4 Best Gaming Songs Ever

Video game songs don’t leave you. It’s the soundtrack of remembered experiences, boss fights, and romances. Some songs, of course, are not merely a hit – they carve up genres, trigger reminiscence, and get included in articles like this.

Let’s take a look at four of these iconic gaming songs, what makes them so unique, and why video game fans were so fascinated.

“Still Alive” – Portal

Typically, the title track of the final credits is the biggest hit in a game, and Portal “Still Alive” does not disappoint. It’s a Jonathan Coulton song, Ellen McLain-sung love song for the absurdly beautiful AI bad guy.

What is great about “Still Alive” is that it is witty. It’s in GLaDOS’s voice, and it’s a nice recap of the player’s experience with riddles and traps. The lyrics are dark and full of dark humor mixed with an unexpected hope, and the last verse is pure genius.

The song is extremely simple – a swinging song that immediately gets stuck in your head. And it’s exactly Portal’s tone: clean but inventive, wry yet grim. If you’ve never played Portal the lyrics are witty and the melody is what makes this one of the best game moments of all time.

“One-Winged Angel” – Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII “One-Winged Angel” – Another winner. It’s a Nobuo Uematsu tune you listen to while you’re battling Sephiroth (one of gaming’s all-time greats). What was original about this song is that it combines classical and rock, which was innovative at the time of the game’s launch in 1997.

Its choral arrangement is the secret. The Latin lyrics, sung with haunting conviction, dramatize the final struggle to near-mythical levels. This to many, it’s the biggest pain in the butt of the entire game. You can feel Sephiroth’s heroic scheme stamped into every note.

“One-Winged Angel” was inspired, Uematsu has said, by ‘all sorts of inspiration,’ from Stravinsky to Jimi Hendrix. That sort of widespread synthesis renders the song timeless, so it’s as potent today as it was years ago.

You can find this song all over the gaming world – from real slot prizes to YouTube compilations showing the best moments in gaming. It’s a bonafide classic.

“Baba Yetu” – Civilization IV

“Baba Yetu” is one of those songs that has more than one part. It’s a Christopher Tin song set to the backdrop of Civilization IV (an enormous world-building game). And yet, there’s something else to “Baba Yetu” – it’s a Swahili version of the Lord’s Prayer, sung to a touching orchestral and choral accompaniment.

There’s this infectious vigor and positivity that comes with a salute to human achievement, and that’s also the spirit of the Civilization series. No wonder “Baba Yetu” received the first Grammy Award for a video game song, and became the biggest hit of all time in gaming.

To hear “Baba Yetu” is a whole new experience. Their tremulous vocals and lush instrumentation will make you speechless, and the song’s messages of harmony and growth are reflected back to you even when the game is closed.

“Gerudo Valley” – Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Nintendo creates plenty of soundtracks for games, but “Gerudo Valley“ from the game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is something else. Koji Kondo wrote it, and you listen to it when you wander the Gerudo deserts – you are swept away in its sounds.

And that’s what makes “Gerudo Valley” so special. It’s almost Spanish – both in terms of guitar passages and percussion – which makes it really pop in a battle of more classic fantasy sounds. It’s upbeat and chaotic, and it is just about the right term to describe the Gerudo desert’s mysterious charms.

It’s been remixed, programmed, and repackaged millions of times since, and that’s how universal it is. This is a good song to recall, whether you are a long-time Zelda fan or an early-game Zelda convert.

It’s not the song itself, really, but what binds them together is the mood it evokes. These songs are all not merely chords – they’re players. They create scenes, set a stage, and make players feel involved with the worlds they’re in.

All of these songs are as frantic as the rush of encountering Sephiroth or the humor of GLaDOS, the splendour of Baba Yetu or the fires of Gerudo Valley; all of them shows that game music can be as impactful and relevant as any soundtrack. They’re reminders that games are not just combat – they’re chock-a-block with stories, emotions and moments that extend beyond the end credits.

The songs above talk about why gaming music is as much a topic as any other and why listeners have their ears in their throats.