Theme Music Power Up - Television Tropes & Idioms

You got the touch! You got the power... Yeah!
— Stan Bush, "The Touch"

A character's strength and abilities are directly proportional with how cool their personal theme music is. The more sudden it starts up and the louder it is, the more butt-kicking is about to commence. This applies to both heroes and villains and is a power that the Badass Normal is allowed to use. Alternatively, the music is a representation of the character getting into "the zone".

If a Theme Music Power Up is defeated, then it's The Day the Music Lied.

If you're really badass, you get to have Ominous Latin Chanting, the One Woman Wail or the Cherubic Choir. If you're totally badass, you get it to a techno beat or heavy metal riff.

Sometimes near the end, the series Theme Song will play, allowing every good guy to kick some major rear at the Grand Finale.

Compare Autobots, Rock Out! and Most Wonderful Sound or Music For Courage.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

The Slayers: Lina has the same music anytime she casts Dragon Slave (and Giga Slave and Laguna Blade). Also somewhat distorted on the Battle Music (same everytime — ikinashi oodate) and totally distorted for Amelia and Gourry (with douchuuki).
Usagi of Sailor Moon had several theme songs based on The Power Of Friendship. The Outer Senshi have their own Rule Of Cool music.
- A bit different in the final season, in which the new addition to the cast — the Sailor Starlights — had an appearance theme very different to the traditional "sudden and loud" ones: starting quiet and subtle and then getting louder during the close-up on them.
- The English-dubbed version of the Season 1 finale features "Carry On" during the final battle, one of the very few improvements over the Japanese original (the original used the full-length opening song "Moonlight Densetsu"). Other songs featured are "Ai no Senshi", "La Soldier" (from the Sailor Moon R finale), and "Moon Revenge" (from the R movie). The last episode of Sailor Stars uses the season's opening "Sailor Star Song" in this manner.
Ichigo of Bleach; whenever he was about to kick serious ass, his Image Song ("Number One" by Hazel Fernandez) would kick in. This was subverted at one point: Ichigo moves to attack an unusually powerful badass, and his Theme Music Power Up stops almost as soon as it starts when his opponent blocks the attack with a single finger. Yeah, that's right... Aizen is so tough he can even defeat your theme music.
- As this video shows, "Number One" did provide a Theme Music Power Up, but for the wrong character. "Number One" allows Renji to display some awesome, but as soon as Ichigo jumps into action, the fickle theme song is cutdown by Aizen's finger of doom.
- Ironically, the first proper use of the Image Song in the series was when it was used by the series' Fake Ultimate Hero to rescue Ichigo with his "Ultimate Attack".
- More recently, the Big Bad and/or his Arrancar get classy, suspenseful Latin-style music in the background whenever they're making a grand entrance or are about to kick big-time ass. (This is in keeping with their Spanish-tinted theme.)
  - It's rather sad that it's been over a year since Ichigo has managed to have a proper theme music power-up. And he's the main character!
Kirika and Mireille of Noir. ''SALVA NOS, DEUUUUUS!''
- Similarly, anytime you start to hear Yanmaani (the song's title is "Nowhere") in the background in Madlax, the titular character is about to kick serious amounts of ass with inhuman skill. It's so prevalent that The Other Wiki even mentions it. It is a joke among fans that the word gives Madlax super powers.
The Twelve SISTERs of Coyote Ragtime Show.
The climax of the Galaxy Angel games always follows the Theme Song variant, playing that year's version of Eternal Love (or, in Galaxy Angel II games, Wing of Destiny).
Dokkoida?! hangs a Lampshade on this; the hero's power suit is able to induce this state by playing a heroic theme song. At least if the company that made the suit actually got that feature working before they released it. But the hero doesn't know that, and he manages to get the same effect just from suggestion and enjoying the Hot Blooded music.
Pretty much every evolution sequence in every season of Digimon adheres to this trope. The more absurdly powerful the evolved form is, the more obnoxious and high-pitched the theme music will be, whereas less impressive evolutions (compared to the one available to the main character's partner at any given point in the series) often go by without music altogether. Also, true to this trope, evolution music invariably stops as soon as the evolved Digimon is hit by it's enemy.
- A good example occurs in the Adventure movie, Bokura No War Game. The evolution song, 'Brave Heart' plays throughout one of the battle scenes, and when Patamon tries to digivolve to his Adult/Champion level, he is attacked, at which point the music cuts out suddenly. It resumes around 30 seconds later when Taichi and Yamato's Digimon charge to counter attack. And then, before the computer crashes on Taichi, the line 'SHOW ME YOUR BRAVE HEART!' skips and replays several times, cutting out when the computer gets the B So D
- Another example of the above happens in the episode where Greymon dark digivolves into Skull Greymon. During the battle scene, Brave Heart plays as normal, but a few seconds into the evolution scene, the song fades into a really dark and sinister piece of BGM.
- Digimon Savers adheres doubly so. There's a set of leitmotifs for various stages of evolution, but whenever the J-Rock theme tune "Believer" cues up, you know the Monster Of The Week is about to get beaten in a spectacularly flashy, Hot Blooded manner. Sadly, due to the song being Japanese and the dubbing company having a music budget of about a nickel, it was cut in the domestic release, replaced with the more standard evolution leitmotifs.
- And in Adventure, we have "Hey Digimon". It plays, then you're screwed.
- The American Digimon movie had a fairly good example in the first half. after the swarm of Diaboromons blast Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon into submission, the scene where the two digimon fuse into Omnimon was accompanied with a Spine Chilling rendition of the Digimon theme. However, the movie had to go and ruin it with the actual fight scene, which was treated to an ear-rendingly bad licensed pop-rock song that is completely at odds with the Curb Stomp Battle being shown.
Cardcaptor Sakura seems to have a leitmotif that appears on the soundtrack whenever she finally joins battle with a particularly powerful enemy. (If you've seen the show, you'll recognize it as a disco-style instrumental with oddly majestic sweeping strings playing the melody.)
Various versions of a heavy, hot-blooded rap song are played during pivotal power-up moments in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Eventually they get so powerful that they actually get those lyrics superimposed on an opera track.
- Mid-season brings another instance of this trope, when the song "Happily Ever After," which was originally just an extra track on the opening song's single CD, is played when the main character come out of his emo funk and turns into the leader he should be, complete with a 30 second beatdown on the up-until-then unbeaten Dragon.
- Finally, in the final episode, there is an actual theme-music power-up: the opening theme, which was omitted for that episode, begins playing and the real butt-kicking commences. The theme continues in its entirety until the final boss is defeated.
- Also works for the bad guys: whenever Viral shows up and does something awesome, the Surprisingly Good English song "Nikopol" plays.
- Subverted in episode 25 where an attack is launched, a power up song starts... and the missile is harmlessly crushed before it can reach its destination. In all fairness, that wasn't the main theme song anyway.
  - Then played straight immediately after.
Futari Wa Pretty Cure: Nagisa and Honoka are undefeatable when the instrumental version of the theme song is playing. And if the background music has lyrics, they can accomplish miracles like defeating Jaaku King or getting Kiriya to turn good. At the end of Futari Wa Pretty Cure Max Heart, the theme song was played with lyrics, which was both at once and thus gave Pretty Cure the ability to defeat the Jaaku King for real this time.
- The All Stars Deluxe movie does this a total of four times. It happens once for each of the teams that had already finished their seasons, and after this, the main theme of the movie plays for the final group attack.
Konjiki No Gash Bell brings a quite literal example of this trope. Italian Super Star Parco Folgore has a hit song known as "Muteki Folgore" (Invincible Folgore) with the ability to revive him every time he has been knocked down if it is sung by his partner Kanchome.
The first season theme of Hajime No Ippo often plays during Ippo's final drive to victory in a given match.
- Subverted in one episode where during Ippo's first match against Japan Featherweight Champion Eiji Date, it is suddenly interrupted by Eiji's counter punch.
When you hear Fate's voice actress, Nana Mizuki, start to sing her insert song for that season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, expect every villain currently on screen to have their asses handed to them within the next five minutes. Fate gets a particularly big one of these in the form of the awesome "Pray" during the final showdown with Jail Scaglietti and the Numbers.
Likewise, whenever "Meteor" or "Vestige" play in Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny, expect Kira Yamato to appear and disable the entire opposition without a scratch.
Also in G Gundam, Domon Kasshu's theme "Gundam Rise" would play both when his Gundam rose beginning the fight, and to signal his Shining Finger attack and resulting in him owning whatever opponent he was facing during that episode.
Many of the tracks of Eureka Seven are meant just as a theme music power up, be it for the heroes or the villains. Whenever Renton does anything especially awesome, a song insert, "Storywriter" begins playing.
- The first opening song, "Days", also lends itself to a Theme Music Power Up for Renton and Eureka in episode 32.
This was also done by Neon Genesis Evangelion. Whenever EVA-01 is about to kick some ass and tear some unfortunate Angel a new one, a distinctice track known as "The Beast 2" plays. The track is even used for such moments in the crossover Super Robot Wars games. Also, in the series' original, Mind Screw, happy ending, when Shinji realises his whole life doesn't need to revolve around piloting EVA-01, and he can live a happy life without it, a slow piano version of the show's theme, "A Cruel Angel's Thesis", is played.
The James Bond-ish opening theme tune in Read or Die kicks up at the end of the first episode of the OVA, when Yomiko and Nancy square off against Otto Lilienthal and his transforming glider.
- And whenever you hear it fire up during [[ROD the TV the sequel]], strap in tight, because someone's about to kick some major ass.
The titular character of Naruto has "The Raising Fighting Spirit", which assures he's about to recover from a previous attack, and kick ass.
- There is also "Utsukishi Aoi Yajuu" (Beautiful Green Beast) which plays for Rock Lee when he starts WHOOOPING Gaara's keister in anime episode 48.
- Shikamaru has the techno song "Fake" which starts up whenever one of his genius plans is put into motion.
- Shippuden has "Heaven Shaking Event," which plays on several occasions, like when Naruto defeats the Big Bad of the first movie, Team Guy finishes off their doppelgangers, and when Naruto defeats Kakuzu with his Rasenshuriken.
In Dragon Ball Z, when Cell goads and torments Gohan to transcend his Super Saiyan power, Gohan does exactly that, to a tune called "Demon vs. Demon" (in some translations). A fitting name, considering what Gohan basically becomes in this state. An alternate translation is "Spirit vs. Spirit"; the concepts aren't as different in Japanese as in English, but both translations fit the scene pretty well.
- In addition, in the dub of Dragon Ball Z there's a theme that plays for Goku during his first Super Saiyan 3 transformation. This music is also played during the entire Majin Buu saga whenever one of the heroes does something awesome.
- On top of that, Vegeta got such an awesome song that when I downloaded it from iTunes, it was the second-best selling Bruce Faulconer song, after the main theme. (March 2009) Oddly enough, it's called "Vegeta Super Saiyan", even though he's not always Super Saiyan when it's playing.
  - This is because Vegeta transforming to fight #19 was the scene that introduced the song
The Shakugan No Shana cast get one in the climax of the fight against Sabrac in Season 2.
This happens in Death Note whenever Light reveals whatever Xanatos Roulette he has cooked up that week, just in case we had forgotten what a Magnificent Bastard he is. Near also gets one at the very end of the series.
- Likewise, whenever L really gets going, his guitar theme music flares up to match.
"Little Busters" fills this role several times in FLCL, usually when it plays during a Naota/Canti gattai.
In Katekyo Hitman Reborn, there is separate theme music for "Look, someone (usually Tsuna) is no longer failing at life!" and "Oh, by the way, I acquired some new way to kick your butt. SORRY FOR NOT TELLING YOU!" ... as well as everything else, to the extent that it's possible to tell what's going on just by listening to the background music.
- To be more precise, the songs are called "Shibuki Time!" and "Tsuna Awakens", respectively.
Both played straight, and played very straight by GaoGaiGar. When Masaaki Endoh shouts "GA-GA-GA GA-GA-GA-GAOGAIGAR!", it's fair warning that Guy's power of raw courage is about to rip you apart. Meanwhile, Mic Sounders the 13th has a couple of songs on Disc P that literally power up any protagonist robot in earshot, restoring their energy and galvanizing their fighting spirit.
- Also, there are separate themes for the titular mecha's two big finishers, Hell and Heaven and the Goldion Hammer. Also, the rest of GGG's mecha get an extremely hot-blooded theme of their own when they're about to do some pretty awesome stuff.
  - The latter is heard most notably when they assault the Contra Fall, and is titled after the entire Mobile Unit: "Strongest Brave Robo Corps". There's also the J-Ark's save-the-day tune "Beautiful Wings Of Light", and the ominous guitar riffs during the opening of the Zonuda battle where it pretty much wipes the floor with Gao Gai Gar.
Pokémon usually has one of the openings or upbeat endings accompany a sudden comeback (maybe even a whole battle) or evolution. "Pokémon Symphonic Medley" has been common recently, as there is no full version of the song.
- In older seasons, they'd use an awesome electric guitar remix of the Gym theme. Unfortunately, Youtube doesn't seem to have the guitar version, and they don't seem to use it anymore.
Almost the entire last episode of Stellvia of the Universe is accompanied by various theme music pieces, including the OP. The sheer awesome of its Grand Finale takes more than words to convey.
Gravion has a theme song that plays when it combines, in one episode Sandman and the maids powered the robot up by singing karaoke!!!
- Sol Gravion has its own theme towards the end of Gravion Zwei. The names are Gasshin! God Gravion and Enou Gasshin! Sol Gravion, respectively.
Inverted in Paranoia Agent, where the Theme Music belongs to Big Bad Lil' Slugger. If it starts playing, you're extremely screwed — Slugger gets the powerup.
Macross Frontier does this a lot, especially episode 7. In episode 14, it's subverted — "Don't Be Late" plays as Sheryl goes into combat for the first time... only for her to be immediately shot down.
- In episode 24, it is subverted horrifically for the Frontier fleet, as Ranka sings "Ai Oboete Imasu Ka" for the Vajra, which proceed to overpower the human forces.
- The entirety of episode 25 is pretty much THE defining example of Macross ThemeMusicPowerUps, combining almost every song in the series. One segment is a perfect microcosmic demonstration of the trope, including both the loss of power/end of song coinciding and the power/song starting back up with increased fury.
Genesis of Aquarion has a Theme Music Power Up in nearly every episode (along with the usual subversion with stopping the song when the attack fails), and the last episode gets an awesome, gospel style version of the first theme song.
Umineko No Naku Koro Ni: For the protagonists "worldend_dominator", "Far", and "Dread of the Grave" are all indications that a Crowning Moment Of Awesome will happen. For the antagonists it will be "happiness of a marionette", "mirage coordinator", "Golden Smile", or "Moon Rabbit's Dance".
- Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni's games have it's own series of Songs, with various remixes of 'Dear You'. The instrumental version, 'Dear You - Destructive' is used during one of most Crowning Moments of Awesome, needless to say, Keiichi dodges bullets.
Princess Tutu. Admittedly, all combat is to ballet music, but you could always kind of tell who exactly was getting the power up.
Eyeshield 21 also has some examples of the "with lyrics" variety. The first appearance of "Be Survivor" comes to mind and, later "Chain of Power."
The Devil May Cry anime has a pretty cool theme song, which plays during the final episode when Dante activates his Devil Trigger to finish off the Big Bad. We don't see the full Devil Trigger and the fight is over in a few seconds, but the music makes the scene an odd combination of Missed Moment Of Awesome and Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
Burst Angel only has this happen in the last episode, when textbook Distressed Damsel Meg, Percussively Prevented by her partner Jo from suicidally Storming The Castle, finally starts to stand on her own, taking the first steps toward Taking A Level In Badass.
Shikabane Hime played the Opening Theme over Makina and Yamagami's first fight with Akasha to let them fight his horrible evilness.
Once YOU WA SHOCK/Ai Wo Torimodose's battle remix starts playing (or for that matter, the fight alteration of "Super Survivor" or "Tough Boy"), then there's no doubt Kenshiro will bring the ultimate form of pain on the bad guy of the day. Then, after the beat down, they are already dead.
- One aversion however, is Jackal, a powerless dynamite-Spamming mook, who manages to live all through that music. And Ken was just fucking with him all that time anyway... up until Jackal calls upon Devil Rebirth.
Vision of Escaflowne does this sometimes. When the Dance of Curse starts playing expect some serious fighting.
One Piece has "Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!", which often plays when Luffy finishes off the villains.
- Each character has their own. If a non-Strawhat has one, they're joining the crew.
- If you hear the instrumental version of "We Are" (The show's first theme song), the whole crew is going to be breaking out the beatdown.
During episodes 18 and 19 of the GX dub, the duelist who purloined Yugi's deck and was dueling Jaden kept having musical overtures from the previous series playing. Towards the end, they were even being played in the same musical style as a lot of GX music.
Basquash! doesn't show the usual title card or play the theme song at the start of episode seven, with the reason why being revealed at the end. It was being saved for Dan showing Rollingtown, for real this time, how hotblooded basketball is played. The theme song shows him the way.
Nearly any fight in The Third!, most notable One Woman Wail "Sword Dancer" during first and tension rising "Storm on the Battlefield" during last battle.
Most fights in Law of Ueki start the opening theme as the final attack is used, which then continues through the whole opening, even if the fight has already ended.
Whenever Yuki Kajiura and the strings and chimes of Awesome strike up in Kara No Kyoukai, not only is the unkillable going to be killed, it's going to be spectacular.
In the Black Lagoon anime, various rock songs inevitably start up whenever awesomeness is about to come down. The most notable is the song "Peach Headz Addiction", which only plays when Revy lapses into Whitman Fever.
In the final episode of Ouran High School Host Club the ending theme starts early as Haruhi goes after Tamaki on the carriage on her own and the episode had a special ending to avoid repeating.
Whenever Athena's Saints in Saint Seiya mustered their courage and burned their Cosmo beyond its limits, they'd receive either a full-on brass fanfare or a gorgeous orchestral arrangement of "Pegasus Fantasy". Asskicking of Olympian proportions would ensue.
In Gaiking, should you happen to be hearing the sound of trumpets - it means Daiya is about to kick ass.
Transformers Victory's opening theme music plays whenever Star Saber does something particularly awesome. Road Caesar and Landcross each have their own remixed version.
In Seto No Hanayome, San's "Song of Heroes" is a Theme Music Power Up, thanks to the Mermaid's Ancient Lyrics. Any time San starts singing it, Nagasumi is about to do something impossibly badass. And then there's the time that Nagasumi pulls it off before San starts singing, because he's just that pissed off. The "Song of Heroes" starts picking up just as the asskicking begins.
Keroro Gunso example. In episode 103, just as the Garuru platoon has utterly defeated the Keroro platoon, Natsumi is down and Keroro himself has been transformed into a psycopathic frogchild version of himself, Fuyuki snaps him out of it...cue the first opening theme as Keroro rallies the troops. 3! 2! 1! FIRE!
Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie. "Let's go, Utena. To the outside world." ~ Oooohhhh, yeeeaahhhh... ~
In Soul Eater Soul does this quite literally, as he is able to play a (technically imaginary) piano to co-ordinate him and Maka with their teammates.
In the Mazinkaiser OV As, whenever Kouji lays the pain down his opponents, the song Mazinkaiser's Theme starts playing, though it's the short version. In the final episode, "Decisive Battle! Burning Hell Castle", the full version of it is played the moment Mazinkaiser unleashes Kaiser Blade and doesn't stop until he delivers the final blow onto Hell King Gorgon.

Films

The Heart-Stirring main theme of Once Upon a Time in China plays whenever Jet Li's heroic lead, Wong Fei Hong, takes on the forces of evil in said-movie-series.
- It's traditional to use that for Wong Fei Hung's theme song in any movie about him. Example:This clip of Jackie Chan's Drunken Master plays it when Fei Hung is winning his fight against the Big Bad.
The Bride from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.
Indiana Jones has his distinctive theme play whenever he does something Especially Awesome.
- Said theme was so awesome that Turkish Star Wars shamelessly stole it and used it for Every. Single. Freakin'. Fight scene.
James Bond is in the rare and enviable position of having two Theme Music Power Ups — the "James Bond Theme", and the music from the opening titles of each movie. See the pre-credits sequence from Tomorrow Never Dies for a particularly badass example. On the other hand, if the opening song is a Villain Song, Bond had better watch out when it starts playing on the soundtrack. Example: Goldfinger's aerial raid on Fort Knox, set to a thunderous version of his The Villain Sucks Song.
- Two examples that simply must be mentioned:
  - Bond re-entering the scene in a tank by taking the shortest route through a concrete wall in Goldeneye.
  - "The name's Bond... James Bond."
In the Spider-Man films, Spidey's action scenes are usually accompanied by his distinctive leitmotif. The villains also get their own theme music. In climax of the third one, Spider-Man's theme gets very noticeably cut off whenever the villains get the upper hand.
"Holding Out for a Hero" in Short Circuit 2; for those too young to remember that one, it was also in Shrek 2. With full orchestra support from Harry Gregson-Williams in the latter case.
At the end of the Mission Impossible movie.
- Even better in the second one, when the hero is dead and the villain victorious (complete with his own music rising to climax), only to change abruptly to the hero theme as we see that he (and we) have been deceived.
Right towards the end of the The Matrix, when Neo becomes The One, and is seeing the "code" for the first time. One-handed kickassery follows.
The Rocky movies are no doubt well-known for their sudden comebacks, almost always accompanied by one of Rocky's many theme tunes. Usually, just as the finishing blows are made, the music builds to a dramatic climax. This is no more evident than in the fifth movie (otherwise not worth the time) where, as Rocky lies concussed in the streets during a brawl with Tommy Gunn, he goes into an almighty hallucination, remembering his dead trainer Mickey before finally snapping out of it as Mickey screams at him "Get up, you son if a bitch... 'cause Mickey loves ya." The music swells as Rocky rises again... then it suddenly bursts into a weird ghetto remix.
Parodied in Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, where Master Betty occasionally shouts, "Play my kick-ass music!" One of his minions then plays "Baby Got Back", to which tune Betty pummels his victim.
- "By the way, you must beware of Betty's iron claw. They are sharp, and they hurt. And beware his song about big butts, he beats people up while he plays it!"
- And in the final showdown, the Chosen One throws a shuriken at the boom-box, causing it to start playing the Ram Jam version of (probably) Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter's "Black Betty".
Sometimes done just before a scene's climax, when the heroes have the upper hand and the enemy hasn't made his final play yet — such as in the Scooby Doo movie, where a remix of the classic theme plays for a while before the gang really winds up in trouble.
"Secret Agent Man" playing in the final battle of the first Austin Powers movie may qualify; again, it dies down before Austin's final confrontation with Doctor Evil.
Backs up the Guarani a couple times in The Mission. Sadly, it is not quite enough.
The first twenty seconds of the track "Beelzeboss" from Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny act as a Theme Music Power Up for the Devil.
At the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Jack Sparrow's confrontation against the kraken is made even more awesome by the remix of He's A Pirate that plays during it.
- And then abruptly turns tragic as the heroic strings drop into a dying fall... just as the Black Pearl is pulled beneath the waves.
How can anybody forget how Excalibur popularized "O Fortuna".
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi gives Luke a big Theme Music Power Up in the Sarlacc pit scene.
- The Emperor gets one as well when he fries luke with force lightning, complete with Ominous Latin Chanting (well, Ominous wordless chanting anyway). Has elements of The Day The Music Lied, though.
Mr. Mistoffelees on the filmed version of Cats. His song, though enjoyable, is so odd and repetitive and full of praise that it seems he's doing the song mostly to get the crowd to believe in his powers so he can actually do anything.
When it's time for a dogfight, what's the first thing the hero does in Iron Eagle? Put some rock into his tape deck, of course.
Why the Superman wasn't added a long time ago is beyond me. It is the sound of powering up.
- Later used/homaged in a climactic moment of I'm A Marvel... And I'm a DC's "After Hours" storyline. The circumstances did it justice. Which is to say, it was appropriately awesome.
In Godzilla Final Wars, Godzilla's new theme "King of the Monsters" kicks in just as he blasts off one of Keizer Ghidorah's heads after being revived by Ozaki in the Gotengo. Godzilla then proceeds to utterly destroy Ghidorah by tossing him into the air and blasting him with a spiral beam.
- A possible subversion or inversion could be the laughably quick death that the American Zilla receives from the true Godzilla while the English (but not American) song "We're All to Blame" plays over its fight.
In Galaxy Quest, at the end of the movie, the real Protector, with the cast members on it, crash-lands at a Galaxy Quest convention. The film's Big Bad, Serris, is still alive — until he's shot, in full view of the entire convention audience, by "Commander Peter Quincy Taggart". The film's triumphant theme music plays. It's over. However, in the beginning of the movie, the guy was a pure egotist, basking in the spotlight at appearances and so on. Now, he's learned his lesson, and he invites the crew up to take a bow. When this happens, the music switches to a higher, remixed triumphant version with plenty of choir — the Commander's won the real battle. The movie ends there.
Iron Man had great fun with this, playing the driving guitars of the hero's theme and then stopping the music abruptly when circumstances changed. Best example would be our hero taking out a group of terrorists and flying along with music blaring until he takes a tank round to the face and crashes. He stands up, fires with disdain a tiny little rocket, and turns around to walk away. Looking back, we see the tank explode dramatically and the music picks up right where it left off.
"Yor's world, he's the man!"
Two moments from Star Trek First Contact spring to mind: the battle againt the Borg cube at the start of the movie, where the Enterprise swoops to the rescueto the sound of an absolutely epic fanfare, and the fight on the deflector dish, where each time the Borg gain the upper hand, a more thunderous version of their Leitmotif plays.
Pretty blatant in the climactic fight scene of Only The Strong, a 90's action film about capoeira (a Brazilian martial art): the main character is about to be killed by the Big Bad, when all of a sudden the main character's student's (who are watching the fight, along with the Big Bad's minions) start singing the capoeira song he had taught them earlier in the film. This gives our hero the energy boost needed to fend off his opponent, then royally kick his ass.
Whenever Optimus Prime enters the big ending battle in both movies, the music soars as Prime either epically transforms or gets new armor, weapons and flight capability donated from the deceased Jetfire. Both complete with a one-liner to emphasize that yes, this is awesome.
"Let's roll!"
Just before the 'two against five' sequence in The Good The Bad And The Ugly, a burst of the theme music plays as Blondie asks Tuco "Were you going to die alone?" and joins him to fight Angel-Eyes' men.
Happens subtly in Star Trek. If you hear a snippet of the main riff from "Enterprising Young Men", ass-kicking will soon ensue. Especially egregious when Sulu gets dangerous.

Literature

Live Action TV

Xena Warrior Princess, as sung by the Bulgarian Women's Choir.
Numerous examples in Power Rangers in all of its incarnations. For example, after Tommy lost his Green Ranger powers in the first season, yet proceeded to fight off Goldar anyway (to the tune of "Go Green Ranger Go").
- Theme Music Power Up is the only context where we get to hear the original Power Ranger theme with lyrics in its verses. ("No one will ever take them down / The power lies on their si~i~i~i~i~ide! / Go, go, Power Rangers...") Giving a previously instrumental theme some lyrics, when done right, seems to give a power-up to the theme music.
- Particularly, in the crossover episodes, the visiting team gets the theme music for the previous season when they escalate. In Operation Overdrive's Once a Ranger, we're treated to five earlier incarnations of the theme music, cleverly mixing together (Well, four; for some presumably legal reason, Adam gets a new theme song rather than the original "Go, Go Power Rangers" theme.).
- Happens in Super Sentai too... although ''Fiveman'' took it too far.
- Some Power Rangers series have also inverted this trope, giving Mooks like the Cogs and Tenga theme music when they fight the Rangers. They almost always lose.
  - This happened in Sentai too, dating all the way back to Goranger, with "Akuma no Kurojuujigun" being the theme of the Kurojuujigun.
One series, Kagaku Sentai Dynaman, (yes, that one) had this to the extreme, with an opening theme made to sync to the Finishing Move, the Super Dynamite.
Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger VS Abaranger ended up Lampshading the whole thing:
Jasmine: Please excuse me. (place hand on Ryouga's hand)
Narrator: (while clipshow of Abaranger goes on) Jasmine is an ESPer. Whoever she touches, Jasmine recaps his memories.
Jasmine: Seems true for now. I have my doubts for them though — (walks to the camera) — Aba-Aba-Aba-Aba-Abaranger!
Umeko: What the heck was that?
Jasmine: Don't know either. It was on loop in his brain.
The A Team theme tune, during each episode's A Team Montage.
Kamen Rider Den-O has a different version of "Double-Action" for each of Ryotaro's five forms. Ryuutaros, however, takes it a step further. He gets a hip-hop remix of the show's Theme Song and the above mentioned "Double-Action", that play almost every time he shows up. This includes when he's stalking rival Sakurai Yuuto. Speaking of, Yuuto and his partner Deneb get their own theme music, called Action-ZERO.
- All Toku use this trope to one degree or another. Grand Finales usually involve the "series Theme Song" variant, while the debut of Sixth Rangers usually gives them a specialized theme. This may be to sell the soundtracks.
- Though it doesn't quite fit under a category, when one of the Riders in Kamen Rider SPIRITS is about to have a nice big one-against-all-of-his-monsters-of-the-week-ever battles, the lyrics to an appropriate theme song are written out on the page (V3's sequence is notably impressive).
- Especially powerful in Kamen Rider BLACK's final episode when Kotaro powers up with Long Long Ago 20th Century in the background to fight his brother, Shadow Moon one last time.
Not really sure if this fits, but at the end of the Season Finale of Doctor Who, a rather magnificent version of Martha's theme plays when she leaves the Doctor, returning to her family as the TARDIS dematerializes. The implication is that she will go on to have an amazing life without being in the Doctor's shadow constantly.
- Better examples would be the Ominous Hebrew Chanting that plays whenever the Daleks do something particularly awesome (which is a lot), or the four-beat "sound of drums" that plays whenever the Master is a Magnificent Bastard (which is a lot).
  - Of course this could be considered a subversion, as in the later's case it turns out he hears it constantly, and its driven him insane.
- The Doctor himself has two themes (not including the Main Title theme) in the new series: one for whenever proceedings get "too Time Lord-y", and another, bombastic epic theme to underscore various moments of heroism. In particular, the second theme played over a moving Remembrance Day service at the end of The Family of Blood, while the former was epic-ized for the Doctor's aristeia in Forest of the Dead.
  - And gets a third power up, with a much larger chorus, for his regeneration in The End of Time.
Airwolf, a lot, including literal cases, where the theme tune plays as Airwolf starts up, and goes full-blast during the climactic fight scenes. In fact, you can usually predict down to the second when the final explosion will take place as it will be in time with the climax of the theme.
On Heroes a ticking clock sound starts playing whenever Sylar gets up to his serial killer shenanigans. It fits his backstory as a watch repairman, and is damn creepy to boot.
- In the Season 3 episode "I am Become Death", this trope is played around with when Sylar's theme is played again for another character, Peter, as he loses control while trying to use Sylar's power. It's creepy and effective.
Batman usually fought goons to the sound of his theme music. And it was AWESOME.
- Doubly awesome as every BIFF and POW is accented by a musical sting.
Spaced spoofs by powering with another show's theme: Mike gets brooding Mad Artist Brian to go from mouse to man by playing the Thunderbirds theme.
- Another episode uses a drum and bass remix of the Imperial March over a Mission Briefing scene as Tim tries to power up the rest of the gang.
- "Where's Mike?" "He's over there!" Dancing to a dance remix of the A-Team theme.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer did this in its first-season finale "Prophecy Girl," playing the show's theme (performed by Nerf Herder) during the climactic fight - the only use of the theme music within an episode.
In an example of the character playing their own theme song, basically any time Omar Little of The Wire whistles "The Farmer in the Dell," odds are he's about to add yet another act of pure badassery to his resume.
Everytime Grover transforms into Super Grover in Sesame Street (He gets a version with Rock Guitar in Elmo Loves You)
Happens in the very first episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, when the crew successfully pull off the detachment of the saucer section at Warp 9.
Oddly enough, even a network can be powered up through theme music. Remember "HBO in Space", the intro HBO used in the 80s and 90s for movies on Saturday night and such? Where the camera zooms through a town, then up into space, where the HBO logo flies at you, twirling? People commenting on that video repeatedly state how the music gets them pumped up, feeling like they're about to watch something epic!
This happens twice in a single episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica. In Exodus Part 2, during the escape from New Caprica some fairly standard, percussion-heavy music is playing, until the Galactica shows up falling from the upper atmosphere, launches vipers, and jumps away at the last second, all of which is set to the most triumphant bagpipes you can imagine. Later, as Galactica is getting pounded by four Cylon basestars and everyone has given up hope, the music is slow and somber. The camera pans out until a missile appears from off screen, and then another one, until the camera turns around to reveal the Pegasus in the nick of time and the music the music goes back to the exciting drum music.

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Video Games

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney uses this trope to extremes unplumbed by man, playing it straight and subverting it at will as the case swings back and forth in and out of Phoenix's favor. A Double Subversion occurs in the first game's third case: Phoenix is out of ammo, the witness/killer is about to get off the stand... and then the song "Investigation ~ Cornered (Variation)" (very dramatic and heroic music) starts up as Edgeworth objects to keep the witness on the stand. The music dies as Edgeworth realizes he doesn't have a question, the judge is about to let the witness go... and then the music starts up again as Edgeworth has a burst of inspiration.
- Note that in the second trial, when Phoenix first has White about to confess the music starts up for Edgeworth as he proceeds to help weave a false testimony, triggering part two of the confrontation. The music starts up again when Wright has White cornered for the second time, and Edgeworth attempts to obscure the truth once again by extending the trial.
- The second game uses this in an interesting way: Edgeworth returns from a Journey To Find Oneself. Part of the sign he found what he was looking for is that he has gained his own theme music.
- This happens again in Trials and Tribulations when Phoenix finally backs Godot into a corner, exposing as the true "murderer" of Misty Fey. As he does, the "Cornered" song from the first game reappears. Mia Fey's spirit even shows up to cheer Phoenix on.
- In fact, the use of this trope verges on being a gameplay element - whenever you present the correct evidence at a contradiction, the cross-examination theme will always stop as Phoenix objects, in preparation for the heroic music to start up once he points out the contradiction. If you're wrong, the music will just keep going as he takes a penalty. Save right before every objection you're not sure of, and wait for the music cue with your finger on the power switch in case you were wrong...
  - And in the second to last piece of evidence of the third game (the one with the first game's "Cornered" theme) the music always stops and Godot's next line is the same if you present the right piece of evidence or not.
- In the fourth game, the prosecutor was a guitarist for a band and his theme music turned out to be one of his actual songs. Further, he will perform awesome air guitar in court, which does everything from double your penalty bar to break down a witness.
  - Don't forget Godot. He has his own smooth jazz Leitmotif as his CELL PHONE RINGTONE.
In the Gamecube version of Soul Calibur 2, Link's theme starts blaring as he begins his destined battle against Raphael. Hearing the tune really pumps you up to kick Raph's arse.
Super Metroid's Final Battle, where the remixed Crateria theme starts thundering over Samus' "My Name Is Inigo Montoya" moment against Mother Brain.
- Samus does have her own theme music by this point in the series, which plays over her revival (both times) in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and over Super Metroid's opening text crawl and end credits. It also gets an orchestral remix in Super Smash Bros Brawl.
Speaking of Metroid... Late in Metroid Zero Mission, Samus is stripped of her armor, and is forced to retreat from a pack of murderous space pirates who can kill her in one shot. She gets two consecutive Theme Music Power Up moments:
- After gaining a new, more powerful version of her armor in the Chozo Ruins, Samus gets the "got item" theme, but instead of the version found in the 8-bit NES Metroid, it sounds more like the Metroid Prime-and-later versions. Sends chills up and down the spine.
- Samus then retaliates against the pirates with a vengeance, now able to destroy them in one shot, with an up tempo version of the Brinstar theme song blaring all the while.
The final boss of Metroid Prime is accompanied by the already slightly creepy, Ominous Latin Chanting filled main menu music, warped to sound even stranger and more alien. Given that the main menu has the interior of a metroid for its backdrop, this really drives home just how wrong the final boss is, even compared to life energy sucking floating fanged jellyfish.
- Both Ridley and Dark Samus have Evil Theme Music Power Ups in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. In the case of Dark Samus, it's a Big Damn Villain moment too.
Metal Gear Solid 3 invokes the song Snake Eater if the player is running out of time in the final battle with The Boss.
- Metal Gear Solid 4 plays with this, where playing certain songs on the I Pod provides ingame bonuses. Naturally the ridiculously awesome Metal Gear Solid 3 theme (Someday, you walk through the raaaaaaain, some day you'll feed on a treeeee frog!) makes you almost unstoppable.
  - Then there's the finale of MGS 4, where a final fistfight with Liquid Ocelot comes in four parts, with theme music from each main game of the series (and matching health bars) for each section, until the music runs out of steam and it's just two old men throwing their last ounces of strength at eachother.
Mega Man series examples:
- Zero in the Mega Man X games has a different theme song in every game, and it always plays when he does something awesome (blowing off Vile's mech's arm in the first game, sacrificing himself, destroying a copy of himself in just three shots, etc.).
- This holds true in the Mega Man Zero saga. Whenever that particular game's Zero theme song starts sounding, rest assured — you're about to do something very cool.
  - Also, the music changes into the foreboding final stage theme after the first form of the final boss is defeated and the Ragnarok satellite is plummeting toward the planet with Weil making a last bid by hooking up to the remains of its control system and directing it towards Area Zero. Then Zero has his World Of Cardboard Speech and the absolutely awesome final boss music starts up.
- And Mega Man Battle Network games have a theme in each game, based around the same two tunes throughout the series, which is played for no other reason other than to show off how something heroic is going on.
  - The tracks are actually called "Heroism".
  - Not to mention "You're Not Alone" for the Big Damn Heroes moments.
  - In what can only be described as Mood Whiplash, the 6th game has a slow, sad version of the theme, as Iris and Colonel reveal that they are going to fuse, deleting them to get rid of the Cybeast inside the titular character, then "You're Not Alone" plays as the event actually happens.
  - The Battle Network anime even did this in the Japanese version — if you heard the theme song, it was time for the heroes to start winning. Without fail. The dub did not retain this tradition.
  - The final match of the N-1 Grand Prix was, of course, between Netto and Rockman and Enzan and Blues. The fight takes place while the Anime Theme Song, "Kaze wo Tsukinukete", blares in the background, and both Navis pull off the Program Advance Beta Sword and commence a swordfight so epic the holographic display almost can't contain it. And then Blues wins by way of Single Stroke Battle. Rock falls over, and Blues and Netto both congratulate Rock on his hard fight while a slow, sad ballad version of the very same opening theme plays.
- In Mega Man ZX, you get a brief moment of your protagonist's bright idealism, accompanied by Green Grass Gradation (the very upbeat and optimistic Area A music from the very beginning of the game), before commencing the final battle.
During the second fight with Dracula in Super Castlevania 4, the music changes from the level music to Simon Belmont's theme. Note that this has worked in reverse as well; Dracula's theme music, Dance of Illusions, usually plays in the fights where he's the most difficult to defeat (like in Dracula XX, where the battle takes place over a series of bottomless pits).
- Two examples of this one in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. In the first example, when you enter the boss room for The Arena, the normal boss music plays, as a cloud of bats flies outward and reforms into one Giant Bat. Then, a giant hand stretches out from the background (a huge shattered cage) and crushes the bat in its grip, just as the music changes to an entirely new boss theme. You end up fighting Balore (a giant ogre), one of the tougher bosses in the game.
  The second example is in the extended ending. If you fight the normal final boss, Graham, a certain way, you will inherit Dracula's powers once you defeat him. This allows you access to a previously sealed area of the castle... where you get to fight Julius Belmont himself! The battle is a tough one, too — especially because Julius has the best theme music in the game.
This is essentially the effect of Star Power in the Guitar Hero games. Once activated, every note you successfully hit earns you double points, and the crowd rhythmically claps in unison. This is a great way to save you from certain death on difficult songs like "Bark at the Moon" and the faster second half of "Hangar 18".
Used throughout the Halo series. The Halo Theme generally starts playing whenever things get particularly exciting — a narrow, timed escape, a huge, 3-way battle, etc. And, of course, whenever Master Chief does something utterly awesome, the theme WILL be playing.
- Depending on how awesome whatever Master Chief is doing is, you might get the "Brothers in Arms" mix, the "Rock Anthem / Mjolnir Mix," or the "Covenant Dance" mix.
- The best example of this music being used is in the final mission of Halo 3, which consists of one of the most epic escape sequences in video game history.
- The Arbiter actually gets a mix of his own as well: "Unyielding," introduced in Halo 2, which plays when riding into battle against the Brutes in the last few levels. This track is later spliced into the Halo 3 version that plays during the big escape at the end.
Each area in Phantasy Star Online has two songs (or parts if you see the song listing in the Sound Test or the OST). Part one is soft and calm while part two, which starts up when enemies attack, is more intense and has a harder beat to it. Both parts last almost the same length and have the same BPM, which lets the BG music flow from one song to another as if it were just the same song just getting more intenser. The intensity between the parts goes up with each episode as well.
Sonic the Hedgehog has been doing this lately. When someone goes Super at the end of each game, it is always accompanied with a Theme Music Power Up.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 did it best with the Super Sonic theme - music that tells you immediately that all bets are off.
Inverted in Final Fantasy VII: A Flash Back to the Big Bad's deteriorating mental state is accompanied by a few, looping malevolent chords. When he snaps, they extend and turn out to be the opening of his leitmotif.
- Not to mention the full-on Ominous Latin Chanting excellence of the final boss fight.
- One Winged Angel is used several times through the VII Compilation as a Theme Music Power Up, most notably the above-listed transformation into Safer Sephiroth, as well as the fact that the song pretty much brought Sephiroth back from the dead.
When the main plot of Chrono Trigger starts up, they even let you bask in the theme music during enemy encounters.
- Also, characters' personal themes. Frog is particularly notable for this.
- Magus has a theme song that's awesome enough when your party is fighting him. However, if you happen to have him in your party when fighting the Bonus Boss, his mother, he personally taunts his enemy and replaces the normal boss song with his own.
Gig, Omnicidal Heroic Sociopath of Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, has three theme songs. Consequently, he has three different stages of Theme Music Power Up depending on which one's used, ranging from "you'll receive a verbal smackdown" to "you're Deader Than Dead, and so's your Throw Away Country And Your Little Dog Too".
In the Advance Wars 2/DS/Days of Ruin, when a CO Power is used, the normal CO theme will be replaced by a heavy metal tune depending on the CO's faction.
- Some of the effects last until the next day/turn however, even though the theme is replaced by your respective enemy theme during their turns. Weather effects caused by CO powers can even last up to 3 days.
An observed property of the upcoming game Fable II is that the more rhythmically you kick ass, the more awesome the BGM becomes.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is like this too.
Star Fox has Star Wolf's theme which remain pretty much the same (just with different instruments) throughout the series. You can't have a Star Wolf theme without Star Wolf team after all!
- Including a Mariachi Band in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Super Robot Wars uses this by default. The music that plays during any unit's Attack animation is often it's series theme song. Same for the non-Badass Normal characters in the Original Generation games, until the remake gave everybody their own. In all SRW games, they will also play the trope completely straight at appropriate moments in the plot, and will play an entire game's theme song when some serious beatdown is about to commence. Through the Alpha and OG series', Elzam Branstein's "Trombe!" is so Bad Ass, overrides almost all other theme music (even bosses), and results in much ass-kicking. Particularly from Alpha 3 onwards, there is the option to change the unit's battle music, with exceptions (such as "Goldion Hammer" and "Goldion Crusher", which only play during their attacks — their Bad Ass attacks). In addition, the Sound Force from Macross 7 literally defeat enemies by singing at them — and can also power up your other units with their music.
- Though, of course, that was rather the point of Sound Force. Up to and including powering the Wave Motion Gun of the show by the end.
- The spin-off game Endless Frontier also uses this liberally: while the normal battle themes are randomly selected from 4 different possibilities depending on who's in the party, the character-specific theme starts playing whenever someone uses one of their special attacks.
- SRW manages to take this to a true extreme in Alpha 3 when a song composed as a collaboration between Minmay and Basara (in the story, at least) actually saves the day in the final stage, by galvanizing the heroes against a wave of malice that comes from the series' ultimate Big Bad. It's no coincidence that the song was created in Rea Life by JAM Project for that game.
- Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how TROMBE! I am.
- Interesting to note, "Trombe!" was not the first instance of theme song override in the series. In Alpha Gaiden at least, certain units had "super attacks" that would trigger a different song. "Satellite Cannon" and "Dark History" were not programmed to have a lower priority than boss songs.
Speaking of song overridings, Dynasty Warriors have Lu Bu, which Elzam seems to be an Expy of. And finally, in Samurai Warriors, there's Honda Tadakatsu for the man of theme song overriding. Note that the music only overrides the 'default' music (it varies based on the situation) when a player is within proximity of either, and of course that this only applies when they're opposing NP Cs.
In the best scene in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace Emissary, after Ganondorf and Bowser's gigantic Subspace Battleship shoots down the heroe's recovered Halberd, the heroes escape in their personal fighters to the Theme Music Power Up. The music being Dramatic Latin Chanting doesn't hurt.
Boss battles in Skies of Arcadia are accompanied by music that changes according to how well the player is doing. If the player's party has taken a lot of damage, the music is ominous and fractured; if the player is only a few turns from victory, it's upbeat and triumphant.
The final boss battle in Persona 3 is accompanied by a remix of Burn My Dread, the game's theme tune. It's appropriate for this trope because as the battle progresses, the Main Character powers up his final ability.
- Pretty much all the music in Persona 3 was awesome, but every version of Burn My Dread has the ability to either rock you in the face or punch you in the soul. The version in the final battle is incredibly tense, but also uplifting, with the slow rise of the chorus in the background and the solid, rhythmic hip-hop lead vocals creating this eternal escalator of pumped-upness. And once you've played that scene, you'll never be able to hear it without hearing Shinji helping you out.
- The boss battle against The Dragon, and true (non-scripted) Final Battle, is fought at the sound of "Battle Hymn of the Soul" —a glorious power-rock remix of the Leit Motif for the entire Persona series, "Aria of the Soul".
In Phantasy Star III, the world map theme adds instruments and background to the main melody as more characters join your party. However, if the main character of the generation falls in combat, a much more tense and negative tune plays until said character is resurrected.
This occurs at least once in each chapter of Live A Live, usually using that particular chapter's battle music. A notable example is during the Mecha chapter's giant robot Buriki Daioh (whose theme music is acknowledged by an NPC saying "Start the music!" whenever the player tries to activate it). Also notable is that the game's main theme is used as the battle music for the final chapter, making nearly every battle a Theme Music Power Up.
- Also inverted in one chapter. Whenever you play as Oersted and somehing awful happens to him, he has a flashback of sorts and a loud droning noise is heard. By the end of the chapter where he reanounces humanity and becomes the demon king Odio, the droning returns, but eventually becomes a song. The song name? "The Demon King Odio," which has been used frequently in the game up to this point as the boss themes..
Musical motifs from Exdeath's already evil and imposing theme in Final Fantasy V are used in his even more awesome personal battle theme.
- During an optional boss fight near the end of the game, a certain song starts playing when it becomes apparent that the party can't win. The song is Gilgamesh's theme song, "Battle at the Big Bridge", and sure enough he shows up to save the day.
In Age of Mythology, when the player's units attack an opponent's major buildings (Town Center, Palace, etc.) the music switches to a more stirring track.
Grand Theft Auto.
In Thunder Force 5, as you fly into space you encounter a replica of the ship you flew in Thunder Force 4 as a boss, accompanied by an (even more) awesome remix of the heavy metal theme tune of Thunder Force 4 (although this could be considered an inversion, considering its a Theme Music Power Up for your foe).
The Captain America and The Avengers video game from the 16-bit era would play a cool Super-Hero type music when the level's boss was starting to lose.
Played for laughs in Monkey Island 2, when Guybrush swinging heroically to grab a chest prompts the Indiana Jones theme tune. Then it's quickly subverted as Guybrush is left hanging from the rope and the music meekly fades out.
In the arcade game Fate/unlimited codes, when Archer gets to the "Yet, these hands will never hold anything" part of his chant, the regular background music cuts off and "Emiya" kicks in. Unlimited Blade Works ownage follows.
It's difficult to say whether Kratos' theme music in God of War is this or a particularly bloody version of Mickey Mousing. Either way, it's awesome on spoons.
In Space Invaders Extreme, picking up a powerup remixes the music into something louder and more intense for the duration of your powerup, and the music becomes even more epic if you go into Fever Time.
The final boss battle of La Mulana begins with normal-sounding boss music...which gets replaced by a remix of the Surface music, "Good Night Mom," in the boss's subsequent forms.
- It was an interesting touch on the developers' part that all of the boss themes in the game open with the same chord sequence, with some remixing between each theme... except for the theme for the final boss's true form, which instead shares it's first few notes with an alternate version of the main ruins theme that only plays the first time you enter the ruins.
In Cave Story the battle with Ballos has three different songs. His first form is accompanied by "Gravity," the normal boss music. Then when you reach his second form, the music switches over to "Eyes of Flame," which is usually reserved for more dangerous bosses. Finally, his third and fourth forms come with a side of "Last Battle," the background music to the battle with the Undead Core.
In Final Fantasy IV, when Big Bad Zeromus has all but obliterated the party, the Elder of Mysidia clears his throat, asks all the former party members for help, and "Final Fantasy", the theme song for the entire series (also known as "Prologue") plays. Cue the Spirit Bomb that revives the party to full fighting strength.
The Final Battle of Okami. The protagonist: Amaterasu, Sun Goddess. The enemy: Yami, Lord of Eternal Darkness. The name of the song: "The Sun Rises." Yeah, the Final Boss doesn't stand a chance.
In the game God Hand, the song that plays in the first level, the western-style one is an awesome surf song called "Gene's Rock-A-Bye". Whenever Gene unleashes his God Hand, a much faster version of "Gene's Rock-A-Bye", called "Broncobuster" plays, even drowning out the themes of bosses he's fighting. Even Azel, who has the Devil Hand and his own Theme Music Power Up (from "Devil May Sly" to "Duel Storm") can't win against "Broncobuster".
Grand Papillon (AKA Joachim Valentine) from Shadow Hearts: Covenant plays this semi-straight several times throughout the game, and parodies it in one scene. During his first fight with Veronica, though not actually the first time you meet her in the game, Joachim is beaten around rather badly until Yuma throws his trademark mask to him. he crawls toward the mask and puts it on. Cue dramatic theme music and a lensflare, after which he proceeds to win the battle without breaking a sweat. The parody comes from the fact that the mask in no way helps him — it's all in his head.
The Space Channel 5 games also feature this trope. In the first one at the end, when Ulala is fighting Blank, the music starts with a small, acapella version of the game's theme song "Mexican Flyer". The better Ulala does in the battle, the more voices join in with the singing. As she gets closer to winning, even real instruments start to play, finally culminating in a thick and triumphant rendition of "Mexican Flyer" as Ulala defeats the Big Bad.
- Similarly, the final battle of the second game, Space Channel 5, Part 2 features Ulala fighting against the new Big Bad named Purge. The song that plays there is called "Connected Hearts" and is also a triumphant rendition of "Mexican Flyer", complete with the characters singing lyrics to it!
Play with the Spartans in Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri, and every time your troops are fighting you'll hear an absolutely badass heavy metal theme.
Rise of Nations replaces the usual ethnic rhythms with military fanfares every time your troops are kicking some enemy ass.
As well as Command and Conquer: Generals.
- While you can choose the music playing in the earlier Command and Conquer, in Tiberian Sun: Firestorm, when Cabal activated his last line of defense, a huge and powerful Humongous Mecha, the song "Slave To The System" immediately plays unless you switch off the music. This applies for both GDI and NOD versions of the mission.
- Also in Red Alert 3, the background music immediately changes when the player's unit is engaging the enemy in battle (and likewise changed again when the battle ends).
Def Jam: Icon is the literal embodiment of this trope. When two players fight, they each choose a song. Whomever is winning the fight will have "their" background music playing (and the background shimmies and dances to its beat). Certain areas of the level explode during bass hits, and the fighters actually control the music by making DJ scratching motions in the air to wound their opponent. See how it works here, though the lyrics are NSFW.
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune marks the introduction of a major character into an arc-ending race with his or her Leitmotif.
Keeping up with the Final Fantasy references, the last true boss of Final Fantasy X is heralded by a massively muscled arm clawing up to a platform — and much more importantly, metal guitar.
- The "Challenge" soundtrack really comes into its own as a TMPU in the way it builds up in the cutscene in The Beyond and its peak when the fight against Yunalesca finally begins.
In Shadow of the Colossus, the music is usually a mournful, slow-moving tune when you start fighting a colossus, but when you grab onto the thing and prepare to stab, the music swells into a louder, (usually) faster, and more awesome song that certainly fits the theme of you stabbing a thing well over 10 times your size to death. And when you realize you're pulling a Nice Job Breaking It Hero, the music turns bitterly ironic.
- Link gets one of these in The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess whenever he gets in the position to actually hurt the boss.
In Elite Beat Agents, the agents fight off against music-hating aliens by getting everybody in the world to dance to an absolutely epic cover of The Rolling Stones' Jumping Jack Flash. In fact, the entire game (as well as the Ouendan series it's based on) revolves around this.
In Ace Combat Zero, whenever something particularly awesome happens the latin guitar from the final boss fight kicks in for a short duration. And of course there is that final boss music.
In the original Persona, during battles where a new party member is introduced, the game uses a special battle theme called "Awakening". In these battles, the character(s) in question go from being regular high school students to full blown Magic Knights.
The original Star Soldier Shoot Em Up for the NES changes the music when you power up...and in a later remake for the PS 2, GCN, and PSP a rock remix of the power up theme plays. AWESOME.
Persona 4 has music for the Final Boss that starts out slow and ominous, then gradually picks up as you wear down the boss. The last stage of the music is an instrumental arrangement of the main battle theme, Reach Out to the Truth.
In Guilty Gear 2: Overture whenever one player gains a clear upper hand their character's theme music plays.
- Also, special music plays when certain characters face off in a Master vs. Master battle.
The Wild ARMs series, with the exception of the first and third games, have a tendency to have the game's theme song serve as the final boss's BGM. Possibly among the most awesome usages of this trope; Wild ARMs 2 and Wild ARMs 4 in particular use The Power Of Friendship and a Spirit Bomb attack completely shamelessly in the course of the fight, which when combined with the incredible songs makes for moments of total awesome.
The World Ends With You. You're about to face down the final boss alone, leaving you practically powerless. Suddenly, your friends decide to stop being unconscious and help out. Cue the Surreal Theme Tune.
In the console version of Blaz Blue, if a player performs Bang Shishigami's Furinkazan super move, the music suddenly changes to a brand-new song by Hironobu Kageyama called "Omae no Tetsui ni Kugi wo Ute". It's an over-the-top song about how much of a Hot Blooded Badass Bang is. And it is awesome.
- BANG BANG BANG BAAAAANG!!!
Disgaea is fond of this. An interesting point is Kurtis' awesome return, which makes the music his theme by default.
- Also, the anime switches to an instrumental version of Lord Laharl's Hymn whenever the Prince gets angry. But that's nothing next to what The earth SDF does when their theme music is first played.
Tales Of The Abyss has this used against the party in the optional Arena battle with four previous Tales characters; at first, the game is playing "Everlasting Fight," which is a medley of previous Tales battle themes. If you don't defeat them fast enough, Reid will activate Aurora Wall...
Reid: We will not LOSE!!

: ...revive any of his fallen party members, deal tons of damage to you, and a remix of "Eternal Mind" suddenly starts up. This is about when any average player goes "Oh Crap."

Baten Kaitos Origins: the true final battle starts with your team knocked silly, but your friends from Malpercio in the past sequences come to help, your team is revived, and "Le Ali Del Principio" starts playing — the same music from when Geena first unfolded her wings. Naturally, a nine-year-old girl singing Italtian gives you the strength to triumph.
The final boss of Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs King Abaddon, comes in three stages. The first stage has a unique battle theme, the second is recycled from earlier, but the third plays Raidou's theme, as a nice reminder of just how epic he is.
Inverted much to any Survivor's dismay by the Tank's theme in Left 4 Dead and its sequel.
- Can be taken one step further once you figure out how to change the music that plays when a tank arrives. Switch to something with Ominous Latin Chanting for extra effect.
Tales of Symphonia: One of the playable characters, Kratos, has his own theme tune that plays slowly. However, during a certain event in the game, a faster, more upbeat and more complex version is played.

Web Comics

Western Animation

The heroes of most shows in the animated DCU. In one episode of Justice League Unlimited, Green Arrow even sang along to his theme as he kicked butt.
- In the Justice League episode "Hereafter", Batman fights Kalibak while a fairly quiet orchestral version of the 1966 TV theme song plays in the background.
- The Joker in Batman the Animated Series would hum his own theme music on occasion.
A particularly awesome example comes from the Batman Beyond episode "Disappearing Inque". Terry gets kidnapped by the villainess Inque, and she threatens to kill kim unless Bruce shows up. Later on, we see a large figure in a trench coat walking towards Inque... which turns out to be Bruce, in a massive Batman mech suit. The moment he starts wailing on her, an orchestrated version of the Batman theme from Batman the Animated Series starts playing.
- Something similar happens in another episode where Bruce, rejuvenated by a couple dips into a Lazarus Pit, fights side-by-side with Terry, with the BTAS theme going, except it's electric guitars instead of trumpets soaring.
The Popeye cartoons, with Popeye's spinach-induced theme music, make this Older Than Television.
Parodied in the South Park episode "Towelie", as whenever the titular Towelie got high, Popeye's theme music played and Towelie became dumber than he already was.
Most of Kim Possible's flipping, fighting, and swinging is accompanied by a guitar-and-strings action leitmotif that's re-used in every episode. A few of the recurring villains also get their own theme music; the mini-episode "Adventures in Rufus-Sitting" features a four-way fight in which the soundtrack changes several times in the space of a few minutes to reflect whichever combatant currently has the upper hand. Check out this clip.
The Futurama OVA "Bender's Big Score" has the climactic battle with the theme playing the background.
The fifth season finale of Teen Titans (not counting the last-last episode) has a particularly stirring version of the show's theme playing during the final battle with the Brotherhood of Evil.
Played at the climax of "The Drill" in Avatar The Last Airbender, as Aang hands Azula one of her few outright defeats in the series.
- Not to mention during the Season 2 Finale, any time Aang enters the Avatar State, and most especially during the climactic fight with Fire Lord Ozai. One of the coolest versions ever actually plays during the end credits after the series wraps up.
- Side note: Aang's theme song is actually a remix of the main theme.
  - Same motif is played during a flashback episode featuring Aang's predecessor, Avatar Roku, describing the amazing power he became master over when he learned all the bending arts.
The original Transformers movie has "The Touch" by Stan Bush, most memorably played during a Foe Tossing Charge by Optimus Prime, and also when the Matrix of Leadership is opened near the end of the movie. Some fans theorize that Megatron and the Decepticons also received a power-up from "Instruments of Destruction" during the attack on the shuttle where they killed Prowl, Brawn, Ratchet, and Ironhide in about ten seconds. One can probably make an argument for "Dare to be Stupid" for the Junkions.
- Optimus Prime of Transformers Generation 1 still has "The Touch" in "The Return Of Optimus Prime" when he opens up the Matrix of Leadership to wipe out the Hate Plague. His eventual successor, Ginrai, gets the rather cool "Don't Cry".
- Transformers Cybertron gave us the instrumental song "Our Ally". Ass-kicking ensues whenever it plays. It has been favorably compared with The Touch. It most notably accompanied Optimus Prime running Galvatron through.
In Thundercats, Lion-O got to trigger his own theme music when he powered up the Sword of Omens. Ta-ta-TAA! And not only did he get to start kicking ass, but all the other Thundercats, no matter where or how captured/restrained they were, could see the Lion-signal, hear the roar, and naturally break free.
In the first two season finales of X-Men, a particularly rousing take on the show's theme backs up the heroes in the final battle. Then the third season started applying it to roughly every other fight they got into, and it kind of lost its potency.
Any time you hear the Ghostbusters theme start playing in the background of a scene in The Real Ghostbusters, you just know things are about to get good.
Likewise, He-Man's transformation sequences are always accompanied by stirring theme music, no matter what incarnation you're referring to.
- Even in the Live Action movie, where He-Man has no alternate persona and therefore doesn't have a transformation sequence, gets a musically enhanced Power Up when necessary. He Has The Power!
In Code Lyoko, William gains a personnal theme music in Season 4 once he turns evil. It follows him in every of his subsequent apparitions, which are generally the most intense fights in the show. (He isn't always victorious, though.)
Any time that Captain Planet is summoned. Most of the time it's the title theme, but there are a couple of other music cues that are equally awesome.
In the first episode of the '80s Ninja Turtles toon, the turtles discover that the Foot Ninja they're fighting are actually robots, and the theme music starts up as they proceed to go to town on them.