Most of the time, video games (apart from straightforward racing or generic party games) tend to have boss battles at the end of certain levels to represent the last obstacle to overcome and most of THOSE times, the boss has its own theme or music to signify an important battle. Sometimes, the music is the highlight of the fight and whilst there's easily an ocean of these Top 10 Boss Battle Theme blog posts or Youtube videos flooding the Internet, what harm can it do to add to the deluge?
These songs might not necessarily be my all-time favourite tunes (as I hope to discover many more great themes in the future) but here's a list of ten boss battle themes I love listening to, along with a few reasons why and a link to said theme provided it hasn't been taken down. As always, these aren't in any particular order of preference and I've tried to limit it to one piece of music per game franchise, although I'm allowing multiple composers across different themes.
Koloktos (Phase 2) - The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Composed by Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yakota, Takeshi Hama
(listen here)
To be honest, I probably could've filled this blog post with boss music from Zelda games alone. However, I decided to stick to just one per series and had to decide whether to choose this, the Helmaroc King battle from Wind Waker, the boss theme from Majora's Mask, Stallord's theme from Twilight Princess or Ganondorf's final boss theme from Ocarina Of Time. In the end, I chose to go with the most recent tune as many of the following themes are from games I grew up with.
I chose the second phase of this battle as it sounds a lot more urgent, as if the stakes were raised even higher (which they kind of are, considering the fucker grows legs...and massive swords). I'm pretty sure I've talked about this theme on the blog before but I probably wouldn't have rated this boss so highly as I was playing it if not for the great theme...then again, it is a pretty awesome boss battle.
Gang-Plank Galleon - Donkey Kong Country
Composed by David Wise
(listen here)
I'll confess that I've never actually played this game (nor do I have any interest in playing it) but come on, you've got to love that theme. It may seem a little primitive compared to orchestral scores or even N64 MIDI mixes but the tune has stood the test of time and spawned many a Metal-remix on Youtube. If you haven't heard the remix of this track used for Super Smash Bros Brawl, I'd recommend giving that a good listen as that put me onto this tune in the first place.
Naturally, it starts all peaceful with nautical instruments before picking up the tempo and introducing some contemporary Rock instruments for more of a battle vibe, whilst still keeping the pirate atmosphere to it all. I was tempted to include the Gloomy Galleon Boss music from Donkey Kong 64 in this post as I love that boss bottle due to the great score by Grant Kirkhope but ultimately, David Wise won this round.
The Ripper - MediEvil 2
Composed by Andrew Barnabus & Paul Arnold
(listen here)
First, a bit of spoiler laden context. In MediEvil 2, you're tasked with rescuing an ancient Egyptian mummy princess resurrected in Victorian times from the clutches of Jack The Ripper in Whitechapel. However, upon failing to save her and after dealing with your grief by assisting a race of sewer-dwelling creatures, you steal an H.G. Wells inspired time machine from the museum, travel back to the past in time to prevent the death of your loved one and throw down with the Ripper himself.
God, I love the MediEvil series.
Anyway, whilst boss themes weren't the musical strong point for MediEvil games, this tune fits perfectly! It adds that extra layer of tension as you fight this grotesque beast and whilst there's no time limit on this fight, the key change and use of dynamics really creates a desperate mood to the situation.
Puzzle Battle - Professor Layton And The Lost Future
Composed by Tomohito Nishiura
(listen here)
I know, I know, Professor Layton games don't really have boss battles...or do they? Since the majority of those games comes down to solving puzzles, it figures that some games involve solving puzzles in order to defeat a villain. In this case, you find yourself solving a few puzzles to outsmart the various culprits you come across and this is the theme that plays when you do.
It's a simple tune but compared to the calm theme that plays when you solve regular puzzles, this increase in tempo makes it sound like more of a challenge for you, especially when lives are at stake. An unexpected entry on this list but a deserving one, nonetheless.
Final Rival Battle - Pokemon Red/Blue
Composed by Junichi Masuda
(listen here)
There are probably much greater "boss" battle themes in the Pokemon series but for me, this "We Will Rock You" knock-off will always hold a special place in my heart. You earned all your gym badges, you beat the Elite 4 and now you've got to kick the shit out of your rival's pets so why not do it to a one-off final battle theme?
I'm glad they did, as using the generic rival battle theme would've cheapened the whole thing. Not much to talk about musically, as it's all 8-bit, but one day I'm hoping to hear a grand version of this recorded with an orchestra or something. The closest I've come to hearing a proper version of this tune is the version used in Pokemon Stadium but even that doesn't sound as epic as a theme like this deserves to be.
Scorch's Pit - Spyro: Year Of The Dragon
Composed by Stewart Copeland
(listen here)
I feel like I probably bore people when I tell them that Stewart Copeland (drummer from The Police) composed the music for the first 3 Spyro games on the PS1 but, at the same time, I feel like it's something everyone needs to know. It just strikes me as bizarre that a man like Stewart can create such awesome, catchy tunes as the entire Spyro back catalogue and yet come from such an OK band as The Police.
Anyway, as I said a sentence ago, most of the music in Spyro is fun and catchy...but not this one. This battle music is downright sinister whilst also remaining energetic enough to fit the fight perfectly. It's also a decent battle but the music definitely stood out for me when I played this game as a child. Not because it scared me or anything, just that is was atypical of the kind of music you expect to hear in a Spyro game and I liked that in this fight.
The Final Fight! - Banjo Kazooie
Composed by Grant Kirkhope
(listen here)
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Lots of great boss themes to choose from between Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie but in the end, Mr Patch and Targitzan lost out to Grunty in the first game. There's so much going on in this theme that you often forget you're listening to various versions of "The Teddy Bear's Picnic" and simply hear it as the music to fight your adversary to.
It sounds climactic enough to suit the castle-top duel between yourself and this witch and lasts long enough to give you joy from multiple listens, unlike some of the shorter tunes on this list. It's hardly as epic as some of the orchestrated themes you'll hear on this list but for a MIDI track, it's bloody good!
Final Showdown - Bully/Canis Canem Edit
Composed by Shawn Lee
(listen here)
Well would you look at that? Another final boss named Gary. Huh.
Unlike Rockstar's other popular franchise, Bully was a lot more...let's say video gamey, right down to the final boss fought on top of a rooftop in the rain. This badass theme with the ominous choir and fancy drumming, paired with guitar riffs and string melodies, has earned its place on this list, in my opinion. It may not be a great or even fun final boss but it damn sure gets the music right!
Whilst I'm talking about Bully, I had a cool idea for a sequel to Bully which I might as well share here in case I forget to tweet about it. Similar to how GTA V had three protagonists, maybe Bully 2 should have two protagonists in different school environments. One could be a male university student who's coming to terms with becoming an adult and the other could be a female high school student similar to Jimmy from the first game. They could meet and form a sort of student/master relationship, obviously not a romantic one. Might be kind of cool, especially with the power of current gen consoles. I dunno, thoughts?
Boss Fight 1 - Kid Icarus: Uprising
Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda
(listen here)
Again, I haven't played this game but I'd consider buying it at some point based on what I've seen of the gameplay and heard of the music. There are so many boss fights in this game that it's hard to single out any of them (I'm not even certain this particular creature I've found correlates to this music) but you can bet they all have a common theme; being epic. So what better way to celebrate that than with this sweet tune?
Another benefit of modern recording technology in video games right here, as you know this song wouldn't sound anywhere near as good on 8-bit or MIDI. Too bad it's so short, though. Mind you, I could listen to a half hour loop of this so I guess it works out, considering you're most likely going to hear this when fighting something over a lengthy period of time.
Tiny - Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Composed by Mutato Muzika
(listen here)
OK, I lied. There may be SOME order to this list. SOME. I deliberately saved this track until last because it's probably the entire reason I love boss battles and boss battle music in general. I fucking loved Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back as a kid (I still do now!) and this boss opened the door to my youthful self. You know how people go on about how Mr Freeze in Batman: Arkham City is an incredible battle because it requires strategy and such? To me, this is a fantastic battle because it requires intelligence over strength. You can't go up against him by spinning him, like you do with most other bosses, so you trick him into chasing you into holes.
Now, onto the music! Since the battle takes place in a space station (for some reason), there's a sort of sci-fi synthy thing going on BUT obviously you need some kind of imposing, tribal instruments to represent Tiny's physical appearance. The two come together marvellously and what you're left with is a theme to remember. However, much like the Zelda choice, there could've been an entire blog post dedicated solely to Crash Bandicoot boss themes. There isn't a single bad boss theme in Crash Bandicoot 2 or 3 so that's 10, right there!
I hope you enjoyed reading these, if you did, and if not then I hope I at least awakened the nostalgic part of your brain a little bit. Let me know if there are any awesome boss battle themes you recommend, as I've almost certainly missed some right corkers like the Minotaur one from God Of War or some RPG tune.
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