Power-Up Motif

Many games use Power Ups; in many cases, these power-ups are timed. In many cases, an audio motif indicates the fact that the power-up is in play, vanishing the moment the power-up expires.

Related to Theme Music Power Up, but not to Magic Music.


 * Mario games use this a lot.
 * The Invincibility Power Up (Super Star)
 * Dun Dun Dun DunDuh DunDuh!
 * The caps from Super Mario 64 and DS
 * The Rainbow Star, Red Star, Fire Flower, and Ice Flower in Super Mario Galaxy
 * The Mega Mushroom from New Super Mario Bros.
 * Riding a Yoshi in Super Mario World
 * And Super Mario Galaxy 2
 * The Star in the first Wario Land game
 * In Mario Kart Wii, you can hear the motif if another racer using a Super Star or Mega Mushroom is nearby.
 * Similarly, Super Smash Bros. uses it:
 * Golden Hammer and regular Hammer items
 * Which were from the original Donkey Kong arcade game.
 * The Invincibility Power Up Item
 * Luigi's Final Smash
 * DK's Final Smash
 * Bang Shishigami's Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan from Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger is a Super Mode that works like this: When you activate it, his power-up music begins to play loudly over the stage background music, until the next round begins.
 * Bio Menace has a kind of rain-like music that lasts for the short time the invincibility potion lasts.
 * Pick up the fast feet shoes in Jazz Jackrabbit and the level's music will speed up until they wear off; this is taken from Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * In The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening, the Piece of Power and Guardian Acorn work exactly this way; they change the background music for a short time, and when the song stops the powerup was over.
 * The Sonic the Hedgehog series uses this for its invincibility sparkles. The song was different for each game, but they all lasted the same amount of time and worked identically.
 * Also, as implied above, getting Power Sneakers to boost your speed increases the tempo of the current background music for their duration.
 * Except in Sonic CD where there's separate music for Power Sneakers — because the music was being played directly from the CD and couldn't be sped up.
 * The PC version of Sonic 3D Blast doesn't use the invincibility music, for the same reason.
 * When you earn an extra life, the jingle lasts for a couple of seconds and often completely overrides the background music.
 * In Banjo Kazooie, using the Wonderwing power changes the background music for the duration.
 * Whenever you get a special pair of shoes/boots in the Banjo-Kazooie games, the background music changes until the power is used/worn out.
 * Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, when the title character ate a power pellet/pill.
 * In ZZT, collecting an energizer (which provides temporary invincibility) causes the player to flash and also plays a jaunty tune. When the tune finishes, the energizer effect also stops.
 * Konami's Noah's Ark has a theme for Time Stands Still powerup and Invincibility Power Up black vial powerup.
 * Trog has the pineapple theme when it's collected.
 * The Sega Saturn version of Bug! plays a fast version of the title theme when Bug gets a Stunt Bug powerup.
 * In God Hand, whenever Gene releases the titular God Hand a fast version of Gene's Rock-a-Bye plays.
 * In Puyo Puyo Fever, filling up the Fever gauge activates not only the titular bonus to flood your opponent's board, but also plays much bouncier music.
 * Demon Sword also uses this for its invincibility power-up.