Nothing immerses us in a game more than a boppin’ soundtrack.  Music has the ability to quickly manipulate our moods and some games just do it so right.  Whether you find yourself fighting a boss to the horns of a heroic symphony or collecting seashells on a beach to a smooth groove, games with good soundtracks always have a way of burrowing into our memories.  Catchy tracks are exactly what make some games so memorable. Just mentioning a certain game can call to memory tunes that never seem to have left our minds. Anyone who’s played a video game before surely has strong memories associated with the game’s soundtrack (from Dark Souls to The Sims).  Some games, like Grand Theft Auto, have allowed people to discover real life artists and even continue to shape our taste in music.

Our question for you is do you ever find yourself playing a game and thinking “Woah, this music goes unnecessarily hard.”?  Sometimes we wonder what was going through the composer’s head when they were in the studio cranking out their tenth Donkey Kong track that still manages to bring us to tears.  They don’t have to go so hard, but they do it for us.  In this list, I will be highlighting some Nintendo Switch games that have soundtracks that make you think “Wow, I can’t believe the composer went in like that”.  To do this, we will explain why the game deserves to be on the list, how the music relates to the gameplay, then highlight a song from each game that we consider the biggest bop.  Full disclosure: this is just our opinion and we’re no music theorists. Without further ado, here are 8 games (in no particular order) with soundtracks that go hard.  3… 2… 1… let’s jam!

Cadence of Hyrule:  Crypt of the Necrodancer featuring The Legend of Zelda

What do you get when you cross an iconic Nintendo IP with a kick ass indie rhythm game?  Cadence of Hyrule, obviously.  Crypt of the Necrodancer developer Brace Yourself Games really outdid themselves with this 2019 indie classic.  Cadence of Hyrule tasks players with navigating through a rhythm based rogue-like Hyrule (easily an iteration of Hyrule we’ve never seen before nor may ever see again).  The music and gameplay this time around are tightly knit. The player is tasked with moving Link to the beat (and the beat has never been more satisfying to move to).  Composer Danny Baranowsky had no business going as hard as he did remixing countless Zelda classics into rhythmic jam fests. If you thought Zelda music couldn’t go any harder, you were sorely mistaken.

The one that bops the hardest:  We love us some sick Zelda beats, and the one that goes the hardest this time around is easily “Gerudo Valley”. 

The way the rhythm guitar and drums kick in when you enter the area, then the iconic melody blasting on (what sounds like) horns joins in, it really gets us going.  Watching the little bokoblins dance and grove towards their inevitable death to the beat of this track never fails to satisfy. “Gerudo Valley” has always been a bop, and this version is easily the best of this game.

Cuphead

Here’s a real high class bout! Cuphead, released for Switch on April 19th, 2019, boasts a fully orchestrated swingin’ jazz + big band soundtrack.  Composer Kristofer Maddigan lovingly crafted 51 jazzy tracks, which act as the backdrop for Cuphead’s many smoothly animated boss fights.  Even Cuphead and Mugman seem to groove with every track in their animations during battle.  Cuphead gave many of us a jazz addiction that we didn’t know we were capable of having.

The one that bops the hardest:  This one is a hard pick because they’re all so good, but we have to go with “Floral Fury”. 

This track plays while fighting the ornery flower Cagney Carnation. Right out of the gate the player is met with quick drumming and a catchy trumpet melody.  As the fight plays out, so does the song. As Cagney throws out more varied attacks, more instruments are added to the track culminating in a hectic battle that really gets the juices flowing.  The jazzy solos and scales add to the hecticness, which makes for an extremely memorable experience.

Megaman X Legacy Collection 1 + 2

You can’t have a video game music list without mentioning Megaman somewhere.  We know, we know,  this is a legacy collection of multiple classic games, should it really belong on this list?  Yes, it absolutely should.  Megaman X goes hard in the soundtrack lane.  Developed by Capcom and composed by their inhouse Alpha Lyla group, the original Megaman X had a lot to live up to in the music department.  Where the original Megaman games had classic 8-bit video game-y jams, Megaman X had rad, attitude filled rockin’ 90’s tunes.  Capcom could have just settled for a sound similar to the original games, but this was 1993, and if you didn’t go hard you might as well have gone home.  The SNES graphics combined with the radical tracks is a match made in heaven.

The one that bops the hardest:  I’m gonna focus on the first game here, and again, this is going to be a controversial pick because all the music is so good, but we’re going to have to go with “Storm Eagle”. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht7YJptvt_w

Many will never forget the first time X dropped into this stage and the sick guitar riff kicked in. It’s truly exhilarating. Controlling X and toughing it out through this sky machine is made all the more exciting by listening to the tasty, recurring guitar lick.  The rhythm guitar just goes so well with the escalating melody and Megaman action. (Man, I’ve got to play through Megaman X again…)

Super Mario Odyssey

We love Super Mario Odyssey.  A return to 3D sandbox form, Odyssey is filled to the brim with jazzy tracks that are just as fun-loving as the stylish platforming gameplay.  Released in October of 2017 and composed by video game music legend Koji Kondo, Super Mario Odyssey is just as much of a joy to listen to as it is to play.  When one thinks of Mario Odyssey’s music the first song that comes to mind is probably “Jump-Up Superstar!”.  While that one does go hard, it would be too easy to say that it goes the hardest.

The one that bops the hardest:  In our humble opinion, we believe “New Donk City: Daytime” goes harder than it should. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vWAZfLuNoE&t=3s

The New Donk City festival music (“Jump-Up Superstar!”) was already the show stealing track, so one wouldn’t expect the basic daytime music to be such a bop.  With an intro reminiscent of Super Mario 64’s “Bob-omb Battlefield”, New Donk City’s daytime track sounds like a bunch of jazz musicians just having an absolute blast jamming with each other.  There’s even a moon to collect by finding jazz musicians scattered throughout the city! Also, it’s interesting how this game’s music evokes nostalgia in us even though it came out in 2017.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

Developed by Retro Studios and originally released for the Wii U, Tropical Freeze is arguably one of the greatest 2D platformers of all time. The Donkey Kong Country series has always had some real slick tracks. With a soundtrack composed by long time series composer David Wise, Tropical Freeze has music that at times sound ambient, and at others feels thrilling. Similar to how every platform in the game organically fits in with the environment, the music seems to always fit perfectly as well.

The one that bops the hardest:  Okay, this is really kind of cheating because it’s a remake from the original game, but “Aquatic Ambiance” always goes the hardest. 

Remember how I mentioned ambiance above?  This track has it right in the title. Starting off very slow and somber, things in this song don’t really kick off until about a minute and a half in.  This melody is so melancholic yet so beautiful. It flows in and out like water, perfectly tying into the gameplay. What’s also great is the sections with in and out of water platforming because the music changes based on DK’s position.  

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate

Again, we feel like we’re cheating a bit because Smash Ultimate is an amalgamation of gaming’s greatest hits.  Ultimate has over 800 tracks in total!  There is literally not enough hours in the day to sit and listen to the whole soundtrack.  We have to include Ultimate for that very reason.  Also, most of the tracks in the game (which come from different series) have been remixed to match the fast pace Smash Bros gameplay.  The head composer for the game’s original music is Hideki Sakamoto.  Sakamoto made the song that bops the hardest.

The one that bops the hardest:  The main theme, “Lifelight” just goes so dang hard. 

When players first caught a glimpse of Ultimate’s story trailer, they were mesmerized by this powerful track.  “Lifelight” is also remixed throughout the game, acting as a menu theme amongst others.  Sakamoto didn’t have to make the melody so catchy; he certainly could have settled for less.  But he went hard for Mr. Sakurai (as we all should).

Undertale + Deltarune

Undertale and Deltarune are getting lumped together because they’re both tiny indies and part of the same series.  Though they may be small and independant, they quite possibly have more heart than any game on this list. Developed (and composed) by the enigmatic Toby Fox, both games are filled to the brim with charming tracks that complement the active RPG-style gameplay.  Calling Fox a bit of a musical genius wouldn’t be a stretch; some of the music from these games have become somewhat of their own beast (a la the “Megalovania” meme).

The one that bops the hardest:  Just saying “Megalovania” and calling it a day would be easy mode, so we’re going to have to go with “The World Revolving”, featured during a hidden bossfight in Deltarune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-igYprwlM6M

This track evokes a feeling of major frantic danger, while sounding slightly circus-esque. This fits perfectly with the boss’s gameplay style and design. When this track first kicked off and the fight began, any reasonable player was definitely hit by a huge shot of adrenaline.  The way the entire track seems to come to a chaotic head in its chorus.  Chaos, Chaos!  It makes us feel like we can do anything! 

The Legend of Zelda:  Link’s Awakening (2019)

We couldn’t help ourselves!  We just had to include a Zelda game!  While Breath of the Wild has tracks that are more atmospheric than anything, the 2019 version of Link’s Awakening has music that is more in line with what you would expect from a Zelda game.  Originally composed by Minako Hamano and Kozoe Ishikawa for Gameboy hardware, the games soundtrack has been brought up to date by composer Ryu Nagamatsu.  We must say, it sounds better than ever. With memorable tracks (like the woods theme or the shop keeper theme), Nagamatsu’s mix really brings the original tracks to life.  We have to give an honorable mention to this version’s “Animal Village Theme”, which is sung by actual (not really) animals !

The one that bops the hardest:  The most memorable and emotional song in perhaps any Zelda is “The Ballad of the Windfish”. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7COXO-ZiKu0

Without spoiling too much of the games ending, this song, heard throughout the length of the game, evokes an emotional response out of anyone who has completed Link’s Awakening.  The game is about gathering instruments to play this song, so we’d say it ties into the gameplay pretty closely.  Sung by Marin, “The Ballad of the Windfish” is definitely a song we will never, ever forget.

What’s your favorite Switch game soundtrack? Let us know in the comments below!