In 1995, Nintendo and Rare released Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest for the Super Nintendo, and it quickly beca??me one of the best p??latformers on the console. This is due to several reasons, but one of the biggest ones is composer David Wise's beautiful soundtrack.

Fortunately, longtime fans of the series can now finally listen to this groundbreaking score in an official manner. Some people on social media websites like Reddit or Twitter/X quickly noticed that Nintendo just added the entire Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest to its new music app, Nintendo Music. In case you missed it, the gaming giant ?announced and released this app less than a week ago, and the first Donkey Kong Country's soundtr??ack was already on its c??atalog from the get-go.

This is an excellent deal because it means that Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can now listen to one of the best video game soundtracks on their phones. Curiously enough, it seems that today is a special day for this classic game, because the company also added official Donkey Kong Country 2 user icons to the Nintendo Switch Online service. The only question now is: Is Nintendo going to add music from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble to Nintendo Music next week?

Does Donkey Kong Country 2 really have one of the best video game soundtracks?

The video game industry is brimming with high quality music scores created by some of the most talented and brilliant music artists in the world, so saying that a game like Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest has one of the best soundtracks feels like quite a tall claim. Nevertheless, many Nintendo fans consider this to be true, and for good reason.

The key word related to David Wise's amazing DKC2 soundtrack is "versatility": The title screen theme, K. Rool Returns, is mysterious and intriguing, the early pirate-themed levels have a lighthearted tune in them titled Klomp's Romp, later on there's a challenging but charming disco-themed on-rails level that features a catchy song fittingly titled Disco Train and, of course, we can't forget about Stickerbrush Symphony, one of the most breathtaki?ngly beautiful?? and magical songs ever put in a video game.

And that's not all, because this game has one incredible music track after another, like Crocodile Cacophony, Forest Interlude, Hot-Head Bop, In a Snow-Bound Land and much more. Do yourself a favor today and open your Nintendo Music app in order to give some of these amazing tunes a listen. Or, alternatively, you can also experience Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest by yourse?lf on the SNES catalog of the Nintendo Switch Online service.

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After having already brought Wii U title Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to the Switch, Nintendo has decided to do the same for its predecessor, 2010's Donkey Kong Country Returns. It's already a tad disappointing Nintendo isn't giving us a brand-new Donkey Kong ga??me, but what's re??ally left some fans baffled is that this HD port is being sold at $60.

This was discovered via the Nintendo Switch eShop, and is somehow surprising and unsurprising at the same time. On the one hand, Donkey Kong Country Returns is well over 10 years old, and you can track down a second-hand copy of either the original Wii version or the 3DS port for a fraction of Nintendo's asking price. What's more, while this port does include the levels added to the 3DS version, it otherwise lacks any entirely new content. You can't even play it in co-op online, and while I personally think Donkey Kong Country Returns is a great 2D platformer worth playing, I don?'t think I could recommend it at $60.

It's especially shocking when you remember that last year's Metroid Prime remaster, which offered a far more noticeable graphical glow-up, is being sold at $40. However, this is hardly the first time Nintendo has done this. HD ports of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Kirby's Return to Dream Land also retailed at $60, as well as today's Luigi's Mansion 2 HD. Not that this has stopped fans ??from complaining regardl??ess.

Over on a Nintendo subreddit, many are astounded by the asking price, with a couple arguing it wouldn't be so bad if it came bundled with Tropical Freeze. It's also been pointed out how similar HD re-releases were far more affordable, such as Activision's remasters of the original Crash Bandicoot games. The N. Sane Trilogy was three games in one yet was sold at $40. More recently, Ubisoft launched a remaster of Beyond Good & Evil, and it's very cheap at only $20. "It’s reasons like this I just don’t buy Nintendo anymore," wrote one Reddit user. "I love the classics but I’m not goin??g to spend $60 on a game they basically threw new graphics on."

In a separate thread, others have tried to defend or at least rationalize Nintendo's decision, such as pointing out how Donkey Kong has more of a mainstream presence and has sold better when compared to something like Metroid. Not to mention Nintendo's been pushing DK more into the limelight lately, as evidenced by his presence in the Super Mario Bros. movie and getting a dedicated expansion at the Super Nintendo World them??e park.

As one Reddit user also importantly points out, the game's age means a sizable portion of Nintendo's audience missed out on the original, so it may as well be brand-new for them: "There's more and more kids every year aging up and becoming the exact target demo for some of these games. It really doesn't make sense for Nintendo to devalue their evergreens." And w?hile I mentioned how copies of the Wii and 3DS versions can be found online, younger audiences are unlikely to have an old Wii or 3DS console lying around somewhere, or go out ?of their way to buy one of those second-hand.

Despite some fans' refusal to pick up Donkey Kong Country Returns HD at full price, I don't expect this to severely hamper the game's sales. Aside from those who never got to play the original, Nintendo has cultivated enough of a dedicated audience on Switch that would happily fork over $60 for anything it puts out thanks in part to the company's first-party output being consistently high qu?ality.

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When you buy the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, you get a slew of retro games through the platform's online library of older titles. Of course, there is a step above just the regular ole service with the higher tier, the Expansion Pack. However, ??you don't have to pony up for more just to play some treasured classics.

For those?? of you looking to sample some of Nintendo's retro library, I've got some suggestions on where to start with the now 100-tile collection of classics. These are the best games for the base Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

The 10 best games to play on Nintendo Switch Online

Since we're excluding Expansion Pack titles, the following games are from either the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), ??Game Boy, or Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). If a game you like from these catalogs and they aren't on the list, fret not �?these are just the best of the best in a massive library beloved by many of us.

10. Tecmo Bowl (NES)

Sports games and Nintendo don’t go hand-in-hand now unless Mario is involved, but Tecmo Bowl is an exception. Despite being a game fr?om the late �?0s, this one still holds up a lot better than most modern American football games. It’s simple enough to break into eve?n for the folks not quite so sports savvy and there's no overly convoluted set of controls just to get your players moving.

9. Metroid (NES)

The Nintendo Switch was made for sidescrolling games, namely Metroidvanias. So, why not take a trip back to the late '80s and see the game that started it all? The original NES Metroid definitely shows how dated it is, but i?t doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. It’s loads of fun and will have you hooked from the moment you discover the out-of-the-way or less obvious path forward. The movement takes some time to get familiar with, but if you stick around, it’s well worth putting that effo??rt in.

8. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

After ?being the fellow who would hold Pauline captive in the 1980s, Donkey Kong would eventually get his own 2D sidescrolling adventure where he��s the good gu?y. He’s also accompanied by Diddy Kong, who you can swap to on the fly if the situation requires it. 

Its gameplay is akin to the Super Mario games in that you can jump on enemies�?heads to ??defeat them. You can also throw things or use a close attack to deal damage. Still, it provides its own kind of fun that shows the quality of the 16-bit era. What a glow-up, good guy story for the Kong.

7. EarthBound (SNES)

It’s wild to look back on this game and see the Mother series only started to take off in western regions after Ness and Lucas became a staple in the Smash Bros. franchise. Still, now that the '90s RPG has become popular and made available for NSO subscribers, EarthBound still holds up. So, to all of you hungry for more Mother releases, the oldest western release is at least far more ??available now than it was back then.

6. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

Fans of top-down games, especially the Zelda games, have to have played this at some point. A Link to the Past is one of the better, if not the best of the games in this style. The first Legend of Zelda game was exceptional in so many ways, but A Link to the Past is just ?more memorable, more fluid, and ov??erall more fun.

5. Tetris (Game Boy)

If you want to break away from the highly competitive nature of Tetris 99, you can always fire the OG Tetris up on the Game Boy app. It plays a lot differently than modern Tetris because pieces automatically snap the moment t??hey make contact on the surface. 

You’ll also be unable to see an outline of where your pieces will drop, so there’s a challenge within itself right there. Tetris on the Game Boy is based on classic rules, but it’s still such a?? fun time regardless.

4. Super Metroid (SNES)

If you want even more Metroid that’s faster-paced and has more fluid gameplay, then the third game of the series will provide just that. It’s just an overall better time than the original game, with j??ust the right amount of difficulty that won’t have you pulling your hair out.

3. Kirby Super Star (SNES)

There’s something about the older Kirby games that just have more charm and character to them. They’re simple enough and follow the whole “pink blob eats enemies and takes their powers�?aspect of the game. Then there are the minigames on the side to? take a break between the main story that just feels like a good kind of padding.

Even though Kirby games are doing just fine and are still prevalent? in today’s market, it’s a fun trip down memory lane to see the early days of his adventures.

2. Killer Instinct (SNES)

Killer Instinct is an awesome fighting game that acted as healthy competition against Mortal Kombat in the '90s. While not as gory, it still had great, over-the-top action, sporting a roster of ten wi?ldly different and memorable characters. For the time, it was impressive, and so fun to play, even for those who aren’t into fighting games. 

This is the game that introduced the “c-c-c-combo breaker!�?and the echoed “ultra!�?sound effects that we all still use from time to time. Novelties aside, it’s? such a great addition to the lineup of current games on the Switch’s SNES library.

1. Super Mario World (SNES)

Super Mario World is touted as one of the best 2D Mario games of all time because of the mechanics, the music, and just how much exploration it has. This is the game that introduced the Cape Feather, which is iconic for all the wild verticality that you can perform. It also has the hilarious P Balloon that inflates Mario or Luigi and lets them fly in all e??ight directions for a short time. You can’t forget the different Yoshis with their own respective abilities, either.

Most people will play this game from start to finish, but there is more than meets the eye once you clear the Switch Palaces or revisit previous levels with proper power-??ups. If you n??ever played this game in any way, you have to.

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I ??feel that the SNES was the last major console that had a sound of its own. That’s not to say that later consoles don’t have great music. It’s just that the limitations of the 8 and 16-bit eras gave their platforms a unique voice. After the shift to CD, that was lost.

The Nintendo S-SMP, created by Ken Kutaragi, was one of the most sophisticated console sound hardware at the time. But while that didn’t necessarily give it an advantage over the PC-Engine/Turbografx or Sega Genesis??/Megadrive, it did give it a unique sound among?? its competitors. This led to more fantastic soundtracks than I can name.

Really, while I picked ten SNES soundtracks for this best-of list, there are many more that I considered. Games like Demon’s Crest, Addams Family Values, Final Fantasy VI, Yoshi’s Island, Jurassic Park, Chrono Trigger, Super Adventure Island, Super Metroid, Kirby’s Super Star, Actraiser, Super Mario Kart �?and those are just the game?s I can list off the top ??of my head.

But before hitting the list, let me state the limitations I’m imposing on myself. First, a composer can only be mentioned once, making it so Koji Kondo doesn’t just dominate the whole thing. I’m also restricting this to games released in North America. Lastly, my choices favor games with soundtracks that are varie??d, consistent, and don’t lean heavily on pre-existing songs from other platforms such as arcade or even movies. It's not enough to have one great song,

Last year, I covered the 10 Best NES Soundtracks, so if you haven’t already and don’t think I’m completely off my rocker, you can check it out here.

10. Plok (1993, Music By: Geoff Follin, Tim Follin)

Tim and Geoff Follin are responsible for some of the best soundtracks on bad games. Mostly. They did the tracks for Silver Surfer, Solstice, and Pictionary on NES, and strangely enough, the soundtracks to each are incredible. Yes, even Pictionary.

Similarly, Plok is just as incredible. While the game itself is, eh, not really top shelf, the Follin brothers just went to town on the soundtrack. It’s varied,? unconventional, and high-q??uality from opening to credits. Even the sound sampling for the instrumentation is mind-blowing.

9. Shadowrun (1993, Music by: Marshall Parker)

The SNES version of Shadowrun was a bit of a strange game. Based on the tablet?op RPG of the same name, it was part adventure game and part action RPG. What makes it weird is that both the adventuring and the combat were done via mouse interface on a console, and it didn’t choose to use the SNES mouse controller. It’s still a pretty great,?? if often overlooked, title I have a lot of affection for.

A good portion of that affection, however, comes from its extremely atmospheric soundtrack. Shadowrun’s environments were drenched in darkness, taking place during a seemingly endless night, and Marshall Parker was able to capture that completely. It draws you into the shadows and makes you feel like you’ve missed the last train home and are left to walk the empty streets. In other tracks, it ?underlines the mystery and gives you the sense of a greater conspiracy.

I love the Shadowrun soundtrack so much, that at this point, it’s the music I associate with the other games based on the TTRPG. The series has always had great composers working on it, but Marshall Parker’s interpretation is the only one that feels right to m??e.

8. F-Zero (1990, Music by: Yumiko Kanki, Naoto Ishida)

I love the buzzy sound of early SNES soundtracks. Pilotwings and SimCity both were great demonstrations of this weirdly unique sound of fuzzy percussion and trumpet-like melodies. F-Zero, however, outbuzzed them all.

It’s difficult to imagine an F-Zero game without the themes of Mute City of Big Blue, but the original’s OST went far beyond that?? with atmospheric, slow melodies played over hyperactive drumrolls. It simultaneously sounds like the anthem to a sports highlight show while still underlining the edge-of-control danger that defines the series.

7. Axelay (1992, Music By: Tarō Kudō)

Axelay is a solid shoot-’em-up, but it’s not the most memorable. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is absolutely incredible. Tarō Kudō is perhaps better known for his design work at Love-de-Lic and Vanpool, but while at Konami, he helped out with the sound design on Super Castlevania IV and composing for Axelay.

Axelay’s soundtrack is excellent all around, being atmospheric between flights and exciting when the lasers start flying. I feel this is best demonstrated by the Stage 3 track, Mother. It kicks off with a brassy fanf?are before starting into one of the most dynamic percussive backings I’ve ?heard on the console.

But perhaps most ??importantly for a video?? game, it works really well with everything that’s happening on screen, whether or not you’re supposed to be marveling at the scenery or picking out your armaments.

6. Star Fox (1993, Music by: Hajime Hirasawa)

As a game, the SNES Star Fox feels a bit hamstrung by the system’s limitations, even if it is one of the console’s more capable polygonal 3D games. Newcomers to the series would likely be put off by the general clunkiness of it. ??But if there’s one thing that hasn’t aged, it’s the soundtrack.

Star Fox 64 is often considered the seminal title in the franchise, and much of the series�?later games base their aesthetic on it. That’s a shame because its musical compositions are more similar to the sweeping space opera themes of something like Star Trek. The original Star Fox is something far dancier. It’s much more pop. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a touch of space opera pomp mixed in there, but songs like Fortuna and Me??teor are just wildly enigmatic with unusual beats and playful basslines.

Yet, whatever direc??tion the varied but cohesive soundtrack takes, it’s always top-notch and fits whatever it’s layered over perfectly.

5. Legend of the Mystical Ninja (1991, Music by: Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko)

Once one of Konami’s tentpole franchises, the Ganbare Goemon series got weirder and weirder over a decade before ceasing to exist entirely during the �?0s. We didn’t get many of the titles in North America, but one that we were fortunate to receive was 1991’s Legend of the Mystical Ninja.

What I respect most about the music in Legend of the Mystical Ninja is that it knows when to be wacky, when to be ??exciting, and when to be relaxing. With its unique sampling, it evokes a picturesque Edo-era Japan while still providing an effective backing for the action. It’s a rather well-packed and well-rounded soundtrack that never loses steam.

Having only been released in Japan, the Super Famicom sequels to Legend of the Mystical Ninja weren’t eligible. Even if they were, the music in those games leaned more cartoony, and I felt they lo??st the sense of admiration for their home country.

4. Donkey Kong Country 2 (1995, Music By: David Wise)

It’s impressive that the soundtrack to Donkey Kong Country could be improved upon, but it happened?. With an injection of pirate motif underneath the startlingly atmospheric guitar(ish) squeals, David Wise absolutely blew away the sounds of the previous game.

It’s hard to describe the overarching success of Donkey Kong Country 2’s soundtrack, aside from just calling it startling. The title theme slaps you across the ears right from the start, and it’s less than a minute long. Then, throughout the course of the game, it hits you with high-intensity action tracks an??d uncomfortable calming atmospheric tunes. A level’s theme will not p??repare your ears for what they’re about to hear, yet somehow, it all fits.

3. Super Mario RPG (1996, Music by: Yoko Shimomura)

It seems to have been an unwritten rule that SNES JRPGs were required to have some great music. Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger were contenders for this list, but I don’t think they have the same consistency or unconventional quality as the soundtrack for Super Mario RPG.

It must have been pretty tempting to lean back on the work of Super Mario’s usual composer Kōji Kondō, who had already defined what a Mario game should sound like. And while there are definitely shades of that here, Yoko Shimomura went her own way and created something unique. Not only that, it goes beyond just good battle music and provides something to fit each of the game’s emotional beats. There are a lot of themes here for minor places and minor? characters. Sometimes, the theme track that goes along with the character is part of what defines them and makes them stand out, s??uch as the case of Booster.

Whatever was happening on screen, the soundtrack just fit. And yet still, it’s great to listen to, even outside the context of the gameplay. Many of the tracks carry more emotional weight than you’d expect from the license, and more of them have an upbeat bounciness. It just has so much to offer, which puts it above other JRPGs and Mario games.

2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991, Music by: Kōji Kondō)

The soundtrack for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comes out swinging with one of the most memorable introductory fanfares on the con??sole, follow?ed by a song that is way too good for an expositional prologue. It then continues to surprise at every turn.

One would expect Link to the Past would lean heavily on the already established OST to the original 1986 title, but there weren’t very many track??s to begin with. It really only reuses the main theme and menu music, which are greatly overshadowed by everything else in the soundtrack. A good track will often hit ??you where you don’t expect it like the inconspicuous Sanctuary music or the powerful Dark World theme.

It’s a powerful soundtrack that underlines a powerful game. Some of the tracks still give me goosebumps, even after I’ve heard th??em a kajillion times.

1. Mega Man X (1993, Music By: Setsuo Yamamoto, Makoto Tomozawa, Yuki Iwai, Yūko Takehara, Toshihiko Horiyama)

At this point, the Mega Man X soundtrack is just the music that constantly plays on the Juke Box in my head. On many mornings, I wake up with the Highway theme from Mega Man X. Randomly, throughout the day, I’ll wonder what tune keeps repeating in my b?rain and realize it’s the hook from Boomer Kuwang?er’s stage or Spark Mandrill. It’s wild how much stock my brain puts on this game’s tunes.

The Mega Man series has always been serious about its soundtrack, and they went big with the inaugural game of its new SNES sub-series. It’s a long string of absolutely top-shelf tracks with memorable melodies and a high level of consistency. But more importantly, it highlighted the fast pace and more intense action that the X subseries had over it??s predecessor. It’s j?ust plain legendary.

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All of them, actually

I will never say no to a rhythm game spinoff. I am, of course, a loud and unashamed fan of the genre. I'm always down for more rhythm games, but I'm especially fond of titles that recontextualize the music found in other games. I think n??????????????????????????early every video game would benefit from a supplemental mechanical examination of its soundtrack.

But obviously, some franchises are more suited to rhythm gaming than others. If I were to make a list of the greatest video game series soundtracks of all time, it would probably include Metroid and Halo, but those scores aren't exactly full of toe-tappers. So while I would play a rhythm game based on absolutely any soundtrack, I'd like to outline the franchises I think truly deserve the Theatrhythm treatment.

[emb?ed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0IxUMu036k[/emb?ed]

10. Shovel Knight

Jake Kaufman is a very prolific and accomplished composer. The Shantae series could easily have made this list, but limiting myself to one Kaufman-heavy franchise, I have to give it to Shovel Knight. These games, from Shovel of Hope to Shovel Knight Dig, emulate the strict and structured chiptunes of the NES era but with more contemporary musical stylings. These are perfect rhythm game s??oundtracks because they're stable and rhythmically readable, even to the layman.

Plus, Shovel of Hope has a couple of tracks by Manami Matsumae, and I felt really bad about leaving Mega Man off this list.

[embed]/?/www.youtube.com/watch?v=UND5wgnIino[/embed]

9. Assassin's Creed

I don't play Assassin's Creed very often. It's just not my cup of tea. But I do listen to Assassin's Creed pretty regularly. A rotating cast of phenomenal composers has brought an awful lot of wonderful tracks to life. A lot of score pieces from the series' his?tory are so driven and thumping that I can practically see th?e beatmap in front of me.

I'm particularly fond of the Assassin's Creed Odyssey soundtrack, and I've found myself finger-drumming to the beat of "Legend of the Eagle Bearer" more than a few times. At the very least, we deserve a shanty-filled Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag rhythm spinoff.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH-GAwLAO30[/embe?d?]

8. Undertale

Across Undertale and the first two episodes of Deltarune, series creator/composer Toby Fox has established a co??herent and delightful sound to accompany his series' world. Like Kaufman, Fox plays in the realm of chiptunes, and his are especially earworm-ish.

Some of Undertale's bullet hell moments already feel like a carefully orchestrated dance set to one of the game's wonderful battle themes. Concretizing that comparison with a full-throated Undertale rhythm game would be pretty great. As an aside, you can get a pretty Undertale-ish rhythm game experience out of 2021's Everhood.

[embed]//www.you?tube.com/watch?v=DTLfV7Ru5VY[/embed]

7. Donkey Kong Country

We've gotten pretty close to a Donkey Kong Country rhythm game in the past - there were no fewer than three Donkey Konga games, and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat almost counts - but there's never been a rhythm game solely focused on music from the actual DKC series.

Across the first three DKC games, David Wise, Eveline Fischer, and Robin Beanland redefined what Donkey Kong sounded like. Just about every track from the series is groovy and pleasant. To me, the beautiful soundtracks are the number one reason to return to Donkey Kong Country. A game dedicate??d to those soundtracks would be a dream.

[??embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikQHkhL8YMM[/embed]

6. Guilty Gear

The precise inputs fighting games demand make them feel like natural siblings to rhythm games, but Guilty Gear feels particularly suited to travel between genres. Music has always been central to the franchise—series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari has composed music for nearly every franchise entry, and as of Guilty Gear Strive, every character has a?n independent absolute banger for a theme.

Guilty Gear is indebted to music on nearly every level. Characters like Axl Low take blatant inspiration from real-life rockstars, and there are probably more fans of the Guilty Gear soundtrack than there are fans ??o??f the actual series. A rhythm-based spinoff is an all-too-obvious pitch.

[embed]//www.y?outube.com/watch?v=nO3Ap0xOcAE[/embed]

5. Chrono

The Chrono duology will get a bit of rhythm representation in the form of DLC for Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, but honestly, I'm not sure that that's enough. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross collectively play host to some of the greatest JRPG music around. Yasunori Mitsuda is an incredible composer and his work alongside the legendary Nobuo ?Uematsu elevates the first game to incredible heights (the second one is prett?y wonderful, too).

The presence of these soundtracks in Theatrhythm proves that they translate into a gamified context, so I think it would be nice to see them in their own game entirely. If you'll permit me to dream for a moment, I'd love a rhythm game incorporating some of Chrono Trigger's classic dual and triple techs.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/wa?tch?v=e9r5hx47kxM[/embed]

4. Super Mario

I honestly can't believe this doesn't exist. If you ask a random person to hum a tune from a video game, good money says they'll go for the main theme from Super Mario Bros. There's no denying that the Super Mario series plays host to some truly iconic music.

After The Legend of Zelda got its own Crypt of the Necrodancer-themed rhythm spinoff, I figured Mario, king of the side-game, would follow close behind. But somehow, the series' soundtrack is still limited to cameo appearances in different rhythm games. I do want a Mario rhythm game, but more than that, I'm just shocked that ther?e isn't? one yet.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8OHSXvneOE[/e??mbed]

3. Celeste

I dig the soundtrack from the original PICO-8 version of Celeste, but the series' sonic identity really came into view when composer Lena Raine joined the team for the 2018 remake. Raine's music makes Celeste feel like a sincere musical adventure, and that feeling is only enhanced by the game's "B-Sides"—to??ugher takes on individual levels featuring brilliantly remixed takes on the original soundtr??ack.

Raine returned to score Celeste's DLC, Farewell, and she also wrote a couple of smaller tracks for the game's miniature PICO-8 sequel, Celeste 2: Lani's Trek. All of this music is phenomenal, and all of it would be as well-suited? to a rhythm game as?? it is to a series of precision platformers.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=55?uDJ39W4i0[/embed]

2. Sonic the Hedgehog

I?'m not e?ven gonna write anything for this one. Just listen to it.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=9?XV7TeThdVA[/embed]

1. Nier

Like the Chrono games, the Nier series will be featured in Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, but it deserves an awful lot more. Composer Keiichi Okabe's work is responsible for at least a solid 40% of my personal fondness for Nier, and I don't think it's a stretch to call it some of the best video game music e??ver. Okabe's work is often melancholy and complex, but it's also frequently catchy an??d light.

The music of Nier is truly brilliant. I'd love to see it paired with a set of mechanics specifically built around it. The only ??issue I can see with this plan is that I would probably never play anything else again.

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From the ashes of the heavily meme'd '90s CG show comes this fantastic animated chantey

With an immense amount of love for the Donkey Kong Country trilogy (especially DKC2), and the vaguest of vague memories of watching the fugly mid-'90s CG show of the same name, I am all about this fan-made animated short from creator Alex Henderson.

Featuring music from Alestorm, this whole production is spot-on. DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut will put a smile on any fan's face �?particularly those of us who miss the Kremlings (even though the modern Donkey Kong Country games are great without them).

//youtu.be/k5-X58Tw6RQ

"This year may have been Do??nkey Kong's 40th birthday, but what a lot of people don’t know is that this wasn't his only milestone, as this month marks the 25th anniversary of his glorious TV show," Henderson noted. "Exactly 25 years ago, the powers of antiquated motion capture technology, Canadian tax dollars, and the audacity of the French, joined forces to create the greatest show in the history of television, and I've teamed up with Bootleg Dubs and Napalm Records to produce this celebratory anniversary short!"

If we ever get another game with the Kremlings, great. I'll cherish this video either way.

It's baffling how little of the show I remember, to the point where even the Crystal Coconut was lost on me, but I'm po?king around (entirely too many) wikis to jog my memory. For a lot of us, the super-dated CGI characters live on as meme fodder.

If you'd like to relive the madness, someone uploaded Donkey Kong Country: The Legend of the Crystal Coconut on YouTube, complete with nostalgia-inducing Rugrats adverts to kick it off. Expect whiplash �?from pretty much every facet of the viewing exper?ience.

To end on a happier note, DKC: Curse of the Crystal Coconut is getting filed in my feel-good memory palace alongside Pollyanna: An Animated EarthBound Tribute.

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