In today's demanding market, gameplay, storyline, and graphics are most often the determinants of a video game's success. However, a mostly overlooked component of a title is its soundtrack. Of late, music has tended to play a very limited role, appearing faintly in the background to enhance mood or sometimes not at all. I believe, though, that the BGM has the potential to create some of the greatest moments of the medium. This list has been created to honor what I believe are the ten best tracks of music featured in a game, in the opinion of one humble gamer.

Mario games are not renowned for their music. Since the introduction of the classic overworld, underground, and underwater themes early in the series, there hasn't been much innovation. Super Mario Galaxy, however, completely broke the mold. Virtually every track in the game fits perfectly with the environment and practically urges the player to keep exploring. The standout track, however, is played on a fleet of grassy islands suspended in a cloudy sky. It opens with a bang and never lets up, evoking a feeling that Mario, and the player, are part of something epic.

Kameo: Elements of Power was a somewhat overlooked title, and in most respects a subpar game. The story was convoluted, the levels had little variation and the gameplay was generally dull. However, it was almost entirely saved by its superb score. It lends the game a great high fantasy feel and is on par with or better than a lot of what you hear at the movies. "Hero's Theme" is played in the Badlands area, at the climax of every battle against the villanous trolls. It's a simple piece, but with a lot of effect, conveying the triumph and heroism of the moment in a way that nothing else can.

There are very few gamers out there who don't know the opening theme to the original Halo: the slow, solemn choir, followed by the pounding shift to a much quicker pace which builds up until it explodes into the true main theme. This music is very much like the game itself--action-packed and heart-pumping, yet somehow retaining a calm, contemplative air. I'd wager that Halo's status as a classic has a little to do with this track.

This is one of those pieces which you can't get the full effect of unless you're actually playing the game. Grim Fandango is one of the last great graphic adventures, which, in a travesty of the industry, failed to sell well. Compañeros plays towards the beginning, when your character, Manny Calavera, steps onto a street on which a festival for the Day of the Dead is being held. The piece is presented as revolutionary music and is fully orchestrated with guitars and trumpets. It's short but rousing, highly atmospheric, and good enough to be played on any Latin American street corner.

An amazing piece which struck me the moment I first heard it. For those that don't know, Shadow of the Colossus is a series of sixteen boss battles with no fighting in between. It follows that the best music would be during the bosses, but The Opened Way outdoes the rest. It builds in several voices through a series of intense themes, powerfully making you <i>want</i> to slay the beast. Not many pieces of BGM are appropriate for climbing across the back of an all-but-indestructible behemoth, but this one works, truly meriting the oft-misused term "epic."

RPGs are a genre well-known to be among the best in music. Often, the best music comes during the final boss fight. Logically, the best music would come during final battles in RPGs, and no piece says that better than The Extreme, the last and best of FF8's suite of final boss BGMs. Like Halo, it begins with a slow and mystical melody, adding some choral voices before leaping into a thrilling melody replete with harmonies. This is one of the most complex pieces I've heard in a game, and definitely the best against a final enemy.

The Ace Attorney series is a dramatization of courtroom procedure, which, despite a great script, challenging puzzles and memorable characters, would not be as interesting without the music. The tracks during the actual court sequences are especially suspenseful, and several pieces have different versions in different games; Cornered being one of them. I believe that the first is the best: it's a frantic, action-packed piece that accompanies the moments of greatest tension and mirrors the challenges faced by Phoenix Wright. It's excellent, considering the limitations of handheld sound.

Some might say that this doesn't count as it's not featured in the actual game; instead, you must wait on the title screen to hear it. I call it BGM if it plays during a video game, though, and this music is certainly worth bending the rules to mention. It's an instrumental version of the game's vocalized theme song, Passion (Sanctuary in North America) and accompanies a montage of scenes. I watch the video almost every time I load this game and it still hasn't lost its thrill: despite being derived from a song, it achieves a suitably grand feel and never fails to chill me at the end.

Yes, yes, I know, two Final Fantasy games on one list makes me an FF fanboy. However, I doubt anybody can disagree with the inclusion of You're Not Alone. It's associated with one of the first moments of genuine emotion I felt while playing a video game. Zidane, the protagonist, has just turned his back on all his friends and accepted his fate as a soulless angel of death. The music starts in as he wanders the halls of Pandemonium, gradually losing himself, and exploits the player's pangs of sorrow into genuine sadness. By the time it reaches the finale, it would be impossible to remain unmoved.

There are very few pieces of music in video games that make me want to replay the entire game just from listening to them. There are even less so if that game is a graphic adventure, most of which lose their value after a single playthrough. However, the Monkey Island series's main theme can boast that achievement. Beginning in The Secret of Monkey Island, it evolved to its best form in CMI. It's a well-known tune, symbolic of the genre, and one of the best musical representations of a game there is. From beginning to end, it's more than just great BGM--it's great, atmospheric, catchy, and yes, epic music.

And, as these conclusions so often say, there you have it--one man's ten favorite soundtracks to appear in the VG pantheon. If you have some spare time, I recommend listening to the mp3s, or just playing the games. I know there are those--most, probably--who will virulently disagree with me, but I challenge them to listen to each of these and then say they don't deserve to be done justice on at least one list.

List by oracle93