I liked the music from Morrowind so much, I found the audio files in the game's install folder, burned them to a CD, and printed out my own cover art to make a soundtrack album. I was 11 years old; I probably still have it in a box somewhere, haha.
Kingdom Hearts main menu theme. It's absolutely a nostalgia hit for me. That game was one of my "get-away" games while in a rough situation. Hearing that music always makes me feel a little safer, like I'm just one step away from a completely different life.
Dude, I only just played the games for the very first time earlier this year and I absolutely feel what you mean. It's the very first piece of music you hear when you start the game, is used throughout the trilogy in pivotal moments, and is the very last theme that plays in the third game. So awesome
I do see that the narrative and the gameplay have some flaws, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the games and the ~100h it took me to finish the trilogy. The Citadel DLC was probably my favourite part of the entire series. I'd also probably put the games in my top x favourite games.
I remember booting it up on the PS3 back in the day and was like "Wha-?" but after playing the game so many times it's definitely become a favorite. Both for how out of place it is but also how perfect it fits after all the context of the game.
Sad they replaced it for the Dark Arisen version but luckily there is a mod for PC that restores it in all its glory. :P
It's weird. It's terrible as music - just random strings with almost no recognizable tune outside of the first few seconds - but it sets a mood better than any other. It's distilled melancholy in music form.
Syndicate was a really niche entry into the Cyberpunk genre that flopped commercially but had some interesting ideas about corp-ocracy and the way businesses of the future would wage warfare against each other like nations used to.
That main menu music has echoed in my brain for years. Deus Ex: Human Revolution would have been first but Syndicate is less well known and I figured someone already mentioned DE:HR at some point here.
I don't remember if it was in the main menu/what the main menu was, but if you walked onto your balcony in the PC game version of Blade Runner, Vangelis' Blade Runner Blues would play, mixed in with the rain and the sounds of the city. I spent a lot of time just standing on that balcony and letting the music play.
There used to be a mix I would fall asleep to several years ago. It was the engine humming mixed with the occasional beeping and status tones like a computer on the bridge, and the main menu music would play very softly every few minutes. Can't find it anymore, although there are several of those each individually in hour long mixes.
If I want to get pumped though, doom 3 is a good one:https://youtu.be/rs0cSUIKKew?feature=shared although for actual main menu looping music, I'm going to have to agree with GONADS125, battlefield 1942 never fails to get me up and moving. It's a very driving song.
The Elden Ring Main Menu theme has always impressed. It sets the stage very well.
If I think of main menu music only one other game cones to my mind and that's Doom Eternal. I'm not sure if it's necessarily a "good" main menu theme, but the whistling definitely stuck with me.
Maybe not my all-time favorite (there are too many to choose from), but I will never forget the first time I launched Rocket League during a Steam free weekend. Back then they had Breathing Underwater as the main theme and the way the logo appeared in sync with the music was such a beautiful sight.
I linked the high quality song above, but if you want to experience exactly what I did, here's a link to a video with the intro captured from the game. Still gives me goosebumps when I see it.
109 Comments
Paradachshund@lemmy.today · 30 pts · 2y
Outer Wilds takes the cake for me.
Wilzax@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
That game takes the soundtrack cake for any category it has an entry in
CosmicApe@kbin.social · 20 pts · 2y
Morrowind, hands down
tuckerm@supermeter.social · 3 pts · 2y
I liked the music from Morrowind so much, I found the audio files in the game's install folder, burned them to a CD, and printed out my own cover art to make a soundtrack album. I was 11 years old; I probably still have it in a box somewhere, haha.
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
The entire discography is on YouTube I remember ripping off there years ago.
NakariLexfortaine@lemm.ee · 19 pts · 2y
Kingdom Hearts main menu theme. It's absolutely a nostalgia hit for me. That game was one of my "get-away" games while in a rough situation. Hearing that music always makes me feel a little safer, like I'm just one step away from a completely different life.
Satelllliiiiiiiteeee@kbin.social · 5 pts · 2y
Dearly Beloved and the variations on it are the best. I'm partial to the version for Kingdom Hearts 2 but they're all great
dmention7@lemm.ee · 18 pts · 2y
Skyrim, by a longshot. That theme never failed to get me cranked to get my Nordic adventuring on.
HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone · 10 pts · 2y
HAH. HUAH. HAHH.
HAH. HUAH. HAHH.
OOOhhhh OHHHHH OUHHHHHH!!!! AUHHHHHHH!!!
dmention7@lemm.ee · 8 pts · 2y
Saw this pop up in my replies before I noticed the context and was very confused... lol
Rodeo@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 2y
Really deep lyrics. A masterpiece of poetry.
ono@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 2y
Civ 4: Baba Yetu
charles@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 2y
Such a fantastic song. Not at all surprising that it was the first piece of music from a video game to not only be nominated for but to win a Grammy.
nik9000@programming.dev · 1 pts · 2y
I like this video with it.
b_crussin@programming.dev · 1 pts · 2y
For me it’s Civ 5’s theme, always gives me chills
Gigan@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2y
Halo 3 is pretty good.
MuThyme@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
TheMinions@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2y
I’ll go with Mass Effect, the music in the first 3 games is incredible. Especially in the first game I think. This particular piece is called Vigil.
Here’s the not hour long version haha.
v4ld1z@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 2y
Dude, I only just played the games for the very first time earlier this year and I absolutely feel what you mean. It's the very first piece of music you hear when you start the game, is used throughout the trilogy in pivotal moments, and is the very last theme that plays in the third game. So awesome
TheMinions@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
Oh yeah. Leitmotifs are very effective at tying a story together and really help add some punch to those emotional moments.
I absolutely adore Mass Effect. It’s probably my favorite game ever. Top 3 at least.
v4ld1z@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 2y
I do see that the narrative and the gameplay have some flaws, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the games and the ~100h it took me to finish the trilogy. The Citadel DLC was probably my favourite part of the entire series. I'd also probably put the games in my top x favourite games.
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Someone: Doesn't like Mass Effect
Me: "WEAKENING THEIR INTEGRITY!!!"
Astaroth@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y
Eclipse Vanguard 💀
UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev · 9 pts · 2y
Skyrim for sure, nothing gets you more prepared to start a new adventure than that.
Honorable mention to the Last of Us after you've completed the game and are just sitting there, staring at the screen and wondering what to do next.
stoy@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 2y
Unreal Tournament 2004:
https://youtu.be/uTFfxtb7q4M
Kraivo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
It wasn't great. It was just good in sense of it's time. Some of those music still instantly wakes me up and turns into hunting machine
stoy@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y
I have the entire soundtrack in my music library, Hyperblast 2 Redeux is awesome.
I also regularly play UT2004 online, DM-Deck17 is my favourite original map, amazing flow, it just goes hard.
Kraivo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
My favourite forever will be Gerudo valley remix from one of the custom games
But i know more song from original soundtrack
Phelpssan@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y
Probably Metroid Prime. Both the Title Theme and the Menu Theme are fantastic.
Xenoblade games also have brilliant title themes. Here's the one for the first game.
Now, for some spice, let's branch into a type of game I think most people here won't have played - Visual Novels often have great title themes.
ManaBuilt@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
I cannot get over how good the Metroid Prime menu theme is. It's both chill vibes and an absolute banger at the same time.
nlm@literature.cafe · 8 pts · 2y
Mass Effect
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3GXVXYl3_8c
magnetosphere@kbin.social · 7 pts · 2y
The Legend of Zelda
Yeah, there are newer versions, but I deliberately found the original.
Davel23@kbin.social · 7 pts · 2y
Deus Ex
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y
Liquid cooled nighttime shades vibe juice for your ears.
FireTower@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
Payday 2 really sets the mood with it's music
eldnikpw@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
Kolanaki@yiffit.net · 6 pts · 2y
Elden Ring's main theme is literally the only video game song I have in my normal music rotation.
But only because Lunar Silver Star Story's Wings isn't on Spotify.
dgbbad@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2y
I love the Lunar SSS intro, but I'm still partial to the OG Sega CD intro. It gets me pumped up to this day.
https://youtu.be/YiLLN5U9w2U
XenBad@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y
Hollow Knight
Trainguyrom@reddthat.com · 6 pts · 2y
Skyrim and RuneScape 2 (pre-audio update) are both pretty damn iconic
At my wedding we had the DJ play Skyrim and Witcher 3 music during dinner and it worked way better than it had any business working
UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev · 2 pts · 2y
Some the Witcher 3 combat music is actually wedding music I believe, so that checks out.
Jelly@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 2y
Metroid Prime. I only played it for the first time this year when the remaster came out and the music blew me away.
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
The correct answer is Civilization V Gods and Kings.
JoeKrogan@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
Not main menu but the golden eye pause menu music on the n64 was a banger 🔥
SidewaysHighways@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
No joke about that shit bro
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
Can't believe I had to scroll down so far for this
Battery@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
One of the best fighting games
One Must Fall 2097
A little bit of nostalgia always helps too
d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz · 2 pts · 2y
Woah, wasn't expecting to see this answer here! OMF is my favorite one hands down.
A close second would be the music for Jazz Jackrabbit.
Phelpssan@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
That one was so good.
Haven't played this game in decades but instantly started hearing the song in my head when I saw your post.
drislands@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
Cadence of Hyrule, for sure. So damn good.
https://youtu.be/SnpaNEj4aCU?si=GrBpxcq1EN96Nv9D
chaorace@lemmy.sdf.org · 5 pts · 2y
Rocket Jump Waltz -- TF2
Gumus@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
I've been using that as a ringtone ever since Orange Box came out
Why9@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Dark Souls 3
Even years later, having completed the game many times, that opening song still gives me the chills! So haunting, so beautiful!
Skyrim has to be on the list for the pure joy of it
V1K1N6@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Bloodborne
AHorseWithNoNeigh@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 2y
rikudou@lemmings.world · 4 pts · 2y
Witcher 3, phenomenal music.
Yokozuna@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Lelelelelelelelelelelelele
Reaphenex@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Definitely the original main menu music for Dragon's Dogma.
I remember booting it up on the PS3 back in the day and was like "Wha-?" but after playing the game so many times it's definitely become a favorite. Both for how out of place it is but also how perfect it fits after all the context of the game.
Sad they replaced it for the Dark Arisen version but luckily there is a mod for PC that restores it in all its glory. :P
Scubus@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
Literally the first thing that came to kind. Any time I go to start anything im excited about my brain just starts up the piano.
Wootz@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Metal Gear Solid
hark@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Duke Nukem 3D Gets me pumped to this day.
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
The tune's but also the crisp crackly sound effects of the main menu navigation are inexorably tied up with it (in a good way)
lloram239@feddit.de · 4 pts · 2y
cocobean@bookwormstory.social · 4 pts · 2y
Super Metroid.
Spooky AF
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Arcanum's main theme gets my vote.
It's weird. It's terrible as music - just random strings with almost no recognizable tune outside of the first few seconds - but it sets a mood better than any other. It's distilled melancholy in music form.
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
💯 percent this piece of music makes me feel things
Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
Morrowind
Final Fantasy XII
c0mbatbag3l@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Syndicate (2011)
Syndicate was a really niche entry into the Cyberpunk genre that flopped commercially but had some interesting ideas about corp-ocracy and the way businesses of the future would wage warfare against each other like nations used to.
That main menu music has echoed in my brain for years. Deus Ex: Human Revolution would have been first but Syndicate is less well known and I figured someone already mentioned DE:HR at some point here.
tenchiken@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 2y
Crusader: No Remorse / No Regret
https://youtu.be/wwG5BJtZBCU?si=aMMbMveu0s6KltoQ
So many great remixes of it too.
coolmyll@lemmings.world · 3 pts · 2y
Max Payne. It sets the tone of the game at once.
bigredgiraffe@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
The whole collection of music from Stellaris and Cyberpunk are both excellent.
EarMaster@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Papers please
GONADS125@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
The BF1942 theme/title music is the most epic to me.
Katana314@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Ori and the Blind Forest has a great track throughout, but the menu is definitely a highlight.
overkill0485@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y
Dragon's Dogma.
THE WIND IS PUSHING MEEE
Tarcion@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y
Gotta be Into Free which was the original main title music from Dragon's Dogma.
It was removed for Dark Arisen for reasons I am unsure of, so it isn't even something you can experience without mods.
It is wildly different from the rest of the game's music but still connected in a way, and sets a very different vibe. Great game, great music.
kratoz29@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y
Uncharted 2 main theme for me... So short but so damn good.
tuckerm@supermeter.social · 2 pts · 2y
The Ghost Recon theme has been stuck in my head off and on ever since it came out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwLIHqkqHcw
I didn't even play the game that much -- I think I beat it once, played the multiplayer a little, and moved on. But the music is catchy.
atocci@kbin.social · 2 pts · 2y
How could it get better than Wii Sports Resort?
HeavyRaptor@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 2y
Not main menu but the MGS V deployment music while you're picking out your gear really gets you amped for your next mission. (from 1:10)
DSTGU@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y
Sm64 file select, lol
ivanafterall@kbin.social · 2 pts · 2y
I don't remember if it was in the main menu/what the main menu was, but if you walked onto your balcony in the PC game version of Blade Runner, Vangelis' Blade Runner Blues would play, mixed in with the rain and the sounds of the city. I spent a lot of time just standing on that balcony and letting the music play.
vivadanang@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y
I use the F-Zero start screen tune as my alarm clock.
MysticKetchup@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Sayonara Wild Hearts, not surprising since the entire game is full of beautiful music
https://youtu.be/PULwDISWun8
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Evil Genius
late_night@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 2y
Definitely the kind of game where you stay too long in each menu because you don't want to cut off the music
farcaster@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Jackthelad@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
The theme to the original Tomb Raider: https://youtu.be/fIWLT0QVPzw?feature=shared
I hope they keep this for the remaster, for the full nostalgia effect.
squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Metroid Prime or Mass Effect
Jaysyn@kbin.social · 2 pts · 2y
Fallout 3. Gives me frission every time I hear it.
LewZephyr@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y
Crackdown. https://youtu.be/ay9q298vbUc?si=Z9Hghm3Qf7kkH8_9
Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website · 2 pts · 2y
Depends on what mood I'm in.
Currently I'd like to chill, I'm pretty tired, maybe eat an edible if I had one.
So right now I'd have to say the Mass Effect 1 menu music: https://youtu.be/3GXVXYl3_8c?feature=shared
There used to be a mix I would fall asleep to several years ago. It was the engine humming mixed with the occasional beeping and status tones like a computer on the bridge, and the main menu music would play very softly every few minutes. Can't find it anymore, although there are several of those each individually in hour long mixes.
If I want to get pumped though, doom 3 is a good one:https://youtu.be/rs0cSUIKKew?feature=shared although for actual main menu looping music, I'm going to have to agree with GONADS125, battlefield 1942 never fails to get me up and moving. It's a very driving song.
andy_wijaya_med@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
Xenoblade Chronicles!
busydoinnothin@lemm.ee · 2 pts · 2y
Final fantasy 4
https://youtu.be/IxKeM7GHCxM?si=W1UGyJGnvyHDIR8e
dgbbad@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 2y
While 4 is my all time favorite FF, I gotta give the best main menu theme to 9.
https://youtu.be/QuIDm3Fl6VI
Coelacanth@feddit.nu · 2 pts · 2y
I always loved the Legally Distinct Massive Attack - Angel from Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Rik Schaffer was on fire for that whole soundtrack.
Baowaowaowaowaowaowaowao
cradac@feddit.de · 2 pts · 2y
The Elden Ring Main Menu theme has always impressed. It sets the stage very well.
If I think of main menu music only one other game cones to my mind and that's Doom Eternal. I'm not sure if it's necessarily a "good" main menu theme, but the whistling definitely stuck with me.
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org · 1 pts · 2y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlP3eE9Vlg8&t=6128s
Cryszon@kbin.social · 1 pts · 2y
Maybe not my all-time favorite (there are too many to choose from), but I will never forget the first time I launched Rocket League during a Steam free weekend. Back then they had Breathing Underwater as the main theme and the way the logo appeared in sync with the music was such a beautiful sight.
I linked the high quality song above, but if you want to experience exactly what I did, here's a link to a video with the intro captured from the game. Still gives me goosebumps when I see it.
Needless to say, I bought the game.
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2y
Body Harvest on N64 was great, and doesn't get the usual praise. Used to just leave this playing on loop back in the day
https://youtu.be/z2q5jz-uLzE
I couldn't get the piped link to work. 🤷♂️
soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 2y
Need for speed underground 2
EvilBlackCat@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Let me introduce people here to "life is strange : Before the Storm" main menu music !
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
Eric_Pollock@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
IXION is definitely mine. If you skip through that video a bit, you can hear some more music when the Prologue begins to play. Such an amazing game!
Darkncoldbard@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Also atelier iris 3 the grand phantasm has a great intro
Nihility@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Haven - The Beginning of Something.
Whole OST is pretty good.
AnonTwo@kbin.social · 1 pts · 2y
Probably the sting in the original Street Fighter II
Though there's a sort-of full version in MvC as Ryu's theme
A lot of games don't even have menu music anymore, or it's ambient and not really noticeable....
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
CouncilOfFriends@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 2y
osprior@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Lagoon (SNES), Premonition, such a banger.
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
Darkncoldbard@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
"I had a dream that I could fly"
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
Watch dogs 2
Kraivo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Ron don don
execb5@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Need for speed 2 from 1997 has an amazing soundtrack https://youtu.be/69-J2m_GyhI?si=WkJGAFCphXHxusPe
Ashtear@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
Off the top of my head, either Ecce Valde Generous Ale (Behold the Precious Wings) from Panzer Dragoon Saga or the one in Trails from Zero.
Lojcs@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y
fosstulate@iusearchlinux.fyi · 1 pts · 2y
PHOENIX MAINS REPORT IN https://invidious.slipfox.xyz/watch?v=aGC7PB3BVFI
idiocracy@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 2y
Baldur's Gate II
(honorable mention - Civ IV)