No matter where Samus goes, a planet usually blows up because of her. But at least she has great music to listen to. PRNEWSFOTO / Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Boss battle themes worth listening to
Published: 2/3/2013 6:00 AM
Last Modified: 2/3/2013 2:22 AM
While I do enjoy good story in a video game, I am a sucker for great video game music. If you give me great music while I’m hacking and slashing my way through demons or stopping an alien queen before a planet blows up around me, I will either A: Go look on the internet for said song or B: Play the level over multiple times just to hear it again. If you wanting your ears to be pleased with you please give these choices of boss battle themes a listen.
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within – At War With Kaileena
Kaileena was a very worthy opponent for the Prince of Persia. She was fast, had magical powers and was as deadly with two swords as the Prince himself. What made the fight even more dreadful for the Prince was that it was a fight he perhaps didn’t want to kill his opponent. During the fight, he wanted to save the Princess rather than flat out kill her because killing her would release the fabled Sands of Time; something he was desperately trying to undo. This song really encompassed the feeling of trying to fight against the tide of overwhelming odds.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – Final Boss Music
This was perhaps the boss battle that really was the beginning of it for me. Sonic battles with Dr. Robotnik were pretty funny up to this point. He’d fight Robotnik in a drill. He’d fight him in some sort of machine that was surrounded by balloon clones. The point being, there were all pretty quirky up until the final boss fight. Once you got to the last boss in Sonic 3, Robotnik had a pretty terrifying contraption for you. It was an Egg Machine with giant hands that would slam you to the floor if it grabbed you so full frontal assaults were a no go. It had spikes on its head, so no attacks from the top and with the thrusters, you couldn’t attack from behind. You had to have finesse and hit it in the center but slightly elevated above the hands and below the spikes. Looking at it now, it looks like a fairly simple fight, but back then as a very hyper kid, it was a test of patience and the music with it made the experience more dreadful and very appropriate for the match at hand.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Ganondorf Battle
Link’s first adventure in 3D was an epic one and players had grown accustomed to a certain style of play during the adventure. When Ganondorf readies himself for battle against The Hero of Time, he sends out dark energy that prevents your fairy friend, Navi, from targeting him. So your epic tennis match of doom with the Dark Lord was one of depth-perception, timing and precision. It was a scary thought of being hit by Ganondorf’s dark energy and it hurt even more when you heard Link’s screams of agony after taking a direct hit. It was a sound you didn’t ever want to hear again, so you tried oh so harder to succeed and the accompaniment of Koji Kondo’s score with this battle made the epic match just that.
Infinity Blade – The God King Battle Theme
The God King was a pretty evil character to take on. He killed your father and you were there to avenge him. If you died, then his son would come to avenge him. If he died, then the cycle would continue so on and so forth. The man was killing your family for a reason; he was just that good. The man was fast and he hit hard. If you were lucky enough to land a few hits on him, he would disarm you and give you a choice: join him or continue the fight. If you decided to continue then “IMPUDENT CHILD!” he would scream and then he would go at you even harder. It was such a grueling fight, there were times I had to pause and think to myself: “Did I even want to continue fighting him?” The God King’s battle theme is went along perfect with the fight because is encompassed the vengeful fight between knights and at times made you question your resolve to continue the fight. (Note: The full song is called Raidriar, but the full version of the song was not heard until Infinity Blade II. The selection I have given is what is heard in Infinity Blade.)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes – Escape from Dark Aether
Samus can’t catch a break traveling to planets. He adventures usually ends with her trying to get off world before the planet blows up from under her. In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, it was given a new twist. Dark Samus confronts you one more time to halt you from escaping. It even has a great set up. As you stare each other down, you both point your gun arms at each other in an almost saluting fashion. So not only do you have to defeat your greatest foe, you have to do it in less than eight minutes. The fight is tough enough, but with the looming planetary destruction over your head, you have to make sure every shot counts and hits its target. The feeling was one of panic and the escape theme definitely fits the moment. It is a boss battle theme that one will never forget.
There are many other great boss battle themes out there, so go ahead and sound off in the comments below if I left out any of your favorites.
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Written by
Chris Moore
Web Production Tech
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