Suspiciously Similar Song / Square Enix

• In Chrono Trigger, "Jolly Ol' Spekkio", the theme of the shapeshifter of the same name found at the End of Time, sounds a heck of a lot like "I Just Can't Wait to be King" from The Lion King (1994).
  • Also, there's Ayla's Theme (here) and "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones (here).
  • Try listening to the music in this video and deny that it sounds like a sped up version of the MMPR theme.
    • It sounds even more like "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, one of Uematsu's huge influences.
  • Here's Robo's theme. Does it sound... familiar to anyone? Despite the similarity, it was the first time Yasunori Mitsuda heard of Rick Astley.
  • The music that plays during the trial early in the game is very similar to a song in The Wall called, fittingly, "The Trial".
  • The unused song "Singing Mountain" sound a lot like "Carrying You", the theme for Laputa: Castle in the Sky
    • Which itself was lifted and used in the Game Boy Advance version of The Hobbit (2003) when Bilbo plays a music box.
  • The beginning of "Corridors of Time" is lifted nearly note-for-note from "Sirius" by The Alan Parsons Project (NBA fans know it as the Chicago Bulls' entrance theme). The rest of the song also borrows a lot from Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; specifically "Stampede of the Ohmu" and "The Princess Who Loves Insects".
  • Magus' theme seems to borrow a bit from "Journey From Mariabronn" by Kansas (starting around the 4:55 mark).
  • "Frog's Theme" is a soundalike of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".
  • The Guardia Castle theme sounds a whole lot like Percy Faith's "Theme from 'A Summer Place'".
  • "Guardia's Millennial Fair" is quite similar to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Lucky Man", especially part of the refrain. The beta version heard in this V-Jump Festival tape is even more similar, as the guitar is one octave lower, making part of the theme lifted note-for-note except for the bassline being in a faster tempo.
  • The bassline in "Derelict Factory" is taken straight from Éric Serra's song Burglary (from the soundtrack to the movie "Subway"). Mitsuda later listed him as one of his influences in an interview.
  • Gato's theme sounds like a fusion of Terry Jacks' "Seasons in the Sun" and "I Don't Have Strings" from Pinocchio.
• Balan Wonderworld:
  • As videogamedunkey noted, the chapter 1 theme is almost identical to the main theme of Super Mario Odyssey.
  • The chapter 11 theme sounds quite similar to the instrumental theme of Ghostbusters by Elmer Bernstein (not to be confused with the "Who You Gonna Call?" song).
  • The beginning of Wormsworth's theme sounds like the beginning of Symphony No 9 (From the New World), Movement 4 by Antonín Dvořák.
• Dragon Quest:
  • "Beyond the Waves," the sailing theme from Dragon Quest II, bears resemblance to the opening of Johann Strauss Jr.'s "On the Beautiful Blue Danube". The castle theme "Chateau" sounds similar to Bach's "Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major" and August Wilhelmj's arrangement "Air on the G String".
  • The Dragon Quest III castle theme "Rondo" sounds similar to Telemann's "Viola Concerto in G".
  • The overworld theme of Dragon Quest III resembles the theme that plays during the ceremony at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope. Furthermore, part of the castle town theme resembles Henryk Wieniawski's Légende. There's also "Jipang" and "March of the Siamese Children".
  • The final boss themes of the first and fifth game sound suspiciously similar as well.
  • The tower theme in Dragon Quest VI is reminiscent of the theme from The People's Court.
  • The Quiet Village music from Dragon Quest VIII sounds similar to "It's a Small World."
  • Princess Gwaelin's jingle in the first game resembles "Love Is a Song" from Bambi.
  • The tower music in the fourth game resembles the classic Pyramid game show theme.
• Combine Björk's songs "Crying" and "Violently Happy", and you get "SNEAK AND ATTACK" from Front Mission: Gun Hazard, composed by Yasunori Mitsuda.
• In Grandia, "Ancient Illusionary Castle" bears a striking resemblance to the theme of The Addams Family.
• Seeing as Legend of Mana and Super Mario RPG share a music composer (Yoko Shimomura), it only figures that the former would include some versions of songs from the latter. For example:
  • "Mystic City Geo" is similar to the Mushroom Kingdom theme.
  • "Resting in Toad Town" from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, which Shimomura also composed, is in turn suspiciously similar to Mystic City Geo (with multiple pastiches of the first nine notes of "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" from Super Mario RPG thrown in for good measure), to bring this full-circle.
  • "Pastoral" uses the same measurement and beat as the Marrymore theme.
  • The credits sequence is clearly inspired by Disneyland's Electrical Parade; naturally, the background music is suspiciously similar to "Baroque Hoedown", the theme music from that parade.
• Secret of Mana:
  • "The Color of the Summer Sky" features a repeating segment that sounds musically similar to the eponymous lyrics of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.
  • "Calm Before the Storm" bears a passing resemblance to John Williams' Superman theme.
  • The main title theme has parts that sound like a slower version of the theme to ''Dallas''
• The SaGa (RPG) series:
  • Katalina's theme in Romancing SaGa 3 resembles "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Sergio Mendes.
  • The PlayStation 2 remake of Romancing SaGa uses many suspiciously similar songs of the Super Famicom version's tracks, for instance Jamil's theme.
  • The tower theme in the The Final Fantasy Legend uses parts of Chopin's "Polonaise."
  • Asellus' theme in Sa Ga Frontier resembles the theme to the Godfather films.
  • The tune used for summoning Songbird to destroy the siphon tower at the end of BioShock Infinite is similar to the intro of the Christian hymn "The Holly And The Ivy".
• "Simple and Clean" from the Kingdom Hearts games borrows elements from Petula Clark's "Call Me" and Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say That I Love You".

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