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[Red Rudolph]

I'm sitting here at work on a Friday, ready for the weekend, but the rest of the day is looming over me like a final boss. To fit the mood, I'm listening to all the great boss battle music I can get my hands on. A couple of tracks that come instantly to mind:

Super Mario RPG - Fight Against Smithy
Boss music can be over-the-top dramatic or gloomy sometimes, but not Smithy. Though he was tough as nails to beat as a kid, this music got me pumped to try again. Tons of determination. Speaking of determination...

Undertale - Megalovania
Undertale manages to evoke those same feelings in so many battles, it's really impossible for me to choose a favorite. They all evoke some sense of simultaneous excitement and desperation, which fit the fast-paced fights quite well.

Final Fantasy VIII - Force Your Way
A lot of people don't care for FF8 very much (I'm in the minority), but it's not all bad. Take this boss fight music, for instance! Lots of energy and urgency here, and not too much drama. Final Fantasy games do this particularly well when they aim to, and FF8 was no exception.


Anyway, enough about me. What are your favorite boss battle themes? Remixes, originals, doesn't matter. Let's hear 'em, and take down this Friday together!

 

[Melkezadek]

Father Gascoigne "The Hunter"

https://youtu.be/DaoyKECQnPw

I feel like the music paints the image of the flow of the fight. It's intense.

 

[Tizoc]

You kids need 'Shock of the Death God' in your lives, from Ys: Oath in Felghana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLdQ6wMUr4Y

Also, Asgore's theme needs more love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcamjcoRmrQ

 

[Violence Jack]

Persona 3 - The Battle for Everyone's Soul

 

[KZXcellent]

There are SO many for me to choose. Here are a couple I've been listening to recently.

Hellfire - Final Fantasy XV
An incredible endgame boss theme. Easily the hypest part of the game for me and the music really sells it.

Rivers in the Desert - Persona 5
Easily my favorite track in the series. Killer vocals and it's a song I can't get out of my head. Great late-game boss track. The style of music for P5 was already my jam but this takes it up to an 11.

Dark Impetus - Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
High energy theme with intense violin play. One of my favorite boss themes in the series and serves as a great track for one of the super-bosses.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Some of my favorite final bosses:
Persona 4 - The Almighty

Persona 4 - Genesis

Final Fantasy 10 - Seymour Battle

Dissidia 012 - Cantata Mortis and God in Fire

Okami - The Sun Rises

Xenoblade Chronicles - Zanza

Xenoblade Chronicles X - The Key We've Lost

Sonic Adventure 2 - Live and Learn

Sonic Adventure - Open Your Heart

Sonic 06 - Solaris Phase 2

Sonic Colors - Final Boss Phase 2

Metal Gear Rising - It Has to Be This Way

Chrono Trigger - World Revolution

Pokemon Black and White - Kanto Champion

 

[ErasureAcer]

FFVIII - Man With The Machine Gun

Err or is that just the regular battle theme?

 

[Lunar15]

Persona 4 - The Almighty

Persona 4 - Genesis

Ya beat me.

The Almighty is one of my favorite boss themes of all time.

 

[Red Rudolph]

Father Gascoigne "The Hunter"

Haven't even played the game and I'm already scared of this dude.

Also, Asgore's theme needs more love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcamjcoRmrQ

Wasn't sure whether to put Asgore's theme or Megalovania in my post. So many good Undertale tracks to choose from!

 

[dacuk]

Bravely Default battle with final boss has one of the best themes ever

 

[SatoAilDarko]

No More Heroes is the king of this for me with all its boss themes but the best boss theme is Philistine for Margaret.

https://youtu.be/UFXqJ--L_Kk

She's singing the song to Travis and its important to their conversations. The lyrics are from her point of view about Travis.

On YouTube if you search No More Heroes ost, soundtrack or song it's both the second and third song by view count. They're both close to Bad Girl's theme.

It's the song that has mattered most in any boss fight I've ever played.

It's also Catchy as Hell.

 

[Red Rudolph]

Bravely Default battle with final boss has one of the best themes ever

Wow, I love the energy in this one. Feels like you've got a lot to fight for.

 

[Skab]

Father Gascoigne "The Hunter"

https://youtu.be/DaoyKECQnPw

I feel like the music paints the image of the flow of the fight. It's intense.

Super under appreciated track from BB imo. That second part is so damn good.

 

[ViolentP]

Whatever the hell this one is called from Final Fantasy 7.

 

[Blindy]

Donkey Kong Country's Gang Plank Galleon I think has this on lockdown forever for me. Just a grand ol' time against a great villain, the music is just oozing personality and charm.

It's so good David Wise was wise enough to remix it for the sequel!

 

[Red Rudolph]

No More Heroes is the king of this for me with all its boss themes but the best boss theme is Philistine for Margaret.

https://youtu.be/UFXqJ--L_Kk

She's singing the song to Travis and its important to their conversations. The lyrics are from her point of view about Travis.

Wow, I'd never heard of this battle before, that sounds incredibly unique. Song is so catchy that I could see it being a radio hit. Awesome share, thanks!

Donkey Kong Country's Gang Plank Galleon I think has this on lockdown forever for me. Just a grand ol' time against a great villain, the music is just oozing personality and charm.

It's so good David Wise was wise enough to remix it for the sequel!

Oh man, I was so busy thinking about RPGs that I forgot all about this. Amazing track, and you're right, it inspired several more really good tracks in future games.

 

[Selerulf]

A Beautiful Song

 

[HelloMeow]

Metroid Prime's Meta Ridley theme

It's perfect.

 

[leakey]

Donkey Kong Country's Gang Plank Galleon I think has this on lockdown forever for me. Just a grand ol' time against a great villain, the music is just oozing personality and charm.

It's so good David Wise was wise enough to remix it for the sequel!

Yup. That and the final boss theme from Yoshi's Island immediately came to mind for me due to how markedly different they were from the rest of the OST for both games. It was the change-up!

 

[NinjamicWZ]

Final Fantasy VIII - Force Your Way
A lot of people don't care for FF8 very much (I'm in the minority), but it's not all bad. Take this boss fight music, for instance! Lots of energy and urgency here, and not too much drama. Final Fantasy games do this particularly well when they aim to, and FF8 was no exception.

FFVIII's music is fantastic. I'm all about VI like most now cliche opinions, but the car in XV made me appreciate VIII's music even more... sounded so much more in tune with the game and less played out. The tracks are all tonally and stylistically cohesive too... they don't all feel like self-contained pieces unto themselves.

 

[Mister Zimbu]

Bravely Default battle with final boss has one of the best themes ever

You can't just pick out that one song when every boss battle theme in the game is simultaneously the best one:

That Person's Name Is
Fighting to the End
Serpent Eating the Ground

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

Have some rad JRPG final boss themes.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant- The Three Karma
FF6- Dancing Mad
Chrono Trigger- World Revolution
NIER- Shadowlord
Radiant Historia- An Earnest Desire for Grey

Dancing Mad is my favorite because it goes so well with the several parts of the fight.

Some non-JRPG ones,
Alpha Protocol-Turn Up the Radio
Shovel Knight- The Decadent Dandy
Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone- You're Immortal?
Castlevania- Dance of Illusions (There's several versions across the series, but I kind of like Arcade's the most funny enough)

 

[Freshmire]

Xenoblade Chronicles - You will know our names/Those who bear their names
Cheating a bit here, but close enough.

Final Fantasy XV - Hellfire
Amazing fight, amazing music.

RULES OF NATURE

Metroid Prime's Meta Ridley theme

It's perfect.

I honestly prefer the Other M version

 

[Quonny]

No Lufia 2 posted?

This thread is a failure.

 

[roytheone]

Super meat boy: The Battle of Lil' Slugger

That build up to that guitar........

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Shadow of the Colossus Section:
Revived Power

The Open Way

Violent Encounter

Counterattack

Despair-Filled Farewell

Liberated Guardian

Demise of the Ritual

 

[F31 Leopard]

Ares Boss from XCX
https://youtu.be/gn-HifgzdKM

Song of the Ancients-Fate from Nier
https://youtu.be/QrgEoov-RBc

 

[Green Mega Man]

Donkey Kong Country - Gangplank Galleon

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Dance of Illusions

Kingdom Hearts 2 - A Fight to the Death

 

[Mister Zimbu]

Persona 3 - The Battle for Everyone's Soul

You linked the wrong song.

 

[B00TE]

Yakuza 0 - Pledge of Demon

Yakuza 4 - Receive and Bite you

Yakuza Kiwami - Lunatic Warrior

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Ares Boss from XCX
https://youtu.be/gn-HifgzdKM

I fucking approve. One of the best pieces in the game. The best part is the remix of requiem towards the middle.

I don't think I've seen anyone else mention this song on this site.

 

[Poppy]

FFV final battle, clash on the big bridge
pokemon BW2 gym battle
pokemon Gen 4 champion battle
pokemon HG/SS gym and kanto gym battles
SMRPG fight against a somewhat stronger monster/fight against an armed boss
FF7 birth of god(bizarro sephiroth)
chrono cross prisoners of fate (people imprisoned by destiny)
chrono trigger world revolution
prettymuch anything from metal gear rising
kingdom hearts shrouding dark cloud
FFX a contest of aeons (summoned beast battle)

bonus non boss music because it is the best battle theme ever: SMT2 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TjKrUc_EalM

 

[Zoator]

I've been on a Persona kick recently, so I'll add these:

Persona 4 - Fog

Probably the most underappreciated track in Persona 4. I also wouldn't be surprised if Asgore from Undertale was inspired by this track, as there are similarities.

Persona 4 Golden - I'll Face Myself (Reincarnation)

Takes the main theme of Persona 4 (I'll Face Myself) and turns it into epic and sweeping battle music.

Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert

Already mentioned, but deserves another shout-out. I've been listening to this pretty much every day since I've heard it in game.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Ace Combat Section:
Ace Combat 4 - Megalith

Ace Combat 5 - The Unsung War (One of my favorite pieces of video game music period)

Ace Combat Zero - Zero

 

[ComputerBlue]

GOW 2 - Kratos vs. Zeus

 

[JayEH]

Kingdom Hearts 2 Darkness of the unknown.

Persona 3 - The Battle for Everyone's Soul

This still hasn't been topped which is saying something considering how god tier the rest of the series' music is. The way the velvet room music starts playing got me so hype when I played the game.

 

[Timeaisis]

Here's a few more recent ones.

Ludwig, The Holy Blade from Bloodborne

Molduga Battle from Breath of the Wild

 

[ActWan]

Ludwig.

 

[Blobbers]

God of War - Minotaur

*roll Shimomura theme*
Radiant Historia - An Earnest Desire of Grey

Edit:
also
Shadow Hearts Covenant - Astaroth

 

[Green Mega Man]

Ace Combat Section:
Ace Combat 4 - Megalith

Ace Combat 5 - The Unsung War (One of my favorite pieces of video game music period)

Ace Combat Zero - Zero

/nods approvingly

How did I forget the Ace Combat series!?

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Touhou 8 has some pretty good ones too:
Stage One Boss

Stage Three Boss

Stage Four Boss

Stage Five Boss

Final Boss-A Theme

 

[GeNoMe]

Rivers in the Desert - Persona 5
Easily my favorite track in the series. Killer vocals and it's a song I can't get out of my head. Great late-game boss track. The style of music for P5 was already my jam but this takes it up to an 11.

I've been on a Persona kick recently, so I'll add these:


Persona 5 - Rivers in the Desert

Already mentioned, but deserves another shout-out. I've been listening to this pretty much every day since I've heard it in game.

I can't get this song out of my head. Heard it for the first time yesterday. Great song!

 

[NESpowerhouse]

How did I forget the Ace Combat series!?

Everyone does -_-

 

[NESpowerhouse]

Resident Evil Section:
Resident Evil 2 - William Birkin 2nd Battle

Resident Evil Code Veronica - Alexia 2

 

[Vital Tundra]

The Other Promise

Favorite boss track in KH. Its got so much emotion put into it and is a spin on Roxas' theme.

 

[digita1alchemy]

Boss music is my absolute favorite thing about video games.

GOAT:
Metamorphic Force - Final Boss Part 1
This song has multiple guitar solos, a drum solo and generally will rip you to shreds for three and a half minutes.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) - Boss Battle
Raiden V - Dive to Atrocity
Hard Corps Uprising - Common Boss Theme 2
Transformers Devastation - Starscream Fight
Dodonpachi Saidaioujou - Boss
Turtles in Time - Technodrome, The Final Shell Shock (sweet guitar cover)

 

[DPB]

This thread needs more Falcom, here's a few favourites, though there dozens of others I could have easily picked.

Trails in the Sky SC - Fateful Confrontation

Trails in the Sky the 3rd - Overdosing Heavenly Bliss

Ys: The Oath in Felghana - The Strongest Foe

 

[Lionheart1827]

Final Fantasy VI - Decisive Battle This is probably my favorite boss music of all time. Its fast, its a short loop, its catchy as fuck, the beat is interesting, and the bass almost sounds like a song of its own at times. Its also got that electric organ that was so much a part of the FF Uematsu era. Its just damn good.

 

[woopWOOP]

TMNT IV: Turtles in Time

Just listening to it makes me feel like booting it up again

 

[NESpowerhouse]

How are people forgetting Zelda?
Ocarina of Time - Ganondorf battle

Ocarina of Time - Final Ganon Battle

Wind Waker - Molgera

Wind Waker - Final Ganondorf battle

Twilight Princess - Blizzeta

Twilight Princess - Zant

Skyward Sword - Moldarch/Koloktos

Skyward Sword - Final Ghirahim