My 200 Favorite Video Game Themes - An Introduction

Cartoon by Chris McElfresh; 2014

I love video game music.  This is a niche, for sure, but I do know that I am not alone in this.  As someone who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, during the height of the Nintendo Generation, reading Nintendo Power while eating the Nintendo Cereal System, video games have been a tremendous part of my growth into a pop culture nerd. Therefore, it is undeniable that video games have been a huge part of my life as a whole.  So, factor in the fact that I am also a music nut, always gravitating towards good melodies, I have spent hours of my life humming the music to the games I have played over and over through the decades.

Now, I cannot say narrowing this list down was easy.  I had to pick 200 themes, the 200 that I knew deserved to make my list.  I would say it is pretty diverse, too.  That said, there is an abundance of music from the Mega Man and Final Fantasy series on this list.  This is mainly dictated by the fact that I wanted to make an honest list first and foremost.  I could have made it a little broader but I would not have been sincere with that choice.  In the end, I think I made a list of 200 themes that best reflects my taste, as well as my childhood in many cases.  It is an entirely subjective countdown.  I am, in no way, declaring these 200 themes as the “Greatest of all Time”.  I try my best not to fall into that trap.  

Most of the entries on my list made it out of nostalgia or simply my pure love for the song. There aren't any songs on this list that made it because I felt like they HAD to be on there. Every song and its place on the list made it where it is because of how that song impacted me personally.

So, without further ado, prepare for a long trek through almost three decades of game music as we kick off this series with entries 200-191!