I thought of this post entirely because I have the Pokémon Center theme from Pokémon HeartGold SoulSilver stuck in my head, and it has wriggled in over and over for months despite me hearing and actively playing other music.
Hang On main theme tune is excellent. The soundtrack to Hang-On and Super Hang-On are both top tier.
Iunno how this wasn’t mentioned, but Payday 2 has a lot of catchy / going-hard songs.
Gonna leave 3:
Hell March from Red Alert
I can hear this comment
Yeah that’s why I didn’t link it. I can hear the riff and even play the riff on guitar on a moments notice
Friend says “play me something” and I immediately play that riff
Naaaaa na-na-na-na-na-naaaa na na, na na na-na naaaaaaaa!
Also Unbreakable Determination from Ninja Gaiden 1.
Tim Follin:
Solstice
Silver Surfer
Time Trax
Pictionary
Here a little late with some certified bangers in no particular order:
Monty on the Run - Main theme (Commodore 64)
Sonic CD [JP] - Quartz Quadrant (Present)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Wandering Ghosts
My time has come. As someone who almost exclusively listens to instrumental soundtrack from movies and games, including from games I have never played, these are the ones that most often get stuck in my head (in no particular order). A plus “+” indicates a song that got stuck in my head regularly before I ever played the game, while an asterisk “*” indicates a song that still gets stuck in my head, despite being from a game I have never played at all.
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Baba Yetu - Civ IV (+)
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Hyrule Castle - Breath Of The Wild (+)
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Lorule Castle - Link Between Worlds (*)
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One Final Effort - Halo 3 (*)
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Golem King - Moonlighter
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Song of the Ancients - Nier Series (*)
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Dragonborn - Skyrim
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Far Horizons - Skyrim (+)
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Dragon Roost Island - Wind Waker (*)
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Nate’s Theme - Uncharted (*)
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Gusty Garden Galaxy - Super Mario Galaxy (*)
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Korobeiniki - Tetris (+)
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Gerudo Valley - Ocarina of Time (+)
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Colgera Battle - Tears of the Kingdom
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This Song - The Witcher 3 (It’s the song Aen Seidhe, but without vocals)
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Bloody Tears - Castlevania (*)
But finally, the song that I credit with making me obsessed with instrumental soundtrack, because I fell asleep with it playing on repeat for a whole night at the age of 5, and then lost the game cartridge, so I forgot what it was from, and which I would get stuck in my head roughly once a month throughout my entire childhood until I finally found the song THIRTEEN YEARS LATER:
Ω) Town Theme - Final Fantasy II
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The main theme of Papers, Please: https://youtu.be/DbBB1j5qAFs
Lost woods.
Honestly anything from OoT, but Lost Woods, Kakariko Villiage, and Gerudo Valley in particular are ingrained into my gray matter.
Literally anything from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
I can’t pick just one, honestly. Aside from the Tetris theme and World 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros., I consider these to be not only catchy but also iconic:
Doom E1M1 on my soundblaster and my Roland MT-32, all pumped through my surround sound system in my concrete dorm room in late 1992 and I won’t hear otherwise.
E1M1 is great, top tier music.
The level clear screen music, E2M8, E1M8, and E1/2M9 tracks are all other top tier track contending for the throne.
Doom II introduced a few more bangers too, but I’m not as able to call the level codes to mind off the top of my head.
Easy answer for me, chemical plant zone from Sonic the hedgehog 2
Suicide run, Mass Effect 2.
I can never pick one, so here’s a few:
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E1M1(Doom)
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Hell March(Red Alert)
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Character creation music in BG3
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Megalovania(Undertale)
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Coral Crown(Hades II)
Hell March! The Red Alert 2 version is the best one to me, maybe because it was the first I heard or because it just feels punchier.
The second one isn’t bad, but I like the more trash metal style and less overwhelming bass in the first.
Which I guess is why Iove Andrew Hulshult’s remake of E1M1
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