Games with a Leitmotif Used Throughout the OST

[Deleted member 33533]

My first thread here so hopefully I do this right...

A leitmotif in music is a short musical phrase that is repeated throughout a musical composition. So basically, like a short music sting, theme or jingle associated with a character, setting or concept. It may be it's own track in an OST but you will definitely hear it or part of it show up in other tracks of a soundtrack. An easy example from movies is the Imperial March from Star Wars.

So what are some games that do this particularly well?

My mind goes to Final Fantasy XII's main theme - not to be confused with the Final Fantasy theme but the theme you hear during the opening cinematic of the game. The short, 11 note melody that plays here at 50 seconds in:

https://youtu.be/zQ7YS6MQl2M?t=51s

That little melody sneaks its way into a lot of tracks in the OST and sort of represents the theme of the heroes or a theme of hope. An alternate version of that melody is molded into the main melody of the Dalmasca Estersand which is the first field map you visit in the game. You even hear it in a jingle:



You really become familiar with that little piece of music as it pops up throughout your adventure. It's a huge payoff when you get to the final boss and hear a big triumphant version of it halfway through the track (starts at 4:24)

 

[Vesper]

 

[mrmickfran]

A lot of the Final Fantasy games do this

VI, IX, X, XII, XIII, XV

Mario games also do this

World, 64, Galaxy 2, 3D World

 

[vestan]

Ori and the Blind Forest's main theme is used in a lot of interesting ways throughout the game

 

[Psyrgery]

Undertale does this a lot.

I am not sure I can post examples of it without spoiling parts of the game, though.

 

[Stowaway Silfer]

If I understand this correctly then I believe Persona 4 does this.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

duh DUN DUN dun DUN da DAH DUN DUN dun DA dun da DUN DUN da duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun

 

[Neptonic]

Undertale has like 100 songs on its soundtrack and all of them are based on 4 or 5 themes

 

[Jimnymebob]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl does this with it's main theme.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

A crapton of Nintendo games

 

[Deleted member 34949]

I gush about this damn game way too much, but Breath of Fire III is the standout example for me.

The main leitmotif can first be heard in the title theme, Opening the Gate

And it pops up throughout the game at various key points. Such as an arrangement of it serving as the theme of Black Ship dungeon, it's mixed into the theme of the final battle of the Child arc of the game, it's one of the game's many cutscene themes, and the main theme of the game proper plays at a late game town with a bunch of plot revelations accompanying it.

Spoiler

play bofiii yall

 

[Molemitts]

Undertale has incredible use of Leitmotifs.

Here's a really good blog post on it. If you want to take the time to read it's a really interesting read and pretty fun too to hear the different songs and how they connect.

http://jasonyu.me/undertale-part-1/
http://jasonyu.me/undertale-part-2/

 

[kxZyle]

Undertale has like 100 songs on its soundtrack and all of them are based on 4 or 5 themes

Click to shrink...

More like 15+, actually

 

[Deleted member 14002]

If I understand this correctly then I believe Persona 4 does this.

Click to shrink...

It does. So does Persona 3.

 

[kafiend]

Elder Scrolls games do it, also across games.

 

[Dad_and_Videogames]

If I'm grasping this correctly, I will say Max Payne 3. I just beat it last night and they constantly find ways to sneak the main theme in there. Even to the point of

Spoiler: Max character development

Max trying, and failing, to play it when he comes across a piano. UNTIL, that is, he quits drinking and decided that he can't give up on life. Damn that game!

 

[GustyGardner]

Undertale has like 100 songs on its soundtrack and all of them are based on 4 or 5 themes

Click to shrink...

I was going to reply to this by telling you that you were just slightly exaggerating but then I read this:

Undertale has incredible use of Leitmotifs.

Here's a really good blog post on it. If you want to take the time to read it's a really interesting read and pretty fun too to hear the different songs and how they connect.

http://jasonyu.me/undertale-part-1/
http://jasonyu.me/undertale-part-2/

Click to shrink...

And... wow. I'd say that I'm usually good at spotting leitmotifs but I had no idea just how many Undertale tracks shared similar melodies. This just elevates what was already one of my favourite game soundtracks even further.

 

[Omar310]

Monster Hunter World does this a lot.
The main theme, village them and Arena theme are all different versions of the same song.

 

[NSESN]

Pokemon is the greatest example I can think of.

 

[Dwebble]

Undertale wouldn't be half the game it is without its leitmotifs. They're that important.

 

[Cess007]

I remember Tales of the Abyss doing this. Several of it's tracks are variations (piano, acoustic, etc) of the Opening theme: Karma. I think other Tales does the same, but the one I remember the most is Abyss.

 

[Deleted member 2595]

The Last of Us is amazing for this

When the "Sarah" theme is used as Ellie and Joel's relationship develops... Amazing

 

[doof_warrior]

I gush about this damn game way too much, but Breath of Fire III is the standout example for me.

The main leitmotif can first be heard in the title theme, Opening the Gate

And it pops up throughout the game at various key points. Such as an arrangement of it serving as the theme of Black Ship dungeon, it's mixed into the theme of the final battle of the Child arc of the game, it's one of the game's many cutscene themes, and the main theme of the game proper plays at a late game town with a bunch of plot revelations accompanying it.

Spoiler

play bofiii yall

Click to shrink...

oh come on

now i want to drop everything i'm doing and play breath of fire 3
what a nostalgia hit

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Both Kirby Planet Robobot and Mother 3 use the theme of their main antagonist, The Noble Haltmann and Porky's theme respectively, in a lot of the soundtrack as a means to showcase their influence through industrialization.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Fire Emblem Awakening did it well. Fates also had a leitmotif, but I think they overused it.

In case of Awakening, we have Id, the Avatar theme. It represents Robin's journey, from when he/she was found by Chrom and Lissa with a tranquil piece and ending with a triumphant reprise in Id Purpose.


Lost in Thoughts all Alone is also a good piece but basically most of the soundtrack in Fates is a reprise from this song. And unlike Undertale, it gets old fast. At least it was used well on End of All.

 

[Chopchop]

Undertale does it a lot, yes.

Zelda games tend to do it a lot too. Twilight Princess in particular has a certain underlying tune that it weaves into a lot of its tracks.

 

[Deleted member 249]

Wind Waker does this

 

[Deleted member 9971]

Splatoon has it in some of it's music it's that sound the car salmonoid makes when you stun it in salmon run makes but i am sure that sound is in Splatoon 1 aswell in the calamari inkantation song and the dj octavio theme or one of the other squid sister songs.

It's also the same sounds when you complete a story mode level sometimes in both games.

I guess it's that franchises zelda secret like reorcurring small theme. It's in the final boss of splatoon 2 music aswell.

Tum tum
Tum tum tum or something like that.
I can't find it on youtube lol.

It's certainly a small jingle i will try to find it in one of the songs and edit my post if i do.

 

[Ebullientprism]

Fallout. Just that 3 note Dun Dunnnnnn DUN. Its brilliant.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

This is very common in Nintendo's games. Super Mario World is probably the perennial example of it though.

 

[Neoleo2143]

Fire Emblem Echoes does this as well. It introduced an all-new leitmotif and managed to weave it into the score as if it were there along.

 

[Ikon]

Would Luftrausers count as this? That game didn't have a linear narrative in the same way as most of the games mentioned here, but it did some amazing things around changing up its music.

 

[Gestalt]

No More Heroes is my personal favorite example.

 

[Pascal]

Already been mentioned, but Undertale did this exceptionally well.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

Most every song in Super Mario World is a rearrangement of the same theme. Da, da, da da Da da da, da Da da da, da DA da...



And here's the underwater song. Same theme but rearranged...

 

[Cryxok]

Persona, Undertale and Fire Emblem Awakening/Fates are the first that come to mind.
Kingdom Hearts kinda-sorta does this with some themes like Roxas' too

 

[Deleted member 34949]

This is very common in Nintendo's games. Super Mario World is probably the perennial example of it though.

Click to shrink...

Yep. Super Mario Land 2 similarly got some impressive mileage out of it's main leitmotif. Makes sense considering SML2 was very much made with World's design in mind.

Menu Theme
Athletic Theme
Treetop
Seashore
Machine
Graveyard
Haunted House
The Moon
Boss Battle
Game Over

 

[R.T Straker]

This is played multiple times in TW3's expansion Hearts of Stone and one time in Blood and Wine.

 

[Aters]

Came here for FFXII.

 

[Xbro]

Mario thread? Mario thread.

 

[ghibli99]

If I understand this correctly then I believe Persona 4 does this.

Click to shrink...

All of them do. 3 did it the best IMO.

 

[Dannerz]

Dragon's dogma has the main theme featured in a lot of it's tracks starting with main theme, into character creator theme, combat theme, and credits theme (maybe more I'm not done the game yet and haven't listened to the whole ost)

 

[Byvar]

So many games have this (some more noticeably than others) that it would almost be a better idea to create a thread about the games that don't. There's a TV Tropes page listing some but it's far from everything: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Leitmotif/VideoGames
RPGs especially use leitmotifs a lot. The first thing that popped into my head was the Kingdom Hearts series with parts of Kairi's theme and Dearly Beloved coming back in later entries for other characters and even in boss battle themes, but that's listed on the TV Tropes page. Another example would be the Suikoden series with part of the main theme popping up in various tracks throughout the series. And that's just one of the many leitmotifs in that series. Lost Odyssey and The Last Story also use leitmotifs extensively. Then you have The Elder Scrolls, which I think is a great example where a few leitmotifs are used throughout the exploration and battle tracks, but only a small amount is really noticeable, like the main theme and this: Silt Sunrise (Morrowind) - Through the Valleys (Oblivion) - The Jerall Mountains (Skyrim) (though those are more remixes rather than a leiitmotif).
And that's just RPGs. Rayman 2 is a platformer and it has a really simple leitmotif that comes back in various themes throughout the soundtrack.

There are too many games that do this really well to list really.

 

[bobbychalkers]

I hear No More Heroes in my dreams sometimes.

My personal favorite iteration of it.
https://youtu.be/30sSGlSp_9Q

 

[KingBean]

Killer Instinct 2013

 

[PSqueak]

Came to also post SMW, game basically has just one song for stages remixed for different environments.

 

[DorkLord54]

Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach's soundtracks both pretty much revolve around two or three repeated themes, with only the former getting it right, in my opinion.

 

[Syril]

Pokemon Explorers of Sky had two of them that showed up in some form in every situation related to them.

Everything related to the Explorers' Guild


Everything related to the Time Gear

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Chrono Trigger reuses its main theme melody several times:

"Chrono Trigger" (that's the main theme)
"Memories of Green (slower, quieter version for the overworld)
"Determination" (a small excerpt before the final battle to pump you up)
"World Revolution" (this is literally a musical duel between the game's main theme and the final boss' main theme)
To Far Away Times" (ending theme, featuring a reprise of "Memories of Green" for maximum nostalgia)

 

[Deleted member 33533]

Click to shrink...

Such a great example. I was considering using this as my example - I didn't realize there was a video that just laid it all out like that. I always called it Link's theme.

Twilight Princess also does a similar thing with Midna's theme. You hear it a lot. Even the little sound she makes when she pops out from your shadow is the first few notes of her theme.

The boss defeated music uses it:



And this popular track is the Hyrule Field theme with Midna's theme peeking in between phrases.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBRdekWKxI