1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
It's very rare a Fire Emblem game doesn't have a series of banging map themes and by rare, I mean it has never happened. Not once. Three Houses carries on the winning streak with a consistent stream of player phase battle themes up there with the series' best.
Tearing Through Heaven and
Fodlan Winds back the game's foreboding first half while
The Long Road and
Chasing Daybreak set the melancholic second half. Final map themes
Apex of the World and
God-Shattering Star are once again among the series' greatest, something each new entry in the past decade has effortlessly managed. And of course we have
Blue Skies and a Battle + its counterpart
Beneath Heaven and Earth. Listing endless track names without much explanation is often tiring but in this case, there's little else to say - these tracks do all the talking.
Outside of map music, the two halves' respective preparation themes are easily the best in the series.
As Swift as Wind pumps you up while
As Fierce as Fire highlights the arduous battle awaiting you. Another stand out is the "Vs. former student" theme
Paths That Will Never Cross. A real shock I had from this game was the seneseless and constant murder of the students who did not end up in your house in Part 1. This track really hits hard (though not as hard as Claude's arrows - sorry Ingrid!) and is a stand out of the second half.
A downside to Three House's OST is the loss of good "Ablaze" versions of map themes present in Awakening and Fates. The "Thunder" versions of map themes here are mostly unlistenable outside of the game's setting and that would make me more upset had the base "Rain" tracks not been as good as they were. To be honest, I think I would like next game to return to a standard battle theme which evolves over the course of the game. I will also say that much of the outside battle music is unremarkable with only
Scales of the Goddess and
Recollection & Regret doing much for me.
Overall, we have yet another Fire Emblem that thrives on its sometimes catchy, sometimes bombastic and always banging map themes and these are the ones I will be going back to years down the line. Fingers crossed for Genealogy remake next so we can get the best map themes in the series the proper modern arrangements they deserve!
2. Team Sonic Racing
The build up to TSR's OST was all about anticipating what great remixes we'll be getting this time. The final product showcased a bunch of them, all of great quality, but the real winners here are the original compositions like
Haunted Castle,
Mother's Canyon and
Lost Palace. The strongest aspect of these tracks are the variety brought about by the suite of composers who together, form a kind of "best of Sonic music" collective. The most welcome of this group is no doubt Jun Senoue who returns after what feels like a lifetime and brings with him tracks straight from the Adventure era with
Clockwork Pyramid and
Wisp Circuit. I'm also very happy to see Tee Lopes' skills continuing to be used with the abformentioned Haunted Castle and the
Sand Road +
Boo's House remixes showing just how perfect for the series he is. My personal favourite though is longtime modern composer Tomoya Ohtani's beautiful
Sky Road which I see as a culmination of some of his best work. I also love the little nod to Sonic Runners though how intentional that was, I'm not sure.
But it would be remiss to not even touch on the remixes which are almost across the board straight fire.
Dark Arsenal (Final Egg),
Ice Mountain (Cool Edge) and
Bingo Party (Bingo Highway) lead the way with fresh takes on classic favourites. I will admit though, I'm not as big on "Yet another Seaside Hill remix" and I guess the same sentiment goes for
Market Street's Rooftop Run though props to Hyper Potions, it sounds nothing like the Generations' versions. I'll never not love official Sonic remixes so this love letter of an OST whic ended up far outshining the barebones game itself (its fun but there's like nothing to do in it.)
3. Yooka-Laylee & the Impossible Lair
Man, I could not have been more wrong with my pre-release feeling on this game. Yooka-Laylee was a very frustrating experience for me and despite the fact I wouldn't go on to love the Banjo-Kazooie OST for years after originally playing Yooka 1, the spiritual successor's attempts at a memorable soundtrack did nothing for me at all in comparison. Going into the Impossible Lair, things went from cautiously optimistic with learning Wise and Kirkhope were teaming up again to a loss of interest upon learning most of the tracks were being done by two othr guys entirely. Gosh, what a laughable notion looking back on it now! Matt Griffin and Dan Murdoch bring incredible life to this soundtrack with Wise's contributions being as memorably melancholic as some of his best Donkey Kong work.
The greatest strength of Yooka-Laylee's OST is the same as the game itself and that is the transforming stage gimmick. Not only does every one of the game's 20 stages have its own track, each with a distinct style, but every transformed stage also gains its very own track often with a completely new feel to reflect the stage's new look. This leaves the Impossible Lair with a whopping 40 stage tracks with less than half a handful of what I would consider duds. And that's not even getting into Kirkhope's Overworld tunes or the Impossible Lair itself! One of the strongest one-two punches for level tracks is
Hazard Hangar and
Hazard Hangar - Hung. What begins as a funky, wacky laboratory theme ends up as an almost whimsical progressing into frantic jazzy slice reflecting the madness when the whole lab is turned upside down. Another favourite of mine is
Quesy Quay. The peaceful, jaunty track of the base level morphing into
Quesy Quay - Climb a serene dream-like melody when the town is turned on its side at night.
I'll admit, while there's no doubt Kirkhope still has it (see Spiral Mountain 2019) I wasn't too big on the Overworld tracks but I appreciate the similarities to Banjo's music with the Canyon chanelling Glitter Gulch Mine and the Beach inspired by Jolly Roger Bay. Aside from that, there isn't really a negative thing I can say about this soundtrack. I am somewhat still in the honeymoon phase with this music considering I only played this game in preparation for this game of the year list but I see myself only appreciating the music more overtime, just as I did with Tropical Freeze. I am very eager to see what Griffin and Murdoch work on next!
4. Cadence of Hyrule
I adore the Crypt of the Necrodancer OST. It is one of Indie gamings greatest triumphs in sound, right up there with Undertale and Celeste for me. Knowing Danny Baranowsky was returning to compose for Cadence of Hyrule and to remix a bunch of classic Zelda music meant that this was a must purchase on that fact alone. The final result was an OST where I was suprised to find myself more enamoured with the original compositions than anything else! Not to say the remix selection here is anything but stellar - fans of Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time's OSTs are in for a treat with everything from
Gerudo Valley to
Song of Storms and the
Dark World all getting some love. My only gripe is that these are ultimately the same tracks that we also see get arranged but they're popular for a reason so I can't complain much.
Ultimately, my favourite remix and overall best track of the game is LttP's
Lost Woods or Forest of Mystery, if you prefer. For what is a very repetitive 20 second track on a loop, it isn't the easiest song to arrange and while ALBW made a decent attempt, Cadence's effort went above and beyond. Hell, it may as well be an original composition with muc of the song devoted to expanded the feel of the original to great effect. Deep within the Lost Woods is the
Lost Swamp, a bouncy, vibrant track channeling Crypt's Fungal Funk in all the best ways. Another strong point in Cadence's OST are the boss tracks and how they incorperate the titular instruments.
Gleeokenspiel's head banging theme draws from Song of Storms in a completely different way to the Windmill Hut and is probably the only game track I know of to use a Glockenspiel to good effect!
Wizzroboe, apart from having
the best name, goes in on the eastern instruments in style with a surpsrisingly emotional melody stringing it all together.
Cadance just emphasises how strong Nintendo colabs ususally end up being in the music departments. Its probably the dream of the majority of game composers out there to work on these IP and you can tell the passion Baranowsky put into making his mark on this legendary franchise. I hope we see similar Indie colaborations in the future if they give indie composers more chances to tackle classic series' music in fresh and exciting ways.
5. Wargroove
Wargroove's biggest challenge from the very beginning was filling the massive void left by the Advance Wars series. And while I personally believe Chucklefish nailed it in the gameplay department, it was always the music I was most interested in. You see, I've already sung the praises of the OSTs of Fire Emblem but ultimately, I think Advance Wars has the better music, even if there is far less of it. To come even remotely close it, Wargroove would need to focus on what made Advance Wars so great and put its own energy into replicating that formula. The end result is an absolute success. Advance Wars always thrived on CO themes so choosing to ape that approach and giving each playable character their own theme was crucial for making Wargroove stand out. Each track is a fusion of Fire Emblem's approach to map music while injecting each CO's personality into it.
Without a doubt, the best main CO theme belongs to the game's uncontested best character,
Caesar the dog. This track screams curiosity and valour, channeling Caesar's personality in spades. Its also insanely catchy and I could not stop humming it to myself back in January. The harsh violins and Norsk horns of
Ragna ~ Patchwork Valkyrie punctuate the brash style of this brawn-over-brains warrior while
Sigrid ~ Ancient Blood uses bells, piano and a backing choir to showcase the lack of remorse shown by the icy, cold-blooded vampire. Strongest of all is the final boss theme,
Dark Mercia ~ Unbound Fury which uses my favourite trope, flipping the jubiliant main theme on its head for a dark finale.
Overall, this soundtrack reminds me of Pokémon Conquest more than anything. Conquest was able to create music that fused the personality of each Warlord with the feeling of the type they primarily used and Wargroove does something very similar that I'm left feeling reminiscent of it whenever I listen to it. And Pokémon Conquest is easily top 3 Pokémon OSTs so well done Wargroove! On another note, Wargroove's upcoming DLC appears to have some new lovely Celtic inspired tracks and I'm excited to talk about them on 2020's OST of the Year awards!
6
. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
It hurts to put Bloodstained this far down on my list considering the fantastic
Voyage of Promise is one of my favourite tracks in years. Having only gotten into Castlevania with the inclusion of the series in Smash, it has barely been over a year since I first started listening of the gaming's greatest series of soundtracks. Long time 'Vania composer Michiru Yamane worked on this game but from what I can tell the bulk of the soundtrack was split between up to 7 different composers. Honestly, It can be felt a bit with large portions of the soundtrack feeling a bit too all over the place for my liking.
But looking at individual tracks, aside from Voyage of Promise, there's two other top tier pieces in the traditional Clock Tower type track
Gears of Fortune and the
Wood Carving Partita inspired
Bibliotheca Ex Machina. These three to me rival even the best of Castlevania's library and are a step above the rest of Bloodstained's music but there's still a lot to love here.
Interred Glory tackles the desert theme in a similar fashion to Portrait of Ruin's Pyramid stages while
Silent Howling and especially the
Executioners ramp up the tempo and the guitar to set the scene to frantic boss fights. Most of the other early game area themes are also up to scratch with
Lost Garden,
Luxurious Overture and
Forgotten Jade fitting quite nicely into making the OST come together.
Yet there are some missed opportunities, none more prevalent than the criminally short
Cursed Orphan. Perhaps it is fitting that a piece so intent on getting across how time is of the esscence would end before it can even get going but I cannot help but wish tracks like this would have gotten the same treatment as the longer, early game tracks. Furthermore, there are three additional tracks on the game's official OST release that cannot be found within the game at all. These 8-bit inspired tracks
Everblack,
Sinister Sign and
Brave Trigger end up being some of the most memorable and catchy tunes of the lot despite clearly not fitting the tone of the main game. I honestly thought these were supposed to be from Curse of the Moon at first (still haven't gotten around to that yet.)
7
. Pokémon Sword & Shield
SW/SH was a bit of a weaker entry into the series in terms of its soundtrack. Feeling more in line with X/Y than S/M, Gen VIII suffers from a lack of memorable tracks in between the staple trainer thems, town themes and dungeon themes. I think the route's were the biggest letdown this entry when they're usually a standout but that has been a trend since Gen VI. I do often think that each genration in Pokémon does one thing with its soundtrack that stands out more than other gens. Gen IV for example had a wider selection of great route themes than average while Gen V excelled in Town tracks. Gen VII ended up being one of my favourites thanks to the wide selection of wonderful battle themes and this time round, SW/SH has a memorable selection of town themes. Not all of them match up to the greats but they all do have something going for them, a much welcome improvment from S/M's lackluster selection.
Stow-on-Side guitar and flute combo make for a lovely desert theme while
Wyndon makes you feel like a champion already with its use of the main theme.
Motostoke is my favourite with a soothing Saxophone playing over the mechanical beat of its industry town.
the battle themes here do a good job of showcasing personalities with
Hop,
Marnie and
Bede all boasting strong efforts. I do think they suffer a bit from too much frantic instrumentation at times leading to some sections not getting enough time to breathe. This is most evident in the trainer and wid Pokémon themes which get grating very quickly. Other unique themes fare better simply because you don't hear them constantly.
Vs. Oleana for example you only hear once and to me, its reminiscent of S/M's Lusimine fused with its Island Kahuna track. I also can't help but compare the bombastic vocals of
Vs. Rose to the Champions League theme and it makes me laugh everytime (considering SW/SH's English and Footie inspirations, perhaps this wasn't coincidental?) I must admit though, as typical as it is, I have to give best battle tracks to
Vs. Gym Leader for its genius fusion of dynamic techno and crowd chanting as well as
Battle Tower because its a Toby Fox track through and through.
Champion Leon also gets props for using the classic yet underappreciated Hall of Fame theme.
So while Sw/Sh is a bit of a tame OST compared to Pokémon's of past times, it does have its merits and without a doubt, will be remembered for its catchy use of crowd chanting above all else.
8. Ring Fit Adventure
Definitely one of the surprises of the year, Ring Fit Adventure ticks all the right boxes when it comes to Nintendo's quirky adventure game soundtracks. Of note, I can easily compare this to the fantastic underrated Miitopia OST that I see shared at least one composer with Ring Fit. While I am still (very) slowly making my way through this game, one thing that keeps me coming bck for more is the pumping battle themes of excercise battles and serene field themes present in the obstacle courses.
On the field side, we have the peaceful
Field I, a great kickstarting beginning of your journey type track that gradually builds up in tempo. It is accompanied by
Field III, a beautiful melody driven piece. Finally there is
Dragaux stadium, a techno backed piece letting you know you're in for a challenge. The battle themes are suitably more intense as to draw attention to the necessity of the strenous moves needed to battle in this game.
Fitness Battle starts off more low-key with a soothing whistling accompanying the vocals.
Dragaux Battle keeps the whistling and vocals but inserts the Stadium melody to shake things up. Perhaps my favourite track as of yet,
Mini-Boss battle is a more sinister take on Fitness Battle with an electronic keyboard backing.
Here's hoping the OST continues to expand as I progress further into the game!
9. Shovel Knight: King of Cards
While only an expansion, King of Cards boasts an impressively large original soundtrack once again composed by the insanely talented Jake Kaufman. In the lead up to the game, I was worried we would see little to no new tracks for this expanson seeing as previews only ever showed reused songs. Little did I know, the minigame Joustus would lead to a suite of 8-bit board game tracks that change up pretty much every time the player encounters a new Joustus arena. While most of these are nice (
Infinity's Prelude and
Sonatina Della Torre being my picks of the bunch) the most welcome surprises come from the new area themes.
There are only three of these but they all bring something great to the OST.
Cruise Control is a pop mix of King Knight's signature theme and gives it a cozy feel not seen in previous iterations.
The Crosswise Crosswindsis a completely original track in the vein of the original OST's level themes and its great to hear more of what I consider Shovel Knight music's strongest aspect. Its a perfect track to encapsulate "final challenge" and showing the journey's close to coming to an end. My favourite though was a complete surprise addition - an all new level theme based on Plague of Shadow's Tango of the Troupple King. A fitting choice of track to cover considering its the first time we fight through the King's home turf and my, what a song to battle to!
The Buzz in the Grotto is a wonderful tribute to Shovel Knight's distinct sound font and a fitting track to use in the send off to this great saga.
10. Control
Can't say I liked 90% of this game's music, or perhaps its more accurate to say that there was no music laying 90% of the time. And that's fine, not every game need a melody infused score backing every moment of gameplay. No, the only reason Control is on this list is
THAT section late in the game. Old Guards of Asgard's
Take Control may not traditionally be my type of music and not something I'd listen to outside of the game, there's no doubt it elevated this sequence to greatness and made for the most memorable moment of the game.
Honourable Mentions / Others
SMW Desert from Mario Maker 2 is by far the best track in the game and one of my favourites of the year. Its a journey from entering a desolate desert to triumphantly navigating the harsh terrain in 1:00 and I love it.
Smash Ultimate continued its streak of having the best library of music in any singular game with top tier remixes of Banjo Kazooie and Fatal Fury music. I had never listened to a second of Fatal Fury / King of Fighters music before Terry and now I love it, tis the power of Smash and the best part of the fighters pass. I pray everday thay later DLC packs have as much effort into their music selection as Terry got.
Fire Emblem had an Arranged Soundtrack with various tracks from across the series released early this year. Beneath a New Light AkA best Fire Emblem track ever got a lovely arrangement and I especially enjoyed the Companions and Final Holy War renditions. A new album has been revealed for release in a couple months which hopefully also brings the goods. Oh and Fire Emblem Heroes had some good tracks this year as well.
Lost Lore and
Hall of Forms stand out as Heroes slowly inchs towards having almost a full OST worth of great songs.