If the Rocky films have taught us only one thing, it’s that nothing drives a great workout like killer music in the background. When you’re working on your own personal training montage, you need high-energy grooves in your earbuds! And in my experience, the best workout music has actually turned out to be video game soundtracks.

Hear me out now: I realize not everyone likes to rock out to 8-bit Mega Man tunes. And as you will see, this list isn’t exactly composed of 30+ year old chiptunes. While there may be some oldies on here, a surprising amount of the game music we’ve selected was released fairly recently.

And to be clear, I’m not recommending the music based on the quality of the game it derives from. The criteria here is merely how effectively I believe each track can pump up a workout. (Also, in most cases, the workout in question is assumed to be weightlifting.)

My hope for this post is that it will help you create your own Playing with Power Playlist™:

Give a quick listen to the recommended albums below, and see if any tracks get your blood pumping.
If you find a few things you like, collect those tracks into a Video Game Workout Mix of your own. This could be MP3s on iPod, or a playlist on a platform like Spotify—whatever works!
Feel free to exclude any tracks that don’t fit your playlist’s specific vibe. Video game soundtracks often include a lot of extra tracks—from interstitial/menu music to character voiceovers—so liberally prune away anything you find distracting or superfluous.
Ideally, you want to be able to set your mix to Shuffle, press Play, and not have to look at your device again until the workout is done. (Hopefully you also have a way to skip the occasional track, in case it isn’t matching the intensity level needed for that particular moment.)
Personally I recommend a playlist that is at least 90 minutes long, but the finer details are really up to you.

OK, with that out of the way, let’s get sweaty!

10: Street Fighter IV

A good portion of the music on this list comes from fighting games or from Beat’em Ups—which are relatively similar—so let’s start with a recognizable fighting game: Street Fighter IV.

When SFIV burst onto the scene back in 2009, it seemed to single-handedly revive the fighting game genre. Sure, Mike & I had been playing 3rd Strike on the regular since the Dreamcast version, but the larger video game industry appeared to have lost interest in one-on-one fighters. Then SFIV was a veritable hype juggernaut and it changed things over night.

If you ask me, SFIV’s killer soundtrack by Hideyuki Fukasawa was fundamental to the game’s success. It definitely sets the right tone for dramatic battles between martial arts masters. And that’s exactly what makes these tunes perfect for workout grooves.

Highlights: Overpass Stage, Cruise Ship Stern Stage, Drive-In At Night Stage

9: River City Girls

From a fighting game to a Beat’em Up, our next contestant is River City Girls. As mentioned in our review of the game, the soundtrack from Megan McDuffee is fantastic. To lazily quote myself for a moment:

I would describe the score as mostly synthwave, with some rock/pop-punk, and the occasional full-on chiptune track (usually heard during boss battles). Even more surprising, some of the songs in RCG actually feature full vocals! This is something I’ve never heard in a game like this, and honestly wouldn’t expect to work well.

While I praised the vocal tracks in the game, I find that RCG’s instrumental tracks actually make for better workout tunes. The songs with lyrics are just a little too repetitive for repeated play at the gym. The synthwave stuff, on the other hand, is excellent.

Highlights: Lunch Money, The Burbs, Detention

8: Bushiden

Speaking of recent game releases, Bushiden isn’t even out yet! An action platformer in which a cyborg ninja takes on an army of robots in a cyberpunk dystopian future, the game looked so cool that I backed it on Kickstarter ages ago. More pertinent to this conversation, it features a killer soundtrack by Garoad, which I’ve already purchased on bandcamp and listened to repeatedly…for research purposes.

I’d come across Garoad’s music somewhat randomly in the past, surely because the algorithms detected that their eclectic electric style would strike my fancy. Turns out that I enjoyed their music from the game VA-11 HALL-A so much, I picked up the soundtrack on bandcamp, despite having never played the game. (And I’ve still never played it!) But I don’t actually know anything Garoad, come to think of it.

So what’s the Bushiden soundtrack like? I think you could call it Synthwave or Retro-Wave, with lots of East Asian motifs. A few melodies even sound slightly cheesy, like they’re calling back to 80’s anime or something. Most importantly, Bushiden’s overall vibe feels like it’d be right at home on the Dreamcast, or even the PlayStation 1. To me, this music nails the aesthetic of experimental games coming out of Japan in the late 90’s. And that’s my jam.

Highlights: Stage Select, One Must Fall, Cut Through Heaven (Dragon)

7: Celeste

Ah, Celeste…one of my old favorites. Lena Raine’s soundtrack for this game is absolutely legendary! However, I should qualify something real quick.

For the majority of these soundtracks, the specific workout I’m selecting music for is weightlifting. That’s the reason for so many fighting & fighting adjacent genres—the music for those games had the right intensity for the work, the appropriate level of aggression. That isn’t really the case for Celeste though. Lena Raine’s work here is, for the most part, not a great fit for weightlifting.

However, the Celeste soundtrack is incredible for running! If I had to pick to one game soundtrack to run a marathon listening to, it would absolutely be Celeste.

It’s also excellent background music for stretching. It used to be part of my regular routine to workout listening to upbeat dance music, and then switch to the Celeste soundtrack for a lengthy cooldown stretch at the end. (I’m that weirdo at the gym who’s splayed out stretching his legs for like 20+ minutes while everyone else is looking at their phones and barely pretending to stretch at all.)

This is another soundtrack that I have already raved about in the game’s review. To quote myself again:

The Celeste soundtrack by composer Lena Raine is nothing short of amazing! I really cannot overstate how good this game music is, and it’s a large part of how Celeste creates its incredible sense of atmosphere. It can be lonely up on that mountain, and you can feel the sober isolation every step of the way. Beyond the main score, Celeste also contains remixed “B-Side” tracks from the likes of Maxo and 2 Mello. These too are stellar, well worth a listen. As soon as I completed the game’s story, I immediately bought the soundtrack (and B-Sides) on bandcamp. Seriously, it’s that good.

Now in order to purchase the Celeste soundtrack in its entirely, I believe you’d need to buy three albums at this point:

…And yes, I definitely purchased all three. If that’s a bit much for you, I’d say the Original Soundtrack is essential, the B-Sides can be a worthy add-on, and Farewell is probably the one to skip. Especially for workout music, I haven’t found the Farewell tracks to be particularly useful.

The Celeste soundtrack is just a Hall of Famer, surely one of the best released in the last decade. And also, it just happens to be an amazing playlist to run to.

Highlights: First Steps, Scattered and Lost, Reach for the Summit

6: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

You’re probably thinking: Luke just never shuts up about 3rd Strike! And I fully admit that’s fair. Heck, this isn’t even the first time I’ve praised this game’s music; it was #3 on our Top 10 Underrated Video Game Soundtracks list. But much like with SFIV, these tunes are great workout material.

Now since I’ve played plenty of 3rd Strike over the years, so I don’t necessarily include every stage’s music from the game in my workout playlist. In fact, at this point, I think I’ve actually removed most of them. However, I’ve definitely kept the the rap tracks by Infinite, the full versions of which only became available with the 2011 release of Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. The Third Strike theme continues to get more impressive over the years, like a fine aged wine.

Highlights: Third Strike, Let’s Get It On, Spunky (Makoto Stage)

5: Killer Cuts (Killer Instinct, 1995)

*It’s the way you move…To the killer groove…*

Now we’re getting to the classics! This is the oldest entry on our list. Back in 1995, when Rare released their home port of Killer Instinct for the Super Nintendo, it came with an audio CD soundtrack titled “Killer Cuts” packed in. And I say this in all sincerity: It was awesome! (Of course, I was completely obsessed with Killer Instinct at the time.)

This might have been the first CD I ever owned, come to think. And I used to wear the disk out, playing it over and over on the family’s portable boombox. I especially enjoyed how the CD included the little disco ditty called “Humiliation”—which played when you performed the non-fatal finishing move at the end of a match, forcing your opponent to dance—as a secret track. After the 15 titled tracks had played, several more empty tracks played out before Humiliation came in at track 30.

Composers Robin Beanland and Graeme Norgate were clearly aiming to create something more than a typical video game soundtrack, because they really swung for the fences. Genres sound to me like Metal, Techno, Industrial, Euro House, and Baroque. Actually much of the album sounds like something you might hear in Birmingham dance club in the mid-90’s, which is why it rules. Vocals on were performed by Faye Newborough, Rare programmer Chris Sutherland (the announcer), and even Rare producer Ken Lobb (Chief Thunder’s voice).

While there are a few tracks on Killer Cuts that probably won’t mesh well with the rest of your workout tunes and should probably be left out (Tooth & Claw, for example), I think the majority of this album is excellent exercise music. After all these years, it still holds up.

Highlights: Do It Now!, Controlling Transmission, The Way U Move

4: Street Fighter Compilation "RE:"MIX Chiptune

OK, admittedly this one is kind of cheating. Instead of the original game’s soundtrack this is a collection of Street Fighter II remixes released in 2014. But damn, the tracks are just so good! I had to include it in our list.

Don’t let the bizarrely mangled title fool you: not all of "RE:"MIX Chiptune’s tracks are really chiptunes—at least not in my opinion. They tend to include audio clips from the game, sure, but there’s a bit too much newfangled audio manipulation going on here for the diminutive “chiptune” label to really fit.

Every single track on this album is high-energy perfection…with two exceptions. The Vega (Claw) remix, “Flying Barcelona Grime”, and Blanka remix, “Jimmy’s Sad Dream”, are utterly terrible. Seriously, they are nearly unlistenable garbage. However, just remove those two tracks and this album is a certified knockout, wall-to-wall bangers.

Weird Note: In most places I have found this album, the Zangief Hige Driver remix is mislabeled as Ryu’s michitomo remix and vice versa. Perhaps the way Zangief’s bassline grooves so seamlessly with Ryu’s melody was enough to confuse the audio engineer tasked with mastering the CD.

Highlights: Chun Li remix, Ken remix, M.Bison (Dictator) remix “Sweet Nightmare”

Bonus - Video Game Remix Albums

Hey, since we’re already breaking the rules by including a remix album, I’ll go ahead and throw in some extra remix recommendations. There are a ton of excellent video game remixes out there—just take a look at OCremix.org for an overwhelming number of examples—so I would be remiss to not highlight a handful of my favorites. Here’s a few worthy additions to your playlist.

Super Cartography Bros.

From OverClocked ReMix we have Super Cartography Bros., a collection of remixed world map music from the Super Mario Bros. series. This album features Funk Fiction and bLiNd—who each have individual recommendations coming up next—as well as other remix heavyhitters like DDRKirby, RoboRob, and RoBKTA. Almost every track on this album is pure gold, and it’s been in workout music rotation for years. Most tracks here are also good for running as well.

Chozo Legacy

Next up we have Chozo Legacy by bLiNd, an absolutely incredible Super Metroid remix album. Just like the source material, the music of Chozo Legacy is dark and atmospheric, with a steady feeling of doom catching up on you. It also features some very danceable grooves! Forgive any misuse of the terminology, but this album strikes me as being mostly Trance, with solid House and Techno elements as well. The constant driving beats make it another great album to run to.

Sonic BeATS

And let’s not forget about Sonic BeATS by Funk Fiction, a stellar collection of Sonic the Hedgehog remixes. Funk Fiction is just plain incredible, and I highly recommend checking out all his rad singles online. (The Shenmue remix “Loop 6” is a personal favorite.) I never got into Sonic games and I’m not overly familiar with the source material—so I don’t say this out of nostalgia—but this album is awesome. And its funky grooves are particularly good for a workout.

Double Bonus - cYsmix

You know what, since we’ve already made one digression, let me throw in another bonus recommendation. Check out cYsmix, a Trance/Electro artist out of Norway.

I don’t really know anything about cYsmix, but his whole discography is pretty excellent. I’m especially fond of the album Escapism, a “modern tribute to classical music, and strange folk tales”. This was in my workout mix for years, so I probably listened to it hundreds of times by now. Great beats to sweat to!

3: TMNT: Shedder’s Revenge

*And Raph just askin’, “Sai-tachi or the uppercut?” What’s up?*

We previously featured TMNT IV: Turtles in Time in our Top 10 Underrated Video Game Soundtracks list, and for good reason—Ninja Turtles tunes are FUN! That’s the element we want to infuse into our exercise routine, and a key aspect that people often fail to consider: simple fun. A lot of times people focus on maximizing the intensity or duration of their workouts, but the enjoyability isn’t given much thought. I think that’s a mistake. Take heed, my friends — Don’t forget the fun!

The Shredder’s Revenge music comes to us from star composer Tee Lopes, who had previously worked on Streets of Rage 4 and Sonic Mania. Here he delivers another incredible soundtrack, possibly his best to date in my opinion. There are motifs and entire tracks serving as warm tributes to classic TMNT music, and a lot of original material as well, which manages to expand the sonic landscape without ever losing that iconic ‘Turtles’ sound. It’s got Rock, Funk, Electro, Chiptune; all the essentials.

Much like with River City Girls, a number of these tracks have full vocals and it’s really impressive. There are even some surprisingly big names contributing. Sure, you have folks commonly associated with video games, like rapper Mega Ran and rocker Jonny Atma, but then there’s Mike Patton from Faith No More on the TMNT theme song. The biggest get however has to be the Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon The Chef and Ghostface Killah on the track “We Ain't Came to Lose”. Incredible.

Highlights: Mutants Over Broadway, Roof Running Reptiles, It’s a Pizza Party

2: Capcom Vs SNK 2

*This is true love we’re makin’ all the time!*

Released in 2001, Capcom vs. SNK 2 really nailed its turn-of-the-millenium aesthetic. Using the subtitle Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan and Mark of the Millennium in the west, this was one of the most Y2K games ever produced! But unfortunately I don’t think the game gained the attention it properly deserved, as fighting games, arcade games, and even 2D games in general were declining in popularity at the time.

In my case, I didn’t get to play CvS2 until it came to the GameCube in 2002. And I had to buy a Hori Pad for it because the regular GC controller is just completely unsuitable for 2D fighting games. Despite having the (arguably) wrong version of this game and playing almost entirely solo during my first couple years of college, I did have a thoroughly good time. (And I eventually picked up a copy on PS2, so now I can truly enjoy it.)

Anyway, the music of CvS2 is absolutely stellar, one of the all-time great fighting game soundtracks. Continuing the experimentation Capcom dabbled in with productions like SFIII: 3rd Strike, this soundtrack utilizes sample-heavy hip hop and techno. In fact, the music really shines when it brings in vocals, such as the singing in “This Is True Love Makin’” and rapping in “Stimulation”. Absolutely top-notch!

The game also has its own distinctively over-the-top announcer, much like in SFA3. This hype man only sounds slightly off because he’s not a native English speaker. But he gets it so close to perfect American English, some lines verge on Uncanny Valley territory. After all this time, it’s weird how nostalgically comforting these old announcers have become.

CvS2’s soundtrack includes a lot of extra audio, such as voiceover clips and interstitial menu stuff, so feel free to prune out anything that does fit your playlist’s vibe. However, I do recommend keeping the “Winning Theme” and “Staff Roll”, because those tracks are both excellent.

Highlights: Nebuta, Wicked Fight, This Is True Love Makin’

1: Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha

The absolute best video game soundtrack to included in your workout mix is Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha on the PS1. This music has best overall mix of tempo, intensity, variety, and fun to keep you motivated to move your body…or at least it does for me! Hopefully you’ll have a similar experience.

To make a quick confession: When we did our Top 10 Underrated Video Game Soundtracks list back in 2016, the Street Fighter game I had originally intended to include was Street Fighter EX. However, I lost my nerve for some reason and went with 3rd Strike instead. I’m not really sure why I changed things up, or who’s expectations I was trying to meet (especially since I mainly write this blog for myself). Perhaps I just found the SFEX soundtrack a little too difficult to properly describe? In any case, I’ve since felt like SFEX deserved that spot instead of the “Similarly good” mention we gave it. Mia culpa.

The SFEX soundtrack covers a pretty wide range of styles and influences. You’ve got your Rock, Jazz Fusion, Prog Rock, Flamenco, Heavy Rock, House, Industrial Techno, etc., all wrapped up in an overall Electronic package. Instrumental elements like taiko or shamisen or sitar or castanets are included for cultural flavor where appropriate, with some of the sickest slap bass I’ve ever heard thrown in for good measure. This soundtrack is about as unique and eclectic as it gets, a true gem of the PS1 era.

Almost every song here is a winner. SFEX’s music is so good, even the Character Select track is worth listening to. Its wide range of styles and weird Jazz Fusion/Prog Rock sensibilities means you can listen quite a few times without getting bored. It’s just a bit of shame that kids these days will likely only recognize these tracks as the outro music used in Maximilian Dood videos on YouTube. Oh well, at least this amazing music lives on.

Highlights: Sakura Mankai (Hokuto & Kairi), Rising Dragon (Ryu), Strange Sunset (Guile & Allen Snider)