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Line 2: The music for a non-interactive story, like a film or TV show, is expected to change and adapt to the action taking place. However, games have a limited ability to do this. It's not practical to have [[John Williams]] watch the player's actions and spur up the London Symphony Orchestra every time [[Metal Gear\|Solid Snake]] gets seen by a passing guard. A hard cut to a different piece is one possible solution for a game, and it's not so jarring when disguised by a sound effect. But some titles make better use of their technology: in a [['''Variable Mix]]''', the background music changes subtly and smoothly depending on what is going on in the game. The running background music could have, for example, parallel parts that fade in and out with the rising and falling action level, seamlessly transitioning from a bare-bone ambient haunting theme to a hard-rocking drum-backed metal anthem during combat, and back again after the last enemy has fallen. A clever bit of composing that has a very subtle but real influence on player immersion. Variable mix is almost always made possible by MIDI (musical instrument digital interface). Often overlaps with [[Musical Spoiler]] for more [[Genre Savvy]] players who know what particular variations to listen for. Can sometimes enter a variant of [[Mickey Mousing]] known as [[Musical Gameplay]]. See also [[Theme Music Power-Up]], which this often turns into if it happens during a boss battle. Also, see [[Songs in the Key of Panic]] for the other end of the scale. {{examples}} == Video game examples: == === [[Action Adventure]] === * ''[[Luigi's Mansion\|Luigis Mansion]]'' repeats the main theme of the game when you're in the Mansion, but it has variations for hallways, dark rooms, and outside. All have Luigi humming over the theme, except in lit rooms, where he whistles the theme. The tempo also decreases if Luigi's health worsens. Line 37: === [[Adventure Game]] === * A large number of classic [[~~Lucas Arts~~LucasArts]] games, beginning with ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'', used a system called iMuse to provide interactive music, one of the first such examples of this. The most famous example is probably MI2's Woodtick, where the music has dozens of transitions meaning that each piece of music comes to a natural end, ''wherever it is in the track'', before moving on to the next piece. The result is mindblowing, and it's the kind of thing which is only possible with MIDI. The [[Video Game Remake\|Special Edition]] tried to recreate the effect with live instruments. They did a pretty good job, but the effects were much simplified in many cases. ''[[XStar Wars: X-Wing]]'' and ''[[TIE Fighter]]'' used this too. Needless to say, when used in conjunction with elements of the Star Wars score, plus new music that blended with it, the effect was extremely enjoyable and atmospheric. * As does the ''[[Rogue Squadron]]'' series. iMuse was used well in ''[[The Curse of Monkey Island]]''. Depending on who you were talking to, the background music would segue smoothly into a remixed version; the Barbery Coast theme would gain an accompaniment of accordion when talking to Captain Rene Rottingham, and when on the Sea Cucumber, steel guitar, steel drum, and atmospheric seagulls would be added to a more upbeat version of the Sea Cucumber theme when Mr. Fossie came to harass you. Line 80: * In ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)\|Golden Eye 1997]]'' and ''[[Perfect Dark]]'', each stage has a "danger" variation of its music. * ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'', an FPS taking place in the Spy Sixties, features both sneaking and flat-out shooting elements, and the music rises and falls appropriately if you blow your cover. * ''[[F.E.A.R.]]'': The music starts to build in suspense just before a major event or battle happens, and segues out once the battle is over. For example, the courtyard in Interval 3 where the helicopter drops off several Replicas. And [[Scare Chord~~\|Scare Chords~~]]s are often set to the action, e.g. when the gun turrets activate. * ''[[Descent]] 3'''s level musics seamlessly change as you progress through a level, and also change with the intensity of the action. * Some levels in the ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' series have this, such as "Eye of the Storm", "Rough Landing", "The Golden Lion", "Operation Repunzel", "Yard by Yard" and "On Track" in ''Frontline'', when you reach certain points in a level, an alarm is set off, or the action otherwise heats up. Rough Landing in particular is awesome; it starts with a solo boy soprano and a few instruments, and later in the level, it builds up to the full choir and orchestra. Also, in the train mission, the music starts to pick up speed when you enter the station and approach the train, then goes to its undoubtedly epic full-speed [[Ominous Chanting]] climax during Riding Out The Storm. Line 101: === [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game\|MMORPG]]s === * ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' has two themes for each area, one for exploration and one for battle. There are around five transition points in each track - once a battle begins or ends the game will wait for the next of these points and cue the transition to the other theme. * In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', the PVP only zone Wintergrasp uses a number of different songs dependent on what's happening in the zone at the time: three or four calm tunes for when battles have died down, and an equal number of high energy war songs when players are vying for the fortress. Line 107: === [[Party Game]] === * An unusual example comes from ''[[Wario Ware]]: Smooth Moves'' on Dribble and Spitz's stage. The vocal song "Tomorrow Hill" plays throughout the level. When you mess up, the song distorts. You might think it's just an effect placed over the original song, but it's actually a [[Variable Mix]]- the distorted parts of the song are ''actually sung differently'', sometimes even [[Mondegreen\|with nonsensical words in place of the normal ones]] ("Already said my goodbyes" becomes "Already ate my french fry", for example). This alternate version of the song, "Falling Off Tomorrow Hill", can even be heard in the [[Sound Test]]. Line 113: * [[Sly Cooper]] * ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'': The music continues playing when the game is paused but cuts out the main instruments, leaving a sort of "drum and bass" mix. * ''[[Super Mario World (video game)\|Super Mario World]]'': When the player mounts a Yoshi, a track of bongo drums is added to the music, no matter which of the several background music tracks is playing at the time. The same thing happens in ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'', ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'', and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]''. * ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' has its water theme. Example : when you are on the beach in Jolly Roger Bay, the music is simple. If you go in the water, it gains violins; and the hidden cave add drums to it. ** Something similar happens to the themes of Hazy Maze Cave and Wet Dry World. Normally, it plays a remix of the SMB Cave Theme. However, once you're at a certain area, the theme starts adding a few creepy instruments. Line 163: * Cipher Prime games ''Auditorium'' and ''[[Fractal Make Blooms Not War\|Fractal]]'' do this. In the former, each level starts in silence. Every "bucket" you fill with the correct type of flowing particle adds a layer to the music. In the latter, creating more blooms adds these layers. Each level starts with the stereotypical "howling wasteland" sound. * In some levels with ''[[Portal 2]]'', the background music gets instruments or changes when various puzzle elements are used. For an example, music becomes muffled inside excrusion funnel or gets a line of instruments when running on propulsion gel. Actually, the excursion funnels always play the same tune (though I think the natural music is barely audible in the background), and the gels work ~~differently -- the~~differently—the Blue gel always plays the same weird little tune when you bounce on it, and the repulsion gel applies the same "instruments" that any High Velocity situation would, Gel or no Gel. Aerial Faith Plates always add the same instruments/tune to whatever music is being played too, no matter which Plate in Which Level it is. Laser receptacles do the same; this is most notable in the room with the 3 near the door that you have to light up simultaneously. All of the above (almost) always add the same set of instruments to whatever is playing in the background. In fact, these are mere sound effects that are attached to the puzzle elements themselves. To test this, simply find an aerial faith plate and drop a cube on it. Note how the sound effect plays. Next, throw a portal and drop the cube on the faith plate and back up, note how the sound effect is quieter. They are simply scripted sound effects that sound like music that meshes well with music played in those levels. * Examining the game's sound files reveals a mix of both overlaid effects tracks (level-specific to fit the timing of the theme for that level), and also some variations on themes for specific levels which will use a mechanic-specific effect as a segue. * ''[[Adventures of Lolo]]'' (for the Game Boy) had an unusual example in which the BGM shifted between four different songs depending on which direction Lolo was facing. The music also changed to a much slower song while Lolo was on flowers. It's only on some levels, and [[Regional Bonus\|only in the European version]]. Line 192: After the publisher turned ''GH'' development over to Neversoft, Harmonix took it a step further in ''[[Rock Band]]'': do well enough for long enough, and the crowd will ''sing along''. ''LocoRocos lets you directly control the mixing of the two tracks. Unless you are playing on easy that is. * As the [[Patapon~~\|Patapons~~]]s of the game of the same name become more excited, more drum and instrument tracks drop into the pulsing background beat and they begin to sing more emphatically. When they reach [[Limit Break\|Fever mode]], all the instruments come in, and the Patapons begin to chant in harmony. When the spirit is onscreen, even more additional vocals are present. * In ''[[Loco Roco]]'', the LocoRocos sing along with the backing track. If they're split into their components, the components start to sing in harmony, even dividing up lead and backing vocals between themselves. The more LocoRoco the player has obtained, the thicker the choir - and as soon as they're grouped back together, the amalgam sings a single-voiced melody. ** And in ''LocoRocos'' 2, once more MuiMuis are obtained, the background music improves from just wind-instrument playing to having the friendly LocoRocos sing. Songs from the first game had similar changes, but they were more subtle and only applied to songs which BGMs were backup singers. * Several songs in ''[[Beatmania]] IIDX'' actually sound different on different difficulties. Usually these are slight rearrangements, but sometimes they're entirely new remixes. [http://vjarmy.com/wiki/index.php/IIDX_General_Info#Why_doesn.27t_.28song_X.29_sound_the_same_as_.28song_X_on_a_different_difficulty.29.3F Here's a pretty comprehensive list] ~~-- remember~~—remember that "Light7" means Normal (and was eventually renamed as such) and "Another" means [[Nintendo Hard]]. There's no attempt to blend the different songs; what you pick is what you get. However, three songs ("Scripted Connection", "Anthem Landing" and "Shade", all by the same artist) sound different on each difficulty because they're different parts of the same long song - Normal ends where Hyper (hard) begins, and Hyper ends where Another begins. The home version of the version that debuted "Scripted Connection" had an [[Easter Egg]] allowing the player to play the entire song as one piece. And of course, since you're playing these songs, your skill affects how closely you come to actually recreating the song. Do badly, and notes drop - because you never played them. Conversely, long blank sections in a column can be filled in with freestyle riffs. Line 201: === [[Role -Playing Game]] === * ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' uses two different applications of this trope. The overworld travel music acquires distinctive background instrumentation when the characters' ship flies over or near one of the several ~~continents--tribal~~continents—tribal drums in the vicinity of the South America-derived continent, chimes in the area of the ice continent, etc. Additionally, certain boss battles can be accompanied by normal, triumphant, or desperate sounding themes depending on how the main characters are faring in the fight. * ''[[The Elder Scrolls]] IV: [[Oblivion]]'' has a soft fade-out transition to various musical themes whenever appropriate. * ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue\|Pokémon FireRed]]'' and ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue\|LeafGreen]]'' did this to make an otherwise [[He Knows About Timed Hits\|dull tutorial sequence]] exciting. Presented with a dry sequence of blue windows explaining what buttons to press to do what, an extra layer was added to the music each screen pressed through - drums, bass, harmony, counter-melody - giving a great sense of build-up. On the final screen the melody finally kicks in, and you feel fully prepared for adventure! * ''[[Pokémon Black and White\|Pokémon Black and White Versions]]'' have this happening a LOT with the various overworld themes. In nearly every town there is an NPC that will add an additional track to the music (i.e., playing a piano or ''singing'') and their volume is set by the player's proximity to them. Additionally, the music playing in the various routes change very subtly according to the in-game Season; you may hear flutes and strings playing a melody in Spring, whilst in Winter the sounds of bells and windchimes will play the melody instead. Additional tracks are also sometimes added depending on what you're doing at the ~~time -- several~~time—several routes have a percussion layer that only plays whilst you're moving and stops when you do. The music in some cavern areas also decreases in pitch the deeper underground you go, similar to the ''Dragon Quest'' and ''Tales of Phantasia'' examples below. Used for great effect at the badge check gates to Victory Road; each gate you go through adds another instrument to the music, until finally you've made it to Victory Road with the full music track playing. Line 224: * ''[[R-Type]]'' did this once: in ''Delta'', when your ship goes underwater, the music changes to a more subdued, muffled version of the level's soundtrack, then goes right back to the original when you get back in open air. ** ''Final'' does this in some levels, for example, techno-industrial percussion is added to the ambience when the [[Humongous Mecha\|mecha]] [[Mini Boss]] appears in the first level, and in the Giant Warship level, the music gets faster and more epic during the final approach to the boss. * ''[[Ray Crisis]]'' selects the musical score depending on which stage you start with. Each music track has a different variation for each stage and boss, looping if necessary. On the soundtrack CD, the variations are combined into 10-14 minute long suites. The [[Final Boss~~\|Final Bosses~~]]es each have their own music. * In ''[[Go Beryllium]]!'', a [[Bullet Hell]] freeware game based around the subatomic world, the music adds unique beats: if you are firing, if you are firing in focused mode, if you have one of the special weapons active, if one of the bosses is onscreen, if you are hitting a boss, if an enemy is exploding, or if you die. * [[Inverted Trope\|Inverted]] in ''[[Beat Hazard]]'' where the game changes depending on the music. Line 251: === [[Stealth Based Game]] === * ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 1'', ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty\|2]]'', and ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater\|3]]'' have two versions of the Alert theme, one for the "Alert" phase and one for the "Evasion" and "Clearing" phases. They are alternate versions of the same theme, and fade between each other seamlessly when the phase changes. An experimental "Making Of..." compendium called ''The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2'' allowed users to ([[wikipedia:The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2#The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2\|among other things]]) segue between the moods of each track at the push of a button. (For the curious, compare and contrast [http://www.mgstus.org/downloads/music/mgs2_documix/04%20-%20sons%20of%20liberty%20-%20lethal%20encounter.mp3 the Tanker Alert music]{{Dead link}} with [http://www.mgstus.org/downloads/music/mgs2_documix/05%20-%20sons%20of%20liberty%20-%20tanker%20-%20evasion%20mode.mp3 the Tanker Evasion music]{{Dead link}}. As you can hear, the claustrophobic Evasion theme is a stripped-down version of the passionate, exciting Alert theme with the same chords - so if Snake gets seen again, the melody of the Alert theme can cut straight in.) There's also the "suspicion" theme, a more tense version of the main stealth theme, played when a guard notices something, before going to full alert, ala ''[[Splinter Cell]]''. Also used a bit in some other situations. The music in the Shell 1 Conference Hall in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' gains a creepy string track if Raiden takes off his disguise, and an electric piano line is added to the music when Raiden is leading Emma by the hand, and a drum track when he's trying to snipe her pursuers. In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', several of the boss tracks change depending on what the boss is doing - instrumentation changes when The Fear is hungry, when Ocelot is breaking from the fight to reload his gun, when The Pain is shooting Bullet Bees, when The Fury's suit gets ripped, and so on. The vocal track only cuts in while fighting The Boss if you sustain nearly to the end of the ten minutes, and before that, you only hear the instrumental backing. Line 263: The music often gets scarier when you're about to enter the [[Dark World]], such as after you unlock the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOReJnwhALo school]'s clock tower or activate the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nytCCJ8hfEo hospital]'s generator. Some ', for example the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdClFYCf0n8 sewers] in the third game, have up to 10-15 variations. A particularly [[Nightmare Fuel~~\|Nightmare Fuelish~~]]ish example occurs when you make the final [[Leap of Faith]] from the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgRPiUi4Rys prison morgue] to the Labyrinth in ''[[Silent Hill 2]]''. First there's the regular droning ambience, then it adds a groaning noise similar to a steam valve, then a horrible high-pitched siren-like sound (so bad you have to cover your ears, worse than the "radio squeal" in the first game). The [[Crowning Music of Awesome\|series' best use of this trope]] has to be the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbKPSCBuuc alleyway sequence] in the first game. First quiet ambience, then the air-raid sirens start up when it gets dark, then a loud scraping mechanical noise when you pass the gurney, then it adds an [[Ominous Pipe Organ]] when you see the blood and disemboweled corpses, and finally the percussion kicks in when you hit the end of the alley and get ambushed by the Gray Children. * Nemesis's [[Leitmotif]] in ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]'' had a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TddpWDSK1g suspense version] when he's in the vicinity, and the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6cLuqZTbfI&feature=related battle version] when he enters the room. There's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09hQUVgdLsQ a different battle theme variation] for him after he turns [[One-Winged Angel]], although it's still preceded by "Feel The Tense". ** ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'' [[What Could Have Been\|was originally going to have]] more dynamic music, according to videos of ''RE 1.5'', where the music seamlessly changed depending on the action and the player character's health. Line 295: == Non-video game examples: == === Theme Parks === * This is not strictly limited to video games. This technique is used in a lot of rides at [[Disney Theme Parks]]. For example, the "It's a Small World" ride has speakers throughout the course, with each set playing a different arrangement of the theme.