I answered this on the STC forums about a year and a half ago. My order is probably completely different now. And sorry, boxsets are included.
Tie for 1st: Final Fantasy VI OSV and Rockman 1-6 Capcom Music Generations Boxset - How can I choose between the best RPG score around and 6 of the best action scores around? I can't, as both are equally important to me. Order of MM scores from most favorite to least favorite: 2, 4, 5, 3, 6, 1, but all are fantastic.
3. Game Music Graffiti - I moved this one up from my other list (was originally #10), in spite of the lousy Famicom Disk arranges. This album botches Kid Icarus, Metroid and both NES Zeldas, which is a dubious feat. But those first 9 arranges are an exercise in VGM arrangement perfection and the GB tunes aren't done bad at all (although Super Mario Land deserves better treatment).
4. Chrono Trigger OSV - Originally, I had docked this one (#11) because I was burnt out on it. Not right now, I'm perfectly happy having this one up this high.
5. Ys IV Perfect Collections (not breaking them up) - More VGM arrangement perfection. Moved down slightly because I think the 9 Famicom arrangements from GMG are just slightly more perfect. Also, some "arranges" are just repeats from the Turbo Duo CD. Which is really kinda lazy.
6. Phantasy Star Sound Collection 1 - This one dropped slightly for two reasons...Half of the PS3 tracks, I can' bear to listen to anymore. And my favorites (the two medley themes) I'm simply burnt out on. Still, they are a huge reason this thing is up this high. Great overall collection.
7. Super Mario RPG Original Soundtrack - Everything about this thing is so...agreeable, especially the first disc. My favorite Shimomura work by far and right up there with all the classic Square 16 bit soundtracks.
8. Seiken Densetsu 3 OSV - My favorite Kikuta work by a mile, always am coming back to this for one track or another. On any given day, this and Mario RPG compare favorably to both FFVI and Chrono Trigger, so I consider them to be the "Big 4".
9. Grandia I OST - Mostly the first volume, with the better tracks from Vol. 2, this is my favorite Iwadare soundtrack by a mile. Non-compressed, arranged versions of ingame tracks which were great to begin with. Really great, fun score that the rest of the series never quite measured up to (or for that matter, neither did anything else Iwadare did).
10. King of Fighters 98 Original Soundtrack - Essentially an allstar compilation of popular KOF themes up to this point, but also many of the definitive versions (it was streamed, not done on the Neo Geo hardware). Strong, rocking soundtrack from start to finish. There's almost nothing I regularly skip on it.
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