Early kof had special arrangements of their music which were drastic improvements over their original arcade counterparts. Anything from 94-2000 was incredible
The boss intro music is probably one of my favourite tracks in any fighting game. The first game has a very crusty feel to the music, the guitar used in it is very gritty and it's probably my favourite. I don't really know how to explain it, it's so cool
I'm surprised Tekken 4 wasn't even mentioned! It was such an ambient and chill soundtrack. It gave the stages an identity, it wasn't in your face, but it was still intriguing.
@Emanuele Alfieri Yeah. I shouldn't be surprised it wasn't mentioned, since between Max, Justin, and Matt, Max is the best Tekken player of them all, and he's far from being a pro. So I would assume they barely touched T4 to witness its majesty.
Tekken 4 was interesting because it represented a transition phase for the whole series in every aspect. It started to lean more into the techno and heavy metal that the series would later be known for, but it also brought a much darker approach than any game before it (which made sense given its story). I appreciate the Tekken 4 OST for that alone.
@@lorenzosandoval7328 Uh, I thought Tekken 3 was the Third Strike of Tekken since that's when a bunch of the new gen characters debuted after a time skip.
@@lorenzosandoval7328 100% agree. They were limited by the technology of the time. Granted, PS2 did have the capability of patching, but it wasn't common at all.
Strongly disagree, the farty boy band music "I'm here now" then cutting to lame generic nu metal wasn't it. I immediately hated the music at launch when I first booted it up and that feeling hasn't changed. The games wouldn't stop being fun but T5 is where the series lost me with the tone, story, characters and music becoming safe, boring and formulaic with each entry feeling more like a beefy update to Tekken 5 rather than entirely new games. Ignoring Tekken 1 each game up until T4 had it's own unique tone and feel. Every intro felt cool, subdued and jazzy while simultaneously being hype, not a second wasted in those intros and the soundtracks were all bangers. It's all subjective but there was a massive change at T5 and it wasn't for me. Games are still fun as hell, objectively would only get better but I went from loving everything about those games to only liking them.
The first Tekken Tag Tournament has an all time INCREDIBLE soundtrack. Love it so much I recently bought it after downloading it illegally for 20 years 😂
@@DarthEnderX I can respect that opinion. I think I'm partial to the style of music it featured so I was pretty much sold from the title screen. It felt like the music was really integrated into the experience, from the character select screen adlibs like "yeah that makes sense" to the lyrics in the main theme. So it always holds a special place for me. SFA2 def had some bangers though, not a bad choice at all.
Hip hop and jazz influences get a lot of credit in third strike, but I fuckin love the DnB/Jungle sounds present in so much of it too. It's a very unique aspect of it.
samurai showdown 3 and 4 had such a great soundtrack. especially when the backgrounds changed. it was so good . Oh and lest we not forget nokororu's stage. man that was a classic
I was a teen when Tekken 5 was out and to this day, I still jam the music. Tekken 5 and racing games (mainly Midnight Club 3, and Burnout 3) really shaped my music preference as I grew older. Metal and Trance all the way lol
I remember my first time recognizing how important fighting game ost's were. My dad was a huge comic fan and had just bought me MSHvsSF for ps1, he used captain america and when we heard his theme he said "Wow! This song is just his personality!" After that it's been my favorite since then, especially after reading the comics and understanding what he meant. Since then I've paid so much more attention to the music and personality it portrays. Thanks for doing this episode, was a trip down memory lane!
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 has a very memorable soundtrack, the sound quality for a game that old is very high. Also, the voice work of Steve Ritchie as Shao Kahn saying things like "Fatality" sounds incredible. Netherrealm's modern games may not have great music, but the sound production is off the charts.
Thank you Justin, Matt, and Maximillian for this great episode. For me the first time I realized that I really took notice of fighting game music was when I was humming the attract mode music from the original Samurai Shodown attract mode. As for the first time that I went out and bought an actual fighting game soundtrack had to be the official KOF96 CD that I picked up on a trip to Little Tokyo. Even now my default ringtone is KOF 96's Esaka theme (still one of my favorite pieces). Looking forward to the next episode in this series.
This channel and especially these hosts should be given every license and exeption to use music, cinematics and whatever asset beneath the sun from Capcom, Konami, NamcoBandai and so forth, as just one episode of TKO promotes fighting games more than the major outlets have done for a decade. Better yet, release a seperate cut of the episode on a closed platform. I would pay to watch an "extended cut" of every fkn episode of this a second time, if it ment more clips and screens from the mentioned properties, and especially in this case to hear the music. Do not get me wrong tho, you all gave great hummers!
We all know there is no way Killer instinct (2013) isnt going to be in someone's top 3 Fighting game OST of all time. Mick Gordon was all over the first 2 seasons of that game and the soundtrack is STILL underrated
For me my first moment of really recognizing Fighting game music and going "Yo this song is GOOD" was Cammy's Theme in Super SF II on SNES, playing it on an emulator on my phone back in high school, and then hearing Cammy's SF IV Theme around the same time.. Cammy's theme is still one of my all time favorite SF Themes
SNK Arrange tracks were always some of my favorites. I loved the AoF2 AST (especially Jack and Micky), Real Bout (Terry, Geese, Hon Fu), KOF 98 (Esaka 98) and KOF 99 (WWIII). I love all of them. Well, expect 2001.
The entirety of Tekken has great tracks though. I think T7's OSTs is pretty good, T6 is underrated, kinda like T1 and 2's OSTs, and even Revolution has cool music (aka the only good thing to come out from that game)
My mind always goes to Daisuke Ishwatari, not just in Guilty Gear, but in Blazblue too, the man is a legend and deserve everything good that happened to him!
Ever listened to Hard Corps: Uprising OST? Even when Daisuke Ishiwatari is making music for a contra game, he's making some of the most GG sounding tracks ever! Even the main protagonist's are basically just Sol and Baiken😆
The first line of Daisuke's wikipedia entry is that he's " video game developer, illustrator, musician, composer and voice actor." Just... let that sink in The man really IS Guilty Gear, from the characters to the storyline to the music to even the character's voices! (he was Sol's first VA)
The theme song to the original Killer Instinct still lives rent free in my head. As do all the music from Street Fighter 2. More recently the themes in UMvC3 are lit. For a while Doctor Strange's theme sat with me as my personal motivational song.
100% agree Karma, Arisa, Sacred Dark, NANCY, Blowing Up The Enemy, Splashing Casino, YUKI, Edge of Spring, Artificial Ruins, that's a lot of bangers Some of my favorite songs in the series belong to this game, so heck yeah Edit: also why did I forget Yodelling in Meadow Hill, THE Tekken 6 meme song
Also, while I don't particularly enjoy the fight, T6 has one of the most intense sounding final boss fight songs. Keiichi Okabe's been with the series since Tekken 2 but Azazel's Chamber" is just straight up Nier stuff everyone is used to lol😄
@@nocturnalscotsman Agreed. Azazel's Chamber is by far one of my favorite final boss themes in any fighting game. Ground Zero Funk from Tekken 5 is my absolute favorite. The combination of industrial metal and operatic classical music was a mix that should not have worked, but did all too well.
I know its a beat em up rather than a fighting game, but Streets of Rage 2 deserves a shout out. Probably my favourite game soundtrack of all time. Yuzo Koshiro is a genius.
KOF 13 came with 4 King of Soundtracks cd’s. Those became the soundtrack to my life, so good. (Esp thanks to Dandy J’s how to play KOF video). “Will” is the goat
Kanzuki Beach on SFV is a banger. That's like my favorite Street fighter song, SF ex 3 Sakura's theme number 2, and the last on the podium is kens theme x men vs sf
The music to “Eternal Champions”actually made its way to being sampled by Bone Thugs n Harmony - the menu screen and the end screen where you die both made its way on their album “E. 1999 Eternal”.
the music in the sega cd eternal champions is sick as hell too. 90s as hell dirty ass electric guitars and electronic dance music with some experimentation tossed in
I get more drum n bass from 2nd Impact's ost. The intro, some remixes the character select. Its still in 3rd strike mainly Gill's theme but DnB is in 2nd Impact's blood
Man. Bgm in fighting games has always been the best staple for me! From fighting, to shumps, and even RPG’s, if I can’t flow with it, I have little chances of going back to it. I still love Taiyo Highschool Classroom from Rival Schools! Loved that stage, and that game!
My favorite soundtrack til this day is KOF95. When you put the game in the CD player you got to hear the "arranged" version which was a remixed and extended version!
The music of Guilty Gear is what got me into the series with Xrd, i love the music Especially the character themes, my favourite is definitely Goldlewis' "Kiss of Death"
Justin mentioning The Last Blade 2 for its soundtrack just made my day!! One of the prettiest fg osts for sure which has flown under the radar Edit: Also I agree with Max, GGX has the best ost of all the Guilty Gear games.
Justin fighting for his life defending Rufus' theme 32:22 i literally laughed out loud I scared my cat EDIT: Ok so I listened to Rufus' theme and it was as Justin said XD
My top video games themes are this 1) Liu Kang - Born in China, Sub-Zero - Chinese Ninja Warrior by the Immortals 2.) Orchid - Touch me and I'll break, Jago - The Tiger Warrior, TJ Combo - I'm Back go rise, Maya - Temperance & Vengence 3.) David Wise - DKC score 4.) Sonic the hedgehog Score 5.) Super Mario bros score 6.) Street Fighter Score: Ryu (SF4 & 5), Ken (SF2 euro, SF4) Chun-li (SF4 & 5), Charlie Nash (SF5), Sakura (SF4, Alpha), Karin (SFA3) 7.) Capcom V SNK score 8.) KOF Score
First time i noticed a track being really enjoyable was Cammy’s theme. Absolutely beautiful. And then Killer Instinct came out and my mind was blown! Then down the rabbit hole I went- spider man, captain America, storm, gambit, demetri, adon, Sakura, geese Howard, terry and so on 😅
With SF6, my first reactions to some of the songs were like “eh”. As time has gone on and I’ve listened to them more and more, Ryus theme in particular is the best one. I think because it feels like an evolution and seems to fit with the style 6 is going for, I honestly prefer it over his classic theme. Once the games out and time has passed, I could see peoples take changing just cause it’s been out and we’re used to it by then.
Actually, Max is a bit wrong, some PS1 games actually streamed their music from separate files on the disc. So you could play the tracks from that disc on a CD player starting on track 2.
Thanks for confirming, I thought some PS1 and all Saturn could do it. I remember all Saturn games could be played in a CD player. Track 1 was data (silent) but all other tracks were the OST.
My first love of fighting game music was the intro to SoulBlade, holy shit i would genuinely put that game in to watch the intro and then turn it off, and when ever my friends wanted to play it i made everyone watch the intro first, every damn time!
Would love to see a three punches on the act of cheesing and scummy mechanics breakdown. Love the chemistry of you guys bouncing topics off eachother. It is really organic and real. Keep it up.
I think the Street Fighter concept album Matt is talking about is actually a trilogy of concept albums; "Street Fight! Round 1, 2 and 3" by ManFactory, and the song he is talking about is "Balrog 24/7". The first one is actually a pretty solid album, "Chun Li, I'm Loving it" and "Good Grief Zangief" are also a couple of bops. you can find all their music on here on TH-cam. Definitely worth checking out at least once.
When it comes to music in fighting games, I always come back to Guilty Gear Xrd and Strive. Heavy Day in Xrd is one of my favorite tracks, as well as some character themes in Strive; especially Sol's theme. Despite Guilty Gear being my favorite soundtrack, I love the 2013 character select theme. So much so that I even have it as my ringtone!
Pokken's soundtack is excellent (and it's a fantastic competitive fighting game, albeit very misunderstood). "Magikarp Festival" is well know, but there's tons of other amazing tracks, like "Neos City Night", "Tellur Town Autumn", "Thalia Beach", "Blue Dome", etc to name a few. Really reccomend the game if people want a very neutral and fundamentals focused fighting game where every character is viable.
Always fan of sha-v, Snk composer since kof 95. Snk song always varies and some genre attached to the character. Iori with jazz and terry with happy-go-lucky ost,Etc. gave the game personality
As a casual ...good music is a most for me...the first killer instinct, mvc2, mortal kombat 1-3ultimate , first guilty gear , sf2,sf3,samurai shodown omfg :) we were so spoiled in the 90's and didn't even realized it
I noticed the music walking past an X-men vs Street Fighter machine in an arcade back in the day. For some reason, the synth part of Chun-li's theme I could hear pretty clearly amongst the roar of an arcade scene and that stuck with me. By the time Marvel Superheroes vs Street Fighter released on PS1 and I was able to enjoy the music more clearly, I fell in love!
I remember putting one of the psx kof games into a cd player as a kid and hearing instrumental after instrumental, then having my mind blown as My Love started playing. It was the first song with Japanese lyrics I'd ever heard and I still think it's a banger to this day.
This will be a good episode! Personally, I think that Soulcalibur has the best video game OSTs of all time. Under the Star of Destiny, Confrontation, Raise Thy Sword, and Forsaken Sanctuary among others are absolute masterpieces. Tekken is more of a mixed bag, but it has some absolute bangers; Snow Castle (the original from T5:DR, not the remix from TTT2) is my favorite. EDIT: I'm glad Justin agrees about Snow Castle and sad that the others don't know it.
I've never really played Killer Instinct but I can't thank you enough for putting me on to the 'Killer Cuts' soundtrack now. This shit is incredible!!!
Last Blade 2 has some amazing arrangements that doesn't get enough attention. I wrote the score for Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid and although thrash metal and orchestral is the driving force there, I tried to keep the drama and intrigue of LB2 underlying it. It peeks out during intros and transitions and is the spirit center of what I was trying to do there. Just look up Last Blade 2 Decision at Daybreak. Been wanting to cover that with some metal injection. and the game ain't bad, either.
The NGPC SNK vs Capcom has such an impressive rendition of well known themes for a handheld. Not only translated for handheld but they actually sound really good. It probably doesn't compete with non-handheld tracks, but worth a listen for just how impressive it is. Same with the Last Blade on NGPC.
Music in video games is a big motivator for me. It's almost ironic that's the topic of this episode as I got randomly recommended a vid of Oni: Ninja Master just yesterday and now I've fallen in love with the Germany stage theme of that game. Been looking for ways to play that game now because of it.
Halfway through the podcast and I keep pausing to listen to these themes lol and it has inspired me to finally make a video game Playlist archive to keep track of and think back on the fighting game music that I loved.
When it comes to MK music, I have the same issue with not remembering a lot of it, especially modenr MK but the one exception is for MK Deception's character select screen. That song went hard
Tekken has so many bangers! But it was Tekken 5: DR that actually made me want to get the OST. Had to import it from Japan. But they’re all so good, even T7.
Blazblue has absolute amazing character themes, tons of identity with each one and it all fits well. I still play the soundtrack that came with the first game(Calamity Trigger) to this day, completely top tier. Blue Beating easily top 3 character select themes of all time
The TKO crew talking about how they burned songs onto their dreamcast and listened to them while playing games was the sole reason i wanted the xbox 360 over the ps3. Playing smackdown vs raw games on the xbox 360 was so memoriable because you could use the songs on your hardrive for the wrestlers entrances thats why SVR community was so big during the 360 era. Was kinda sad they got rid of burn music on the xbox one
Man, I've always loved Bloody Roar Extreme/Primal Fury's soundtrack, I still listen to it during streams and such, but I couldn't choose just one FG OST to listen to, there so many hidden gems and straight bangers on too many games to just ignore.
I legit cant fathom that the mvc2 soundtrack of all soundtracks would be hated so much by justin wong as someone whos never played mvc2 but adores watching the game and listening to the music during my muay thai privates that part of the podcast blew my mind
Awesome episode, lots of great soundtrack picks!! UMvC3 has such a hype soundtrack, I've been listening to it since launch. The Street Fighter EX soundtracks are so good as well, everything Shinji Hosoe / SuperSweep works on has such a unique sound to it! They also did the soundtracks for Fighting Layer and Super Dragon Ball Z, which are pretty underrated yet equally awesome!
Early kof had special arrangements of their music which were drastic improvements over their original arcade counterparts. Anything from 94-2000 was incredible
Kof is one of the titles where I always love the music. Especially all versions on C62 lol
Yup. They were all based on the dope NEO GEO CD.
Oh yeah the arranged soundtracks are awesome I really hope they get added to kof xv
97 arranged soundtrack is my top fighting game music
@@doris3026 2000s arranged is god tier as well
Probably my second favorite kof soundtrack behind kof 13s
The OG Guilty Gear and Guilty Gear XX OSTs singlehandedly got me into metal and made me end up a professional musician. God bless Daisuke.
Same
My first times noticing music in the fighting game genre were KI and SF2 then Guilty Gear just blew my damn mind.
The boss intro music is probably one of my favourite tracks in any fighting game.
The first game has a very crusty feel to the music, the guitar used in it is very gritty and it's probably my favourite. I don't really know how to explain it, it's so cool
I'm surprised Tekken 4 wasn't even mentioned! It was such an ambient and chill soundtrack. It gave the stages an identity, it wasn't in your face, but it was still intriguing.
@Emanuele Alfieri Yeah. I shouldn't be surprised it wasn't mentioned, since between Max, Justin, and Matt, Max is the best Tekken player of them all, and he's far from being a pro. So I would assume they barely touched T4 to witness its majesty.
Tekken 4 was interesting because it represented a transition phase for the whole series in every aspect. It started to lean more into the techno and heavy metal that the series would later be known for, but it also brought a much darker approach than any game before it (which made sense given its story). I appreciate the Tekken 4 OST for that alone.
Tekken 4 could've been the 3rd strike of tekken if they had released updated versions of the gameplay but the 90s was long gone unfortunately.
@@lorenzosandoval7328 Uh, I thought Tekken 3 was the Third Strike of Tekken since that's when a bunch of the new gen characters debuted after a time skip.
@@lorenzosandoval7328 100% agree. They were limited by the technology of the time. Granted, PS2 did have the capability of patching, but it wasn't common at all.
Im a huge fan of Max but I won't let him pass on this one. Tekken 5 intro was one of the best song intros in Tekken.
Strongly disagree, the farty boy band music "I'm here now" then cutting to lame generic nu metal wasn't it. I immediately hated the music at launch when I first booted it up and that feeling hasn't changed. The games wouldn't stop being fun but T5 is where the series lost me with the tone, story, characters and music becoming safe, boring and formulaic with each entry feeling more like a beefy update to Tekken 5 rather than entirely new games.
Ignoring Tekken 1 each game up until T4 had it's own unique tone and feel. Every intro felt cool, subdued and jazzy while simultaneously being hype, not a second wasted in those intros and the soundtracks were all bangers. It's all subjective but there was a massive change at T5 and it wasn't for me. Games are still fun as hell, objectively would only get better but I went from loving everything about those games to only liking them.
Arc System never disappoints when it comes to making music whether it’s Guilty Gear, Blazblue, or Granblue all of their music is straight bangers.
Don't forget Undernight inbirth.
ArcSys soundtracks are a go-to for work and working out, so much amazing talent
Wouldn't Granblue just be all remixes of tracks from the mobile game?
@@ashkay2920 That was created by FrenchBread, the makers of the Meltyblood games.
The first Tekken Tag Tournament has an all time INCREDIBLE soundtrack. Love it so much I recently bought it after downloading it illegally for 20 years 😂
🎶No eyes, no ears, no nose, no mouth, no body, no shape! 🎶
@@renovendange5388 no body, no mind, no shape, no shape
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike had an impact on me like no other. The jazz, the rap, it just had so much style.
@@DarthEnderX I can respect that opinion. I think I'm partial to the style of music it featured so I was pretty much sold from the title screen. It felt like the music was really integrated into the experience, from the character select screen adlibs like "yeah that makes sense" to the lyrics in the main theme. So it always holds a special place for me. SFA2 def had some bangers though, not a bad choice at all.
Hip hop and jazz influences get a lot of credit in third strike, but I fuckin love the DnB/Jungle sounds present in so much of it too. It's a very unique aspect of it.
Rival Schools also had a really good soundtrack, it was quintessential 90s anime music, the opening was a banger
Modern Rival Schools game when smh...
There's still Rival Schools and Project Justice tracks I think about to this day.
I remember singing the intro theme and not knowing anything I was saying. Incredible.
@@MarcSummersH2O My brother and I made up lyrics everytime watched the intro!
samurai showdown 3 and 4 had such a great soundtrack. especially when the backgrounds changed. it was so good . Oh and lest we not forget nokororu's stage. man that was a classic
Guile's theme is the best. It goes with everything.
I was a teen when Tekken 5 was out and to this day, I still jam the music. Tekken 5 and racing games (mainly Midnight Club 3, and Burnout 3) really shaped my music preference as I grew older. Metal and Trance all the way lol
I remember my first time recognizing how important fighting game ost's were. My dad was a huge comic fan and had just bought me MSHvsSF for ps1, he used captain america and when we heard his theme he said "Wow! This song is just his personality!" After that it's been my favorite since then, especially after reading the comics and understanding what he meant.
Since then I've paid so much more attention to the music and personality it portrays. Thanks for doing this episode, was a trip down memory lane!
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 has a very memorable soundtrack, the sound quality for a game that old is very high. Also, the voice work of Steve Ritchie as Shao Kahn saying things like "Fatality" sounds incredible. Netherrealm's modern games may not have great music, but the sound production is off the charts.
The subway! And the church was just 💪
Personally, MK 9 was the last MK game where the music really grabbed my attention.
@@RippahRooJizah agree, it had a good balance between orchestral and the early games. After that, the music was barely noticeable.
Kof has the best OST of any fighting game hand down! Especially 96,99,2000
Thank you Justin, Matt, and Maximillian for this great episode.
For me the first time I realized that I really took notice of fighting game music was when I was humming the attract mode music from the original Samurai Shodown attract mode. As for the first time that I went out and bought an actual fighting game soundtrack had to be the official KOF96 CD that I picked up on a trip to Little Tokyo. Even now my default ringtone is KOF 96's Esaka theme (still one of my favorite pieces).
Looking forward to the next episode in this series.
Capcom vs SNK 2 was the one that got me into the music
Captain America's Marvel Super Heroes Theme is the Magnum Opus of Capcom soundtracks. It hits hard
This channel and especially these hosts should be given every license and exeption to use music, cinematics and whatever asset beneath the sun from Capcom, Konami, NamcoBandai and so forth, as just one episode of TKO promotes fighting games more than the major outlets have done for a decade. Better yet, release a seperate cut of the episode on a closed platform. I would pay to watch an "extended cut" of every fkn episode of this a second time, if it ment more clips and screens from the mentioned properties, and especially in this case to hear the music. Do not get me wrong tho, you all gave great hummers!
We all know there is no way Killer instinct (2013) isnt going to be in someone's top 3 Fighting game OST of all time.
Mick Gordon was all over the first 2 seasons of that game and the soundtrack is STILL underrated
Cellar Dweller was no slouch at all.
I wish it wasn't as interactive as it is. I just want to hear the great tunes sometimes.
For me my first moment of really recognizing Fighting game music and going "Yo this song is GOOD" was Cammy's Theme in Super SF II on SNES, playing it on an emulator on my phone back in high school, and then hearing Cammy's SF IV Theme around the same time.. Cammy's theme is still one of my all time favorite SF Themes
Cammy’s Theme is so good in every game it’s in
Tekken 2, 3 and Tag Tournament 1 are definitely my favorite OST’s in fighting games. Would really love for the next Tekken to revisit those sounds.
Tatsunoko vs Capcom will forever be my favorite FG ost
SNK Arrange tracks were always some of my favorites. I loved the AoF2 AST (especially Jack and Micky), Real Bout (Terry, Geese, Hon Fu), KOF 98 (Esaka 98) and KOF 99 (WWIII). I love all of them. Well, expect 2001.
Capcom stole my heart with their kickass OST's all through adulthood, however, SNK stole my soul with their music
KOF 96 , THE AoF team intro with it's guitar and the GOENITZ theme, this one is still one of my all time favorite
Trash head goes hard
Killer Instinct is PEAK 90’s game music and still Slaps!
World Heroes 2 had an amazing rockin' OST. Tung Fu Rue's stage in FF1 slapped even the entire game soundtrack and loved SFA3.
Tekken 4 Soundtrack had some great music
Authentic sky
Kistch
Bit Crusher
Inner Shrine
Could make the exact same case for T3,T5, TTT1+2
The entirety of Tekken has great tracks though. I think T7's OSTs is pretty good, T6 is underrated, kinda like T1 and 2's OSTs, and even Revolution has cool music (aka the only good thing to come out from that game)
Authentic Sky is such an amazing track!
Dr. Doom’s theme in MSH and UMvC3 is godlike
His best theme across any media!
A game that has a great soundtrack is Capcom Vs SNK.
2
@@ShikiRyougi05 1
@@HadoukenX interesting
Maybe the best
GOAT
KI, GG and KOf soundtracks are the best by far.
My mind always goes to Daisuke Ishwatari, not just in Guilty Gear, but in Blazblue too, the man is a legend and deserve everything good that happened to him!
Ever listened to Hard Corps: Uprising OST? Even when Daisuke Ishiwatari is making music for a contra game, he's making some of the most GG sounding tracks ever!
Even the main protagonist's are basically just Sol and Baiken😆
The first line of Daisuke's wikipedia entry is that he's " video game developer, illustrator, musician, composer and voice actor."
Just... let that sink in
The man really IS Guilty Gear, from the characters to the storyline to the music to even the character's voices! (he was Sol's first VA)
The theme song to the original Killer Instinct still lives rent free in my head. As do all the music from Street Fighter 2. More recently the themes in UMvC3 are lit. For a while Doctor Strange's theme sat with me as my personal motivational song.
Tekken 6 OST is insanely underrated as well it's got this perfect mix of energetic and badass with this eastern dramatic tone all over it!
100% agree
Karma, Arisa, Sacred Dark, NANCY, Blowing Up The Enemy, Splashing Casino, YUKI, Edge of Spring, Artificial Ruins, that's a lot of bangers
Some of my favorite songs in the series belong to this game, so heck yeah
Edit: also why did I forget Yodelling in Meadow Hill, THE Tekken 6 meme song
Also, while I don't particularly enjoy the fight, T6 has one of the most intense sounding final boss fight songs.
Keiichi Okabe's been with the series since Tekken 2 but Azazel's Chamber" is just straight up Nier stuff everyone is used to lol😄
It's a really cool soundtrack and ridiculously varied too. It has orchestral, techno, edm, nu metal, the list goes on.
@@nocturnalscotsman Agreed. Azazel's Chamber is by far one of my favorite final boss themes in any fighting game. Ground Zero Funk from Tekken 5 is my absolute favorite. The combination of industrial metal and operatic classical music was a mix that should not have worked, but did all too well.
The 3D era mk music will always stick in my mind, the music in those games is so underrated
I know its a beat em up rather than a fighting game, but Streets of Rage 2 deserves a shout out. Probably my favourite game soundtrack of all time. Yuzo Koshiro is a genius.
That soundtrack is god level
GOATED soundtrack, man is spitting nothing but absolute facts here
KOF 13 came with 4 King of Soundtracks cd’s. Those became the soundtrack to my life, so good. (Esp thanks to Dandy J’s how to play KOF video). “Will” is the goat
Some PlayStation 1 games did work in a CD player. I remember listening to the Xmen Mutant Academy soundtrack from the game disk
Kanzuki Beach on SFV is a banger. That's like my favorite Street fighter song, SF ex 3 Sakura's theme number 2, and the last on the podium is kens theme x men vs sf
The music to “Eternal Champions”actually made its way to being sampled by Bone Thugs n Harmony - the menu screen and the end screen where you die both made its way on their album “E. 1999 Eternal”.
the music in the sega cd eternal champions is sick as hell too. 90s as hell dirty ass electric guitars and electronic dance music with some experimentation tossed in
I get more drum n bass from 2nd Impact's ost. The intro, some remixes the character select. Its still in 3rd strike mainly Gill's theme but DnB is in 2nd Impact's blood
Man. Bgm in fighting games has always been the best staple for me! From fighting, to shumps, and even RPG’s, if I can’t flow with it, I have little chances of going back to it. I still love Taiyo Highschool Classroom from Rival Schools! Loved that stage, and that game!
My favorite soundtrack til this day is KOF95. When you put the game in the CD player you got to hear the "arranged" version which was a remixed and extended version!
Drum and bass really needs to make a comeback to fighting games
The music of Guilty Gear is what got me into the series with Xrd, i love the music Especially the character themes, my favourite is definitely Goldlewis' "Kiss of Death"
Justin mentioning The Last Blade 2 for its soundtrack just made my day!! One of the prettiest fg osts for sure which has flown under the radar
Edit: Also I agree with Max, GGX has the best ost of all the Guilty Gear games.
Justin fighting for his life defending Rufus' theme 32:22 i literally laughed out loud I scared my cat
EDIT: Ok so I listened to Rufus' theme and it was as Justin said XD
My top video games themes are this
1) Liu Kang - Born in China, Sub-Zero - Chinese Ninja Warrior by the Immortals
2.) Orchid - Touch me and I'll break, Jago - The Tiger Warrior, TJ Combo - I'm Back go rise, Maya - Temperance & Vengence
3.) David Wise - DKC score
4.) Sonic the hedgehog Score
5.) Super Mario bros score
6.) Street Fighter Score: Ryu (SF4 & 5), Ken (SF2 euro, SF4) Chun-li (SF4 & 5), Charlie Nash (SF5), Sakura (SF4, Alpha), Karin (SFA3)
7.) Capcom V SNK score
8.) KOF Score
First time i noticed a track being really enjoyable was Cammy’s theme. Absolutely beautiful. And then Killer Instinct came out and my mind was blown! Then down the rabbit hole I went- spider man, captain America, storm, gambit, demetri, adon, Sakura, geese Howard, terry and so on 😅
With SF6, my first reactions to some of the songs were like “eh”. As time has gone on and I’ve listened to them more and more, Ryus theme in particular is the best one. I think because it feels like an evolution and seems to fit with the style 6 is going for, I honestly prefer it over his classic theme. Once the games out and time has passed, I could see peoples take changing just cause it’s been out and we’re used to it by then.
Actually, Max is a bit wrong, some PS1 games actually streamed their music from separate files on the disc. So you could play the tracks from that disc on a CD player starting on track 2.
Thanks for confirming, I thought some PS1 and all Saturn could do it. I remember all Saturn games could be played in a CD player. Track 1 was data (silent) but all other tracks were the OST.
Soul Edge baby. From the intro, to the Khan Super Session soundract, everything was so perfect.
My first love of fighting game music was the intro to SoulBlade, holy shit i would genuinely put that game in to watch the intro and then turn it off, and when ever my friends wanted to play it i made everyone watch the intro first, every damn time!
Would love to see a three punches on the act of cheesing and scummy mechanics breakdown. Love the chemistry of you guys bouncing topics off eachother. It is really organic and real. Keep it up.
Tekken 4's soundtrack was PHENOMENAL!
Soul Edge opening song is just perfect
Great episode!! Loved VF2. KOF 96, Toshinden, and SF EX music!! I totally popped my Sega Saturn games into the CD player to listen to the tunes!!👍👍
I think the Street Fighter concept album Matt is talking about is actually a trilogy of concept albums; "Street Fight! Round 1, 2 and 3" by ManFactory, and the song he is talking about is "Balrog 24/7". The first one is actually a pretty solid album, "Chun Li, I'm Loving it" and "Good Grief Zangief" are also a couple of bops. you can find all their music on here on TH-cam. Definitely worth checking out at least once.
Mr. Big's KOF '96 Theme.
Dust Man (Arranged)
♪～(´ε｀ )
KOF 96's soundtrack is great
@@thoughtfulfoulmouth Definitely. Great Game.
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha for me had an incredible soundtrack and I always loved stretching the fights out just to keep hearing the music.
When it comes to music in fighting games, I always come back to Guilty Gear Xrd and Strive. Heavy Day in Xrd is one of my favorite tracks, as well as some character themes in Strive; especially Sol's theme.
Despite Guilty Gear being my favorite soundtrack, I love the 2013 character select theme. So much so that I even have it as my ringtone!
Pokken's soundtack is excellent (and it's a fantastic competitive fighting game, albeit very misunderstood). "Magikarp Festival" is well know, but there's tons of other amazing tracks, like "Neos City Night", "Tellur Town Autumn", "Thalia Beach", "Blue Dome", etc to name a few. Really reccomend the game if people want a very neutral and fundamentals focused fighting game where every character is viable.
I can't believe no one mentioned the fact that no matter how evil edgy or dark iori may seem, he's got the coolest jams by far.
Guile's theme for SFV really sold it for me, what a banger of a re-rendition
Always fan of sha-v, Snk composer since kof 95. Snk song always varies and some genre attached to the character. Iori with jazz and terry with happy-go-lucky ost,Etc. gave the game personality
As a casual ...good music is a most for me...the first killer instinct, mvc2, mortal kombat 1-3ultimate , first guilty gear , sf2,sf3,samurai shodown omfg :) we were so spoiled in the 90's and didn't even realized it
I'm betting on a lot of SNK shoutouts. I also hope they pick music tracks from some obscure or even some terrible fighting games.
I noticed the music walking past an X-men vs Street Fighter machine in an arcade back in the day. For some reason, the synth part of Chun-li's theme I could hear pretty clearly amongst the roar of an arcade scene and that stuck with me. By the time Marvel Superheroes vs Street Fighter released on PS1 and I was able to enjoy the music more clearly, I fell in love!
Street Fighter EX3 OST is so good! “Ancient Zone Theme” was damn near life changing for me
Soul Blade/Edge PS1 (Khan Super Session arrangement). And _that_ intro of course!
It’s started for me with sf2. One day I just went to options and listened to the bgm all day. That is when I realized video game music was 🔥.
I remember putting one of the psx kof games into a cd player as a kid and hearing instrumental after instrumental, then having my mind blown as My Love started playing.
It was the first song with Japanese lyrics I'd ever heard and I still think it's a banger to this day.
Surprised Melty / Uniclr / Raito didn't get a mention, probably some of the best music in all of fighting games
💯 agree
"Strange Sunset" was Guile's EX theme. I borrowed the name for a painting.
Street Fighter EX plus Alpha had an incredible soundtrack
This will be a good episode! Personally, I think that Soulcalibur has the best video game OSTs of all time. Under the Star of Destiny, Confrontation, Raise Thy Sword, and Forsaken Sanctuary among others are absolute masterpieces. Tekken is more of a mixed bag, but it has some absolute bangers; Snow Castle (the original from T5:DR, not the remix from TTT2) is my favorite.
EDIT: I'm glad Justin agrees about Snow Castle and sad that the others don't know it.
Oh, yeah! For me, SC3 has some of my favorite tracks: Endless Warfare, If There Was Any Other WAy, Forsaken Sanctuary! Love SC Music!!
I've never really played Killer Instinct but I can't thank you enough for putting me on to the 'Killer Cuts' soundtrack now. This shit is incredible!!!
Last Blade 2 has some amazing arrangements that doesn't get enough attention. I wrote the score for Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid and although thrash metal and orchestral is the driving force there, I tried to keep the drama and intrigue of LB2 underlying it. It peeks out during intros and transitions and is the spirit center of what I was trying to do there. Just look up Last Blade 2 Decision at Daybreak. Been wanting to cover that with some metal injection.
and the game ain't bad, either.
Some PS1 games played music in a cd player. that’s how i discovered the greatness of King of Fighters ‘95 arranged SOT
Duke's theme on Toshinden 1 and Akira's theme in VF2 are two of the best pieces of music I've ever heard to this day.
The NGPC SNK vs Capcom has such an impressive rendition of well known themes for a handheld. Not only translated for handheld but they actually sound really good. It probably doesn't compete with non-handheld tracks, but worth a listen for just how impressive it is. Same with the Last Blade on NGPC.
Music in video games is a big motivator for me. It's almost ironic that's the topic of this episode as I got randomly recommended a vid of Oni: Ninja Master just yesterday and now I've fallen in love with the Germany stage theme of that game. Been looking for ways to play that game now because of it.
Halfway through the podcast and I keep pausing to listen to these themes lol and it has inspired me to finally make a video game Playlist archive to keep track of and think back on the fighting game music that I loved.
Alex’s theme from 2nd Impact, Paul’s theme from Tekken 2 on PS1, those tracks scream New York in the 90’s.
My favorite Tekken OST was (and is) Tekken 2. It's amazing.
When it comes to MK music, I have the same issue with not remembering a lot of it, especially modenr MK but the one exception is for MK Deception's character select screen. That song went hard
That’s about the only theme from that era of MK I can remember too
Tekken 2, 3, Tag and 5 have the greatest music ^__^
I enjoyed a few cuts from 4 as well. Like the airport, hon maru and arena themes
How dare you not mention T4?!
One of the best OST from the 90s for an updated tracks for classic SF characters to me is Alpha 2 the console version.
many characters in KoF had their own themes Psycho Soldiers and London March were awesome
Tekken has so many bangers! But it was Tekken 5: DR that actually made me want to get the OST. Had to import it from Japan.
But they’re all so good, even T7.
I love a lot of music most fighting games put out. But Melty or rather Ratio is just banger after banger. I love both ost's so very much.
No mention of Skullgirls is a little surprising to me, unfinished business is such a good track
Blazblue has absolute amazing character themes, tons of identity with each one and it all fits well. I still play the soundtrack that came with the first game(Calamity Trigger) to this day, completely top tier. Blue Beating easily top 3 character select themes of all time
The TKO crew talking about how they burned songs onto their dreamcast and listened to them while playing games was the sole reason i wanted the xbox 360 over the ps3. Playing smackdown vs raw games on the xbox 360 was so memoriable because you could use the songs on your hardrive for the wrestlers entrances thats why SVR community was so big during the 360 era. Was kinda sad they got rid of burn music on the xbox one
Man, I've always loved Bloody Roar Extreme/Primal Fury's soundtrack, I still listen to it during streams and such, but I couldn't choose just one FG OST to listen to, there so many hidden gems and straight bangers on too many games to just ignore.
Mickey's music in Art of Fighting 2 was actually pretty rad.
It was like Japanese Rocky. I love the arranged version.
I feel like tekken 4’s ost doesn’t get enough love. It just embraces it’s darker tone
T4 OST is so good!
Samurai showdown had some nice bg music, that was very complementary to the fighting.
I legit cant fathom that the mvc2 soundtrack of all soundtracks would be hated so much by justin wong as someone whos never played mvc2 but adores watching the game and listening to the music during my muay thai privates that part of the podcast blew my mind
A huge roster but no character themes is criminal imo.
Awesome episode, lots of great soundtrack picks!! UMvC3 has such a hype soundtrack, I've been listening to it since launch. The Street Fighter EX soundtracks are so good as well, everything Shinji Hosoe / SuperSweep works on has such a unique sound to it! They also did the soundtracks for Fighting Layer and Super Dragon Ball Z, which are pretty underrated yet equally awesome!