History Main / SongsInTheKeyOfPanic

* In ''VideoGame/FZero GX'' and ''AX'', the music changes when you're on the final lap.

** Also played if you're nearing the 10-minute time limit, or if you're in a 2-player match in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' and the 1-minute time limit that plays when one player finishes the stage is down to 12 seconds.

* In the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' ROM hack ''VideoGame/ASuperMarioThing'', this trope gets taken to a bizarre extreme with 'Panic Puzzle', a level that immediately starts the player off with 100 seconds remaining (thus triggering the speed-up), and playing an already rather frantic-sounding tune[[labelnote:Note]]The song is [[VideoGame/CaveStory Running Hell]], by the way.[[/labelnote]] . Whenever the player enters a pipe, the time resets back to 100 seconds, and speeds the music up '''''even further'''''. The nature of the level's puzzle means that this has to happen multiple times throughout the level, rendering the music a chaotic mess by the time the player reaches the end. Best demonstrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRw-eDaXHfw here,]] in LetsPlay/{{raocow}}'s original playthrough.

* The latter two ''VideoGame/SonicAdvance'' games, as well as both ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}}'' and ''Sonic Rush Adventure'', have extra-tense remixes of the boss fight tunes for when the boss's health gets particularly low.

And in case you're wondering, there is no such thing as a Key of Panic (or Warning) in music theory.[[note]]Music keys are named for the note they're centered on and whether the scale is major or minor (e.g. Key of C minor).[[/note]]

* ''Skate or Die 2'' has an [[CutSong unused]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqd-CsRQavQ panic version]] of the Plant stage theme.

* ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'': The music starts to build up as the police prepare an assault.

* In Creator/{{Konami}}'s ''VideoGame/{{Police 911}}'', should the player either lose a life, accidentally shoot an officer or a bystander, or is down to his or her last life, more distressing music plays.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}} DS'' uses the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda Death Mountain music]] for its Level 9 stage. As the player approaches Level 20, the music changes to a completely manic scherzo.

* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'' has frantic yet [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic epic]] music during each of the three {{escape sequences}}.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' does it with the drowning music. Said music has been known to scare a surprising number of people.

* In the 2020 revival of ''Series/SupermarketSweep'' in the US, the music changes to sound similar to the drowning music from the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series in the last 10 seconds of the Big Sweep.

* There’s a twist on this trope in ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable''. In the Countdown ending, frantic music plays as the timer ticks down to a detonation- but it turns out there is absolutely no hope in the end.
* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIV'', the eerie ambient music of the Super Computer is replaced by a bombastic march after you start the [[TimedMission formatting sequence]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', when you are trapped by the Ultimate Chimera, the music doesn't change, but Lucas's ''{{heartbeat|Soundtrack}}'', which you can hear over the music, goes faster and faster as his situation becomes increasingly dire.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIV'' does this with the Galaxy Galleria Mall music while evading the Sequel Police in the Skate-o-Rama zero gravity chamber.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIV'':

** When revisiting Ulence Flats from ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestI'', the music changes to the Monochrome Boys' leitmotif when they attempt to run down Roger with their hoverbikes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shivers}}'' would replace the BGM with a certain theme whenever one of the Ixupi spirits was possessing an object nearby, along with a specific sound (bubbling wax, creaking metal, rustling sand, etc).

* The infamous underwater dam stage of ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', where you're trying to disarm the bombs, has two increasingly frantic variants of this as the timer gets closer to zero.

* In all ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' games starting with ''[[VideoGame/MarioPartyStarRush Star Rush]]'', the board's music changes to a frantic remix in the last few turns of the game (or, in the case of ''Star Rush''[='=]s Toad Scramble, when the last boss appears). In the case of ''VideoGame/MarioPartySuperstars'', the remix takes over regardless of whether the original or modern version of the played board's standard theme was selected.

* In all ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' games starting with ''[[VideoGame/MarioPartyStarRush Star Rush]]'', the board's music changes to a frantic remix in the last few turns of the game (or, in the case of ''Star Rush''[='=]s Toad Scramble, when the last boss appears).

* In ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' and ''[[{{Franchise/Kirby}} Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition]]'', there are special Challenge Stages that must be completed within a time limit. If less than thirty seconds are left, in most cases the regular Challenge Stage music simply speeds up. However, in the last few challenges of ''Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition'', this situation causes the music to change to a remix of Heavy Lobster's theme from ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Ultra''.
** Similarly in ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamBuffet'', when fighting on the last round, the music will change to a frantic remix of Mint Leaf/Kabula's theme from ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'' when there's 20 seconds left in the round. Sometimes the round goes into overtime, making the music get even MORE frantic.

* The briefing sessions in ''Videogame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' use a faster and more intense remix of the briefing theme. When the briefing music gets faster, it becomes clear that the Mobius Squadron is one step closer towards their main objective of occupying Farbanti.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' avoids it for the most part, as the music that plays during the bosses stays the same throughout regardless of any [[OneWingedAngel changes]] [[IAmNotLeftHanded they go through]]. Father Gascoigne on the other hand [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA614N3IHD4 has a song that changes midway]] from ominous and tense to frantic and panicked when he transforms into a beast and his battle style shifts from heavy-handed and brutal yet skilled [[AnAxeToGrind axe-wielding]] to [[TheBerserker a berserk onslaught of claws]].