Oh boy, spin-offs included? Sit back with popcorn, this'll be a long one..
Azalea Town is just one of the most memorable bits of music from GSC for me; I remember trying to search everywhere and find where this music was from. I eventually played the entire game over again just to find where.
Ecruteak / Cianwood is just a nice, calm tracks that reminds me of nighttime. Maybe it's just because getting over the sea seemed like such a huge accomplishment and my team was so beat up, I felt like this music was just like a pat on the back.
The ultimate nostalgia tripper. Probably one of the most beautiful songs to me; can't really say why.
Set the bar for boss battle music that only Red himself could beat (no Lance doesn't count).
Ah, the legend's music.
Ironically, it's only a favorite because Red himself gave me a memorable story; to be brief, I got my butt handed to me going through Mt. Silver and the surrounding routes. I was absolutely destroyed when I got to him; all I had left was like an HM Slave. I talk to him, desperately hoping for healing, a cool item, SOMETHING to reward my young self travelling to the ends of God knows where (remember, this is an age before spoilers. I wandered to Red of my own graces). Instead, I get an absolutely pitched boss battle with music that actually fit my absolute terror of facing THE boss of the game, underleveled, unsaved, and on my last legs. How I clawed victory from that, I don't even remember. Probably something to do with Full Restores ("Pokemon Master" more like shopping master)
This is one of the few tracks I think Game Freak did better the second time around. I'm fully nostalgia'd for the first, but the second I like regardless. It just fits how hyped ??? makes a battle; Mt. Moon especially.
I like pretty much all the music in RSE, but this track is probably the best battle music of them all IMO. It's just great.
When I was little and played Emerald, I thought I was good at the game; I'd already beaten Sapphire and Silver, I'd beaten up to the Battle Frontier, and I thought I was pretty good. In comes the Battle Frontier and I get frustrated, because I have no Pokemon at 100 and all my good old party favorites are above 50. In a fit of brilliance, I decided to make a team specifically for the Battle Frontier, raiding my boxes for suitable pokemon; unfortunately, I didn't really know what pokemon breeding was and all I had caught were like 8 pokemon through the entire game. So, outside of the token Wurmple, Poochyena, and a Wailord that I tried and hated, I
had only chose Anorith and Trapinch and got to work with the Elite Four, getting a mighty Armaldo and Flygon for the Frontier. It then dawned into me that I actually needed a third pokemon, and I really didn't want to train anything more; luckily, I had tried to get a Volt Tackle Pichu as far back as Lilycove. I failed miserably since I didn't know anything past male + female = egg, but on the plus side one of the Pikachu did get to level 45 off of my steps in that time. I shrugged, said "good enough" and turned it into a Raichu. It was the infamous "thing to fill the third slot", and I didn't even bother levelling it to 50.
Needless to say, for someone who thought EVs were something you evolve into Umbreon, Espeon, and the like and that IVs were for hospital stuff, I didn't really do that well, especially since I didn't really use TMs, a unique resource, on my hodgepodge team. The best I did was give Thunder to Raichu to make up for being underleveled. This went exactly as you'd think it would, and I got destroyed a lot. Me and my cousin were both at the same place, and we decided we'd both have at least ONE victory, and picked a place to master. The spot I seemed best at (or looked the coolest so I picked it?) and chose to try and win at was the Battle Pike.
I mean, I was still terrible, but as the symbol screen said the Battle Pike tested your luck, and so I persevered. After countless, countless attempts, learning each "what lies ahead" meaning by heart, I RNG'd my way to victory.
Of course, I had no idea how to earn a medal so I was really mad the first time I got through and nothing happened. So I tried again. And again. And again. And, finally, I fought the Pike Queen Lucy.
It should be said that Armaldo did shine, getting Seviper down, only to be killed by Milotic. Fearing Milotic from previous experiences, I used my ace in Flygon; it did good, but failed. I then was in my worst nightmare; I finally made it to the end, but all I have left was something I treated as filler and almost used a lv3 Wurmple over; it wasn't even levelled up to top, for heaven's sake.
Thank RNG, again, really. It dodged an attack (Hydro Pump?) and hit with Thunder, resulting in the 1v1 of a lifetime. I was so pumped, and out came....
...Shuckle. I remembered this thing as some sort of jokemon, and decided to fry it into next week with another thunder. Haha, as if.
Shuckle toxic'd, Thunder missed. And it missed again. And I, for the first time, saw the horrors of Stall; in a game I was all to familiar with ending in a few turns (and Toxic being a worse poison), I became a helpless participant in a grudge match between Third Slot and a stupid-looking turtle that had suddenly become the Grand Master of All Things Bad. I became desperate; between the bind damage and only 1 or 2 thunders hitting, we were both like half health and all I had left was Slam, a move that was "not very effective", which may as well meant "you're toast". And so I slammed.
I didn't expect much, really. I got the bit I expected, but alas, a lucky break; paralysis on the glacier-pace turtle. And so the ultimate war of attrition started; toxic started to build up while I slammed Shuckle and prayed for luck. It got close, but all seemed lost until the master stroke.
"SHUCKLE is paralyzed! It can't move!"
I survived on the edge, less than 5% because I didn't get hit by Bind or anything. But to win, a Slam alone wasn't good enough..
"RAICHU used Slam. A critical hit!"
And that did it. Fitting, the place designed to test your luck won by luck. And so the theme will always go down as one of the most pitched fights I've had.
But on we go!
All have their charms. I like the pace in 3, but the others are phenomenal regular matches in themselves. Since they play off each other a lot (tournament order), they worked amazing together.
Nostalgia for sure, but the absolute best introduction to Colosseum ever. Unique, good first battle music to Rider Willy while you bask in the gloriousness that was actual models and animated attacks? Oh yes.
Great boss music; the switch in theme always coincided for when I started sweeping through these guys, so it always felt like an early rendition of how music used to change when the Gym Leader was on their last pokemon. It was pretty cool back then.
And of course, Mystery Dungeon! I gotta admit, a lot of these songs are great just because I remember the plot and the hype, but still!
https://youtu.be/B5n-s2JKCq4
Sky Tower was hell. Shedninja, Shuppet, Venomoth, Aerodactyl. Need I say more? Regardless, even they can't stop this from hyping you to the top for the final boss.
https://youtu.be/IdRThHGTzjQ
Such a cool thing to have a boss have a remix to the regular boss music. On top of that, it just fit the fight (and hype getting there) so well, and thus a favorite.
https://youtu.be/HxEBYYHmV4Y
Though the parting hurts...
https://youtu.be/nxS8YDjTpeg
Hourai is right, this is just amazing. Playing Explorers for the first time made this legendary; it won't ever change. Even the remixes of this song are massive hits and featured alongside the original on YT; it was one heck of a ride.
https://youtu.be/ubn6-n_XTXY
https://youtu.be/YTXzupGB_-g
https://youtu.be/DBgpQJtPgYg
I hate when people say "if you listen to this and dont feel something you have no soul" but dang. These tracks bring back probably the saddest part of any game I've ever played. If you haven't heard these in forever but played the games, they might knock the wind out of you a little (definitely surprised me)
Thanks for bearing with me here; getting to the end of this post is a feat in and of itself.
Edit: fixed things, borked things, fixed things again.