Awesome Music / Mana Series

Final Fantasy Adventure/Sword of Mana/Adventure of Mana/Seiken Densetsu

• Endless Battlefield, the overworld theme.
  • The Sword of Mana version adds a suitably epic intro.
  • The Adventures of Mana version keeps the intro from Sword, and goes full orchestral.
  • As does Dawn of Mana.
• In Search of the Holy Sword, the second, more desperate overworld theme.
  • Sword of Mana version.
  • Adventures of Mana version.

Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 2

• Danger, the boss battle theme. Fast-paced, segues from fast to dangerous to victorious to slow and about to burst and back again, and really gets a person's blood racing.
• The Oracle, used for the Dark Lich battle. Starts out with three ominous gongs and just gets creepier from there. Fun trivia: most of the sound from the song comes from the Indonesia chanting called Kecak. Kecak is comprised of 5 different groups chanting in different patterns in unison, which gives it its unique sound. And true to this form, 5 sound channels out of eight on the SNES audio chip are dedicated to the chanting.
• Meridian Dance. The final boss music. Words do not do it justice, just listen. And here's the orchestrated version!
• On the calmer side of things, Fear of the Heavens, the opening theme, begins with the distant cry of a dragon, and fully pulls the gamer into the ambiance of the game.
• All three Flammie themes qualify.
  • Flight Into The Unknown is a happy affair, highlighting the sense of freedom the player gets from receiving a white dragon as a Global Airship.
  • The Dark Star, however, is a heavy-hearted, somber tune. Appropriate, as it replaces Flight Into The Unknown after The Lost Continent, and the Mana Fortress, rise from the sea.
  • And Prophecy, the theme that plays after the Mana Fortress rises, is a fast-paced, exotic-sounding tune, making good use of bells.
• The overworld theme, Into the Thick of It, never manages to get old despite playing very often in the game.
• The secondary overworld theme, "Distant Thunder", is much more upbeat and fun than its ominous title suggests, adding a sense of wonder to exploring ever further away from the player characters' home villages.
• A Curious Tale which plays in Southtown and on Gold City. This is one of the best town themes in all RPGs. Suffice to say - there's a reason that the composer is the 2nd credit listed in the opening.
• The incredibly soothing "Still of the Night", theme of Puritas. The song really conveys that the player set foot in a sacred place, untouched by humans. The Genesis version (from an Arrange album) of the song is even better.
• Both of the ice world themes are among the more powerfully atmospheric tracks in the game. "A Wish", the theme of the Crystal Forest, uses its haunting minimalist scoring to convey a real sense of the stillness of a cold winter's day, the snow thick on the ground. "A Bell is Tolling", the Ice Palace theme, opens with an even more eerie passage in which the player can practically hear the ice shimmering all around, then picks up the pace to give a sense of urgency to the dungeon.
• One Of Them Is Hope perfectly captures a sense of apocalyptic urgency.
• The Wind Never Ceases is hands-down the best theme you'll ever hear while mountain climbing.

Trials of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 3

• The many boss themes in Trials of Mana deserve special mention:
  • Nuclear Fusion (remake), a minor boss theme, pulls on the previous games' Meridian Dance to create a fast-paced theme which really gets you pumped for the battles and scenes where it plays.
  • High Tension Wire is an intense, heroic boss theme that plays when you fight Harcypete, Dangaard, and the Crimson Wizard himself.
  • Rolling Cradle is an intense track beautifully mixing oriental vibes and war vibes together for the scenes where you battle Bil & Ben, Land Umber, and Belladonna.
  • Faith Total Machine, the battle theme for Gova and Lightgazer, gives off a ghastly and mysterious tone mixed with the usual intensity of boss battle themes, which fits the feel of fighting against a ghostly creature in one battle and a photokinetic Faceless Eye in another.
  • Interestingly, the following four battle themes often get confused with certain other battle themes by the fandom as shown below (with Black Soup being mistaken as Obsession, Obsession as Secret of Mana, Secret of Mana as Strange Medicine, and Strange Medicine as Black Soup). Nevertheless, all four are as awesome as they sound anyway.
    • Black Soup (remake) perfectly captures the feel of embracing Kevin's rage against his father after having overheard him talk with Goremand about having made his best friend attack him. It also plays during several boss battles; specifically, the Jewel Eater, Ludgar, Xan Bie, Malocchio, and the aforementioned Goremand himself.
    • Obsession, Zehnoa's unique battle theme, conveys another ominous mix of intensity and mystery, similar to Faith Total Machine. The track is very fitting for when you're fighting a monster that looks like a cross between a giant stone face and a living gate of Hell.
    • Secret of Mana, which is also the name of the previous game, plays during the fights against Grapplavine and Fiegmund, and it sounds like a very fitting theme for a battle in a desert or a jungle.
    • Strange Medicine captures the feel of stepping out onto what appears to be an empty balcony only to feel the place begin to shake and witness a huge white goat-like behemoth climbing up and coming at you face to face! Indeed, this truly is a fitting unique battle theme for Dolan, and the intensity of this song shows that you're in for a tough battle against the Benevodon of the Moon.
  • The Sacrifice, Part II plays during the first half of the final boss fight, and whether it be the Dragon Lord, the Masked Mage, or the Dark Majesty, it perfectly captures a sense of emergency mainly conveyed through the intense drum beatings and lets you know you're up against an evil and insane megalomaniac who's just cut down the Mana Tree and believes himself to be the greatest of the gods, knowing that the future of the world is resting in your hands. It also plays during the Superboss fight against the Black Rabite, who is popularly considered to be the most powerful enemy in the game.
  • The Sacrifice, Part III, the final battle theme. It's a perfect track for an awesome final battle's second half that lets you know you're ready to prove that, as the Faerie puts it, the sword that exists in your hearts called hope will never disappear. A remix of this song appears in Million Arthur: Arcana Blood as Riesz's theme, and it sounds as awesome as it does in this game.
• Meridian Child (remake). It embodies experiencing pain and loss, yet pushing through it out of sheer determination, finding the strength to continue forwards and do what you can to right the wrongs in the world. The entire point of the song is the characters getting out of their funk after their early-game loss, and finding the strength to not only face anything that comes their way, but triumph over it. It's their optimistic attitude in grim circumstances giving them the strength to continue on no matter what's thrown at them, doing what they can to help others out no matter how painful it is to them.
• Decision Bell plays in the Mana Sanctuary. It's a mysterious and quiet, yet adventurous theme, perfect for such a place.
• The new opening theme, Where Angels Fear to Tread (remake), every bit as sobering as Fear of the Heavens and then some.
• Innocent Sea, a soothing guitar ballad that plays over some of the game's calm and tragic scenes, most notably the battle against Heath in Charlotte's storyline. It also gets a piano rendition, Innocent Water, which is just as beautiful.
• Delicate Affection plays as you draw the Mana Sword, with all the power and joy that comes with this event.
• Hope Isolation Pray. As the name implies, it's sad, yet sweet and hopeful at the same time.
• Farewell Song, a very cute tune that plays on "The End" screen.
• Legend. Shame it gets used so rarely.
• Frenzy features some of the soundtrack's strongest bass and percussion.
• Intolerance plays whenever the villains are enacting their plans and a town is being invaded or has been destroyed by their forces. This theme perfectly captures a sense of villainy conveyed by marching drum beats and ominous church bells, perfect for association with the three Dragons to their respective Big Bads as well as giving you a bad feeling about what's going on.
• Political Pressure, odd name aside, is a dark and ominous theme that makes great use of church bells and mysterious evil choirs as you travel through the gem valleys of Daria, the Fiery Gorge, the Chartmoon Tower, the Crystal Desert and the Night Cavern. The remake version manages to up the creep factor of this theme even further!
• The Sacrifice, Part I uses glass smashing sounds to create a horrifying theme that plays for the events when you find the Darkstone just in time to witness Zable Fahr waking up and when you confront the Big Bad who's just demolished the Mana Tree, callously kills Faerie in front of your chosen party, gloats about what he believes to be his imminent victory, goes One-Winged Angel, proceeds to knock out the entire party with a powerful attack, and laughs about it, and it builds up tension for an intense and chaotic fight. Just like its title says, this is also the first part of a three-part series of final confrontation themes (for Parts II and III, see the boss themes section above). The remake version turns up the sheer terror of the track even further and keeps the glass-breaking sounds of the original, to the point that it wouldn't feel out of place in a horror movie.
• Religion Thunder (remake). It only gets used once, during the scenes where your three chosen characters resolve their storylines, just before the credits. Those drumbeats!
• The three final dungeons get three distinct themes:
  • For Hawk and Riesz, Electric Talk conveys a sense of adventure.
  • For Duran and Angela, Weird Counterpoint's driving percussion.
  • For Charlotte and Kevin, Ancient Dolphin. Odd name aside, it's a dark, mysterious theme.
• Swivel, the Golden Road theme. The title is what you'll be doing with your whole body while listening.
• Powell plays in the Rabite Forest and the Duskmoon Forest.
• Splash Hop, the cheerful reggae theme of Vuscav.
• Oh I'm a Flamelet is an adorable track that gives off a childlike vibe; truly a fitting theme for the likes of Elliot, Gnome, and of course, Charlotte.

Legend of Mana

Continuing the venerable tradition of awesome music in the Seiken Densetsu series, Yoko Shimomura's soundtrack for Legend of Mana is arguably Shimomura's own, real-life Moment of Awesome.

• Song of Mana, one of the best opening tunes ever. The reprise of the song for the ending is just as spectacular.

• Most of the boss themes count, particularly The Darkness Nova and Pain The Universe. The final boss theme, The Gloaming, is also badass.
• Cities of Flickering Destruction. Doubly so for the Drammatica edition.

Heroes of Mana

While the game won't be remembered because of its glaring gameplay flaws, the soundtrack is once again composed by Yoko Shimomura, and includes quite a few powerful compositions:

• And Thus Fate Becomes Cruel, Juhani's and Elena's shared battle theme, conveying tragedy and a sense of urgency, but in the end you can only delay the inevitable, because Roget unwillingly killed Juhani and then a few chapters later, Elena tried to murder him out of revenge for her brother's death but ultimately killed herself via kamikaze....
• It's Either Real or Not, which plays during the first battle against the Mirage Bishop.
• The Trembling Earth, The Time of Fate, the second battle theme played when fighting against the Mirage Bishop, is especially ominous and somber.

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