zelda. from the original nes. i hear the opening bars of the main theme i remember having to blow into that gold cartridge before shoving it in the machine.
Pacman (we had an old 1 foot tall mini arcade version) And Gyruss -- hacking up countless free credits on a beaten up arcade box in a coastal camping ground one summer. Gives me a buzz and a big grin every time I hear it now.
The entire Mario, Zelda, and Mega Man series have excellent soundtracks that I fondly remember from my days as a wee lass. In fact, I had, at alternating times, Clash Man's, Spark Man's, and Gemini Man's stage as ringtones, too. But for sheer quantity of memories, nothing will top Final Fantasy 7. I've also hand a handful of songs from its soundtrack as ringtones as well (and I wonder why I can't get a date to save my life). I've pittered away countless hundreds of hours on that game, and I get the strange feeling another 50 or so might be just around the corner.
OC Remix has some great remixes, like the ones from the donkey kong series for snes. I really love the whole soundtrack all the way down, and the music is such an important part of the gaming experience. It's not only background music, it makes me always come back and play the game just to hear the music. It was even with or maybe just because of the poor sound engine a brilliant ambient sound.
Besides the zelda and mario classics I also enjoy the wipeout songs from cold storage, the metroid series soundtrack and actually some tracks of resident evil 1 for psx. They were so wonderfully weird and morbid :)
I think the music that brings back memories of intense gaming sessions would be Super Smash Bros. I always get super hyped (competitive and/or crazy) when I play that game with people. =P
My videogame music top 5 are (in no particular order):
1. "Serpents Trench" from FFIII 2. Persona-the kusuri-ya (medicine store) jingle 3. Machrider (I think that's the name of the futuristic gunning motorcycle game thingy for the NES. 4. Wipeout II 5. Parappa...The.....Rapper..."KICK! CHOP! IT'S ALL IN THE MIND!"
It really doesn't get any better than the Jet Set Radio soundtracks. Hideki Naganuma is a god. He also did the soundtrack to the acade game "Ollie King", which was criminally overlooked by most gamers (I doubt it even saw a stateside release). The Space Channel 5 games are fantastic as well.
Oh yeah, and for nostalgic game music, you should check out "The Advantage". They do indie rock covers of old school nintendo games (including a killer rendition of "flashman").
