History HeartbeatSoundtrack / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'':
** During the NoGearLevel StealthBasedMission in Eldin Volcano, a heartbeat plays over the soundtrack if you get too close to a Bokoblin. Useful if you can't see where he is and need to get to cover.
** When you're at low health during a fight with a regular enemy, one of the percussion tracks switches to a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1-jRQg8icw&t=2m30s heartbeat-like rhythm]].

** Heard [[spoiler:at the very end of a Genocide run, when the Fallen Child speaks to you directly.]]
** Additionally, the song "Heartache" [[spoiler:that plays when you fight Toriel]] has a distinct, heartbeat-like bass.
** The song "But the Earth Refused to Die" features a heartbeat playing in the background. It's poignant for the scene considering that [[spoiler:Undyne is fighting for her life after a blow that should have killed her instantly. Adding her monologue's words about being able to feel everyone's hearts beating as one really drives the theme home]].

** World X-7 has no soundtrack but a heartbeat.

* ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'': the planet [[WombLevel Globin]]. The DS version sounded like breathing that got more frantic as the playing field filled up. ''Wars'' takes this more literally with faint heartbeat in the background. It ''is'' shaped like a red blood cell...
* ''VideoGame/Mother3'' utilizes this to the player's advantage: When an enemy is put to sleep, a heartbeat track in sync with the current battle music plays very prominently, making it easier to pull off combo attacks. This can be especially helpful for tracks where the beat isn't quite obvious, or ones that have an unusual time signature. The only exceptions to this are the fights against [[spoiler:the Masked Man]], who apparently lacks a heartbeat (and their song is in ''[[UncommonTime twenty-nine sixteenths time]]''). Also used as an [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic indicator that things are getting serious]] when the Ultimate Chimera is around; the music doesn't change, but you hear Lucas' heartbeat speed up as the beast closes in on him and his party.
* In ''VideoGame/RiskOfRain'' the main theme has a heartbeat segment somewhere, although you likely won't hear it without a headset.
* In ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown 1'', The first part of Amakusa's stage theme is a really creepy sounding heartbeat. Creatively, arranged soundtracks replaced this with slow, steady taiko drums.
* ''[[VideoGame/ModernWarfare Call of Duty 4]]'': In the last moments of Pvt. Jackson's life after the nuke goes off, all you can hear is the gusting wind and his own heartbeat.
* ''[[VideoGame/GoldenEye1997 GoldenEye]]'': The Facility theme at one point features a sudden drop in volume, leaving nothing but a faint heartbeat, before gradually returning to normal.
* From ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', the track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrIbeivp_fs Fires of Hokkai"]] (from ''VideoGame/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject'') starts with a heavy drumbeat layered over a sample of a heartbeat, leading up to the final boss.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' play a heartbeat sound in the background when your character's health is extremely low. The "Level Up" four-beat military drum tune sounds like a heartbeat as well.
* The first two entries in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series plays a heavy heartbeat sound when the player character is low on health, the third game to a lesser extent. Also in the first two games, the background soundtrack playing during the culmination of a potential romance employs an instrumental version of this to increase the drama of the interaction.
* ''VideoGame/OracleOfTao'' has it in a few significant times. Several of them are romantic scenes, however, there are two major instances where it is used in a non-romantic setting:
** The first is when the main character, Ambrosia has an [[CessationOfExistence existence crisis]], and start to fade away. She remembers her friends, and this sound happens right as as she winks back into being.
** The second is a steadily slowing heartbeat [[spoiler: when Ambrosia dies of old age.]]
* The track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-bOEGPIp50 Spooky Scape]] from ''VisualNovel/SayaNoUta'' has a heartbeat in the background. It plays throughout most of the song, but it's difficult to notice except towards the end.
* The ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' series' generally haunting soundtrack does this from time to time, for example in the themes for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRO90fENgi8 Sea of Darkness]] and ([[WombLevel appropriately]]) Heart of The Foe.

* The ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' PC game had this and only this for its soundtrack.

* A song used in ''Franchise/TombRaider 2'' and ''3'' (and 1 in the PC version) is mainly composed of a heartbeat along with some other HellIsThatNoise sounds.
* ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}'' handled it pretty masterfully -- the heartbeat's speed increases as you take out asteroids.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', the theme of [[BigBad Sephiroth]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rV40ypje7o "Those Chosen by the Planet"]] makes use of a pulsating heartbeat, along with synth vocals. It's also there in his other two themes, "The Birth of a God" and "One-Winged Angel". Although it's drowned out by the other instruments.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9GiE8W5E6E "The Landing"]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' starts by playing a slow heartbeat. In this case it likely signifies the calm before the battle.
** You can hear a heartbeat pounding as time slows down in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' with Tidus's overdrive Blitz Ace.
* From ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Hu6rl0mAQ "Pulse."]]
* The aptly titled ''Heartbeats'' from online game ''[[VideoGame/ColourMySeries Colour My Heart]]'' uses this.
* ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim 1'' has a heartbeat in the music for its 'Intestinal Distress' level (for the Sega Genesis version).

* The main theme of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', ''Nerevar Rising''. This actually has an in-game justification of sorts: the MacGuffin of the main quest is [[spoiler:an actual gigantic heart, belonging to the dead god Lorkhan]].
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' has ''In the dead of Night'' which plays during the intro.
* ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'''s GhostShip theme prominently features a heartbeat. The game also has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3OBdikPirs Political Pressure]], which is featured in areas like Fiery Gorge, Cave of Darkness, and the Chartmoon Tower.
* Whenever you get near [[spoiler:Champion's Road on the World Crown map]] of ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld'', you will know how challenging the level may be when you hear the heartbeats.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darius}} Force'' has this for the final boss theme of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUb085FvQ-k Galst Vic]]
* The briefing for the final mission of ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' has the faint sounds of a heartbeat and machinery in place of the usual soundtrack.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sePNmYPclVU Both]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIN0a-MVmPA versions]] of the hotel in ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', and the MeatMoss-covered alternate hospital patient wing in ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'', as heard in the OST track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP2rcupAflE "Heads No. 2."]] The series as a whole uses heartbeat-like controller vibrations [[CriticalAnnoyance when the hero's health is low]].
* Used as a low-health warning of sorts in ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'', along with [[InterfaceScrew desaturated graphics]] and [[BackgroundMusicOverride muffled standard game sounds]].
* The boss theme for Tubba Blubba's Heart in ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' has the sound of a heart beating play just before the song loops.
* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'':
** Some puzzle segments (often timed) that have to be solved without leaving the area use a minimal soundtrack with a bass played in a heartbeat pattern.
** The first ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' has one in Tallon Overworld's second theme.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' uses this in basically all the music on Dark Aether. Heartbeats also appear in the Title Screen and Agon Wastes music.

* The UseFulNotes/{{SNES}} port of ''VideoGame/{{Populous}}'' had a heartbeat superimposed on the game's ambient music track. The heartbeat played at about 120 beats per minute as long as the computer player wasn't winning by a large margin over the human player. If it was, the heart rate would increase as the computer [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic came closer and closer to victory]] and decrease if the human player made a comeback. The heart rate capped at a ridiculous 480 BPM, just before the computer wiped the human player off the map, and stopped completely when the human player lost their last follower.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonSnap'', a heartbeat sound is heard when Mew is separated from its camera-obscuring bubble in the Rainbow Cloud, the final stage of the game.
* ''VideoGame/HeyYouPikachu''. Toward the end of the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGk9icjuh2M "Goodbye Forever Pikachu,"]] soft beats resembling Pikachu's heartbeats play, to [[TearJerker heartbreaking effect]]. This theme is reused in ''Hey You, Pikachu!'''s SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/PokemonChannel'', as the track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niQDdtaAtjY Stargazing]]."
* In the adult anime PC game ''VideoGame/BraveSoul'', a pulsing heartbeat sound is played during Marin's sex scene.
* In ''VideoGame/CustomRobo'', a heartbeat sound is used for Rahu's chamber.

* In ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'', a heartbeat is heard during the part where you're in an elevator with Alice and you must leave it to turn the power back on again.
* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven GO Chrono Stone'' had one of Tenma's first new dribble hissatsu called "Aggresive Beat" which involves him clutching his chest as he feels his heartbeat, then using it to get past his opponent.
* In ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL'', you will hear heartbeat sounds when attempting a [[DownToTheLastPlay last-second]] potential game-winning field goal. Probably used to show how nerve-wracking such situations are for the kicker.
* Heard in ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'' if your oxygen runs low in the Mars Maze. In all cases, an EKG {{flatline}} sound is heard when Gage dies or otherwise gets GameOver.
* Some of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[='s=] soundtrack pieces, like ''VideoGame/Halo2''[='s=] "Destroyer's Invocation" and ''VideoGame/Halo3''[='s=] "Dread Intrusion".
* ''VideoGame/{{Desire}}'' has a music track like this, appropriately enough named "Beat".
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'':
** During the NoGearLevel StealthBasedMission in Eldin Volcano, a heartbeat plays over the soundtrack if you get too close to a Bokoblin. Useful if you can't see where he is and need to get to cover.
** When you're at low health during a fight with a regular enemy, one of the percussion tracks switches to a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1-jRQg8icw&t=2m30s heartbeat-like rhythm]].
* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'', the last few seconds of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l26RYMtD6U Alexander's Suicide]]" are coupled up with LastNoteNightmare, as they are incurred by [[spoiler:Alex]]'s heartbeat slowing down to a stop [[spoiler:via "Drink Me" potion]].
* The UsefulNotes/{{Intellivision}} game ''VideoGame/NightStalker'' had a constant heartbeat sound in the background.
* In ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'', a heartbeat plays if you swim when there is a Lurker Shark in the water. It get faster the closer the shark gets.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona|1}}'' for the Playstation, the track "Awakening" (played when someone calls their Persona for the first time) has a brief period in the beginning with and obvious heartbeat sound. It continues through the remainder of the song in a more subdued form. Sadly, this song, like most of the others, wasn't retained in the UpdatedRerelease.
* ''VideoGame/{{Abuse}}'' uses this as a CriticalAnnoyance.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' has two versions in some of the "room transition" cutscenes. The more ponderate one happens when it's implied that something scary will happen in the room you're entering, and [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic a much faster and more frantic version]] plays over every transition after the SelfDestructMechanism of the day gets activated.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXp3vlp7tDo "Cold Sweat"]] from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''.
* In the ''[[VideoGame/ExaPico Ar tonelico]]'' series, some of the songs, such as EXEC_SPHILIA/. and both versions of Rustling Throb have heartbeats as part of either the main melody or as background sounds. Even one of the soundtracks' bonus songs, Planet Gene, opens and closes off with the sound of heartbeat.
* The soundtrack of ''VideoGame/MondoMedicals'' consists entirely of heavy breathing and what appears to be a heartbeat.
* The aptly-named [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UudhhjcJBU&list=PL99A48B2F81EF3B2F "A Heartbeat Away"]] track from ''VideoGame/MystIII'', which plays as you explore J'nanin.
* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' has the tower of Latria; the heartbeat is the only sound you hear the entire time in the second zone. No wonder: the heart in question is approximately the size of a ''large house'', swollen by demonic infestation, suspended in the middle of the place by heavy chains. [[NauseaFuel Appropriately sickening.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'' has the CriticalAnnoyance type.
* In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', activating BulletTime will start with a 'crack' kind of sound effect, then drown out the soundtrack, backing the action with dull, measured heartbeats while it is in effect.
* The FMV shooter ''Blood Bath'' has a pulsing bass soundtrack [[CriticalAnnoyance that gets faster as you take damage]].
* The [[GameMod Rom Hack]] ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie: Film/{{Eraserhead}} Edition'' (requested by the WebVideo/GameGrumps as a joke, but then a bunch of people actually made it), has, per the request "No music, but a heartbeat. And, like, a couple arguing in the background".

* ''Franchise/FarCry'' has this during ShellShockSilence moments.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'': it seems that [[BleakLevel The Gutter]] and Black Gulch have this as background music, but closer observations reveal that the beating noise is actually produced by those [[GoddamnBats goddamn poison shooting statues]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgm24MNQigg ''Distorted Evolution'']] from ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' features the heartbeat rhythm.
* ''VideoGame/YuGiOhNightmareTroubadour'''s shadow duelist ambush music, "Card as Blade," features drums akin to a sped-up heart rate—which the player will likely be feeling as well if it's a hard duelist.
* One of the puzzles in ''VideoGame/DarkFall: Lost Souls'' involves selecting several increasingly-arrhythmic HeartbeatSoundtrack sound clips in sequence, to re-create the impression of someone succumbing to heart failure.
* In the character creation screen of ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion'', a slow, faint heartbeat can be heard as part of the background music. Very fitting, as the player is floating around in [[PeopleJars a test tube]] and barely showing any signs of consciousness until you customize them.

* A loud, slow heartbeat is heard alongside the background music in the final level of ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', but only in the main area. Appropriate, as [[spoiler:the level takes place inside the Blot's body, and it's Mickey's stolen heart that's beating.]]
* Plays a major role in ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'', where it acts as the survivors' signal that the killer is near them. When the killer starts actively chasing you, the heartbeat melds into a tense musical track that slowly calms down once you break line of sight.
* ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}'' has "Untamed Heart" which is accompanied by a faint heartbeat through the whole song.
* Invoked in ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' II's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfA99w09zss briefing theme]], which features a heartbeat-like synth that plays through the entire track if you listen carefully.
* ''Tiny Invaders'' is a WombLevel game where you help the titular aliens infect various humans from their legs up to the brains over the course of fifteen levels per human. What plays in the background changes every five levels as your infection spreads: A steady heartbeat is prominently heard in the first five levels, but is replaced by techno noise and what sounds like a fast motor in the background for the next five. The final five levels (starting, appropriately enough, ''just after'' the level whose icon features the heart) have deep and slow ominous, string tones with a quiet, arrhythmic heartbeat-like noise in the background.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Flashback}}'', the [[HiveMind Ultra Mind]] has a heartbeat that increases in speed the more you damage it.
* A heartbeat sound plays in ''VideoGame/LittleNightmares'' whenever Six gets close to a monster, and it becomes faster and louder when she gets spotted and chased.
* The song "[[https://youtu.be/Wp0OId0KZ4U Merure Merure]]" from ''VideoGame/LocoRoco'' has a heartbeat playing in the background during the beginning, which is fitting since the song plays while you're [[WombLevel in the innards of the]] BigBad.
* Parodied in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. Go watch Jimmy play the in-universe [[VideoGame/CallofDuty CoD]] spoof game ''Righteous Slaughter 7'' in his bedroom when controlling Michael and you'll hear this gem of a line.
--> '''MissionControl:''' I can hear your heartbeat, stop getting shot!
* ''VideoGame/RayStorm'' uses this in the pre-FinalBoss cue, appropriately titled "Heart Land" on the soundtrack.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'', this is one of the many sound effects the player can put in their levels.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' during the Pokemon World Tournament Finals, a heartbeat can be heard at the start of the battle music.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'': A heartbeat can be heard in Giratina's battle theme. As a remix of its theme from ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Platinum]]'', it also includes a section that leads up to the sound of a heart monitor flatlining, during which the heartbeat is clearly audible until it stops.
* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': A heartbeat plays whenever Bendy is close by, signaling the player to hide.
* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': When Omori comes back to [[MentalWorld White Space]] at the end of the day a faint heartbeat can be heard in the background. [[spoiler: It stops every time Omori stabs himself to wake up as Sunny in Faraway Town.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the music stops and is replaced by a heartbeat on two occasions in the Black Eagles route- when you decide whether to go to Enbarr with Edelgard and [[spoiler:if you attend Edelgard's coronation, when you decide whether to side with Edelgard in the Holy Tomb.]]
* Outside of some jingles, ''VideoGame/{{Baraduke}}'' has no BGM, just a faint heartbeat in the background that becomes slightly faster when you're on your last energy point.
* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': Berdly's BattleThemeMusic, "Smart Race", has a heartbeat-esque beat in the background. [[spoiler:On the Weird/Snowgrave Route, in his second fight, it is replaced with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoVUAOtwjgU a far slower and more menacing remix]] that brings the heartbeat to the foreground. Considering that all of his usual bluster is absent due to him being horrified by what you've done with Noelle and knowing full well that he's fighting for his life, it's very fitting]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Glider}} 4.0''[='s=] in-game music consists mainly of one bass note played in a syncopated rhythm that speeds up if you remain in one room for more than a certain time.
* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'' has a heartbeat soundtrack accompanying the DeathsHourglass cutscenes between levels. Later on, [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic the heartbeat is replaced by a more urgent-sounding piano ostinato]] following the same rhythm, and if time runs out, resulting in the Princess's death, it slows to a halt, followed by a funeral dirge.

* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'' has a heartbeat soundtrack accompanying the DeathsHourglass cutscenes between levels. Later on, [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic the heartbeat is replaced by a more urgent-sounding piano note]] following the same rhythm, and if time runs out, resulting in the Princess's death, it slows to a halt, followed by a funeral dirge.

* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'' has a heartbeat soundtrack accompanying the DeathsHourglass cutscenes between levels. Later on, [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic the heartbeat is replaced by a more urgent-sounding chime-like instrument]], and if time runs out, resulting in the Princess's death, it slows to a halt, followed by a funeral dirge.

* In the character creation screen of ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' Octo Expansion, a slow, faint heartbeat can be heard as part of the background music. Very fitting, as the player is floating around in [[PeopleJars a test tube]] and barely shows any signs of consciousness until you customize them.

** Heard [[spoiler:at the very end of a KillEmAll run, when the Fallen Child speaks to you directly.]]

* ''VideoGame/DiceyDungeons'' "Prepare to Dice" is an ominous track with a heartbeat in the foreground and [[DroneOfDread an unsettling hum]] in the background, which plays whenever [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic your health is low]] or [[BossWarningSiren you're approaching a boss fight]].

* ''DarthWiki/{{Eversion}}'':

* ''[[VideoGame/InazumaEleven Inazuma Eleven GO Chrono Stone]]'' had one of Tenma's first new dribble hissatsu called "Aggresive Beat" which involves him clutching his chest as he feels his heartbeat, then using it to get past his opponent.

* ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' has the tower of Latria, which takes this trope UpToEleven by having said heartbeat being the only sound you hear the entire time in the second zone. No wonder: the heart in question is approximately the size of a ''large house'', swollen by demonic infestation, suspended in the middle of the place by heavy chains. [[NauseaFuel Appropriately sickening.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Hitman2016'', a faint heartbeat can be heard when you are in close proximity to a target.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gynophobia}}'': You start hearing a heartbeat whenever the PlayerCharacter sees either a spider or a girl.
* ''VideoGame/Mother3'' utilizes this to the player's advantage: When an enemy is put to sleep, a heartbeat track in sync with the current battle music plays very prominently, making it easier to pull off combo attacks. This can be especially helpful for tracks where the beat isn't quite obvious, or ones that have an unusual time signature. The only exceptions to this are the fights against [[spoiler:the Masked Man]], who apparently lacks a heartbeat (and their song is in ''[[UncommonTime twenty-nine sixteenths time]]''). Also used as an [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic indicator that things are getting serious]] when the Ultimate Chimera is around; the music doesn't change, but you hear Lucas' heartbeat speed up as the beast closes in on him and his party.
* ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'': the planet [[WombLevel Globin]]. The DS version sounded like breathing that got more frantic as the playing field filled up. ''Wars'' takes this more literally with faint heartbeat in the background. It ''is'' shaped like a red blood cell...

* In ''Dungeons Of Daggorath'', the heartbeat represents your health/stamina. As you use your weapon, run or take damage, the heartbeat goes faster and faster, until the screen fades to black. If you are fighting a monster at the time, you die. As you go deeper into the dungeon, your heartbeat increases more slowly.

* ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' has a song called "Healing Vision" that, near the end of the song, has a heartbeat segment. The song at this point slows from 196 BPM to 49 (and yes, you step on the panels in time with the heartbeats). [[ThatOneBoss "Healing Vision -Angelic Mix-"]] has heartbeat segments at the very beginning and at the very end, and [=ECG=] beeping for the rest, with a {{flatline}} at the pause and last section of the song.

* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': [[spoiler: On the Weird/Snowgrave Route, Berdly's usual battle theme is replaced with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoVUAOtwjgU this]]. Considering that all of his usual bluster is absent due to him being horrified by what you've done with Noelle and knowing full well that he's fighting for his life, it's very fitting.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'': the planet [[WombLevel Globin]]. Well, it ''is'' shaped like a red blood cell...

* From ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', the track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrIbeivp_fs Fires of Hokkai"]] (from ''VideoGame/TouhouSeirensenUndefinedFantasticObject'') starts with a heavy drumbeat similar to this, leading up to the final boss.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hitman 2016}}'', a faint heartbeat can be heard when you are in close proximity to a target.

* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' utilizes this to the player's advantage: When an enemy is put to sleep, a heartbeat track in sync with the current battle music plays very prominently, making it easier to pull off combo attacks. This can be especially helpful for tracks where the beat isn't quite obvious, or ones that have an unusual time signature. The only exceptions to this are the fights against [[spoiler:the Masked Man]], who apparently lacks a heartbeat (and their song is in ''[[UncommonTime twenty-nine sixteenths time]]''). Also used as an [[SongsInTheKeyOfPanic indicator that things are getting serious]] when the Ultimate Chimera is around; the music doesn't change, but you hear Lucas' heartbeat speed up as the beast closes in on him and his party.
* ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' -- the planet [[WombLevel Globin]]. Well, it ''is'' shaped like a red blood cell...

* From ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'', the track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrIbeivp_fs Fires of Hokkai"]] (from ''Undefined Fantastic Object'') starts with a heavy drumbeat similar to this, leading up to the final boss.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' play a heartbeat sound in the background when your character's health is extremely low. The "Level Up" four-beat military drum tune sounds like a heartbeat as well.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' uses two distinct heartbeats with a BGMOverride for dramatic effect in the final portal shot of the game.

* ''[[{{VideoGame/Inazuma Eleven}} Inazuma Eleven GO Chrono Stone]]'' had one of Tenma's first new dribble hissatsu called "Aggresive Beat" which involves him clutching his chest as he feels his heartbeat, then using it to get past his opponent.

* Some of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[='s=] soundtrack pieces, like ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''[='s=] "Destroyer's Invocation" and ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}''[='s=] "Dread Intrusion".

* In ''Videogame/JakAndDaxter'', a heartbeat plays if you swim when there is a Lurker Shark in the water. It get faster the closer the shark gets.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Superman 64}} Superman]]'' for the Nintendo 64, a heartbeat sound starts playing when Superman's health gets low.

* ''Videogame/{{Klonoa}}'' has "Untamed Heart" which is accompanied by a faint heartbeat through the whole song.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry'' has this during ShellShockSilence moments.

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': When Omori comes back to [[MentalWorld White Space]] at the end of the day a faint heartbeat can be heard in the background. [[spoiler: It stops every time that Omori stabs himself to wake up as Sunny in Faraway Town.]]

* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': A heartbeat plays whenever Bendy is close by, signalling the player to hide.