What console had the best soundtracks?

[GeLeHa]

What era of gaming had your favorite music?

The NES created some classic games with classic music, such as the themes for Super Mario Bros. and the Final Fantasy series, along with the world theme for the Zelda series. Although those games hold some good memories for me, what I played the most was the SNES and PlayStation.

Although I loved the music from the PlayStation, from the Final Fantasy's, to Chrono Cross, and may others, the SNES holds a special place in my heart. Some of my favorite soundtracks from the SNES come from Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana. The PlayStation comes in a very close second, though, with my favorite soundtracks stated above.

There are some good soundtracks for the PS2 and on, and some real good sountracks for this generation (Eternal Sonata and FFXIII), but since I grew up with SNES and PS, they have a special place in my heart, so they are at the top of my list.

So, after my detailing of the soundtracks I like and why, I will ask again. What console(s) do you feel had the best soundtracks, and why?

[Ayco]

Pre PlayStation1 had the best musical themes and music since composers had to rely heavily on the melodic structures rather than on sound. Since engines can handle heavy processing and are extremely powerful, full scale orchestras can be used to create dynamic performances. This allows composers not to focus so heavily on melodies or harmonic structures to create memorable scores since the sound quality is extremely good.

Lately games mimic movie structures and follow film scoring techniques which support the visuals rather than overpower them; as well as focusing too much on the sound production. Back when CG wasn't developed enough, music had to enhance the story by creating strong melodic themes to make up for the lack of visuals. When visuals are the main focus then music cannot overpower it, only support it.

I miss the SNES simple yet powerful themes, especially from FFIV and FFVI. But I know that not all games follow film music methods, many simpler consoles - Wii, Mobile, DS - have great simple melodies similar to the Pre-playstation days.

[Dynamo]

depends in terms of actual song quailty then the last couple years, in terms of actuall melody/beat of a song the yeah the earlier days of gaming.

[yuki]

i think ps both 1&2
coz from when i first started playing i realy dot remember any sound track ..

but when i got ps1 i started to get attached to the games more and since my best is the ff saga
my first should be ps1&2
as for ps3 ff13 is way to greater ..

[T.G. Oskar]

Tough question, but I'll err on the side of Playstation generation. And very specifically, Playstation (SNES is the very closest of competitors, though).

The reason is pretty specific: most of the old-school composers made pretty much works of art with their limited options in terms of sound. The NES and Game Boy, the Master System and other 8-bit systems had a very limited MIDI sound system which required great skill to support the scene and the game, while the SNES and Genesis (and other 16-bit consoles) had a much more robust system. That's a given: from 8-bit to 16-bit the quality of sound leapt impressively.

However, when compared to Playstation and Saturn and Nintendo 64, things definitely changed. Now, instruments could be used (and replicated), delivering a much more faithful sound, closer to what they sought. It also allowed for other game composers to use something other than a keyboard to compose or arrange (case in point: Tsuyoshi Sekito may have keyboard skills, but he's mostly a guitar arranger).

My decision is guided in those lines, but the biggest point lies in composers and their works. Most of my favored composers shone on Playstation (specifically Sakuraba, Shimomura and Iwadare), and most of my favorite soundtracks lay upon the Playstation format. Compare, say, a Final Fantasy V/VI to a Final Fantasy VII/VIII (I'd say specifically between FFVI and FFVIII, which I consider having the best soundtracks of their respective eras), a Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu III to a Legend of Mana, and a Breath of Fire II to a Breath of Fire III. Heck, compare Romancing SaGa III (which has excellent sound and a rare combination of instruments that evoke a Renaissance feel) to the myriad of beats from SaGa Frontier, both from Kenji Ito. Then, compare games from the SNES era (Lufia, Lunar, Chrono Trigger, Tales of Phantasia) to games from the PlayStation era (Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean 2, Tales of Destiny, Parasite Eve, Brave Fencer Musashi, etc.) and notice the big contrast.

I have nothing for the old composers: Uematsu is nothing less of a legend, and Koji Kondo even so more. Kenji Ito and Yasunori Mitsuda developed on the SNES era, and I cannot stress enough that Hiroki Kikuta's work on Secret of Mana and specifically on Seiken Densetsu III is nothing but spectacular. But, I compare to PlayStation era games, and I can't help but notice that I find enjoying those soundtracks consistently more than SNES soundtracks. I also find that each era has its set of geniuses, so I can't say for sure that I prefer one and don't like the others, but I base my answer upon said inclinations.

As for later consoles: PlayStation 2 has its fare of wonderful soundtracks, but the tech leap between PS1 and PS2 isn't that spectacular. I can say for sure that I have some strong choices between PS2 soundtracks (specifically, Grandia II and Xenosaga and Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song which is basically a revamp of the old Super Famicom Romancing SaGa game). Game Boy Advance has also its share of great soundtracks (Golden Sun comes to mind), and Nintendo DS doubly so (The Dark Spire and Etrian Odyssey are signs of awesome soundtracks on portable consoles, and EO in particular has made me a great fan of Yuzo Koshiro).

[Furore]

I love my old music and get very nostalgic over anything from the SNES/PSX era, but I'm going to say the current generation.

These days we can get soundtracks with higher quality sound including vocals (which actually causes some games to suffer, but it's something doable that at one stage wasn't implemented too often). From the advent of the PS2 onwards I'm noticing a higher degree of complexity and soundtracks from games such as Nier, Dreamfall and recent Shin Megaten games are brilliant.

[Heartless Angel]

I'll have to go with the N64. Though alot of the good N64 songs were just remastered versions of the songs from earlier NES and SNES titles, the 64 is where they transitioned from a series of beeps into music.