Standout Tracks from VGM Poll Thread - Pt. 1

The video game music poll voting thread has several pages filled with some excellent music. My own list consists largely of 8-bit NES/SMS, JRPGs, assorted mid-90s PC stuff, Castlevania, and some recent indie games. But other votes are widening that range, showing off Euro C64/Amiga tunes, visual novels/eroge, SNK, lots of Shin Megami Tensei, and some more bits of Falcom. I'll be going through and picking out some of my favorites and posting them here for the next two weeks, in hopes to get more people engaged. Remember! If you see your favorite type of music unrepresented and don't vote for it, it's your fault! The rules aren't terribly stringent - you can pick up to 100 songs, but if you can't pick that many, that's fine. You also don't have to pick a top 5 either, though obviously picking those will give it a much, much higher chance of showing up on the final list.

Neotokyo - Tin Soldiers


Someone asked if voting for fanmods was allowed, something which I hadn't anticipated. But I decided to allow it based on the quality of this track, from the Half Life 2 mod Neotkyo, which has already received a number of votes. I don't like the squealing in the beginning of this song, but it gets pretty good around the 2:01 mark, and legitimately amazing around 4:15


Midnight Resistance - Flood of Power


I did an article on these Data East shooters awhile back - how did I not remember how awesome this song was? I'm pretty sure it's done using Hitoshi Sakimoto's Terpsichorean sound driver too, which produced some amazing music on the Genesis.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni - dreamenddischarger



All I know about this series is that they're visual novels done by the same folks as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I'm also seeing a whole lot of votes for tracks from here. I haven't even listened too all of them, but this one here is one of the most popular. I love the way this song starts off with a violin and somehow morphes into a full out dance rave somewhere along the line. Not that I'm complaining - it's an excellent song.

Monty on the Run - Main Theme



How did I go 30 years on this planet without becoming acquainted with one of the best songs on the Commodore 64? I'm embarassed for myself.

Steins;Gate - Sky Clad Observer



I saw a lot of ads for this visual novels when I was in Tokyo recently, probably because it was just ported to the Xbox 360, has an anime that began earlier this year, and takes place in Akihabara. I've long outgrown most J-pop anime-style intros - the name Megumi Hayashibara gives me cold shivers nowadays - yet this one is still pretty catchy.

It's also worth checking out the VGM of the Day on Youtube, which, as the name states, posts a new track to listen to. Definitely worth browsing.