Every year, Game Wiki hosts polls for the best video game soundtracks, which many netizens who love Japanese game soundtracks vote.
For me, I like to use this as reference to find songs and soundtracks that I’ve not listened to before. But also interesting to see how the list changes, especially when new gamers start to phase out other gamers and you start to see soundtracks skewing towards more recent titles, and titles that were popular a decade ago, are less prominent. It’s part of life and appreciation for music and one can hope that newer gamers appreciate the older game music as well.
Of course, everything is all subjective, so if you disagree with the poll, it’s OK.
While the list is the Top Shooting Video Game Music (2010) featured 190 songs, I am only going to focus on the top 40 and translating the titles if needed. It’s important to note that when the word “Shooting” video game is used, in Japan, at the time, it was seen more as the shootem up shmup (Danmark) games than first person shooter video games.
- Metal Black – Born to be free
- G Darius – KIMERA II
- Ketsui ~Kizuna Jigoku~ – EVAC INDUSTRY – Judgment Day
- Thunder Force V – Legendary Wings
- Darius Gaiden – SELF
- DoDonPachi Resurrection – It was a fight to “continue into that future”
- G Darius – Adam
- Darius Burst – The World of Spirit
- Ketsui ~Kuzuna Jigoku~ – NO REMORSE
- Battle Garegga – Fly to the Leaden Sky
- Ray Force – PENETRATION
- Night Striker – BOSS 6
- DoDonPachi Resurrection – East Asia
- Afterburner II – After Burner
- ESP RA.DE. – RAGING DECIDE
- Panzer Dragoon – fly
- Cyberia 2 – Weakboson~GorgeCity
- Mamoru-kun has been cursed – YO-KAI Disco
- einhander – THERMOSPHERE
- Darius – BOSS SCENE 7
- Ikaruga – The Stone-Like
- Ikaruga – Reality
- Darius burst – Hello 31337
- DoDonPachi Resurrection Black Label – Verte4x
- (TIE) Thunder Force IIII – Hunger made them desperate / Halo3 – One Final Effort
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- Sen ko no rinbu – assemble
- Gradius Gaiden – SPEED
- Gun Frontier – Yunfao
- KAROUS – you can’t fxxk me
- Heelsingk – Emerging process LV3
- Thunder Force V – Steel of Destiny
- G Darius – B-T-DUTCH
- Radiant Silver Gun – EVASION -Avoidance-
- (TIE) Raystorm – SLAUGHTER HOUR / Espgaruda – fortress city
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- Ikaruga – Butsusutekkai
- death smiles – Burning Halloween Town
- star fox – Cornelia
- R-TYPE DELTA – Stage 7 (life)
