My 200 Favorite Video Game Themes - Part 13: A Return from Absence

I am sorry about the delays. I have not been well and had to motivate myself to keep this blog updated. Thank you for your patience and enjoy!

80.

Armored Armadillo

from Mega Man X

Composer: Setsuo Yamamoto

Capcom; 1993

Armored Armadillo’s theme is a high-energy rock guitar theme with a pretty slick feel to it.  It always gave me a sort of Motorhead vibe and it has a pretty long loop, even for Mega Man X.  The lead breaks into a solo just as it seems as though it was about to loop around to the start again.  It is a catchy tune from an excellent game.

79.

Higan Retour ~ Riverside View

from Touhou: Phantasmagoria of Flower View

Composer: ZUN

2005; Team Shanghai Alice

A piano-heavy Touhou tune?  Nah….. . . . Komachi’s theme song from PoFV is a moody, dramatic and very anime-ish theme and it fits well in its catalogue of fellow fabulous Touhou themes.  It is one of my favorite themes of the series and it just gets better and better each time I listen to it.

78.

ROX 300

from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: the Game

Composers: Anamanaguchi

2010; Ubisoft Montreal

So, Anamanaguchi again…  ROX 300, the boss theme that plays while fighting Roxy, is a bright and energetic tune that mixes some early-80’s sound with a late-90’s bridge.  The change in mood and ideas is a great musical concept that is not exercised very often.  You have Domino by Genesis, Eric Clapton’s Badge and a few other notable ones, but as far as video game themes go, composers tend to keep it simple.  That is why this song is on my list.  It surprised me the first time I heard it because the sound opens kind of jarring for a boss theme.  It has an Asian-style melody leading into a bubblegum power anthem.  It’s a strange blend, for sure, but it works for me.  I guess I would call it a “day-brightener”.

77.

Summoned Beast Battle

from Final Fantasy X

Composers: Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Junya Nakano

Squaresoft; 2001

The theme that plays over the very last battle in the game is an intense and vivid orchestral and piano theme that features some powerful percussion.  This was a song that I wish got a little more attention.  It is one of a number of great themes from Final Fantasy X that tends to get lost amid the hype over themes like Besaid Island and To Zanarkand.  Yet, this is an excellent entry in the series’ long history of amazing boss themes.

76.

The Wind Never Ceases

from Secret of Mana

Composer: Hiroki Kikuta

Squaresoft; 1993

It has been a very long time since I’ve played all the way through Secret of Mana.  The Lotfy Mountain theme has always stuck with me.  It is atmospheric and peaceful, with a haunting little piano piece over the top.  It was one of the themes from the early 90’s that I think really reflected a medium that was starting to mature in all the right ways.  As an early example of “games as art” Secret of Mana utilized music very well.  In fact, it may have used its soundtrack better than any other game of its time, at the very least until Final Fantasy VI would literally change everything about game music the following year.

75.

Bomb Man

from Mega Man

Composer: Manami Mastumae

Capcom; 1987

Bomb Man, for me, was the single theme in the early Mega Man games that defined the series’ distinct and memorable sound.  It uses the limited resources of the NES exceptionally-well, and while it pales in comparison to the sophistication of titles in the coming years for the sereis’ and its host console, it is a strong trendsetter for a particular type of fun video game music.  On top of that, this theme is just intensely nostalgic for me.  

74.

Still Alive

from Portal

Composer: Jonathan Coulton

Valve; 2007

I featured I Want You Gone in the previous entry, and Still Alive is just ahead because I think that, while an argument could be made for I Want You Gone being a better song as a whole, I did not  have the same reaction to it as I did Still Alive.  Still Alive fit with the mood of Portal well, but it was still a theme that came entirely out of left field for me.  It was very funny the first time I heard it, and while I still believe it is a charming little tune, it is the novel idea of having a theme song like this for a game that makes it so lasting.  It is praiseworthy, and flawlessly executed.

73.

Chemical Plant Zone

from Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Composer: Masato Nakamura

Sega; 1999

Another great Sonic theme makes my list.  This time it is the funk-heavy Chemical Plant Zone theme.  This song features a layered groove that has a tone and flow that fits its level well.  Instead of going for a simple metallic-sounding theme, or one that is upbeat and bright (like most platformers of its day), Nakamura and the Sonic 2 development team gave us a strong piece with a nice beat and a slick melody.

72.

Liberi Fatali

from Final Fantasy VIII

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Squaresoft; 1999

Playing during the opening of Final Fantasy VIII, this song is the introduction to what is arguably one of the greatest game soundtracks in the history of the medium.  Liberi Fatali is an anthem of sorts that plays as we get glimpses of things to come.  It is also somewhat of a milestone in console gaming.  While games had orchestrated music before this, the technological limitations of consoles made it difficult to convey the songs properly.  They either were heavily digitized midi tunes, tin-can recordings, or converted tracks.  Final Fantasy VIII gave us a fully-orchestrated soundtrack that actually sounded like one, and Liberi Fatali was our introduction to this future of console gaming.  

71.

Neo Kobe Steel Factor

from Contra III: The Alien Wars

Composers: Miki Higashino, Masanori Adachi, Tappi Iwase

Konami; 1992

Here is a good one!  As I have mentioned, Contra III is my favorite in the series and the Stage III theme is one of the best on its soundtrack.  It has an incredibly long loop, taking about half of the stage to complete, and it is very well-composed, going from an imposing opening to a smooth riff that builds until the song proper begins, a fast and excellent horn melody that is both tense and satisfying.  The chords that guide the song’s tone shift from minor to major, creating an atmospheric gradient.  It is a delightful tune and I could easily listen to it all day.

My 200 Favorite Video Game Themes - Part 9: Mood vs. Attitude

120.

Balamb Garden

from Final Fantasy VIII

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Sqauresoft; 1999

Balamb Garden is one of the very first songs you hear in Final Fantasy VIII.  It is a calming theme that, to me, blends a classic sound with a sort of sterile, synthetic feel, and I do mean that as a positive.  The garden’s look is this cold efficient place with all of these comforting and, adversely, disconcerting trees and fountains.  It has always created an atmosphere that makes Garden seem like it is hiding something (which we later find out is true).  The relaxing tune, I feel, is actually kind of unnerving, since there are darker truths hidden beneath the surface, as is the case in any place that seems to be just a little too perfect.

119.

South Cape (Town Theme)

from Illusion of Gaia

Composer: Yasuhiro Kawasaki

Game Arts/Enix; 1993

Town themes in RPG’s are, by their nature, generally pretty dull.  They are meant to be calm, peaceful songs designed to reflect the feel of the town.  However, most of the time I just find these themes boring.  They rarely do anything unexpected and maintain simplicity at a level I would just label as bland.  There is nothing wrong with “soft” as long as it is not “sleepy”.  South Cape, at least to me, is the creamy blend of a well-composed theme and a soft melody.  This sort of balance can be hard to achieve, but there is something so peaceful about this tune that I just cannot help but love it.  There are countless songs like South Cape in RPG’s, but few that are really as good.

118.

Snow Field

from Contra

Composers: Hidenori Maezawa, Kiyohiro Sada

Konami; 1987

Now, a good melody is essential, but what about energy?  The Stage 5 theme from Contra is an awesome tune.  The opening bass leads into a pounding 80’s action synth piece that then blends into an amazing electronic piano number.  This is a popular song from an even more popular game but I have always regarded it as a theme that is more than simply “good”.  Rather, it is just completely spectacular.  Now, I may be overstating it some (it has been known to happen), but there is something about this theme that just gets me pumped.

117.

Area 1-1

from Ninja Gaiden

Composer: Keiji Yamagishi, Ryuichi Nitta

Tecmo; 1988

Like the Snow Field theme, this one has a lot of energy, which is a plus for me.  It definitely sounds like it came from Ninja Gaiden, a series full of fast, high-impact tunes like this.  The fact that it is the first level theme you hear introduces you to one of the greatest game soundtracks of all time.  I suppose what I like about this song in particular is the part at the end where things go from fast and aggressive to a breakdown that leads into the next loop.  It comes in at the right time to prevent repetitiveness and adds some mood and intensity to the song.

116.

The Last of Us Theme

from The Last of Us

Composer: Carmen Rizzo; Performed by Gustavo Santaolalla

Naughty Dog; 2013

The Last of Us is a very atmospheric game.  Every detail has a story.  Every car that is abandoned, every building covered in grafitti, every lost soul either still human or dead underneath a monstrous shell has a story.  The Last of Us takes the Post-Apocalypse in a sorrowful, grim direction, which is not new to popular culture at large, but to video games, it is pretty close to novel.  This theme plays over real film-style credits that roll after we witness the events that shape our protagonist Joel into who he is at the start of the game’s main storyline.  While this tune plays, newsreels and reports of the events leading up to the game proper roll in the foreground.  The theme song for The Last of Us is a harrowing tune.  It sounds as much like loss and emptiness as a song this good really can without being too boring.  The scenes leading up to this intro are essential to grasp the pure weight of this tune, so if you have not seen it, at least go on YouTube and watch one of the numerous movie compilations of the game to watch the prologue followed by the opening credits so you can truly feel the power of this song in context.

115.

Boomer Kuwanger

from Mega Man X

Composer: Setsuo Yamamoto

Capcom; 1994

Now for something a little less… Depressing.  Boomer Kuwanger’s theme is awesome.  Like the best Mega Man themes, it opens with a fast background synth that becomes the thread that ties the song together.  The horns play out the melody and the accompaniment keeps the pace and energy up.  It is a pretty perfect song and just barely escapes my top 100, and the only reason it is so low is because, honestly, there are quite a few themes from the Mega Man X series that I like a lot more, believe it or not.  Still, this is a song that is entirely nostalgic for me, and while the level is kind of forgettable in a game full of classic, awesome stages, this song makes the venture into this area worth it.

114.

Fire!

from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi, Miki Higashino

Konami; 1989

This is another classic tune co-composed by the great Miki Higashino (Who appears a whopping ten times on my list..!  To put that into perspective, the great Koji Kondo only has eight appearances).  The rock sound and bass sound so natural and too good for a chiptune.  Granted, arcade machines in the late eighties had better sound than any consoles did, but even with that considered, this game sounds good by comparison to its arcade counterparts, too.  Konami nails it again with a great tune that is fun, exciting, and fitting for its stage.

113.

Luca

from Final Fantasy X

Composers: Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Junya Nakano

Squaresoft; 2001

For the Blitzball Capital of Spira, you want a tune that is lively, fitting for the game and also somewhat cosmopolitan in its style.  The guitar gives the tune a Breezy feel, while the bass and drums make it sound modern and more advanced in years than most of the songs in the game (with one obvious exception).  It definitely has a modern edge and the more electronic elements of the song blend well into the more traditional sounds.  To me, this reflects the nature of Luca itself.  In a religion that is avidly opposed to the use of machines, Luca has one giant mechanical device at its very heart: the Blitzball Arena.  So the song sounding both classic and modern at the same time works because it reflects the spirit of the city.

112.

Sailing on the Wind

from Flower

Composer: Vincent Diamante

ThatGameCompany; 2009

Flower is a game that, despite being high among my favorite video games of the 2000’s (and of all time really), many people apparently still have not played.  This is unacceptable, people!  Flower is an original, inventive, emotionally-gripping game about nature’s reclamation of Earthly beauty in Man’s apparently-permanent absence.  Flower weaves a story without a single word or line of text.  It is like a fully-interactive picture book told through motion and emotion, rather than exposition and dialogue.  In order to craft such a unique statement for a video game, the folks at Sony’s indie darling ThatGameCompany had Vincent Diamante compose one of the most moving video game soundtracks of all time.  This bright combination of piano, woodwind and strings is a great taste of the soundtrack as a whole, and that one soft melody that plays over and over in the top of the track is the beautiful recurring theme melody of Flower, appearing, in some form and key, in just about every song in the game.  This is a soundtrack that should be listened to from start to finish as it is a powerful, captivating and heartbreaking work of brilliance.  Expect to see this game show up a few more times on my list in the future.

111.

Unyielding

from Halo 2

Composers: Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori

Bungie; 2004

We venture from a moving and gripping melodic theme to Halo’s return my list.  Halo 2, to be exact.  This song exudes badassery, with the chugging guitar and intense piano playing filled by the choir and strings in the background.  It all leads up to the famous Celtic string piece that is part of the series’ official theme song.  On top of all of the complexity this song already has in spades, it manages to get fuller and fuller as it goes on, and becomes, by the end, one of the most epic tunes in the game.

My 200 Favorite Video Game Themes - Part 5: Road Trip!

160.

The Scott Pilgrim Anthem

from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game (PS3)

Composers: Anamanaguchi

Ubisoft Montreal; 2010

Anamanaguchi makes their first of several appearances on my list for their outstanding work on the music for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game.  The band performs their music using digital filters on actual instruments, making the compositions for the game that much more interesting.  They have a distinct sound, and it works for the game which blends present day sensibilities with classic video game tropes.  The Scott Pilgrim Anthem is a short-but-superb entry in my list, featured because of its catchy melody and full sound.

159.

Shadow’s Theme

from Final Fantasy VI

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Squaresoft; 1994

Uematsu crafted a nice tune here.  It has the sound that paints a vivid image in my mind of a lone traveler.  It is a timeless tune, and one of the more famous themes from the larger-than-life Final Fantasy VI, which is considered by many Final Fantasy fans as the best entry in the series, ranking up there with FFVII.  It has the right pace as well, and the distinct whistling melody has a loneliness to it, giving the song a distinct emotional depth that is absent from a lot of game themes.

158.

Forest Interlude

from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

Composer: David Wise

Rare/Nintendo; 1995

David Wise’s work on the Donkey Kong Country series makes its first of several appearances on my list with a theme from Donkey Kong Country 2.  Donkey Kong Country was a series I have always had mixed feelings about.  I like them, but as I play through them, they never grab me the way platformers like many of the Mario or Rayman games have.  They are brilliantly designed, graphically impressive for their time and the music is just outstanding!  I don’t know, I really like them, but I also, with the exception of the first one, really never seek them out to play them over and over, either.  That said, David Wise is a brilliant composer and the music in this series is some of the best stuff I have ever heard musically.  Period.  This is not just great work for a video game, this is great work period.  Every little thing is right.  It is all delightfully-composed, from the faster, more intense music, to the lighter, poppy tunes, all the way to the moody, atmospheric tunes like this one.  The percussion, mixing a jungle beat with electronic chimes and chirps creates a worldly sound and the flute lead is quite memorable.  While the first sequel’s soundtrack really, in my opinion, pales in comparison to the first, this song is a standout classic, appealing perfectly to my tastes.

157.

Guile’s Stage

from Street Fighter II

Composers: Yoko Shimomura, Isao Abe

Capcom; 1991

Here’s a classic.  Guile is so freaking American he has a tattoo of Old Glory on his arm and fights in front of a fighter jet!  His theme is also a classic, ranking among the most memorable and recognizable melodies in the medium’s history.  The trumpet sounds, the attitude, everything is perfect.  To me, this has always sounded like montage music.  I have always imagined an 80’s underdog getting into shape to put the cocky bullies in their place whenever this song plays.  It is so great.

156.

Dead Beat

from Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse

Composers: Hidenori Maezawa, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Yoshinori Sasaki

Konami; 1989

Another entry from Castlevania III, Dead Beat features almost all of the series’ musical trademarks:  An eerie tone, a fast accompaniment, a melodic bridge and a quick pace.  Dead Beat is one of my favorite songs from the series because it, more than almost any of the Castlevania themes, really nails the feel of the games.  It is just creepy enough to be a song from the legendary Castlevania soundtrack but it never goes off the rails either.  I would say Dead Beat is just right.

155.

Overdrive Ostrich

from Megaman X2

Composer: Yuki Iwai

Capcom; 1994

I love this song.  The rhythm in the opening is broken up, and whenever I hear it, I wait for the inevitable point where the drums pick up the pace of the song.  As the song breaks down for the loop, it seamlessly goes back into the alternate beat and back.  Compositionally, this is one of the slickest game themes I’ve heard, because instead of keeping things too simple, they took a risk and went with a structure that is a little unusual and, as a result, captivating. It also fits the fast-paced highway theme it is representing and you have a nice road tune with some kickass speed.

154.

The Road Warriors

from Contra III: The Alien Wars

Composers: Miki Higashino, Masanori Adachi, Tappi Iwase

Konami; 1992

Here’s Contra III again, and this time, it’s the theme from Stage 4, which has the player chasing down a heavily-armed air cruiser on motorcycle.  The song, like every theme in the game, has a fairly long loop and has enough parts that just nail it musically, from the bass heavy section to the song proper to the synth and drums hook.  For me, this is easily among my favorite themes from an utterly outstanding soundtrack and it's yet another road level theme!

153.

Mid-Boss Battle

from Grandia 2

Composer: Noriyuki Iwadare

Game Arts;2000

Here’s a great boss tune.  It is energetic and conveys the right level of menace and threat that a song of this type should.  It is a perfect example of a boss theme that fits the tone of the game, which is an anime-inspired adventure, and instead of going too far into gothic anthem territory, Idaware chose a more action-movie-style theme for this boss anthem that plays at several points during the game.  It is an excellent piece of work, and what makes things better is, as you can see your characters and the enemy’s coming turns on a sliding meter, the movement and pace of the battle fits perfectly with the tempo of the song.

152.

Needle Man

from Mega Man III

Composer: Yasuaki Fujita, Harumi Fujita

Capcom; 1990

Mega Man III is full of excellent and memorable themes and Needle Man’s is the second theme from this game to be featured on my list.  It is a song with a solid groove, opening with a nice bass lick followed by a layered jazz-inspired tune with great accompaniment.  I love the music from this game and you will see it show up many more times on my list in the future.

151.

Stage 1 Theme

from Double Dragon

Composer: Kazunaka Yamane

Taito/Tradewest; 1988

Double Dragon is an Arcade and NES classic and, despite being relatively simplistic compared to beat-em-ups that have since been released, it is a classic in the way some older movies are classics, it set the stage for the future.  The soundtrack is also pretty good and, despite the console version being rather short, it did have a memorable soundtrack.  The first stage theme tricks you into thinking it’s a pretty short loop halfway through by seemingly starting over but then, instead of breaking into a third loop of the same melody, we get a pretty epic guitar solo.  The fact that this song is so well-composed is a testament to the work the developers did to make the music from this game not only stand out among its peers, but also make it properly reflect the times it is meant to represent.