Catchiest video game song?
I thought of this post entirely because I have the Pokémon Center theme from Pokémon HeartGold SoulSilver stuck in my head, and it has wriggled in over and over for months despite me hearing and actively playing other music.
This was a triumph...
I'm making a note here, huge success....
my hot take is that even though portal is a masterpiece this song is so cringe because i associate it with unfunny "the narwhal bacons at midnight" type redditors
I feel like the association of Portal with that era and that type of person, even though I think most of them probably became different people with age, even though I was practically one of them, makes the song a little harder to enjoy. I am aware of Ellen McLain's (GLaDOS voice actress) opera creds and think that's super cool though.
Sorry to the composer, it is not your fault. Similarly, I think maybe the same thing happened with Undertale. I think I played before the fandom got a bad reputation, so it and its songs are not quite tainted in my mind, in fact I'm a big fan of the game's use of leitmotifs (am I using the word right?) and really enjoy its music, but if I came in after I saw the fandom, I might like the work less through no fault of the composer.
Tetris Theme A.
There are better pieces of music in this thread, but this one is the strongest earworm.
This is one of the songs I hum to myself to get rid of more annoying earworms
My brain defaults to this if I feel the need to fill silence with sound.
Does the Wii shop music count as a video game song?
OG Super Mario NES, World 1-1
Those first 6 notes of 1-2 tho...
What kind of overalls does Mario wear?
Denim denim denim🎵
For some reason the SMB2 theme song is stuck in my head all the time. Something about the jazziness of it.
NA NANANA NANAANANA NA KATAMARI DAMACY
Man the soundtrack alone could get me to play Katamari games. I got a birthday gift card recently and was deciding what game to get, when one of the OSTs came up on YT Music and I listened to it for like a week straight. Immediately got We ❤️ Katamari + DLC on 80% sale.
Could scream that shit in my car honestly.
I recently obtained a unicorn of a CRT and have been replaying this
DuckTales (NES) - Moon Theme. The covers are also awesome.
My time has come. As someone who almost exclusively listens to instrumental soundtrack from movies and games, including from games I have never played, these are the ones that most often get stuck in my head (in no particular order). A plus "+" indicates a song that got stuck in my head regularly before I ever played the game, while an asterisk "" indicates a song that still gets stuck in my head, despite being from a game I have never played at all.
But finally, the song that I credit with making me obsessed with instrumental soundtrack, because I fell asleep with it playing on repeat for a whole night at the age of 5, and then lost the game cartridge, so I forgot what it was from, and which I would get stuck in my head roughly once a month throughout my entire childhood until I finally found the song THIRTEEN YEARS LATER:
Ω) Town Theme - Final Fantasy II
Hell March from Red Alert
MOON - Hydrogen From Hotline Miami. I'm noticably better at the game when this one is on.
I'm just gonna leave this gem here.
megalovania is one of the badasses in my book
Minecraft by C418 lives rent free in my head. Sometimes i'll start humming it to myself and not even realize
It's an old one, but the Outrun soundtrack was proper catchy.
Splash Wave, Passing Breeze, or Magical Sound Shower?
Lost woods.
Honestly anything from OoT, but Lost Woods, Kakariko Villiage, and Gerudo Valley in particular are ingrained into my gray matter.
Opening theme of Civ VI. It‘s Songno di Volare nade by Christopher Tin.
Baba Yetu is also great
This guy studies the old magicks
How has no one mentioned the tetris theme? Dum dada dum dada dum dada dum dada dum di da da da
Back when groceries were cheaper, I would hum that while putting items on the belt to get scanned.
Doom E1M1 on my soundblaster and my Roland MT-32, all pumped through my surround sound system in my concrete dorm room in late 1992 and I won’t hear otherwise.
E1M1 is great, top tier music.
The level clear screen music, E2M8, E1M8, and E1/2M9 tracks are all other top tier track contending for the throne.
Doom II introduced a few more bangers too, but I'm not as able to call the level codes to mind off the top of my head.
Easy answer for me, chemical plant zone from Sonic the hedgehog 2
Tetris
Literally anything from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
I can't pick just one, honestly. Aside from the Tetris theme and World 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros., I consider these to be not only catchy but also iconic:
Naaaaa na-na-na-na-na-naaaa na na, na na na-na naaaaaaaa!
Also Unbreakable Determination from Ninja Gaiden 1.
A lot from Undertale. Personal favourite is Spider Dance.
Other than this, The Trumpet 4 is catchy as heck.
Mine Windbag Mine is also incredibly catchy as heck, Darren Korb is super talented.
The entire soundtrack from FTL is fantastic and catchy and full of ear worms.
As far as Pokemon goes, I've always been partial to the Team Galactic battle theme from DPPT. And though "catchy" doesn't quite do it justice, the night theme for Jubilife City, also in DPPT, is tremendous. Walking into that city for the first time at night was one of the defining moments of my video game life.
And the Shiver City theme from Paper Mario is unforgettable.
I don't think anything will ever beat Still Alive from Portal though.
The Driftveil City Theme from Pokemon B&W pops up in my mind quite frequently, I'd say its up there in the list for catchiest Pokemon tunes. Honorable mention for Cave Story's Main Theme (the wii version is clearly superior from all others and I will not accept any other opinions on the matter)
Red Alert - Hell March https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HUWUtTZvK4
My suggestion was Red Alert too, but from 3. I will never know the words, but the tune lives in my heart.
...there's one clear victor and it's not even close...
Forgot about this one! You are correct
One? Ill narrow it down to three,
These are all outstanding songs, but Lost Woods is the only one I'd describe as "catchy"
True, i agree with that. I will amend to be:
The entire sountrack from the original Toejam & Earl on Genesis, shit rewired my child brain in funky new ways
Yup
I can never pick one, so here's a few:
Hell March! The Red Alert 2 version is the best one to me, maybe because it was the first I heard or because it just feels punchier.
The second one isn't bad, but I like the more trash metal style and less overwhelming bass in the first.
Which I guess is why Iove Andrew Hulshult's remake of E1M1
Iunno how this wasn't mentioned, but Payday 2 has a lot of catchy / going-hard songs.
Gonna leave 3:
I've got 3 that I randomly hum in my head every now and then.
Great picks, Castlevania and Mega Man are my top 2 fave soundtrack franchises.
Mega Man 2, Wily Stage 1: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aTbfpkByIM8&pp=ygUdbWVnYSBtYW4gMiB3aWx5IHN0YWdlIDEgbXVzaWM%3D
Heck. Half the Mega Man 2 sound track is probably in the top ten.
I still credit the Wood Man stage music for providing me focus and making it through a downpour on an unfamiliar highway with construction.
Yeah, Wood Man might be my #2. Possibly Metal man, too, though.
We All Lift Together from Warframe goes fucking hard.
The Stupendium made an Outer Worlds song called The Fine Print that also goes hard af for either setting imo.
Some other bangers are the entire Silent Hill 3 sound track (You're Not Here and I Need Love are my personal favorites) and My Dark Disquiet by Poets of the Fall from Control.
Here a little late with some certified bangers in no particular order:
Monty on the Run - Main theme (Commodore 64)
Sonic CD [JP] - Quartz Quadrant (Present)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Wandering Ghosts
Looked for someone to mention Mega Man. You picked a good one, but I’ll add the opening intro theme for Mega Man 2 for my catchy pick.
Not what you asked for, but my music taste was shaped massively by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series
Everything from Grim Fandango.
It's gotta be from Final Fantasy, hard to choose just one when you got: Suteki da Ne, real Emotions, Eyes on Me, Sen no Kotoba, Otherworld, One Winged Angel, etc... there's a reason why I love Theatrhythm. But if I had to it will probably be Melodies of Life.
Actually, I change my mind, this is the catchiest video game song.
Iwatodai Dorm from Persona 3 Reload was the most recent one that really got stuck in my head, but it happens a lot for me. It’s not always video game music, but probably is a majority of the time.
Sonic two when sonic drowns.
Borderlands 1 and 2 title songs
Short change hero lives rent free in my head
No rest for the wicked - cage the elephant
No heaven - dj champion
From memory, but I think those are right
The entire soundtrack of Chrono Trigger, but Schala's Theme is my absolute favorite. 30 years later, and i *still" let it play out in it's entirety the first timer it plays in Zeal.
Suicide run, Mass Effect 2.
It's cheating, but there was a track in need for speed carbon that was catchy as hell. Love me or hate me, by Lady Sovereign
Not technically video game music, but it's one of the few tracks in any video game that I went out of my way to find outside of a game.
Old RuneScape Soundtrack: Harmony
The
I just recently finished this one, and The Man Who Erased His Name shortly after that. Apparently I've been sleeping on the Yakuza series, because they're fantastic, and have amazing soundtracks.
The main theme of Papers, Please: https://youtu.be/DbBB1j5qAFs
All versions of moon over the castle from the gran tursimo series, the version from GT4 goes hard.
Megaman 2 Wily stage 1
bfg division? maybe the katamari theme song.
i play a lot of shmups and their songs are often stuck in my head, most recently some stuff from raycrisis. fire emblem warriors songs get stuck in my head as well.
you might like !shmups@lemmus.org if you are not already subbed to it
been there for a hot minute! solid little group.