Favorite Nintendo Soundtrack?

Not sure about everyone else here, but I listen to a good bit of game music. The most recent addition to my collection is the Xenoblade Chronicles OST. It has quickly become one of my favorites; in the top three. Ahead of it are the Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess soundtracks. Twilight Princess, as-is, is pleasant to listen to, but the masterful, fan made Twilight Symphony takes it to the next level. What are your favorite Nintendo soundtracks? I reckon we all have some.

Metroid soundtracks are always great.

Yes, they are. I have the ones for Prime 1, 2, & 3. Phenomenal stuff.

Not Nintendo, but Shovel Knight has an AMAZING soundtrack. Seriously, if you like 8-bit games and music, Shovel Knight is an absolute treasure... pun totally intended. My undying love for that game will live forever.

Xenoblade, both Mario Galaxy games, Zelda games in general, Smash Bros Brawl

I wonder if Smash Bros Wii U will surpass Brawl's insane 7.5 hour long soundtrack in both length and quality. Gotta love those orchestrated remixes.

I would probably go with Wind Waker.

LoZ main theme. :)

I liked Secret of Mana soundtrack also. Secret of Mana

Game music is the best music sometimes. :]

Yeah, TP dosesn't get enough credit just because it's "MIDI", which is like the only complaint i ever hear about that game's music. As if the measure of music quality is whether it's orchestrated or not...

Some of my favorite game music is from these games - paper mario 1 and 2, kingdoms of amalur (incredible orchestral music by grant kirkhope), metroid prime 1-3, Tekken, DMC, bayonetta, Enslaved odyssey to the west (total gem, great soundtrack).. I could go on but i won't, heh.

Totally forgot to keep it Nintendo only lol

Xenoblade is definitely my favorite Nintendo soundtrack, I listen to it all the time.

Most squaresoft SNES and ps1 games had great music too.

I also vote for Metroid games

Super Metroid.

Donkey Kong Country 2 is my favorite video game soundtrack of all time. So that definitely takes the cake when speaking specifically about Nintendo as well.

If I made a top 5 list of Nintendo soundtracks it would probably be as follows (probably):

5: Super Mario Galaxy

4: Super Mario Galaxy 2

3: Donkey Kong Country

2: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

1: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy' Kong Quest

Sure, not the most versatile list. But we're listing favorites here. I could name so many more great ones... Probably the notable runners-up would be Wind Waker, Tropical Freeze and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (which I only didn't list in the top 5 because a lot of it reuses music from other games' soundtracks, and I guess when making these lists I favor originators). If we're not just talking about games made specifically by Nintendo than also throw Secret of Mana and Banjo-Kazooie into my hat.

Zelda: Wind Waker, Super Metroid and Metroid Prime's soundtrack are freaking amazing.

EDIT: Almost forgot Donkey Kong Country (SNES). Amazing as well.

Donkey Kong Country

Part of me wants to cheat and say Super Smash Bros Brawl, because it's a collection of some of the best music Nintendo has to offer, but to be fair I'll go with my favorite Nintendo game of all time, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and leave you with the best piece of music Nintendo has ever released.

i cant pick a fav.

but some of my top ones would be

1) mario galaxy. holy crap its astonishing. i knew nintendo could write excellent and catchy tunes. i didn't know they had that in them though.

2) kid icarus uprising: absolutely fantastic soundtrack. headphones required (also one of the very few nintendo games with great voice acting)

3) Xenoblade. its one of the more unusual soundtracks i have heard in a game but in a very very good way. colony 9 night time, snowy valak mountain day time, guar plains: classic.

Each of the following are "god-tier:"

1st Super Mario 64 (the iconic main theme, the majestic "Inside the castle walls" theme, the ethereal Jolly Roger Bay are among many gems)

2nd Donkey Kong Country 2 (literally unbelievably good)

3rd Ocarina of Time (everybody loves this one; the music a key element of the gameplay and storytelling)

4th Metroid Prime (in this wonderful game the music helps bring the setting/atmosphere to life in the players mind)

I think Wind Waker and Twilight Princess have incredible highlights but don't quite compare to Ocarina of Time (or Majora's Mask) in terms of the *entire* soundtrack.

That's my personal perspective. I need to listen to more of TP's sometime, so I'll check out that link TC.

@spike6958: That's a great piece. Have you listened to the Wind Waker Symphonic Movement from the 25th Anniversary CD? It's a great medley, though I don't think it incorporates the song you posted.

I'm not going to give a specific answer, but I always listen to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zkE-fxN-gE&list=FL6PSpmeS2anPol5b_coJ-rg&index=3

It's a 5 hour mix of atmospheric game music. I usually listen while I'm working, or sometimes going to sleep too.

1) Xenoblade

2) DKC2

3) LTTP

4) SMB3

5) Wind Waker

Also Perfect Dark 64. Music on that game was mindblowing

Link to the Past. Its still my favorite after all this time. When you first end up in the dark world and link does his spin and pose. When the music first came on I wanted to run through a wall, how pumped I was. Otherwise Street Fighter 2, Secret of Mana, FF3, and Gears of War come to mind.

@Meinhard1: Speaking of Majora, have you heard the Time's End Majora's Mask remix by Theophany? Their rendition of Clocktown is amazing.

@nini200: I totally forgot about Perfect Dark. I was listening to that last year. That music still hold up great today.

@Chozofication: That, it is. I don't think game music is taken seriously enough just because it was made with video games in mind. People who love classical music could discover a whole new catalog now that video game music has evolved beyond simple beeps and boops. West Virginia Public Radio dedicated one of their classical music sections to music from Guild Wars 2 a while back. I'm hoping they do more programs like that in the future.

Yes it's perhaps one of the greatest soundtracks on the Nintendo 64