About those bleeps and bloops.

As for a composer, I pick the fine selection of Hiroki Kikuta's works on the Mana Series. The year is 1993. The SNES is entering into a golden age. And here's something that sounds practically like a CD before any extension chips.

There are a handful of OSTs that are high on my list. The Warcraft II OST is the oldest of them and I always found it to be a really powerful and fitting soundtrack with the music of each side really contributing to the vibe of the game. I can never get tired of listening to that OST, especially the version rendered through Roland SC.

The Witcher 3 OST would be the next big one to become etched in my mind. The music is so beautiful, has just the right vibe for all the situations in the game, both general music and ambient/reactive. The instrument choices, ethnic vibes, vocal melodies and harmony are all top shelf.

And finally, the most recent powerful OST for me is the Cyberpunk 2077 OST. From the main menu onward, the game's normal background OST is just phenomenal and captures the right feel for the game's aesthetic and dark nature. Most of the music is in phrygian mode which contributes to a real dark tone throughout the game, as does the static drone that is present in many of the titles, which act to emphasize the dark modality. Then there are the reactive/situational tracks that play during combat or other situations that really pump up the vibe and get the blood flowing. Next we have the in car radio stations and around the city music really brings the city alive and gives it this futuristic cacophony that is very busy. And finally we have the Samurai soundtrack songs which are very heavy metal, raw and powerful with a real dropkick to the chest vibe on many of the titles, especially Chippin' In. The music really brings the game alive and has a lot of unique and interesting sounds, much of which was developed specifically for the game's aesthetic.

All in all, if I had to pick one right now that tops my list at the moment it would have to be the Cyberpunk 2077 OST which has penetrated my mind quite a lot in the 1725+ hours of gameplay I've put in to date. Kudos to the musicians that put all of this together.

I have had the mario theme stuck in my head for 30 years now

yeah like Endless Legend ...

Witcher 3

The sid chip doesn't count. There were addons were you could play it as a synthesizer.
Plenty of the C64 game music would fit in this thread because they are good.

"Pick one" is indeed extremely difficult.

Nobuo Uematsu's "Final Fantasy IX" is in my permanent collection. "Castlevania - Curse of Darkness" has an incredibly quality throughout. Tommy Tallarico's "Advent Rising" was spectacular. As was "Headhunter". Jared Emerson-Johnson's Season 2 of "Sam & Max" is so incredibly varied. I could not live without Christophe Héral's "Beyond Good & Evil" soundtrack. I still go back to the bleeps and bloops of "The Lost Vikings 2", "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis", "Turrican" and "Simon the Sorceror". Benny Oschmann's "Book of Unwritten Tales 1+2". Coeur de Pirate's orchestral soundtrack to "Child of Light" (still sadly missing on GOG). "Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon" had that irresistible 80's movie vibe. The soundtrack to the late Simon D'souza's "The Journey Down". "Bastion" brought a fresh breeze into the genre. Recently, the soundtrack to "Death's Door" has caught my ear: Synching up the pistons in the game world to the soundtrack, a stroke of genius.

Okay, I'll name just one.

"Technobabylon" by Nathan Allen Pinard, 2015.

Send the ticket to my home address. I'll frame it. Ain't nobody going to concerts this year. ;)

From the top of my head

Neverwinter Nights 1
The whole list of tracks from that game. Got it on a Stick to listen to while I'm driving.
Mostly stands out for me are the Tavern Tracks (seedy tavern, bordello etc.) which aren't really tracks
which I would letting play an Orchestra or such, but they're standing out for me.

And Neverwinter Nights 2 has a really good Mainmenu music which for me sounds more like a movie/series theme.
I don't know, I always think of it as a series theme like Stargate SG-1 or something like that.

Fable TLC
Especially the second Track "Oakvale". Every time I listen to it calms my breain down immediately!

Doom 2016 by Mick Gordon & id Software
Well, I really can't imagine how on earth a Orchestra would perform something like this :P

Warhammer 40k Dawn of War 2
That brutal, warmongering tracks - in some way - really have the possibility (like the Doom Soundtracks)
to kicks you into a mindset of pushing and do something high-octane style (coding, exercise etc.)

Terraria
Oh boy these tracks are never get old!

If I have to choose one it's Fable TLC.
This Game and Soundtracks gave me so much fun times and the variety of the tracks are really nice to listen to in many situations. It's great for background noise while coding, driving, cleaning dishes but also great for "active" listening
to. Never overwehelms and never underwhealms me.


And, as a side note, of course the "old classics", which I have always one click away like
Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda
Secret of Mana
Chrono Trigger's Memories of Green
Final Fantasy 3's Intro Theme
...and much C64 Sid of Rob Hubbard, Chris Hülsbeck, Marin Galway and so on....

I have been addicted to games since the NES console came to the states. I stumbled on GOG in 2019. I was surprised GOG also has game OSTs - even FLAC. I use musescore.com for piano video game sheet music.

Old console music I like are: Dragon Warrior series [Koichi Sugiyama], Secret of Mana [Hiroki Kikuta], Castlevania Symphony of Night [Michiru Yamane], Zelda [Koji Kondo]

PC music I like are: Diablo [Matt Uelmen], RuneScape [Ian Taylor], Minecraft [C418], Moonlighter [David Fenn], Minoria [notorious Knave/Electrobear].

I have been listening to the soundtrack of Super Castlevania IV ever since it came out in 1991, I used to play the game just to listen to those tunes!

It sets the mood perfectly, for a gothic adventure of whip wielding, cross, er, I mean boomerang throwing, holy water tossing, axe chucking monster slaying fest that it is. Some of the tracks are just too magical, it feels as if they literally pull you out of your seat, and into the level that you are playing, mostly because of how each melody matches the pacing of each level.

Are you carefully timing your jumps, as you try to move from turning gear to moving platform? Are you racing towards the right side of the screen, while the background keeps on spining in a vertigo inducing way? Are you hanging from your whip, just inches above the spikes, while the entire room rotates around you? There is always a track that fits the feel of the place you are moving through.

Even though the other Castlevania games are stellar in the music department, I still consider this one, as the soundtrack that matches both the pacing and the theme of each level, in the most exquisite form.

UPDATE: I won't be able to attend the concerts at that time, so please scratch me off the entries list :-)

I love Doom Eternal's soundtrack. It's great while the action is going the game! Plus, I'll listen to it streaming occasionally when I'm not playing.

The work by Nihon Falcom's sound team is usually underappreciated.

The soundtracks for the Trails, Tokyo Xanadu and Ys games are all loaded with some amazingly atmospheric music.

Tracks like 'Spiral of Erebos' from Cold Steel III, 'Sunshine Coastline' from Ys 8 and 'Hazy Moon' from Tokyo Xanadu regularly pop up on my listening list and I look forward to 'Get Over The Barrier' when Trails from Zero arrives in official capacity.

The Mega Drive/Genesis Sonic games have great soundtracks. Tee Lopes, also did great with the Sonic Mania soundtrack, striking a good balance between new and old in his remixes for each zone.

Other great soundtracks :-

Mega man 1-6
Ducktales
Kingdom Hearts
Jet Set Radio Future
Doom Eternal

Cry of Fear's soundtrack
(Tomb Raider themes, Pajama Sam 1-3's music, Duke Nukem Manhattan Project, NFS, and many more)

btw, is it fair to say it's harder to find bad game soundtracks than bad games? Almost all game music seems to be pretty good.

My PC gaming top 5:

1.) Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2. (and The Old Republic MMO) - Without a doubt, these games provide a soundtrack that makes you feel like you are watching a *good* non-Disney Star Wars movie.
2.) Neverwinter Nights 1 - The music is surprisingly atmospheric for a game of its age and I believe it still holds up against modern game soundtracks.
3.) Ys Series - Action-packed and full of emotion.
4.) The Witcher Series - Its a game that thinks its a motion picture. I like it! ^_^
5.) Sword of the Stars 1 - While its selection of tracks are limited to the factions, they add a unique alien feel to the game when playing a non-human species. And while Sword of the Stars 2 is utterly unplayable rubbish in the worst sense possible, its soundtrack is worth getting as it improves upon the original's soundtrack to generate an even more alien feel.

My Console gaming top 5 :

1.) Final Fantasy VII - SEPHIROTH! No other game will give to that "Oh $#!7" feeling.
2.) The Legend of Zelda franchise. If there is a theme song that has withstood the test of time, The Legend of Zelda has it... I'm so glad Nintendo didn't go with Ravel's Bolero!
3.) Super Mario Bros. franchise. I just can't get those tunes out of my head, dammit!
4.) Star Ocean franchise. "To infinity and beyond!"
5.) Mega Man franchise. A genuine masterpiece of chiptunes that keeps you running and gunning.