Board 8 > What are some iconic video game music from fairly random parts of a game?

(+) Yeah! (+)

A video game can have hours of tracks but the most iconic are generally in the same parts of the game. For most games, it's the title screen/menu/"theme" of the game (eg Halo theme) or especially in the case of platformers, the first area/hub (eg World 1-1, Green Hill Zone, etc). Especially for RPGs and action adventures, you have battle/boss music (eg One Winged Angel) or emotional/character theme (eg Zelda's lullaby). For some games, you also have the credits (eg Still Alive).

What are some iconic themes from fairly random parts of a game? Not counting sound effects like a 1-Up sound. Some of the top of my head:

Song of Storms - OoT
One of the most iconic Zelda themes is from a random windmill in Kakariko. Yeah, it's still somewhat remembered today for the time paradox but it serves very little plot purpose beyond only being needed to drain the well and you spend a total of maybe 5 minutes in the place. Also, Gerudo Valley from OoT fits too.

Coconut Mall - Mario Kart Wii
Second course of the Flower cup and thanks to memes, definitely the most recognizable Mario Kart song.

Gourmet Race - Kirby Super Stars
One of the less popular minigames in Kirby Super Stars. At this point, the track's more popular because of Smash than its original game.

Lavender Town - RBY
One of the most iconic Pokemon themes thanks to Creepypastas. I wouldn't say Lavender Town is random and forgettable per se, but it's not a beginning area, ending area nor is it particularly climactic.

Gusty Garden Galaxy - SMG
I haven't played SMG, but I was surprised to hear it's not the first area like with World 1-1 or Bob-omb Battlefield.

All of Super Mario Bros 1?
There's only a few real tracks in the first Mario game, so I'm not sure if this even counts.

Blitzball - FFX

Homebrew Channel - Wii

Hip Shop - Deltarune

idk if Hope from Umineko is iconic but that's the first thing that came to mind.

Skies of Arcadia - Ixa'taka Village is a random village and nothing super important happens there.

the two things that immediately came to mind were

Super Mario RPG - Beware the Forest Mushrooms
Donkey Kong Country 2 - Stickerbush Symphony

First thing that came to mind is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQtzIAmlkj0

Unassuming little casual card game with horses. You can raise dozens of horses before you get one that's impressive enough to even attempt the game's equivalent of the Kentucky Derby. And all the music in the game is fairly barebones otherwise.

But then you get there, and suddenly this theme that wouldn't be out of place in a Final Fantasy boss fight hits you out of nowhere.

Lavender Town was my first thought. Hrm, Resident Evil save room music, I guess?

I thought it was kind of weird that the "main" Objection theme for Phoenix Wright is the one that only first appeared in the third game of the series. And it was first used by Mia, technically...

The post-OT games have enough remixes of songs from the first game, so it was a good call!

Gusty Garden is a great shout, a totally nondescript level with music that was so banging it became the de facto theme of the subseries!

Fisherman's Horizon from FF8 is the first thing I can think of.

Wily Stage 1 from Mega Man 2 came to mind first. I mean, I don't know if it completely fits, considering it kicks off the final act of the game, but it's not the last stage or the final battle.

Also, I'm pretty sure more people know Guile's Theme than anything else from Street Fighter.

Baka Mitai from Yakuza?

The ultimate example is Rave On from Killer7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJO8uo3UMko

This plays in a hallway you spend like 10 seconds in before boss fights.

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

This plays in a hallway you spend like 10 seconds in before boss fights.

In a similar vein, the Cynthia pre-battle music from Pokemon DPP. It's not even her actual battle theme, it just plays for a few seconds in the room she's standing in. And then returns as the final boss theme of Legends Arceus.

Maybe not "iconic" per se but one of the best songs in Okami (a game full of incredible songs) plays in a literal shack that you spend a very short amount of time in.

https://youtu.be/IL_NMd6TNQQ

hope - umineko

Big Bob posted...

Wily Stage 1 from Mega Man 2 came to mind first. I mean, I don't know if it completely fits, considering it kicks off the final act of the game, but it's not the last stage or the final battle.

You know what the TC was asking and this is clearly not that.

Portal 2 - Triple Laser Phaser immediately comes to mind.

Whole soundtrack was incredible both as songs and with their in-game application.

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

You know what the TC was asking and this is clearly not that.

Why not
Wily Stage 1 being "just another MM level" is not different from Lavender Town being "just another Pokemon town"
And Wily Stage 1 is iconic

Last boss levels are intended to have epic tunes, even if it's the first stage of many

I'd say 'You Will Know Our Names' counts for Xenoblade since it gets way more praise than the actual boss theme does.

Actually, Unfinished Battle is probably the better Xenoblade example since it only plays once in the entire game and you don't even get to hear it loop.

Nanis23 posted...

Why not
Wily Stage 1 being "just another MM level" is not different from Lavender Town being "just another Pokemon town"
And Wily Stage 1 is iconic

Wily stages in Mega Man are given special significance within the context of the game, they're not "just another level". Just because "final boss's level" was not one of the examples listed in the first post doesn't mean that it counts. It's obviously against the spirit of the topic.

Not sure if it counts but many incredible and iconic tracks in open world RPGs are found by randomly exploring. I'm thinking of games like Oblivion, WoW or RuneScape.

heal from Ico
just plays on the save screen

DuckTales - The Moon

HeroDelTiempo17 posted...

The ultimate example is Rave On from Killer7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJO8uo3UMko

This plays in a hallway you spend like 10 seconds in before boss fights.

The Stickerbush Symphony remix in Tropical Freeze is similar to this. It plays in the beginning of a rocket barrel level and you'll hear it for all of 10 seconds or less unless you purposely wait around. But of course, it's a remix of an already iconic track.

https://youtu.be/9SLOGs9ttiE

If Gusty Garden is getting shout outs, Buoy Base damn sure better be too!

https://youtu.be/UPaXqK3GNFI

I feel like a ton of the Perfect Dark and GoldenEye soundtracks fit the bill.

https://youtu.be/UV3RC2sDwQs

I would argue Clash on the Big Bridge from FFV

Namesake bridge segment comes very suddenly
Gets attached to a comedic recurring boss
Becomes one of the most beloved songs in the series

Cave Story - Moonsong

squexa posted...

Song of Storms - OoT
One of the most iconic Zelda themes is from a random windmill in Kakariko. Yeah, it's still somewhat remembered today for the time paradox but it serves very little plot purpose beyond only being needed to drain the well and you spend a total of maybe 5 minutes in the place. Also, Gerudo Valley from OoT fits too.

One thing that also helps SoS is the fact that you come out of an incredibly spooky part of the game (Dampe's grave) and start hearing this song and it almost doesn't help the creepiness.

I'd almost say not to Gerudo Valley since one of the spots it plays at is in front of a temple, but the slightly weird aspect is it like... doesn't play in two locations inbetween the two places it does.

Oh great thread idea.

OK here's one. Endless Mine, from one stage of Sonic 3's often forgotten time trial mode. At least, it would be forgotten, except for how good this song is--often considered one of the best Sonic tracks ever!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=834mlIrwaBA

Hope from Umineko might be the best example.

The Blue Badger remix from Ace Attorney Investigations 1 is an absolute bop. It only plays once in the early part of Case 3, and it's easy to just progress to the next part in about 15 seconds and miss most of the song.

oh screw everything else, I just remember Spade's Theme in F-Zero GX exists

https://youtu.be/tEyHle4bulk

exclusively on a character description screen

_SecretSquirrel posted...

The Blue Badger remix from Ace Attorney Investigations 1 is an absolute bop. It only plays once in the early part of Case 3, and it's easy to just progress to the next part in about 15 seconds and miss most of the song.

I thought about this one. I like it, but I don't think it's regarded as a top tier track.

fisherman's horizon - ff8

MITORIA BORQUE SONDAL ~ PAYSARZE is a non-combat song that plays in an area where you spend as much time grinding in combat as possible

Dunno how many of the answers in this thread even count as iconic, but I'll offer another one.

In Link's Awakening, the game takes place on an 8x8 grid. If you just happen to go to the top two rows, Tal Tal Heights plays. This does include the final two dungeons and the Wind Fish's Egg itself, but it isn't inherently an endgame song. You can get there as soon as you complete dungeon 1. It also tends to cut off well before it reaches the end, just based on your movements.

StartTheMachine posted...

oh screw everything else, I just remember Spade's Theme in F-Zero GX exists

https://youtu.be/tEyHle4bulk

exclusively on a character description screen

Spade's theme is definitely really good, but I feel like Blood Falcon's theme is a bit more iconic. I see it mentioned a lot more than Spade's and similarly exists tucked away on his bio screen.

EDIT: Actually let's just say every good character theme applies. I just remembered Dr. Stewart's Theme also feels pretty iconic of the game.

Eternal Harvest from FFIX

"We have this giant ass sandstorm protecting us. How do we strengthen it? BY RIVERDANCE WHAT ELSE?"

FFIX also has Daguerreo Library and Dali: subtle town themes that get overlooked because other great stuff.

Also this one from Xenosaga menu and Casino. God this got me through that card game so hard.

https://youtu.be/-Rsj8Q_WB_8

Esuriat posted...

Spade's theme is definitely really good, but I feel like Blood Falcon's theme is a bit more iconic. I see it mentioned a lot more than Spade's and similarly exists tucked away on his bio screen.

EDIT: Actually let's just say every good character theme applies. I just remembered Dr. Stewart's Theme also feels pretty iconic of the game.

Yeah, there's a bunch that are great and it's absurd they put so much work into character profiles. Honestly, I probably wouldn't call a single one "iconic" though. That answer was just heavy bias and nostalgia on my part. Spade's Theme was definitely my favorite track in the game and I'd go to his page just to listen to it all the time as a kid.

SM64 doesn't have a big soundtrack but DDD might fit this.

On that note from the above post, I could say Aquatic Ambiance could fit it as well, depending on whether or not you think water stages are expected to have iconic themes (since people generally don't like water stages).

Though in that case, the underwater stages in SMB1 could also count.

Oh yeah, a classic FPS game may seem a weird choice for this since they're often a bunch of random maps but

Doom II - Into Sandy's City https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz3uUNb3S1M

Most people who play Doom II remember this track, as well as MAP09: The Pit which is the only level it plays in.

Route 10, Pokemon Black and White

Oh, Stickerbrush Symphony has to be THE answer to this, right?

I feel like those bramble levels are super memorable on their own though.

Like certainly Stickerbush makes them 10x more memorable, but they're in a very unique environment.

Plus, most would consider the bramble levels to be the most challenging levels. The final mandatory stage is also a bramble stage, and the last hidden stage's most infamous section is the bramble section. I don't think I would consider them that random, even if the first one happens at around the midway point of the game.

I have little experience with DKC