I was just wondering what some of your favorite winter-themed (ice, snow, christmas; anything 'cold') VGM tracks are.  I burned a winter-themed CD a week or two ago and it worked out pretty well, but I'm sure that I missed a lot, especially after looking at VGMRush's winter selection feature.

The tracklist for the CD I had made:

Walrus Cove (Diddy Kong Racing)
Dark Side Field (Terranigma)
North Wall (Actraiser)
Glacius (Killer Instinct)
White Storm (Ogre Battle)
Freezeezy Peak (Banjo Kazooie)
A Wish (Secret of Mana)
Waste Abandonment Pit (BoFV)
Waiting For Something Awakens (Parasite Eve)
Severnaya Installation (Goldeneye 007)
Vanilla Lake (Super Mario Kart)
Ice Cave Chant (DKC)
Snowman (Earthbound)
Antidote (FFT)
A Snowscape (Tales of Destiny)
Christmas in Nightopia (Christmas NiGHTS)
Ice Valley (Metroid Prime)
Ice World (Valis III)
Zora's Domain (Zelda: OOT)
A Bell Is Tolling (Secret of Mana)
People of the North Pole (FFX)
Snow (Mario Kart 64)
Witchmakers (Seiken Densetsu 3)
Snowberry (Phantom Brave)
Icicle Mountain (SSBM)
Memory of Running (Legend of Mana)
Snowy Field (Twisted Metal Black)
Snow (TMNT2 NES)
Map 6 World (SMB3)

if by "Ice Valley (Metroid Prime)" you mean "Phendrana Drifts," then yes. Exactly.

Brave Fencer Musashi
- Snow Labyrinth, The Frost Dragon
Final Fantasy VI
- The Mines of Narshe
Goldeneye 007
- Severnaya Installation (Day)
Legend of Mana
- Memory of Running
Rockman & Forte
- Cold Man Stage
Mega Man 8
- Frost Man, Ice Stage
Mega Man Legends 2
- Calinca Island ~ Yosyonke Town/Store in Yosyonke/Tundra/Tundra Reaverbot Battle
- Calinca Island Ruins ~ Ruins/Snow Field
Rockman X Arrange
- Night in the White ~Iceberg Stage~
Mega Man X Command Mission
- Glacial Activity
Mega Man X4
- Frost Walrus Stage 2
Metroid Prime
- Ice Valley (Phendrana Deep Lake Area)
Star Ocean 2
- White the Heart
Star Ocean 3
- The Desolte Smell of Earth, Ice Crystal
Super Metroid
- Maridia Rocky Underwater Area

Slightlydark.com has five compilation albums of the same type you're attempting... rooting through them should keep you busy for awhile, and you'll come out with some great stuff.

Find them all here:

http://www.slightlydark.com/album.php

The one suggestion that comes immediately to mind is "10th Street Shopping District Christmas" from the Sailormoon R Game Album, which, as the title implies, goes for the Christmas vibe. It's in Slightlydark's third compilation.

A few that come to mind:

Stage 3 (Great Attack) - R-Type Delta
golden forest - 1080 Snowboarding
Final Take a Chance (Planet Eris) - Technosoft Game Music Collection 3 ~ Thunderforce III
Snow - Xevious 3D / G+ PlayStation Soundtrack 001 (Disc 2)
Level 3-1 - Super Turrican
Sea of Frozen Crystal (Stage 2) - Mushihimesama Futari Original Soundtrack
Crystal Drops - Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight Original Game Soundtrack (kinda maybe sorta)

"Buried in the Snow" from Final Fantasy VII comes to mind.  And Shenmue Passport has several Christmas tracks.

Yeah, that's the one I meant.  The majestic shoreline track rather than the deep lake area remix.  It's a masterpiece of a track and personal favorite.

Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone.  This is why I love VGM.  There's a song for every context.

The first movement of Symphony Ys '95 reminds me of the winter season, since there are some sleigh-bell-like sounds about midway through.

There's also the Keterburg BGM from Tales of the Abyss.

With December almost here, this seemed like a good time to resurrect the thread.  There have been some great choices already, but here are a few of my own favorites.

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, one of the best new additions to the list, was released just this September.  The game's new Piñarctic region has its own music inspired by Vaughn Williams' "Sinfonia Antarctica", and it really is great stuff.  You can hear the game's "Ice, Day 3" track on the first page of this article.

The first episode of Sam & Max: Season 2 was called Ice Station Santa.  Given the wacky humor of the game, it should be no surprise to hear the mix of creepily arranged Christmas carols, moody jazz, and even an oddball "Rudolph the Reindeer" spoof.  The game's developer put most of the tracks from the episode up for download, and you can get the rest by buying the 2-CD soundtrack on the same site.

If you're looking for ice and snow, you can't do any better than Ice Climber, right?  It's way too short and it might be hard to separate from the rest of the "Great Medley" on Smashing...Live!, but the Ice Climber arrangement performed by a live orchestra is absolutely fantastic.

I didn't care much for the movie, but the Polar Express game had a brilliant score.  Using a live orchestra complete with bell chimes, sleigh bells, and everything else, I think it fits your list better than anything else.  The composer's site has three tracks for download in the "music" section, but if anyone knows where the rest of the score can be found, I'd be thrilled to hear it myself.

As I'd have to think about this a bit more, I'll only offer one piece for now, as it's one of my favorite pieces of the year.

Village of Snow from Soma Bringer is such a playful and charming little town theme. It makes me smile every time I hear it.

There is also "White Mirror" from Trusty Bell (or Eternal Sonata). It's another town theme that plays in the kingdom of Baroque. Beautiful and peaceful, it compliments the snowy background quite nicely.

I have two albums that remind me of winter- LUMINES remixes winter (thanks, Carl!) and the other is Homestar Portable. While they're not compilations or anything, these two discs came to me around Christmas time last year and whenever I hear them I think of the holidays, snow falling, drinking hot tea... all that good, mushy wintertime stuff!

The lack of KiRite on this thread makes me sad...

The Snow Howling is one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces Yasunori Mitsuda's ever composed.  Perhaps I'm a sucker for a real emotive string arrangement (see "Calm Before the Storm", FFVII:DoC). And another good'un is "Snowy Foot of the Mountain" from Soma Bringer. 

It seems no matter what game it is, there's always a good "winter/snow" theme.  Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2 both had remarkable tracks.  I remember Nobuo Uematsu really being on his game whenever you were somewhere cold, but I can't think of specific tracks right now.

I second these choices as well! Excellent choices there, allyourbase.

I have to agree on both of those.  I think you and I both listened to these at the same time last year and really got into them.  In fact, I'll go one step further and say both of them actually remind me of you now that I think about it, haha.  Seriously, "the wind is wailing" is a classic between us and I actually never heard of Homestar until you turned me on to it.

Anyway, now for some stuff that doesn't make me sound gay and in love with Tommy:

G.M.O. Christmas Songs (chiptune arrangements of classic Christmas songs, hell yeah!)

Shenmue Main Theme (has such a cold/sad/empty feel to it)

The second half of FFVI's Opening Theme (when they're trudging through the snow.. so good)

Vagrant Story's Snowfly Forest

History Repeats Itself

I'm sure I could come up with more if I thought about it but that's a good start.

-Mike

If you want more like that, you REALLY need to check out this album KECH-1029 as the level of musicianship on these arrangements is quite staggering (I'd even say legendary).

Track 06 Lullaby rivals the beauty of Yo-Yo Ma's string playing anyday (it's on a Morin Khuur, similar to Ehru)
This is perhaps the most expressive string performance ever from ANY vgm album, especially the 2nd half.

Nothing says Winter VGM better than the Christmas version of "Final Fantasy."  Remember?  The one Kenji Ito put out during the 2000 holiday?

Final Fantasy (Christmas 2000) :
http://www.mediafire.com/?t0ihnziwekw

"Snowman" from MOTHER (arrange album) has been a favorite of mine around Christmas.

Christmas NiGHTS has a bunch but specifically the soulful, dreamy Acapella version of "Dreams Dreams" by Marlon Saunders.

I second Shenmue and FFVII's "Buried in Snow". Shemnue and its soundtrack just reminds me of Christmas time not unlike Zelda: Ocarina of Time though.

One of my favorites for a few years now has been "Xmas Eve" by Motoaki Furukawa (who sings on it!) from Konami All-Stars 1993.

Breath of Fire V ~ Dragon Quarter OST
Chaos Legion OST
Drakengard 2 OST
Final Fantasy X OST
Final Fantasy XII OST
Odin Sphere OST
Shadow of the Colossus OST
Sigma Harmonics OST

Generally anything with dark, cold tones qualify as Winter-time music for me; especially stuff that's used to back up Winter scenes in-game; the stuff I listen to in Winter has a more man-made sound to it, and can range in genre from classical to industrial, and ranges from gothic to sci-fi; soft chimes or chorals make me envision shaking icicles or falling snow.

In the Summer-time, I listen to stuff that has a more natural sound to it, with brighter, warmer tonal sounds, which in my book, is more so vocals and guitars, and stuff that's evocative of day-time, nature, and ethnic music from countries that're warm all-year long.

Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", in particular his Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter), always reminds me of winter. Yeah, it's not really VGM... but it's awesome.

-avatar!

A few that have popped up on shuffle lately:

Village of Snow and Glass - Atelier Iris Eternal Mana
Moonsong - Cave Story
Frozen Plateau, Newborn Wind - Kanon (hell, probably the whole OST)
Heal - ICO
ROUND 3 - Fantasy Zone 2 (yay!)
Frozen Fantasy - Kirby's Canvas Curse (actually any ice stage in a Kirby game)
Sara's Theme, Podori, Fairy Village, Aurora, Snowman Town, Ice Lake - Romancing SaGa 3
Unerasable Pain, Vahalland From a Window - Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song
Siren, Ice Block - SaGa Frontier 2

Don't forget to add  "A Snow Light" from Tales of Symphonia. Love, LOVE that piece.

And you know, some pieces from Odin Sphere could work as well. "The Library in the Attic" just makes me want to pull up a chair to the fireplace, and the "World Map" also puts an image of a big winter landscape in my mind. Heck, even "Witch Forest: 2nd" makes me think of winter!

Of course, that may have to do with the fact that the game came out in English about a year ago (is that right?), so I ended up associating the music with the time of year.

If you want something more Christmas-y, then try Chocobo's Merry Christmas, from the Chocobo No Fushigina Dungeon OST.

ESP Ra.De. Arrange Version Desperate School from DoDonPachi / ESP Ra.De. OST.

A couple of modest suggestions:

Ice World - Super Mario Bros. 3
Vanilla Dome - Super Mario World (Vanilla Dome is kind of an ice world isn't it? I haven't played it for a long time, but the music is appropriate to an ice world regardless.)

Check out 8-bit Jesus:

http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/video-game … une-album/

Slightly Dark Christmas Mix vol. 6 is up, check it out:
http://www.slightlydark.com/album.php?a … 23d2a9c073
Happy my suggestions made it into the final mix

I've actually been hoping that Slightly Dark would do another Christmas album   Can't wait to listen to it!

...also, one of my suggestions made it in!

I also wanted to point out that Slightlydark's previous 5 compilations are available to download right now.

http://www.slightlydark.com/album.php

Happy Holidays!

Updated with more tunes:

http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/video-game … m-release/

Was playing through Secret of Mana over the break.

Agreed with ORIGINAL POST (from over a year ago), "A Wish" (track 16), which plays in the snowy area of the game, is totally awesome Winter VGM.

Witchmakers, but no "Another Winter"?  Buh?

Those bell gongs toward the end of the second refrain just make the piece.

The thematic nature of VGM is indeed something awesome, especially when creating custom compilations. Going outside while it's snowing with some winter-themed tracks on a MP3 player is quite a magical and enjoyable experience in my opinion, employing the music in a similar, yet different context. It enhances the atmosphere somehow, notably with the cold temperature and smell that games can't recreate.

All suggestions so far are really awesome! And the Slightly Dark mixes are particularly great. Here's some more that I've gathered on my side:

Batman Returns - The Penguin's Lair
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos - Be Wheely Careful
Gift - Iceland
Jazz Jackrabbit 2: Holiday Hare '98 - White Hare
Jet Moto 3 - Khumbu Ice Falls
One Must Fall: Battlegrounds - Crystal Cold (old)
Outcast - Ranzaar (World of Snow)
Overboard! - Arctic - In-Game 2
SpellForce: The Breath of Winter - Cenwen
Star Fox Adventures - Snowhorn Wastes
Switchball - Ice World
Unreal Tournament 2003 - Ice Fields
Zone 66 - Ice Wind (SB)

Most of these are rather obscure and hard to find from the usual VGM shops, but I've made them available here if anyone wants to give them a listen.