History Main / BattleThemeMusic

** ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'' have thirteen: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Rival, Gym Leader, Team Galactic Grunt, Team Galactic Commander, Cyrus, Dialgia/Palkia, Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf, Legendary Pokémon, Elite Four, Champion. Platinum gave battle themes to Giratina, the Regi trio (again, a rearrangement), Frontier Brain.
** ''Black and White'' have: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Rival, Team Plasma, Gym Leader, Gym Leader's Last Pokémon (which is an arrangement of the main theme), N, Battle Trouble (a song that replaces the [[CriticalAnnoyance incessant beeping]] when your Pokémon's low on health), Elite Four, Reshiram/Zekrom, Final Battle with N, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Goetis/Geechisu]], Battle Subway Trainer, Legendary Pokémon, [[spoiler:Cynthia (which was imported from ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'']]), Strong Wild Pokémon (an arrangement of the normal Wild Pokémon battle theme that's used during night battles), Kyurem (an arrangement of Reshiram/Zekrom's battle theme), and Champion. Bringing the grand total to ''eighteen battle themes''. And the inevitable third version is sure to add ''[[BeyondTheImpossible even more]]''.

* In the ''SyphonFilter'' series, each mission's music has a "danger" or "battle" version, generally a VariableMix. ''Omega Strain'' has different BossBattle themes depending on what terrorist group you're fighting.

* In ''ResidentEvil2'', the musics for the battles with each of Birkin/G's forms share a recurring theme, becoming more intense the more grotesquely it transforms. Other multi-OneWingedAngel-formed bosses in the series, eg Alexia in ''Code Veronica'', also do this.

* The ''{{Pokemon}}'' video game series has developed this structure, including boss musics for Gym Leaders, Rivals, the villain teams, certain Legendary Pokémon, and the "final bosses" (the Elite 4 and Champion battles).

** ''Red'', ''Blue'' and ''Yellow'' had four: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Gym Leader/Elite Four, Champion.
*** Remakes ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'' gave battle music to normal Legendaries, Mewtwo, and Deoxys, the former two being a rearrangement of the normal Wild Pokémon music.
** ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' had nine: Johto Wild Pokémon, Johto Trainer, Team Rocket, Johto Gym Leader/Elite Four, Rival, Champion, and rearrangements of the Wild Pokémon, Trainer and Gym Leader themes from Red, Blue and Yellow. ''Crystal'' added one for the beasts (Raikou, Entei and Suicune).
*** ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'' had sixteen: rearrangements of all nine GS themes, separate themes for Ho-oh and Lugia, three separate rearrangements for the beast trio, a rearrangement of the Hoenn legendary theme, and the Frontier Brain theme from Platinum. The remixed 8-bit versions available with the GB Sounds item technically doubles it.
** ''Ruby'' and ''Sapphire'' had eleven: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Magma/Aqua, Gym Leader, Rival, Archie/Maxie, Legendary Pokémon, Regi trio, Elite Four, Champion, and, lest we forget, the Deoxys theme. Emerald also added two more: Frontier Brain and Mew (the latter a rearrangement of the RBY Pokémon theme).
** ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'' had thirteen: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Rival, Gym Leader, Team Galactic Grunt, Team Galactic Commander, Cyrus, Dialgia/Palkia, Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf, Legendary Pokémon, Elite Four, Champion. Platinum gave battle themes to Giratina, the Regi trio (again, a rearrangement), Frontier Brain.
** ''Black and White'' has: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Rival, Team Plasma, Gym Leader, Gym Leader's Last Pokemon (which is an arrangement of the main theme), N, Battle Trouble (a song that replaces the [[CriticalAnnoyance incessant beeping]] when your Pokémon's low on health), Elite Four, Reshiram/Zekrom, Final Battle with N, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Goetis/Geechisu]], Battle Subway Trainer, Legendary Pokemon, [[spoiler:Cynthia (which was imported from ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'']]), Strong Wild Pokemon (an arrangement of the normal Wild Pokemon battle theme that's used during night battles), Kyurem (an arrangement of Reshiram/Zekrom's battle theme), and Champion. Bringing the grand total to ''eighteen battle themes''. And the inevitable third version is sure to add ''[[BeyondTheImpossible even more]]''.

[[AC:SurvivalHorror]

[[AC:Bosses]]
* Every RPG in existence.
** ''FinalFantasy [[FinalFantasyI I]]'' has the same battle theme for everyone, from common enemies to the final showdown with Chaos.
*** Though when it was remade, they added a number of new pieces of music for Boss Fights, including an awesome Final Boss fight music for Chaos.
** ''The Four Warriors of Light'' has additional "The Boss TurnedRed" and "you're dying" music on top of the regular battle theme.
** FinalFantasyXII has no 'normal' battle theme to speak of (the area music keeps playing), but goes ''crazy'' with the Boss Battle themes. There's 'Boss Battle', 'Clash of Swords', 'Battle Drum', 'A Speechless Battle', 'Esper Battle', 'Desperate Fight', and 'The Battle for Freedom.'
* The same theme is used on the three games in the ''StarFox'' series with Star Wolf in (not counting the unreleased ''Star Fox 2'' where it was different), and whenever the player controls Wolf, it is his {{Leitmotif}}.
* ''[[WorldOfMana Seiken Densetsu 3]]'' has no battle music for normal enemies at all, they just appear randomly on the screen, but it has separate songs for nearly all bosses (which may also be used elsewhere), and those are a LOT.
* The ''MegaManLegends'' games have a unique song for ''every single boss fight''.
* The boss battle music in ''[[LegendofZelda Twilight Princess]]'' often got a [[VariableMix triumphant version of the game's overworld theme]] when you're in the process of exploiting the enemy's weak spot with some well-aimed sword strikes. It used one song for the bosses before the fourth dungeon, and another for the ones after. The switch happened right in the middle of the fourth bosses's fight.
** From ''The Wind Waker'' onwards, each boss (at least in the 3D games and the ones for the DS) had a unique boss theme. ''Twilight Princess'' goes as far as having a unique theme for the ''minibosses''.
** However, ''A Link To The Past'' has a particularly unnerving boss battle music. The FinalBoss however, has a better one, also used for Phantom Ganon in ''Wind Waker''.

** ''Ocarina of Time'' has four boss battle themes. One for the final battle, the ones fought on Death Mountain (dungeons 2 and 5) the other bosses, and the minibosses. Interestingly, the Death Mountain boss theme was remixed for Stallord in ''Twilight Princess''. And they all rock.
*** Ocarina of Time actually has five total, as the Ganondorf battle's music is different from all the other boss themes.
* Very well done in ''{{Xenosaga}}'' ep III, where almost every boss had his personal battle theme.
** Sadly, this was very poorly done in ''{{Xenosaga}}'' ep. I, where every boss had the same generic battle theme. In fact, every battle of the game, with the exception of the last battle, used the exact same music.
* ''ChronoTrigger'' had only one normal battle theme (not counting an unreleased track that didn't make it into the actual game), but had several boss themes. These included a Normal Boss, Major Boss, two Villain Battles (for Magus and Lavos, respectively), and two Final Boss Battles. The Ocean Palace, meanwhile, subverts this by ''not'' changing the music when a battle ensues.
** The Ocean Palace theme was [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome tense and badass enough to not NEED to be swapped out to suit combat]].
* The ''[=~Pokémon~=]'' video game series has developed this structure, including boss musics for Gym Leaders, Rivals, the villain teams, certain Legendary Pokémon, and the "final bosses" (the Elite 4 and Champion battles).
** The number of different themes has exploded since the series' debut:
** ''Red'', ''Blue'' and ''Yellow'' had four: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Gym Leader/Elite Four, Champion.
*** Remakes ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'' gave battle music to normal Legendaries, Mewtwo, and Deoxys, the former two being a rearrangement of the normal Wild Pokémon music.
** ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' had nine: Johto Wild Pokémon, Johto Trainer, Team Rocket, Johto Gym Leader/Elite Four, Rival, Champion, and rearrangements of the Wild Pokémon, Trainer and Gym Leader themes from Red, Blue and Yellow. ''Crystal'' added one for the beasts (Raikou, Entei and Suicune).
*** ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'' had sixteen: rearrangements of all nine GS themes, separate themes for Ho-oh and Lugia, three separate rearrangements for the beast trio, a rearrangement of the Hoenn legendary theme, and the Frontier Brain theme from Platinum. The remixed 8-bit versions available with the GB Sounds item technically doubles it.
** ''Ruby'' and ''Sapphire'' had eleven: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Magma/Aqua, Gym Leader, Rival, Archie/Maxie, Legendary Pokémon, Regi trio, Elite Four, Champion, and, lest we forget, the Deoxys theme. Emerald also added two more: Frontier Brain and Mew (the latter a rearrangement of the RBY Pokémon theme).
** ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'' had thirteen: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Rival, Gym Leader, Team Galactic Grunt, Team Galactic Commander, Cyrus, Dialgia/Palkia, Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf, Legendary Pokémon, Elite Four, Champion. Platinum gave battle themes to Giratina, the Regi trio (again, a rearrangement), Frontier Brain.
** ''Black and White'' has: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Rival, Team Plasma, Gym Leader, Gym Leader's Last Pokemon (which is an arrangement of the main theme), N, Battle Trouble (a song that replaces the [[CriticalAnnoyance incessant beeping]] when your Pokémon's low on health), Elite Four, Reshiram/Zekrom, Final Battle with N, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Goetis/Geechisu]], Battle Subway Trainer, Legendary Pokemon, [[spoiler:Cynthia (which was imported from ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'']]), Strong Wild Pokemon (an arrangement of the normal Wild Pokemon battle theme that's used during night battles), Kyurem (an arrangement of Reshiram/Zekrom's battle theme), and Champion. Bringing the grand total to ''eighteen battle themes''. And the inevitable third version is sure to add ''[[BeyondTheImpossible even more]]''.
* ''ChronoCross'' had, what I think was notable, the music when you fought the boss Miguel. The same morose music that played for the exposition played over this battle, and I felt a little bad for wiping the floor with the poor guy. Curse you, FATE.
** Also interesting, is that the second-to-final boss is the only one with a different theme (besides the above-mentioned Miguel and [[spoiler: the battle with FATE at Chronopolis]]), while the actual final boss fight has no music at all and all the sound effects echo slightly.
*** [[spoiler: [[PuzzleBoss There's a reason for that.]]]]
* ''{{Castlevania}}'' loves this: in ''Aria of Sorrow'' there's separate boss music for Julius (a combination of two old tunes, "Don't Wait Until Night" and "Heart of Fire") and in ''Dawn of Sorrow'' [[spoiler: Soma]] uses Dracula's fight music, "Dance of Illusions".

* ''GodHand'' goes the extra mile: all minibosses and regular bosses have their own theme music, and when you fight the demon forms of Elvis and Shannon, their regular boss music gets remixed.
* The ''MetroidPrime'' series has a unique theme for every major boss.

* ''GoldenSun'' has epic scores for its final bosses... and every other battle too.
* ''BaldursGate 2'' in an interesting example has a special song when fighting dragons. No other enemy type receives this particular kind of special score. Since Dragons are powerful and significant foes, they tend to warrant "boss" status, even if they aren't actually major parts of the story. (with one exception in ToB)
* ''IcewindDale'' is interesting in that the climactic final boss music plays during the BigBad's initial human MookMaker form (which is actually rather weak). The ''actual final battle'', which takes place a few levels later and pits your party against a 15-foot tall demon, has no background music at all. Conversely, the final battle of the ''Heart of Winter'' expansion pack has extremely epic final boss music.
* ''NeverwinterNights'' had four different sets of battle music (3 standard and 1 boss theme) for each region type in the game (i.e. city, forest, etc) as well as unique boss themes for Dragons, [[spoiler: Aribeth]], and the final battle against Morag.
* The entire ''KingdomHearts'' series has nearly as many Boss Themes as it does regular battle themes. This is especially prominent in ''KingdomHeartsII'', as the same boss theme is rarely played twice in a row.
** Major Disney Villains have two themes that they generally use. Heartless and minor Disney villains (e.g. the Hydra) draw from a larger pool of mostly [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome great]] themes. Organization XIII has three themes of their own, not counting the ones for Xemnas, Marluxia and [[spoiler:Roxas.]]
** Several major plot characters have their own themes: the final bosses of each game, [[spoiler:Riku Replica]], [[spoiler:the Lingering Sentiment]], and [[spoiler:Roxas]] (his theme, a remix of his {{leitmotif}}, is also a huge TearJerker.) [[spoiler:Riku-Ansem]], appropriately, shares his theme with [[spoiler:Ansem, er, Xehanort's Heartless himself.]]. [[spoiler:Xion, like Roxas]] also has a remix of their leitmotif, and [[spoiler:Vanitas]] has one that takes strong cues from the leitmotif of two related characters, going so far as to be a remix of them at times. [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort]] has one that mixes Fragments of Sorrow with yet another character's leitmotif.
** Chernabog and Sephiroth, of course, have "Night on Bald Mountain" and "One-Winged Angel."
** The folks over at the Kingdom Hearts Wiki have put together a list of what music plays for what boss [[http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Boss_Music here.]]
* ''EternalSonata'' did this well. Let's see... you got the battle theme, Four boss themes, The Villain theme, the next-to-last battle theme, the Final Battle theme (Which is an awesome remake of Frederic Chopin's Revolution, with a ton of string instruments and an epic choir thrown in for the hell of it) and, for Ps3 owners, there's an extra boss who has his own battle theme as well. Thats 9 battle tracks in total.
** The battle fanfare, "Well Done", starts triumphant before transitioning into a lighter theme that just repeats until you get past the reward screen (and any level up screens that may have been triggered).
* The ''[[TouhouProject Touhou]]'' series does this in fine form - each boss in each game has her own theme music which is instantly recognizable. Some get more than one theme!
* ''{{Ys}}'' series: The later games and remakes tend to have multiple boss themes, eg, the dungeon end boss musics are different from the mid-bosses("Beasts as Black as Night" and "Shock of the Death God" in ''III''), major or {{Climax Boss}}es have a special theme (eg "The Ordeal Becomes Great" in ''IV''), and {{the Dragon}}, {{QuirkyMinibossSquad}}, and the BigBad usually have their own unique theme, with variations for multiple forms.
* ''PhantasyStar IV'' has a normal boss battle theme, a boss battle song for Zio and Lashiec (Laughter) and a boss battle theme for the 3 forms of Dark Force.
* ''[=~Sonic 3 & Knuckles~=]'' includes the following themes: Act 1 Boss, Act 2 Boss, Main FinalBoss and PerfectRunFinalBoss (Super Metal Sonic and Doomsday Zone).
** In ''SonicTheHedgehog2006'', there's one boss theme for all of the [[LetsYouAndHimFight hedgehog vs. hedgehog fights]], and each of the game's {{Big Bad}}s (Eggman in Sonic's story, Mephiles in Shadow's story, and Iblis in Silver's story) get their own theme, each of which gets remixed for their FinalBoss fight. And then the TrueFinalBoss gets a separate theme for both both phases of its fight.
* ''[=~Hype: The Time Quest~=]'' has two themes used in boss battles. These tend to fade as the titular character moves farther away from the boss.
* Almost every Tri Ace game plays some variation of the song ''Incarnation of the Devil'' for at least one of the battles with its bonus bosses.

* ''{{Banjo-Kazooie}}'' and its sequel, ''Banjo-Tooie'' does this whenever you take on a boss with the battle music being a more intense version of level's background music.
* ''{{Persona 3}}'' has three boss themes: "Master of Shadows" for a Full Moon Shadow, "Master of Tartarus" for a Tartarus floor boss, and "Unavoidable Battle" for [[spoiler:Strega members]]. Then comes the final boss battle and the near-legendary "Battle For Everyone's Souls", a BossRemix of the Velvet Room theme "Poem For Everyone's Souls".
** ''Persona 3 Portable'' adds the catchy "Danger Zone" battle theme for Tartarus Bosses while playing as the female protagonist.
* ''{{Persona 4}}'' has fewer boss themes then it's predecessor. Mid-Bosses use a modified version of ''Reach Out To the Truth''. Character Shadows and Secret Bosses all use ''I'll Face Myself''. [[spoiler:Kunino-sagri]] and [[spoiler:Adachi]] use ''New World Fool''. [[spoiler:Ameno-sagiri]] uses ''The Almighty'', and [[spoiler:Izanami]] has ''Fog'' and ''The Genesis'' for [[spoiler:her]] two forms.
* ''MadWorld'' uses four themes for its regular bosses: "MADWORLD" (for Little Eddie, Jude the Dude, Shogun and the Shamans), "Bang" (for Von Twirlenkiller, Frank and the Masters), "Death and Honor" (for Yokozuna, Kojack and Martin) and "You Don't Know Me" (for the female bosses Rin Rin and Elise). The final boss, [[spoiler:the Black Baron]], gets two VillainSong themes: "Look Pimpin'" for the first half and "So Cold" for the second.
* The approach of a tank in ''Left4Dead'' is accompanied by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhiGnj7QX2A this track]], and it continues playing until the fight is over. The second "boss zombie", the witch, also has [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7kmM7vMCxk her own score]]. The other, less dangerous special infected have shorter leitmotifs that are typically played whenever a survivor gets caught in one of their special attacks.
* ''YggdraUnion'' literally breeds battle themes. The game has a separate theme for ALL named characters and a generic one that plays for generic units. The outcome of which music plays is decided by who is doing the attacking in the current battle.
* ''{{MARDEK}}'' has multiple Boss Battle themes, including, but not limited too, the basic Boss Battle, Muriance Battle, Saviours Battle, [=GdM=] Battle, Grand Boss, Secret Boss, Guardian Battle...
* ''BatenKaitos''. Where do you even begin with this game? There's Chaotic Dance, which plays during the fights against Giacomo and his goons, Supreme Ruler of the Nine Heavens plays during the first two fights with Malpercio, Violent Storm for the final boss fight...and for all the other bosses, it alternates between Vitriolic a Stroke, The True Mirror ~ Guitar Version, Rumbling of the Earth, Condemnation of Darkness, and Glowing Cloud. Then there's the prequel, Origins, which has Chaotic Dance 2 for the Giacomo fights, Iconoclasm for the battles against the Dark Service officers, Poacher for the [[spoiler:Afterling]] battles, Evidential Material for miscellaneous bosses, The Valedictory Elegy ~ Guitar Version for arena battles, Crystal Abyss for the fight[[spoiler:s]] against Wiseman, The True Mirror ~ Orchestral Version for the battle against [[spoiler:Baelheit]], Ruinous Commander plays during the fight against [[spoiler:Verus]]. And finally, though it's not technically a boss theme, Le Ali Del Principio plays during the last part of the final boss battle.
* TheLastRemnant takes this trope and runs with it. There's plenty of bosses with personal themes, and last time i checked, there's around FIFTEEN battle themes. The best part is that they're in awesome hard rock-metal style.

[[AC:Fanfares]]
* As mentioned above, the ''FinalFantasy'' and ''DragonQuest'' series employ their respective styles of fanfare.
** ''{{EarthBound}}'', with a battle system similar to ''DQ'', also employs that series' style of fanfare.
* The victory tune for each ''{{Grandia}}'' game would change if you got a perfect battle.

* ''YggdraUnion'' does this for the damage calcuation screen.
* All games in the ''StarControl'' series had victory fanfares for each type of ship (upwards of 30), giving a specific feel for each of the races.
** And of course, the (single) combat theme music in ''Star Control II'' is arguably the most memorable musical piece in the entire game (which is surprising, considering the amount of unique music themes this game contains).
* ''[=~Pokémon~=]'' has three variants of the ''Final Fantasy'' style, one for defeating and capturing wild Pokémon, one for defeating a Trainer, and one for defeating Gym Leaders and Elite Four.

[[AC:Random Encounters]]
* ''TalesOfEternia'' and ''TalesOfSymphonia'' had a battle theme for each world. ''Symphonia'', in particular, went nuts with this: it had separate battle themes for Sylvarant, Tethealla, the Renegades, the Desian Grand Cardinals, angels, Summon Spirits, [[spoiler: Kratos]] and Yggdrasil, as well as a separate theme for the battles with party members.
** ''TalesOfHearts'' has ''thirteen'' battle themes. Several for different stages of the game, separate subclasses for dealing with normal and boss-type [[TheHeartless Zerom]], and some more for dealing with regular bosses, a couple for TheRival, one for TheDragon, one for each phase of the final boss... The composer for the game is series veteran and master Motoi Sakuraba, so it's only expected that they are all awesome.
** ''Symphonia'''s sequel similarly has a ton of battle themes - one for Sylvarant areas, one for Tethe'alla areas, one for new areas, one for the Coliseum/Ginnungagap, two general boss themes, one for the Vanguard, one for [[spoiler:Richter]], one for [[spoiler:Lloyd and Marta]], and one for [[spoiler:Emil/Ratatosk]].
* Shows up in a couple of RealTimeStrategy games - ''{{Homeworld}}'' has exactly three (excellent) battle-music tracks that play at certain scripted points in missions.

* The ''{{EarthBound}}'' series has different themes depending on what kind of monsters you fight, including the bosses.
** It's worth noting that ''[=EarthBound's=]'' sequel, ''{{Mother 3}}'', has an absolutely astounding number of different battle themes, '''not''' counting remixes (for the purposes of the rhythm-based battle system). Even more impressive, they cover a stunningly wide variety of musical genres, from rock to blues to jazz to Latin to orchestral to techno and back again.
* ''SuikodenII'' has a variant - when the plot takes you to the country where the first game was set, the battle music changes to a remix of the original ''[[SuikodenI Suikoden]]'' battle theme.
** In ''SuikodenV'', having certain characters in your active party would change the battle music. Having the conductor would change it to a stirring orchestral piece, and having the rock star would invoke a ''Ys''-style heavy metal remix.
* ''SkiesOfArcadia'' had a number of battle themes. The music would even change in battle between "normal", "crisis" when the party had low HP, and "triumphant" when the party had high HP and the enemy had low HP. Hearing the switch from one to another when using a particularly meaty special move is ''very'' satisfying.
* Not quite a 'battle', per se, but the ''PhoenixWright'' games feature courtroom music that gets more tense as the testimony continues, and finally bursts into a triumphant theme once you've got the suspect cornered.
** Played with to the point of nearly breaking in the third case of the first game, where the "Cornered" music starts, stalls, starts again, stalls ''again'', and then ''finally'' plays in full as the questioning of the key witness stumbles.
** Sometimes, the prosecution gets the music to play in their favor if they have you cornered. Very noticeable with Klaver Gavin who plays air guitar and has a rocking guitar theme if he feels the tides are in his favor.
* ''MarioAndLuigi: Bowser's Inside Story'''s regular battle music changes depending on whether you're playing as Mario and Luigi or Bowser.
* ''FireEmblem'' has a Battle Theme for both the player and enemy army, Boss Theme and Big Bad Theme until the third game. From the fourth game on there is also a Villain Theme and a special theme for enemy units that could be recruited was only present in the fourth game. Path of Radiance mixed things up by giving new battle themes for both sides midway through the game and Radiant Dawn added battle themes for each army present in the game.
* If I recall correctly, ''DarkCloud'' was one of the ones with different battle music for each dungeon.
** Sort of - most of the battle music early on was the same, but in the later parts of the game the battle music was removed entirely in favour of dungeon-specific music. This was very welcome seeing as the normal battle music sounded like someone throwing marbles at a xylophone.
* ''KingdomHearts'' and its sequels also feature separate battle themes for each world. As with the ''Legend of Zelda'' example above, it activates when an enemy is nearby even if you can't see it.
* ''{{Freelancer}}'' has different background music for Liberty, Bretonia, Rheinland, Kusari, and the Independent, Border, Outer and Edge Worlds. The battle theme for each of these is a faster-paced VariableMix of the normal BGM.
* ''CommandAndConquer: Generals'' uses a heavy metal remix of your faction's music whenever your troops are fighting.
** ''C&C3: Tiberium Wars'' switches over to a faster, more upbeat track if there's shooting going on, even if you order one of your own units to shoot the ground. Presumably it is scripted to go off if any of your units are in the "shooting" state.
* ''[[ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne]]'' changes the refrain of the random encounter music every so often to keep things fresh.
* ''FinalFantasyXI'' is one of the few {{MMORPG}}s that change the music when you go into a battle. What's more, the music changes depending on whether or not you're on the overworld, in a dungeon or fighting a boss... and expansion regions have ''new'' versions of all of these. There are at least fifteen battle songs in all.
* ''{{Aion}}'' is another {{MMORPG}} that has different music for when you go into battle, a different one for each sub zone. Some of them are orchestrated peiced, others are metal, but in the large pvp area, the Abyss , there are ten different techno themes that can play any where at any time when you battle.
* There's a special case in the Japanese RPG ''Dual Orb 2'', which has one battle theme. ONE. ''For EVERY BATTLE, from the first all the way to the final battle.'' And given the skewed chances for a random encounter, you'll be sick of it far before then.
* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has a soundtrack that it picks from at random for each random encounter. Has the effect of keeping all of the music fresh, since you never get one single tune repeated ad nauseum. ( It also helps that all of the music is awesome in its own right, and is taken from the real world instead of being fabricated for the game, which fit the theme of the game. )
** Actually, it was all fabricated for the game. It's just THAT good.

* Every ''{{Pokemon}}'' game after and starting with ''Crystal'' typically have different music than the normal encounter theme when you go up against a legendary Pokemon. Sometimes, a legendary Pokemon that roams around the game world will have a unique encounter theme, and this can ''very'' easily overlap with NightmareFuel if you aren't expecting it.
* ''SonicUnleashed'' has a [[EarWorm rather catchy]] and ridiculously upbeat big-band swing theme that plays during fights on the "Werehog" stages.
* The ''BaldursGate'' and other Infinity Engine games used BattleThemeMusic several times, often having specific music for random encounters vs. plotted ones and so on.

* Almost every LucasArts game with both combat and non-combat sections ever, since the creation of [=iMUSE=].
** Including, but not limited to, the many ''StarWars'' space simulators, where original ''Star Wars'' themes were worked into each other so that the music escalated from one famous tune to another, more upbeat one, as the combat situation evolved.
* As battle is separate from other screens, the ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' games naturally have battle music, randomly selected from a handful of tracks.

* The ''FinalFantasy'' series, obviously. The themes reference each other a bit, as you can hear in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_NzoRLRR0o this here]] retrospective covering ones from the main series up to number ten.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdfw97tPDv8 This video]] might be a slightly better reference, as, though it lacks ''FinalFantasyVIII's'' ''Man With the Machine Gun'', it doesn't cut off the ends of the earlier themes, and has the most up-to-date version of ''FinalFantasyIV's'' theme.
* ''[=~Star Ocean: The Last Hope~=]'' had a standard battle theme used for most worlds with two exceptions. The battle music for Roak is a remix of the first game's battle music, while the battle music for EnII is remix of the second game's battle music.
** And ''[=~Star Ocean: Till the End of Time~=]'' has a standard battle theme which is essentially a remix of the second game's battle system with some original notes, and have some boss battle themes that are from other tri-Ace games.
* ''StarTrek Elite Force 2" has this big time. You have the dinking around music, the scary suspenseful music, then the ScareChord followed by the battle music. Also another ScareChord for death and an "end the level" diddy.
* ''{{Freespace}}'' generally has very slow, quiet themes for its missions, that almost seamlessly switch to more upbeat battle themes whenever enemies show up using a VariableMix. All of its soundtracks have three different battle themes, varying in intensity, to use accordingly with how much action is currently taking place.
* ''WingCommander's'' use of situational music was part of what made Sound Blaster a home name in computer gaming.
** Special mention must be made to [=WC2=], when you target a capital ship and arm a torpedo. It has a unique tune that's timed to play differently with each stage of a typical torpedo run. Never before (and arguably never since) has sitting and waiting for a target lock been so awesome.

* ''WildArms [[UpdatedRerelease AlterCodeF]]'' does something interesting with random battle music. If you have less than a full party (due to plot-related circumstances), then it plays a remix version of the standard battle music. And if you're in control of Calamity Jane (due to plot-related circumstances), it plays her music as battle music.
* Whenever something turned aggressive in ''TheElderScrolls [[TheElderScrollsThreeMorrowind III: Morrowind]]'', there was an abrupt shift between the background music and the generic battle theme. As an aside, when modders tried to disable audio track shifting to improve game speed, the game threw a fit.
** Same for ''[[TheElderScrollsFour Oblivion]]'', to the point where the game gets suddenly much harder if played with the volume low: 'tension music' helps indicate the range of nearby, unalerted enemies and 'battle music' frequently saves you from getting jumped in the countryside.
* ''Hype: The Time Quest'' has a battle fanfare. The same one for every boss.
* ''BreathOfFire IV'' gives you two battle, boss, and victory musics apiece, three for the [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy eastern side of the world]], and [[{{Wutai}} the same for the west.]] The eastern side music is your typical RPG high-fantasy epic-adventure fare, but the western side music consists of these [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome badass Chinese-influenced drum-n-bass pieces]] that will make you wish Capcom had packaged in a soundtrack CD with the game.
* ''ManaKhemia'' features at least three different random battle themes, one for every grade the characters are in, plus several boss battle themes; most of them are incredibly catchy.
* In ''StarTrekBridgeCommander'', the music shifts depending on how well you're doing. If you and your allies outnumber and out-match the enemy, an almost fanfare-like, optimistic theme plays. But do poorly, or be totally outmatched (like going up against a Borg Cube alone) and the music turns deadly and pretty much tells you ThisIsGonnaSuck. It should be noted that Borg Cubes don't exist in the original game, but the "ThisIsGonnaSuck" theme plays anyway WITHOUT any extra scripting or programing due to the Cube having a higher HP total than your ship.
* In the ''SyphonFilter'' series, each mission's music has a "danger" or "battle" version, generally a VariableMix. ''Omega Strain'' has different BossBattle themes depending on what terrorist group you're fighting.
* In ''ResidentEvil 2'', the musics for the battles with each of Birkin/G's forms share a recurring theme, becoming more intense the more grotesquely it transforms. Other multi-OneWingedAngel-formed bosses in the series, eg Alexia in ''Code Veronica'', also do this.
* In ''DragonAge'', you'll know you're about to fight Darkspawn when [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6g5OgPbBv8 this]] theme starts playing.
* In ''Homeworld 2'', regular battles have upbeat tracks but boss battles have creepy ones. Keepers and Movers have their own battle tracks, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btXnl7AGFg0 here]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG2QNP9A1dA&fmt=18 here]]. The boss battle with Makaan goes to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPjjoxtX7VU&fmt=18 an eastern-sounding tune with sanskrit lyrics]] (a remix of this plays during the credits as well) while the final battle goes with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wannhlWye6w&fmt=18 a really depressing one]]. Note that these tracks play during space battles.
** ''Homeworld'' avoids it entirely with the entire soundtrack including battle musics being composed of monotone, Middle East-style music. A little [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jzeQIJf4PE sample]]...
* ''Haegemonia Legions of Iron'' has a lot of different battle tunes. It's worth noting that [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome they are made of distilled awesome]].
* ''PhantasyStar 3'' has 4 different [[RandomEncounter Random Encounter]] themes. The first one plays when you see the enemies appear. Once the battle actually starts, the game plays one of three other themes. Which one is played depends on how well your party was doing. If your party is at a major advantage, or has just surprised the enemy, upbeat, optimistic music plays. If neither side has a major advantage, tense music plays. If you're ambushed or in trouble, the music will reflect this very clearly with a 'You're in trouble now' soundtrack. The music changes between these 3 themes in battle to reflect how well you're doing (or not).

* For a GBA game, ''Golden sun'' has quite a few battle themes.
** As of ''Golden sun: The Lost Age'' we have:
*** Isaac's battle theme
*** Felix' battle theme
*** Jenna's battle theme
*** The first boss theme
*** The second boss theme
*** Saturos' battle theme
*** Saturos and Menardi's battle theme
*** Fusion Dragon's battle theme
*** Doom Dragon's battle theme
*** Linked battle theme
*** Colosso battle theme
*** Ship battle theme
*** Karst and Agatio's battle theme
*** The Dragons battle theme
*** And finally, the 'Non-Adept' battle theme.
* Beast Signer got 6 different battle teams and the game is not even done yet.

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

* The ''PaperMario'' series have a music for the minibosses and then a singular theme for each boss, overlapping with the LeifMotif for major bosses. And all the themes are awesome.

** ''Ruby'' and ''Sapphire'' had ten: Wild Pokémon, Trainer, Magma/Aqua, Gym Leader, Rival, Archie/Maxie, Legendary Pokémon, Regi trio, Elite Four, Champion. Emerald also added two more: Frontier Brain and Mew (the latter a rearrangement of the RBY Pokémon theme).

** Vidoes of ''Black and ''White'' show that the battle music gets more frenzied when your Pokémon is low on health, a first for the series.
*** And, for many players, a welcome change over the [[CriticalAnnoyance incessant beeping]] that was previously used in the series.

** Several major plot characters have their own themes: the final bosses of each game, [[spoiler:Riku Replica]], [[spoiler:the Lingering Sentiment]], and [[spoiler:Roxas]] (his theme, a remix of his {{leitmotif}}, is also a huge TearJerker.) [[spoiler:Riku-Ansem]], appropriately, shares his theme with [[spoiler:Ansem, er, Xehanort's Heartless himself.]]. [[spoiler:Xion, like Roxas]] also has a remix of their leitmotif, and [[spoiler:Vanitas]] has one that takes strong cues from the leitmotif of two related characters, going so far as to be a remix of them at times.

** Several major plot characters have their own themes: the final bosses of each game (note: as of this writing, this editor can't say whether that still applies to Birth by Sleep), [[spoiler:Riku Replica]], [[spoiler:the Lingering Sentiment]], and [[spoiler:Roxas]] (his theme, a remix of his {{leitmotif}}, is also a huge TearJerker.) [[spoiler:Riku-Ansem]], appropriately, shares his theme with [[spoiler:Ansem, er, Xehanort's Heartless himself.]]

* ''GoldenSun'' has epic scores for its final bosses.

* ''CaveStory'' generally has one of two themes: The light, fast Normal boss theme ("Gravity") and the deep, heavy Major boss theme ("Eyes of Flame"). The normal final boss and the PerfectRunFinalBoss both have "The Last Battle" as their theme. Only three bosses get their own unique themes: [[LoadBearingBoss The Core]] ("Oppresion"), the OneWingedAngel form of the BigBad (the oddly playful and repetitive "Charge"), and, oddly enough, a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere (though that last one is recycled as normal BGM during a couple of action scenes).

**** And they're ''all'' incredible.

** And, for many players, a welcome change over the [[CriticalAnnoyance incessant beeping]] that was previously used in the series.

*** Saturos and Menardie's battle theme

* In the ''SyphonFilter'' series, each mission's music has a "danger" or "battle" version, generally a VariableMix.

* In the ''SyphonFilter'' series, each mission's music has a "danger" or "battle" version, usually using a VariableMix.