Raymen Origins and Legends.

I love the music and think it fits the games perfectly with its playfulness.
Every world has different modd of musica and each of them fits.
What they did in Legends with pacing the musical levels according to songs is just fabulous and it's great how the music is used there as important part of those levels instead of just being something on background.

Done right:
Crazy Bus theme

Done wrong:
everything else

I'm curious, what do you mean by "done right"? For instance, there are awesome soundtracks like NieR: Automata's or Abzû's that are gorgeous to listen to even divorced from the game itself. Then there are game soundtracks that work towards creating and enhancing a game's atmosphere but which probably hold no appeal outside of the game, such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider's. Would that be an example of music "done wrong" or would that be music that does not fit the game at all or that is perhaps overly generic?

Ultima-wise, there is some done wrong:
Ultima 5 (Amiga): One song for the whole game, and I don't think it's that good (though at least it isn't too short).
Ultima 5 (NES): One song for the whole game, and it isn't even that long (someone timed it to be a 19.2 second loop). There are two other tracks, one for the title screen (Lord British's theme), and one for the intro and ending (best music track in the game, but that isn't saying much), but you don't get to hear them that much.

Other oddities:
Paper Sorcerer: I would say done wrong here. The music actually is a bit controversial here.
Wizardry 5 (FM Towns): Awesome orchestral soundtrack. The problem is that the game looks like every other computer version. So, you have the strange mixture of primitive graphics and epic high-quality orchestral music, which is a bit strange. The soundtrack is pretty good, however.

I could also say:
Wizardry 4 (PSX, New Age of Llylgamyn): The soundtrack perfectly sets the mood and atmosphere, and I think the battle music fits the game well (and better than in Wizardry 5, which is on the same disk and uses the same battle music).

Done right:

Red Alert (as others have already mentioned, perfectly fitting)
Final Fantasy VI (that overworld theme is just too good, so melancholic, perfect for the game - the opera scene is another high point which stands out)
Ys series (great music in general, definitely distinct as well (shame how the series has progressed the last decade though))

Does GTA: Vice City with the radio stations count? :P

You pick what's right/wrong. It's entirely subjective in this thread. Give your opinion on a game's music and back it up with why you deem it so, that's all.

GREAT THREAD!

Done Right:
Symphony, where music determines the pace and difficulty.

Done Wrong:
Commandos 1&2. The last thing you need when you are sneaking around trying to be quiet is trumpets blaring and symbols crashing. It's a stealth mission, you aren't storming the beaches of Normandy! Well in C3 you are, but that game is so bad for so many other reasons.

Done right:

Freedom Fighters soundtrack which was perfect to set the mood of the game. It added so much to the tension created by the story.

More 'Done Right':
Realms of Arkania - Trilogy. We even used that music in our Realms of Arkania pen&paper roleplaying evenings.

Another one:

Final Fantasy 2: Done right. The music does a good job of setting the tone for the game. There's the sad overworld theme (in contrast to those of Final Fantasy 1, 3, and 4), the town theme which feels like a brief respite from the harsh world, the sad castle theme (that plays in castles that are occupied by the enemy, or that have been deserted), the harsh cave theme (especially in the remakes, where there's some dissonance to make the theme sound particularly harsh), the theme for imperial bases, and of course the final dungeon theme. The only musical complaint would be the llimited use of the boss theme in the original, and the remake's unfitting boss theme. (Well, and the fact that there's only one random encounter theme, but I think that it's my favorite in the series.)

There's a lot that FF2 did wrong, particularly in regards to game balance, but the music isn't one of them.

(To clarify, I am not talking about the SNES FF2, which is really a version of FF4, and of course has different musical themes.)

Done right: World of Warships. You can choose between the exciting original soundtrack plus occasional new tracks; or dynamic music that adjusts according to your current situation in combat; or drum-themed dynamic music, which reminds me that one mission in COD World At War with the Catalina. A lot of the port themes are also memorable. They do a damn good job with the sound in that game.

https://soundcloud.com/world-of-warships/

Done wrong: Tales of Maj'Eyal. One royalty-free track per area that just loops over and over. I really doubt the creator cares much about sound design. In at least one town there is a repetitive dog barking sound that is so irritating, there's a popular mod specifically for the purpose of removing it.

Done right :

Fallout 1 & 2 - The music is an absolutely perfect fit for the post apoc setting.

Done right: Starcraft. The music in the background immerses you to the game even more, sometimes I am not sure if I am more playing the game or listening to the music soundtrack. I like how the music differs between the different races, giving each their own flavor.

Done right: Shattered Steel. The music was probably the best part of the game for me (otherwise I felt the game was an ok mech-lite action game with missions). I felt it fit the atmosphere very well, especially the couple of tracks that remind me a lot of the Aliens movie music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXJePHmjvHk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN4WP0sPlBw Good catch. I was almost going to mention TA in the "done wrong" section, but then the soundtrack IS quite well done, when listened on its own.

But... it just doesn't mix well with the rest of the game, it feels more like you are just listening to some generic pompous orchestral movie music while playing the game. Maybe the music is also too much on your face, unlike e.g. the music in Starcraft.

done right :

WoW deserves a mention. It's got some phenomenal music

The best use of music I've encountered in a game remains the balcony scene form Blade Runner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xClTppAGe9A

done wrong:

Can't think of anything :\

Done right:

Friggin' HOTLINE MIAMI!

Quake 1 (The dark, gloomy Nine Inch Nails ambient soundtrack really takes this game to a whole different level)


Done wrong: I 100% love System Shock 2 and it's my favourite game of all time (next to the original Thief), but I agree. The first thing I do whenever I start this game is to mute the music. Here's an interesting bit of trivia: Josh Randall, who composed most of the music in Shock 2 originally intended these songs to be demo tracks, that were going to be either changed or refined later. It was only after the fact that he found out that the music he intended to be temporary place holders actually wound up in the finished game.