For me definitely The world ends with you. It completely shaped my modern taste in funk, pop, rap and hip hop. That and Jet set radio.
FFX back in the PS2 day’s was when I discovered I really love heavy metal.
Tony Hawks proskater.
SuperTux
Megaman 2 aka Rockman 2, baby! So good.
Myst and Riven. Became homework music for a long time
Skate and Destroy, Tony Hawks Pro Skater, GTA 3/Vice City/SA.
Also numerous PSX games are the reason I still listen to that old school drum & bass.
Later, Guitar Hero games.
Need for Speed Underground 2!! All songs were awesome, my favorites were the Riders on the Storm with Snoop and Nobody by Skindred
Get Low and Lean Back, so fucking good
Dave Mirra’s Freestyle BMX
Broo…you just unlocked a core memory dudeeeee
It has a maximum remix edition that came with a soundtrack. It’s soooo fucking good.
Sheesh I need thaaaat!!!
The 3D zelda games.
That was the point where I prefered soundtracks over singing. I still have the Twilight Princess trailer mp3 I cut almost 20 years ago on my running playlist.
That and the score for Battle for Wesnoth. Classic freeware, peak 2006.
Yeeesss. Wesnoth was PEAK
Not an awakening per se but Splinter Cell Chaos Theory introduced me to Amon Tobin and the world of weird, experimental electronic music.
Symphony of the night of course, bust before that also games like streets of rage (1,2) and thunder force 4.
ducktales, maniac mansion, and shadowgate on the nes
oh and secret of mana (but especially secret of mana ~ banished)
That Kemco Chiptune deep bass hits every time! The Uninvited is a close second.
Valkyrie Profile and Golden Sun were my introduction to prod-rock (thanks to Motoi Sakuraba).
Portal 2. Absolute banger of a soundtrack that I have listened to over and over, and I absolutely loved Exile Vilify by The National, which frustratingly is not on Spotify.
Guitar hero literally got me into real guitar so probably that one
Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask were pretty foundational for me. I think the fact that playing an instrument was a central game mechanic was a big part of that.
Others that come to mind would be gens 1-3 of Pokémon. Pretty much every track in all of these games are iconic.
