I've probably forgotten a couple but here we go:

01.  Symphony Ys '95
02.  Final Fantasy 6 OSV
03.  Orchestral Game Concert 4
04.  Dracula Battle
05.  Dragon Quest Symphonic Suite Live Best Selection (SRCL-2735)
06.  Panzer Dragoon RPG Complete Album / Memorial Album
07.  Final Fantasy 7 Reunion Tracks
08.  Final Fantasy 1987-1994
09.  Panzer Dragoon OST
10.  Ecco: Songs of Time
11.  Orchestral Game Concert 3
12.  Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite
13.  Ys Books 1 & 2 (PC-Engine redbook audio)
14.  Genso Suikoden OST
15.  Ys 5 Orchestra Version
16.  Final Fantasy 8 Fithos Lusec Wecos Venosec
17.  Soul Edge: Khan Super Session
18.  Orchestral Game Concert 5
19.  Dracula X Nocturne in the Moonlight OST
20.  Nights
21.  Metal Gear Solid 4 OST
22.  Final Fantasy 4 Celtic Moon
23.  Metal Gear Solid 3 OST
24.  Final Fantasy 6 Piano Collections
25.  Mr. Bones OST
26.  Kameo OST
27.  Xenosaga OST
28.  Dracula New Classic
29.  Dracula 2 Simon's Quest
30.  Star Fox

Single-disc compilation albums like Dragon Quest Live Best, FF 1987-1994 and FF7 Reunion Tracks are allowed right?

I'm surprised to see the OGC albums turn up so little thus far.

So it's closed now? Is that Suikoden II OST a problem?

Crap!  I never got mine in!  Any chance you haven't done tallying yet and I can still sneak in a list?

Joe, nah it's okay...I'm not in a position to close things out just now, so I'm just leaving it open indefinitely for right now until I get a few seconds of breathing room (case in point...I still haven't finished mine yet). Besides, the more the merrier.

Sami, yeah, because of how the Suikoden II OST was released (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, seperate releases), I need it seperated. Same for Grandia I, Valkyrie Profile 2, Star Ocean 3, etc...

Okay, but how about the way I placed my entry?  That is, the "Genso Suikoden II Original Game Soundtrack Complete Box", which was one release with all four discs included.

Sorry to bump this old thread, but are the results ever going to be posted? I think enough people have contributed to this thread already to make a comprehensive list.

I guess this has been abandoned.

500 is a ridiculous number actually.

100 should do it!

Seems that way.  GoldfishX hasn't exactly been a frequent regular here these days, either. 

Ah well.  This still makes a good reference point for all our all-time faves.

I just did a summary of what was posted here, and here is what I came up with.  This assumes a point structure of 30 points for a first-place vote, 29 points for a second-place vote, and so on down.  I tried to combine titles as best I could, but there may have been some overlap that I missed.  Here were the top 50, with the number of points in parentheses.

1. Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version (396 points)
2. Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version (228 points)
3. Rockman 2 (227 points)
4. Xenogears Original Soundtrack (221 points)
5. Final Fantasy IV Original Sound Version (219 points)
6. Akumajo Dracula X ~Nocturne in the Moonlight~ Original Game Soundtrack (174 points)
7. Dracula Battle Perfect Selection (171 points)
8. Castlevania IV (167 points)
9. Genso Suikoden - Original Soundtrack (166 points)
10. Final Fantasy VIII OST (158 points)
11. Seiken Densetsu 2 Original Sound Version (141 points)
T-12. Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack (131 points)
T-12. Final Fantasy Tactics Original Soundtrack (131 points)
14. Ys ~ The Oath in Felghana OST (116 points)
15. Silent Hill 2 Original Soundtracks (114 points)
16. Vagrant Story OST (112 points)
17. SaGa Frontier II Original Soundtrack (111 points)
18. Einhänder Original Soundtrack (109 points)
19. Xenogears CREID (108 points)
20. Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack (105 points)
21. Final Fantasy VIII Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec (104 points)
22. Perfect Collection Ys (102 points)
23. Final Fantasy VII OST (101 points)
24. Earthbound (90 points)
25. Silent Hill 4: The Room OST (88 points)
26. Silent Hill Original Soundtracks (86 points)
27. Silent Hill 3 Original Soundtracks (85 points)
28. Streets of Rage 2 (82 points)
T-29. Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack (75 points)
T-29. Phantasy Star Sound Collection (disc 2) (75 points)
31. Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack (74 points)
32. Ys IV Perfect Collection Vol. 1 (73 points)
33. Super Metroid Sound in Action (72 points)
34. Secret of Mana + (71 points)
T-35. Legend of Mana ost (70 points)
T-35. Metal Gear Solid OST (70 points)
37. Guilty Gear X: Heavy Rock Tracks (69 points)
T-38. Katamari Damacy Original Soundtrack, "Katamari Fortissimo Damacy" (68 points)
T-38. Shadow of the Colossus OST (68 points)
40. Rockman X (67 points)
T-41. Parasite Eve Original Soundtrack (66 points)
T-41. Sonic Adventure 2 Original Soundtrack (66 points)
T-43. Dracula Battle II Perfect Selection (65 points)
T-43. King of Fighters '96 Arrange Trax (65 points)
45. Okami Original Soundtrack (64 points)
46. F-ZERO X Guitar Arrange Edition (62 points)
T-47. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Original Soundtrack (61 points)
T-47. Seiken Densetsu 3 OSV (61 points)
T-47. Star Ocean: The Second Story Original Soundtrack (61 points)
T-50. Shadow Hearts Original Soundtracks plus 1 (60 points)
T-50. Ys III PC Engine Redbook (60 points)

Very nice work, Crash.

This list finally proves that FF6 has the best soundtrack of all times.

Closure at last!

Seriously though, thanks for putting the work in to do this, Crash. Though the list is predictably a little Final Fantasy-heavy, there's still a fair bit of variety to be found. I think every entertainment media-based hobby needs its agreed-upon list of essential classics, and it's nice to have something we can point to and say "these are the albums you need to hear at least once," (and actually... as I look at it, I'm embarrassed to say there are a couple on there I haven't heard yet).

And yeah, FF6 is totally the best album ever.

Of the 50 that Crash has compiled, I'm familiar with all of them except for Katamari Damacy and Okami. And Shadow of the Colossus.

All of them are amazing soundtracks. Very different styles for each one, though. I recommend all three.

Am I the only one that finds it funny that three out of four Silent Hill soundtracks fell one after another in the list?

No, if it proves anything at all, its that democracy just doesn't work.

EDIT: Also, LOL at the Square-heaviness of the list. Time to party like its still 1999 or something.

Granted, this may not be appropraite, but I have to admit I got a chuckle that one since I agree for the most part.

Best is always relative, but denying Square's place in "pop" game music denies your own experience in the hobby!

I wasn't thinking of Square's place in "pop" game music, I was thinking of Square's place in our community of experienced and die-hard VGM fans. Disregarding the odd-man-out like Earthbound, the list could've been published by IGN or something (maybe if you replaced King of Fighters '96 and Shadow Hearts with Halo and random Tommy Tallarico score).

I'm not being cranky about the list or anything, I'm just mildly amused by the fact that it in essence (the series, companies, and composers represented, etc.) looks very much like it would've if we'd done it ten or five years ago, like time hasn't moved. It would've been nice to see some more obscure entries make it into the top 50 (and yeah, I know that the most popular soundtracks are bound to receive high scores simply because they occur in many people's lists, which automatically puts more obscure, "cult classic" scores at a disadvantage).

Don't get me wrong, though, its a good list with very much quality in it. Its just a bit boring and very predictable.

And seriously, not one Atlus-score? *throws a hysterical fit*

I'M NOT DEAD YET!!! Just...no topics of real interest (save for Street Fighter IV OST and I'm kinda tired of the music from playing the game) and the goofy password system at STC makes me too lazy to re-log in when I reset my cookies unless there's something of interest. So I've been here awhile.

Thanks Crash for taking over. I've been busy plus I lost some enthusiasm towards the project due to some stupid drama at a few other boards I frequent where I posted this(none here, thankfully). It kinda tipped the scales in favor of "let it float and concentrate on real life stuff, especially if people are going to bitch anyway". That said, I also wanted to see the results and you took care of that nicely.

Surprises:

Genso Suikoden at #9 (happy fanboy squeal...always found this one underappreciated)
Oath in Felghana at #14
Einhander at #18
Earthbound at #24 (wow)
Ys IV Perfect Collection Vol. 1 wins that race...Was curious which one would come out on top.

As is Martin Popoff's book, which lists the top 500 heavy metal albums as voted. The reason I originally wanted to do 500 was once you got past the "obvious" stuff, you see where "everything else" lies. I'm still pulling gems from the "everything else" section of the book and I've had it over a year and a half now (I had heard much of the "obvious" already). As Vaeran said though, this serves as a decent "canon" for someone brand new to the hobby, which is kinda what I wanted. I have no real complaints about the final tally.

Hope no one was at all surprised what the #1 soundtrack was.

Mad props to Crash for tallying all those votes.  It's great to finally see some results!

Nobody is actually, seriously surprised at the Square heaviness of the list, are they?  It seems like a pretty well established trend that people look at the '90s as the "golden era" of game music, and with various Square soundtracks from that time being the ones that got a lot of us interested in game music in the first place, it's entirely expected to see a lot of Square soundtracks in there even if a lot of our tastes have changes in recent years.  That said I think there's a lot more variety than you see in most lists of this sort, and saying it's the same as something from IGN or the like is an unfair exaggeration in my opinion.

Things that I AM surprised/intrigued by:

There's not a lot of love for arranged albums on the list.  Since OSTs get the most exposure I guess it's to be expected though.  Just for kicks here are the ones that did make it.  (Let me know if I missed any.)

7.  Dracula Battle Perfect Selection
14. Ys ~ The Oath in Felghana OST (sort of an arranged album)
19. Xenogears CREID
21. Final Fantasy VIII Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec
22. Perfect Collection Ys
32. Ys IV Perfect Collection Vol. 1
33. Super Metroid Sound in Action (first several tracks)
34. Secret of Mana +
37. Guilty Gear X: Heavy Rock Tracks
43. Dracula Battle II Perfect Selection
43. King of Fighters '96 Arrange Trax
46. F-ZERO X Guitar Arrange Edition

I'm quite surprised to see FFVIII OST ahead of FFVII, not just from a personal standpoint but from a popularity aspect.  I figure that soundtrack must have rode on FFVII's coattails.  (You FFVIII fans can shoot me for that.)

There's a not a single Dragon Quest soundtrack in the results.  Had I known then what I know now I would have included DQIV Symphonic Suite along with DQ Live Best on my own list.

I'm surprised to see relatively minor titles like Ys Oath in Felghana and Saga Frontier II so high up there.  I knew they were popular but not THAT popular.  After getting burnt by a few of my recent Ys additions (Ys II Perfect Collection, Ys I & II Eternal, Symphony Ys 21st Century) I might have to dip into Felghana OST and hopefully restore my faith in the series.

Good stuff altogether!

The only reason for that is that lists on sites like IGN and the like are usually Top 5 or 10 or (if they're really stretching it) 20. To put it in that perspective, take a look at our top 10 and tell me again you couldn't imagine seeing this on IGN:

1. Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version
2. Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version
3. Rockman 2
4. Xenogears Original Soundtrack
5. Final Fantasy IV Original Sound Version
6. Akumajo Dracula X ~Nocturne in the Moonlight~ Original Game Soundtrack
7. Dracula Battle Perfect Selection
8. Castlevania IV
9. Genso Suikoden - Original Soundtrack
10. Final Fantasy VIII OST

Hmm... What do we have here? 4 albums with Uematsu, 2 Mitsuda, 3 Castlevania, more than half of them are RPGs, only 3 companies are represented (Square, Konami, Capcom), all are Japanese, most released in the 1995 - 1999 period. Yup, variety, right there. The only surprise if this was a list on a mainstream gaming site would be #7, since that's an arrange album and they're usually oblivious to those.

Really, the only thing that made me double-take was Sonic Adventure 2 being the only one from the franchise in the top 50. SA1 and Rush was ROBBED, I tells ya.

I'd love to see the full results from all the forums polled...

Ten good/brilliant albums, nothing more, nothing less. :P

Yes, I totally agree with that (with the exception of #10, FF8 OST, yuck).

Same here. It was fun to see our own forum's list, but really, the validity of such a survey is stronger the more people participated, and by taking 5 forums into account you also decrease the chance for "closed cult"-tendencies, as different VGM communities may have different overall tastes.

Goldfish, ya lazy bum, you should finish what you started, you owe us that after creating the expectations. Get your ass in gear.

Honestly, I'm too busy now and I lack the motivation. If someone wants to take up the project and finish it off, they can go ahead. As long as I get credit for the idea (or rather, credit for ripping off the idea and applying it to VGM...heh heh) and starting it, I'm satisfied. I'd prefer to see 500, but...lol, everything thinks it's too much, so whatever.

I never did get around to posting this is at OCRemix (probably because I don't frequent the boards there and don't really know too many people there).

28. Streets of Rage 2 (82 points)

Go Yuzo!

Would have expect Actraiser Symphony Suite up there too:)

I'm looking at the other forums, and will try to compile the total results later.  I don't see this thread at Chudah's Corner, but I think that was because the site redesign wiped out the old forums.

Just at STC, I counted 544 different entries (this is an upper bound; I probably missed some overlap).  100th place was 34 points, so anything after that gets a little dicey.  If any person nominated one soundtrack as #1 and no one else even mentioned it (which happened a few times), it would get 30 points.

You rock.

By the way, what other forums was this posted at? Links to the threads, anyone?

Maybe a Top 100 is best then.

The one at Gamingforce kinda fizzled. Shame, since there were quite a few "exclusive" people there into the stuff but chose not to put anything down (don't count the ones that say "in no particular order" at all and Shin's post there is tongue-in-cheek, so DON'T count any of that), but oh well...Chudahs Corner had like one list on it, I think. The ones here and at Squareenixmusic turned out pretty beefy though. If you know of anywhere else to repost this, go ahead.

OK.  I think I've got this now.  Like GoldfishX said, the SquareEnixMusic forum was the only other one that had a substantial list.  I included the few that were on GFF and SlightlyDark, though, and tried to combine titles as best I could.  The Mana/Seiken Densetsu titles gave me the biggest headaches; I'm really not familiar with that series, and a lot of the titles are pretty similar.

Again, this presumes 30 points for a first-place vote, 29 points for a second-place vote, and so on down.  I didn't do any screening for titles that might not qualify due to GoldfishX's original specifications.  All told, there were 723 titles mentioned.  As you might expect, adding in the lists from SquareEnixMusic produces a final list that's even more heavily weighted towards Square.

Here are the top 100:
1. Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version (807 points)
2. Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack (509 points)
3. Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version (412 points)
4. Xenogears Original Soundtrack (407 points)
5. Rockman 2 (362 points)
6. Xenogears CREID (361 points)
7. Akumajo Dracula X ~Nocturne in the Moonlight~ Original Game Soundtrack (326 points)
8. Seiken Densetsu 2 Original Sound Version (296 points)
9. Final Fantasy VIII OST (290 points)
10. Final Fantasy VII OST (289 points)
11. Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack (286 points)
12. Final Fantasy IV Original Sound Version (282 points)
13. Vagrant Story OST (275 points)
14. Dracula Battle Perfect Selection (254 points)
15. Final Fantasy Tactics Original Soundtrack (240 points)
16. Castlevania IV (217 points)
17. Genso Suikoden - Original Soundtrack (214 points)
18. Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack (198 points)
19. Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack (197 points)
20. Final Fantasy VIII Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec (191 points)
21. Seiken Densetsu: The Legend of Mana Original Soundtrack (190 points)
22. Earthbound (187 points)
23. Super Metroid Sound in Action (175 points)
24. Streets of Rage 2 (145 points)
25. Tales of Legendia Original Soundtrack (142 points)
26. Rockman 3 (139 points)
27. Star Ocean: The Second Story Original Soundtrack (135 points)
28. Guilty Gear XX OST (133 points)
29. Baten Kaitos:  Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (130 points)
30. Lost Odyssey OST (128 points)
31. Soma Bringer Original Soundtrack (127 points)
32. SaGa Frontier II Original Soundtrack (125 points)
33. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Original Soundtrack (124 points)
T-34. Rockman X (123 points)
T-34. Shadow of the Colossus OST (123 points)
36. Katamari Damacy Original Soundtrack, "Katamari Fortissimo Damacy" (121 points)
37. Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Original Soundtrack (117 points)
T-38. Silent Hill 2 Original Soundtracks (116 points)
T-38. Ys ~ The Oath in Felghana OST (116 points)
40. Soukaigi Original Soundtrack (111 points)
41. Einhänder Original Soundtrack (109 points)
42. SHADOW HEARTS II Original Soundtracks (106 points)
43. Unlimited SaGa Original Soundtrack (105 points)
T-44. Dracula Battle II Perfect Selection (104 points)
T-44. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time OST (104 points)
T-46. Castlevania (102 points)
T-46. Perfect Collection Ys (102 points)
T-48. Metal Gear Solid OST (101 points)
T-48. Seiken Densetsu 3 OSV (101 points)
50. Parasite Eve Original Soundtrack (100 points)
51. Drag-on Dragoon 2 OST (97 points)
52. Actraiser Symphonic Suite (92 points)
53. Guilty Gear X: Heavy Rock Tracks (90 points)
54. Silent Hill 4: The Room OST (88 points)
T-55. Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collections (87 points)
T-55. Super Mario RPG Original Sound Version (87 points)
57. Silent Hill Original Soundtracks (86 points)
T-58. Silent Hill 3 Original Soundtracks (85 points)
T-58. Super Mario Galaxy OST Platinum Version (85 points)
T-58. Valkyrie Profile Original Soundtrack (85 points)
T-61. Street Fighter II Alpha-Lyra with Yuuji Toriyama (81 points)
T-61. The Black Mages 1 (81 points)
T-63. Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- Original Soundtrack (80 points)
T-63. drammatica - the very best of Yoko Shimomura (80 points)
T-63. Okami Original Soundtrack (80 points)
T-66. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (79 points)
T-66. Final Fantasy X Piano Collections (79 points)
68. Phantasy Star Sound Collection (disc 2) (75 points)
69. Ys IV Perfect Collection Vol. 1 (73 points)
T-70. F-ZERO X Guitar Arrange Edition (72 points)
T-70. Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack (72 points)
T-70. Seiken Densetsu Sound Collections (72 points)
T-73. Ys VI: The Ark Of Napishtim Original Soundtrack (71 points)
T-73. Zwei!! Super Arrange Version (71 points)
T-75. Star Ocean 3 Till the End of Time Vol. 2 (70 points)
T-75. Tenchi Sozo Creative Soundtrack (Terranigma) (70 points)
T-75. Wild Arms the Vth Vanguard Original Score Vol. 1 (70 points)
78. Soul Calibur III OST -Legend of Sounds- (69 points)
T-79. Donkey Kong Country 2 ~ Diddy's Kong Quest (68 points)
T-79. SaGa Frontier II Piano / Rhapsody on a Theme (68 points)
81. Genso Suikoden II Original Game Soundtrack Complete Box (67 points)
82. Sonic Adventure 2 Original Soundtrack (66 points)
T-83. AIR Original Soundtrack (65 points)
T-83. Golden Sun 2 : The Lost Age (65 points)
T-83. King of Fighters '96 Arrange Trax (65 points)
86. Donkey Kong Country (64 points)
T-87. Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy (63 points)
T-87. Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 OST (63 points)
T-89. Castlevania III (62 points)
T-89. Phantom Brave OST (62 points)
91. Trusty Bell ~Chopin’s Dream~ OST (61 points)
T-92. Motoi Sakuraba Live Concert Star Ocean & Valkyrie Profile (60 points)
T-92. Shadow Hearts Original Soundtracks plus 1 (60 points)
T-92. Wild Arms Complete Tracks (60 points)
T-92. Xenosaga Episode I (60 points)
T-92. Ys III PC Engine Redbook (60 points)
97. Genso Suikoden II Original Game Soundtrack Vol. 1 (59 points)
T-98. Chrono Trigger: The Brink of Time (58 points)
T-98. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (58 points)
T-100. Genso Suikoden II Original Game Soundtrack Vol. 2 (57 points)
T-100. killer7 original sound track (57 points)
T-100. Panzer Dragoon II Zwei Original Soundtrack (57 points)

Edit: Edited #21 to make it clearer that this refers to the Legend of Mana OST.

Legend of Mana, my favorite OST of all time, didn't make the list?  I really wish I'd finally gotten around to voting. 

Edit: or is 21 supposed to be that?  Just plain "Seiken Densetsu" would mean that people voted the original Gameboy soundtrack significantly higher than T-70, which is the OST plus orchestral arrangements.

Glad to know some people have proper tastes besides me. Great project anyways.