This page is for those video game songs that I deem worthy of the greatest honor on this site as yet: the Gold Award. These songs are the ones that stick in your head for weeks after you hear them, the songs that perfectly complement the gaming experience. I highly recommmend giving them all a listen; they're the cream of the crop.

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• Super Mario Brothers Overworld: This is probably by far the most recognized video game song out there. It is as associated with videogame music as the Super Bowl is associated with football. What's even more spectacular is that the original piece was done with just four channels of sound to work with.
  • NES version, Super Mario Brothers: This is the NES original.
  • SNES version, Super Mario World: This is a remix that can be heard in SMW's Special World. The intro is a bit long.
  
  
• Zelda Overworld Theme: Koji Kondo, Nintendo's in-house maestro, does it again with another one of the most popular video game themes of all time. First appearing in The Legend of Zelda in 1986, this song has can be heard in several of the Zelda series of games. It's a really grand-sounding march. Check this one out; unlike the SMB theme, lots of gamers haven't heard this one.
  • Zelda 2 version: In my view, this one deviates most from the original, but it's still largely the same theme.
  • A Link to the Past version: This is a more traditional version.
  • Link's Awakening version: My favorite mix out of all of these. It sounds great even with the Game Boy's limited sound capabilities.
  • Majora's Mask version: Nintendo made a bad move by not including the overworld theme in Ocarina of Time, so they attempted to make up for that in this N64 "gaiden" game. The theme gets a makeover, but I'm mostly unimpressed.
  • Super Smash Bros. version: I'm not stopping yet! This version was included in Super Smash Bros., the N64 fighting game starring Nintendo characters. The mix is in fighting game style, and while it's original-sounding, it isn't particularly impressive.
  
  
• Zelda 3 Dark World Theme: The first and only Zelda game released for the Super NES, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past broke ground in terms of graphics, gameplay, and music. Koji Kondo, still working for Nintendo, simply remixed the original overworld theme for the game's Light World, but had to come up with something new for the game's Dark World. The result was a perfect complement to the overworld theme, with portions written in major AND minor keys to symbolize (I think) the battle between good and evil.
  
• Zelda 64- Gerudo Valley: For the first Zelda game on the Nintendo 64, Koji Kondo, by now an accomplished game musician, turned out a great soundtrack. Gerudo Valley is its high point. The song, which plays in a rather arid area, combines some neat guitar harmony with a trumpet lead, producing a tune not unlike traditional Spanish music.
  
• Secret of Mana- Main Theme (SPC): In contrast with the four upbeat previous songs, this one is sort of sad-sounding. Used as the opening theme for the SNES action-RPG Secret of Mana, it's almost a tear-jerker. The main voice is rather tender and frail-sounding, and the echo effect is clever. Written by the Seiken Densetsu lead composer, Hiroki Kikuta.
  
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3- Ice Cap Zone: I think most Sonic fans would agree that this is the best song in the series. Most other games go heavy on the mallet percussion and other snowy-sounding instruments for their winter levels. Not Sonic. This piece is very hard edged and fast paced, with electric guitar and a whole lotta synth instruments. It almost conjures up images of long-haired, headbanging rockstars. A wild, wild piece.
  
• Y's I- First Step Towards Wars: And another videogame system is now represented in the vaunted (ahem) halls of the VGMHOF. Y's I was published by Falcom for the TurboGrafx 16, a 16-bit system which unfortunately did not have the same success as its counterparts the Genesis and SNES. The music is very upbeat, and "First Step Towards Wars" is very well done--perhaps the best song of the game. It has tension, grandeur, and a somewhat catchy melody. Nice effort, this song.
  
• Y's II- To Make The End Of Battle: This is not a battle theme, as the title may suggest to some, but it is the intro theme for Y's II if my source is correct. No matter, this an uptempo piece which could function as either. It starts out with a sort of halloweeny strain (note the "bones rattling" xylophone) and gets that way again before repeating. In between, it is never boring, with enough tempo and variation to make you want to listen to it over and over again. A deserving recipient of the Gold Award.
  
• Chrono Trigger (SPC): Yep, that's the name of the game and also the song. Released in 1995, CT was an enormously innovative and delightfully fun game that brilliantly applies the theme of time travel and the resulting paradoxes. It is also known for its awesome soundtrack. The composer, Yasunori Mitsuda, churns out one cool song after another. "Chrono Trigger", used as the opening theme and the main character's theme, is only the first. Never before have I heard such enthusiasm packed into one song, particularly the intro.
  
• Chrono Trigger- The Trial (SPC): This one is one of my personal favorites. There's a courtroom in the game, and you get to see two trials take place there, one in which you are the defendant. This piece's building suspense and brilliant orchestration perfectly fit the sequences for which it is used, which are largely story sequences.
  
• Chrono Trigger- Tyrano Lair (SPC): Another of my personal favorites, this one starts out with a dramatic orchestral overture, but then changes to something more modern, with guitar and bass. Before the song repeats there's a little harp interlude. This song is ominous-sounding from beginning to end. You must hear it for yourself.
  
• Chrono Trigger- World Revolution (SPC): "World Revolution" is a final boss theme. It starts out with a little flute solo, then grows into a wall of sound. This theme is endowed with all the characteristics of a good final boss theme: it has the crucial "the-enemy-is-strong-but-there-is-still-hope" spirit, it's well orchestrated, and it quotes from the game's main theme. As last battle themes go, this one is a classic.
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night- Dance of Pales: It seems oddly fitting that one of the better themes in a game with 'symphony' in its title should be a waltz. This piece has a very classical feel about it and sounds sufficiently haunting for a series like Castlevania. In my opinion, it's comparable to older classical compositions like Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre which also convey a haunted feeling. I've been told the MIDI doesn't do it justice by a long measure, so if you don't like it, maybe you should get a module or something... (for the uninformed, a module is another digital music form which is of higher quality than MIDI but also more of a memory hog).
  
• Final Fantasy V- The Decisive Battle (SPC): Unlike the FFVI 'Decisive Battle' theme, which is a general boss battle theme, this one's used exclusively for minor ExDeath battles, as far as I know. It wouldn't fit anything else, because it quotes ExDeath's theme. But never mind that. This is easily the best battle theme in Final Fantasy V, and in the running for best of the series. Very big and ominous-sounding, except for the flute solo at the end, which has an extraterrestrial sort of feeling (if you've ever played FFV, you'll realize that it fits perfectly). I recommend listening to the SPC for this one, but the MIDI is also quite good.
• Final Fantasy VI- Aria di Mezzo Carraterre: The game is known as Final Fantasy III in the U.S., but the music stays the same. The opera scene is perhaps one of the most famous in RPG history, and the music is excellent. The opera is actually composed of several songs, but this one here is the "Aria di Mezzo Carraterre", or "Song of the Middle Character." Nice orchestration here, too. Written by Nobuo Uematsu, the main music composer for Final Fantasy and perhaps the most popular game music composer of all time.
  
• Final Fantasy VI- Kefka (SPC): FFVI's main villain is Kefka, and he's one of the coolest villains in videogame history (take THAT, Sephiroth worshippers!). He's a clownish sort of person, and his antics, while evil, are also amusing. His theme is a clown sort of theme, too, and it fits him just fine.
  
• Final Fantasy- Fanfare: This song is heard in FF 1-6 whenever you win a battle. I think it's kind of overused, seeing as you hear it after every battle, but even after hearing it about a THOUSAND times, it still sounds cool and upbeat.
  • General Version: This is the basic melody.
  • Final Fantasy: This is the original version, from Final Fantasy for the NES.
  • Final Fantasy IV: This is the version from Final Fantasy IV (Final Fantasy II outside of Japan.) Not much variation here.
  • Final Fantasy V (SPC): The version from Final Fantasy V. What did you expect?
  • Final Fantasy VI (SPC): FF6's version (Final Fantasy III in the U.S. and Europe) has a bit of syncopation added. This is probably the most distinguishable one.