from various points in history who are murdered before their time, and before they would've changed the world for the better. The winner of a to-the-death contest receives the foreknowledge to avoid their death. While the finishers make Mortal Kombat look tame, setting a compilation of them all to Masterplan's "Spirit Never Die" somehow makes the struggle of each character and their quest to win their lives much more emotional.
• Lunar:
  • While short, the original Battle Theme is certainly sweet (so's the remake version). Then there's the Overworld and Grindery themes.
  • And of course, "Wind Nocturne", a.k.a. The Boat Song, which kicks ass in Japanese or English. Whatever your feelings about the remake may be, this song, this scene alone was worth it. That song was (eventually) remixed into Shiilol, or what is well known as "Longcat's Song". Longcat. As in, that very long white cat.
  • And also the theme "Go Go Go!" which plays during battles with the Magic Emperor.
  • The theme that plays when you fight him in the sequel.
  • For pure, unmitigated heart-wrenching, nothing tops Luna's "La La" song. No one who has played that game can hear that song without tearing up a little.
  • The Lunar 2 music sampler disc had an AMAZING rendition of Ghaleon's theme that took the mood from "evil and foreboding" in the first game to "heroic and defiant" in the second. Here, have a listen.
• The Main Theme and the Team Select themes from NBA Jam are both intensely catchy and energetic in any port of the game, and help to get players fired up for the basketball hijinks ahead.
• As pointed out in the Rule of Cool page, Road Rash gives us the title theme of the original and its melancholic remix in the sequel.
• The main theme of the Cult Classic Sega CD game Panic! is made of pure brilliance.
• Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage: The opening theme is freaking awesome in fact the whole damn soundtrack for the game probably counts. Green Jellÿ's goal may have been to make music So Bad, It's Good, but with Maximum Carnage, they went for headbangingly awesome metal.
• Anything from Power Instinct: Matrimelee. Here are a couple of tracks:
  • Let's Go, Onmyoji, Chinnen's stage theme.
  • Hyakkan, Keith and Olof's stage theme. IT'S A SONG PRAISING BEING FAT.
    • All of the songs are about something miniscule or off-subject. Take for instance, Clara and Anny's song Small Happiness, which is about a depressed girl getting even more depressed about the waitress at the restaurant she's eating at taking her most satisfying thing ("Small Happiness") from her: POTATO WEDGES!
    • And then there's Buntaro and Shintaro's theme Overclocked Excitement about "excitement" from "overclocking" (your computer).
• The ending theme from Tetris Attack, A Walk on a Rainbow.
• Rise of the Robots was a game whose soundtrack was promoted with Blatant Lies—Brian May's name was mentioned prominently on the packaging, but he only contributed one very short tune for the game. The rest of the soundtrack wasn't even rock; it was techno by Richard Joseph. Yet interestingly enough, Joseph's tunes are actually quite good in their own right, and hold up quite well 16 years later. Check out Loader, Builder, and Supervisor.
• Secret of the Stars was a generally forgettable SNES RPG with some fantastic music: especially the Kustera overworld theme, the Aqutallion overworld theme, and the Kustera battle theme.
• Pretty much all of Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton PC-Engine soundtrack.
• The Japan-exclusive Super Famicom game Super Back to the Future II has a real good rendition of the main theme.
• The title theme to Chuck Rock. Pretty cool by itself. Machinae Supremacy takes it up to eleven.
• From Cool Spot, obviously the Bonus Stage has the best music, regardless of whether it's from the Sega Genesis, the SNES, or even the Amiga versions. Interestingly, the Genesis version qualifies for Genius Programming. This video shows that Tommy Tallarico composed "Rave Dancetune" using Sega of America's GEMS^note Genesis Editor for Music and Sound Effects software for the system's YM 2612 sound chip. Through manipulation of instrument prioritization, Tommy was able to give the perception that nine different instruments are being played together, despite the Genesis hardware only being capable of playing six concurrent sounds. A modified version of "Rave DanceTune", which uses two of the Genesis' sound chips, demonstrates what this tune would sound like in its full glory.
• Mr. Nutz was a cutesy platformer from 1994 featuring a mascot character who, in stark contrast to most of the video game mascots of the '90s, barely had any attitude at all. And yet, its music is quite amazing. Just take a listen to Woody Land Stage 3, an atmospheric tune that goes for a whole three minutes without looping— and then, once you've done that, listen to this hard-rock cover (uploaded by the original composer!), which somehow makes it even more awesome. Adventure Park is also quite catchy.
• Arcana features Second Armageddon, the music for the game's final battle. Jun Ishikawa does a wonderful job of emphasizing the all-or-nothing nature of the fight, especially since by this time Rooks stands alone against Empress Rimsalia and he's the last hope in the darkness, the only thing that stands between her and the total destruction of Elemen.
• Devil's Crush, also known as Dragon's Fury, is a pinball game with a hell theme and really badass music that really sets up the mood for a trip to hell and back. Here, have a listen, and get a musicgasm.
• The TurboGrafx-16 Valis games have pretty epic Redbook soundtracks.
  • Fantasm Soldier and Flash of Sword from Valis: The Fantasm Soldier, and Level 1 from Valis II.
  • The SNES version of Super Valis IV also gives us such gems as the chilling Crystal Pillar, the fierce boss theme, and the energetic Babylon theme.
• The Options and Game Over Screen for Daffy Duck in Hollywood.
• Super R Type. Sure the game was Nintendo Hard but it opened with tracks like Solo Sortie and just kept going. The worst part is, the song was long enough for two stages, and the second half can only be heard from the main menu.
  • Wet As a Fish and A Submerging Titan were good too.
  • National Anthem of Bydo Empire.
• The CD-i brawler Mutant Rampage: Bodyslam has a surprisingly good soundtrack, done by the same composer behind The Legend of Zelda CD-i Games. The highlights are this level music and the title screen theme.
• For Awesome Music on the Mega Drive, see Thunder Force IV. Particularly any of the the boss music - you definitely know you're in a fight. The appropriately named "Metal Squad" rocks Sega's 16-bit system hard!
• The Waterworld SNES game is usually known as a pretty bad game. Neverthelesss Dean Evans was able to composer a spectular (but small) OST for this game. Some examples:
  • Diving
  • Mission Theme 1
  • Mission Theme 3
• Obscure though it is, Namco's 1989 arcade/Mega Drive shmup Dangerous Seed is often lauded for its soundtrack. Some of you may recognize the Mega Drive version of the themes for the Strike-Ants and Roller-Snail battles, considering they were drafted for Sonic Megamix.
• Hudson's Super Star Soldier, and its sequel, Soldier Blade, both on the TurboGrafx-16.
• Yume Wa Owaranai, the Tales of Phantasia opening theme. Not only because it was a very epic J-Pop song, but it was the first (and possibly, only) song on the SNES to be fully voiced, something developers of that time thought was impossible to do without a CD-ROM add-on and costly co-processor chips.
• The PC Engine CD version of Raiden. For example, Gallantry.
• The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers SNES game has some pretty bitchin' tracks by Kinuyo Yamashita, known for her work on Castlevania and Mega Man X3. Example tracks include but are not limited to:
  • Stage 1 theme
  • Stage 4 theme
  • Boss theme
  • And last but not least, the title theme and the music for the final bosses which are, not surprisingly, the Power Rangers theme song, the former including samples of the lyrics, the latter being an instrumental version.
• Data Zone from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Fighting Edition. Also Grand Canyon, Dragon Space Platform, and Ivan Ooze.
• The soundtracks of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie tie-in game (both of them!) were also pretty wonderful. The Genesis version uses songs from the TV show (Fight, and 5-4-1 for example), while the SNES version uses original arrangements that have a hard-rocking Mega Man X vibe (Aircraft Carrier, Ivan Ooze).
• Uniracers (known in Europe as Unirally), a fairly obscure game from the people who eventually made Grand Theft Auto (and would also get complaints from Pixar for their use of sentient unicycles), cranked this little gem, the theme music, out of the SNES sound processor...and that is hot.
• The Lion King's "Be Prepared" was awesome in its own right but the SNES version gave us an instrumental midi version. It's suitably epic.
• "Cargo Ship" from Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition.
• Though the original Commodore 64 version of Manfred Trenz' Turrican already blew many minds by pushing the graphical capabilities of the computer beyond what many believed possible in 1990, it also featured a first class soundtrack by a variety of composers including Chris Hülsbeck. But when the game was ported to the Amiga, Hülsbeck brought his "A" game and completely re-composed the soundtrack to create one of the most kickass scores ever heard on the Amiga. From the haunting title screen theme to the pulsating energy of the level background themes (a different one for all fifteen levels) to the sheer intensity of the boss tracks, it complements the action on screen beautifully throughout. And when Turrican 2: The Final Fight came out the following year, Hülsbeck did it again, producing another soundtrack full of rocking melodies sure to get the adrenaline racing for the shmup antics the player must navigate. As if that wasn't enough, when Turrican 3: Payment Day (the Amiga port of the Genesis game Mega Turrican) came out in 1993, Hülsbeck - yes - did it AGAIN, giving the series yet another blood-pumping soundtrack with a different theme for every level and boss in the game.
• High Seas Havoc has "Sometime Somewhere", which sounds like it could have come straight out of Final Fantasy IV, despite being a Sonic clone.
• John Madden Football 92 has an iconic theme that fully embodies the Genesis. It is still considered one of the best themes in the series to this day.
• Madden NFL 95 for the Sega Genesis has an amazing rendition of the iconic NFL on Fox theme.
• Another EA Sports classic: the NHL 94 intro theme. It translates very well to the Genesis and the SNES too.
• The arcade version of Battletoads has some awesome hard rock tunes, particularly this one.
• The Turbo-CD shooter Gate Of Thunder has hands down one of the most amazing video game soundtracks of all time. Just listen.
• Bahamut Lagoon has a somewhat unique soundtrack among SNES RPGs, being kind of jazzy as per the stylings of Noriko Matsueda. The battle theme will stay with you for a while.
• ToeJam & Earl had some of the funkiest beats that the Sega Genesis could provide. Toejam Jammin', also known as the main theme of the series is easily the most remembered. Its version in Panic on Funkotron is arguably even better!
• Shinobi III has a stellar soundtrack, with tunes such as the amazing My Dear D.
• Blood Money is mostly only remembered for its fantastic intro theme.
• One of the best video game menu tracks ever comes appropriately from one of the very best Amiga games ever: SUPERCARS 2.
• Lemmings claimed on the title screen that the programmers denied responsibility for "the elevator music" - which does Tim Wright and Brian Johnston's soundtrack a disservice, as it's seriously kickass:
  • Some of the tracks are taken from earlier awesome works such as Offenbach's Galop (AKA "The Can-can") (which, through its use in the game's first level, remains one of the most instantly recongisable Lemmings tracks), Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca, and Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Little Swans (which sounds truly eerie in its Lemmings incarnation).
  • Meanwhile, some of the arrangements achieve awesomeness through humour, such as the doglike sound effect-laden arrangement of "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?", the hilarious medley of "Ten Green Bottles", the Funeral March from Chopin's Piano Sonata No.2, and the Bridal March from Wagner's Lohengrin, and the pure Rule of Cool juxtaposition of Vaughan Williams' "Forest Green"^note  Best known as the melody for Phillips Brooks' Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in Commonwealth nations (in the USA, it is sung to "St. Louis", written by Brooks' collaborator Lewis Redner). with Ennio Morricone's theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
  • Among the originals, there are many first class contributions from Tim Wright and Brian Johnston.
    • The easy-going "Lemming 1" (first heard in Fun 2) borrows its chord progression from Pachelbel's Canon.
    • "Lemming 2" (first heard in Fun 4) is a bassline-driven adrenaline rush; it was woven into a medley with "Lemming 1" for the Classic levels of Lemmings 2: The Tribes.
    • The interplay between the various melody and accompanying fragments is "Lemming 3" (first heard in Fun 10) is eccentric yet catchy.
    • The upbeat march of "Tim 4" (first heard in Fun 15) is sure to get the player fired up for saving the lemmings... or perhaps indulging in Video Game Cruelty Potential by blowing them up for laughs.
  • Four levels, one in each difficulty rating, are tributes to past Psygnosis games, complete with musical re-mixes. Fun and Mayhem provide the blood-chilling soundtracks from platformers Shadow of the Beast and Shadow of the Beast II, while Tricky and Taxing give us the synthesised guitar-driven frenzy of space shooter Menace and shump/strategy game Awesome.^note  Specifically, the title screen theme from Shadow of the Beast (originally composed by David Whittaker), the in-level music from Menace (also originally composed by Whittaker), the music for the overhead space shooter segments of "Awesome" (originally composed by Tim Wright and his brother Lee), and the first level theme from Shadow of the Beast II (also originally composed by Tim and Lee Wright).
• The Genesis port of Lemmings had a mixed track record when it came to porting the soundtrack, but some of the music was done a considerable favour by the "weightier" instrumentation of the Genesis sound chip.
  • The originally dreamlike "Lemming 1" becomes a buoyant, marchlike track; a pity it only appears in a few levels.
  • The greater bass emphasis of the Genesis' sound chip does wonders for the back-and-forth in the accompaniment for "Lemming 3" - which is fortunate, since it's the most frequently used track in the game.^note  An odd contrast to the Amiga original, where it was the least frequently used track; the seventeen standard level themes go through seven full rotations (plus a final return of the "Can-can" theme), but "Lemming 3" is pre-empted twice in favour of the music from Menace and Shadow of the Beast II.
  • The "London Bridge is Falling Down" adaptation is an energetic romp, especially when the key shifts from C to D and the melody becomes more free and improvisatory over another driving bassline.
  • The originally languid and laid-back "Tim 2" becomes much more lively with the extra bass from the Genesis sound chip.
  • "Tim 5" had an otherworldly air on the Amiga, but on the Genesis, it gets a huge shot in the arm with a faster tempo and, once again, heavier bass.
  • The "Ten Green Bottles"/Chopin's Funeral March/Wagner's Bridal March medley retains the humour of the original and adds some of its own with changes to the instrumentation.
  • And with two extra difficulty levels in the Genesis version, Sunsoft added a homage to a game from their own library with a triumphant rendition of the first level theme from Ufouria for the Breather Level "SUNSOFT Special", in which the lemmings make their way across giant versions of the series' four main characters.
• The intro theme of the Amiga version of Jaguar XJ220, which manages to do the car justice.
• The Adventures of Batman and Robin had a very kickass soundtrack, particularly the Genesis version. Unlike the Super Nintendo version, Jesper Kyd, the composer, decided to make the soundtrack dark by making it a techno-acidhouse rave vibe. And it works.
• The title theme for the Atari Lynx version of Klax is an original rocking composition done entirely with digitized tracks.
• The entire soundtrack to Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire.
• Super Hydlide may be one of those games that was very disliked when it came to North America, but even the haters say that its intro theme is damn wicked.
• Captain Novolin: Say what you want about the game (Bad game? Bad concept? Maybe), but the music is pretty catchy. Why don't you try this compilation?
• Last Action Hero is a horrible video game, and a prime example of The Problem with Licensed Games. But its soundtrack (the SNES version, of course) by Shahid Ahmed is pretty rockin' and badass, especially the first level theme.
• For a game that was basically a tech demo for the SNES' Mode 7 graphics, Pilotwings has an incredibly catchy soundtrack.
  • The energetic Light Plane music is one of the most recognisable tracks from the game, really capturing the excitement of taking to the sky in a light aircraft. It received a pair of first rate remixes for Super Smash Bros. WiiU/3DS, one instrumental and one vocal.
  • The just plain fun Skydiving music has a soaring melody over an insistent countermelody, perfect for floating down to earth with a parachute.
  • The enigmatic Rocketbelt music, with its "vocal" sound effects in the second half, is well matched to the bizarre, "only in a video game" technology of zooming around with a rocket engine strapped to your back.
  • The dreamlike Hangglider music takes the sting out of one of the more difficult "events" as it provides the perfect accompaniment for soaring through the air below a hang glider.
  • The sober, all-business Helicopter music is just perfect to get the player fired up for a rescue mission pitting the flying school against the E.V.I.L. Syndicate.
  • Even the brief snippets that play during menu screens are instantly hummable. The title screen music comes zooming toward the player just like the game's title itself before a sudden jolt of energy that practically shouts "Press Start for fun!"; the jaunty Flight Club theme may be short, but sets the stage nicely for the airborne antics that the game offers, and the brash Choose Aircraft theme that plays before the first of each group of trials creates a real sense of standing on the tarmac surrounded by aircraft, seconds away from taking flight.
• The obscure Game Boy game Metal Masters has Metal Beat, which just kicks ass.
• Syd Mead's Terraforming (yes, a game designed in part by the same fellow behind Johnny 5 and the light cycles from TRON) lives on a long list of obscure Shoot 'Em Up titles, but the first stage's anthem features some pretty sweet guitar riffs.
• The main theme to Mutant League Football is the perfect way to get pumped up for gruesome, blood-soaked pigskin action; if it doesn't, then absolutely nothing will.
• Alisia Dragoon is an underrated action game for the Genesis with an upbeat, atmospheric, and adventurous soundtrack. We could list every track here, there's not a single bad piece of music in this game.
  • The music of Stage 1-1 is what every first level theme should strive for, catchy, exciting, and surprisingly orchestral for the FM hardware.
  • Stage 2-2 is a slower, somewhat darker theme with an addictive bassline and is one heck of an ear-worm.
  • Stage 5-1 is a dreamy, ambient track perfect for exploring with a wide range of texture and atmosphere.
  • The first boss music is more intense with a techno feel with the percussion and panning synths.
  • The second boss theme is frantic and more fast paced as the game's difficulty is starting to become apparent.
• The underrated Sega Genesis beat-em up Mystical Fighter had some pretty funky music that sounds rather like traditional Japanese music with a jazzy twist. Some good examples are the Stage 2 theme, and Stage 4-2's theme. Be warned, this music will loop in your head.
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV has a soundtrack that mixes Western-style epic orchestral compositions with traditional Chinese themes and stirring, high-energy rock music. Many tracks (most prominently the duel and battle themes) have melodies that move down and up the pentatonic scale with quarter- and half-notes in a manner reminiscent of the Oriental riff, but in a way that's more awesome than clichéd. The original SNES soundtrack holds up very well, but it was still greatly improved in the Sega Saturn release.
• Spanky's Quest, full of funky tunes that get in your head.
• J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings vol. 1 for SNES may have been an inexcusably clunky and frustrating snore-fest of a game, but it did boast two tracks that are among the greatest pieces of game music of the entire era - the title theme and the Shire theme. Even though the game itself is borderline unplayable it's almost worth checking out just for these two songs (although YouTube means you fortunately don't have to). Music so magnificent (created by noted gaming composer Charles Deenen) deserved a much better game.
• The isometric Neo-Geo shooter Viewpoint has plenty of neat music, such as these tracks, as well as a catchy high score theme.
• Codemasters' Mega Drive port of Super Skidmarks doesn't feature much music, but what it does have features some impressive hard-rock guitar and sharp-sounding percussion. Witness its title screen and its end-of-race themes.
• Garfield: Caught in the Act has the final boss theme "Season Finale", which has some impressive synth work.

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