This post is a short and sweet Halloween treat!

Below are 11 of my top picks for video game music to play on Halloween. Enjoy!

Got a suggestion? Add it to the comments on this post!!

 

1. Rayman 2: The Great Escape - “The Tomb of Ancients”

2. Donkey Kong 64 - “Frantic Factory”

3. Donkey Kong 64 - “Creepy Castle”

4. The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time - “Shadow Temple”

If the music itself doesn’t creep you out a bit, the horrible memories of confusing and lengthy puzzles in a poorly-designed dungeon are sure to terrify you to the very core.

5. Gruntilda’s Lair

I love the music from Banjo-Kazooie/Banjo-Tooie so much.

6. The Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess - “Light and Darkness”

7. Super Metroid - Title Screen Theme

This one gave me the downright chills when I fired up my SNES, which is impressive to say because the SNES doesn’t exactly have a sound palette that lends itself to creeping the bejesus out of you. Despite this, my bejesus was thoroughly creeped and I would often find my younger self mesmerized by the title theme and that creepy/cute Metroid-in-a-bottle. Look at ’em. Just wiggling there, up to no good…

8. Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Remix - “This is Halloween”

Much love to my fellow Bostonians, the Shota Nakama and the Video Game Orchestra, who re-orchestrated and re-recorded the soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts 2 for the “2.5 Remix” installment. The game didn’t change too much, but the soundtrack was majorly elevated by the addition of a very fine, real orchestra and some thoughtful arrangements by Shota.

9. Final Fantasy VII - “Trail of Blood”

If my memory serves me correctly, the scene that went with this piece of music was the first time we really saw blood in a Final Fantasy game - and it was splattered all over the floors and walls of the Shinra building like a murder scene from Dexter.

10. Final Fantasy VII - “Who Are You?”

The short, piercing music that accompanies Cloud’s cryptic flashbacks and corrupted memories was also pretty creepy.

11. Final Fantasy VII - “Those Chosen by the Planet”

Yes, I have pieces of Final Fantasy VII music in here. Deal with it. I was trying to find this one but couldn’t remember the name and had to skip through the whole Final Fantasy VII soundtrack to track it down, forcing me to rediscover #9 and #10 on this list. The dissonance in the chords for this piece coupled with an ominous ostinato really drove it home for me on this one.

Got a Halloween Video Game Music Suggestion?

Leave it in the comments below!