Hitoshi Sakimoto, perhaps best known for the soundtrack to Radiant Silvergun, provides this game's soundtrack.
- The music for the first stage of the game, "Above Ota City," is majestic yet powerful with its high-speed synth lines running up and down scales before electric piano and percussion lend the track a jazzier edge.
- From time to time you'll hear Sakimoto's characteristic orchestral progressions come through. This is particularly noticeable during the catchy chorus section in the first stage boss theme, "Kokubetsu Appears", and in the third stage, “Descent Into the Clouds,” where timpani and strings push the piece forward like a medieval march.
- The third stage boss is a huge tank, and the theme, "Hurricane Donryu," features a heavy bassline while the heavy percussion retains the "Descent into the Clouds" melody with the use of the timpani.
- The second stage theme, "On the Satellite’s Orbit," sports a similar emphasis on bass, although chirpy synth accents and belltones give the piece an airy atmosphere.
- The fifth stage theme, "Intense Cold Oil Fields Base", is interesting for the lengths that Sakimoto goes to bring out that cold soundscape. While the track is hip-hop inspired electronica, there are jingle bells used in the percussion section during the chorus.
- The final stage theme, "Break Into Mars" is simply epic, going back to Sakimoto's orchestral style, reprising "Descent Into the Clouds" with intense string stabs and percussion all around in a powerful and memorable theme. It's again featured in the timpani section of the mini-boss theme, "Bullet Storm", before it’s on to the final showdown with "Bakuzan the Ammo Dump", a somewhat mysterious and foreboding theme that doesn’t sound like a final battle at all. That’s exactly the feeling that Sakimoto probably intended to impart, as there is a second boss lurking after the first one, and without spoiling what it is, the final boss will be familiar both in name and in sound. If you want to know the boss and track name
- The emotional ending theme, "Finale and Retirement," is quite lovely despite the broad synth strings used. It again reprises the "Descending Into the Clouds," showing that, even early on, Sakimoto was a master at recrafting his melodies to suit different emotions.
- Bonus material:
- "Inside the Jinsei Office" was featured in the Sega Saturn version of the game and was never previously released. It's a pretty minimalistic track that's more about atmosphere than memorable melody.
- Kimihiro Abe's arrangement of "On the Satellite's Orbit" is essentially an upgraded version with higher quality synths and the addition of some nice acoustic guitar work that lends the arrangement an organic edge.
- Mitsuhiro Kaneda's "Descent Into the Clouds 10118 Mix" brings a monstrous synth bass and drum 'n' bass-style percussion and pairs it with orchestral strings and brass, creating an epic orchestral/electronic hybrid arrangement that will easily have you bopping your head.
- Yoshimi Kudo follows with "Above Ota City micro-cynic mix," an eclectic combination of live jazz piano and bass with explosive drum 'n' bass percussion.
- The final track is a live set of "On the Satellite's Orbit" from the EXTRA Hyper Game Music Event 2007. Don't be confused by the fact that there was a track by the same name on the EXTRA – Official Compilation album released some years back; that was a sequenced backing track while this is the actual recording from the live event.
