Dark, mysterious, unsettling video game tunes.

[muteKi]

Since you seem to be pretty much fishing for it in that first post, here you go.

[muteKi]

While most of Phantasy Star II's music is upbeat and happy (with perhaps a slight unsettling air about it all, quite fitting for the nature of most of the early settings of the game in particular), the music on the surface of the desolate and deserted Dezolis is maybe not the creepiest tune ever in gaming, but it certainly has a strong sense of melancholy loneliness to it, especially with that echoing organ as the lead. It's also one of the catchier tunes in the game.



However, I would be remiss in not including the cutscene-related songs of Exclaim (arguably, Teim's theme) and Power (i.e., Lutz's theme).

[muteKi]

You would also probably be interested in the Distortion World's music.

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[muteKi]

A lot of Mega Turrican skews atmospheric/creepy, but here's one in particular that stands out to me that's still fairly tuneful.



(Interestingly that song seems like it might have inspired the Ristar song Break Silence, which was also used for the later part of a water world stage. )

[muteKi]

And of course no such thread as this one is complete without some Motoaki Takenouchi. Shining Force II and the Gaidens have several unsettling songs.



However, most of the really unsettling stuff comes from Landstalker:

[jorpho]

I'm not the only one who was freaked out by Colecovision Smurfs as a lad. It is simple but effective. Fast-forward to 1:30 or 2:22.

[mainpatr]

How about the dungeon theme from Final Fantasy Adventure?

[jorpho]

Jan 10, 2013 13:02:05 GMT -5 mainpatr said:

How about the dungeon theme from Final Fantasy Adventure?

Y'know, I was just thinking of that one, partly because it sort of has some stylistic similarities to the Smurfs. I guess some of the instruments are kind of harsh? Also, the effect kind of wears off after listening it for hour after hour until the end of the game.

[Namakubi]

Still some of the most unnerving "music" I've ever heard in a game:



Also the music whenever you're getting chased by Scissorman in the original Clock Tower always puts me on edge.

[gboukensha]

The Dark Seed (Amiga)!

[personman]

Honestly I found almost all of Secret of Mana's soundtrack obnoxious and grating. This here though definately sounded really unsettling. Pretty neat.

[cambertian]

Something about this particular cover is unsettling, especially when that rough guitar sound comes in around 0:55.

Also, look at something like LSD: Dream Emulator. The music alone in that game creeps the hell out of me.

[Pixel_Crusher]

Even today, this one from Aria of Sorrow still gives me the shivers:

[AfroRyan]

Pretty much every Metroid title has some unsettling music, adding to the overall feeling of being alone on an alien planet. I'd post YouTube links, but I'm on my smart phone right now; I'll edit the post later to include specific examples.






^(My personal favorite song in Super Metroid)^


There's many more across the Metroid Prime Trilogy as well, that I'll add when I find the time. Right now, I have a new power supply to pick up.

[Resident Tsundere]

You want unsettling? I'll give you unsettling:



One of the most memorable comments I've heard about this song is that it sounds like Giygas from EarthBound raping an Atari 2600.

I really like the chase theme from Clock Tower.