Why I Love Touhou 14.3: Impossible Spell Card

Touhou! One of my favorite video game franchises of all time. You can expect a fair amount of Touhou on this list, but Touhou 14.3: Impossible Spell Card is notable for being the only one of series creator ZUN's spinoffs. There are a bunch of Touhou spinoffs out there from the fighting games which I haven't played to some smaller-scale experiments which 14.3 falls into. That being said, calling ISC just a simple experiment would be a disappointment. It's actually one of the most thoughtfully put together games ZUN has ever made.

Okay, so I know Touhou is a massive franchise and its lore is a lot so I'll try to keep things simple. Touhou 14.3 is a spinoff of the series based around the primary antagonist of the previous game, Seija Kijin. Seija is essentially an opposite day youkai called an amanojaku, meaning she hates what people likes, likes what people hates, will always do the opposite of what she's ordered to do, and will be a jerk and cause chaos because that's the opposite of what she should be doing. Without delving too deep into Touhou 14's plot, Seija wants to overthrow society so she uses an inchling named Sukuna to get access to a miracle mallet she could use to make docile youkai go berserk and corrupt people's weapons. Obviously, she's defeated by the main protagonists and as of Impossible Spell Card, Seija is wanted for a bounty after everything she's done. Seija isn't that strong of a youkai, so on top of her laundry list of other crimes ranging from petty to war, she's stolen a bunch of items from other members of the cast that she can use to keep herself safe. And with all that background covered, let's talk about the game.

Impossible Spell Card can best be described as a cross between a bullet hell and a puzzle game. In each of the 75 levels, Seija is pitting against a impossible bullet pattern and it's up to you to figure out how to use the different items to get past that pattern. You start off with only a fabric you can use to hide in the background for a few seconds, but you slowly get more and more cheating items you can pick from like an umbrella that lets you screen warp, a camera that lets you clear away bullets, and a literal bomb. Each item also has a passive ability that you can use if you equip it as a secondary item, so by the end of the game, you have a pretty massive number of item combinations that you can use to tackle each stage. That's why I said ISC feels like a puzzle game. All of the bullet patterns feel meticulously designed to take advantage of all the cheating items, and you need to figure out the best combination for any given pattern. The difficulty curve isn't just great because the bullet patterns naturally get harder, it's also great because you slowly get more items and combinations that you'll need to experiment with. It's just such a creative take on the bullet hell formula that makes each stage super satisfying to figure out. ZUN said himself that this game required the most playtesting out of any Touhou game and yeah, it really shows.

While it may not have any difficulty levels like all the mainline Touhou games, Impossible Spell Card is also incredibly accessible. As I said earlier, each pattern has at least one item combo that can make getting past it fairly easy in terms of execution, and even if you're stuck on a few patterns, you never need to beat all of them to move onto the next batch. And on top of that, you can level up each of the items by using them so even failed attempts will still feel like progress. If you do want more difficulty out of ISC, however, it keeps track of which items you use for each pattern, meaning 100% will require you to figure out how to use all nine of the items to make it through each pattern. Even outside of that, there's a whole achievements board to fill out, the first one in the series too. And if that's still not enough for you, I haven't even gotten to the most genius part about Impossible Spell Card: It's not impossible at all. Whether it's with careful positioning, tight micrododging, or discovering some other exploit, every single pattern is totally possible without using items at all, and the game even keeps track of it. It's just such a brilliant move, and kinda fits the cheating theme of the game really well. Between the 100 puzzles, many item combinations, achievements, leveling system, and trying to become the Ultimate Cheating Life Form, this game packs in a ton of content for all types of players.

But while the gameplay itself is already immaculately designed, what really solidifies Impossible Spell Card as one of my favorite Touhou games is the story, my favorite story in the franchise. I've already rambled about Seija as a character and what ISC does with her several times before, but I want to really go into detail about it here. At its surface, Impossible Spell Card is a fun John Wick-esque narrative where you get to play as the villain for once, fighting against tons of protagonists and other antagonists alike as they all try to get a piece of that bounty. Seija is very much a bad guy, probably one of the baddest guys in the franchise, and that's part of the fun. But every once in a while, you're going to have to fight one of Seija's past allies from the previous game. First it's the Grassroots Youkai Network that formed Touhou 14's earlier bosses, then it's the very tsukumogami she created with that Miracle Mallet, and finally, even her closest ally Sukuna turns on her. It's deserved too, Seija manipulated Sukuna all throughout that last game. Sukuna calling her out for it is absolutely warranted. 

You could argue that Impossible Spell Card is a character study of Seija and what it means to be an amanojaku. Each of the ten batches of levels comes with a line of dialogue from Seija which shows her change from cocky and confident, to suddenly worried as she starts getting pressured by everyone else. But once Sukuna turns her back on her, Seija gains a new sense of determination, claiming she'll make enemies of everyone instead. By the end of the game, with everyone having turned against her, Seija has realized that she doesn't need "allies", and owns her status as an amanojaku, leading to this ending message:

Congratulations!

You've captured all the scenes!
This is something to be proud of.

However, in return for this,
Seija has lost all her allies.

It's not something to be sad about.
No matter what, amanojaku
will never be able to make friends, after all...

See? A totally happy ending... right? Why do I feel conflicted about this?

Part of it is the jingle that plays, which doesn't sound super triumphant or tragic? It just sounds... really mixed and confused. As if the game itself isn't sure of whether or not this counts as a happy ending or not. Even Seija doesn't look happy or triumphant, just exhausted and relieved it's all over. I think the fact that Seija is unable to make any allies or friends because of her nature is kind of a tragedy. Those few scenes where her past allies called her out didn't feel cathartic, only pitiful. It feels like she ruins everything for herself because she has to, and she has no idea what she's missing. Seija pushes everyone away because she doesn't know any better, because that's what amanojakus do, right? And when you're looking at her through the perspective of humanity, a social species, that feels really sad.

.

And that of course begs the question: Can Seija ever change? Can she ever actually make friends, or even desire companionship enough to do so? I think she can, and there's evidence as such. As I said earlier, Sukuna pushing back against Seija was kind of a huge turning point from her, she almost seemed angry about it, and reacting by embracing the fact that she doesn't need any allies. And since this game came out, supplementary material has shown that Seija has been warming up to Sukuna, and they even reconcile in Grimoire Of Usami. Do you see why I find Impossible Spell Card's narrative so fascinating? For as simple of a story as it is, for how minimal it is in terms of dialogue, it explores Seija in such interesting and thought-provoking ways. It really delves into the nature of this unique mythical species and whether or not someone as misanthropic and contrary as Seija could ever actually care about anyone. It doesn't redeem her, not in the slightest she's still a pretty awful youkai, but it puts the player inside her head for a bit and shows just how conflicting and lonely her life really is.

 Oh yeah, and since this is a Touhou game, the music is naturally really good. There's a heavy emphasis on rock and synth that really fits a character as edgy as Seija, and tracks like Raise The Flag on Cheating, Cheat Against The Impossible Danmaku, and Eternal Transient Reign go incredibly hard. There isn't really too much else I can say about it, it's a really short soundtrack, but it's more great Touhou music goodness.

As you could probably tell from the fact that I spent roughly four paragraphs raving about ISC's story and Seija as a character that this is a game I am very normal about. For a little spinoff game, Impossible Spell Card has one of Touhou's most thought-provoking narratives and character arcs and has so much substance if you choose to look a bit deeper into it. But even if you don't care about Seija's fascinating conflict, you still get an incredible hybrid between a bullet hell and a puzzle game with an inventive premise, thoughtful bullet patterns, a great sense of accessibility for all skill levels, and a ridiculous amount of replay value for those who really want to dive into the game's mechanics. I think thoughtful really is the best word to describe Impossible Spell Card, it feels more purposeful than anything else ZUN has ever made.

Why I Love Mario Party 6

It may seem a bit strange that I'm such a diehard fan of the Mario Party games. Aren't they all a bunch of repetitive minigame collections that are only fun with friends? You'd think that, but when the board game mechanics are this interesting and ever-changing, the minigames are this addictive and fun, and the charm and side content is this immense, I think that would be selling the series short a bit. Mario Party 6 in particular serves as a great example of what makes Mario Party so engaging on a gameplay level, it's arguably the most unanimously beloved entry in the series for a very good reason.

Mario Party 6 is one of a whopping four Mario Party games for the Nintendo Gamecube, and all of them are known for tossing in some sort of wild gimmick that drastically affects how you play, usually for the worst. Mario Party 4 introduces the Mega and Mini Mushrooms that vastly restrict your movement, Mario Party 5 randomly distributes items (it shouldn't be hard to figure out why that's a problem), and Mario Party 7's Bowser Time throws everyone into an unavoidable Bowser space that brings the pacing to a screeching halt. Mario Party 6, on the other hand, is different. Its gimmick actively improves on the game in pretty much every way. Mario Party 6's central gimmick is a day/night cycle. Every three turns, the board shifts from day to night and certain aspects of the board shift along with it. Most of the minigames also have day/night versions based on when you play them, and in rare cases, this even changes how the minigame is played. 

Mario Party 6's day/night cycle is simply a genius mechanic. Mario Party in general is at its best when you have to think several steps ahead to win, and many of the best boards give you a simple set of rules that you have to figure out how to work around. For example, Woody Woods has split paths that change directions every few turns, Sweet Dream has bridges that switch whenever someone crosses it, and Bowser Land has a Bowser Parade that shows up every five turns that you can redirect to head towards your opponent. These kinds of boards promote strategy and spatial reasoning, and with the day/night cycle, every single one of Mario Party 6's boards is like this. On top of that, Mario Party 6 introduces more unique gimmick boards that gave the series a much-needed dose of board variety. So you have your standard board like E Gadd Garage which have gears that move whenever the time of day changes, but then there's also Snowflake Lake where the time of day changes how far the star-stealing Chain Chomps can go, or Faire Square where the time of day changes how much a Star costs and what activities are available. 

Even the one board where the day/night cycle doesn't do much, Castaway Bay, still manages to be one of my favorites because it keeps this philosophy anyway. It's a linear board where either Bowser or DK is waiting at the end and they switch whenever someone reaches them or steps on a Happening Space, it's super tense and stressful at times!

The item system is also a massive improvement over previous games, particularly the Orbs in Mario Party 5. The Capsules in Mario Party 6 may not have that neat element of choice where you must decide to use an Orb on yourself or toss it onto the board, but it's far more streamlined, far better balanced, and you can actually buy them in shops this time. Add in a pretty massive pool of Capsules you can use that even change depending on the board, a nice amount of useful dice modifiers, and a pretty charming presentation and you get one of the best item systems in the series. And with fantastic boards that promote strategy, and a fair and balanced item system, I can easily call Mario Party 6 one of the most skill-based entries in the series.

Another thing that Mario Party 6 nails is the single-player content. Mario Party's story modes tend to be pretty hit or miss since a fair chunk of them tend to just be making the player play through all the boards in succession. There are some genuinely great story modes like MP1's Mini Game Island and MP5's minigame-centric Koopa Kid-themed campaign, but Mario Party 6's Solo Mode is especially noteworthy for having three entirely original boards. No other Mario Party has single-player exclusive boards, and that alone makes MP6's Solo Mode worth playing. The main premise is that you're on a short linear board and each space will let you play a certain type of minigame. You only have so much time before you inevitably reach the end of the board, so your goal is to play as many minigames as possible and try to stop at the very last space to get the Rare Minigame. Thus, this game's Solo Mode is less like an actual story and more of a fun way to unlock minigames, which is a godsend considering how tedious grinding for minigames could be in other games. It's just such a cool single-player offering that solves one of the series' biggest issues while giving you a bunch of neat new boards to play around with.

And that leads us to the minigames themselves, which are absolutely amazing. Mario Party 6 has easily the best minigame lineup out of any Mario Party game, hands down. Nearly every minigame is a hit, there are so many creative and addicting games and the abundance of platforming-heavy games in particular is very much welcome. Just listing out all my favorites would be a near impossibility... but I'll try it anyway:

Granite Getaway is a tense Indiana Jones-style chase scene filled with fun obstacles to dodge and opportunities to push your opponents into harm's way.

Catch You Letter is a frantic spin on the standard collecting minigame where simply catching the falling letters is only part of the equation. You also have to deliver them to the Shy Guy running around the center at top speeds. 

Lift Leapers is basically a standard 2D Mario platforming level that's just as well-designed as something in an actual mainline game, and trying to beat my best time with every attempt is super addicting.

Pokey Punch-Out lets you punch the hell out of Pokeys. What else is there to say?

Snow Brawl is a surprisingly well-balanced snowball fight where one player with some AI companions faces off against the other three. It's both fun and incredibly high-stakes.

Ball Dozers is a fun puzzle game where finding the path of least resistance requires a lot of foresight and dropping the ball in a bad cluster of pegs can be crippling.

 Rocky Road is a visually unique 2v2 game that requires both players to be on their A-game to break these boulders as quick as possible.

Control Shtick is an incredibly inventive twin-stick twitch reaction game.

And T-Minus Five is a simple but effective timing game where the only fault for losing is your own.

That's only scratching the surface, by the way. And on top of all of that, as I mentioned earlier, most of these minigames essentially have two skins based on the time of day. And in some cases like Conveyor Bolt or What Goes Up, this gives you two entirely different minigames in one.

Like most other Mario Party games, MP6 is also chock-full of side content and extra modes. Aside from Party Mode, Solo Mode, and Free Play, there's also a bunch of alternate minigame modes like the very fun Decathlon, several beefier Rare minigames like a Bowser fortune teller and a full-on puzzle game, and a shop where you can use your Stars to buy a bunch of stuff like unlockable boards and characters, sound tests and taunts, harder CPU difficulties, and pages for a cute little pop-up book. There's also an entire extra mode focused around the Gamecube's microphone which was packaged with Mario Party 6, and it's a fun bonus with a bunch of neat side modes like a quiz and an obstacle course and some bonus minigames. To put it simply, there is a lot here to do and experiencing everything Mario Party 6 has to offer will take a long time regardless of if you're on your own or with friends.

As far as presentation goes, I will be the first to admit that Mario Party 6 is not a high point in the series. The graphics still look as colorful and polished as always, but the charming dreamy and stage-play-inspired visuals that I loved about the first five games is pretty much entirely gone here. The soundtrack is good and has a lot of stellar tracks like Night On The Bay, Slow And Steady, and Amusing, but once again, it pales in comparison to that of the first five games. That being said, where Mario Party 6 does excel at is in its theming. Everything about this game's presentation exists to hammer home the central motif of day vs night. The main story is that the sun (Brighton) and moon (Twila) are fighting and you need to get Stars to help them get along again. The hub is split between the day and night, with some of the modes being hosted by either only Brighton or Twila. It's a classic Nintendo move, taking a single concept and running with it as far as they can, which really helps Mario Party 6 come together as a cohesive product.

But while the vibes of Mario Party 6 may not hit the same as some of the other entries in the series, on a gameplay level, this is easily one of the best party games ever made. The day/night cycle is a masterful addition perfectly executed, making the boards more strategic, giving the minigames more replayability, and strengthening the thematic cohesion of the whole package. But even beyond that, Mario Party 6 has consistently fun and varied boards, a perfectly balanced item system, one of the best single-player modes in the series, tons of side content, and the greatest lineup of minigames in the franchise. As far as Mario Party gameplay goes, it does not get any better than Mario Party 6.

Why I Love The 3D Rayman Games

Despite not having gotten a game in years, Rayman is still one of Ubisoft's most consistently high quality series, not a single entry is bad or even mediocre. I love the UbiArt games to bits and I've even warmed up to the original over time, but there's just something particularly special about the 3D games, Rayman 2: The Great Escape and Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. They take the fascinating dreamlike world of Rayman and bring it to life and ways never seen before or since, while also being top-notch 3D platformers of their respective eras. So, here is the first of several multi-game entries in my Top 100 list.

Let's start with Rayman 2: The Great Escape, the first and more well-known of the 3D Rayman games. As far as story and atmosphere goes, The Great Escape is easily my favorite of the two. Rayman 2 starts with its main antagonist, the evil pirate Razorbeard ,having already won. He's occupied the Glade Of Dreams, has begun enslaving its inhabitants, and has imprisoned its hero, Rayman. While you escape from prison pretty early in the game's strikingly memorable prologue, you spend much of Rayman 2 exploring the Glade Of Dreams and learning about the effects that Razorbeard's tyranny has had on its inhabitants. It's a simple but well-executed story of rebellion that refuses to pull its punches with its villains. Razorbeard spends the game doing increasingly cruel things to Rayman and his friends from brainwashing to enslavement to environmental destruction, and all of it is treated with the utmost seriousness. This also lends the game a uniquely dark, dissonant, and melancholic atmosphere, as you travel through this lush, gorgeous, naturalistic locals that are being torn apart by the more industrial Razorbeard. Of course, everything culminates in a truly climactic multi-stage final act where Rayman finally takes the fight to Razorbeard, and it feels incredibly satisfying after everything the evil pirate has done.

On a gameplay level, Rayman 2 might be one of the best-aged 3D platformers of its time, right up there with Spyro and Rocket: Robot On Wheels. Rayman's control is so snappy and responsive. He turns and jumps on a dime, and he can even jump out of his ledge grab making confident platforming a cinch. Nothing about Rayman's movement in this game has aged poorly, he still plays like an absolute dream. The combat is also pretty alright, focused more on dodging projectile attacks as you and your opponents fire blasts at each other. It's dragged down a bit by limited enemy variety and i-frames, but it's still leagues more interesting and fitting than most 3D platforming combat of the time. Rayman 2 also employs a lot of chase sequences, from the Shell riding sequences to the several slide sections to the wakeboarding in Marshes Of Awakening to the chase sequence in The Precipice. I like these parts, they're really fun and frantic, heightening the adventurous feeling of Rayman 2 and giving the game more variety without straying too far from its core platforming.

The level design in Rayman 2 is generally really strong too, boasting a wide variety of settings, setpieces, and even lengths. You never really know what you're going to get when you enter a new stage, whether it's a lengthy gauntlet like The Sanctuary Of Stone And Fire (one of the best platforming stages ever by the way), something more calming like Whale Bay, or one of those aforementioned chase sequences. There's also a strong level of exploration here as levels are populated with Lums to find, Cages to break, and in the Dreamcast version, hidden crystals that unlock minigames. Searching all of these collectibles and going for 100% is super rewarding, and finding that last 1000th yellow Lum is one of my favorite secrets in all of gaming. While some of the chase sequences I keep mentioning may be a bit of a pain to fully clear, for the most part, Rayman 2's levels does a great job at toeing the line between propulsive linearity and engaging exploration. 

And on top of all of that, this game still looks and sounds fantastic to this day. Rayman 2's aesthetic and art direction is unlike any game out there, from the distinct swirl-heavy textures, to the signature low-framerate animation that almost looks like stop-motion, to just how harsh and jagged everything looks. In its efforts to look more cartoony and artificial than other 3D games on the N64, I think it's aged better visually than a pretty big chunk of them. The music is also really good, as is the norm for most Rayman soundtracks. There's a great usage of leitmotifing in how Rayman's theme is used throughout the game, and the naturalistic instruments and atmospheric pieces do a lot to heighten the game's already impeccable sense of ambience. The highlights for me would be The Hall Of Doors, The Great Escape, The Fairy Glade, Riding The Shell, and The Grolgoth. I also want to give props to the gibberish voice acting, particularly that of Rayman himself. I've always been a fan of when games have their characters fictional, possibly even indecipherable languages, and Rayman 2 scratches that itch so hard. Honorable mention goes to the pig latin speak in Origins though.

So that all sounds fantastic and even if it never got a sequel, Rayman 2 would still probably being on my list. However, I actually like Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc even more, though it was a bit of a process since this game does not make the best first impression. My favorite thing about The Great Escape was its atmosphere and tone, so Hoodlum Havoc veering into a far lighter direction with comedian voice actors felt like a massive downgrade especially at first. Rayman himself was still great even with full voice acting as he continued to be voiced by David Gasman, but Globox as voiced by John Leguizamo and Murphy as voiced by Billy West got on my nerves fast. The story itself about Globox accidentally eating an evil Lum is laughable, and the villain Andre is a massive downgrade from the menacing Razorbeard.

But then you get into the actual gameplay and Hoodlum Havoc is a massive improvement across the board. Rayman doesn't feel quite as snappy as before, but he makes up for that with incredibly fluid animation and a great sense of weight, making landing every jump feel totally doable. Rayman 3 also adds the combat fatigues which are power-ups that range from very satisfying grapple hook fists, to wind bullets, to a seeker missile. They're all super fun to use and spice up the platforming considerable, especially in the later levels where you have to switch between fatigues in rapid succession. The combat is noticeably improved upon, taking the great concept of Rayman 2's projectile based combat and just fleshing out and refining everything. Instead of using an infinite amount of magic blasts, you toss your fists at enemies, which already feels way more satisfying. You can arc your punches which some enemies take advantage of, and since you only can have two projectiles at a time, i-frames are entirely removed. On top of that, there's a greater enemy variety, way more combat scenarios than before, and far more interesting enemy attack patterns. By the final stage, there are fights with so many bullets flying around that it almost feels like a 3D bullet hell.

On top of that, the level design is phenomenal. Where Rayman 2 had a lot of shorter stages, Rayman 3 only has nine really lengthy stages each taking place in a really expansive and cohesive setting. This means that every stage is memorable and dynamic, all containing a bunch of unique parts that weave into each other. There really isn't a single bad stage in Rayman 3, they all have something unique to offer, and the difficulty curve is spot-on as they all slowly build on your skills when it comes to basic platforming, combat, and using the fatigues. That being said, where Rayman 3 really goes from "good but not as good as Rayman 2" to "this is the best Rayman game of all time" is in the Desert Of The Knaaren level halfway through the game. This is a stage where Rayman 3 briefly delves into horror and stealth gameplay, as Rayman gets separated from Globox and falls into a temple occupied by the invincible cannibals known as the Knaaren. From there on out, Desert Of The Knaaren is a brutal, terrifying, and satisfying platforming gauntlet as you evade the titular creatures and solve puzzles, not only matching Rayman 2's creepy atmosphere but managing to surpass it. This isn't the only Rayman game to make a sudden shift into pure horror, The Abyss in Origins is another great example, but the Desert Of The Knaaren feels particularly striking with how light and silly the game was before it and how the game would never reach that same level of silliness again. It also helps that this stage is where the terrifying Reflux shows up as a secondary villain, filling in the Razorbeard-shaped hole the game had been missing. And after all that terror, nearly an hour's worth of it, finally reuniting with Globox at the very stage felt... kinda comforting? For all he had been annoying me, I was... glad... to see Globox again.

From that point onward, Rayman 3 would continue to fire on all cylinders as every stage from then on would be a massive banger. The Longest Shortcut is a short but sweet platforming-only gauntlet with a super mystical and intriguing atmosphere. The Summit Beyond The Clouds is a great snow level that starts with you platforming and fighting your way up a tall mountain and ending with a thrilling snowboard section as you ride back down. Hoodlum Headquarters is a very fun penultimate stage with a great sense of intrigue and the funniest gag in the game. And Tower Of The Leptys is a climactic and eerie final gauntlet that tests you on everything you've learned. The second half of Rayman 3 is truly some of the best back-to-back 3D platforming I've ever played and it's hard to understate how much it elevates the entire package.

And I didn't get into the boss fights which are (nearly) all stellar. Rayman 2 didn't have many boss fights, but Ubisoft went all out this time. The first fight in the entire game ends with you stealing the boss's stilts and crushing hordes of enemies with it, and it's still one of the less interesting fights in the game. There's also the very fun cat-and-mouse fight with Razoff, the streamlined and bombastic underwater fight against a giant mech, and easily two of the best Rayman fights ever, the two fights with Reflux. Reflux's 1st fight is genuinely one of the best platforming bosses period, a tough, exciting duel with an intense atmosphere and incredibly satisfying attacks to dodge. His second fight, and the final boss, is also outstanding though, forcing you to jump between using several combat fatigues at once across its many phases. Coming off the heels of Rayman 2's sparse lineup, this is a massive improvement.

And on pretty much every other level, Rayman 3 manages to match or even exceed its predecessor. The collectathon focus is still there with plenty of Pirate Cages to break, but there's also a new combo system where collecting stuff and hitting enemies in rapid succession (as well as just simply finding everything) will increase your score. Getting high enough scores will unlock a bunch of neat little minigames, and it gives Rayman 3 a lot more replayability compared to 2's one-and-done collectibles (though personally I'd still rather 100% The Great Escape, it's just more satisfying). Rayman 3 also looks stunning, keeping that same uniquely mystical Rayman aesthetic that the second game established while throwing in some jaw-dropping lighting and reflection effects given the era it was made. And the soundtrack is still great, not as much of a banger as Rayman 2's score, but it's really atmospheric and every single track heightens the mood and perfectly compliments the stage in which it plays. The highlights for me are Under The Starlight, The Platform Challenge (Spyro 2 soundfont go brrr), Reflux's theme, and especially the very catchy Snowboard Race.

While there are many differences between the two 3D Rayman games, and I personally find Rayman 3 to be the better overall package, a lot of what I love about them are things both these games have in common: A sense of adventure. Rayman 2 & 3 both feel like you're exploring these larger-than-life fantasy worlds, with just enough of a creepy edge to make doing so even more compelling. It always felt thrilling to see what was around the corner, every new stage felt like a discovery. And on top of that, the platforming is consistently polished, the level design is always memorable and fun, and the combat remains some of the finest in a 3D platformer, especially in Hoodlum Havoc. The UbiArt Rayman games are incredibly tight and well-made, but Rayman 2 & 3 take the world and tone of Rayman and run to the hills with it.

I'm Taking A Break From TV Reviews

This was probably a long time coming, but I feel like I've been getting really burnt out on TV and it shows in my reviews. Not only have I been putting out increasingly less reviews of TV seasons, but I've been dropping shows more often and the reviews I do put out feel more and more rushed, as I keep tossing out the same criticism about current seasons being too short and serialized. I just haven't been as engaged with TV shows as much as lately, and I've been dreading reviewing them all the more, which is kind of a problem when this site is supposed to be a fun, personal project for me. So, I'm taking a break from those, at least for now while I get over my burnout.

Thankfully, Simplest Reviews isn't just a review blog for TV shows, it's a blog where I can write freely about all my interests, and currently I'm just more interested in video games right now. Obviously I'll continue to put out Top 100 Games posts, but I also think I generally want to focus more on video games overall, with more game reviews and posts based on game design. Thanks for understanding.

Why I Love Mushihimesama

As a fan of bullet hells, it was probably going to be inevitable that I'd put a CAVE game here. While I'm honestly not huge on the Donpachi series, I love all CAVE's other games like Espgaluda and Deathsmiles. But my favorite of the bunch was a no-brainer, it's zero contest. Mushihimesama is simply in a league of its own.

If you're familiar with CAVE's games, you'd probably associate them with insanely bombastic bullet hell shooters, almost like the Michael Bay of that genre. Their games boast massive explosions, tons of military vehicles, weird-ass weapon systems, and bullets flooding the screen so much that the game has slowdown. Mushihimesama isn't entirely divorced from that kind of maximalist philosophy, but like Ikaruga was for Treasure, it's uncharacteristically pared down by comparison. The explosions look a bit smaller, the militarization have been replaced by bugs and naturalistic settings (more on that later), the controls are as basic as it gets, and the central focus is dodging increasingly elaborate bullet patterns. All the bullets in this game are a bright shade of pink so they contrast super well from the environment, and all of the patterns are well-crafted, fun to dodge and challenging to survive. Mushihimesama focuses on the fundamentals of the genre and creates a bullet hell that simply gets everything right. The pacing is tight, the difficulty curve is spot-on, and it never feels unfair. I know when a bullet hell game is good when I enter a flow state while playing it, pulling off dodges I didn't think I was capable of. Mushihimesama is one of those games.

Not to say that Mushihimesama doesn't bring anything new to the table, because what it lacks in crazy gimmicks, it more makes up with thematic inventiveness. As I hinted at earlier, Mushihimesama takes place on in world with giant bugs and fauna as you fly around on a giant beetle. It's very Nausicaa inspired, which just makes for such a unique setting for a bullet hell game. It's not just set-dressing either, the level and enemy design takes this "bug princess" concept and really runs with it. Each stage takes place in a unique naturalistic environment, from a dusty canyon to a luminous cave, and the later ones even toss in some neat environmental hazards like falling rocks and giant plants. And the enemy and boss designs are all different types of bugs, from butterflies to crickets to freaking scorpions. 

Everything coalesces in the high point of the game and one of my favorite levels in any bullet hell, Stage 3, which takes place on a molten hot surface where you follow a massive centipede and progressively destroy all of its segments. It takes so much advantage of Mushi's premise to great effect.

I played the PS2 version of Mushihimesama personally, but most of its versions available right now contain a ton of content and options that make for a really replayable title. Even without the bonus features, Mushihimesama boasts three entirely different scoring styles each harder than the last, and a secret final boss that's so hard that expert players spent over a decade thinking it was impossible to no-hit. That alone gives Mushi a ton of replay value for people who want to push themselves even further, but the ports also add in an Arrange Mode, a very robust practice mode, and a ton of incredibly thorough customization options that let you tinker with the difficulties, continue system, and much more. It all adds up to a bullet hell game that is perfectly accessible for every player. If you're new to the genre and want an entry point, Mushi's lack of frills and robust beginner-friendly customization makes it a perfect pick. If you're a veteran who wants something more demanding, there are countless harder difficulties and modes that you can use to challenge yourself as you work up to that elusive true final boss.

As far as presentation goes, Mushihimesama is pretty great too. There's a surprisingly amount of lore to this world, and a solid story that really puts its main protagonist through the wringer, let me tell you. The visuals have that same blend of detailed pixel backgrounds and pre-rendered enemies that CAVE is usually known for, but it all meshes together particularly well here thanks to just how pretty all the settings look. Those waterfalls in Stage 4 in particular look flat-out jaw-dropping. And, as is the norm for a bullet hell game, the soundtrack is stellar. CAVE brought in shmup soundtrack legend Manabu Namiki to work on the music and the results speak for themselves, every single stage theme is fantastic. The highlights for me are Stage 1, Stage 4, and Stage 5.

Overall, Mushihimesama is just simply a perfect bullet hell, one that I have virtually no problems with. It's got an incredibly creative premise that leads to some very memorable levels, perfect pacing and difficulty, tons of replay value for both newcomers and experts alike, and some of the best visuals and music in a CAVE game. It all feels so effortless, you could tell this was made by a team working at the height of their power.

Why I Love Threads Of Fate

Squaresoft on the PS1 was on another level, they were putting out classic after classic and keeping a stunningly high level of quality the whole way through. And even as they were putting out AAA powerhouses like Final Fantasy and Chrono Cross, Square was still making sure to work on some more creative and experimental smaller-scale fare, some of which managed to rival or even top its higher-budget brethren. Case in point, Threads Of Fate, despite being essentially a C-team project for Square, secretly ended up being one of the finest, prettiest, most charming, and most soulful action RPGs on the console.

Threads Of Fate's main gimmick is that it's an RPG starring two entirely different protagonists, a lonely amnesiac named Rue and a spoiled ex-princess named Mint, whose paths start to intertwine when they both seek out the same goal, a relic called the Dewprism that can grant anyone's wish. You can play as either Rue or Mint, and while they'll repeatedly interact and visit similar locations, their campaigns boast drastically different gameplay styles, stories, and even sometimes level order and design. Thus, to get the full story, you need to play as both characters. It's nothing ground-breaking, but it's a fun premise executed incredibly well for a number of reasons. For starters, the stories of Mint and Rue intertwine incredibly well. Regardless of which character you play as first, being able to see what the other protagonist had been doing in the background all this time during the second playthrough is always a really satisfying feeling, and there's a general lack of contradictions and (ugh, I hate this word) plot holes that would mess up your investment in seeing how the two stories connect.

But on top of that, what I love about Threads Of Fate's dual narrative is just how different in tone Rue and Mint's stories are. Rue's story is by far the darker and more melancholic of the two, focusing on Rue dealing with the death of a close friend and discovering his past. It's a really well-written and emotional narrative that any fan of Final Fantasies VI-VII will be pretty happy with. Mint's story, on the other hand, is far more comedic and light-hearted. And as good as Rue's story is, Mint is easily what elevates Threads Of Fate to all-timer status for me. In contrast to Rue's selfless motivation of using a wish to bring back his friend, Mint selfishly wants to wish for world domination after her sister banishes her from power and steals her throne. Like with the Disgaea games, it's always so fresh and fun when you get to play as a protagonist who's kind of just an asshole. Mint starts off the game as a massive jerk who constantly boasts about her plan to rule the world which makes for a really entertaining villain protagonist. But as the game goes on, she warms up to Rue and the townsfolk who took her in, and she takes on a more heroic role without losing that wit and sass that made her so fun to watch, it's just a great well-done arc. And the side characters are all fantastic too, from the charming townsfolk who Rue and Mint spend their time with, to the very entertaining antagonists who balance goofy with menacing incredibly well. Regardless of your taste in RPG stories, I think Threads Of Fate manages to have something for pretty much everyone.

Gameplay-wise, Threads Of Fate takes after its spiritual predecessor, Brave Fencer Musashi. It's an action RPG with slight platforming elements centered around a small town that the story revolves around (I love this trope, by the way, lots of Falcom games to it too). Though the big difference between these two games is that while Musashi is a far more ambitious open adventure, Threads Of Fate is more linear and streamlined in its progression. Personally, I like Threads's approach better. Musashi is a great game but dealing with its time cycle and lack of direction left me frustrated at points, but Threads manages to stay incredibly tight and briskly-paced, never dragging for a second. All the areas you visit have fun gimmicks and memorable setpieces, from the wild chase sequence in the Underground Ruins, to the platforming minigames at Mel's place, to the fun puzzles at the Ghost Temple, to the elevator fight at Maya's tower. The bosses are also super fun and varied, taking place in a wide variety of settings and employing a wide variety of unique camera angles to fit each situation. 

I also prefer the actual meat and bones of the gameplay in Threads, as both Rue and Mint have some really cool mechanics that promote a ton of experimentation. Rue plays more like Musashi, being the melee character with the ability to use his enemy's abilities, not unlike Musashi's Fusion skill. What makes Rue so cool though is that he doesn't just use his enemy's abilities, he can straight-up transform the enemies he's fighting. It's a ton of fun to try and transform into each new enemy you run into, and see what your moveset is. Granted, only a few of them are exceptionally useful, but Threads Of Fate does manage to squeeze in quite a few fun puzzles that put Rue's ability to good use, especially in the Ghost Temple. Mint, once again, fares even better. She's a projectile-based magic user, and her deal is that she can learn seven elemental spells and seven shot types, and combine the two into a whopping 49 different spell combinations. Unlike with Rue, this is going to be your main form of combat as Mint and each enemy has their own unique elemental weaknesses, so finding the most effective spell combos for each foe you fight requires a ton of experimentation. The snappy UI making it super easy to test out different combinations make working out a strategy fun and seamless, and it really elevates Mint's combat.

As you'd expect from a game by Squaresoft, Threads Of Fate looks stunning. As a matter of fact, I'd even go far enough to say that this is the best-looking Squaresoft game on the PS1, right up there with Chrono Cross and Vagrant Story. Instead of going for a pre-rendered look that, while endearing, wouldn't really end up aging the best, Threads Of Fate is fully-modeled and instead goes for a more cartoony, animesque look akin to games like Mega Man Legends and Tail Concerto. And if you know me, you know that kind of low-poly PS1 look is my bread and butter, I adore Threads's visual style. The characters are so expressive and charmingly designed, the environments look so crisp and clean, and it feels like the game hasn't aged a day. The visual highlight is Fancy Mel's place, a pastel-colored dreamworld filled with clouds and fallen stars, it's flat-out gorgeous. Of course, the soundtrack is really good too. Kenji Mizuno, who would later work on the FFX soundtrack, did the whole score himself and his ethereal style helped to give Threads Of Fate a really dreamlike feel. Highlights include tracks like Passing Through The Forest, Book Of Cosmos, Fancy Mel, Underground Ruins, Theme Of Dewprism, and A Chance Meeting.

Threads Of Fate isn't a super well-known game, and I don't think it sold all that well either. I understand why, it was one of Square's less high profile projects in an era where Final Fantasies were coming out at a regular basis. Something had to get lost in the shuffle. But that's a real shame because Threads Of Fate is just such a thoroughly charming and lovable experience the whole way through, a game that improves upon an already fun Square cult classsic, and ends up being greater than the sum of its already great parts. It's got fun action RPG gameplay with memorable level and boss design and experimental combat, two well-written stories with lovable casts that pull off their respective tones perfectly, and a phenomenally polished presentation that looks and sounds just as good today as it did in the 90s. It also just strikes that blend of mystical environments, charming and cute characters, and emotional rollercoaster stories that I like so much in video games. Hell, throw in the enemy transformations and this may be the closest thing we currently have to Kirby being an RPG.

Adventure Time (Season 5) And Why I Dropped It

Season 5 of Adventure Time is... interesting. It has a lot of great episodes and takes a lot of risks, many of which I admire, but it's also bloated, frustrating, and a truly exhausting watch (and this is coming from someone who watched over a dozen 50-episode Precure seasons in close succession). It's easily the most uneven season to date.

Season 5 of Adventure Time has two major storylines, and neither of them are ones I particularly like. The first is about Princess Bubblegum dealing with the fallout of her creation... ugh... Lemongrab. This season does a lot to paint PB in a more unflattering light, between her utilitarian mindset, at times harmful dedication to science, and occassional abuse of power. I can see why many fans would call her a "bad person", but I wouldn't go that far. PB still means well, her likably dorky personality is still intact, and it's revealed that she's the way she is because she's hundreds of years old, which doesn't forgive her bad actions but does explain them in a way that makes her more interesting. So PB is great, but unfortunately, Lemongrab is not. I always hated Lemongrab from his first appearance, both for his often disgusting actions and ear-grating voice, so I was not happy to get so many episodes in Season 5 focused on him, nor was I happy for him to be the main antagonist of the season. There's honestly no deep analysis I can go into why I dislike Lemongrab, I just find him ear-grating, gross, and repulsive in pretty much every way. I can only hope that with this season's finale, Adventure Time will be done with the Lemons for good.

Meanwhile, there's Finn. At this point, it's pretty obvious Finn is going through a bit of a coming of age arc with his immaturity and attempts at being in a relationship. But in Season 5, Adventure Time doesn't hesitate to depict Finn as a weird awkward teenage boy who's going through puberty, is discovering his sexuality, and acts incredibly impulsively and immaturely. It all culminates in a pretty horrid breakup midway through the season between Finn and Flame Princess that I just know was controversial when it aired. It leaves me mixed because one hand, it all feels purposeful and well-executed even if I'll need to see how it's all resolved first, but on the other hand, all of Finn's focal episodes this season are uncomfortable at best and it makes me not like him, the main character of the show. Unlike with PB, I just don't think this season really balances Finn's immaturity and unstableness with many positive traits, which in turn makes me less invested in the frequent problems he starts. 

That being said, even with all my criticisms, Season 5 was still a reasonably enjoyable watch. To give the season credit, Adventure Time seems to get more and more experimental as time goes on, tossing even more episodes focused around side characters and even bringing in some guest animators to lend their own interpretation of the series. I was surprised to learn a lot of fans don't like the guest episodes. Sure they're not "canon" or "lore accurate', but they're pretty visually-stunning pieces of animation that feel like a breath of fresh air in such a long season. And yeah, this season is long, twice the length of Seasons 1-4, and it feels that length. Season 5 is such a bloated season with so many weak episodes (note that I'm not saying filler) that I can't help but wonder if this season would've been better if it was a pared down to be like all the others. As a matter of fact, now that Adventure Time is becoming a bit more plot-heavy, I think that the show only having 11-minute episodes is (like with Steven Universe) starting to negatively impact it. There are so many episodes that feel rushed, under-cooked, or like they end super abruptly. I think Season 5 would've been better if we had around 26 more developed 20-minute episodes than what we have now.

As I got to the end of the season, I looked at the crushing 136 episodes I had left to go and wondered, was this even all worth it? I know everyone praises Seasons 7 and 8 and their mini-arcs, and Fionna And Cake is getting a ton of acclaim right now, but I'm five seasons into Adventure Time and I feel like I'm just not vibing with it. I was willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt at first because the episodes were short and I'm used to series with a slow start, but I feel like nothing has really changed in my perception of it. I still don't find it super consistently funny, a lot of the characters I'm starting to find annoying (Lemongrab, Finn, even Ice King), the plot and lore still feels under-developed, and any good ideas it does have are undercut by the short episode lengths. I like some of the cast but Jake and the occasional Marceline appearance just isn't enough to keep me watching, so I think this is where my reviews of Adventure Time will end, at least for now. Maybe I'll come back and finish, the door is still open, but I just don't think this show is for me.

2/5 Stars

Top 100 Video Game Songs Of All Time

Having just updated my favorite video game soundtracks list, I thought I'd dig a bit deeper and make a list of my favorite individual video game tracks. You can probably guess that this was really difficult, especially if you've seen my full list of favorite video game music, but I think managed to make a Top 100 list that I'm pretty happy with. My only rule was that I can only pick one track per game, and I think that made things a lot easier for me. So, here's my list:

1. Gusty Garden Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)
2. CROWNED (Kirby's Return To Dream Land)
3. Dialga's Fight To The Finish (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of Sky)
4. The Shining Needle Castle Sinking In The Air (Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character)
5. Hyrule Field (Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
6. Stickerbush Symphony (Donkey Kong Country 2)
7. Adventure's End (Mario & Luigi: Dream Team)
8. Cursed Leorina (Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil)
9. Time's Scar (Chrono Cross)
10. Your Contract Has Expired (A Hat In Time)
11. Clash On The Big Bridge (Final Fantasy V)
12. Soaring Through Azure Sadness (Gurumin)
13. Rooftop Run - Day (Sonic Unleashed)
14. Baladium's Drive (Klonoa: Door To Phantomile)
15. Calimari Inkantation (Splatoon)
16. Karakuri Spirits & Yo-Kai Disco (Mamorukun Curse) - Kinda cheating here but like, come on
17. Sky Tower (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team)
18. X Vs Zero (Mega Man X5)
19. Resurrections (Celeste)
20. The Sinking Old Sanctuary (Castlevania Bloodlines)
21. Fall Of Fall - Autumnal Waterfall (Touhou 10: Mountain Of Faith)
22. Tal Tal Heights (Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening)
23. Dedede's Royal Payback (Kirby Triple Deluxe)
24. Solar Sect Of Mystic Wisdom (Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism)
25. Two Planets Approach The Roche Limit (Kirby & The Forgotten Land)
26. In The Final (Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story)
27. Silver Will (Trails In The Sky FC)
28. Corridors Of Time (Chrono Trigger)
29. Gallant Gunshot (Ginga Force)
30. Battle Against A True Hero (Undertale)
31. Enigmatic Doll (Seihou 2)
32. Aquarium Park 1 (Sonic Colors)
33. Final Dreadnaught 3 (Freedom Planet)
34. #8 regret (Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion)
35. Unfinished Business (Xenoblade Chronicles)
36. Crisis City - Modern (Sonic Generations)
37. Greenpath (Hollow Knight)
38. Moonlight (Iconoclasts)
39. Fireworks Factory (Spyro 3: Year Of The Dragon)
40. The Glacial Fortress - Arrange (Omega Five)
41. Neverending Song (One Step From Eden)
42. Looking Up At The Sky (Trails In The Sky SC)
43. Lonely Rolling Star (Katamari Damacy)
44. Passing Through The Forest (Threads Of Fate)
45. An Empty Tome (Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia)
46. At The End Of Spring (Touhou 12: Undefined Fantastic Object)
47. Fear Factory Returns (Donkey Kong Country Returns)
48. X-Naut Fortress (Paper Mario & The Thousand Year Door)
49. Vs Zinnia (Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire)
50. Legendary Illusion - Infinity Being (Touhou 5: Mystic Square)
51. Aquarius (Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse)
52. Hydrocity Zone 2 (Sonic 3 & Knuckles)
53. Sky And Sea (Super Mario Sunshine)
54. Point Of No Return (Eschatos)
55. End Of The World (Sonic 06)
56. Drawcia Sorceress (Kirby Canvas Curse)
57. Water Prison (Ys Origin)
58. Cryptic Relics (Ape Escape)
59. Snake Man (Mega Man 3)
60. Every Day Is Night (Va-11 Hall-A)
61. Hail From The Past (Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin)
62. The Untrained Demon King Ultimate Legend (Puyo Puyo Fever)
63. Kogasa's Theme (Touhou 17.5: Submerged Hell Of Sunken Sorrow)
64. Demon Lord Vesper (Zwei: The Arges Adventure)
65. Green Grass Gradation (Mega Man ZX)
66. Bell Of Avici (Touhou 12.5: Double Spoiler)
67. Legendary Battle (Pokemon Black & White)
68. Kingdom Of Uraya (Xenoblade Chronicles 2)
69. Music Box (The Messenger)
70. Autumn's Rise (Crosscode)
71. Esperanto (Mega Man Zero 4)
72. Desire Drive (Touhou 13: Ten Desires)
73. Wily Fortress (Mega Man 5)
74. Quartz Quadrant (Sonic CD)
75. Blue Destination (Trails Of Cold Steel 2)
76. Lanayru Sand Sea (Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword)
77. God-Shattering Star (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
78. The Amazing Water (Nights Into Dreams)
79. Departure (Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles)
80. Revived Power (Shadow Of The Colossus)
81. Ginso Tree Escape (Ori And The Blind Forest)
82. Seashore War (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze)
83. Bullet Drive (Mega Man ZX Advent)
84. Space Colony (Super Monkey Ball 2)
85. Machine Passage (Kirby Air Ride)
86. Sammer's Kingdom (Super Paper Mario)
87. The Fallen Ground (Panzer Dragoon Orta)
88. Night Flight (Silhouette Mirage)
    
89. Neo Land (Kururin Paradise)
    
90. The Sky Bridge (Shantae: Half-Genie Hero)
91. The King Of Speed (Daytona USA)
92. Hurricos (Spyro 2: Year Of The Dragon)
93. National Park (Pokemon GSC)
94. Redial (Bomberman Hero)
95. Beach (Umihara Kawase Shun)
96. Mount Amazing 2 (Ape Escape 3)
97. Parachute (Game & Watch Gallery 2)
    
98. Ultramarine Deep (Ys VI: Ark Of Napishtim)
99. Everwinter (Blinx The Time Sweeper)
    
100. Indignant Divinity (Tower Of Heaven)

Top 50 Video Game Soundtracks

I already made a list of my Top 25 favorite video game soundtracks of all time, but it was a pretty cramped list and I've played way more games since, so I thought I'd update it and increase the size to 50. I also wanted to explain my choices this time, so here's my Top 50 favorite video game soundtracks:

50. Einhander
Composer: Kenichiro Fukui
Highlights: Shudder, Thermosphere, Badlands, Bloody Battle, Conflict, Afterimage, Warning

One of the coolest soundtracks ever made, pure cyberpunk bliss. Einhander's score flows from haunting ambient pieces to the biggest boss theme bangers you'll ever hear, and it does so much to give the game its own unique vibe and atmosphere. One can even argue that it's because of all that build-up that the more energetic themes hit so hard, and they really hit hard.

49. F-Zero X
Composers: Taro Bando, Hajime Wakai, Yumiko Kameya, Naoto Ishida
Highlights: Dream Chaser, Devil's Call in Your Heart, Decide In The Eyes, Crazy Call At Cry, Endless Challenge, Drivin Through On Max

In a rare change in tone for Nintendo, F-Zero X is just straight-up a death metal album, and it absolutely shreds. From spine-inducing riffs, to headbang-inducing thrash, to some truly godlike remixes, F-Zero X is everything I love about rock condensed into less than an hour.

48. Gurumin
Composers: Wataru Ishibashi, Hayato Sonoda, Takahide Murayama
Highlights: Soaring Through Azure Sadness, Rocky Nebula, Bomber Girl, Dance In The Forest, Guruguru Majin De Pon, Tomorrow We'll All Be Friends, Back The Way You Came, Sight Of Silence

This is easily Falcom's weirdest and most eclectic soundtrack, spanning a wide range of genres from funk to folk to glitchcore to DnB to orchestral to eurobeat to literal animal noises. It's a blast to listen to, and once you start trekking the dungeons, the music kicks into high gear and does not stop, culminating in one of the greatest final boss themes ever made.

47. Sonic Unleashed
Composers: Tomoya Ohtani, Kenichi Tokoi, Fumie Kumatani, Hideaki Kobayashi, Takahito Eguchi
Highlights: Rooftop Run - Day, Jungle Joyride - Night, Dragon Road - Day, Vs Egg Dragoon, Endless Possibility, Shamar - Day, Cool Edge - Day

Sonic Unleashed boast an absolutely stellar blend of fast-paced energetic culture-themed techno for the day stages, and chill low-key jazz for the night stages, and they're equally fantastic in their own ways. Add in a stellar main theme, some hype boss tunes, and some calming hub themes, and you get what is pretty much the definitive Modern Sonic soundtrack in my eyes.

46. Mario Party 3
Composer: Ichiro Shimakura
Highlights: Nice And Easy, Chilly Waters, Let's Get A Move On, Stardust Battle, Woody Woods, Item Mini-Game, Staff Credits

Shimakura didn't need to go this hard for a Mario Party soundtrack, but I'm so glad he did because Mario Party 3's music is transcendent. Some of the most wistful, joyous, and dreamy pieces of video game music out there, with incredibly crisp and clean synths that still sound great to this day.

45. Shantae And The Pirate's Curse
Composer: Jake Kaufman
Highlights: Arctic Justice, Back To The Roots, The Nightmare Woods, A Troublesome Trek, Boss Battle, We Love Burning Town, Scorching Dunes, Rottytops, Streamworks

I go back and forth on whether I like Half-Genie Hero's or Pirate's Curse's soundtracks better, but I think Pirate's Curse's music just hits harder. Shantae's blend of EDM and middle eastern music always slapped, but the usage of FM synth in Pirate's Curse's soundtrack really elevates it above the others. There's a ton of truly stellar original tracks, but the addition of some phenomenal remixes of GBC Shantae's best tracks is just icing on the cake.

44. Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe
Composers: Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa, Yuki Shimooka, Kiyoshi Hazemoto
Highlights: CROWNED, Distant Shining Yellow Star, Sky Tower, Techno Factory, Freezing Temple, Red Sands Remix, Otherworldly Warrior, Sky Waltz, Welcome Your New Overlord

Kirby's Return To Dream Land already had one of my favorite soundtracks in the series for its poppy arcadey sound and phenomenal final stretch, but Deluxe makes it even better by adding in the equally stellar Magolor Epilogue soundtrack, some great remixes of minigame themes from Kirby's past, and a bunch of tracks from the games in between the original and its remake for good measure. Probably the definitive Kirby soundtrack, it has a little something for everyone.

43. Panel De Pon
Composer: Masaya Kuzume
Highlights: Blaze Stage, Sea Stage, Water Stage, Lip's Theme, Flower Stage, Lunar Stage, Breeze Stage, Puzzle Ending

Panel De Pon has a pretty laid-back soundtrack befitting its colorful fairy setting, but it also happens to have some of the sickest, grooviest basslines I've heard in a video game soundtrack. Every single character theme is a massive bop, it's probably the best puzzle game soundtrack I've ever heard.

42. Katamari Damacy
Composers: Yuu Miyake and many others
Highlights: Lonely Rolling Star, Katamari Mambo, Roll Me In, Que Sera Sera, Katamari On The Rocks, The Moon And The Prince, Gin & Tonic & Red Red Roses

Katamari Damacy's soundtrack is literally just a j-pop album, but it's an incredibly good and eclectic one. Katamari's music spans a wide array of genres and styles all while remaining consistently uplifting, which contrasts nicely against the chaotic and brutal gameplay. It stands so well on its own too, like it's so easy to listen to outside of the context of the game.

41. Panzer Dragoon Orta
Composers: Saori Kobayashi, Yutaka Minobe
Highlights: The Fallen Ground, Anu Orta Veniya, Ancient Weapon 1, Eternal Glacies, Altered Genos, Gigantic Fleet, Imperial City

I always loved how unique Panzer Dragoon music sounded, it's so mystical and foreign-feeling. Orta's score feels like the ultimate Panzer Dragoon soundtrack in that aspect, every track is stunningly ethereal and hauntingly alien. Hell, there's even vocals in an entirely fictional language. It's one of those soundtracks that captures the game's atmosphere and story so perfectly.

40. Touhou 10: Mountain Of Faith
Composer: ZUN
Highlights: Fall Of Fall - Autumnal Waterfall, The Japanese Wilderness The Girl Watched, The Gensokyo The Gods Loved, Faith Is For The Transient People, Youkai Mountain - Mysterious Mountain, Native Faith, The Venerable Ancient Battlefield - Suwa Foughten Field

Mountain Of Faith easily is the most nostalgic Touhou soundtrack for me, just the coziest autumn vibes. ZUN's most iconic instruments like the ZUNpets and piano are on full display, and the sheer consistency of the tracks on offer is miraculous. There isn't a single bad apple in the bunch.

39. Umihara Kawase (Shun)
Composers: Pas De Chat, Atsuhiro Motoyama, Shinji Tachikawa
Highlights: Beach, Kawanabe, Tama River, Hatbox, Awakening Heartbeat, Taki, Shore

Atsuhiro Motoyama makes some of the happiest music out there, but the Umihara Kawase games are on an entirely different plane in terms of joyousness. Perfectly fitting the game itself, Umihara Kawase's tracks have a whimsical childlike innocence that balances sounding nostalgic, cheery, and a tad melancholic.

38. Nights Into Dreams
Composers: Tomoko Sasaki, Naofumi Hataya, Fumie Kumatani
Highlights: The Amazing Water, Nights And Reala, The Dragon Gave A Loud Scream, Suburban Museum, Paternal Horn, Dream Dreams - In Silent Memory, Message From Nightopia

Nights Into Dreams has probably the most Sega soundtrack ever created, just pure distilled happiness in every single track. From the magical and dreamlike stage themes to the chill menu themes to the banging boss themes, Nights's score is blue skies gaming at its finest (except for maybe Daytona but that has like four songs).

37. Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Composers: ACE+, Yasunori Mitsuda, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kiyota
Highlights: Kingdom Of Uraya, Counterattack, Roaming The Wastes, Gormott, Elysium In The Blue Sky, You Will Recall Our Names, Torna Battle, Leftheran Archipelago

The Xenoblade series is synonymous with top-notch music, but XC2's soundtrack is my personal favorite for getting pretty much everything right. The overworld themes are gorgeous and sweeping, the battle themes are banging rock tunes, and with the legend Yasunori Mitsuda at the helm, even the cutscene and event music is stellar.

36. Mega Man ZX/Advent
Composers: Ippo Yamada, Masaki Suzuki, Ryo Kawakami, Luna Umegaki, Hayamo Koji, Akari Kaida
Highlights: Green Grass Gradation, Gauntlet, Snake Eyes, Doomsday Device, Mountain Rider, Bullet Drive, Trap Phantasm, Whisper Of Relics, Oriental Sentinels, Destiny, Through The Lightning/Be One

As far as hard-hitting techno goes, it's hard to get much better than the Mega Man ZX games. It's one of those soundtracks where you just know you're in for something special the moment you hear the first level theme, both ZX and ZX Advent have a ton of super dancable music. And that's not even getting into the somehow even better remastered Tunes versions, particularly in Advent's case.

35. Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Composers: Koji Kondo, Toru Minegishi
Highlights: Final Hours, Astral Observatory, Stone Tower Temple, Majora's Incarnate/Wrath, Clock Town, Guru Guru's Song, Zora Hall, Deku Palace, Termina Field

Majora's Mask is perfect for the game it's based on. It's equal parts whimsical, melancholic, haunting, unnerving, and compelling. It required Koji Kondo to go in a different direction than he usually does, he had to focus more on creating a mood than creating a memorable melody, and I think he knocked it out of the park, making for both one of the best Zelda soundtracks and Kondo's own magnum opus. Everything around Clock Town is pretty much perfect music-wise, but there's also the energetic and tense boss themes, downcast overworld themes, and a lineup of Ocarina pieces that surpasses even Ocarina Of Time. The icing on the cake is that haunting Skull Kid theme that gets repurposed into easily the best final boss theme in Zelda period.

34. Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood
Composers: Akira Souji, Keizo Nakamura, Tomoko Sano, Mikio Saito
Highlights: Cross A Fear, Slash, Divine Bloodlines, Bloody Tears, Opus 13, Vampire Killer, Den

Rondo Of Blood was from that era where it felt like video game composers were so happy to finally have CD audio, and goddamnit, they were going to show it. Rondo's soundtrack is Castlevania funk at its absolute peak, with the sparkliest of synths, groovy basslines, and a balance of top-tier remixes and some of the best original tracks in the franchise. Shamelessly 90s in all the best ways. 

33. Touhou 5: Mystic Square
Composer: ZUN
Highlights: Legendary Illusion - Infinite Being, Maple Wise, Alice In Wonderland, Dimension Of Reverie, The Grimoire Of Alice, Romantic Children, The Last Judgement, Dream Express

Mystic Square was the last soundtrack ZUN would make for the PC-98 and it really shows. It has such a strong sense of finality and melancholy to it, every track is tense and frantic, and the whole score just sounds so grand and epic. Even the half a dozen ending themes rank up with some of the best in the franchise, ZUN went off so hard here.

32. Sonic CD (JP)
Composers: Naofumi Hataya, Masafumi Ogata
Highlights: Quartz Quadrant, Stardust Speedway, Metal Sonic, Special Stage, Metallic Madness - Bad Future, Final Fever, Collision Chaos - Good Future, Palmtree Panic

Screw the US soundtrack, Sonic CD's Japanese soundtrack is one of the most soulful video game scores out there. The blend of new jack swing and house fits Sonic, particularly Classic Sonic, damn near perfectly. The samples are immaculate, the melodies are super catchy, and the synths are sparkly. Like with Rondo Of Blood, it's a very lovably 90s soundtrack, and it pretty much established the sound Sonic as a whole would become known for throughout the Y2K era of the series.

31. Ape Escape
Composer: Soichi Terada
Highlights: Cryptic Relics, Crumbling Castle, Specter's Castle, Sushi Temple, Dark Ruins, Coral Cave, Snowy Mammoth, Stadium Attack, Wabi Sabi Wall, Specter's Factory - Outside

The Ape Escape series has carved out a musical identity for itself with energetic and upbeat electronic music, but it's the first game's jungle-heavy soundtrack that stands up as easily my favorite of the bunch. It shows that Japan Studio got an actual house artist in Soichi Terada because Ape Escape very much sounds like a DnB album, and Terada's distinct style shines through every track.

30. Zwei!!: The Arges Adventure
Composers: Wataru Ishibashi, Hayato Sonoda, Maiko Hattori, Atsushi Shirakawa
Highlights: Demon Lord Vesper, Pavel Gardens, Mythical Land Serpentina, Aplieste Temple, Road To Where The Dragon Sleeps, Caiaphas Woods, Dark Temple Of Espina, Zwei! A Great Adventure

Zwei may not be a super popular Falcom game, but its soundtrack deserves far more respect. Its grounded, folksy, and atmospheric vibe courtesy of Ishibashi and Hattori makes for an incredibly magical score with comfy village themes, jaw-droppingly beautiful stage themes, and a truly godly final boss theme. The main leitmotif is particularly special, it just screams adventure.

29. Super Paper Mario
Composers: Naoko Mitome, Chika Sekigawa, Yasuhisa Baba
Highlights: Sammer's Kingdom, Castle Bleck, The Ultimate Show, Brobot Battle, Flipside, Lineland Road, Gloam Valley, King Croacus IV, Fracktail

Super Paper Mario, a game that with such heavy digital computer theming, a game where the world is falling apart at the seams thanks to an ever expanding black hole, having a soundtrack almost entirely composed of what can only be called glitch techno just feels pretty much perfect. This is a soundtrack that perfectly toes the line between having wall-to-wall banger tracks both for the overworld and boss themes, while also managing to convey a ton of emotional heft especially in the end game. It's all fun and games until you get hit by a track like World Of Nothing or Bounding Through Time.

28. Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion
Composers: Ryo Nagamatsu, Toru Minegishi
Splatbands: Dedf1sh, Off The Hook
Highlights: #8 regret, #14 crush, #11 above, Fly Octo Fly, Into The Light, Shark Bytes, Splattack! - Octo, Nasty Majesty

Like the game itself, I hold up the Octo Expansion as the high point in terms of Splatoon music. Part of this is because of the stellar electronic background themes courtesy of fictional DJ Dedf1sh. The lo-fi vibes that Octo Expansion's tracks exude are just such a vibe. But on top of that, it even has some of the best vocal tracks in the franchise, which in turn leads to truly phenomenal final stretch of music. That's not to discount the original soundtrack, though. Even on its own merits, Splatoon 2 has my favorite soundtrack of the three games, from the rocking Turf War music, to the haunting and vibey Hero Mode tracks, to the incredibly Splatfest themes courtesy of Splatoon's best idol band.

27. Touhou 10.5: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody/12.3: Hisoutensoku
Composers: U2 Akiyama, ZUN
Highlights: Broken Moon, Flowering Night, Bhava-Agra As Seen Through A Child's Mind, Catastrophe In Bhava-Agra, Flawless Clothing Of The Celestials, The Eternal Steam Engine, Did You See That Shadow?, The Grimoire Of Alice, Beloved Tomboyish Girl

U2 Akiyama, primary composer of Touhou's fighting game spinoffs, often goes overlooked compared to ZUN because... I mean, come on, it's ZUN. Either way, it's a real shame because with SWR and Soku, he made a score that stands up alongside some of ZUN's best and captures pretty much everything I love about the Touhou series. The magical and nostalgic menu and pre-battle themes echo the sheer beauty of Gensokyo, the fast-paced and energetic battle themes are serious bangers that capture the fun of danmaku fights, and the fantastic remixes shed new light on all the characters. And of course, not to be outdone, ZUN also contributes a few tracks that at times rank up with some of the best he's ever done.

26. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage
Composers: Stewart Copeland
Highlights: Summer Forest/Autumn Plains, Hurricos, Clash With Crush, Idol Springs, Gulp's Overlook, Sunny Beach, Icy Speedway, Scorch

Picking a favorite Spyro soundtrack is a pretty tough call since they all do something uniquely great, but while I like Copeland's ode to prog rock that is the soundtrack to Spyro 1, I have to say that his ethereal score for Ripto's Rage stands out as my personal favorite. This is a soundtrack made almost entirely with the profilic Distorted Reality 2 sample pack that many other soundtracks of the time employed, but I'll always associate it with Ripto's Rage. Its variety of electronic drums and drones are used masterfully to heighten the sense of atmosphere in pretty much every track, with the absolute peak being those haunting hub themes, lacking in melody but impossible to forget.

25. Bomberman Hero
Composers: Jun Chikuma
Highlights: Redial, Zip, Milky, Mimesis, Cell, Fatidic, Dessert, Supplement

Bomberman Hero is one of the most influential video game soundtracks in my childhood, it's the soundtrack that introduced me to Drum N Bass. I came into Bomberman Hero expecting your usual peppy techno only to get a full-on acid jungle album, and it rocks. There isn't too much I can really say other than, this is still some amazing drum and bass that holds up incredibly well, really pushes the N64's sound capabilities, and lacks a single weak track.

24. Ys Origin
Composers: Hayato Sonoda, Yukihiro Jindo, Takahiro Unisuga, Ryo Takeshita
Highlights: Water Prison, (Genesis) Beyond The Beginning, Silent Desert, Termination, Scars Of The Divine Wing, Scarlet Tempest, Tower Of The Shadow Of Death, Over Drive

Speaking of lacking a single weak track, while Ys Origin may not have the same cohesiveness of some of the other Falcom OSTs on this list, it more than makes up for that by just being nonstop, relentlessly good, wall-to-wall bangers from start to finish. Right from that absolutely godly opening theme all the way to one of the most transcendant final boss themes I've ever heard, Ys Origin's score is a full-on rock opera that never lets up. Being a prequel, this score does contain a lot of remixes of iconic tracks from the first and second Ys games, but they're almost universally my favorite iterations of those themes, and the original tracks we did get stand up right alongside with them. Really just some of Falcom's best composers working at their absolute peak.

23. Metroid Prime
Composer: Kenji Yamamoto
Highlights: Phendrana Drifts, Sunken Space Pirate Frigate Orpheon, Planet Tallon IV, Meta Ridley, Deep Lake Area, Chozo Ruins, Main Theme, Magmoor Caverns

Kenji Yamamoto is the master of making video game soundtracks that are equal parts atmospheric and groovy, and Metroid Prime is easily his magnum opus. This is an incredibly immersive soundtrack to an incredibly immersive game, to the point that both times Retro Studios ported the game, they refused to make any edits to the music. Yamamoto's score just feels like a fully engrained part of Tallon IV, Metroid Prime would feel incomplete without it. But it's also not just ambience, many tracks also have a subtle groove to them that don't ruin the immersion but still makes for music that is enjoyable and relaxing to listen to both inside and outside of the game.

22. Undertale
Composer: Toby Fox
Highlights: Battle Against A True Hero, Another Medium, Undertale, NGAHHH/Spear Of Justice, Hopes And Dreams, Ruins, Spider Dance, Death By Glamour, Heartache, CORE, Mad Mew Mew, Finale

What can I really say about Undertale's music that hasn't already been said? The overworld themes are beautiful, the boss themes are bangers, the usage of leitmotifs are masterful, and the final stretch of songs ends the OST on a high note no matter which ending you pick. Though while the battle themes tend to deservedly get the bulk of the praise, I think my favorite aspect of Undertale is actually how melancholic and mysterious it can feel at times. There's a sense of wonder, nostalgic, earnestness and slight eerieness to Undertale's soundtrack that really helps it stand out from most of Toby Fox's other soundtracks.

21. Celeste
Composer: Lena Raine + several guest remixers
Highlights: Reach For The Summit, Resurrections, Beyond The Heart, Confronting Myself, Mirror Magic, Scattered And Lost, First Steps, Farewell, Exhale

This is another soundtrack where I'm not sure what I could add to the conversation. Celeste's soundtrack feels personal, you can tell Lena Raine put her heart and soul into every track (before doing it again with the Farewell update). Similarly to Undertale, the usage of leitmotifs for both Madeline and her counterpart is masterfully done and culminates in one of the best final stage themes in all of gaming. It's also worth noting just how dynamic the score is, with many stages boasting one lengthy track where each phase cleanly leads into the next. 

20. A Hat In Time
Composers: Pascal Micheal Stiefel, Grant Kirkhope + several guest remixers
Highlights: Your Contract Has Expired, Trainwreck Of Electro Swing, The Windmill Peak, Train Rush, Dead Bird Studio, Alpine Skyline, You Are All Bad Guys, Clocktowers Beneath The Sea, Rush Hour, Her Spaceship

As far as platformer soundtracks go, A Hat In Time is the complete package. It's got a strong variety of overworld themes that perfectly capture their respective areas, from the goofy but welcoming Mafia Town themes, to the tense techno of Dead Bird Studio's stealth stages, to the eerie ambiance of Subcon Forest, to the downright ethereal folk tracks for Alpine Skyline. It's got a stellar lineup of boss fight bangers that bring each phase of the game to a satisfying close. And on top of all that, there's a fantastic Grant Kirkhope hub theme, a bunch of great remixes you can unlock, and a bunch of DLC campaigns with even more great themes. As I said, the complete package.

19. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
Composers: Kumi Tanioka, Hidenori Iwasaki
Highlights: Departure, Sleeping Treasure In The Sand, Magi Is Everything, Sound Of The Wind, When The Northern Sky Was Clear, Twilight In Dreamland, Endless Sky/Thoroughly Blue, Leaving The Body Freely

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles is the most atmospheric game in the franchise for me, and a massive part of that is Kumi Tanioka's seminal score for it. Even with all the amazing mainline Final Fantasy soundtracks, this one's my favorite. Tanioka went for a more folsky medieval vibe here, using a ton of Renaissance instruments like the crumhorn and lute, and it just works so well for this game. It perfectly captures Crystal Chronicles's rustic fantasy setting, and the instruments in question sound so tangible, like you could hear the lute's individual plucks and the breaths taken with each woodwind. The melodies are catchy enough to be memorable but also have a real melancholic tinge to them, fitting a torn world shrouded by a poisonous miasma stream while still urging the player to explore.

18. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Composers: David Wise, Kenji Yamamoto
Highlights: Seashore War, Forest Folly, Scorch And Torch, Irate Eight, Frozen Frenzy, Aquaduct Assault, Big Top Bop, Snowmad's Theme, Stickerbush Symphony

Donkey Kong Country 2's soundtrack may be iconic and groundbreaking for the hardware, but Tropical Freeze let David Wise go all out with a massive 60-track behemoth of a score and crisp CD-quality instruments, and he freaking killed it. His atmospheric style is at its best here, perfectly capturing the environments of each level and aiding with the game's already top-notch visual storytelling. Like with Crystal Chronicles, the usage of more grounded acoustic instruments like bongos and guitars sounds so good and fits Donkey Kong as a series perfectly, and the final stretch on DK Island is just back-to-back masterpieces. Though I also have to give credit to Yamamoto because his aforementioned groovy but atmospheric style can definitely be felt here, and it meshes with David Wise's style perfectly.

17. Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Composers: Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fuji, Mahito Yokota, Takeshia Hama
Highlights: Lanayru Sand Sea, Fi's Farewell, Molderach/Koloktos, The Sky, Ballad Of The Goddess, Final Ghirahim, Skyloft

The Super Mario Galaxy of Zelda soundtracks, Skyward Sword's soaring, grandiose orchestral style makes for one of the most flat-out beautiful and emotional video game soundtracks I've ever heard. It's heartwarming, heartwrenching, adventurous, melancholic, just an absolute emotional rollercoaster from start to finish. The closest a Zelda soundtrack has ever gotten to sounding like a movie score. It also happens to have one of the few pieces of video game music to make me cry.

16. Paper Mario: The Origami King
Composers: Yoshito Sekigawa, Hiroki Morishita, Shoh Murakami, Yoshiaki Kimura, Hiroki Morishita, Fumihiro Isobe
Highlights: Origami Castle, Disco Devil, Event Battle, The Dual-Bladed Duelist, Autumn Mountain, Snif City, Boss Fight, Pool Party

I don't think any other soundtrack has such a successful quality-to-quantity ratio. Origami King's soundtrack is genuinely massive, capping out at around eight hours and over 200 tracks, and they're somehow all really good. Origami King's score dives into a ton of different genres and pulls them all off with aplomb, every single location has its own unique musical style without losing that quirky Paper Mario identity, and the composers go the extra mile in so many ways between the several incredibly good pieces of music relegated solely to gags and the nearly dozen standard battle themes for each area. They didn't need to go this hard, but I'm glad they did, and it still pains me that this score didn't even get nominated for the Game Awards.

15. Va-11 Hall-A
Composers: Michael Kelly (Garoad)
Highlights: Every Day Is Night, You've Got Me, Safe Haven, Everything Will Be Okay, Digital Drive, Your Love Is A Drug, Welcome To Va-11 Hall-A

Va-11 Hall-A's soundtrack is one of the more unique ones on this list for being nearly entirely diegetic, with a lot of music being songs that exist within the VN's cyberpunk world that you can choose to play on your radio. What makes it work is that Garoad made a soundtrack that truly sounds like it's from a dystopian cyberpunk future, with glittery synths and groovy beats. It almost sounds like a soundtrack on the Saturn or Playstation, both nostalgic and futuristic at the same time. It's just such a vibe, and it's one of my go-to study soundtracks for how chill it is.

14. Mega Man X4-X6
Composers: Toshihiko Horiyama, Naoto Tanaka, Naoya Kamisaka, Takuya Miyawaki
Highlights: Makenai Ai Ga Kitto Aru, Web Spider, Jet Stingray, Split Mushroom, Cyber Peacock, Iris, X Vs Zero, Zero Stage 1/2, X5 Opening/Ending, Mattrex, Commander Yammark, Infinity Mijinion, X6 Opening Stage, Blaze Heatnix

Okay, this one's cheating a bit but I really can't decide between which of the PS1 Mega Man X games I like more. I always thought that Mega Man music is at its best when it toes the line between synth and rock, and these three soundtracks nail that balance. X4 is probably the best overall package for its distinct synth lead and cohesively melancholic feel, X5 is easily the most downright epic with a great sense of finality befitting what was intended to be the last Mega Man X game, and X6 is just nonstop bangers. It's just a stellar musical streak for a series with already great music.

13. Castlevania: Order Of Ecclesia
Composers: Michiru Yamane, Yasuhiro Ichihashi
Highlights: An Empty Tome, Sorrow's Distortion, Lament To The Master, Unholy Vespers, A Clashing Of Waves, The Tower Of Dolls, Emerald Mist, Rhapsody Of The Forsaken, A Prologue

Order Of Ecclesia's soundtrack may not be as "fun" as some of the other Castlevania scores, it's much more intense and melancholic than usual, but it's easily the best in my opinion. The stage themes are varied and balance between being sorrowful and atmospheric, and propulsive and slick. The boss themes are flat-out epic especially in the middle of the game. And the main theme An Empty Tome is easily my favorite "entering Dracula's Castle" track in the series. The coolest part is that this soundtrack is pretty lacking in remixes, which means that its original tracks have the room to shine without a Bloody Tears or Divine Bloodlines (both great tracks by the way) hogging all the spotlight. 

12. Mamorukun Curse
Composers: Yousuke Yasui
Highlights: Karakuri Spirits, Yo-Kai Disco, Superhero, The Curse (Again), Will Force, Tropical Pirates, Blossom Shower, Great Tribulation

Yousuke Yasui is one of my favorite composers of all time, an absolute FM synth god who goes way too hard than he has any right to. And as a result, this pretty obscure bullet hell that no one really knows about somehow managed to have one of the best soundtracks of its era, with a ton of banging stage and boss themes. But what puts Mamorukun Curse above the already fantastic Eschatos and Natsuki Chronicles is that it's also uncharacteristically happy? Yousuke Yasui's tracks are usually super intense and serious, but Mamorukun Curse is composed of a ton of light-hearted and fun themes that still manage to be super fast-paced and energetic.

11. One Step From Eden
Composers: STEEL_PLUS
Highlights: Neverending Song, Fairfrozen, Battle Of Ice I, Triggered, White Knight, The Forest, Unbreakable, Battle Of Fire II

One Step From Eden's soundtrack is like Va-11 Hall-A's soundtrack but on crack. It uses a very similar futuristic techno style, but instead of chill laid-back bar music, it's fast-paced and aggressive action music. With hard-hitting stage music, vibey map music, and a phenomenal lineup of boss tracks that perfectly capture their respective characters, One Step From Eden has a soundtrack that never lets up for even a second. It's like the battle theme from Mega Man Battle Network 1, but expanded into a whole score. 

10. Trails In The Sky Trilogy
Composers: Wataru Ishibashi, Hayato Sonoda, Takehide Murayama, Yukihiro Jindo, Maiko Hattori, Takahiro Unisuga, Ryo Takeshita
Highlights: Silver Will, Hoshi No Arika, Sophisticated Fight, Hollow Light Of The Sealed Land, Factory City Of Zeiss, Tetracyclic Tower, Looking Up At The Sky, Fateful Confrontation, The Fate Of The Fairies, Dreamy And Boisterous Holy Land, Determination Of Fight, Overdosing Heavenly Bliss, Beard The Lion In His Den

There have been a lot of Falcom soundtracks on this list, but none of them have left quite as big of an impact on me as that initial Trails trilogy. Hell, listening to Sophisticated Fight in a YouTube video was how I discovered Falcom to begin with. Even though I never grew up with this series, there's something so nostalgic about these three soundtracks to me. I love the laid-back folksy vibe of FC's score, the intense grandiosity of SC's music, and the ethereal techno of 3rd's soundtrack, and they all come together to form this impressively cohesive whole that makes the events of the games perfectly. And even after listening to more of Falcom's works, I've gained an even stronger appreciation for these three games for pretty much having all my favorite Falcom composers working at top form. Zwei's music may be more atmospheric, Gurumin's music may be more of a bop, Ys Origin's music may be more epic, but the Trails In The Sky trilogy is just the complete package.

9. Freedom Planet 1/2
Composers: Woofle, Sabrina DiDuro, Falk Au Yeong, Claire Ellis
Highlights: Final Dreadnought 1-4,  Fortune Night 1/2, Battle Glacier 1/2, Relic Maze 1/2, Jade Cree 1, Aquatic Boss Battle, Dragon Valley 1/2, Aqua Tunnel 1/2, Dragon Valley - FP2, Magma Starscape, Globe Opera 2B, Shade Armory, Vs Corazon, Vs Merga, Vs Askal, Tidal Gate, Clockwork Arboretum, Lightning Tower

Freedom Planet was one of the most pleasantly surprising video game scores I've listened to. I remember getting Freedom Planet on a whim for the first time, getting to Relic Maze, and realizing... "Wait, this slaps!". As the game itself is a bombastic love letter to Sonic, Treasure, and Genesis action platformers, Freedom Planet's soundtrack is an intense, propulsive, and exhilarating rollercoaster with consistently phenomenal level themes. It also manages to capture that same blend of adrenaline pumping action and melancholic vibes that the Mega Man X4 soundtrack did, while taking it even further with its larger quantity of tracks. While not as aggressively hard-hitting, Freedom Planet 2's more mature and elegant soundtrack is equally fantastic in its own ways, with more genre variety, a stronger focus on emotional gut punches, and an ethereal atmosphere that rivals the likes of games like Klonoa and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Speaking of which...

8. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of Sky
Composers: Hideki Sakamoto, Yoshihiro Maeda, Arata Iiyoshi
Highlights: Dialga's Fight To The Finish, Temporal Tower, Don't Ever Forget, Through The Sea Of Time, Time Gear, Treasure Town, Drenched Bluff, Dark Wasteland, Craggy Coast, Wigglytuff's Guild

Like with Super Paper Mario and Undertale, this is a very emotionally driven soundtrack choice for me. Explorers Of Sky may not be wall-to-wall bangers like some of the others on this list, but it knows how to perfectly capture the mood of every scene and absolutely nails its emotional punches. The final stretch alone boasts one of the best streaks of video game music in a single soundtrack, but even the more lighthearted earlier themes and melancholic special chapter themes do a perfect job of immersing you into PMD's world. The addition of some folk inspiration only sweetens the deal.

7. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Composers: Yoko Shimomura
Highlights: Adventure's End, Sacred Somnom Woods, Never Let Up, Dozing Sands Secret, The Final Antasma Battle, Victory In The Dream World, Try Try Again, Size Up Your Enemy

Yoko Shimomura is my favorite composer, period. I love her musical style, a vast majority of her soundtracks are stellar, she never misses, but I think Dream Team is her best soundtrack. Befitting the dreamy setting, a lot of the music in Dream Team is super ethereal and wistful, with echoey pianos, soft flutes, and at times, haunting choirs. I also have to give props to those dream world remixes that shift towards these unconventional synth tones that make the tracks sound, well, dreamy. It's all just such a magical soundtrack, sometimes it's hard to even believe this is the soundtrack to a Mario game because by the second half, Shimomura starts composing like she's writing music for the most epic RPG ever made. 

6. Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series
Composers (oh boy...): Eriko Imura, Kohta Takahashi, Junko Ozawa, Testukazu Nakanishi, Kanako Kakino, Takaki Horigome, Hiromi Shibano, Hiroshi Okubo, Tomoko Tatsuta, Katsuro Tajima, Asuka Sakai, Go Shiina
Highlights: Baladium's Drive, Sad Forest Drum, Resurrection, Untamed Heart, Cursed Pamela, The Ring, Red Heat Coronia, The Closing Encounter, Cursed Leorina, The Ark (Revisited), Mirage, Polonte, Moonlight Museum, Going To Lunatea, Jungle Cruise, Cave Of Glimmer Moss

In hindsight, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the Klonoa soundtracks are some of my favorites because they truly have everything I want in a video game soundtrack. Medieval-sounding folk music? Yep. Shifts to techno and DnB? Yep. Catchy and complex overworld themes? Yep. Banging boss tunes? Yep. A whole lot of emotional gut punching? Abso-freaking-lutely. Both Klonoa soundtracks are fantastic and, just like the games, I really can't decide which one I like better. I love the first game's more mystical, folksy, and emotion-driven score, but the second game's masterful usage of leitmotifs and greater variety hold up incredibly well too. They're both the Namco Sound Team at their musical peak.  

5. Touhou 11: Subterranean Animism
Composers: ZUN
Highlights: Solar Sect Of Mystic Wisdom, Last Remote, Hartmann's Youkai Girl, Heartfelt Fancy, Lullaby Of Demonic Hell, The Bridge People No Longer Cross, Satori Maiden, The Dark Blowhole

Touhou has a ton of phenomenal soundtracks, but I've never really been in doubt that Subterranean Animism had my favorite of the bunch. It's just that good. Befitting the underground setting, TH11's score is more moody, dark, gothic, and atmospheric than usual, but there's still a ton of really memorable tunes from the intriguing stage themes to the head-banging boss themes. The melodies are more complex than ever before, with tons of counter melodies and instruments crammed into a single track, and the music just keeps better as the game goes on, culminating in the absolute triple-whammy that is Utsuho's theme, the extra stage theme, and Koishi's theme. Those three songs alone makes this the best Touhou soundtrack, the rest is just icing on the cake

4. Sonic 06
Composers: Tomoya Ohtani, Mariko Nanba, Hideaki Kobayashi, tai-hey
Highlights: End Of The World, Kingdom Valley, His World, Solaris Phase 2, Vs Character, Crisis City, Aquatic Base - Level 1, Dusty Desert - Quickstand, White Acropolis - Snowy Peak, Egg-Cerberus & Egg-Genesis

Sonic 06 may not be a very good game and it may have one of the more pared-down composer lineups of the 3D Sonic games, but man, if it doesn't get pretty much everything right musically. Sonic 06's music is just... big. The stage themes are grandiose and cinematic, the boss themes are wild and intense, and the main theme His World is basically the posterchild for epic pieces of video game music. Nanba embues so much emotion and gravitas into her tracks, Ohtani adds in just enough DnB influence to keep that fun Sonic vibe intact, and Kobayashi's boss themes go insanely hard. It's the type of soundtrack that just hits you like a truck with how good it is.

3. Kirby Triple Deluxe
Composers: Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa
Highlights: Dedede's Royal Payback, Beautiful Prison, Moonstruck Blossom, Moonlight Capital, Sullied Grace, Soul Of Sectonia, Revenge Of The Enemy, Cold Odyssey, Reflected Laughter, Mysterious Trap

Kirby Triple Deluxe is a beautiful game. That's the point, it's about the beauty of nature, which plays both into Sectonia as a villain and the game's parallels with Planet Robobot. So it only makes sense that its soundtrack is one of the most beautiful video game scores out there. With a heavy emphasis on orchestral instruments and adventurous-sounding melodies, Triple Deluxe's music is just so fun and pretty-sounding. But then there's the final stretch, the entire final world and boss, which contains the single best streak of music in any video game. It should not come as much of a surprise that a vast majority of those final tracks are in my highlights, they are just that good.

2. Chrono Cross
Composers: Yasunori Mitsuda
Highlights: Time's Scar, Shore Of Dreams Another World, Dreams Of The Ages, Dragon God, Dragoons, Fossil Valley, Arni - Home World, Marbule, The Girl Who Stole The Stars

Chrono Cross's soundtrack isn't just the best RPG soundtrack of all time, it's straight-up transcendant. It fits into that niche of dreamy folksy adventurous-sounding music that many of my favorite soundtracks fall into, but what can I say? Yasunori Mitsuda just does it the best. The ethereal overworld themes, the intense battle themes, that opening track, Chrono Cross's music just feels so soulful and haunting. It's hard to even tell that most of these tracks sound synthesized because the instruments just sound so crisp. It's a perfect collection of music even outside the context of being a video game soundtrack, and I'd probably even call it the best video game score of all time. It's just not my favorite...

1. Super Mario Galaxy 1/2
Composers: Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo, Ryo Nagamatsu
Highlights: Gusty Garden Galaxy, Buoy Base Galaxy, Rosalina In The Observatory, Hell Prominence, Super Mario Galaxy, Final Battle With Bowser, Luma, Family, The Galaxy Reactor, To The Gateway, Space Junk Galaxy, Purple Comet, Egg Planet, Fated Battle, Cloudy Court Galaxy, Fleet Glide Galaxy, Bowser's Galaxy Generator, The Starship Sails, Starship Mario, Melty Monster Galaxy, Time Attack... need I say more?

Super Mario Galaxy has a perfect soundtrack, and its sequel isn't too shabby either. For a game about soaring through the stars and exploring the cosmos, a sweeping orchestral score with hints of spacey synths is simply a perfect fit, and when you add in the Mario series' penchant for catchy melodies, you got an all-timer on your hands. Every time you use a launch star, and one of the level themes bursts into a heightened dramatic chorus, it just hits so hard. And while I love and have a lot of respect for Chrono Cross's music, I lived with the Mario Galaxy games. These soundtracks are a part of my childhood, and they're probably the reason I think so highly of video game music to begin with.