Musical Spoiler: Difference between revisions

* If the fight music is still playing, you haven't eliminated a threat entirely yet.

Occasionally [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]], often by crossing over with [[Sorry I Left the BGM On]], or by simply [[No Fourth Wall|breaking the fourth wall]] as in the page quote. A [[Theme Music Power-Up]] is when the music indicates a character is about to do something utterly awesome.

== Anime ==

** Every once in a while it's subverted, though, and the [[The Day the Music Lied|music is cut out suddenly as the duel isn't finished after all]]. Very rare, however.

* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', the title character's attacks had their own background music. Occasionally she started her attack but the 'tense' or 'battle' music would continue, which was a sure sign the attack would fail (either because it was [[So Last Season]] or to show the enemy she was facing was not just any random monster of the day.)

* The first [[Fullmetal Alchemist]] anime contains a subtle one. Near the end of the series, when Lyra is leading Rose to a church, Dante's motif begins to play. {{spoiler|This is because Dante has already taken over Lyra's body. This is revealed in the dialog not too long afterward, but this hint helps piece it together earlier.}}

* In the Digimon series, if a digievolution is runing, but there's no music at all (or, sometimes, the regular fight or ambient track that was playing before), you can be sure the transformation will not be finished or turn to be a [[Deadly Upgrade|dark form instead of the regular one]]. Played more straight in the [[Digimon Adventure|Adventure]] and [[Digimon Adventure 02|Adventure 02]], when there's less soundtrack options than the sequels.

== Film ==

== Live Action TV ==

== Tabletop Games ==

== Video Games ==

* If the music in ''[[Halo]]'' makes you think "How did they MAKE those sounds?!" then load your shot gun and bare your Energy Sword, you're about to be [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Flooded]].

** Although in his first appearance (a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment), Frog uses Lucca's [[Leitmotif]].

** If you listen to Schala's theme the first few notes {{spoiler|are the same as those from Magus's battle music.}}

** How do you know that the Undersea Palace is important to the plot? Plenty of Mook battles, [[BGM Override|but no battle music.]] The Palace's [[Crowning Music of Awesome|background theme]] plays throughout.

** Also played for laughs. Near the end of one case ({{spoiler|1-3}}), {{spoiler|Edgeworth senses the witness on the stand is the guilty party, prompting him to take the first steps toward his [[Heel Face Turn]]. He shouts, "[[Catch Phrase|OBJECTION!]]" and the epic music starts playing. The Judge questions him on his objection, and the epic music dies, as Edgey responds [[That Was Objectionable|he didn't have a reason.]] After a beat, OBJECTION! *cue epic music* Edgeworth has something now.}}

** {{spoiler|Also subverted for the [[Grand Finale]] in Trials & Tribulations. Even if you pick the right selection to implicate Godot, the music continues, to trick you. Godot's initial rseponse is the same for success or failure}}

** In [[Ace Attorney Investigations]], when Confrontation: Presto plays, you know whoever you're cross-examining is the killer. The [[No Export for You|second game]] subverts this. It still signifies a [[Wham! Episode]], but that doesn't necissarily mean you're cross-examining the killer.

** It doesn't happen for the boss in the Long Library, though.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', the intro to the "[[Fairy Battle]]" theme is meant to sound just like the intro for a standard battle, probably to avoid the [[Musical Spoiler]] -- but the instruments are different enough that if you're paying even a bit of attention, you can tell the difference.

* Akitoshi Kawazu has a lot of fun playing with this trope in his work for Square:

** In ''[[SaGa]] II'' (''[[Final Fantasy Legend]] II'' in the U.S.), the heroes are spying on a secret meeting between several villains. As soon as the villains spill the beans on their nefarious underworld dealings and the Heroic Tune fires up. The villains all start looking around, asking "Where's that music coming from?!", then you bust in on them.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Final Fantasy Mystic Quest]]''. Every time Tristam is about to make an appearance, his [[Leitmotif]] plays, and the main character reacts in surprise and starts looking around for him.

* At one point in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', your comrades actually advise you to listen to the volume of the background music in order to judge whether a helicopter is near you or not.

* In ''[[Banjo-Kazooie|Banjo-Tooie]]'', an ominous theme (aptly named "There Comes Trouble...") always starts playing when the duo is about to face a [[Boss Battle]]. Eventually, upon entering a curiously empty room, Kazooie [[Lampshade Hanging|points this out]] by declaring: "[[Medium Awareness|The music's changed]]. Every time that happens we always end up in a fight," before, oddly enough, fighting the [[Goldfish Poop Gang]] for the third time.

** Subverted in the same game, in Terrydactyland. Considering the number of massive dinosaurs about, it helps add to the grandeur of the area, but it's still bizarre. An area obstacle (to be fair, an irritatingly difficult one) gets [[Boss Subtitles|the ominous theme and boss description]] ('''Triassic Steamroller'''). A minigame gets the ominous theme and boss description ('''Stomach-Cramped Carnivore'''). A completely harmless NPC gets the ominous th... no, no theme, but he still gets a description ('''Seeker of Beverages'''). Even the actual boss of the area becomes a friendly NPC after his defeat.

* Also ''[[Splinter Cell]]'', the best way to know if you've been seen is if the music suddenly starts. Being a stealth game, the music is usually off. Also - not sure if you've killed everyone after being seen? Listen to the music. Especially in the first game, it'll start winding down the moment you're in the clear.

* In [[Painkiller]], you know when enemies are about to attack because the heavy metal soundtrack will kick on, and you know you've defeated all the enemies in the current area when the music fades away.

** Vanitas' Battle Theme has bits of both {{spoiler|Roxas}} and {{spoiler|Sora's}} music in it.

* The music in ''Donkey Kong Jungle Beat'' changes constantly to indicate the presence of different enemies, enemy vulnerability windows, combos, combo breaks and boss-damaging flurries.

* In the third ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' game the music changes whenever you're close to an enemy, even when you can't see them. This is actually rather helpful, but pushes the [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] just a bit further than usual.

** In ''Prince of Persia 2'', however, you hear a menacing chord every time you drink a potion--even if it's a life-extending or healing potion. Someone didn't think that one completely through.

** Boss battle themes don't usually spoil since they only start after the enemy has been "introduced" to you. However, the music ''stops'' when you first enter a boss room, and the series isn't known to throw you into unexpected boss battles. Also, the boss music itself usually stops once you've landed the final hit on the boss, signifying that you've beaten it (though the fact that the game also switches to a cutscene of the boss dying can be a spoiler before even that).

* There's a severe difference in style between the normal background music and the fight music in ''[[Devil May Cry]]''. Thus, if you enter an area and the music abruptly shifts gears, get your sword out. This is especially true for the third game, where the fight music has ''vocals''.

* Occasionally, when you kill an enemy in ''[[God Hand]]'', their soul becomes a demon and attacks you. You'll know it when it happens, even if the enemy is offscreen, because the music suddenly switches to a distinctive guitar sequence (or, if one of the horribly powerful Four-Armed Demons arrives, an orchestra).

** Even before that, you can be certain that {{spoiler|the Doctor isn't the final boss}} because of the music.

** An earlier boss battle subverts it. The player activates a robot which attempts to destroy him, and in the robot's dialogue the standard boss music starts playing. Then the music is suddenly cut off as [[Bait and Switch Boss|Balrog steps on the robot.]]

* The ''[[Sonic Advance Trilogy]]'' has the "Boss Pinch". When a boss hits critical HP, the music suddenly changes to reflect it. The first games featured a total different tune for the Boss Pinch but in the third game, it's actually an [[Songs In The Key On Panic|awesomely frantic remix]] of the regular boss theme.

** Averted for the last two bosses. The sixth boss plays a remix of E.G.G.M.A.N. from Sonic Adventure 2 {{spoiler|it's actually the Egg Dragoon from Sonic Unleashed}}, and the final boss plays no music at all.

** Then, of course, there's the fact that Darth Revan's theme music plays {{spoiler|[[It Was His Sled|at character creation]].}}

** Ah, but remember: at that point of the game - the first time through, of course) - ''Revan's theme hasn't played yet'' (well, not in actual relation to Revan).

* ''[[Parasite Eve]]'' does this fairly often; when a boss is in the next room or a major event has happened, the music will stop. Also occurs during the [[Bonus Dungeon]] when you arrive in a very large room where a boss would be.

* Hostile [[NPC|NPCs]] (and animals) in ''[[Gothic]]'' tend to chase the player if he tries to flee from a fight. It's possible to tell when they've given up the chase without having to turn and look, because the dramatic music stops playing.

* ''Morrowind'' and ''Oblivion'', in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series, switch to battle music whenever you initiate combat and whenever an enemy starts chasing you -- regardless of whether you've spotted the enemy.

** Same thing in ''[[Fallout]] 3'', which is also by Bethesda.

** Here are the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1uKuTxpnA Witch] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhiGnj7QX2A Tank] themes. If you hear them in gameplay, you know that you're in for a near-death experience.

* The freeware PC game ''Survival Crisis Z'' varies the number of instruments used for its background music based on the number and type of enemies near the player, ranging from a simple bass beat to an almost-overwhelming cacophony of industrial, glass, and synthetic noise. Given that zombies can randomly appear ''en masse'' just by entering and leaving buildings, it's not at all uncommon to walk through a door and instantly know you're in trouble by virtue of several additional instruments kicking in.

* [[Uncharted Drakes Fortune]] plays scarier action music when you go into fights. Since bad guys come in waves and sometimes hide in weird places, you can occasionally lose track of one or two enemies. Thankfully the music doesn't change back to the ambient sound effects until you've killed them all, so you know to use caution going around corners and such.

** ''Galaxy'' subverts this with Bowser Jr's appearance in the final level, where at first it looks like you're going to fight him before actually fighting Bowser for the last time, [[Bait and Switch Boss|but it turns out that you actually fight Bowser directly instead.]] Although he does rain meteors down on the stairway.

** "Danger Ahead" was remixed in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', but [[Wasted Song|it only played in Bowser Jr's Boom Bunker]]<ref>Which is a pretty ominous level in itself, featuring the wreckage of [[Humongous Mecha|Mega]][[Drop the Hammer|hammer]], a castle with prison-style spotlights, a planet consisting of little more than a slew of spinning platforms and a [[Unrealistic Black Hole|black hole]], a subspace swamp, and the sun as a massive fireball looming in the background</ref>.

** ''Aliens vs. Predator'' (2010) followed the example of its 1999 predecessor, leaving the score mostly unaltered except for certain scripted events. Arguably less effective, however, as the 1999 game used silence to emulate the score of ''Alien'' as described above, making it one of the ''creepiest games to date'', matching the likes of [[Silent Hill]].

* Averted in ''Dual Orb II''... for the simple reason that the developers didn't bother to make more than one battle theme for the entire game. Even the final battle uses the standard music.

* In ''Call of Duty: [[Modern Warfare]] 2'', a deep note followed by ominous music means a Juggernaut is after you. Be ''very'' afraid.

* Because ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' games tend to have ambient soundtracks for levels, musical cues become key means of distinguishing when a trap, puzzle, or hazard is nearby. And the more dramatic the cue, the more imminent the danger is (sometimes you will only have seconds to live unless you react quickly).

* In ''[[Metroid]] Fusion'' you can often tell that you're nearing a boss battle when a certain piece of ominous music plays. The soundtrack is non-apologetic about this, calling itself "Tension Before a Confrontation".

* In ''[[Professor Layton]] and the Curious Village'', the professor's theme has a subtle ticking as punctuation. This foreshadows the revelation that {{spoiler|the villagers are all robots.}}

** Averted when Layton's about to reveal something about the mystery, the music stops and says his stuff.

** Additionally, all player characters and enemies have a certain instrument or sound (electric guitars, horns, animal noises, etc.) that plays when they attack, incorporated into the [[Rhythm Game|"sound battle" system.]] Because of this system, the player characters' combo instruments tend to stand out a bit more than the enemies', so it's easy to miss {{spoiler|one of the first giveaways to the Masked Man's identity. When you first fight him, his combo instrument is the same as Claus's when he fought alongside you at the beginning of the game.}} In a similar fashion, knowing that {{spoiler|Duster's combo instrument is a bass}} helps to remove any lingering doubt you might conceivably have as to Lucky's true identity, though this isn't as strong (or, indeed, as obscure) as the former example.

* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' example: One of the very last boss fights is accompanied by a song named {{spoiler|1=[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFPVWv7X0c4 You May Call Me Father]. [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Yes, that kind.]]}} Needless to say, a single look at the game's soundtrack blows that particular [[The Reveal|reveal]] right out the window.

* In certain ''[[Kirby]]'' games (such as Nightmare in Dreamland), the music completely stops before a boss room. That and there's usually [[Suspicious Videogame Generosity|a few recovery items and free copy abilities]].

* Used in many ways in the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' games. If you hear particularly ominous ambient noise/music, it usually means enemies are nearby or something big such as a [[Boss Battle]] or transition to the [[Dark World]] is about to happen. However, sometimes it's just a [[Nothing Is Scarier|false scare]].

* In ''Iron Tank'', the music changes to static noise, or sometimes the boss music itself, shortly before a boss fight.

* In ''[[Syphon Filter]]'', the music intensifies when the enemy is targeting you, and calms down when they lose sight of you. The later games such as ''Omega Strain'' have special music themes for high-ranking terrorists or [[Timed Mission]] objectives.

* ''[[Mass Effect]] 1'': It's not much of a spoiler, per se (talking to anyone suggests basically the same thing), but when the time comes to have it out with Wrex on Virmire, even ''walking towards him'' turns on the Ominous Drumroll.

* In {{spoiler|Hanako's}} bad ending of [[Katawa Shoujo]], the ominous "Cold Iron" theme starts playing as the last scene begins, before things start going wrong.

** Wrong for Hisao at least. Nothing could prepare the player for [[Break the Cutie|the awakening of]] {{spoiler|Rage-Hanako}}.

== Western Animation ==

** Perchance to Dream uses a modified version of {{spoiler|The Mad Hatter's}} Leitmotif as a musical hint towards {{spoiler|his usage of a dream machine on Batman}}.

* [[Toy Story|"Our friendship will never die..."]]

== Video Games ==

** Not so in Dragon ''Warrior'' 3, where that same boss gets the same boss music. Of course, since the NES game shipped with a ''full walkthrough in the manual'', it probably didn't surprise anyone.

** Also, in ''[[Twilight Princess]],'' in Hyrule Castle, the final dungeon, aside from the mini-boss songs that play when fighting a Darknut and {{spoiler|King Bulblin for the last time}}, no danger music plays while fighting enemies, [[Nothing Is Scarier|adding to the mounting climactic suspense.]]

** Both the Ganondorf and Ganon battles in ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'' have their own unique theme, making the first form (Ganondorf) seem like the final battle.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' avoids giving [[One-Winged Angel|Sephiroth's]] first form standard music in the final battle by having unique songs for his first two forms: "The Birth of a God" for Bizzaro Sephiroth and [[Crowning Music of Awesome|"One Winged Angel"]] for Safer Sephiroth.

* In the Greenwood area of ''Soul Blazer'', there is a dog who, when talked to, will tell you that "today's special is...you!" accompanied by an abrupt end to the background music. The dog will then proceed to explain that he was only joking, and the background music starts up again.

* In ''Shining in the Darkness'', despite the fact that the fight against [[The Dragon]] had a special boss theme, the final boss uses the normal combat theme you've heard all game. That is, until he [[One-Winged Angel|gets serious]]...

** With the exception of the final boss, of course, who gets his own unique remix of Twister. Every other non-boss battle randomly uses music.

* ''[[Scratches]]'' subverts it near the beginning, on the first time you {{spoiler|go down to the [[Creepy Basement|basement]], creepy [[Psycho]]-like strings start playing giving you the feeling ''something'' is gonna jump at you from the shadows at any moment, this effect makes you want to leave that place as soon as possible.}} Later its played straight when {{spoiler|for looking for Catherine Blackwood's corpse on the yard the music changes when you happen to dig on the right spot}}, also on ''Last Visit'' after solving all puzzles {{spoiler|the music changes to the same creepy strings heard on the basement hinting of the scare lurking nearby.}}

* ''[[Mushihime-sama]] Futari's'' [[Final Boss]] gets its own theme, but on Ultra difficulty, the [[True Final Boss]] uses the regular boss battle music. That is, unless you're playing Black Label (which replaces Ultra mode with God mode), in which case the TFB gets some...[[Soundtrack Dissonance|rather unfitting music for a climatic boss battle]].

* In the arcade version of ''Super Contra'', the penultimate boss gets its own theme, but the final boss just uses the main stage music.

{{reflist}}