It would easily be The Illusion of Gaia, but alas we are without an official release of the soundtrack.  Otherwise I'm not really sure.

Like with E, I don't have any I's in my list -- Illusion of Gaia is a good choice. Ikaruga is the only other one I can think of off hand.

-Joshua

"I" is pretty sparse for me as well.  I guess I'll have to go with Ibara.

Hah! Beat me to it, Shinobin.

iFUTURELIST

It might not be considered a full "soundtrack" of sorts (more of a Yamaoka bemani-etc-compilation), but out of all of my "I" soundtrack CDs, iFUTURELIST is the one I listen to the most, cover to cover. At first listen I was like, ok, so these are just longer versions of Yamaoka's bemani work with some really bad songs thrown in for good measure... but the more I listened to it, the more I really learned to love the album. Sure, it's not for everyone (find me someone who can happily listen all the way through "April Fool Song" on first listen and I'll show you someone who's deaf), but iFUTURELIST settled well with me. I'm not sure if I just got used to some of the bad vocals, or if I actually started to like them over time, but now every song on the album just feels right to me. There are a TON of awesome songs (mostly the long versions of the bemani tunes), like "LOVE ME DO", "INJECTION OF LOVE" (hoo boy) and "HEAVENLY SUN". If you're not down with vocal songs you might not enjoy this, but if you don't mind some vox here and there I'd recommend at least checking this album out. Yamaoka is the man.

Runner up goes to... Ibara OST. Out of the other "I" CDs that I own (ICO, internal section), Ibara provides the longest, most consistent and pleasing listening experience. Aside from some RR stuff and SFEX3, I'd say Ibara is my favorite work from Shinji Hosoe. I remember hearing "Robot No.28" for the first time and practically drooling on myself (moreso than usual). That song epitomizes Ibara as a whole for me: great memorable melodies, cool guitar work, cheesy drum programming and some wacky Hosoe flair. Yep, that about says it all. Great stuff.

I.Q. Final Perfect Music File is amazing.

The only thing I can really think of is...

Itadaki Street Special

~Andy

Imaginarium
Not a game title, but it is the name of the compilation album for the Neverhood, Skullmonkeys and Boombots music, all of which were composed by Terry Scott Taylor. So warm and original for a game soundtrack, it gets me everytime and I can't help but feel good. The music for the first game is mainly acoustic, the second is more diverse, yet still often has a "band" feel with additions of studio effects, and the tunes in Boombots are electronic, but funky. The most remarkable element throughout the whole album is the use that Terry did of his voice on the majority of the tracks, either to sing lyrics, do backup vocals or to mimic an instrument. And this is one of the reasons why the songs get so funny sometimes. If I'd have to pick a favorite track, I'd go with "She Reminded Me With Science".

Runner-ups:
- Interstate '76: 70s funk with an attitude!

- Iridion 3D & II: Some great techno space shooter music by Manfred Linzner. The arranged album is very nice too, with a definitely deeper sound.

- Inferno: Another space-trip soundtrack, with many cool synthesizers effects, rock elements and various sound samples thrown in. Very rhythmic.

If iFUTURELIST is allowed that it wins without a second thought. I'd never had much experience with the Bemani songs or anything from that genre at all really, and I'm certainly not a follower of mainstream electro or whatever you'd label it. This album is a knockout though. Yes there are a couple of duff tracks in there but there's also a clutch of the best get-up-and-DANCE tunes I've heard in recent years.

I'm with Rimo for Imaginarium. I used to own it and I feel like a fool for selling it. (I actually found the album at *a Christian bookstore*--wtf?).

All of the songs are pure silly genius. Some of my favorites are "Klogg is Dead," "Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peas," "Here's a Little Bonus Room," and "Castle de los Muertos (The Plate EES Hot!)"...

I wish they'd make a true sequel to the Neverhood, more puzzle-solving-adventure-goodness.

Ramza

I find myself agreeing with Crash once again, Ibara, the best OST of '06 and awesome Shinji Hosoe ruawck.

"I" isn't too much better than H was...

Winner: Ibara OST
1st RU: Ikaruga
2nd RU: (album to be named)
3rd RU: (album to be named)

Ikaruga's up there for one track: the 1st boss theme. That intro gets me every time. Ibara's almost too easy a pick...It's a solid synth-rock choice and one of my favorite shmup OST's. It basically has "I" to itself.

I'm out of 'I's, so I'll stick the other two in my pocket for a harder letter...

I only have four albums filed under "I" and I only really like one of them, and it's not even game music though it is by Iwadare:

Ingmar; "For the beginning"

Insector X arrange album and.... Inindo - Way of the Ninja arrange album.

  C'mon you guys! You should know about those!!

  Since I am 30 years old, I know all about this one - Ice Climber. Oh yeah.

Damn! I was actually going to mention Ingmar as an "Honorable Mention"! RAWR.

Er, yeah, by far my favorite game music-related....thing catagorized under I.

-Joshua

Gotta go with the Insector X arrange album myself.  I only played the game once and got stuck in a cheap spawn point near the end of the game where it's just impossible to get past a certain part without maxed out firepower. *grumble*  I'll have to play the game again to see if I can match up the tracks.

I'll give Illusion of Gaia the honorable mention.  That game was pretty cool back in the day and it still has some memorable tracks.

Nothing much to add that hasn't been mentioned already.

Ikaruga
The stage 4 theme makes the whole thing worth the price of admission in my opinion, but there's also a bunch of other good music as well.

Runners-up
The Ibara Original Sound Track is pretty solid overall, but there are only a couple of big standout tracks to me: Robot No.28 and Air Pollution. I love the Ibara REMIX TRACKS, though, as short as it is. Might've been album of the year if it were full-length.

Iridion 3D & II Arranged Soundtrack Perfect Selection is quality stuff.

And ICO ~Melody in the Mist~ should be getting more love. There's some absolutely gorgeous stuff there.

Insector X. And one of the best arranged albums in the overall category. Yuzo Hayashi, typically, produces the strangest, but best mostly jazz-tilting electronica out there - with animal noises to boot! Thanks to Jodo Kast; I read his review of the album and suddenly began tracking it down.

Icewind Dale = totally kick ass music by Jeremy Soule

also,

Ico is indeed a short but sweet album!

cheers,

-avatar!

Hear! Hear!  I couldn't agree more, and funny you should mention those two titles.  I bought both of those originals from you awhile back and they're still two of my favorite arrange albums of all time.