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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Sometimes, music soothes the beast. Sometimes, it just gives it a kick-ass battle tune to fight to."''|'''[[
In [[Video Game|video games]], battles are typically indicated by upbeat or tense music to give a hint of danger. Battle music tends to pop up the most in [[Role
Several different types of battle music may appear:
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'''Different [[Boss Battle]] musics may play for:'''
* Normal [[Boss Battle]] - The battle theme for 'normal' [[
* Major [[Boss Battle]] - A more dramatic theme for the more difficult or unique [[
* Villain Battle - The battle theme for major story villains, which may serve as their [[Leitmotif]], or be a [[Boss Remix]] thereof. This is usually lighthearted and silly for the [[Goldfish Poop Gang]] or [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]], but more serious [[Recurring Boss|bosses]] such as [[The Dragon]] or [[Big Bad]] will have more tension-filled battle themes.
* [[Final Boss]] Battle - The battle theme for the [[Final Boss]] of the game. If the [[Final Boss]] has [[Sequential Boss|multiple forms]] ([[One
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'''As for games with battle fanfares, they tend to come in two styles:'''
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' style: The fanfare plays, followed by a triumphant theme which lasts until the 'battle screen' is exited.
* ''[[
See also [[Orchestral Bombing]] for the movie version.
{{examples
== Bosses ==
== [[Action Adventure]] ==
* ''[[
** Surprisingly averted in the first ''[[The Legend of Zelda (
** ''[[Zelda II:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
** From ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** The boss battle music in ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' often got a [[Variable Mix|triumphant version of the game's overworld theme]] when you're in the process of exploiting the enemy's weak spot with some well-aimed sword strikes. It used one song for the bosses before the fourth dungeon, and another for the ones after. The switch happened right in the middle of the fourth bosses's fight. Also in the game, there is also a tense 'You're Losing' mix when Ganondorf seems to get the upper hand when you've locked blades with him.
* ''[[Castlevania]]'' loves this: in ''[[Aria of Sorrow]]'' there's separate boss music for Julius (a combination of two old tunes, "Don't Wait Until Night" and "Heart of Fire") and in ''[[Dawn of Sorrow]]'' {{spoiler|Soma}} uses Dracula's fight music, "Dance of Illusions".
** Aria of Sorrow also had a separate boss theme for fighting {{spoiler|Graham}} and {{spoiler|Chaos, the final boss, had two battle themes.}} There is also both a regular boss theme used for most bosses, and a major boss theme used for [[Warmup Boss|Creaking Skull]] and Balore.
** In ''[[Symphony of the Night]]'' there is Festival of Servants for Normal boss battles, Death Ballad for Major boss battles like Death or Shaft, Enchanted Banquet for Medusa and Succubus, Dance of Illusions for Dracula in the intro, Blood Relations for {{spoiler|[[Climax Boss|Richter]] }}, and Black Banquet for the [[Final Boss]] against Dracula again.
** ''Order of Ecclesia'' has a regular boss theme (Symphony of Battle), a theme for the more difficult bosses (and [[Bonus Boss|Jiang Shi]]) (Dissonant Courage), a theme for the bosses fought inside Dracula's Castle (Chamber of Ruin), two villain songs (Sorrow's Distortion and Lament to the Master) and the Dracula battle music (Order of the Demon).
** Dracula usually has at least two boss themes, one for his normal form, and one or more for his [[One
* ''[[
** The [[Big Bad]] has ''two'' unique themes for the first two forms: the second is "Zombie", which is darker and even more repetitive.
* Used to great effect in ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]''; the music becomes a lot richer and more intense when you climb onto the titans. As the whole game consisted of boss battles, the change of music during the battle is one of the most memorable parts of the game.
* Each boss in ''[[
* The SNES version of ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' has four battle themes: for [[Mook
== [[Adventure Game]] ==
* ''[[Hype The Time Quest]]'' has two themes used in boss battles. These tend to fade as the titular character moves farther away from the boss.
== [[Beat
* ''[[God Hand]]'' goes the extra mile: all minibosses and regular bosses have their own theme music, and when you fight the demon forms of Elvis and Shannon, their regular boss music gets remixed.
* ''[[
* The arcade version of ''[[
** The NES version of the first game lacked the boss theme, but still plays the main theme during the final battle until [[True Final Boss|Jimmy]] shows up (where it switches to the Mission 1 theme).
** In the arcade version of ''Double Dragon II'', each boss has a unique theme music. In the NES version, a generic boss theme (the same tune that was used for Abore, the Mission 2 boss, in the arcade version) is used for all the bosses, except the player's evil clone (who uses a different boss theme than the one in the arcade version) and the final boss (which was later used in the GBA version as the theme of Raymond, Willy's bodyguard).
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** The second game has "Never Return Alive" for the standard bosses, "Max Man" for Shiva and "Revenge of Mr. X" for the final battle.
== [[First
* The ''[[
* The approach of a tank in ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' is accompanied by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpg48MJz7ik this track], and it continues playing until the fight is over. During a Finale, a slightly modified version of the Tank theme plays, called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhiGnj7QX2A "taank"]. The second "Boss Infected", the witch, also has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7kmM7vMCxk her own score]. The other, less dangerous "Special Infected" have shorter leitmotifs that play when they spawn or when they pin a player. There's also a variety of drum themes that play during a horde attack, and a special "slayer" theme that is mixed in when the player is engaging a horde. For Left 4 Dead 2, the horde music is even played by different instruments depending on the campaign, and the Concert finale has two rock remixes of the Tank theme.
== [[Platform Game]] ==
* ''[[
** ''[[
** In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006
* ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' and its sequel, ''Banjo-Tooie'' does this whenever you take on a boss with the battle music being a more intense version of level's background music.
** ''[[
* The ''[[Mega Man (
* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'':
** The earlier 2D games give a theme for both the bosses ''and'' the minibosses. The exception is [[Super Mario Bros. (
** [[Big Bad|Bowser]] in particular, the main villain of the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' series, games always has a different boss battle theme in every game since ''[[
** In ''[[
** In ''[[Wario
* The original three ''[[Metal Slug]]'' games (including ''[[Video Game Remake|Metal Slug X]]'') have a particularly memorable [[Boss Battle]] theme—"Steel Beast"—that actually progresses from game-to-game. In the original, it is in 5/8 time; ''Metal Slug 2'' and ''X'' use the 6/8 "6 Beets" version; ''Metal Slug 3'' has its own 7/8 version. [[The Dragon|Sergeant McNeil]] appropriates the "Assault Theme" from the first game, and the "Final Attack" theme is widely used for the game's final boss.
* In ''[[
== [[Role
* Every RPG in existence.
** ''[[
*** Though when it was remade, they added a number of new pieces of music for Boss Fights, including an awesome Final Boss fight music for Chaos.
** ''The Four Warriors of Light'' has additional "The Boss [[Turned Red]]" and "you're dying" music on top of the regular battle theme.
** ''[[
*** There's more than that. There's also 'Upheaval', and 'Boss Battle' is chopped up, with different sections of it playing in different orders for almost every boss.
* ''[[World of Mana|Seiken Densetsu 3]]'' has no battle music for normal enemies at all, they just appear randomly on the screen, but it has separate songs for nearly all bosses (which may also be used elsewhere), and those are a LOT.
* Very well done in ''[[
** Sadly, this was very poorly done in '''[[
* The majority of the story bosses in ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' use the same theme, though the songs from the cutscenes preceding them sometimes carry on into the fight, then are replaced by the usual boss theme once they finish. Another boss theme is used for all of the [[Boss in Mook Clothing|unique monsters]] and some of the story bosses as well, usually in situations where the party is making a comeback after getting roughed up by the boss in the previous cutscene.
* ''[[
** The Ocean Palace theme was [[Crowning Music of Awesome|tense and badass enough to not NEED to be swapped out to suit combat]].
* The ''[[
** The number of different battle themes has exploded since the series' debut:
** ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue
*** [[Video Game Remake|The remakes]] ''FireRed'' and ''LeafGreen'' gave battle music to normal Legendaries, Mewtwo, and Deoxys, the former two being a rearrangement of the normal Wild [[Mons|Pokémon]] music. In addition, the Elite Four used the Gym Leader music instead of the Trainer music.
** ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver
*** Also, the Johto wild Pokemon theme has two arrangements, one for day time, and one for night time.
*** ''HeartGold'' and ''SoulSilver'', the second set of [[Video Game Remake
** ''[[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
** ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
** ''[[Pokémon Black and White
** ''[[Pokémon Colosseum]]'' has Friendly Battle, Normal Battle, Cipher Peon Battle, Cipher Admin theme, Miror B., Semi-final Battle, Final battle in a Colosseum (which is an arrangement of the Cipher Admin theme) and Final Battle. The battle with Nascour inverts it though; no music plays.
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Icewind Dale]]'' is interesting in that the climactic final boss music plays during the [[Big Bad]]'s initial human [[Mook Maker]] form (which is actually rather weak). The ''actual final battle'', which takes place a few levels later and pits your party against a 15-foot tall demon, has no background music at all. Conversely, the final battle of the ''Heart of Winter'' expansion pack has extremely epic final boss music.
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' had four different sets of battle music (3 standard and 1 boss theme) for each region type in the game (i.e. city, forest, etc) as well as unique boss themes for Dragons, {{spoiler|Aribeth}}, and the final battle against Morag.
* The entire ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series has nearly as many Boss Themes as it does regular battle themes. This is especially prominent in ''[[
** Major Disney Villains have two themes that they generally use. Heartless and minor Disney villains (e.g. the Hydra) draw from a larger pool of mostly [[Crowning Music of Awesome|great]] themes. Organization XIII has three themes of their own, not counting the ones for Xemnas, Marluxia and {{spoiler|Roxas.}}
** Several major plot characters have their own themes: the final bosses of each game, {{spoiler|Riku Replica}}, {{spoiler|the Lingering Sentiment}}, and {{spoiler|Roxas}} (his theme, a remix of his [[Leitmotif]], is also a huge [[Tear Jerker]].) {{spoiler|Riku-Ansem}}, appropriately, shares his theme with {{spoiler|Ansem, er, Xehanort's Heartless himself.}}. {{spoiler|Xion, like Roxas}} also has a remix of their leitmotif, and {{spoiler|Vanitas}} has one that takes strong cues from the leitmotif of two related characters, going so far as to be a remix of them at times. {{spoiler|Terra-Xehanort}} has one that mixes Fragments of Sorrow with yet another character's leitmotif.
** Chernabog and Sephiroth, of course, have "Night on Bald Mountain" and "One-Winged Angel."
** The final bosses of most of the games even use different themes for different phases of their battle (this being a series fond of [[Marathon Boss|marathon-length]] [[Sequential Boss|sequential final bosses.]]) Marluxia takes this [[Up to Eleven
** The folks over at the Kingdom Hearts Wiki have put together a list of what music plays for what boss [https://web.archive.org/web/20141107015015/http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Boss_Music here.]
* ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'' did this well. Let's see... you got the battle theme, Four boss themes, The Villain theme, the next-to-last battle theme, the Final Battle theme (Which is an awesome remake of Frederic Chopin's Revolution, with a ton of string instruments and an epic choir thrown in for the hell of it) and, for Ps3 owners, there's an extra boss who has his own battle theme as well. That's 9 battle tracks in total.
** The battle fanfare, "Well Done", starts triumphant before transitioning into a lighter theme that just repeats until you get past the reward screen (and any level up screens that may have been triggered).
* ''[[
* ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'' has a normal boss battle theme, a boss battle song for Zio and Lashiec (Laughter) and a boss battle theme for the 3 forms of Dark Force.
* Almost every Tri Ace game plays some variation of the song ''Incarnation of the Devil'' for at least one of the battles with its bonus bosses.
* ''[[Persona 3]]'' has three boss themes: "Master of Shadows" for a Full Moon Shadow, "Master of Tartarus" for a Tartarus floor boss, and "Unavoidable Battle" for {{spoiler|Strega members}}. Then comes the final boss battle and the near-legendary "Battle For Everyone's Souls", a [[Boss Remix]] of the Velvet Room theme "Poem For Everyone's Souls".
** ''Persona 3 Portable'' adds the catchy "Danger Zone" battle theme for Tartarus Bosses while playing as the female protagonist.
** ''The Answer'' adds two more: "Heartful Cry", for when {{spoiler|the SEES members fight against each other to determine the proper course of action}}, and "Darkness", for the final boss {{spoiler|Erebus}}.
* ''[[
* ''[[MARDEK]]'' has multiple Boss Battle themes, including, but not limited to, the basic Boss Battle, Muriance Battle, Saviours Battle, GdM Battle, Grand Boss, Secret Boss, Guardian Battle...
* ''[[Baten Kaitos]]''. Where do you even begin with this game? There's Chaotic Dance, which plays during the fights against Giacomo and his goons, Supreme Ruler of the Nine Heavens plays during the first two fights with Malpercio, Violent Storm for the final boss fight...and for all the other bosses, it alternates between Vitriolic a Stroke, The True Mirror ~ Guitar Version, Rumbling of the Earth, Condemnation of Darkness, and Glowing Cloud. Then there's the prequel, Origins, which has Chaotic Dance 2 for the Giacomo fights, Iconoclasm for the battles against the Dark Service officers, Poacher for the {{spoiler|Afterling}} battles, Evidential Material for miscellaneous bosses, The Valedictory Elegy ~ Guitar Version for arena battles, Crystal Abyss for the fight{{spoiler|s}} against Wiseman, The True Mirror ~ Orchestral Version for the battle against {{spoiler|Baelheit}}, Ruinous Commander plays during the fight against {{spoiler|Verus}}. And finally, though it's not technically a boss theme, Le Ali Del Principio plays during the last part of the final boss battle.
* ''[[
* The ''[[Paper Mario (
* [[
* ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' games usually have a Normal Battle Theme and Boss Theme, which changes when the player reaches the halfway point (usually moving to another continent). ''Covenant'' also has unique, incidental themes for battles with enemies such as the Wolf Bouts, Astaroth, among others.
* From Rance 5D on, the [[
== [[Shoot
* The same theme is used on the three games in the ''[[Star Fox (
** The original game had different themes for each of the planet bosses ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp7NILCLlVc&feature=related Corneria/Meteor], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBWNDhSgAY Titania], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaYqlFeaq2o Fortuna], and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDNNvHkx8AQ Macbeth]), a theme for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaGSzlCQF24 space bosses], and a remix of the latter for the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWbdesZCiUI Venom bosses] (both orbit and planetside).
* The ''[[Touhou Project|Touhou]]'' series does this in fine form - each boss in each game has her own theme music which is instantly recognizable. Some get more than one theme!
* ''Iron Tank'' has a normal boss theme([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly4bg8T9Oo8 at 3:28 in this clip]) for tanks, trains, and other vehicles, and a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZFuGFJMbCc different theme] for [[Stationary Boss|stationary bosses]] such as [[Cores and Turrets Boss|base fortifications]] and long-range turrets.
* ''[[Raiden]] IV'' alternates between the ''Raiden II'' and ''Raiden I'' boss themes.
* ''[[R
* ''[[The Guardian Legend]]'' used more ominous or frantic boss music for the tougher bosses.
* The standard boss theme in ''[[Ikaruga]]'' is "Butsutekkai", but the Chapter 2 boss uses "Recapture", a dark rearrangement of "Trial", and the [[Final Boss]]'s third form uses a [[Theme Music Power
== Stealth Action Game ==
* ''[[
** The original game, ''[[Metal Gear
** ''[[Metal Gear 2
** ''[[
*** The GameCube version gave all of the bosses unique themes.
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4
** ''[[
== [[Survival Horror]] ==
* In ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'', the musics for the battles with each of Birkin/G's forms share a recurring theme, becoming more intense the more grotesquely it transforms. Each version of the theme is titled "The ____ Malformation of 'G'", where the blank indicates the order of the form ("First", "Second" and "Third").
** Other multi-forms bosses in the series, such as Nemesis in ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]'' and Alexia in ''Code Veronica'', also feature different renditions of their themes for their different forms.
== [[Third
* The ''[[
* ''Winback'' uses a different boss theme for each of the games major areas (Office Building, Factory, and Control Center), another theme for the penultimate boss, and a [[Theme Music Power
* ''[[
== [[Turn
* ''[[Yggdra Union]]'' literally breeds battle themes. The game has a separate theme for ALL playable named characters and five generic ones that play for generic units, depending on their affiliation and rank. Which theme plays is decided by who is doing the attacking in the current battle.
** And then there's ''[[Blaze Union]]'' and ''[[Gloria Union]]'', which do much the same thing.
* The [[Fire Emblem]] series generally uses the Normal, Major and Villain formula for boss themes, but Radiant Dawn deserves particular mention for having an absolute ton of Villain themes, with nearly every major storyline boss getting their own unique one, including an NPC you never get to fight outside of scripted cutscenes! {{spoiler|Well... sort of.}} It even somewhat Inverts this by giving several late-joining [[Eleventh
== MMORPG ==
* ''[[
** What's more, both the standard combat themes and the boss music in daemonheim really suit the area/boss monster they play for.
** Quest bosses generally have their own music as well. They are usually better (or at least more intense) than most of the games' music.
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** Its [[Spiritual Successor]], ''[[Rise of Legends]]'', does the same thing.
== [[Role
* As mentioned above, the ''[[
* The ''[[MOTHER]]'' series employs a more subdued version of the ''Final Fantasy'' style, with the first game going to silence after the fanfare and the other two going to a soft, ambient theme after the fanfare.
* The victory tune for each ''[[Grandia]]'' game would change if you got a perfect battle.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Later games also add a fanfare for defeating members of the villainous team.
* There are two for ''[[MARDEK]]'': one for after regular battles, and one for after boss battles.
* The fanfare in [[
== [[Turn
* ''[[Yggdra Union]]'' does this for the damage calculation screen.
* All games in the ''[[Star Control]]'' series had victory fanfares for each type of ship (upwards of 30), giving a specific feel for each of the races.
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== [[Action Adventure]] ==
* 3D ''[[
** The night battle music in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
* Another thing to note is that often times the battle music is less intense until you the first blow is dealt (by the player or the enemy), then the music gets more intense.
* The ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' series makes extensive use of situational music, supposing you're less than a perfect sneak. By the time ''Chaos Theory'' rolls around, there are three levels of music corresponding to the enemies' awareness of Sam (they know someone is lurking, they have spotted him, they have severely wounded him/boss battle), with clean tempo cuts between each. Otherwise, complete absence of melodic music is the norm.
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* ''Hype: The Time Quest'' has a battle fanfare. The same one for every boss.
== [[First
* Besides the Boss Themes, the ''[[Metroid]] [[Metroid Prime|Prime]]'' series employ Villain Music quite often. Any time you're in a Space Pirate facility, a certain song starts playing, changing to a full-fledged "Space Pirate Theme" when the Pirates appear. ''Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' has a theme for Ing battles and another to possessed Trooper confrontations. And before the 3D games, ''Metroid II: Return of Samus'' has different music for the evolved Metroid battles. (also, unrelated to Villain and Boss, regular monsters that are more dangerous get an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cWbLagjxbA ominous theme])
* ''[[
* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' uses distinct musical cues to [[Musical Spoiler|alert players]] to the presence of the special Infected; as the game is presented as an interactive zombie movie, it's treated as the "score" adapting to the AI Director's [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|sadism]].
* ''[[Star Trek Elite Force]] 2'' has this big time. You have the dinking around music, the scary suspenseful music, then the [[Scare Chord]] followed by the battle music. Also another [[Scare Chord]] for death and an "end the level" diddy.
* In ''[[
== [[Mecha Game]] ==
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' does this in a very unique way, as battle themes are mostly dependent on the character attacking, depending on which series they represent. For most characters this is usually their series' opening theme, but certain characters may also use different themes (minor pilots, for example, may use the series' Battle music), while a [[Special Attack]] or [[Finishing Move]] that has it's own theme in-series will use that.
** The [[Original Generation]] by series' developer Banpresto takes it one step further, where nearly every heroic and villainous character gets his or her own unique battle theme.
== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Aion]]'' is another [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]] that has different music for when you go into battle, a different one for each sub zone. Some of them are orchestrated peiced, others are metal, but in the large pvp area, the Abyss , there are ten different techno themes that can play any where at any time when you battle.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' normally has nothing battle-specific (though some themes play specifically in the boss room) but seems to slowly get into the idea of it. The Trial of the Champion/Crusader dungeons, where you fight bosses one after another, play battle-oriented music, and the Gunship encounter in Icecrown Citadel has theme all of it's own, as do some of the bosses of the Frozen Hall dungeons.
** Note that there is an [[Game Mod|addon]] that lets you use [[MP 3 s]] for this purpose.
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== [[Real Time Strategy]] ==
* Shows up in a couple of [[Real Time Strategy]] games - ''[[
* ''[[Command
** ''C&C3: Tiberium Wars'' switches over to a faster, more upbeat track if there's shooting going on, even if you order one of your own units to shoot the ground. Presumably it is scripted to go off if any of your units are in the "shooting" state.
* In ''[[
** ''Homeworld'' avoids it entirely with the entire soundtrack including battle musics being composed of monotone, Middle East-style music. A little [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jzeQIJf4PE sample]...
* ''Haegemonia Legions of Iron'' has a lot of different battle tunes. It's worth noting that [[Crowning Music of Awesome|they are made of distilled awesome]].
== [[Role
* ''[[
** ''[[
** ''Symphonia'''s sequel similarly has a ton of battle themes - one for Sylvarant areas, one for Tethe'alla areas, one for new areas, one for the Coliseum/Ginnungagap, two general boss themes, one for the Vanguard, one for {{spoiler|Richter}}, one for {{spoiler|Lloyd and Marta}}, and one for {{spoiler|Emil/Ratatosk}}.
** ''[[
** ''[[
* The ''[[
** It's worth noting that ''[[
* ''[[Suikoden II]]'' has a variant - when the plot takes you to the country where the first game was set, the battle music changes to a remix of the original ''[[Suikoden I|Suikoden]]'' battle theme.
** In ''[[Suikoden V]]'', having certain characters in your active party would change the battle music. Having the conductor would change it to a stirring orchestral piece, and having the rock star would invoke a ''Ys''-style heavy metal remix.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' has a Battle Theme for both the player and enemy army, Boss Theme and Big Bad Theme until the third game. From the fourth game on there is also a Villain Theme and a special theme for enemy units that could be recruited was only present in the fourth game. Path of Radiance mixed things up by giving new battle themes for both sides midway through the game and Radiant Dawn added battle themes for each army present in the game.
* ''[[
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' and its sequels also feature separate battle themes for each world. As with the ''Legend of Zelda'' example above, it activates when an enemy is nearby even if you can't see it.
* ''[[Freelancer]]'' has different background music for Liberty, Bretonia, Rheinland, Kusari, and the Independent, Border, Outer and Edge Worlds. The battle theme for each of these is a faster-paced [[Variable Mix]] of the normal BGM.
* ''[[Video Game/Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne|Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne]]'' changes the refrain of the random encounter music every so often to keep things fresh.
* There's a special case in the Japanese RPG ''Dual Orb 2'', which has one battle theme. ONE. ''For EVERY BATTLE, from the first all the way to the final battle.'' And given the skewed chances for a random encounter, you'll be sick of it far before then.
* ''[[
** Actually, it was all fabricated for the game. It's just THAT good.
* Every ''[[
** In ''[[
* The ''[[
* Almost every [[
** Including, but not limited to, the many ''[[Star Wars]]'' space simulators, where original ''Star Wars'' themes were worked into each other so that the music escalated from one famous tune to another, more upbeat one, as the combat situation evolved.
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series, obviously. The themes reference each other a bit, as you can hear in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_NzoRLRR0o this here] retrospective covering ones from the main series up to number ten.
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdfw97tPDv8 This video] might be a slightly better reference, as, though it lacks ''[[
* ''[[Star Ocean:
** And ''[[Star Ocean
* ''[[Wild
* Whenever something turned aggressive in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] III: [[Morrowind]]'', there was an abrupt shift between the background music and the generic battle theme. As an aside, when modders tried to disable audio track shifting to improve game speed, the game threw a fit.
** Same for ''[[The Elder Scrolls Four|Oblivion]]'', to the point where the game gets suddenly much harder if played with the volume low: 'tension music' helps indicate the range of nearby, unalerted enemies and 'battle music' frequently saves you from getting jumped in the countryside.
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* ''[[Phantasy Star III]]'' has 4 different [[Random Encounter]] themes. The first one plays when you see the enemies appear. Once the battle actually starts, the game plays one of three other themes. Which one is played depends on how well your party was doing. If your party is at a major advantage, or has just surprised the enemy, upbeat, optimistic music plays. If neither side has a major advantage, tense music plays. If you're ambushed or in trouble, the music will reflect this very clearly with a 'You're in trouble now' soundtrack. The music changes between these 3 themes in battle to reflect how well you're doing (or not).
* ''[[MARDEK]]'' 's normal combat music carries a more classical feel to it, though still engaging and epic, and feels right for a combat theme. [[Word of God]] says that this theme will change with the latter half of the series, though.
* For a GBA game, ''[[
* ''Beast Signer'' got 6 different battle teams and the game is not even done yet.
* In ''[[Endless Frontier]]'', each character has a battle theme associated with them, and whenever the player gets into a random encounter, one of those themes were selected at random for that battle. The sequel, however, had so many playable and assist characters that the game only selected battle themes from your active party and their supports... and since certain characters had ''two'' battle themes associated with them in that game, you could have a pool of ten battle themes used in random encounters. Out of ''twenty-one''.
* Outside of boss battles, every battle theme in ''[[Harry Potter (
* ''[[
* ''[[Atelier Rorona]]'' and ''[[Atelier Totori]]'' both feature your standard battle themes with a catch: If it's your first time fighting a strong random encounter enemy, the battle themes in both will switch to a more off-tune, violent and overall chaotic version of the normal battle theme. You'll know it when you hear it, and [[Oh Crap|god help you if you didn't bring enough healing items]]...
* The battle themes in ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' differ based on whether you or the enemy takes the initiative in the starting the battle. There's a pair of themes used for the majority of the game, a pair that's only played in the {{spoiler|Mechonis}} areas, and a theme that's used exclusively for the enemies fought past the [[Point of No Return]] on the way to the final boss. Save for a few exceptions, all of the battle themes, be they boss or otherwise, can also be overridden by one of two other themes; one that plays when you change the future, and one that plays when your party is in low spirits.
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== [[Simulation Game]] ==
* ''[[Free Space]]'' generally has very slow, quiet themes for its missions, that almost seamlessly switch to more upbeat battle themes whenever enemies show up using a [[Variable Mix]]. All of its soundtracks have three different battle themes, varying in intensity, to use accordingly with how much action is currently taking place.
* ''[[Wing Commander (
** Special mention must be made to ''WC2'', when you target a capital ship and arm a torpedo. It has a unique tune that's timed to play differently with each stage of a typical torpedo run. Never before (and arguably never since) has sitting and waiting for a target lock been so awesome.
* In ''[[Star Trek: Bridge Commander]]'', the music shifts depending on how well you're doing. If you and your allies outnumber and out-match the enemy, an almost fanfare-like, optimistic theme plays. But do poorly, or be totally outmatched (like going up against a Borg Cube alone) and the music turns deadly and pretty much tells you [[This Is Gonna Suck]]. It should be noted that Borg Cubes don't exist in the original game, but the "[[This Is Gonna Suck]]" theme plays anyway WITHOUT any extra scripting or programing due to the Cube having a higher HP total than your ship.
== [[Survival Horror]] ==
* In the original ''[[Alone in
* In ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'', [[
== [[Third
* In the ''[[Syphon Filter]]'' series, each mission's theme has a more intense [[Variable Mix]]. ''Omega Strain'', in addition to variations of the local music, has special battle themes for the leaders of each terrorist faction.
== [[Turn
* As battle is separate from other screens, the ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' games naturally have battle music, randomly selected from a handful of tracks.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Score and Music Tropes]]
[[Category:Battle Theme Music]]
[[Category:
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