I only have a couple of C soundtracks in my collection, but they're a couple of treats.

Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack

I'm a huge Mitsuda fan, but the CC soundtrack hits me like no other. Chrono Trigger reprises, a great mix of acoustic and new-age style tunes, great melodies... Chrono Cross hits all of Mitsuda's great points in one huge, special package. This is his Magnum Opus as far as I'm concerned, and has been one of my favorite soundtracks for years. I just can't get tired of these discs, no matter how many times I listen to them.

Honorable mention goes to Chrono Trigger, Brink of Time, hands down. I consider this a C instead of a B, or else I would have listed it last week. I know Nemo rocks this disc, and I can't blame him in the least. This is one of those rare albums that I can enjoy from start to finish without skipping a single tune. "Chrono Trigger" and "Undersea Palace" still rock my ass. It's a different skew on classic Mitsuda tunes, and I love it.

Chrono Trigger OSV
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon ~ COI VANNI GALLI (however you spell it)

Hecky yeah, I love that record from start to finish. "Chrono Corridor" is eargasmic, especially the first minute and a half, I even have it as my ringtone on my cell (I know, nerd).   And the violins in "Chrono Trigger" always bring a tear to my eye.

I'm not sure of my favorite "C-album" yet, I need to think about it.

Goin' with two for the top spot this time. One of them I like more than the other, but my conscience won't let me let the other one go by as just a runner-up.

Chaos Legion Original Soundtrack
"Gothic rock," or whatever it is you'd call this style, at its finest. Hideyuki Fukasawa's first soundtrack has a wonderfully dark atmosphere and all sorts of good music, from the brooding to the intense.

Cave Story
Awesome game with awesome music. A throwback to the simpler times of games (heck, the developer's alias is "Pixel"), complete with a soundtrack of chiptune-style tracks that should make any self-respecting gamer over the age of ten to hark back to the good ol' days. Fun/serious/dark/high energy tracks, they're all there, complete with great melodies.

Runners-up
Cho Aniki ~ The Ultimate, Invincible, Most Galactically Powerful Man (so insane <3)
ChuChu Rocket! (groove bias)

Only a couple? Well I guess I only have a few. D though...O_O

-Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2
-Chocobo Racing
-Chrono Trigger
-Chrono Cross
-Culdcept II

Chrono Cross probably wins that.

-Joshua

Probably Chrono Trigger. Chrono Cross hasn't aged well for me (but then again, I didn't care for the game either).

Chrono Cross: I remember making a thread some 2-3 years ago about how I played this game just for the music...I love it. I'm feeling itchy to start bashing this game together with Goldfish now, but I know Zane digs the game so I'll keep shut.

Chrono Trigger used to be a favorite too ofcourse, but that's a long time ago (though I'd still give this game my vote for having one of the very best ending themes). Oh, and I'm jumping along with Zane and Nemo on Brink of Time.

So yeah, Mitsuda-san totally owns the "C".

Cyber Org for me.

I agree with Zaggart.  Cyberorg for the win.

PC98 FM soundtrack to Crystal Chaser (1991, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, Ryota Furuya and Masaaki Uno) for representing good old original Wolfteam at its high point. Streamed staff roll track from Cybernetic Empire (1999) for being the last non-Tales game by the regular Tales staff and starting the trend of soft piano/orchestra ending pieces by Sakuraba.

I sat here, thinking long and hard about what could possibly trump the obvious "Chrono" option.

Such an endeavor was in vain.

I'm giving it to Chrono Cross OST.

Ramza

I'll go with Castlevania IV.  It's darker and more ambient than other Castlevania soundtracks, but at no sacrifice to rhythm and beat, making it a remarkably atmospheric but also catchy/hummable score.  Despite only first playing the game in 2001, I instantly recognized the quality of the music and it has since become a top favorite for me.  Every track fits perfectly with the context of the game, and the themes for Simon and Dracula tie things together nicely, giving the whole package a more epic feel.  It's downright avant-garde and it stands alone among Castlevania soundtracks.

I'll pick Cool Spot and Contra III/Contra Spirits as my two honorable mentions.  I never get tired of Off Da Wall and Road Warriors.

I'll have to go with this trio:

- Chrono Trigger
- Chrono Cross
- Chaos Legion

All three amazing in every aspect.

This one required a bit of thought...

'C' is for:

Winner: Chaos and Order
1st RU-Chrono Trigger OSV
2nd RU-Castlevania 3 (US NES Version)
3rd RU-Capcom Fighting Jam OST

Chrono Trigger is self-explanatory...It's gone down from 'legendary' status over the years, but I find it the most fulfilling of Mitsuda's works overall (with a nice assist from Uematsu). Castlevania 3's music defines the entire series' music for me and is one classic track after another. Capcom Fighting Jam is a short, but sweet rockfest that erased 5-6 years worth of bad fighting game music...I would love to see Asakura do another, more elaborate version of this. I can listen to the Training Level theme for hours at a time.

Chaos and Order (or better referred to as "Megaten World: Doujin Synth-Metal Edition") is yet another example of the scary potential coming out of the Japanese doujin scene. Two of my favorite arrangers (Toshinori Hiramatsu and Lukar...Possibly more, since my version still has Japanese characters in the tags, which come through as gibberish) take tracks from the early Megaten games and go to town doing what they do best. It's basically a faithfully melodic shredfest (with a few breaks inbetween) and both get every ounce of potential from the originals, which I'm pretty familiar with. Best doujin album ever? No, but top 5 most definitely. Best 'C' album I can think of? No brainer.

The crown goes to Brink of Time. In my opinion, one of the best arrangement albums ever produced because it's such a fresh package; every track is relevent and has it's own value.

Chocobo Racing Original Soundtrack.  It's Final Fantasy on wacky-happy juice, and so, so much fun.

Man, there is a lot of Sweet Stuff in C!

I'll start with best AST again, which goes to Chrono Trigger Brink of Time.
Not every track on there is great (or even good), but those that are totally rock.

Honorable Mention goes to Cio Vanni Galli

OST is very difficult, I love Chrono Trigger, but I never listen to it very much, unlike, say, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, but I'm confused now whether that actually counts as 'C'. I love most Castlevania stuff though, especially the more recent games on PS2 & Portable systems, so I'll go for a collective Castlevania Win this time.

Very honorable mention goes to:
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
Curse of Monkey Island

Chrono Cross

I think that each one of Mitsuda's albums (CT, XG, CC) was better than the last.  Chrono Trigger was an great starting point, but not comparable to the scale or beauty of Uematsu's FFVI.  Xenogears fleshed out Mitsuda's style more, but it felt like he hadn't quite found the sweet spot.  Then Chrono Cross came, and the rest is history.  The album was something that had never been done before and still hasn't.  I instantly fell in love with the music, and my enjoyment and appreciation for the album has only grown with time.  The only problem I have is that there isn't any one song (maybe Magical Dreamers ~ The Wind, the Stars, the Sea)  that stands out from the rest as the best individual song, the entire album is just that good.  I consider it the crowning masterpiece of video game music.

I'm going to have to go with either Chrono Cross or Chrono Trigger. I really felt that they were two of the greatest soundtracks of their time.

Chrono Trigger

In no particular order:

-Castlevania Chronicle Akumajo Dracula
-Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Limited Edition Music Sampler CD (this is the one with snippets from almost every CV game released up to '97)
-Chocobo Racing Original Soundtrack
-Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack
-Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version
-Chaos Legion Original Soundtrack

(For me, all CV is under D)

-Joshua

Chrono Trigger - It came down to this and Cross and while Cross is more consistent, Trigger's highs just make it unbeatable.

I'll ditto everybody's Mitsuda appreciation, although I'd rank Trigger before Cross. Maybe part of it is nostalgia for Chrono Trigger, and another part is the fact that I didn't especially like Chrono Cross, the game, so it's taken years for the memories of the game to fade so I could appreciate the music for what it is. But no matter how you slice it, there isn't a single track on the Chrono Trigger OSV that doesn't completely captivate me, and I can't help but get emotional towards the end of the third disc. I'm not one to really skip around on the OSV, since listening to it from beginning to end feels like a journey, one that shouldn't be mixed up and segmented.

Unfortunately, I still don't have Brink of Time. :(

1. Castlevania IV

I recorded CV IV to tape and listened to it in my car roughly 12 years ago. It was also the game that made me start using a stereo system when playing games.

2. Castlevania III
3 ~ some undetermined number. More Castlevania soundtracks.
At this point the numbers are totally unknown, so...
Contra III
Contra
Cyber Org
Culdcept II
Chrono Trigger
Cyber Core
Chaos Legion
Cyber Tank (which I got from Slightlydark; a rare gem)

Never got into Chrono Cross, but I did notice that the sound quality was quite superior to other PS1 titles. Not sure how or why that happened.

Well I might've saved Castlevania/Dracula for the top "D" soundtracks. Forgive me for being a nitpicker because I do, indeed, love, and admire you, Jodo.

Most of mine are as well, but the particular ones I listed actually are called "Castlevania" on the CDs.

Yeah that makes sense, I jujst put things in order series-wise, not title wise (unless only vaguely related, like Disgaea/Phantom Brave/etc). So all Dracula and Castlevania games are under D, Romancing Sgaa is under S, Zelda is under Z, etc...

Which means damn, F will be a hard choice...

-Joshua

Castlevania versus Dracula is no big deal.  Just like Arcana/Cardmaster and Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle earlier.  Besides, I'm saving my D picks for something else, since my approach is to try and pick one favorite and one runner up the way Zane does.  Anyways, the only point I'm trying to make is that there's nothing wrong with each person approaching this thing their own way, as it's just a community topic.  No rules have been laid out for whether domestic or PAL or Japanese titles must be used in the case of a different title.

I'll admit however that I didn't want to go with Chrono Trigger (as much as I love the game) or Chrono Cross.  Both are good, but I generally don't care for Mitsuda and his laid-back style.  Then there's how he somehow escapes criticism while reusing his Chrono Cross schtick time and time again whereas some other popular composers get criticized for doing the same thing.  If one could say that Mitsuda simply discovered his own signature style (or hit his peak if you will) and understandably hasn't deviated much from it since, then why couldn't the same be said of others like Uematsu, Sakuraba, and Sakimoto?  Why the double standard?  Anyways, the difference between relaxing and engaging is why Mitsuda doesn't appeal to me as much as some other composers.  Except for Xenogears, which has enough engaging and interesting tracks to keep my interest.  Chrono Trigger does too, but I can't shake the feeling that it's like the kid brother of Final Fantasy VI,  so I don't hold it in as high regard as I used to.

That'll be one of the easiest for me.  The big boys will probably be Final Fantasy, Front Mission, and F-Zero.

Capcom Vs. SNK
Capcom Vs. SNK 2
Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse (oh my... almost forgot this gem!)
Castlevania Chronicles (awesome synth!)
Contra Spirits
Cyber-Lip (rocking Neo-Geo soundtrack)
Cyborg Hunter (classic SMS game)

I know there are more but they've slipped my mind at the moment.

If I was going to go with Castlevania, I'd say either Simon's Quest or Symphony. In the end though, I think I'll go with Contra: Shattered Soldier. Not in love with every track, but the one's which I am in love with haven't lost their power.

Heh, interesting mention of Arcana/Card Master.  That's one of my favorite SNES STs of all time.  And I've been without internet for the last 2 months now so I'm a little behind on this new alphabetical-favorite listings, but shouldn't Castlevania, if anything besides C, be under A?  As in, "Akumajou Dracula?"

Anyway, as for C...

Castlevania (just about everything)
Chaos Legion
Chocobo Racing
Chrono Cross
Conquest of the Crystal Palace (NES, found out a while back it was actually done by Iwata!)
Contra: Shattered Soldier
Cyberspeed (early generation PSX)

Word.

- Justin Pfeiffer

Castlevania Minuet of Dawn & Akumajo Dracula Cross of the Blue Moon Original Soundtrack
Chocobo Racing Original Soundtrack
Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack
CREID Yasunori Mitsuda & Millennial Fair
Crush 40

and if these count..

Capcom Music Generation Family Computer Soundtracks Rockman 1~6
Capcom Music Generation Rockman X1~6

-Mike

Yeah, most of them would be under "Akumajo Dracula" with a few exceptions (e.g. "Castlevania" PS2)