Darwin: “We’re finally strong enough to take on THE AWESOME STORE! Let’s go!”
Gumball: “Wait, don’t you kinda want to hear that awesome battle music one last time?”
–The Amazing World of Gumball, “The Console”
A selection of some of the greatest battle themes in JRPGs. Full disclosure: I haven’t played all of these games.
Xenogears: “Stage of Death” (Yasunori Mitsuda)
The composer’s signature grand style gives this theme a heroic quality.
Chrono Trigger Battle Theme (Mitsuda)
This theme is so good and inspiring, with excellent drums that actually sound like real drums.
Shin Megami Tensei: “Battle” (Tsukasa Masuko)
A theme that rocks in a uniquely funky way.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne – Boss Battle Theme (Shoji Meguro)
We now enter the Meguro section with this theme, my favorite from Nocturne. It perfectly encapsulates the game’s badassedness.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable – “Wiping All Out” (Meguro)
Meguro is very good at adapting to different genres. The music in Persona 3 effectively handles pop and hip-hop, and the battle theme for the female protagonist is a fun, yet cool tune.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey – “The Fear of God” (Meguro)
Now this takes me back to the many hours of grinding. It embodies the desperate struggle to survive in the game’s storyline and gameplay. Some of the best battle themes in games convey the struggle between two (or more) opposing forces. I even like the name of the song, and reminisce about it sometimes.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth – “Light the Fire Up in the Night” (Meguro)
PQ may be an absolute slog to play, but the music is nice. The P3 version rocks pretty hard, and both versions boast excellent singing and catchy raps.
Wild Arms 5: “When the Heart Ignites” (Noriyasu Agematsu)
Wild Arms is a series that I largely missed out on, including 5, but that doesn’t keep me from appreciating this song’s uniquely Western sound.
Unlimited Saga: “Battle Theme 1” (Masashi Hamauzu)
US is the black sheep of a series that is already too unpolished for its own good. Apparently, the game skipped quality assurance, for reasons that I haven’t been able to ascertain (someone get Matt McMuscles on this). But that didn’t stop the game from having this absolute banger of a battle theme. It’s so good that Hamauzu basically reincarnated it for the basic battle theme in Final Fantasy XIII, a song that I love. It seems that he loves his string work.
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest Battle Theme (Ryuji Sasai and Yasuhiro Kawakami)
This humble beginner’s RPG hides this absolute banger, though I didn’t fully appreciate it until it was featured in the seminal Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.
Final Fantasy V: “Battle at the Big Bridge” (Nobuo Uematsu)
We enter our Final Fantasy/Uematsu section with this, a climactic theme for a climactic moment in the game.
Final Fantasy VI: “Dancing Mad” (Uematsu)
A grand composition that stretches past 17 minutes in full (Theatrhythm Final Fantasy used an abridged version) to last the entirety of the final boss sequence, it’s a massive theme that precedes “One-Winged Angel” as a highly stylized and dense piece.
Final Fantasy VII: “Opening/Bombing Mission” (Uematsu)
Just a super cool and driving theme that plays during the game’s opening story scenes and battles.
FFVII: “Let the Battles Begin!” (Uematsu)
Why should the basic battle tune be left out of the fun? It has a militaristic edge that I enjoy, which also befits Cloud’s backstory… right?
FFVII: “One-Winged Angel” (Uematsu)
The first-ever vocal theme in an FF game, this song is epic and iconic (and very long). Despite its heavy reliance on an orchestral sound, it was influenced by the theme from Psycho, and the idea of fusing the styles of Jimi Hendrix and Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.
Final Fantasy VIII: “Force Your Way” (Uematsu)
I think I love this song because of how different it is from the usual JRPG battle theme, even though it has some familiar, tense string work. The organ is unexpected, but welcome.
Blue Dragon: “Release the Seal” (Uematsu)
The counterpart to the so bad it’s good “Eternity” boss theme, “Release” has more orchestral touches that make it sound more like a typical JRPG track, without completely sacrificing the rock edge that Uematsu loves so much. However, I’d argue that “Release” is less memorable than “Eternity”. I played through the whole game and forgot “Release”. Being memorably weird can be a virtue.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars – “Fight Against Monsters” (Yoko Shimomura)
Just a fun theme that feels befitting of the Mario universe.
Live-A-Live: “Megalomania” (Shimomura)
I love how this song just jumps right into the badassedness. The organ riff is a nice touch.
Lufia & the Fortress of Doom Battle Theme (Yasunori Shiono, Aki Zaitsu, and Naomi Kuroda)
How come no one told me about this bass-heavy, funk-filled battle track?
Sweet Home Battle Theme (Junko Tamiya)
I played through this horror RPG quite a bit before I got sick of it and abandoned my playthrough. Certainly a product of its time, but this theme has survived the test of it with its dramatic flair and high-stakes feel. It casts doubt upon your survival, a perfect fit for a horror game.
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