The intro/opening track to Alicia Dragoon, is for the single most memorable piece on the Sega Genesis. That harpsichord, the lush layered, dramatic arrangement, its beautiful and melancholy,. It is ingrained in my soul.
Yassss!!! My dad picked out the majority of games when I was growing up. He wasn’t a gamer but somehow brought home bangers, never a dud. Thanks pops. This was obviously one of them.
Oh dude! I am honored that you included Eyra-intro on your list. I can still relive the internal fire I felt when I composed it. I must confess that Savaged Regime has inspired me a lot, especially showing me in Xenocrisis that the Megadrive/Genesis can continue rocking. PS: I hope the misunderstanding has been clarified, regarding the great Famicuber compositions that were only for the NES version. Feel free to use any of my compositions in your videos. Greetings from Uruguay and thankyou very much again!
This was my first time hearing about this game, but the music is awesome. Going to have to find a way to check out the game to hear the rest of the tracks!
Revenge of Shinobi - Title screen music, The Shinobi (stage 1), Sunrise Blvd (stage 2), Chinatown, Over the bay (waves hitting the pier stage) Sonic 2 Chemical plant zone, Oil ocean. Streets of rage 2 Dreamer, Alien power and Ken's stage in Street fighter 2 (and every other stage). Also a big credit to streets of rage 1 stage 2 music (with the posters on the brick wall rustling in the wind)
I can’t think of a top 10 list without taking some time. I can, however, say that the music from Burning Force (1989) had one of the most epic soundtracks to any game of the 16-Bit era. A sadly forgotten game that deserved far more praise and recognition than it got.
Mine was a PC household, I grew up with the Sound Blaster... which was also Yamaha FM synth. I adore that sound, it brings me back so many memories. The 16-bit era certainly had a lot of charm!
actually amazing to see how lists differ in part due to our individual mega drive journeys as kids , some bangers u got there and thanks for all the cool vids showing ur collection journey , i share in your enjoyment so much !! its too lekker
Always knew what would be number one 😊. One of the best. I think everyone's picks will be different, depending on what they've played the most. Ice Cap zone from Sonic would be in my top ten. Midnight resistance music was also brilliant. Plus Xeno Crisis and I've always been fond of Switchblades music. Some bangers on the Mega Drive
I think this list could easily be over one hundred tracks. There are so many great tunes out there. I should do a video on bad games that had great sound tracks.
I remember very well how Thunder Force IV completely altered my teenagehood. It was the last year of school and puberty was kicking in. A girl at school organised a party at her place without parents it was the tipical setting for certain first things to happen. I was invited and I went... and even thought my crush was there I couldn't stop thinking of my rental copy of Thunder Force IV waiting for my at home. I was so amazed of the the metal soundtrack! I couldn't believe my Mega Drive could do that! After that I've realized that my real love has always been her, my Sega 16 bit gem. ( I hope my wife and my daughter don't read this post ).
@@RetroGamerBoy Interestingly enough a similar episode happened ten years after being an international student in Japan. Sorry but the Super Potatoe retro game store in Tokyo is simply unbeatable.
Dude, I LOVE video gane music! A channel on RUclips called Dongled does a radio show style covering gaming tunes, often their composers on as guests and I love listening to them. Also, very cool to see some alternatives to the most common 16 bit Sega picks here, so, well done Mike!
Saved the best for last! We were so blessed with such amazing music from our 16 bit consoles. That little Yamaha chip brought the best sound of the generation in my mind. Sometimes I have a melody from an obscure game from my childhood just randomly pop into my head - after a while of this I have to go hunting to find what game it's from. Anyone else do this, or just me?
When it come to great chip tunes on the MD/Genesis it's really hard to make a top 10 list. I was fun listening to yours. I know my top 10 would include tunes from Elemental Master and Herzog Zwei.
So many great soundtracks, that was one of my favorites about every new Sonic or Streets of Rage game. Minus the 3rd one, of course haha. Cheers and rock on!
Great tunes - I only know about half of them. I love the opening theme from Shadow of the Beast - really unusual with lots of pitch bend (David Whitaker) - I find myself humming it all the time. Also the opening theme from the first Streets of Rage. Almost anything from Revenge of Shinobi. Oh and I love that Thunderforce IV song you picked too!
although I liked the SNES sounds overall.. the Genesis, when done right, sounded far superior. Especially the bass, it felt a lot stronger and clearer. Gauntlet 4, shining force 2, Phantasy Star 4, Contra Hard Corps, Shinobi 3, Sonic 2 has some great sound tracks
That's a great list of games. I liked the SNES but as time has gone on the MD & Genesis sound is more unique for me and the SNES was just another step in generating more accurate sounds.
Both systems had their own look and sound when it came to their games. Mega Drive had a 'cyberpunk/metal' vibe. SNES had a 'Disney/fantasy' vibe. I don't know... just both had their own style unlike today with Xbox and PlayStation, so boring. Today, Nintendo is Nintendo but i can't help but feel they have never really recaptured that magic since, the SNES was special.
None of these would be on my own "Top Ten" list, but that reflects the extent to which the Genesis / Mega Drive has a massive, varied archive of music. In terms of how deep it gets: take a glance at Sub-Terrania -a very European vibe, in contrast to so many Japanese tracks.
Gotta have some Sonic in there surely? Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, Starlight Zone Golden Axe 2 has surprisingly epic music The Sunsoft Batman game music is top notch too It's a bit of a ropey game, but the opening level of Midnight Resistance is epic music-wise Expander and Dreamer from SoR2, Moon Beach from SoR1 Chinatown from Revenge of Shinobi From modern homebrew scene, Tanzer has a great thumping EDM/trance soundtrack
A very diverse selection from your top 10 Mega Drive tunes, however I would swap out a few of them for my own list and replace them with Ristar (Stage 1), Altered Beast (Stage 1) Golden Axe (Stage 2 or 3) and of course I’d keep Zero Wing, Thunder Force IV and of course Alisia Dragoon (stage 1) which was Game Arts only Mega Drive game, I’d add Shadow Dancer (stage 3), Revenge of Shinobi (Chinatown) Streets of Rage 1 (stage 1) and of course SOR2 as well with (Stage 1 Go Straight) Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Stage 2.2 Hydro City Zone) Paprium (stage 4) Thunder Force III (stage 6), Dinoland (sea Table) Steel Empire (Stage 1) to complete my list, again very good list and it’s nice to see how everyone’s list is different.
Fantastic list, I agree with most of these!! :D THUNDER FORCE YEAAAAH!! I wasnt expecting to see it represented here! Awesome! Battle Mania! Talk about obscure! You even got some homebrew in there, awesome! And SoR 2, of course!! As a kid I preferred SoR 1's soundtrack. But 2's easily my fav nowadays, you can really appreciate how complex it is and how fantastic it is composed.
Great content as always Mike! My favorite ones in your list are Alisia dragon, SOR and Eyra. Life on Earth is surprisingly impressive , amazing soundtrack for a new MD game, wow!
Streets of Rage 2 has some amazing tracks and 1 and 3 are good too! Adventures of Batman & Robin is just out of this world Sooo GOOD. Alisia Dragoon (especially stage 1 and title music) I find Mamono Hunter Yohko also very pleasing to listen too, especially stage 2😊
I know it's a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive video but Streets of Rage 2 is my favorite soundtrack of the 16 bit era. Ones I hold up there are Megaman 2 and Ocarina of Time.
I think I would explode if I tried to do a top ten soundtracks from all of gaming. I wouldn't even know where to start. I love the Zelda franchise so something from Zelda would make it in.
Batman Gotham City Street, The rest of Batman OST, SOR 1 Stage 5, SOR 1 Instro and rest of OST), SOR 2 OST, Rev of Shinobi China Town and rest of OST, Thunder Force II Stage 1, Sonic The Hedgehog OST - Scrap Brain Zone (give me goosebumps) and OST, Decap Attack Lvl 1, inventory and OST, Castlevania OST, Phelios has a sick OST, TMNT, Midnight Resistance have sick tunes too, MK3 OST, Contra, Phantasy Star 4, Golden Axe II, Ghouls and Ghost, Xmen 2, Vectorman, Batman n Robin is sick, and so on. You can do a series, like per genre or something.
I knew no1 was going to be on the list but surprised to say as a long long time mega drive fan that I hadn’t heard any of the other nine songs! Just shows how big the catalog is 😂
Wow, no Adventures Of Batman And Robin?!? Hands down the best music on the system for my taste, even better than Streets Of Rage series. Jesper Kyd is the man! Even his works on Sub-Terrania and Red Zone are amazing. And of course that amazing "Whirlwind" track from Shinobi 3 and Toaplan's Hellfire. Also got a soft spot for the creepy tunes of Biohazard Battle that goes hand in hand with the atmosphere of the game.
I love Metal Squad but I'd have to go with Because You're the Number One from that OST. Oh my word the bass on that tune. To be fair virtually anything from that game is great. Don't sleep on Gauntlet IV, Langrisser 1&2, Master of Monsters and Musha Aleste, all great OST's. Also the 32X has some great stuff like Cosmic Carnage and that godamn catchy replay tune from Virtua Racing Deluxe. Anyways great selection, good to see Runner AD2025 getting some love, that's a proper banger mate.
@@RetroGamerBoy I know the feeling. I’ve made a playlist of Mega Drive bangers and picking and choosing what makes the cut is bloody hard work. It’s at over 400 tracks now so clearly I’ve failed. I’m sure you’ll have a different list in a weeks time, I definitely would.
Banger of a video, Mike. I think the poor use of the GEMS driver gave Sega a bad reputation. While SNES has it's merits, I think the compressed and often reverb heavy sound was aggravating to me. It didn't sound nearly as good being pumped through a stereo. Also. I've recently purchased a Neo Geo CD. The sound chip on that thing, in conjunction with red book audio is fantastic. The Stereo separation is some of the best I've heard.
The Genesis had some outstanding music, especially Yuzo Koshiro's work on the Streets of Rage games and Masato Nakamura's work on the first two Sonic games. But your claim that the SNES "ended up not really standing out from the crowd" is utterly absurd. Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI are easily among the best soundtracks on any system, to this day. Donkey Kong Country, Actraiser, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Secret of Mana all had some absolutely amazing music.
I'm not critical of the individual compositions but the sample nature of the SNES means that is much closer to the type of sounds we hear in modern games, it was a trail blazer in many was. But the limitations of the MD/Genesis sound processor makes for a very unique sound in today's gaming audio landscape. But that's just my opinion.
Great pics for this list! I feel like the earlier title releases on the Genesis had better music that sounded cleaner and not so electrified. Games like GHOULS N GHOSTS, SUPER HANG ON, and REVENGE OF SHINOBI. After SOR2, most games seem to have had that "buzz" sound.
In no particular order: Rocket Knight Adventures - end-level boss Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Chemical Plant Contra Hard Corps - Contra the Blue Gale Steel Empire - first level High Seas Havoc - first level Streets of Rage 2 - Spin on the Bridge OutRunners (Japanese) - Speed King The Adventures of Batman & Robin - Mad Hatter boss Shinobi III - My Dear D Puyo Puyo - Final of Puyo Puyo
I could probably fill up this complete list with only music from SoR 1 & 2! In fact, the music from these games is in my daily playlist. Surprised not to see any of the Sonic games music in your list though, too cute maybe? 😄
Great choices Mike but I’d have thunderforce 3 siren underwater stage as my number 1 but to be honest the whole soundtrack for that great shoot em up is fantastic and shows the musical capabilities of the megadrive to the max 👏👏👍👍👍👍 cheers Jonathan
My Ultimate Sound Mega Drive (Genesis): Melhores músicas Mega Drive A minha lista seria: 1. Under Logic - Streets of Rage 2 2. Chemical Plant Zone - Sonic 2 3. Area 6 Lab - Xenocrisis 4. Lave Reef Zone Ato 1 e 2 - Sonic & Knuckes 5. Ice Cap - Sonic 3 6. Options - Vectorman 7. New Junk City - Earthworm Jim 8. The Void of Space - Verytex 9. Dreamer - Streets of Rage 2 10. Alien Power - Streets of Rage 2
Great topic; no way that I can narrow down so many catchy tunes down to an absolute and definitive top ten, but the following are ones that like to simmer in my mind; tried not to pick more than one from any game but made an exception for the first two listed. Not in any order: 1. MUSHA-Armed Armor (Stage 3) 2. MUSHA-Noh Specter (Stage 5) 3. Thunder Force IV-Metal Squad (Stage 8) 4. Revenge of Shinobi-Chinatown (Stage 5-1) 5. Streets of Rage-Beatnik on the Ship (Stage 5) 6. Thunder Force III-The Grubby Dark Blue/King Fish (Okay, maybe that's cheating but Stage 3/Boss 3) 7. Herzog Zwei-A Breach of Contract (Stage music, not a designated stage order) 8. Ys: Wanderers from Ys-A Searing Struggle (or Burning Fight as it is titled for the Mega Drive) (Area music) 9. Golden Axe-Turtle Village 2 (Stage 3) 10. Gaiares-Mission 3 (Stage 3)
Not a bad list. All were worthy of those positions but good lord I need to have a serious think as to what my top 10 would be because you just have so many greats. Also music is subjective yours are very much elec guitar metal heavy choices. Mine would certainly have some of the soft synths of Tomoko sazaki from Ristar and world of illusion.
My top ten for the system from best to least best: (Excluding Sonic and Streets of Rage) 1. Jewel Master - Jewel Master (1991) Cube Z80 2. Vapor Trail - Vapor Trail (1991) Data East Custom 68k 3. New Day For Me - Zero Wing (1991) Cube Z80 4. Babylonian Nights - Zero Wing (1991) Cube Z80 5. The Hitman - Zero Wing (1991) Cube Z80 6. Enjoy The Show - Lemmings (1992) Sunsoft Custom Z80 7. 5 Miles If You Love Puggsy - Lemmings (1992) Sunsoft Custom Z80 8. Sunsoft Special - Lemmings (1992) Sunsoft Custom Z80 9. Sarina Village - Y's III (1991) Cube Z80 10. Olga Breeze - Sagaia/Darius II - (1991) Cube Z80 I'm sorry and I don't want to offend anybody but any Streets of Rage track wouldn't make it in my top 30. There is far better stuff out there from more obscure games. Also Yuzo Koshiro made a great ost to the game ''Slapshot MD'' on the Mega Drive, a beautiful soundtrack from Koshiro and probably one of his very best.
There's no ultimate top 10, there are too many great tracks missing! (hehe) Was this recorded from original hardware or through emulation? Sounds a bit tinny and harsh when compared to my own Mega Drive recordings.
Some excellent choices there including the greatest - Motoi Sakuraba. I'd probably pick similar but have thrown Fighting in the Street from SoR1 and the first stage from Sol Deace instead (that tune is pumping) along with some stuff like the boss music from Rocket Knight Adventures and level 5 from Earthworm Jim
I had a sneaking suspicion that Streets Of Rage 2 would be at the top of this list. I think Castlevania Bloodlines could have been there easily. Zero Wing is a good choice, but I think just about any Toaplan shooter could be there too. My favorites are Hellfire and Truxton, but Fireshark could be opted in for either. Really almost ANY shooter on Genesis could probably be on this list, sans a few. I think all the Shinobis, including Shadow Dancer could make this list, and here's maybe a controversial one for some, all three Sonic The Hedgehog games, especially the first one for Green Hill Zone. Great list, Mike👍
Praticamente impossível 😮. Parabéns por ter conseguido montar uma lista Top 10 👏 Porque você não faz uma lista das franquias com as melhores músicas? Minhas recomendações pra você ter dor de cabeça: Streets of Rage 1, 2 e 3 Shinobi Trilogia Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles Earthworm Jim 1 e 2 Xenocrisis TMNT Hyperstone Heinst X-Men 2 Clone Wars Comix Zone Juju (Toki) Thunder Force IV Out Run Road Rash 1, 2 e 3 Fifa Soccer 95 Contra Hard Corps Adventures Batman and Robin Boa Sorte! 😅
The only real "cream of the crop" are Streets Of Rage 2 and Thunder Force 4. Others are debatable. Not including some tunes from Elemental Master must be illegal.
I was hoping Go Straight would be on this list. It’s great music, not just game music I was hoping Flying Battery would make the cut. Love that one. Also something from Toejam & Earl
Man, it's so hard to select only 10....it's also a matter of your personal taste, i would have a different list for sure. even if you have a solid list right there 🙂
Not going to lie super nintendo do have some games with nice music in there games but I prefer sega genesis soundtracks all the way golden axe turtle village soundtrack is amazing I listen to it alot
Wait a minute... where's Chemical Zone-Sonic 2 😮??? Rocket Knight Adventures had some awesome music too, stage 1 must go into my top ten. Picking a top 10 is hard, so many great tunes from this amazing system. Another i have always loved is stage 1 of, Hellfire. And then there's, Shinobi 3 which could probably fill up half of the top ten with its tunes, picking out a top ten is hard.
@@RetroGamerBoy you'll definitely never please everyone. But hey at the end of the day you've made a video appreciating something amazing and shown me some music I didn't know. Even if I expected to see some S&K Sanctuary on there.
I always preferred the Genesis sound chip over the SNES and TG16. With some exceptions on certain games of course.
Same here, there’s something about FM synth that can’t be beat and the Mega Drive (I’m British) an iconic sound chip in the Yamaha 2612.
I'm the same.
The intro/opening track to Alicia Dragoon, is for the single most memorable piece on the Sega Genesis. That harpsichord, the lush layered, dramatic arrangement, its beautiful and melancholy,. It is ingrained in my soul.
Yassss!!! My dad picked out the majority of games when I was growing up. He wasn’t a gamer but somehow brought home bangers, never a dud. Thanks pops. This was obviously one of them.
There are 3 or four tracks in that game that could easily be in a top 10.
Always loved video game music from the 16 bit era. The hardware was limited but what could be done was simply amazing.
I think that limited tech means that the music has endured and found it's own niche.
The adventures of Batman and Robin had some bangers
That game was outstanding for art and audio
I was hoping you added any tune from that game in your top. Still very nice.
Oh dude! I am honored that you included Eyra-intro on your list. I can still relive the internal fire I felt when I composed it. I must confess that Savaged Regime has inspired me a lot, especially showing me in Xenocrisis that the Megadrive/Genesis can continue rocking.
PS: I hope the misunderstanding has been clarified, regarding the great Famicuber compositions that were only for the NES version.
Feel free to use any of my compositions in your videos. Greetings from Uruguay and thankyou very much again!
This was my first time hearing about this game, but the music is awesome. Going to have to find a way to check out the game to hear the rest of the tracks!
I was wondering if someone was going to mention Savaged Regime!! That XenoCrisis OST is outstanding!!
It's an amazing soundtrack you composed, I love listening to it.
Revenge of Shinobi - Title screen music, The Shinobi (stage 1), Sunrise Blvd (stage 2), Chinatown, Over the bay (waves hitting the pier stage) Sonic 2 Chemical plant zone, Oil ocean. Streets of rage 2 Dreamer, Alien power and Ken's stage in Street fighter 2 (and every other stage). Also a big credit to streets of rage 1 stage 2 music (with the posters on the brick wall rustling in the wind)
wow some great games and tunes there. Love it.
The Revenge of Shinobi is indeed great!
*the 3rd stage of SoR 1 or the beach has the best music I think* 💡
@@afriend9428 yep that's a great one as well
I can’t think of a top 10 list without taking some time. I can, however, say that the music from Burning Force (1989) had one of the most epic soundtracks to any game of the 16-Bit era. A sadly forgotten game that deserved far more praise and recognition than it got.
I can't remember the soundtrack, I need to boot it up and take a listen.
Mine was a PC household, I grew up with the Sound Blaster... which was also Yamaha FM synth. I adore that sound, it brings me back so many memories. The 16-bit era certainly had a lot of charm!
We had the same in our PC. It was awesome.
The Shinobi III OST is fantastic, in all aspects...Technically, melodicaly, etc 😊
That it is. 🤙
The very best soundtrack of any Genesis game is most definitely from Thunder Force. !!!! It’s brilliant !!
That game's sound track is so epic
actually amazing to see how lists differ in part due to our individual mega drive journeys as kids , some bangers u got there and thanks for all the cool vids showing ur collection journey , i share in your enjoyment so much !! its too lekker
Yup. I've loved seeing other lists. I've even discovered some tunes I'd not heard before.
For me green hill zone on sonic 1 is an absolute classic.
It's very memorable, I have a huge amount of nostalgia for that.
My fav is Sol Deace its just so upbeat bright it really gets you in the mood to Shoot em up😅
That game has a stunning sound track.
How about an honourable mention for Chinatown in Revenge of Shinobi?
That games entire soundtrack is amazing
Great track. It's added to the list.
Castle of Illusion, Revenge of Shinobi, Dynamite Heady, Sonic 2, Ninja Turtles V... So difficult to pick up just 10!
It's tough 😅 those are some great picks though.
Always knew what would be number one 😊. One of the best. I think everyone's picks will be different, depending on what they've played the most. Ice Cap zone from Sonic would be in my top ten. Midnight resistance music was also brilliant. Plus Xeno Crisis and I've always been fond of Switchblades music. Some bangers on the Mega Drive
I think this list could easily be over one hundred tracks. There are so many great tunes out there. I should do a video on bad games that had great sound tracks.
I remember very well how Thunder Force IV completely altered my teenagehood. It was the last year of school and puberty was kicking in. A girl at school organised a party at her place without parents it was the tipical setting for certain first things to happen. I was invited and I went... and even thought my crush was there I couldn't stop thinking of my rental copy of Thunder Force IV waiting for my at home. I was so amazed of the the metal soundtrack! I couldn't believe my Mega Drive could do that! After that I've realized that my real love has always been her, my Sega 16 bit gem. ( I hope my wife and my daughter don't read this post ).
🤣🤣😂🤣
@@RetroGamerBoy Interestingly enough a similar episode happened ten years after being an international student in Japan. Sorry but the Super Potatoe retro game store in Tokyo is simply unbeatable.
*all 4 SONIC games and Streets of Rage 2 have incredible music and can be played in surround sound* ⭐️ 💡 ⭐️
🤘😝🤘
Dude, I LOVE video gane music! A channel on RUclips called Dongled does a radio show style covering gaming tunes, often their composers on as guests and I love listening to them.
Also, very cool to see some alternatives to the most common 16 bit Sega picks here, so, well done Mike!
Ohhh I'm going to have to check that channel out. I love listening to chip tunes while I work.
Great list! For mine I would definitely have Mega Turrican on there. The track from Level 1 is a beauty!
Classic track.
Thanks for the Alisia Dragoon music. Love that game.
It's awesome, great character design as well.
Chemical Plant Zone and the opening credits screen on Shinobi III will feel hard done by here! 😊
You've just added them to the list.
Anyone else up for a dance party?
🤘😝🤘🎉
Count me in too guys 🕹️🎶🔥
You have made my workout quite a bit better today
😅👍
Awesome picks! I mean, you could do a 10 hour video about awesome Mega Drive music haha Tons of great soundtracks.
Yup, it took a long time to make this list and could easily be 200 tracks.
Saved the best for last! We were so blessed with such amazing music from our 16 bit consoles. That little Yamaha chip brought the best sound of the generation in my mind. Sometimes I have a melody from an obscure game from my childhood just randomly pop into my head - after a while of this I have to go hunting to find what game it's from. Anyone else do this, or just me?
All the time, but I am old.😅
When it come to great chip tunes on the MD/Genesis it's really hard to make a top 10 list.
I was fun listening to yours.
I know my top 10 would include tunes from Elemental Master and Herzog Zwei.
There are so many great tunes.
So many great soundtracks, that was one of my favorites about every new Sonic or Streets of Rage game. Minus the 3rd one, of course haha. Cheers and rock on!
Yup, this list could be a hundred strong 👍
Great tunes - I only know about half of them.
I love the opening theme from Shadow of the Beast - really unusual with lots of pitch bend (David Whitaker) - I find myself humming it all the time.
Also the opening theme from the first Streets of Rage.
Almost anything from Revenge of Shinobi.
Oh and I love that Thunderforce IV song you picked too!
Shadow of the Beast has a great soundtrack.
although I liked the SNES sounds overall.. the Genesis, when done right, sounded far superior. Especially the bass, it felt a lot stronger and clearer. Gauntlet 4, shining force 2, Phantasy Star 4, Contra Hard Corps, Shinobi 3, Sonic 2 has some great sound tracks
That's a great list of games. I liked the SNES but as time has gone on the MD & Genesis sound is more unique for me and the SNES was just another step in generating more accurate sounds.
Both systems had their own look and sound when it came to their games. Mega Drive had a 'cyberpunk/metal' vibe. SNES had a 'Disney/fantasy' vibe. I don't know... just both had their own style unlike today with Xbox and PlayStation, so boring. Today, Nintendo is Nintendo but i can't help but feel they have never really recaptured that magic since, the SNES was special.
None of these would be on my own "Top Ten" list, but that reflects the extent to which the Genesis / Mega Drive has a massive, varied archive of music. In terms of how deep it gets: take a glance at Sub-Terrania -a very European vibe, in contrast to so many Japanese tracks.
Sub-Terrania has some awesome tunes.
Thunder Force IV soundtrack for life!!!
Gotta have some Sonic in there surely? Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, Starlight Zone
Golden Axe 2 has surprisingly epic music
The Sunsoft Batman game music is top notch too
It's a bit of a ropey game, but the opening level of Midnight Resistance is epic music-wise
Expander and Dreamer from SoR2, Moon Beach from SoR1
Chinatown from Revenge of Shinobi
From modern homebrew scene, Tanzer has a great thumping EDM/trance soundtrack
Ohh some crackers in there. Sonic and Golden Axe came in and out of my list multiple times.
Elemental Master was always a fav of mine
Good game.
A very diverse selection from your top 10 Mega Drive tunes, however I would swap out a few of them for my own list and replace them with Ristar (Stage 1), Altered Beast (Stage 1) Golden Axe (Stage 2 or 3) and of course I’d keep Zero Wing, Thunder Force IV and of course Alisia Dragoon (stage 1) which was Game Arts only Mega Drive game, I’d add Shadow Dancer (stage 3), Revenge of Shinobi (Chinatown) Streets of Rage 1 (stage 1) and of course SOR2 as well with (Stage 1 Go Straight) Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Stage 2.2 Hydro City Zone) Paprium (stage 4) Thunder Force III (stage 6), Dinoland (sea Table) Steel Empire (Stage 1) to complete my list, again very good list and it’s nice to see how everyone’s list is different.
That's a great list there.
Fantastic list, I agree with most of these!! :D
THUNDER FORCE YEAAAAH!! I wasnt expecting to see it represented here! Awesome!
Battle Mania! Talk about obscure!
You even got some homebrew in there, awesome!
And SoR 2, of course!! As a kid I preferred SoR 1's soundtrack. But 2's easily my fav nowadays, you can really appreciate how complex it is and how fantastic it is composed.
It's really hard to put a list together and not be affected by nostalgia for the game.
Great content as always Mike! My favorite ones in your list are Alisia dragon, SOR and Eyra. Life on Earth is surprisingly impressive , amazing soundtrack for a new MD game, wow!
It's amazing how many good times for the MD there are.
Cool! SolDeace probably has the same composer as original Sonic did🎉
Quite a few of the audio designers worked across several games.
Streets of Rage 2 has some amazing tracks and 1 and 3 are good too! Adventures of Batman & Robin is just out of this world Sooo GOOD. Alisia Dragoon (especially stage 1 and title music) I find Mamono Hunter Yohko also very pleasing to listen too, especially stage 2😊
Oops forgot Revenge of Shinobi: just amazing
There are some great suggestions there. SoR one is one of my favorite overall soundtracks.
I know it's a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive video but Streets of Rage 2 is my favorite soundtrack of the 16 bit era. Ones I hold up there are Megaman 2 and Ocarina of Time.
I think I would explode if I tried to do a top ten soundtracks from all of gaming. I wouldn't even know where to start. I love the Zelda franchise so something from Zelda would make it in.
Wow! Thank you very much. A beautiful compilation. For me, however, the RedZone soundtrack is number 1.
RedZone was an overall stunning game.
Der gesamte M.U.S.H.A. Soundtrack plus diese top 10 und noch viel mehr. 👍
Yes! M.U.S.H.A has an excellent OST.
Batman Gotham City Street, The rest of Batman OST, SOR 1 Stage 5, SOR 1 Instro and rest of OST), SOR 2 OST, Rev of Shinobi China Town and rest of OST, Thunder Force II Stage 1, Sonic The Hedgehog OST - Scrap Brain Zone (give me goosebumps) and OST, Decap Attack Lvl 1, inventory and OST, Castlevania OST, Phelios has a sick OST, TMNT, Midnight Resistance have sick tunes too, MK3 OST, Contra, Phantasy Star 4, Golden Axe II, Ghouls and Ghost, Xmen 2, Vectorman, Batman n Robin is sick, and so on. You can do a series, like per genre or something.
That's a great selection of tunes there.
Love my MD console always and listening to all this great music is bringing back so many great memories thanks Mike
It was so fun to put this together, I listened to hours and hours of great music.
I knew no1 was going to be on the list but surprised to say as a long long time mega drive fan that I hadn’t heard any of the other nine songs! Just shows how big the catalog is 😂
It's massive, it took me a long time to make this list, and I barely scratched the surface.
Wow, no Adventures Of Batman And Robin?!? Hands down the best music on the system for my taste, even better than Streets Of Rage series. Jesper Kyd is the man!
Even his works on Sub-Terrania and Red Zone are amazing. And of course that amazing "Whirlwind" track from Shinobi 3 and Toaplan's Hellfire.
Also got a soft spot for the creepy tunes of Biohazard Battle that goes hand in hand with the atmosphere of the game.
You've just added them to the list 👍
I love Metal Squad but I'd have to go with Because You're the Number One from that OST. Oh my word the bass on that tune. To be fair virtually anything from that game is great. Don't sleep on Gauntlet IV, Langrisser 1&2, Master of Monsters and Musha Aleste, all great OST's. Also the 32X has some great stuff like Cosmic Carnage and that godamn catchy replay tune from Virtua Racing Deluxe. Anyways great selection, good to see Runner AD2025 getting some love, that's a proper banger mate.
This video has been in the planning since last year. Trying to choose 10 has taken forever😂 and games keep coming in and out of the list.
@@RetroGamerBoy I know the feeling. I’ve made a playlist of Mega Drive bangers and picking and choosing what makes the cut is bloody hard work. It’s at over 400 tracks now so clearly I’ve failed. I’m sure you’ll have a different list in a weeks time, I definitely would.
Really really enjoyed that mate. Just the trick to hear after work. Well done mate
It's fun to make, great tunes and very little of my face, winner.
Banger of a video, Mike. I think the poor use of the GEMS driver gave Sega a bad reputation. While SNES has it's merits, I think the compressed and often reverb heavy sound was aggravating to me. It didn't sound nearly as good being pumped through a stereo. Also. I've recently purchased a Neo Geo CD. The sound chip on that thing, in conjunction with red book audio is fantastic. The Stereo separation is some of the best I've heard.
Agreed, very few western teams could produce sounds like their Japanese counterparts.
A least one Sonic song could be on this list. Sega had amazing composers and knew how to use the full potential of Mega Drive's sound chip
Some of those same composers are in my list. All Sonic games have great sound tracks.
I saw Alisia Dragoon's 5-2 and I upvoted this magnificent video
😂👍
S&K and Sonic 3 - Doomsday Zone ❤
Great choices.
The Genesis had some outstanding music, especially Yuzo Koshiro's work on the Streets of Rage games and Masato Nakamura's work on the first two Sonic games.
But your claim that the SNES "ended up not really standing out from the crowd" is utterly absurd. Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI are easily among the best soundtracks on any system, to this day. Donkey Kong Country, Actraiser, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Secret of Mana all had some absolutely amazing music.
I'm not critical of the individual compositions but the sample nature of the SNES means that is much closer to the type of sounds we hear in modern games, it was a trail blazer in many was. But the limitations of the MD/Genesis sound processor makes for a very unique sound in today's gaming audio landscape. But that's just my opinion.
Great pics for this list! I feel like the earlier title releases on the Genesis had better music that sounded cleaner and not so electrified. Games like GHOULS N GHOSTS, SUPER HANG ON, and REVENGE OF SHINOBI. After SOR2, most games seem to have had that "buzz" sound.
I think some of the later games tried too hard to mimic more modern audio processors.
Can you imagine this dude ordering at a restaurant with that voice 😂😂
I do it all the time
Bang on with Go straight!
🤘😝🤘
Yes Streets of Rage baby!
🤘😝🤘
Dude! Altered Beast ( beast mode) 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
Is that your favorite.
In no particular order:
Rocket Knight Adventures - end-level boss
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Chemical Plant
Contra Hard Corps - Contra the Blue Gale
Steel Empire - first level
High Seas Havoc - first level
Streets of Rage 2 - Spin on the Bridge
OutRunners (Japanese) - Speed King
The Adventures of Batman & Robin - Mad Hatter boss
Shinobi III - My Dear D
Puyo Puyo - Final of Puyo Puyo
That's a great top 10.
asterbros has some gamechangers
Yes it does. I need to do a top one hundred.
I always loved the intro of Jungle Strike. So good!
I almost had that in here.
Urban strike intro even more epic , those guitars! :)
1-Sonic 2 (Stage 2) 2-Sonic 3 (Ice Stage) 3-Outrun (Splash Wave) 4-Mega Turrican (the entire OST) 5-Street Fighter II Turbo Beta version (the entire ost) 6-Street of Rage 1 (Stage 1 & 7) 7-Gaiares (Stage 1) 8-Castlevania New Generation (Simon`s Theme) 9- Mercs (Stage 1 & the Boss theme) 10- Revenge of Shinobi (Chinatown & the Boss theme).
That is a great list, I'm off to go listen to some of those.
I could probably fill up this complete list with only music from SoR 1 & 2! In fact, the music from these games is in my daily playlist. Surprised not to see any of the Sonic games music in your list though, too cute maybe? 😄
No, just putting a top 10 tunes list together is torture 😅
Shinobi 3 whirlwind gotta he my number one.
Classic tune
The best Genesis tunes can be found in M.U.S.H.A
Great game.
aww i was hoping for Earthworm Jim - Buttville, The Descent
good list though, especially with SOR2 - Go Straight!
Feel free to add any you think people would listen to. It's great to hear tunes other people rate highly.
Surely about half of this should be Streets Of Rage 😉
😂 this list needed to be a top 300
Great choices Mike but I’d have thunderforce 3 siren underwater stage as my number 1 but to be honest the whole soundtrack for that great shoot em up is fantastic and shows the musical capabilities of the megadrive to the max 👏👏👍👍👍👍 cheers Jonathan
That games entire OST is stunning.
My Ultimate Sound Mega Drive (Genesis):
Melhores músicas Mega Drive
A minha lista seria:
1. Under Logic - Streets of Rage 2
2. Chemical Plant Zone - Sonic 2
3. Area 6 Lab - Xenocrisis
4. Lave Reef Zone Ato 1 e 2 - Sonic & Knuckes
5. Ice Cap - Sonic 3
6. Options - Vectorman
7. New Junk City - Earthworm Jim
8. The Void of Space - Verytex
9. Dreamer - Streets of Rage 2
10. Alien Power - Streets of Rage 2
Great list there.
Great topic; no way that I can narrow down so many catchy tunes down to an absolute and definitive top ten, but the following are ones that like to simmer in my mind; tried not to pick more than one from any game but made an exception for the first two listed. Not in any order:
1. MUSHA-Armed Armor (Stage 3)
2. MUSHA-Noh Specter (Stage 5)
3. Thunder Force IV-Metal Squad (Stage 8)
4. Revenge of Shinobi-Chinatown (Stage 5-1)
5. Streets of Rage-Beatnik on the Ship (Stage 5)
6. Thunder Force III-The Grubby Dark Blue/King Fish (Okay, maybe that's cheating but Stage 3/Boss 3)
7. Herzog Zwei-A Breach of Contract (Stage music, not a designated stage order)
8. Ys: Wanderers from Ys-A Searing Struggle (or Burning Fight as it is titled for the Mega Drive) (Area music)
9. Golden Axe-Turtle Village 2 (Stage 3)
10. Gaiares-Mission 3 (Stage 3)
That's a great list. Love that Golden Axe made it in there.
My favourite megadrive music is from a game called gynorg stage two when you slowly go down into the water is a favourite 😊
I know it, that's an excellent choice.
Rocket knight adventures is my fave ost
That does have an awesome OST.
Great video buddy. Outrun is a fantastic soundtrack but I think Super Hang-on Soundtrack slightly beats it past the post. 😎
That does have some great tunes. I should do a follow up video of my favorite track in each genre.
The only best i pick will be Musha for MD💪🏽
Great game, do you have it?
Not a bad list. All were worthy of those positions but good lord I need to have a serious think as to what my top 10 would be because you just have so many greats. Also music is subjective yours are very much elec guitar metal heavy choices. Mine would certainly have some of the soft synths of Tomoko sazaki from Ristar and world of illusion.
Ya this list could easily be a 100 strong. And I made about fifty changes to this list.
My top ten for the system from best to least best:
(Excluding Sonic and Streets of Rage)
1. Jewel Master - Jewel Master (1991) Cube Z80
2. Vapor Trail - Vapor Trail (1991) Data East Custom 68k
3. New Day For Me - Zero Wing (1991) Cube Z80
4. Babylonian Nights - Zero Wing (1991) Cube Z80
5. The Hitman - Zero Wing (1991) Cube Z80
6. Enjoy The Show - Lemmings (1992) Sunsoft Custom Z80
7. 5 Miles If You Love Puggsy - Lemmings (1992) Sunsoft Custom Z80
8. Sunsoft Special - Lemmings (1992) Sunsoft Custom Z80
9. Sarina Village - Y's III (1991) Cube Z80
10. Olga Breeze - Sagaia/Darius II - (1991) Cube Z80
I'm sorry and I don't want to offend anybody but any Streets of Rage track wouldn't make it in my top 30. There is far better stuff out there from more obscure games. Also Yuzo Koshiro made a great ost to the game ''Slapshot MD'' on the Mega Drive, a beautiful soundtrack from Koshiro and probably one of his very best.
Great list there, love that Lemmings made it in.
Gotta have some Streets of Rage music for sure Mike. 8^)
Anthony..
It's a classic Anthony.
My favorite Sega Genesis song is the Ecco Tides of Time theme.
It's got a nice slow tempo that track.
There's no ultimate top 10, there are too many great tracks missing! (hehe)
Was this recorded from original hardware or through emulation? Sounds a bit tinny and harsh when compared to my own Mega Drive recordings.
Some games I grabbed from original hardware others I needed to use emulation. So that the disparity. What would you have in your top 10?
Cool selection. Would've liked to see something from the first Sonic game, and Castlevania too.
Feel free to add your top 10, it's been great to see other people's lists and listen to the tracks.
Some excellent choices there including the greatest - Motoi Sakuraba.
I'd probably pick similar but have thrown Fighting in the Street from SoR1 and the first stage from Sol Deace instead (that tune is pumping) along with some stuff like the boss music from Rocket Knight Adventures and level 5 from Earthworm Jim
There are too many to choose from😅
Good😊. I love Midnight resistance "stage 1" and Musha "I love for"
Nice choices.
I had a sneaking suspicion that Streets Of Rage 2 would be at the top of this list. I think Castlevania Bloodlines could have been there easily. Zero Wing is a good choice, but I think just about any Toaplan shooter could be there too. My favorites are Hellfire and Truxton, but Fireshark could be opted in for either. Really almost ANY shooter on Genesis could probably be on this list, sans a few. I think all the Shinobis, including Shadow Dancer could make this list, and here's maybe a controversial one for some, all three Sonic The Hedgehog games, especially the first one for Green Hill Zone. Great list, Mike👍
Sonic I think is a great choice, those games had amazing soundtracks.
im a huge fan of marble garden zone on sonic 3
Ooohhhh very nice.
I also would have included the Road Rash 2 theme, carnival night from sonic 3 and a track from Alien 3. Good choices from RGB though. 👍
Those great tracks. The beginning of Dessert strike has a cool rock track which I always liked.
Praticamente impossível 😮. Parabéns por ter conseguido montar uma lista Top 10 👏
Porque você não faz uma lista das franquias com as melhores músicas?
Minhas recomendações pra você ter dor de cabeça:
Streets of Rage 1, 2 e 3
Shinobi Trilogia
Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles
Earthworm Jim 1 e 2
Xenocrisis
TMNT Hyperstone Heinst
X-Men 2 Clone Wars
Comix Zone
Juju (Toki)
Thunder Force IV
Out Run
Road Rash 1, 2 e 3
Fifa Soccer 95
Contra Hard Corps
Adventures Batman and Robin
Boa Sorte! 😅
That's a good idea for a video.
Interesting list, but you know they comments are going to be full of people telling you you're wrong.
Of course but that's fine, I'm also seeing lots of great alternatives.
Awesome selection dude! :D
Thanks, but the list could be hundreds.
The only real "cream of the crop" are Streets Of Rage 2 and Thunder Force 4. Others are debatable.
Not including some tunes from Elemental Master must be illegal.
😂 it's been awesome to see all the different suggestions.
I was hoping Go Straight would be on this list. It’s great music, not just game music
I was hoping Flying Battery would make the cut. Love that one. Also something from Toejam & Earl
Feel free to let everyone know your choices.
@@RetroGamerBoy now that you’ve said, I’m drAwing some blanks… (stroking my chin)
El Viento Stage 1 needs to be in the list.
Ohh very good pick.
WHAT... No Chemical Plant Zone! blasphemy! Great list thou!
No Sacha, I did that on purpose 😅
@@RetroGamerBoy Boo! 😂
Gaires over Sol Deace all day!!! Shinobi3 over Life on Earth.
Interesting.
I would have rated TFIV's Metal Squad higher. Eyra's Intro is ok but surely not in the Top 10. Im surprised you didn't have any Sonic tunes in there.
Out of the thousands of tracks picking 10 is hard. And I like to show people new things.
Grande Tacha!!!!!
🤘😝🤘
Man, it's so hard to select only 10....it's also a matter of your personal taste, i would have a different list for sure. even if you have a solid list right there 🙂
For sure, no one is going to have the same tracks, it's been great to see other people's lists in the comments.
Not going to lie super nintendo do have some games with nice music in there games but I prefer sega genesis soundtracks all the way golden axe turtle village soundtrack is amazing I listen to it alot
The Golden Axe sound track is a favourite of mine.
"Go Straight" is great, but SoR2 has a even better soundtrack : S.O.R. Super MIX
Wait a minute... where's Chemical Zone-Sonic 2 😮??? Rocket Knight Adventures had some awesome music too, stage 1 must go into my top ten. Picking a top 10 is hard, so many great tunes from this amazing system. Another i have always loved is stage 1 of, Hellfire. And then there's, Shinobi 3 which could probably fill up half of the top ten with its tunes, picking out a top ten is hard.
Shinobi III had an amazing OST. I love it.
List is... Ok, better titled here's some decent music I found on lesser known games. And two games that belong on a top 10 list.
That's why top 10 list can be great they are subjective. Some people here agree with every choice others have a different view. And that's cool.
@@RetroGamerBoy you'll definitely never please everyone. But hey at the end of the day you've made a video appreciating something amazing and shown me some music I didn't know. Even if I expected to see some S&K Sanctuary on there.