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They say first impressions matter. Best intro stage music.

SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
DON'T JUST POST THE NAME, POST WHY. Lists are useless, fruitless, lazy things, made even more so when there's only one thing on it.

Ah, the intro. For some reason, the intro is usually among, if not my favorite, part of any game. It's selling us the world, the characters, and the experience. Because it has to be designed to be captivating, it's usually made in such a way that it's very tightly designed and fun to play.

But I think my favorite thing about the intro to a game is usually the music.

The Mega Man series nails this. The intro stages frequently have some of the absolute best music in their respective games. Since the beginning of a Mega Man game is the beginning of a conflict, each track is usually reflective of both Mega Man's determination and the beginning of a larger battle. My absolute favorite is Sky Lagoon (X version) from Mega Man X4. It fits the futuristic vibe of the city well, and represents both parts of the stage - the city under siege and the city destroyed. It also functions as X's theme for this game.

003.png


Sky Lagoon

Sky Lagoon may take the number one spot, but here's some more opening stage music goodness.

Mega Man 8 Intro Stage Remix

Mega Man X3 - Intro Stage Remix

Mega Man X4 - X Theme Remix (BREIS)

Power Rangers - The Movie Stage 1 Remix

What's your favorite, and why?
 
Contra- Stage 1

"DON'T JUST POST THE NAME, POST WHY. "

Oops.

The quintessential NES Co-op game that is hard as nails and pumps you up for you to get your ass kicked and you better have put in that damn konami code if you arent good yall.
 
Castlevania- Vampire Killer

The game that started it all, with the song that would go on to reappear in tons of forms since. If you were new to this series or game you had no idea for how much you were going to die.

Super Castlevania IV- Theme of Simon Belmont

This game is much more moody than the rest of the games, so when this kicked in on stage one it felt cool and different.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood- Bloodlines

The opposite feeling of Castlevania IV, this song is just funk as all hell and it really pumped you up.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night- Final Stage, Bloodlines

If you played Rondo of Blood prior to this (you probably didnt cuz rondo didnt come out in the west until the Wii) it was cool to see the end of that game rendered in glorious ps1 era sprites and stuff...the song was new though, clearly taking advantage of the PS1's capabilities.
 
Good_Egg_Galaxy.png
Click to expand...
Super Mario Galaxy has got all these games beat, by a comfortable stretch, with the track you get hit with in Good Egg Galaxy. It's like, I gotta believe that a lot of people who first played this game not knowing what to expect had their minds fuckin' blown by this soundtrack.

Good Egg Galaxy is pretty much the perfect opening track for a surreal-ass Mario-ass space adventure. You hear this track and you just know you're in for something special. Probably the best and most inspired Mario BGM in series history.
 
Castlevania - Symphony of the Night

After the Prologue and Intro you finally gain control of Alucard and enter the Castle, at first the lights are down and you only see because the windows are open but slowly you get introduced in the mood thanks to Dracula's Castle.
 
buddha0991 said:
Castlevania- Vampire Killer

The game that started it all, with the song that would go on to reappear in tons of forms since. If you were new to this series or game you had no idea for how much you were going to die.

Super Castlevania IV- Theme of Simon Belmont

This game is much more moody than the rest of the games, so when this kicked in on stage one it felt cool and different.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood- Bloodlines

The opposite feeling of Castlevania IV, this song is just funk as all hell and it really pumped you up.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night- Final Stage, Bloodlines

If you played Rondo of Blood prior to this (you probably didnt cuz rondo didnt come out in the west until the Wii) it was cool to see the end of that game rendered in glorious ps1 era sprites and stuff...the song was new though, clearly taking advantage of the PS1's capabilities.
Click to expand...

This.

Also Resident Evil 2 - Raccoon City. As soon as the intro finishes, you're immediately flung into a dire situation and the music reflects that perfectly
 
Solid Samus said:
Super Mario Galaxy has got all these games beat, by a comfortable stretch, with the track you get hit with in Good Egg Galaxy. It's like, I gotta believe that a lot of people who first played this game not knowing what to expect had their minds fuckin' blown by this soundtrack.

Good Egg Galaxy is pretty much the perfect opening track for a surreal-ass Mario-ass space adventure. You hear this track and you just know you're in for something special. Probably the best and most inspired Mario BGM in series history.
Click to expand...
This was a double whammy because it was the first time a Mario game had a fully orchestrated soundtrack. Good Egg was the perfect way to show it off.

rhandino said:
Castlevania - Symphony of the Night

After the Prologue and Intro you finally gain control of Alucard and enter the Castle, at first the lights are down and you only see because the windows are open but slowly you get introduced in the mood thanks to Dracula's Castle.
Click to expand...
It would be remiss to omit the extremely repetitive yet adrenaline infused, blood pumping intro music from the prologue stage where you play as a fully decked out Richter. He's ready to kick Dracula's ass, and the music lets you know that he will.
 
Chapter 1 of Kid Icarus: Uprising "The Return of Palutena":
The composition is simply amazing and starting off with the original theme is a great touch and it just builds from there. I've played this stage countless times just because of the music and the scope of the first chapter itself. Really awesome way to start a game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQnBqpdEHc0
 
Escape from the City from Sonic Adventure 2 personifies Sonic's free spirit as he is "too cool" for the rules of G.U.N. or modern society as whole. It introduces the nature of the character almost purely through the tempo of the song and its lyric of leadership and free-spirited wonder.

It's also catchy as hell.
 
X3's intro stage has been mentioned, so I can't help but post the absolute best version of it.

Anyway, it's a toss up for me between Super Castlevania IV's Theme of Simon and Contra: Hard Corps' The Hard Corps. They both set the tone for their respective games in a great fashion, and both are used as a sort of leitmotif in certain sections of each game.

A very, very close second (or third, whatever) is Revenge of Shinobi's The Shinobi. It does an incredible job of setting the tone and has one of the best drum samples Yuzo Koshiro's ever put into a game. Can you think of any song that would fit "you're doing ninja shit in a dope ass SEGA Genesis game" any better than this?

Other music that comes to mind:

Actraiser
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2 (turns out that Yuzo Koshiro is very good at this first stage music thing)
Final Fight
Metal Gear
Bionic Commando
Silver Surfer
House of the Dead 2
Star Fox
Most Castlevania games, particularly Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood

There's much more, but I don't want to create too much of a wall of text.
 
I have to give a shoutout to Devil May Cry:

Public Enemy

You think you're in for a horror experience... until the real beat kicks in and you have a gothic action epic and you know you're in for game that will finally give you the euphoric feeling of being in the Hallway fight scene of The Matrix.
 
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