10 Best Synthwave Video Games You Need To Play

1. Streets Of Rage 2

What better way to end this list with the granddaddy of side scrollers, Streets of Rage 2? Is it technically more of a chiptune-ish soundtrack than a synthwave one? Yes.

Is that going to stop us putting it here? Absolutely not.

For you see, no Streets of Rage and its waves of imitators, no modern synthwave. No Streets, no homages to be made to the genre that gave us our Miami's, our Russia's, or any of that cyberpunk style of modern brawler we know today.

Just listen to the above track, and tell us you don't hear what paved the way for the other examples on this list. Composer Yuzo Koshiro was certainly on to something twenty seven(!) years ago, using then-outdated computers to create a retro yet futuristic techno sound.

Widely regarded as the best SoR, for both gameplay and soundtrack, it's a testament to the series that's still remembered today. Heck, there's even a fourth one on the way, so let's see what tunes that brings!

These are only a handful of titles that scratch the surface, with plenty more for you to discover if you dig deeper.

Got any recommendations? Leave them in the comments below!

 
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Player of games, watcher of films. Has a bad habit of buying remastered titles. Reviews games and delivers sub-par content in his spare time. Found at @GregatonBomb on Twitter/Instagram.