Something about the way a good Sega Genesis/Masterdrive song sounds just makes me feel very happy. I'm a huge fan of the sounds the console produced, and I love how the video game musicians of the early 90s wrote catchy melodies with these unique sounds. As such, I love getting more of it to listen to. But I never played very many Genesis games other than the Sonic series and a hand full of others growing up, and so I'm not sure what soundtracks are worth getting and what aren't.

Here's what I currently have:

Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic 2
Sonic (1)
Sonic 3D Blast
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Puyo Puyo
Puyo Puyo Tsuu
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Shinobi III
Zero Wing

Here's a few that I plan to download:

Animaniacs (had the game growing up, and it had some very memorable melodies)
Ecco
Ecco II
Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim 2
Ristar



So anyway, other than those, anyone want to recommend me any more? Even if I've never played the game, I won't mind so long as the tunes are good. Heck, it might even get me to want to play the games themselves. Ha.

Get Gunstar Heroes

- Streets of Rage (Burning Knuckle)
- Phantasy Star IV
- Valis

Road Rash
Road Rash II
Road Rash III
Outrun
Outrun 2019
Phantasy Star IV
Shining in the Darkness
Streets of Rage *effing awesome
Streets of Rage II *the best
Streets of Rage III
TMNT - The Hyperstone Heist

just to start

Langrisser I and II.

Wow, Shadoshi...you're gonna be here for a LONG time, lol.

Besides what's already been mentioned...

Thunder Force(3 for sure, but I'd be willing to bet 2 is still good as well)
Alien Storm
Batman(the rendition of the opening theme to the original movie was awesome!)
Castlevania: Bloodlines(despite what everyone may think about it as a Castlevania game, the music was beautiful)
Comix Zone(electric guitar in the hands of God...'nuff said)
Decap-Attack(very simplistic but catchy tunes, some of which may give off a James Bond vibe that is totally out of character for the game)
Gaiares(mostly ambient in its nature, it added to the frenzy of the game itself)
Granada(these tunes are best heard while playing the game, but if you can envision a supertank crushing the enemy through various fields of battle...)
Jewel Master(more ambience)
Revenge of Shinobi(IMO, it was better than Shinobi 3...more Japanese, I guess)
Toejam and Earl(early synthed rap...GREAT background music)
Zombies Ate My Neighbors(one caveat...make sure you get the superior Genesis version, as the SNES one used slightly different synthesizers and tunes. If you need it, I have a rip of the Genesis version)

STREETS OF RAGE 2!!!!!Incredible!!!!!

I havent posted in here in a minute, but this really is my forte so I though Id chip in with some of my favourites

Aladdin
Batman
Battle Mania Daiginjou
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
Captain America & The Avengers
Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse
Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck
Comix Zone
Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 (first is better imo)
Eternal Champions
Golden Axe (mostly 1 and 2, the third game's music was a bit meh)
Kid Chameleon
Lemmings
Mick & Mack: Global Gladiators
Mickey Mania
Mortal Kombat 1-3 (MK1 soundtrack was better on Sega than in the Arcade imo)
Quack Shot starring Donald Duck
Revenge of Shinobi/The Super Shinobi
Road Rash 1-3 (especially the first two)
Rocket Knight Adventures
Rolo to the Rescue
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master/The Super Shinobi II
Soleil
Sonic The Hedgehog 1-3 (especially Sonic 3 & Knuckles)
Sonic Spinball
Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition
Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle 1-3 (personal fave is the first one, but the 2nd game is the best overall soundtrack)
Super Fantasy Zone
Super Hang-On
TaleSpin
The Hybrid Front
The Lion King
ToeJam & Earl 1 & 2
Valis: The Fantasm Soldier
Winter Olympics Lillehammer '94
Wonder Boy III - Monster's Lair
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Zero Wing


Any one of those I mentioned range from having at least 2 or 3 great songs to being great overall

Underrated (some extremely) osts coloured in Light Blue


Most of these soundtracks can be found on my YT account "Renegade466isback"

Super Monaco GP
Thunder Force III*
Super Shinobi*
Shadow Dancer
Ghouls 'n ghosts*
Phantasy Star II (prefer non-Japanese soundtrack version)*

*actual cd soundtracks can be found.

Nice, thanks guys. I am seeing some stuff on here I hadn't considered yet, so that's good.

I'm certainly adding to my list. Those of you who are describing the soundtracks, thanks, that's very helpful. Just downloading one blindly doesn't always yield great results. Haha.

Shining Force I and II !!

Uncharted Waters II: New Horizons

Master of Monsters

Might be cheating, but The Sega cd had some good stuff too, like Sol Deace/Feace, Sonic CD, Eternal Champions, Batman returns and Silpheed. Cart wise I'd Go with Streets of Rage series, Sonic series, X-men,Batman(first movie) and Vectorman.

ELEMENTAL MASTER from technosoft, an excellent little shooter with an utterly AMAZING soundtrack - those technosoft guys were geniuses! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVXHhNP3j4s&feature=PlayList&p=5D67ED5C49BEDDA2&index=5

I like the Elemental Master music, lardonate! Thanks!

Great Mazinga, I agree that some of those Sega CD soundtracks are great (I myself love both Sonic CD soundtracks). However, this thread is more intended to be soundtracks that are produced with the Genesis/Master drive's sound system specifically. Thanks though. :D

And a triple thanks to those still recommending. I will be checking all of this out very soon.

Check out my youtube page, it has a lot of good Genesis music.http://www.youtube.com/user/PsychOut1

Don't miss Alien Soldier...and The Adventures of Batman And Robin for a little industrial.

it's been said but Toejam & Earl. That stuff is the funk.

Brave Battle Saga has some pretty good music. The battle theme (http://www.mediafire.com/?yjoihyl4wwv) and boss theme (http://www.mediafire.com/?0jzz3nyjnno) make good use of the MegaDrive's sound chip.

Lots of great suggestions. I will just name a few of my favorites (along with sample MP3s because that's what cool kids do):

Midnight Resistance
http://zhxhome.net/zen/VGM/Flood_of_Power.mp3
Arranged by the young Hitoshi Sakimoto. I think it easily trumps the arcade version.

Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force
http://zhxhome.net/zen/VGM/Stand_Up_Against_Myself.mp3
I like all the Thunder Force's musics. They rocks!

M.U.S.H.A.
http://zhxhome.net/zen/VGM/Fullmetal_Fighter.mp3
Another great shooter with intense fast-paced metal-inspired music.

Revenge of Shinobi
http://zhxhome.net/zen/VGM/Chinatown.mp3
Had to post one of the best video game songs ever. Yuzo Koshiro at work here.

Skitchin'
http://zhxhome.net/zen/VGM/Chug_Wagon.mp3
More hard rock done from the core Genesis soundchip. All the music in this game sounds very close to a real electric guitar being played.

World of Illusion
http://zhxhome.net/zen/VGM/World_of_Illusion.mp3
It was always a criticism that Genesis could not create good orchestral music, but this piece is amazing.


I think Genesis sound is at it's best for fast, techno and pseudo-heavymetal stuff.
But as always, it's really about what the composer can do with it.

Lessee...I have:
Comix Zone (OH YEAH!)
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III
Phantasy Star IV
Sonic 1
Sonic 2 Beta
Sonic 2
Sonic 3
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic Eraser (never released!)

some favorites of mine include:

Combat Cars
Animaniacs
Trampoline Terror!
Cool Spot
Rock 'N' Roll Racing
and of course all the sonic games.