Pure late-90s PS1 charm with a soundtrack entirely in Japanese that somehow communicates everything through melody alone. The original Monster Farm, released in 1997, has this scrappy, warm energy running through every track.
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The seasonal farm themes carry so much personality in so few notes. The training and rest tracks loop endlessly without getting annoying, which is basically a miracle for a game you'd play for hours straight. The escalating fanfare series for tournaments builds hype perfectly, from a single trumpet to full celebration brass.
Then it punches you in the gut. The hospitalization theme, the death theme, the requiem. This game about raising silly monsters from CDs wasn't afraid to make you cry with PS1 synth. "Birthday Song" is genuinely sweet. The whole thing radiates a kind of homemade affection that bigger productions lose.
For anyone who ever stuck a random CD in their PlayStation just to see what monster would come out.