General RPG Music Lists 5: All That and a Bag of Chiptunes

Last year I finally committed to doing a series of rants that I'd thought about making for quite some time, in which I shared all the music I love best from the myriad RPGs I've played, and commented on some of my favorites.  It was a sizable venture for myself (I came close to not making my other rants' deadlines several times because of how much time these music lists took, in fact), but it wound up being a lot of fun as I shared Battle, Setting, and Mood music, as well as all the tunes in between.  From Opening themes right on to the Ending songs, we hit every part of an RPG's soundtrack, start to finish.

Which begs the question, then, of what the hell we're doing here today.  Because there's no RPG music I haven't touched on, right?  No corner of the soundtrack, no moment in the game's course has been neglected.  We're finished, right?

Ah, but that's the fun thing: the totality of a beloved work extends so very much farther than the work's own life does.  The legacy that a piece of media leaves is not self-contained, but lives on in its fans and admirers, and finds new life within their own creativity.  Fascinating settings and narrative threads are explored within fanfiction, characters are recreated with fanart, themes and concepts are debated by fan essays and videos, signature elements are humorously exploited through fan animations...and, of course, character relationships are lewdly experimented with in all of those mediums and more.  And among the numerous characteristics of an RPG that a fanbase will labor upon is most certainly the game's music.

And that's what we're here to celebrate today: the RPG music that has found, in 1 form or another, a life outside of its own origins.  These are my favorite songs that have come as a result of love for an RPG, rather than from the RPG itself, the works of love that have opened musical horizons past what a game's soundtrack itself has managed.

Note: While I will generally refer to the songs on this list by their names (since, being entities outside of their associated RPGs and often transformed works, they no longer accomplish a set 'function' of a soundtrack), the naming system here is not always going to be exactly the same as the original designation's.  I ignore album names, for example, focusing only on the piece itself, and text/emoji that isn't naturally translated to titles is generally ignored.  90% of the time a piece is going to have the same name, but every now and then it won't be the exact same, and I just try to get a basic, commonsense name for it for my collection.



OVERCLOCKED REMIXES

The most common musical fan work, the remix is a broad-term entity that represents any time a fan (or occasionally even an official license-holder) has reworked an existing RPG song into something else.  Sometimes it's a simple affair of enhancing some small elements of a track to more strongly or appealingly accomplish its goal...sometimes a song is sampled and/or reworked so creatively that it becomes an entirely new entity whose origins you can't even really recognize anymore.  Adding vocals to a work, changing instruments and tempo to make a calming town music into a furious battle theme (or an adrenaline-pumping battle theme into a chill vacation groove), expanding a small part of an existing song to become the entirety of a new one...remixes do all kinds of interesting things, and can result in some amazing works.

OverClocked Remix is a foundation of the relationship between RPGs and fans, 1 of the oldest still-standing internet institutions.  For over 20 years, OCR has been a website which displays and applauds fan creativity in masterfully reshaping the music of video games, and some of my all-time favorite music has come from the site.  OCR persists still, and the persons populating the place periodically provide pleasing pieces of musical prowess even in the present.

B+
- Breath of Fire 1 Epitaph of Alan and Cerl Remix
- Chrono Cross Timewarp Remix
- Chrono Trigger Elements of Time Remix
- Deus Ex 1 Only in Novels Remix
- Final Fantasy 6 Land of the Eidolons Remix
- Final Fantasy 6 The Rose General Remix
- Final Fantasy 9 You Are Not Confined Remix
- Final Fantasy 10 Twilight of Ivory Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past The 7 Wise Men Shot First Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Transient Shadows Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Hylia's Fear Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Echoes of Dusk Remix
- Secret of Mana Pure Heart Remix
- Wild Arms 1 Round the Cape of Good Hope Remix
- Xenogears Live from the Yggdrasil Remix

A-
- The 7th Saga Water Remix
- Castlevania Series CastleMania Remix
- Chrono Cross Cosmic Kleptomaniac Remix
- Chrono Cross Time's New Scar Remix
- Chrono Trigger Enter the Frog Remix
- Chrono Trigger Flow of Time Remix
- Chrono Trigger In the Green Gloom Remix
- Crystalis Calming the Angry Sea Remix
- Deus Ex 2 Tears in Rain Remix
- Final Fantasy 9 Filtering Through Memories Remix
- Final Fantasy 10 Journey's End Remix
- Grandia 2 A Deus ex Harpa Remix
- The Legend of Zelda Series A Rose for Zelda Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Requiem for a Damaged Spirit Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Forest of Purple Mist Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Wistful Remix
- Nier: Automata Beautiful Rise Remix
- Pokemon Generation 5 Thy Everlasting Winter Wind Blows Remix
- Secret of Evermore K-Pax for Evermore Remix
- Secret of Mana Desert Snowstorm Remix
- Secret of Mana Footsteps to Destiny Remix
- Secret of Mana Tidal Sequence Remix
- Shadowrun SNES Reborn Remix
- Star Ocean 2 Rena Lanford of Arlia Village Remix
- Suikoden 1 Days Long Passed, Seldom Remembered Remix
- Trials of Mana Memories of the Sea Remix
- Xenogears Echoes Remix

A
- Bahamut Lagoon Stockholm Remix
- Chrono Cross Time Circuits High Voltage Remix
- Final Fantasy 5 A Dream of Home Remix
- Final Fantasy 7 Ascension to Cosmo Canyon Remix
- Final Fantasy 7 Mark of the Beatsmith Remix
- Final Fantasy 9 Fixations Remix
- Final Fantasy Series Forest Medley Remix
- Lufia 2 Turbid Guidance Remix
- Pokemon Generation 1 Farewell, Beloved Ones Remix
- Secret of Evermore A Whisper and a Shadow Remix
- Soul Blazer Tears for a Moonlit Knight Remix
- Xenogears Aveh Mountain Breakdown Remix
- Xenogears Ominous Waltz Remix

A+
- Final Fantasy 6 Terra in Black Remix
As little as I know how to describe the merits of RPG music under normal circumstances, I have even less of an idea as to how to laud a remix.  All I know is that this is a truly awesome piece, a perfect meeting of soft significance with penetrating rock, and my second favorite OCR piece of all time (Super Metroid's Zebesian Midnight is the top, if you're curious).  It's stayed at the top tier for over 20 years, and I doubt it's gonna be edged out of that position any time soon.



SEMI-OVERCLOCKED REMIXES

Oddly, sometimes an OverClocked Remix doesn't actually make it onto OverClocked Remix.  See, 1 of the things that OCR will do, beyond just archiving and displaying individual video game remixes, is to organize and sponsor a group of musical artists in putting together an album dedicated to a game, series, or theme.  But while there'll usually be anywhere between 6 to 60 songs on the album, not all of them (usually barely any!) will make it onto OverClocked Remix proper.  I'm unclear as to why this is exactly, but my guess is that it's either a case of not wanting to overload their main page's uploads for a month with nothing but remixes from the same game, or their infamous gatekeeping at work (more on that in a moment).

Even if they don't get onto the website proper, quite a few of these album remixes are pretty great, though, easily as good or better than the majority of songs that DO make the transition from album to the main OCR site.  I do think, though, that for the sake of lessening the glut of remixes in the OCR section here even just a little, I'm going to likewise separate them from the herd.  Make no mistake, though, it sure as hell ain't from any lack of quality, as you'll hear below.

B+
- Terranigma The Path to Lhasa Remix
- Trials of Mana Little Winged Lady Remix

A-
- Chrono Trigger Darkest Omen Remix
- Final Fantasy 6 Remember Remix
- Golden Sun 2 Another Point of View Remix
I like the energy of this piece, taking a lot of the best qualities of fast-paced 80s and 90s music styles to create a catchy, upbeat jam.  I also like its ability to change directions when you don't expect it--living up to its title of finding "another point of view", in a way.  Very cool piece.

- Trials of Mana Facing the Storm Remix

A

A+



GENERAL REMIXES

I have a lot of respect for OCR, and I don't want to downplay that or be negative.  But I do have to say: those standards of entry which I mentioned a moment ago?  The taste and musical expertise of the OCR judges, based on what I've seen get accepted to the site, what I've seen get rejected, and the stated reasons for some remixes' rejections, is highly dubious, to put it extraordinarily generously.  And that was, for some years, a real damn problem, because OCR was kinda the ONLY centralized spot for finding fans' remixes--so the fact that there were a lot of significantly, demonstrably great pieces getting arbitrarily rejected by the same people that opened the door and invited this trainwreck in, was pretty frustrating for those of us who wanted a simple, straightforward option to find all available remixes for a game and decide for ourselves whether we liked them or not.  There was a great site called VGMix back in the day that tried to solve this problem, and I was grateful for it, but unfortunately each of its iterations was short-lived, leaving OCR the internet's video game remix solo act for far too long.

The advent of Youtube, however, has slowly but surely been solving this problem, albeit in an unavoidably disorganized way.  With Youtube, there's no question of any panel of judges with bizarre standards barring the way--anyone can upload anything they like, and while you still have to sift through a mountain of average or subpar pieces to find a gem, those masterpieces are out there, and at least now you know you're accessing all the works available, not just what some outside entity has arbitrarily decided to allow you.  That, combined with a few remix albums and singles hosted/sold on platforms outside OCR or Youtube, and a rare couple arrangement albums sold by the official license-holding companies themselves, accounts for the works below.  And as lucky as we may be to have OverClocked Remix, the great quality of the following music proves that we're equally, perhaps even more, lucky to have alternatives, too.

B+
- Chrono Trigger Battle with Magus Remix
- Chrono Trigger Cafe of Time Remix
- Chrono Trigger Corridors of Time Remix
- Chrono Trigger Rising Beast Remix
- Chrono Trigger Wait for Slurp Remix
- Final Fantasy 10 Auron Oboe Winds Remix
- Fire Emblem 4 Chapter 3 Remix
- Sailor Moon: Another Story Ark Remix  (The Ark theme was reused in the Sailor Moon R game, and this track from the OST is a remix of that)
- Startropics 1 Argonia Remix

A-
- Castlevania Series Castle of Shadows Remix
- Chrono Trigger Daughter of Zeal Remix
- Chrono Trigger Schala's Theme Frozenith Remix
- Etrian Odyssey 4 On an Adventure Gliding Through the Skies Remix
- Fallout 4 Some Things Never Change Remix
- Final Fantasy 6 Cast a Lonely Shadow Remix
- Golden Sun 1 The Elemental Stars Orchestral Remix
- Hololive CouncilRys RPG Battle Against Cursed Fauna Remix
- I Am Setsuna Unstoppable Force Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Legend of an Ocarina - Movement 1 Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Skipper's Retreat Shack (Low Whistle/Oboe) Remix
- Lufia 2 Final Battle Remix
- Lufia 2 Wielder of the Dual Blade Remix
- Mario and Luigi 1 Airflare Valley Remix
- Omori By Your Side Orchestral Remix
- Pokemon Generation 7 The Blade Runner Remix
- Secret of Evermore Hall of Collosia Remix
- Shadowrun SNES Ghouls Revamp Remix
- Startropics 1 Cave Remake Remix
- Startropics 1 The Melancholy 7 Remix
- Undertale Battle Against a True Hero Tieff Remix
- Undertale Neon Depths Remix
- Valkyrie Profile 2 Under the All-Powerful Divine Protection Remix
- Xenogears On a Short Fuse Lately Remix

A
- Chrono Cross She Was Dreaming in the Rain Remix
- Chrono Trigger Schala's Theme Z Remix
- Final Fantasy 9 Veiled World Remix
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Midna's Lament Orchestral Remix
- Shin Megami Tensei 1 Ruins Woodwind Remix
- Shin Megami Tensei 2 Neutral Theme Remix
- Undertale Battle Against a True Hero Dual Remix  (Link avoids unnecessary intro)
- Undertale The Last Soul Remix

A+
- Bahamut Lagoon Yoyo's Theme Arranged Remix
Just simply, utterly beautiful.  The original theme is already a hauntingly lovely piece that epitomizes some of the greatest qualities that Bahamut Lagoon possesses, and yet this remix manages to so easily surpass the original that it truly feels as though this is the true form of this song, the greatest realization of its heart and potential.  Gorgeous stuff.

- Shadow Hearts 1 Heart to Heart Remix
This might be 1 of the greatest examples of the virtue of remixes as transformative pieces that you can find.  This remix is almost completely unidentifiable as a form of the theme for Alice, but it's a great, genuinely engaging and enjoyable tune, far surpassing the original (which was good and serviceable, of course, but nothing special).  Not only that, but somehow, even while clearly being unabashedly its own musical entity, this remix manages to still invoke a sense of the (perhaps tragic) goodness and purity of Alice, yet does so in a way that actually feels more true to the Shadow Hearts duology as a whole in the mood and emotion of its new tempo and instruments.  This is just a masterpiece, it really is.



FAN ORIGINALS

While remixes are obviously the most common and known method in which an RPG lives a second life musically, there is another form that fan music occasionally takes: the fan original.  Sometimes, you see, a fan is so enthusiastic about a game, that they don't just alter an existing piece of music as an outlet for their creative fervor...they outright invent a new track altogether!  Whether it be a theme symbolic of a character that the composer especially identified with, a tribute to a particularly moving setting, a song that evokes the feeling of a particularly powerful moment in the story, a celebration of the RPG as a whole, an attempt to mimic and extend the style of the game's composer, or even a piece that describes a potentiality unexplored by the source material or that shall come to pass in the creator's headcanon, there have been hundreds of original songs created from the ground up out of nothing more than the love of a fan!

80% of them are for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

The startlingly prolific creativity and frequently great talent of the bronies aside, however, there's plenty of other great fan originals to be found out there, including many made for RPGs.  And of the all RPG-related fan music, this may be the stuff I respect the most.  I am a fumbling, graceless, ignorant, rhythm-less moron when it comes to understanding music on any level beyond that of the plebian listener, so I can't speak from any point of actual understanding or experience on the matter, but it seems to me that as impressive a feat (which I cannot manage myself) as it is to envision, compose, and work a remix of an existing song, it's even more impressive a feat (which I cannot manage myself) to envision, compose, and work a song out of nothingness--and the most impressive is to do so out of nothing more than a love of the work and a need to create, with no assurance of payment for your efforts.  And as the songs below prove, there's some damned impressive talent at work here.  I can't wait to see this list expand as this trend continues to expand!

B+
- Fallout 3 Beauty Bleak
- Undertale Hard Drive

A-
- Horizon 0 Dawn Force of Nature
- Kingdom Hearts A Ballad from a Dream
- Pokemon Generation 8 Battle! Golems of Galar

A
- Pokemon Generation 1 Battle! Gym Leader Sabrina
- Pokemon Generation 8 Battle! Galarian Zapdos
- Pokemon Generation 9 Champion Nemona Battle

A+
- Mass Effect 3 Crucible
When it comes to fan originals (ones not based around colorful cartoon equines, that is), the most recognizable and respected name in the business might be Miracle of Sound, and it's because of songs like this.  This is exactly what a song embodying Mass Effect should be: epic, grand, inspiring, galactic in the proportions of both its conflict and its heroism, and yet with an utterly vital component of the personal, human connection.  Awesome, plain and simple.

- Pokemon Generation 7 Battle! Champion Lillie
This is such an amazing battle theme just for its own sake--any RPG could count itself exceedingly lucky to have such an elegant, exciting, significant piece in its soundtrack.  And it only multiplies its greatness with how perfect a fit it is to its concept, that of the presence of Lillie as Champion and the determination and growth that led her to that rightful role.  Honestly, if you can listen to this song and come out of it without a headcanon for Lillie's journey as a trainer which ends with her becoming the greatest Champion ever known, then I just don't even know what to do with you.



SO-CALLED REAL MUSIC

So here's an interesting thing: there are a (very) few songs in my personal collection that are what we typically think of as music--real, official stuff released by bands for the music's own sake, rather than having been made for the specific purpose of being a part of a soundtrack for a game (or cartoon, or anime, or movie, or whatever).  But that doesn't quite mean that the music is inherently detached, to me, from an RPG...because there are times in which I only find and enjoy a song specifically because it was artificially connected to an RPG in some regard.

See, as you may have noticed, I watch...a lot of AMVs.  A whole lot.  Like, every time I finish playing an RPG, or watching an anime, or even sometimes watching a cartoon, I go on Youtube and watch more or less every single AMV ever made for it.  And then a couple times a year I go through Youtube to see what RPG AMVs have been made since my last watching spree.  As a result, even if 99% of it does almost nothing for me, I do wind up listening to a lot of "real" music...although as you might imagine, there's also a lot of repetition; Jesus Christ have I ever heard enough Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars to last several lifetimes (which is to say, in the latter's case, I've listened to 30 Seconds to Mars more than once).  But on rare, rare, rare occasions, I'll come across an AMV that introduces me to a piece of music that I actually do really like, for its own sake, and I go buy it to enjoy on its own.

Some of these pieces of music, however, were so skillfully employed in the AMV I saw them in (or a later one), that they become embellished upon my mind as indelibly associated with the RPG with which they were paired in the video.  So, for our final category, you will find below a listing of all of these songs, as well as the game and AMV (or other fan work) which has tied them in my mind to RPGs forever.  Just for fun.

B+

A-
- 2 Steps from Hell United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Forever associated in my mind with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, thanks to this great AMV.

- Genesis Land of Confusion
Forever associated in my mind with Fallout 3, thanks to this excellent AMV (Disturbed version here, since we can't have nice things thanks to copyright crap).

- I Am Waiting for You Last Summer Event Horizon
Forever associated in my mind with Mass Effect 3, thanks to this great AMV.

- Invocation Array Siren's Call
Forever associated in my mind with Shadowrun, thanks to the incomparably sublime Calfree in Chains mod for Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

- The Rasmus Ghost of Love
Forever associated in my mind with Mass Effect 3, thanks to a great AMV which sadly can no longer be found online.

A

A+



TALLYING

Before we finish up, let's look back on this little series of rants and tally things up, give a few of the really great soundtracks a bit of personal applause for their good work.  Why?  Because I like making lists for no reason, that's why.  I assume you've picked up on that by this point.

First of all, as you may have noticed, I don't hand out an A+ to a whole lot of songs.  Any RPG that manages to produce such a song has a real feather in its cap, in my highly subjective opinion, and deserves recognition for it.  These are all the RPGs who possess at least 1 tune that I love so greatly that I had to give it the very highest marks!

Note: If you want to know which song(s) in particular scored the A+, you'll just have to go back and check out my Music List rants again!  And if you're not sure whether I'm saying that out of the vanity of wanting you to read my writings multiple times, or out of the sloth of not wanting to bother copy-pasting links into this new rant from the old ones, then please feel free to assume whichever scenario makes me more hateful.  Either way you will totally be right.

1 A+
A Dragon's ReQuest; Breath of Fire 5; Celestian Tales 1; Children of Zodiarcs; Dark Cloud 2; Eternal Senia; Etrian Odyssey 1; Final Fantasy Mystic Quest; Justice Chronicles; Knights of the Old Republic 2; Legend of Dragoon; Live-A-Live; Mario and Luigi 4; Mass Effect 1; Mass Effect 3; Nier: Automata; Pathfinder: Kingmaker; Planescape: Torment; The Princess' Heart + Sweet Lily Dreams (1 shared song); Rakuen; Secret of Mana; Shadow Hearts 2; Shin Megami Tensei 1; Shin Megami Tensei 4 Series; Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3; Skies of Arcadia; Star Ocean 3; Suikoden 2; Undertale; Wild Arms 3

2 A+'s
Chrono Trigger; Pier Solar and the Great Architects; Romancing Saga 1; Xenosaga 1; Xenosaga 3

It'll be fun when I finally find the game that can knock it out of the park thrice.

Alright, so that's all well and good, to have had these rants to determine which are my favorite individual songs...but what about the soundtracks as a whole?  Which ones are the "best" in my eyes?  Or rather ears, I suppose.  Well, that's not something I can really definitively determine, since I don't keep score on the scores' songs that would earn a B or lower.  But judging by what music I have scored with these lists, we can at least take a stab at recognizing some of the more impressive soundtracks.

These are the 20 highest-scoring RPGs based on the music I've liked well enough to collect, judged upon a system in which B+ tracks are worth 1 point, A- songs are good for 2, A tunes garner 2.5, and A+ melodies earn 3.

Note: Multi-game and/or series-based songs count for each and every game they show up in.  So, for example, in the case of the Big Boss Battle theme of Tales of Phantasia, ToP and Tales of Symphonia both points for the track, since it appears in ToS as well.  And yes, this gives the slightly lazy Final Fantasy series an advantage with its Main Theme giving bonus points to almost every installment in the franchise.  Look, it's not a perfect system.

Top 20 Soundtracks
20. Ara Fell: 10.5
19. Final Fantasy 5: 10.5
18. Mass Effect 3: 10.5
17. Dragon Fantasy 2: 11
16. Final Fantasy 10: 11.5
15. Suikoden 1: 12
14. Wild Arms 3: 12
13. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: 12.5
12. Romancing Saga 1: 13
11. Wild Arms 1: 13.5
10. Skies of Arcadia: 13.5
9. Legend of Dragoon: 14
8. A Dragon's ReQuest: 14
7. Ys 1: 15
6. Rakuen: 15
5. Final Fantasy 9: 15
4. Suikoden 2: 15
3. Whisper of a Rose: 16
2. Undertale: 21
1. Chrono Trigger: 26.5

While titles like Chrono Trigger, Undertale, Rakuen, Suikoden 2, and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest are no-brainers, I have to admit there are a couple of surprises on that list.  I really never noticed just how many tracks from Whisper of a Rose I've got (nor how highly I regard most of them); it wouldn't have even occurred to me that WoaR would have made the top 20 soundtracks, let alone been the third best!  And while I knew on some level that I liked Skies of Arcadia's and Wild Arms 1's soundtracks well enough, I'd never have expected to see them placing higher than Terranigma, or Suikoden 1, or Chrono Cross, which didn't even make the list.  So it's interesting to see it all broken down like this.

Encouraging, too, for that matter--Ys 1 and Rakuen are both RPGs I've played in the last 3 years, so it's nice to realize that there's still plenty of soundtracks out there for me to discover that I love.



And...that's it for the music.  For real, this time.

While it was always something I enjoyed well enough, for most of my life, I viewed the soundtrack of an RPG as being unimportant window-dressing, in the same sense that graphics and gameplay are--something for which good quality is always preferable, of course, but a feature that shouldn't be able to influence the actual quality of an RPG, as it's a non-storytelling trait.  In the last decade, though, I've slowly but surely come around on this matter, and I now recognize that music does play a role in how good an RPG is.  Because, well, although it may be difficult to find an example where less-than-stellar music had any substantial impact on the narrative power of an RPG scene, there have been countless moments in this genre's span in which the weight and emotion of background music has noticeably enhanced the scene and/or setting for which it was created.

I guess I now recognize the music of an RPG as the ice cream on a pie--what's truly important, of course, is the pie itself (the storytelling elements), and a great pie absolutely stands perfectly well on its own.  But there's no denying that the right ice cream on that pie can result in an already great treat becoming even better.

Unfortunately, I really don't have any proper understanding of the mechanics of music, nor its history, culture, or really anything else about it, beyond just knowing what I do and don't like to hear.  So my ability to rant on this part of the RPG scene is almost nonexistent, beyond vague attempts to grasp a broad point.  That fact inspired me, as much as any other factor, to do this series of rants this past year, because even if it's just more of my subjective, generalized fumbling, these music lists have given me a chance to actually make some statements about this part of the RPG experience, and express my appreciation for the music of my favorite genre in terms I have comfortable understanding of.

And I guess that's all I have to say.  Thanks for bearing with me on this largely self-indulgent matter, heh.  It's been fun!