I love these games and I think the soundtracks are underrated as an essential part of their appeal. I'll Start with one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk72RMv9d0s

Tube of Medusa from Ecco2: Tides of Time.

Personally, I think the Sega CD version soundtrack is... fine, but it has a different composer. If I remember correctly, it;s the composer from the first Ecco. In my opinion, it's inoffensive, but completely forgettable.

EDIT: I have edited the topic to include older stuff.

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[–] 21 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I'm pretty fond of David Wise's work. The easy pick is Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 for the SNES, but he also worked on Iron sword: Wizards and Warriors II for the NES which has some great tracks too. Also the entire Battletoads and Snake Rattle n Roll soundtracks if I recall correctly (I was a Nintendo kid, if it isn't obvious).

If it isn't stretching too far forward, Einhander on the PS1. It's still the side scroller I judge others against and the soundtrack just feels "right" from start to finish.

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Dave Wise is probably my favorite retro Game Music composer. It's kinda hard to say that given all the other amazing music, but man, from the NES all the way to the modern era he's fantastic.

    The Solar Jetman soundtrack is amazing to me.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Chrono Trigger has a few bangers

    Guardia Millennial Fair and Frog's Theme are absolutely brilliant

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago

    We often have music on in the office, and anyone can put on whatever they want. Chrono Cross Scars of Time came on and I nearly gave myself whiplash. I found who put it on and he started playing game music for the rest of the day, including CT and Final Fantasy. It was great.

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  • [–] 18 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  • [–] 14 points 1 month ago (1 child)
  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Top Gear - SNES:

    https://youtu.be/cxAXTHBxgTw?si8nO81VKWhW6JohvY

    This was better than a lot of electronic music available in the US at the time. Absolute bangers.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Mega Man 2 still has the most consistently awesome soundtrack of any video game ever. Just banger-after-banger.

    Sonic 2 - Mystic Cave Zone

    Wonder Boy III - The Dragon's Trap on Sega Master System has some great tunes as well.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago
    [–] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

    all the MegaMan on the NES

    The Thunderforce III and IV, the 3 (yes, three, including the experimental soundtrack of the third!) Streets of Rage on the MegaDrive Anything Nobuo Uematsu on the SNES (Final Fantasy IV, V, VI, Chrono Trigger, Actraiser, etc.) and U.N Squadron

    Soldier Blade and Final Soldier (and Air Zonk!) on the PCEngine (that a small part of the world calls TG16 for some reason?!)

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Excellent comment. One correction, Chrono Trigger music was by Yasunori Mitsuda, not Nobuo Uematsu.

    I'd personally add Castlevania and maybe a few other Konami games from the NES to the list. I have a Castlevania track as my ringtone right now.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (2 children)
  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    surprised i haven't seen much reference to Tim Follin's work! IMO the title screen music from Plok! is unquestionably the most impressive bit of sound i've ever heard from a SNES. just when you've picked your jaw off the floor from the amazingly convincing harmonica sound, the lead "guitar" kicks in and your jaw drops again.

    for a bit of a more conventional chiptune sound, the NES Pictionary soundtrack (also Tim Follin) hits pretty damn hard considering that it is, well, Pictionary

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I'm very surprised no one mentioned Earthbound/Mother 2 yet. The whole thing is just banger after banger, but this one's my favourite:

    https://youtu.be/oAKtSltDgfA

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I don't have exotic choices to give, but Final Fantasy VI is still my favorite soundtrack. Kefka's theme is iconic.

    Also, the music for the first level of Castlevania 3 ("Beginning") is timeless.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    NES: megaman 2 - wily castle or megaman 6 - knight man stage SNES - megaman X - spark mandrill (really that whole soundtrack)

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  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago (10 children)

    The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. They still haven't made a better Zelda or Zelda-like game. (No disrespect to the Ocarina of Time fans, but I consider 3D Zelda to be a different type of game... and not really one I want to play. I've tried, it's just not for me. I do love the 2D ones though.)

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Try A Link to the Past Randomizer sometime.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Also try the A Link to the Past + Super Metroid crossover Randomizer, where one plays both games connected through portals. One has to collect items in the other game for progression. I'm sure you are aware of it, just telling it for anyone reading these comments who aren't. Man I love the Mods and Romhacking community.

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  • Triforce hunt, green hearts, my avatar is some streamer (I forget who, I don't watch her streams but it's a cute character), there's a mode to guarantee an offensive weapon (not just the sword) from the uncle, I turn off the beeping... I usually win partway into Dark World. I love ALttPR.

    Also, I only called it A Link to the Past because that's the official English title. What I actually play is Triforce of the Gods, which is a ROM hack that restores cut content and enables a lot of the cool shit from Randomiser. Like turning with the boots mid-dash. (For those who don't know, Nintendo had strict policies outside of Japan that Japan was not held to, and one of them was religious iconography. Triforce of the Gods (a translation of the Japanese title) had a lot, and it was changed for the English release. It's mostly stuff you wouldn't notice unless it was pointed out, but Nintendo didn't want to offend anyone back then. Oh, it also fixes some weird translation issues, like the infamous "Zelda is your..." cutoff that made everyone think Zelda was Link's sister or cousin. We later learned the left-off word was "destiny". In the GBA port, the uncle instead says "Our people are fated to do so," and I think that's what my version says. Oh, and on top of all that, just like Randomiser, it enables a lot of the 1.0 glitches, like "free flippers" (the only one I use, and really, only in Randomiser, so I can check under the bridge and, if I have moon pearl, I can check the cave just south of the Zora area.

    It's my favourite game... I might know a thing or two about it. ;) But no worries, if someone else learned something, all the better.

    Now if you wanna post speedrun times, that's different. I'm not competitive. Loads of ALttP/R fans can do it faster than me. I just enjoy the game.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    A Link to the Past was the first videogame I got obsessed with and truly love it. Glad I'm not the only one preferring it over Ocarina of Time. However, over the years I started thinking that maybe I was too hard on Ocarina of Time. But compared to A Link to the Past, I just don't want to replay it again. So maybe I was not wrong after all.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Ocarina of Time is too easy to play now. There's the original N64 version which should run on any machine. My iPhone can run it (via Delta, it's in the App Store). There's Ship of Harkinian, which is a PC port of the game which also runs on macOS, Linux, and Android. (Probably iOS too, but you'd have to sideload it and Apple does not make that easy.) I run it on my MacBook, it runs great. (I still suck at it.)

    Sticking to legal methods, the 3DS port is probably the best version of it, since you get motion controls. The 3DS is also super easy to jailbreak with a 100% success rate, so you can go that route, but I own a 3DS (XL but not New 3DS) and I have the cart. Of course, I've dumped it to the 3DS internal memory, but I do own the cartridge. If you have a Switch (1 or 2), you can play it in the Virtual Console area. And of course the remake is coming to Switch 2.

    I think Ocarina is worth a chance. I got farther in it than ever since when I was a kid. I remember I got to the village and was collecting chickens. Since then I haven't gotten past the first dungeon. The 3D stuff just doesn't work for me. Nintendo insists on making their controls ass backwards (they invert X which is weird AF but they don't always invert Y, which I absolutely need). So I can make the controls right on Ship of Harkinian, or most emulators where you can remap the controls. But it still doesn't quite move right for me. I wouldn't call myself a differently abled gamer (though, I do have hearing issues), but my issue with 3D Nintendo games falls somewhere in that category. I bought Super Mario Odyssey for the Switch and I have difficulty with that as well.

    Going on a tangent, my wife got me Pragmata for my birthday, and I told her she should play the demo to see if it's a game she's able to play. By that I meant, it looks like a third-person shooter in the trailer, which is fine, but it's really a game where one person controls two characters, much like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (which she finished). However, unlike Brothers, you have to act fast. For those who aren't familiar, you play a mercenary/soldier, and a little robot girl. The soldier shoots and the android hacks. A lot of the gameplay is having the android hack enemy defences while you shoot them with the soldier. The android rides on the soldier's back, so unlike Brothers, you don't have to move both of them (at least, not in the demo). But doing hacking minigames with one stick while aiming with the other is not something every gamer is going to automatically get, and some gamers, I assume, won't be able to play the game... much like I find myself unable to play 3D Nintendo games.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    Yo, my PC is full or Roms and emulators. :D And I have Romhacks for Ocarina of Time too (and my 3DS is also hacked). So finding a way to play the game is not an issue for me. I played it back then (and finished), but never had the urge to play the regular game again. There are so many other games I want to play, that just can't find a good reason for Ocarina. But after playing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (for hundreds of hours), on Yuzu BTW, I am thinking back to how Ocarina of Time was. Especially so with the Remake off course.

    Now I do not want to buy a Switch 2. The question is, if I want to play the game again, do I play the unmodified original on N64 emulator, or some version with Romhacks applied to it or even the Ship of Harkonian on PC. Or even the 3DS Remaster? It's astonishing how many ways we have to play the same game. :-)

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago

    Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic

    They went so unnecessarily hard on that one but it's great

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)
  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

    Yoshi's Island for the SNES was great I still hum some of those

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 month ago

    The mainline Nintendo games all seem to have incredibly memorable sounds. Just earworms from start to finish. Yoshi's Island, being late on the SNES, has a unique sound.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Deep Blue immediately comes to mind:

    https://youtu.be/LHhjnJP0VCo

    But a deeper more interesting cut would be the entire Pictionary OST:

    https://youtu.be/SJwh3erQlyE

    That game's soundtrack goes so much harder than you'd think it should.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    The Spring Yard and Starlight Zones from the original Sonic game.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

    People know about the bizarrely complex prog rock intro theme from Sosltice (NES) but in case you don't, listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_gObHt1uZA

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)
  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago*

    Can't mention best NES tracks without Tim Follin. Silver Surfer level 1 is insane. Also the soundtrack for the unreleased game Time Trax.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

    Okay, so La-Mulana is technically a more recent game, but I remember the original version from 20 years ago looking just like an MSX game.
    Anyway, the gate of guidance theme really stood out to me. Oh, and the village's theme too, and several others.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

    NES is Contra Jungle

    SNES is Simon's Theme from Super Castlevania IV

    N64 is probably most of F-Zero X

    The 'Cube is rough since I grew up with it so I love a lot of it. Luigi's Mansion, Mario Sunshine, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess. Too hard to pick.

    TG16 is the original Bonk. That level 1 music lives in my head.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    F-Zero - Big Blue Theme. Still stuck in my head decades later.

    The Stunt Race FX theme also goes hard.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Here's the most of my playlist called YM2612:

    Playlist pt.1 Playlist pt.2

    Guess I'll save this thread for later >:)

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    Corneria from Star Fox is a fucking banger.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    I'm quite fond of Italy, from 8 eyes.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    NES Batman, the first level. That is pops into my head all the time. Also, the main theme and cabin interior music from Friday the 13th. Final mention, Legend of Kage had some rad tracks.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Because I haven't seen these posted yet:

    My GOAT, Vectorman - https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLErsx10Ke4uzHIN8IfCxR42aNjNJXaW8s

    Sonic & Knucles - https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL60EFD683648EAABA Flying Battery Zone in particular.

    X-Men - https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLErsx10Ke4uzRC7XAllJklKSGOqLBNV5U Honourable mention, at very least it vibes thematically.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Outrun. Magical Sound Shower. Splash Wave. Passing Breeze. Perfection.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago*

    jeff's theme ~ maniac mansion

    he was dumb as hell and completely useless but the theme was a banger

    but also LITERALLY all of shadowgate nes <3

    oh and secret of mana ~ snes, simcity ~ snes

    and sonic 1 game gear just cause it reminds me of my uncle's house

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

    There are too many. I'll post here some lesser known tracks and games, and no JRPGs. And no CD based tracks, just good old 8-bit and 16-bit chip music. :-) Invidious is a privacy respecting alternative frontend for YouTube, so I have both links to the songs. Also I have a little bit of bias towards SNES.

    • Slime World 1 - Global Gladators by Tommy Tallarico (Genesis / Mega Drive): YouTube | Invidious
    • Stage 03 - Over Horizon by Masaharu Iwata (NES): YouTube | Invidious
    • Track 5 - Monster Max by David Wise (Game Boy): YouTube | Invidious
    • House of the Dead - Addams Family Values by Keith Tinman (Super Nintendo): YouTube | Invidious

    Alright, I can't hold it any longer back, here are few which doesn't care my above rules:

    • Battle Theme - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest by Ryuji Sasai (Super Nintendo): YouTube | Invidious
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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

    Mystic Quest has so many bangers. I feel like it's getting the acknowledgement it deserves nowadays, but I remember when it was a pretty deep cut on music posts like this one.

    The Dark King is still probably my favorite final boss theme, and Doom Tower right before it is amazing too.

    Basically the entire soundtrack is way better than it deserves to be for the game that it's in.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    The OST was always decent on mystic quest, but the game itself was not so much. Also, good as the OST was, it was surrounded by (imo) superior OSTs from other Square games.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (2 children)

    While I do think anything by Mitsuda beats it, imo Mystic Quest is the best Final Fantasy soundtrack by a healthy margin (but then I also think Uematsu is pretty overrated, so that might not be so surprising).

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    The boss track is also amazing. The soundtrack had no business for being this good, especially so early in the consoles lifetime. This game was also my very first turn based JRPG... it was a bit sad in Europe for RPG fans back then... BTW he did another SNES RPG soundtrack "Rudora no Hihou". It doesn't sound as good off course, but is worth exploring: Strange Encounter

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Super Mario Land or Mario Bros. 3. Amazing.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago
    [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    The IG Donkey Kong Country, underwater levels. It was a major shift in game mechanics and mood when it started.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago
    [–] [S] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Wanna also highlight the theme song for Phantasy Star 4: End of the Millennium. Amazing game. Way ahead of its time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMplusdva5k

    I've chosen two Genesis/Megadrive songs, even though I'm generally a SNES guy, lol.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Talking NES: I mean you gotta give it up for Solstice, I find the game a snooze but that opening track is just balls to walls you can feel the heat rising off that poor NES sound chip as it cranks out the jams. Personally I really like Kickmaster, its my NES fave and the soundtrack is pretty good and evocative of the era. Kirby's Adventure is maybe the best wall to wall absolute jock jams in a game. I was playing it with my kids last night and the tunes are just iconic.

    SNES: Super Mario World is very memorable. Lots of amazing iconic tracks there.

    Genesis: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (or 1 I guess) is also just amazing. But ECCO 1 and 2 are peak. So atmospheric.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    R-type. Specifically the tg-16 version.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Turtles in Time for the SNES, every song is a banger

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Top Gear - Mad Racer (first track in the game)

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago*

    I'm surprised no tracks from mainline Final Fantasy have been posted! So many too choose from, but my personal favourite is Battle at the Big Bridge from FFV.

    https://youtu.be/jH-Pddk-_4w

    Also, it's usually overlooked, especially in comparison to other games from the same era, but I do love the soundtrack from Super Mario World.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    Basically all the music from Final Fantasy 6, but in particular, the one from the haunted forest.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Most of my favorites have been covered here, but I haven't seen F-Zero for the SNES mentioned. It had a ton of great tracks (no pun intended).

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago*

    Rye Umemoto is a legendary composer who worked on a large library of Japan-only PC games in the 90s, in particular, NEC PC-98 computers.

    The PC-98 used a slightly more advanced but older FM synthesizer soundchip that was a relative of the one SEGA used in the Genesis. The Genesis had the YM2612 and the PC-98 had the YM2608.

    His work on Xenon, Desire, YU-NO, EVE Burst Error, Grounseed, etc were just fire. I think his works were the best during that era. I havent found a single one of his songs to be subpar. He definitely knew a good song fit the mood of the game, and didn't only have fancy arpeggios.

    Grounseed - Morning

    Desire - Ishtal

    YU-NO - Intro

    Grounseed - Real. Life

    EVE Burst Error - Room (Marina)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago
    [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    https://youtu.be/UAYRIYdh340?is=gmAPiRcMvQVbBvNp

    the first and only thing that came to my mind. sure i have nostalgia for other game soundtracks like Tetris it smb on nes, or sonic on ps2, but road rash on Genesis was like another character in the game to me. thanks for making me think about this and pulling up the video so i could relive it!

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago*

    One of the tracks from Mc Kids NES (a sort of McDonald's themed game). It has a lot of the components that I strongly associate with NES music. Idk if there's names for the different techniques.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhYM63nfMNA

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGcEZmb_LCg&t=322s

    Been obsessed with this track from Hany in the Sky for PC Engine. Also you may be interested in the Legacy Music Hour podcast. They play tracks from third and fourth generation consoles and talk about them. It's no well known, but it is the longest rubbing VGM podcast. It is two comedians (well I guess one former comedian turned barber), but it is not a comedy podcast.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Md/Gen

    • Gunstar Heroes
    • Streets of rage 1/2
    • Thunder Force 4
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