My 200 Favorite Video Game Themes- Part 17: Nostalgia Triumphant

40.

Tornado Man

from Mega Man 9

Composer: Ippo Yamada

Capcom; 2008

After a decade-long hiatus peppered with Legends, Battle Chips and 3-D debacles, Capcom finally gave us Mega-fanboys a new title in original franchise that harkened back to the old-school series that created the namesake and cemented it as a solid and reliable franchise that would satisfy from the 80’s well into the 90’s.  By the turn of the millennium, Capcom had set its sights on other projects and had essentially left the Blue Bomber to rot, only occasionally releasing tie-in titles that claim to be canon but were really titles implementing popular fads for handheld gaming at the time.  They were essentially cash-ins.  The Megaman X titles continued with declining quality, ultimately showing how far the series fell with Megaman X-7, an ugly disaster of a game that was hindered by its poorly-executed 3D design.  Long gone were fast stages with constant threats and collapsing environments, and in its place came slow, dark, poorly-rendered passages and cheap-looking, sloppy cel-shaded animation.  Five years later, Mega Man 9 brought the series back to its roots, releasing as a digital download title on the 360 and PS3, the game featured classic 8-bit graphics, challenging design and a great soundtrack.  The one takeaway track for me was Tornado Man’s theme, a song that sounds as though it could have been composed in 1990 yet still does not feel like a throwback either.  It is an impressively catchy theme and one of the best of the series.

39.

Home Sweet Home

from Beyond Good and Evil

Composer: Christophe Héral

Ubisoft; 2003

Beyond Good and Evil has shown up a few times up to this point and Home Sweet Home is the final theme from the game featured on this list.  This is a wonderful tune.  The way it builds on a simple piano melody so fluidly and so beautifully gives the song a sincerity, and as the tune progresses, while things in this strange world begin to feel more and more dire, the mood shifts and turns and changes.  It is a song that conveys so many feelings.  A perfect iconic tune for a game this emotionally-complex and deep.

38.

Purification of the City

from Flower

Composer: Vincent Diamante

ThatGameComapny; 2009

On the note of emotional-complexity, Flower makes its final appearance with the song from the stage that holds the most meaning in the game.  Flower’s is a story is told without any exposition or without any dialogue.  It is a tale woven through pictures and experiences.  Purification of the City has the player maneuvering the wind between fallen buildings in an abandoned, lifeless metropolis.  The song is triumphant and glorious, feeling ever tragic but still empowering as a strong backdrop to nature’s victory over man’s folly.  It is a very powerful tune that is best heard while playing the game, as it fits the feel and flow of the level better than almost any game theme I have ever heard.

NOTE: I shared the entire level video rather than just the song. I felt it was the only way to properly convey the impact of this song.

37.

Bloody Tears

from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

Composer: Kenichi Matsubara

Konami; 1988

I loved Simon’s Quest as a kid.  This is a game that opened quite a few doors for me.  It was one of the first games I ever played and beat that had a fully-explorable world, implementing a design that is now lovingly referred to by fans as a “Metroidvania” world.  One of the earliest instances of an open side-scroller, Simon’s Quest remains one of the best of the genre on the weight of some sturdy difficulty, a solid and clear goal, and an amazing soundtrack.  Bloody Tears is arguably the most famous theme of the franchise, having been covered live on stage and on YouTube in various forms and even having shown up in later Castlevania titles as one of only a handful of the series’ themes to be featured in more than one game.  Bloody Tears is a classic in every definition of the word.

36.

Enemy Attack

from Final Fantasy X

Composers: Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Junya Nakano

Squaresoft; 2001

Boss Themes are an important gauge for any game composer, I say.  You have to take the musical stylings of the game, and make a song that is separate from the level theme, and make it more intense, and have build in a way that makes the fight seem grandiose and threatening.  Most boss themes fail at this, which is why there are so few of them on my list.  It is easy to make music creepy, or noisy, but to make one that is just purely powerful, reflecting the threat before you… Well, that has to be a daunting task.  So, leave it to the folks at Square to solve the problem!  Enemy Attack, and I say this with all sincerity, is the perfect boss theme.  It may not be the best, it may not even be the best on the PS2, but it is the example.  It is the song that starts out letting the player know things are serious and then just builds.  The song’s long loop and bone-crushing choir (those are words you probably never thought you’d read back-to-back, huh?) make for a truly powerful series of encounters throughout the game.  This is a standout track from one of the best game soundtracks of all time.

35.

Bubbleman

from Mega Man II

Composer: Takashi Tateishi

Capcom; 1988

Mega Man II is a fan favorite in the series for a number of reasons.  It is an incredibly well-designed and well-structured game full of memorable moments and exciting levels and bosses, but more than anything else, I think, the thing that stuck with fans was the music.  Oh, man the music in this game.  Some games have soundtracks that fans just immediately think of when the subject of game music comes up.  Some fans think of Mario, some think of Zelda, but for me, it’s this game.  Mega Man II just may be MY pick for the greatest video game soundtrack of all time.  I say this just on the grounds that I am judging it based on the period in which it was released, and based on staying-power.  Sure, there have been songs in games released that one could argue are better in their own right, but a collection of themes this good, from the title screen to the closing credits..?  I doubt one could find one that is this perfect.  I may be wrong, but in all my years as a gamer, playing console after console for generation after generation for more than twenty-five years of my life, I have yet to find a soundtrack that, in its entirety, holds a candle to Mega Man II’s.

34.

Green Hill Zone

from Sonic the Hedgehog

Composer: Masato Nakamura

Sega; 1991

Sonic makes his final appearance on my list with the very first level theme from Sonic the Hedgehog.  Green Hill Zone is an iconic Sega tune that is also one of the essential 16-bit era themes.  Many gamers of the time were introduced to this song alongside a brand new gameplay experience that traded the more deliberate but slower jumps and level negotiation of the Super Mario Bros. franchise for twitch gameplay, high-speed loops, ramps that send you flying across the stage or into the sky and dangerous traps that often came seemingly out of nowhere.  Add to that tiered levels with multiple paths and you had a game-changer in terms of game design and pace.  The Green Hill Zone theme is one of my personal favorites because, melodically, it just works.  It has a softer melody that is emphasized by an upbeat accompaniment and a wonderful build to a satisfying end to the loop.

33.

Treasury Room

from Super Castlevania IV

Composers: Masanori Adachi, Taro Kudo

Konami; 1991

Here’s another Castlevania IV theme.  The Treasury Room is much, much later in the game and the song features one of my favorite structures.  It is a slow build to an amazing theme.  Listening to the start of the song, with it’s creepy piano and organ combination, one would probably not guess that this tune will be a high-energy organ rock piece with some distinctly-Gothic ideas.  This theme belongs up there with many of the more famous Castlevania tunes for me.  It is catchy, memorable and just as strong as most of the franchise’s other, more well-known themes in my opinion.  The song builds well, too, starting very simple and adding layers as it goes, creating a steadily evolving theme that has a very long loop for a 16-bit title.

32.

Napalm Man

from Mega Man V

Composer: Mari Yamaguchi

Capcom; 1992

This one may seem a little high to most, and I get that.  For me, however, I love the intro riff to this song, and how it shows up after each part of the song in different iterations.  I love that one little riff enough to push this song way up into my top 40.  Other than that, if it were not for the rhythmic interludes and the way the song sort of shifts tonally through them, I would say this is a rather forgettable tune.  It’s funny how sometimes one’s favorite songs are often the simplest ones, huh?

31.

Title Theme

from Metroid

Composer: Hirokazu Tanaka

Nintendo; 1986

I will make an assertion here: Metroid is the most underrated soundtrack of the 8-bit era.  It is damn-good.  It has a blend of eerie and heroic and has a touch of both emotions in every theme.  It is the soundtrack to aimlessly exploring a dangerous and labyrinthine alien world.  I cannot see anyone hitting the nail on the proverbial head better than what was achieved here.  While Super Metroid’s soundtrack is arguably better, for an 8-bit soundtrack, released so early in the NES cycle, this game has charm and memorability in spades.  The Title Theme starts off as a slightly unsettling series of creepy beeps and buzzes until it seamlessly and flawlessly transitions into an excellent melody.  The song’s layers are few but that is all that is needed to convey the feeling of jumping into this game.  NES’ Metroid is one of Nintendo’s all-time best, and this theme is among the greatest in their catalog.  I stand by that.

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.