As a bonus this is something I just found a few weeks ago, Solstice for the NES. Prog rock..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypNPxwnppU0

holy shit! the rambo one is real good too.
 
Here are some ridiculous ZX Spectrum actiongame electro soundtracks. all the title screens are like amazing OTT violently colourful 8bit versions of dire VHS b-movies and the smae goes for this music
 
Captain Fizz
 
Cobra by the same dude who did those c64 tunes i guess! really good when it kicks in. guana might have posted this somewhere already.
 
Techno Cop gets real good around 0:30
 
Comando Quatro
 
Chronos Spectrum jesus christ what is this
 
Agent X whoooop!
 
Netherworld more of a spacey scifi feel but still completely OTT
 
BraveStarr motherfuckerrrr!! same dude who did Captain Fizz it looks like
 
 
also should go without saying that all spectrum games have completely mindblowing title screen graphics but Rainbow Islands deserves a special highlight because maaaan
 
edit: agent x and chronos spectrum are both by tim follin who's the same guy who did that prog nes track! what a guy

I got hired to work on a shmup kind of recently and I don't really know much about shmup music so I began digging around. I discovered this one company called Toaplan that released like 10 games, but every single game they released had a super good soundtrack - the one you're most likely to be familiar with is Zero Wing. Toaplan split up, but most of the people went on to work for Cave, which is pretty much the biggest name in shmups. The one soundtrack that really blew me away was for a game called Vimana, a shmup that's apparently based off of Hinduism or something? ??? ?? It was done by Toshiaki Tomizawa, one of the founders of Cave, and it's nuts!!

Space High

This is my favorite song in the game, although all the songs are pretty similar to this; this sort of Hi-NRG/Italo disco/game music hybrid. Here's another one:

The Power of Darkness

Here's the whole album. The album comes with the music from another game, Teki Paki, but it's pretty terrible so just stick with Vimana. Check it out, it's pretty wild. Actually, search for Toaplan on Youtube because everything they did is super good.

Also I don't know if it's actually from a game or not, but this Atari ST song I found recently is nuts. Actually I can't remember, maybe Ragnar posted this song.

I have more to post later but let me just put this out there:


The Sims
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs5QGN-zhwM


I love this soundtrack a lot.

i am going to be a gay babby and post something really obvious but i think dada will agree with this choice:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL294020FE0E62D993

I would have preferred links to single tracks. I mean for someone who hasn't played the game, I'd want to knwo which tracks rise above the rest than listening to the whole album. Anyway here's some favorite tracks and I think some will like too.

Greendog (a not popular but very awesome sega game)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw4VVnRhKj4&list=PL070598D484B5B525&index=62

Wild Arms 2 - Town to the Western Winds (actually the whole ost of Wild arms 2 and wild arms 1 are very great)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6-5AaQEuo
(would have wanted to post an entire ost but can't find a playlist of it on youtube)

Wild Arms - Zed's theme (a random track from an overall awesome ost. seriously you gotta hear all the tracks in it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCBgJz3lh60

Brave Fencer Musashi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBzZB7rZlqA&list=PL070598D484B5B525&index=31

Jace Cocoon Sirus Village
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuLG1QQWKnE

Also Sims soundtrack was absolutely wonderful. I think it's a little bit underrated though.

60 VG soundtracks >>>
http://www.youtube.com/user/PeyserConley#g/p

I got him subscribed and fav'd

I absolutely loved Arcanum's soundtrack. It's pretty different from most game soundtracks and it's string quartet use appealed to the orchestra kid in me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWjbWuXZA5w

I had this pinball game for Super Nintendo that was totally unremarkable, but this song was awesome and just about the only thing memorable about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL2sCZvgmdA

I also think that Grim Fandango's soundtrack is largely responsible for getting me into Jazz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PaZRsRPZzM&feature=related

The 7th Guest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLP6gqaXRJw
The second disc of The 7th Guest, if you put it in a CD player and went to track 2, had all of the game's music.  Of course it was all on one track so it was like listening to a cassette.  I remember listening to it a lot though at around age 12 and fast forwarding to the end because that's my favorite song.  There are two lyrical songs in The 7th Guest and the rest is MIDI.  If you want just the lyrical songs here they are by themselves:
The Game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m5SDmVNo-I
Skeletons in My Closet (this is the one that rules)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDsoN48HI54

Also while I didn't like the soundtrack as much on the whole, here's a lyrical song from the sequel The 11th Hour
Mr. Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w28PFvKNAWE

A few individual songs:

Super Mario RPG - Forest Maze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkailb3xcTI
I forgot how cool this song was until today.  Holy shit it's so good.

Ghosts n Goblins (NES)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA_e0QpVdLc

Rhapsody - Dream Traveller
http://secxtanx.com/dump/08%20Dream%20Traveler.mp3
Aaaa please spare me your jokes at least I didn't link to a Rhapsody song with lyrics but this is honestly one of my favorite video game instrumentals of all time and nobody has it on youtube so I uploaded an mp3 please someone listen to it I want to kiss this song a little


edit: Aaaaa how I did forget this until now???  If you want a soundtrack that's fun to listen to here ya go:


Tropico
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ2rw1bDZBs&playnext=1&list=PL5B0182293913B29F


This is one of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time.  One of the first things I ordered off the internet as a kiddo was this soundtrack.  I still listen to it in my car sometimes.  It's great.  Huepa Hupea is my favorite.


e: secret bonus song

Ghosts n Goblins (NES)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA_e0QpVdLc

yessssss so good. it was nice that they did a lil shoutout in megaman 7:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KDzaD_FW6s

I don't know if this counts as a VG soundtrack but a friend from school sold me on this Distant Worlds, which is the Royal Stockholm Philiharmonic Orchestra doing covers of various Final fantasy songs.

This is one of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-_XANMleDc

Drakengard's soundtrack is messed up and disjointed but if you're in the mood for it then I reckon it's one of the best going around.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXu_S7-SOYU


Too bad the game was terrible (bar the spastic story).