History Main / VariableMix

* The main theme of ''VideoGame/StickyBusiness'' seamlessly transitions into its night version when you're designing a new sticker or ending the in-game day.

** In ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', the BGM becomes muffled whenever you pause while Greg's and Steven's electric guitar and ukulele lines, respectively, return from the second game whenever you use their musical abilities.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers'', the Galaxy Galleria theme is initially a simple Hammond organ-based elevator/lobby muzak track, but when you enter the Skate-O-Rama, it adds drums. It also mixes in the various shop music themes as you pass by.

* In ''VideoGame/OuterWilds'', the track that plays [[spoiler:after you steal the functional warp core to take to the Nomai vessel]] is reduced to just its own reverb when you're navigating Dark Bramble.
* In ''VideoGame/PoliceQuestSWAT'''s first mission, the background music intensifies and gains an additional percussion track when the player's team enters the house.

* ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders'' spliced in different loops to the mostly trance in-game music depending on whether Jehuty was shielding, locked onto an enemy, trying to escape, etc.

* ''Rotohex'' of the VideoGame/ArtStyle series adds to or changes the music once a new color is available.

* In ''VideoGame/PaRappaTheRapper'' and its spinoff ''VideoGame/UmJammerLammy'', parts of the backing track drop in and out depending on how well you're doing. When performing well, the track is as it's meant to be heard. When performing badly, the midrange might drop out, the bass remaining only barely; in a few stages the melody changes into a minor key. ''Parappa the Rapper 2'' takes this even further by giving the "Bad" and "Awful" tiers their own unique melodies and transitioning between them via the teacher telling you "Getting better!" or "Getting worse!".
** If you do ''really'' badly, you start hearing odd squeaks and honks, reminiscent of a comically malfunctioning machine.

* ''VideoGame/RType'' did this once: in ''Delta'', when your ship goes underwater, the music changes to a more subdued, muffled version of the level's soundtrack, then goes right back to the original when you get back in open air.

* The [[HailfirePeaks Sherbet Desert]] music in ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'' has two arrangements, for the sandy areas and the icy areas, and changes dynamically depending on where the player goes.

* In ''VideoGame/PoliceQuestSWAT'''s first mission, the background music intensifies and gains additional percussion when the player's team enters the house.

* ''VideoGame/AtomicHeart'' has area songs that switch between a peaceful, quieter version during exploration that switch to a more energetic and metal combat mix during firefights and back to the quieter version after battle.

** In ''VideoGame/UnleashTheLight'', the BGM becomes muffled whenever you pause.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' uses two different applications of this trope. The overworld travel music acquires distinctive background instrumentation when the characters' ship flies over or near one of the several continents--tribal drums in the vicinity of the South America-derived continent, chimes in the area of the ice continent, etc. Additionally, the BossBattle music changes between normal, triumphant, or desperate-sounding themes depending on how the main characters are faring in the fight(as does the Final Boss theme).

* ''VideoGame/PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen'' did this to make an otherwise [[HeKnowsAboutTimedHits dull tutorial sequence]] exciting. Presented with a dry sequence of blue windows explaining what buttons to press to do what, an extra layer was added to the music each screen pressed through - drums, bass, harmony, counter-melody - giving a great sense of build-up. On the final screen the melody finally kicks in, and you feel fully prepared for adventure!
* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' have this happening a LOT with the various overworld themes. In nearly every town there is an NPC that will add an additional track to the music (i.e., playing a piano or ''singing'') and their volume is set by the player's proximity to them. Additionally, the music playing in the various routes change very subtly according to the in-game Season; you may hear flutes and strings playing a melody in Spring, whilst in Winter the sounds of bells and windchimes will play the melody instead. Additional tracks are also sometimes added depending on what you're doing at the time -- several routes have a percussion layer that only plays whilst you're moving and stops when you do.
** The music in some cavern areas also decreases in pitch the deeper underground you go, similar to the ''Dragon Quest'' and ''Tales of Phantasia'' examples below.
** Used for great effect at the badge check gates to Victory Road; each gate you go through adds another instrument to the music, until finally you've made it to Victory Road with the full music track playing.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'': The Gym Leader theme contains multiple different sections that the background theme switches between depending on how the battle is going; the main melody only kicks in once you've brought down one of the leader's Pokémon, while different bridges will cut in once a Pokémon is knocked out and play until the next one is sent in (a solemn HeartbeatSoundtrack if the player loses a Pokémon and a triumphant theme if the leader's Pokémon gets knocked out). When the Gym Leader is down to their last Pokémon, a drumroll leads up to a roaring crowd chant.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'' do this extensively in the overworld. The music picks up a lot when you're riding your legendary mount around, and most of the wild battle themes are actually the background music for the area kicked into high gear.
* The Genesis RPG ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII'' tried to do this for its battle theme, many years before it became common. The result was...unpleasant, to put it lightly. The overworld theme also had more instruments added to it as your party grew in size.
* The first four ''[[VideoGame/DotHackGUGames .hack]]'' games do this to nice effect by having a standard dungeon theme and a battle theme that more or less match up, and have one fade into the other when a battle begins or ends. It's especially pleasing in the ice-based dungeons

* Played with in ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia''. Morlia Gallery has about 10 levels...at first. If you choose to come back later for the BonusDungeon, however, the music gradually becomes lower and more distorted as you venture deeper. You can hardly make out the original theme by the end. Everything in that dungeon enforces a sense of paranoia and suffocation.
* The cave/dungeon music in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'' gets lower in pitch as you go further down. It becomes NightmareFuel when you reach the lowest level of the Dragonlord's Castle.
* Jeremy Soule is a pretty prolific video game music composer. He's done ''Total Annihilation'', ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', etc. Usually his songs are composed in odd time signature (i.e. not 4/4 and not 3/4), presumably because it's more difficult to identify where the beat lies exactly, and thus when the game engine switches from one song to another, there's no jarring sense of a song being interrupted in mid-bar.
* ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate'' has two combat tracks for each battlefield type: a fairly laid-back version for normal combat, and a more upbeat one that kicked in when a character performed a hero run. The second version would remain in effect until a minute or so passed without consecutive hero actions.
* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'': There are two tracks for everywhere in the game, one for when you're walking around outside as Bowser (or outside ''of'' Bowser as the Mario Bros.) and one for when you're inside Bowser.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' will play a sustained quavering note from violins as party members are killed and the controlled member loses health, while also muting music, fading between the two. By the time your chosen member is the only one standing and nearly down, the music will be completely mute and the violins will be all you hear. It is worth noting that the violins will still fade in at low health even with music turned off in the options.
* ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'' has a soundtrack that follows the action during fight sequences. Ambient music cycles along until the player takes an aggressive action or something attacks, and then the combat theme comes in quite abruptly, both to cue the player that they are in a fight and to ramp up the adrenaline level. There's even a modification to the fight theme that changes the music when the player's health gets dangerously low to tip the player off to heal, run, or push for the victory before being killed.
* Under normal circumstances, having an enemy appear in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' will cause the music to switch to an 'aggressive' version. Other times there's just one track, period, and a few areas have completely different music for battles.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', when riding a chocobo, the music changes depending on how fast you go. For example, when you walk slowly, the music starts off by playing a relaxing flute and acoustic guitar and when you start dashing/running, the music changes to an upbeat version of the same song.

* ''VideoGame/ArTonelicoQogaKnellOfArCiel'' also has this in the form of its RAH (Realtime Active Hymmnetics) system, in which the in-battle music changes depending on the situation of the player's party, the ways they have customized the song magic of their Reyvateils (casters) and the events that happen during the battle. Subverted, however, during battles where a storyline-important song is playing, as in these cases the music won't change at all.
* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiNINE'' has this during its HackingMinigame. The music consists of three layers, with each one randomly picked from one of seven different variations.
* Some tracks in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' play right into this trope, with the normal battle theme alone having '''''[[SerialEscalation SEVEN DIFFERENT GUITAR SOLOS]]''''' that play at random.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' has the Tartarus theme, which starts out minimalistic at the bottom, but gradually builds as the player ventures into higher blocks until it's more dramatic and triumphant. ''Persona 3: FES'' also does this in the Answer with the theme for the Abyss of Time.
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' also does this when it comes to Mementos. The first two sections retain the old Mementos theme from the original game, but switches out to a new song starting with the third area that builds up in intensity as you go deeper. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Then the all-new area unlocked in the third semester combines both Mementos themes for a disjointed, yet satisfying remix.]]
* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' has the music change depending on how bright the area is. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEK0N4eGZ4Y As the party's torch starts to burn out]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPS_cl4uuM the music]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3dG9hKOyqs gets more and more]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXnaVxt7N4s tense.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect'' and [[VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect2 its sequel]] have instrumental soundtracks for when the party is roaming around. Most songs have vocals that layer onto the instrumentals once a fight begins, as well as a remix of the dungeon theme for boss fights.
* ''VideoGame/{{GranblueFantasy}}'' loves this trope. Nearly every track in the game can be divided into multiple parts that change into each other as you advance the dialogue/progress through the stage/deplete the boss's HP.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', the background music will transition to an ambient trance-like remix when you're given control during a battle. The music will also increase in pitch and tempo every time one of your Miis receives certain status effects.
* In ''VideoGame/SaveTheLight'', any time Greg is playing his electric guitar in battle, the music currently playing will have a bass guitar track added onto it.

Often overlaps with MusicalSpoiler for more GenreSavvy players who know what particular variations to listen for. Can sometimes enter a variant of MickeyMousing known as MusicalGameplay. See also ThemeMusicPowerUp, which this often turns into if it happens during a boss battle. Also, see SongsInTheKeyOfPanic for the other end of the scale.

** In ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'', some tracks have added sound effects inside of caves. A distortion effect is added whenever the player is shrunk or flattened due to item or track effects. Finally, when starting a game, the music has more layers added to it the farther you get through the selection process of the type of game you'll play, the difficulty, the racer you want, the car you'll use, and what sort of drifting you'll be playing with.

** ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'' features the menu layering from ''Wii'', and has music layers in a few tracks as well:

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' works the same way with mission-specific music, which builds up track by track the further along in the mission you get. Background music also plays when the player gets a 3 star wanted level in free roam, which progressively intensifies as the chase drags on and the player gets more stars.

* ''[[VideoGame/ArTonelico Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel]]'' also has this in the form of its RAH (Realtime Active Hymmnetics) system, in which the in-battle music changes depending on the situation of the player's party, the ways they have customized the song magic of their Reyvateils (casters) and the events that happen during the battle. Subverted, however, during battles where a storyline-important song is playing, as in these cases the music won't change at all.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIV'', the Galaxy Galleria theme is initially a simple Hammond organ-based elevator/lobby muzak track, but when you enter the Skate-O-Rama, it adds drums. It also mixes in the various shop music themes as you pass by.

* An unusual example comes from ''VideoGame/WarioWare: Smooth Moves'' on Dribble and Spitz's stage. The vocal song "Tomorrow Hill" plays throughout the level. When you mess up, the song distorts. You might think it's just an effect placed over the original song, but it's actually a variable mix--the distorted parts of the song are ''actually sung differently'', sometimes even with nonsensical words in place of the normal ones ("Already said my goodbyes" becomes "Already ate my french fry", for example). This alternate version of the song, "Falling Off Tomorrow Hill", can even be heard in the SoundTest.
* ''[=WarioWare=]: D.I.Y.'' combines this with a BackgroundMusicOverride for Jimmy's stage. The stage plays a dedicated song over all the microgames. The song has variants for failing the microgame and the vocals are pitch shifted to keep up with the tempo as the stage speeds up.
* Penny's theme in ''[=WarioWare=]: Get It Together!'' has lyrics that change depending on whether or not you succeed in a microgame at that point in the song. Successful microgame clears lead to more positive lyrics.

** The final boss of Black Temple, Illidan has different music for each of his phases, including an ambient track before engaging him. [[note]]This troper cannot think of any other boss with different music for his phases.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/Hades'' does this with virtually all of the in-run music. Each track has (at least) an intense version that plays while you are fighting enemies, and a less energetic version (often a solo bass guitar) that smoothly transitions in once the room is cleared. And after defeating (mini-)bosses, the track is smoothly brought to a conclusion at the start of the next measure, at which point a new track can start when you enter the next area. In a similar vein, a few NPCs are sometimes found singing. Their singing will cut out to allow them to speak, and then smoothly resume again when they are done with dialogue, all while the instrumental parts continue uninterrupted, creating the impression of a person who is just jamming while also having a real conversation with you.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', Hyrule Castle's theme changes smoothly between "indoor" and "outdoor" versions as you explore: "indoor" features a pipe organ and interpolates Zelda's Lullaby, while "outdoor" has a grander, more orchestral arrangement with quotes of the Hero's Theme. Drums join the track when enemies show up. Those who complete the Champion's Ballad DLC get an arrangement of the Shrine music in the Divine Beast Tamer where new instruments join in as you solve each of the Tamer's locks. In addition, Tarrey Town's music adds more instruments the more people you invite to live there, slowly going from an empty-sounding piece to a full band.

* In ''VideoGame/CryptOfTheNecrodancer'', Zone 3 is a HailfirePeaks level, in which every level's music has two versions, a hotter, metal version for the LethalLavaLand section, and a cooler, techno version for the SlippySlideyIceWorld section. Also, the shopkeeper will sing along to the music of all levels if you are near him, with his volume hinting at the distance to the shop.

* ''Videogame/DontStarve'' takes its cue from ''Harvest Moon'' (see below) by having different tracks for its Summer and Winter seasons. It goes a step further though, by changing almost the entire soundtrack for various activities (working, fighting and boss battles), not to mention the subterranean Caves and Ruins areas getting their own variants. The ''Reign Of Giants'' expansion moves the Summer soundtrack to Autumn and introduces new tracks for Spring and Summer.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIV'', the Galaxy Galleria theme is normally elevator/lobby music, but when you enter the Skate-O-Rama, it adds drums. It also mixes in the various shop music themes as you pass by.

* ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'':

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' does a variable mix with its central Ballad of the Windfish. Once the first two of eight instruments are collected, the Ocarina becomes obtainable, and the song can be played in front of the big egg... but it will sound rather empty. As more instruments are collected, the process can be repeated, until having all eight summons the full song. And the 3D Zelda games would make a habit of this in the overworld:

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' does this (and on the original UsefulNotes/GameBoy, too!) with its central Ballad of the Windfish--once the first two of eight instruments are collected, the Ocarina becomes obtainable, and the song can be played in front of the big egg... but it will sound rather empty. As more instruments are collected, the process can be repeated, until having all eight summons the full song. And the 3D Zelda games would make a habit of this in the overworld:

* ''VideoGame/{{Noita}}'' has three intensity variations of level themes. The most intense variation usually plays when there is a large enemy or there is a lot of action. The medium variation is more subdued variation of the high one. The low intensity variation usually consists of some ambient cues. When there has been no action for some time, the music stops altogether and only ambient sounds are heard.
* ''VideoGame/ZettaiHeroProject'': when exploring Mastery Caves, the background music changes depending on your current equipment. With default[=/=]no equipment, it defaults to the Unlosing Ranger's original theme, but different equipment pieces switches parts of the song to other arrangements depending on where the equipment is placed. These arrangements include (but are not limited to) an 8-bit theme for JRPG standard items like swords and shields, a SuperRobot theme for mecha items like tank treads and rocket punches, and a sexy witch theme for cat ears and GagBoobs.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' uses two different applications of this trope. The overworld travel music acquires distinctive background instrumentation when the characters' ship flies over or near one of the several continents--tribal drums in the vicinity of the South America-derived continent, chimes in the area of the ice continent, etc. Additionally, the BossBattle music changes between normal, triumphant, or desperate sounding themes depending on how the main characters are faring in the fight(as does the Final Boss theme).