Video game music: the best soundtracks in gaming history

A game's soundtrack can make or break the experience, and these soundtracks are the best that gaming has ever seen

Atlus

What makes a video game great? You could say the gameplay, or the graphics, or even the community, and all would be valid answers. But one of the lesser acknowledged aspects of video games is the music, and a game’s soundtrack can absolutely make or break the experience. 

In most games, you’ll be hearing music for at least a dozen hours or so, and often for much longer, especially when it comes to genres like JRPGs. Because of this, it’s vitally important for games to have a soundtrack that doesn’t annoy or frustrate players, but also one that elevates what’s happening on the screen. A bad or boring soundtrack won’t necessarily turn away players, but a good soundtrack is what turns a good game into a great one.

In the past we’ve gone over the 40 best music tracks in gaming history, but one track alone doesn’t always tell the whole story. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the best soundtracks in history, taking into account every single track featured in these games and how they fit together with each other and with the game itself to form a cohesive experience for players. 

Xenoblade Chronicles

Monolith Soft

The entire Xenoblade Chronicles series is packed with incredible music, thanks to the top-tier composers that have worked on it over the years. Composer duo ACE is the main draw here, with its electric compositions flawlessly combining hard rock and metal vibes with classical orchestral music. If we had to pick, we’d say Xenoblade Chronicles 3 just barely beats out the other three games in the series, but it’s a close competition and you can’t really go wrong with any of them. 

Kingdom Hearts 

Square Enix

If it were up to me, this entire list would just be games with soundtracks composed by the legendary Yoko Shimomura. She’s composed for games like Street Fighter, Live A Live, Xenoblade Chronicles, and the Mario & Luigi series, but her crowning jewel is the Kingdom Hearts series. Shimomura’s work on the Kingdom Hearts games is absolutely transcendent, and it’s probably some of the best modern orchestral music, not just in video games but in general. 

Nier: Automata

Platinum Games/Square Enix

There’s a reason Nier: Automata won the best music award at the 2017 Game Awards — it’s got an absolute banger of a soundtrack. The music in Nier: Automata is built upon classical orchestral vibes, but it throws in some electrical, mechanical sounds that perfectly echo the look and feel of the game. It’s an emotional, powerful soundtrack with perfectly placed vocals, and it’s hard to imagine how composer Keiichi Okabe is going to top it in the future. You can bet he will, though. Somehow. 

Persona 5 

Atlus

The whole Persona series is filled with exciting music, but Persona 5 really pushes the needle. Series composer Shoji Meguro has a real penchant for jazz music, and pairing his compositions up with jazz singer Lyn Inaizumi’s gorgeous voice is a match made in heaven. From the opening moments of the game, with “Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There,” to the chill vibes of “Beneath the Mask” and the high-energy battle theme “Last Surprise,” every single second of music in Persona 5 is just perfect at setting the tone. 

Donkey Kong Country 2 

Nintendo

The Donkey Kong Country games are all fantastic, and part of the reason for that is the incredible soundtrack. The first game in the series was great, but DKC 2’s soundtrack really elevated it to a whole new level. Stickerbush Symphony, Snakey Chantey, Crocodile Cacophony, Krook’s March — the game is overflowing with iconic and memorable songs, and they’re all incredible. David Wise really cooked with this one, as always. 

Celeste

Extremely OK Games

There’s so much to like about Celeste, but the soundtrack certainly has to be up there. It’s a synth-heavy, vibes-first soundtrack that’s ethereal, beautiful, and exciting, often all at the same time. If you pay attention, you’ll notice that each character is even represented by a specific instrument, which is both clever and satisfying to hear — when the music works alongside both the gameplay and the story, you’ve almost always got something special, and Celeste is no exception. 

Super Mario Odyssey

Nintendo

Picking a Mario game to put on this list was tricky, and we went back and forth between Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario World, and Mario Kart 8 quite a few times before finally landing on Odyssey. The soundtrack to this game is upbeat, jazzy, and so much fun, but it’s bookended by two incredible vocal tracks, Jump Up Super Star and Break Free, both of which feel both completely alien to a Mario game and also right at home. 

Undertale 

Toby Fox

I mean, it’s Toby Fox. You’ve all heard Megalovania, it’s one of the most recognizable songs in video game history, which is impressive for a game from 2015. There’s nothing more to be said, it’s just incredible. 

The House in Fata Morgana

NOVECT

The House in Fata Morgana has such beautiful music in it, but it’s also almost haunting in a way. It often feels wrong in a way that you just can’t put your finger on, like it’s from a completely different world. It’s big and epic while still feeling small and personal, and that’s a hard balance to strike. Every track feels different, too, so there’s plenty of variety throughout, but they all feel connected in the most peculiar way. It’s hard to describe, really, so you should just go and play the game yourself.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 

Capcom

The first Ace Attorney game is a masterclass in conveying tone and feeling through music. It’s hard to listen to Objection! without feeling incredibly pumped up, or Pursuit without sitting on the edge of your seat. There’s a strong, synthy feel to every track on the Ace Attorney soundtrack, and even in later versions of the game that recreated the tracks, they still maintain that crunchy vibe. None of these tracks would feel out of place in a game like Castlevania or Contra, but they feel right at home in Ace Attorney. 

Genshin Impact 

HoYoverse

Do me a favor, go look up Rapid as Wildfires from Genshin Impact on YouTube. Now try to tell me that Genshin Impact doesn’t have one of the greatest soundtracks in video game history. You won’t, you can’t — it’s just not possible. Chen Yupeng is a godly composer, and his ability to work traditional Chinese instruments into Western orchestral music is completely unmatched. Chen has since left HoYoverse, but somehow the company managed to find a stack of composers that can match that energy. How? We don’t even know. But it did, and the soundtrack is just as good today as it’s ever been. 

Halo 

Microsoft

Just reading the word “Halo” above probably put a song right into your head. It’s okay, the same thing happened for us. Halo’s music is very good, with Gregorian chanting, deep, weighty orchestras, and plenty of synths. The heart of Halo’s music is really its intricate and purposeful placement of percussion, which serves to punctuate its big sounds and elevate its finer details.