What are boss fights that are really really elevated by the music? (Potential Spoilers)
- Thread starter Baphomet
- Start date
Yep, brilliant pick. Hyperion is arguably the best use of music in a game ever.
My one criticism is it needed more cowbell (IYKYK).
The boss themes in Sonic Frontiers do some incredible heavy lifting for what are otherwise some aggressively mediocre and janky battles.
DJ Octavio in Splatoon, especially the final phase.
My hands were stiff and I had tears in my eyes when I finally managed to overcome this escape sequence. Can't be described without experiencing it first hand.
One of the most memorable gaming moments of my life. Ori will always retain a special place in my heart.
Virtually every single boss fight in Touhou pretty much. Touhou has built an incomprehensibly big fandom surrounding its soundtracks far larger than the fanbase of people actually willing to engage with the games, but something that a lot of people genuinely miss because of that is that the whole point of the presentation is the whole audiovisual package: the soundtracks actually sync up to the boss fight in key moments (assuming you're not intentionally stalling out the fight) and it combines together to, in a way, tell the story and personality of the character you're fighting against. It really completes the music in a way that listening to it on its own just cannot. And these themes sound really good on their own too!
Some examples:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdHRSUNZUs
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yGYuaXnOtY
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSg8Ot0dRec
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgBoe_x9g2o
I could post several dozens of these though. Music is absolutely the one thing Touhou never disappoints.
Some examples:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdHRSUNZUs
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yGYuaXnOtY
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSg8Ot0dRec
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgBoe_x9g2o
I could post several dozens of these though. Music is absolutely the one thing Touhou never disappoints.
Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 just slays in this boss fight.
View: https://youtu.be/1mdRHOMUQaQ?si=5kmTG3tu9h8U85hG
View: https://youtu.be/1mdRHOMUQaQ?si=5kmTG3tu9h8U85hG
Speaking of Touhou, the final spell of PCB coupled with the music is still one of the most striking things I've ever felt in a shmup.
There's been a lack of fighting game music here so I am here to help change that, Geese's theme from Fatal Fury
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ-SG_CqFEM
and this may be cheating as it's a real song but the Krauser boss fight music in Fatal Fury 2 Dies Irae
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj-V0VB_Zi8
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ-SG_CqFEM
and this may be cheating as it's a real song but the Krauser boss fight music in Fatal Fury 2 Dies Irae
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj-V0VB_Zi8
Two Steps from Hell ass music.
Pipe Organ remains the best instrument.
The second boss in Hades 2 is one of my favorite fights in any game thanks to the dynamic music.
To sail forbidden seas is my favourite one and it works for so much for all the bosses.
Great choice for sure. The organs, intergral to music and setting and actual boss.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mByDcrNSV0
Lady Maria in bloodborne - the clockwork chimes integrated as part of the music amazing atmospheric.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXd4eZMKaK0
Angel in Gravity Rush 2 - Some of the bosses werent that interesting mechanically but the song sold this horror kind of like feel to some of the stuff.
Raphael last act in BG3. favourite example You know things get real when boss starts singing his own song.
Gate k9 Phantom Liberty fighting Hansen.
I believe that's almost definitely the things that have set Touhou apart from other shmups in the eyes of many: the presentation. I feel like a lot of people just get immediately alienated from shmups (especially bullet hell) because they look so intimidating to the untrained eye. Touhou... looks equally intimidating, but at least it looks and especially sounds amazing as it wows you. Well that and it has lots of characters with charming/strange character designs people really like. This is no doubt why Imperishable Night is such a huge fan favourite (despite really not necessarily being the best playing game in the series at all): the amount of content, the character roster, the aesthetics and the soundtrack really come together in a very unique way, it even manages to make you care about what's an otherwise pretty bizarre excuse plot when you think about it.
Not a boss theme, but the way this theme sets up the final boss(es) is definitely very memorable, and listening to Flight of the Bamboo Cutter/Gensokyo Millennium without this first frankly makes them lose a lot of impact. And of course, listening to this without the image of the dark corridor overlooking the stars, only for it to fly away revealing you're in outer space overlooking Earth also is nowhere near as powerful.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dev74ItqMwo
Heavenly Sword was mostly an average God of War (2005)/Devil May Cry clone, but damn, did the 3rd act had some really superb music that made its ending incredibly epic. Bohan, the Raven King in particular was the hardest boss I had faced back then, incredibly rewarding when I finally beat him, and of course the music really added a lot to the fight against him.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9byPbwZk8g
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9byPbwZk8g
Took a while until someone mentioned Jenova. Every battle with Jenova in the Re Project has been the highlight of each game mostly because of the music.
It is just a slightly altered main menu theme but damn it fits well.. especially if you're good at the fight and can dodge properly it's freaking epic
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3QyixEni1c
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3QyixEni1c
No More Heroes has some great ones.
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Also, my favorite boss in Kingdom Hearts.
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No More Heroes: Pleather For Breakfast
You have to know how unbelieveably happy I was when I got this song. This, in my opinion, is the best song in the game, and it's used for one of the best ch...
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No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle OST: Philistine [Jpn Ver.]
From the NMH2 OST. This version of the song is only available on the pal format of the game.Enjoy :)PLEASE subscribe, I am back to uploading gameplays 2-3 ti...
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Thrilled Lady (Midori Midorikawa Boss Theme) - No More Heroes 3 OST
Artist/Composer(s): Nobuaki Kaneko, Jun Fukuda, DJ2nd, Kazuhiro "MEEBEE" & Tony Astro.Support the artists here:MEEBEE: https://kazuhiroabo.bandcamp.com/Tony ...
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Also, my favorite boss in Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX - Remastered OST - The Other Promise.
CREDIT GOES TO Cyberman65 for the rip.
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That elevates a meh fight?
The Emperor in Ninja Gaiden is pretty meh with some suspect flying around mechanic and weird bullet hell stuff going on. But the song is an all time banger:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cel-V-i4ZIM
edit:
Oni got some bangers as well but at least the fights were decent in themselves
Against Mukade the ninja
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g71I3SJ-mBM
The final boss
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocfDcFNKUaw
The Emperor in Ninja Gaiden is pretty meh with some suspect flying around mechanic and weird bullet hell stuff going on. But the song is an all time banger:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cel-V-i4ZIM
edit:
Oni got some bangers as well but at least the fights were decent in themselves
Against Mukade the ninja
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g71I3SJ-mBM
The final boss
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocfDcFNKUaw
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87nkWPZ_UMI&ab_channel=XHolyPuffX
How this hasn't been posted yet is beyond me.
This is the first one I can remember.
I got you:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6z-UuwnJ90
As for my choice, this is what sold me on Skies of Arcadia:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj34EB7Jz_M
It was the first time I heard a song change as you progress in battle depending on how it is going. The middle part plays when you have characters at low health or knocked out. The last part plays as the boss has low health. It was very inspiring.