Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Musical Nod

Go To

A subtrope of Continuity Nod. Most often seen in video games, this is music from a related work that is used at some point. Differs from Recurring Riff in that a Musical Nod is used far less, and generally not under the same circumstances it was originally used. However, the new use may be related; one game's random battle theme could be used for a single boss battle in a later game.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • The final ED for Attack on Titan, To You, 2000 or 20000 Years From Now, contains similar lyrics and melodies to the original OP, Guren no Yumiya. The ton is somber compared to the original's triumphant, as while Guren no Yumiya dares the audience to stand up and fight against those who would destroy them, To You, 2000 or 20000 Years From Now shows the results of said fighting - new hatreds and grudges that will endure until acted upon, creating new conflict that will repeat itself for so long as man exists.
  • In Monster, "Over the Rainbow" is referenced as the song Vardemann's father played on his radio station. When Vardemann finally faces the fact that his father was a spy, and decides to deal with the trust issues this inspired in him, an instrumental version of the song is played in the background.
  • When Polnareff makes his first appearance in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, the music contains hints of "Virtuous Pope", the leitmotif of a companion from his first appearance.
  • Strike Witches: The Movie:
    • The "Witch's Fight" musical cue can be heard in the main title sequence.
    • At the end of the film, a short rendition of "The Striker's Flight" is heard once the 501st destroy the Neuroi threatening Gallia.

    Asian Animation 
  • Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: In the first episode of Ultimate Battle: The Next Generation, one of the simplistic synth tunes that often played in the show's earlier seasons can be heard as the goats dig up their box of memories. It's very rare to hear the show's classic Background Music tracks in the later seasons, so this was probably a deliberate choice to help hearken back to the goats' previous adventures.

    Film 

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Doctor Who mini episode "Time Crash" wherein the Tenth Doctor meets his Fifth incarnation has a leitmotif reminiscent of the music of the Fifth Doctor's era play intermingled with the music more typical of the newer series.
  • In the Mr. Bean Christmas episode, the music Bean hums while playing with the toy marching band is clearly the opening march from Blackadder Goes Forth.
  • While it was not used in the televised episodes, the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale "All Good Things..." would have featured a reprise of composer Dennis McCarthy's theme for Judge Q's entrance in "Encounter at Farpoint". The composition did appear in an album later on.
  • The theme music from the original Battlestar Galactica plays over a human-interest news piece featured in an episode of the reimagined series.

    Music 
  • In the long form David Bowie music video Jazzin' For Blue Jean, the riff playing while Screamin' Lord Byron does his makeup is from Bowie's 1977 song, "Warszawa".
  • Occurs in at least three music videos by the band Foo Fighters.
    • At the beginning of the "Monkey Wrench" video, a muzak version of "Big Me", a single from their eponymous debut album, plays in the elevator.
    • At the beginning of the "Learn to Fly" video, a muzak version of "Everlong", a single from The Color and the Shape, plays while the plane is being cleaned.
    • The "Breakout" video opens with "Generator", from the same album, playing on a car radio.
  • The organ lead-in to George Michael's "Faith" is the melody to his earlier Wham! hit "Freedom".
  • Many arrangements for the Florida State University Marching Chiefs incorporate the school's famous "War Chant".
  • The distinctive guitar riff from Meat Loaf's "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)", written by Jim Steinman for Bat Out of Hell II, was remade for piano and used in "Carpe Noctem" from Steinman's musical Tanz Der Vampire. When Meat Loaf covered the latter song on Bat Out of Hell III as "Seize the Night", the riff was restored to guitar.

    Video Games 
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons:
    • The latter half of the title screen theme sounds similar to the latter half of the original game's title screen theme.
    • The theme that plays in K.K. Slider's monologue is done in a very similar style to the opening theme from the GameCube game.
    • When you move into your tent, you receive a radio, which occasionally plays hourly themes from New Leaf alongside K.K. Slider tunes.
    • The Bunny Day theme is a direct remake of the New Leaf equivalent, with live instrumentation.
    • Among K.K. Slider's new "fake" songs (the ones that play when you request an invalid title), one is the title theme from Wild World and City Folk.
    • The Wedding Event theme is a slower remake of the Re-Tail theme from New Leaf.
  • Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening: Destroying a jukebox in Mission 3 will inexplicably incite it to play a few notes from a remix of the battle theme in Devil May Cry.
  • Devil May Cry 5:
    • Elements of "Lilith's Club" from DmC: Devil May Cry are remixed for "Feel the Shock", the theme for the fight against the Proto Angelo and the Scudo Angelos in Mission 7.
    • The first few notes of Cerberus' boss theme from Devil May Cry 3 are remixed in the pre-fight cutscene with King Cerberus.
    • The background music in the boss fights of Mission 18 supplement it as a Nostalgia Level to the first Devil May Cry game, with each familiar getting a remix of their original counterparts' themes; Griffon gets "Grilled Tandoori Smoke" as a reference to "FLOCK OFF!", Shadow gets "Silent Siren" as a reference to "PSYCHO SIREN", and Nightmare gets "Psycho Machine" as a reference to "MENTAL MACHINE".
  • Fate Series works handled by the original composer for Fate/stay night will frequently slip in references to his old music with each new instalment:
    • Fate/EXTRA:
      • Caster's theme, "Caster ~ An Extra Life With Anyone She Wants", is lifted from a menu theme from stay night, originally titled "Extra"
      • "Last Piece" from Fate/hollow ataraxia" was remixed into "PIECE" and "Last Piece Again" for key emotional beats in CCC.
    • Fate/Grand Order:
      • Fuyuki's map theme is a remix of "Into the Night" from Fate/stay night, as an indication that the protagonist, like Shirou Emiya, has just stepped into something much bigger when rayshifted to Fuyuki. It gets a Dark Reprise as Andromalius' battle theme, since that Demon Pillar represents Fuyuki for the final battle.
      • "Olden Capital" contains a reference to Gilgamesh's theme, "Golden King", to represent that the protagonists have been exploring his domain in 2655 BC.
      • "Spinal Swan Coaster" is a Triumphant Reprise of "spinal coaster" from Fate/Extra CCC as a an accompaniment to Meltryllis defeating Kiara once and for all in SE.RA.PH.
      • "The Sun in the Abyss" is a gentler version of Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star's main theme, which appropriately plays in a story featuring Altera lending out a helping hand to Ereshkigal.
      • "Lost Piece" is a melancholic rearrangement of "last piece" from Fate/Hollow Ataraxia.
      • The Olympus map music is an intense remix of the music for Mare Carcer from Extella as a subtle nod to the Olympians' connection to the Extra continuity.
      • The Beast of Taming has four different boss themes, each being a Boss Remix of a Lostbelt map theme with a common bassline; and fittingly, said bassline is the one from "Caster ~ An Extra Life With Anyone She Wants".
      • Morgan and Faerie Knight Gawain's boss themes lift several bars from stay night Saber's theme, "Sword of Promised Victory".
  • Final Fantasy:
  • Fire Emblem has a few of these. In addition to the themes for arena battles being the theme's from previous games, the 6th game's "Wyvern Generals" battle theme includes both first and second games' battle themes, while "Light and Dark" from FE4 reappears as the trial map theme in FE9.
  • The Super Mario Bros. franchise loves doing this. Much of the music from modern installments contains throwbacks to earlier games.
    • The Superstar Baby Mario theme is heard in Super Mario 64 whenever you use either the Vanish Cap or the Wing Cap. Both themes are variations of the series-wide Super Star invincibility theme.
    • Super Mario Sunshine features an acapella remix of the Super Mario Bros. ground theme for its 2D-inspired obstacle courses.
    • Super Mario Galaxy reuses the "Koopa's Road" theme from Super Mario 64, and the "Battleship Raid" theme from Super Mario Bros. 3. The Athletic theme from the same game as the latter and a bouncy remix of the original Super Mario Bros. theme also show up. The Underground theme of Super Mario Land is heard during the Mecha Bowser sequence is Toy Time Galaxy.
    • The sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2, reuses the Koopa's Road theme, plus the Athletic and Haunted Mansion themes from Super Mario World, the Bob-omb Battlefield and Rainbow Ride theme from Super Mario 64, and several pieces of the soundtrack of the original SMG.
    • New Super Mario Bros. Wii has a nod to the Super Mario World Castle theme in its own Castle theme. The secret world's map melody also contains the melody from Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road.
    • The final world of New Super Mario Bros. U, which is Peach's Castle under Bowser's control, features a Dark Reprise of the Main Theme from Super Mario 64.
    • Super Mario 3D World plays a remix of the Character Select theme from Super Mario Bros. 2 during the slot machine minigame.
    • When you revisit the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey, you collect Power Stars instead of Power Moons. The "course clear" fanfare from Super Mario 64 plays when you collect them instead of the usual fanfare. And in the postgame, you can play a recreation of World 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros., complete with the original Ground and Underground themes.
    • Super Mario RPG:
      • The battle theme for the Optional Boss Culex is a remix of the Final Fantasy IV boss music — the boss himself is essentially one big reference to the Final Fantasy series. Also, after beating Culex, you can hear the "Victory Fanfare" and the "Prelude" from Final Fantasy. In addition, Bowser's battle theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 is used when he is fought at the start of the game, and it is also incorporated into the Background Music for his castle later on. A riff from that castle's theme would in turn make it into the music for the final board of the original Mario Party, Bowser's Magma Mountain.
      • Before going into its own rendition of the classic theme, the "Mario's Pipe House" theme plays a little bit of the world 1 map theme, also from Super Mario Bros. 3. This exact theme was later used in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
      • Here's an obscure one: the file select theme contains a snippet of the high score theme from Vs. Super Mario Bros. (i.e. the slightly more difficult arcade version of the original NES game).
    • Paper Mario:
      • The music that plays on the Bullet Bill bridge in Koopa Bros. Fortress is the airship theme from Super Mario Bros. 3. The battle against the Koopa Bros. is also a heavily remixed version of the theme played against on-map enemies.
      • The music that plays during the train ride between Toad Town and Mt. Rugged is a remix of the Kalimari Desert theme from Mario Kart 64.
      • The music for Yoshi's Village is the title theme from Yoshi's Island.
    • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga features the theme of Luigi's Mansion, as well as the theme for Super Mario Bros. 3's music box.
    • "Victory in the Dream World" from Mario & Luigi: Dream Team uses the opening melody of "Fight Against Monsters" from Super Mario RPG. Not coincidentally, both games were composed by Yoko Shimomura.
    • Fortune Street contains several previously unloved themes, including the Map Screen and Final Boss theme from Super Mario World.
    • The later games in the Mario Kart series occasionally feature musical references to tracks from earlier in the series or from other Mario-centric games:
      • The intro to Rainbow Road in Mario Kart: Super Circuit is taken from a part of the one in the original.
      • The Rainbow Road music in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! features snippets from the Rainbow Road music from both Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64.
      • In Mario Kart Wii, the music for Bowser's Castle opens with a musical nod to the castle theme from the original Super Mario Bros., and the Rainbow Road music references both the Rainbow Road music from Mario Kart DS and the Good Egg Galaxy music from Super Mario Galaxy.
      • In Mario Kart 7, the title screen music references the main theme from Mario Kart Wii (as well as the series' Recurring Riff, the title screen music from Super Mario Kart), while the Rainbow Road music features several references to the Mario Kart 64 version of the track. Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi spectator music is based on the Mario Kart 64 title screen.
      • Mario Kart 8 uses Galaxy's Gusty Garden theme as part of Cloudtop Cruise's music.
    • Mario Party Superstars: The victory fanfare for each minigame is lifted from the game in which it originally debuted (in the case of Mario Party 1, the one used for all its revisited minigames is the "success!" version, replacing the solo, team, and "perfect!" versions; Mario Party 2, the team version, replacing the solo version; and Mario Party 3, the solo version, replacing the team and duel versions).
  • It would take too long to list every time Kirby used a previous melody. Nearly every game contains a remix of King Dedede's Theme and Green Greens somewhere. A trend has been that the final boss' music has Green Green's melody at some point. Kirby: Planet Robobot's "VS. Star Dream" in particular has a snippet of "Havoc aboard the Halberd"... which is already a variation of Green Greens.
  • Pokémon:
    • A version of the bicycle theme from Pokémon Red and Blue/Yellow was used as the Pokemon Catching Contest theme in the Gold, Silver, and Crystal versions. Similarly, the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald versions had the Marine Museum, the Background Music for which was a slow version of the S.S. Anne theme from RBY.
    • Inexplicably, the theme that plays when you're first starting a new game in Pokemon Battle Revolution is a more upbeat version of the Relic Forest theme from Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness.
    • Upon reaching Kanto in the Gold/Silver/Crystal versions, the Trainer and Wild Pokemon battles start using the Red/Blue/Yellow themes as opposed to the new ones used in Johto. This was retained in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
    • All but the first three of the Sevii Islands in FireRed and LeafGreen have music from Gold/Silver/Crystal — Azalea Town's theme on islands Four and Five, Violet City's on islands Six and Seven, and the Route 42 theme on the interconnecting routes.
    • The Platinum/HGSS Frontier Brain battle themes have Emerald's Battle Frontier "main theme" stuck somewhere in the middle. Start listening around 0:50.
    • Pokémon Channel has the player putting together an episode from the anime over the course of the game. The end of that quest finishes with a viewing of the entire episode projected onto the night sky, and as the episode ends, the game plays the 'End of the day' music from Hey You, Pikachu!.
    • Pokémon Rumble features the Viridian Forest Edge theme from Hey You, Pikachu! as its lobby theme.
    • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky uses the Background Music of Ravaged Field, Magnetic Quarry, Thunder Meadow, Mt. Discipline, Furnace Desert and Jungle (all from Red/Blue Rescue Team) as the dungeon music for Southern Jungle of Team Charm's special episode.
  • In the Mother series of games, many of the songs are either outright recycled, or make a cameo appearance in one way or another. Pollyanna, Snowman, and Humoresque of a Little Dog to be specific. The Plot Coupons from the first two games, (Queen Mary's Song/Gigyas's Lullaby, and the Sound Stone Melodies, both known as The Eight Melodies in each of their respective games, due to each melody being split into 8 parts) are frequently remixed into other songs related to the Mother Franchise. (Queen Mary's song appears in the battle theme for Onett in Super Smash Bros., and the two themes are mixed into a song called Sixteen Melodies for Mother 3.) It's justified in the latter game, since most of the songs heard from EarthBound'' are there due to Porky's nostalgia.
  • Castlevania does this a lot. For instance, the first level musics from the first three games ("Vampire Killer," "Bloody Tears," and "Beginning" respectively) frequently get remixed and used again in later games in the series.
    • Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was notorious for this; only three or four songs in the whole soundtrack were actually original, the rest being from previous games in the series. It's also used in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, in the game's intro. When the opening text scroll mentions the Belmonts, a little snippet of "Vampire Killer" (the aformentioned first level music from the original game) plays.
    • Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow has a memorable example during the battle with Julius Belmont. His theme, "Heart of Fire," is actually a mash-up of "Don't Wait Until Night" note  (from the final stage of Haunted Castle) and the original "Heart of Fire" (used in Stage 5 of CVI), arranged by none other than Michiru Yamane.
    • Death's theme in Castlevania: Judgment is a combination of the music from the first time he was the final boss ("Evil's Symphonic Poem" from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence) and the music from the first time he was a boss ("Poison Mind" from the original game).
  • Uninvited for the NES featured a room with an old phonograph. If the player used the phonograph, they were treated to a bizarre, off-key rendition of the Shadowgate theme.
  • Oddly, the Level 8 theme from Descent quotes "The Death of Åse" from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite. Huh.
  • This occurs in The Legend of Zelda series.
  • "Into the Wilderness", the Opening theme of the first Wild ARMs game, had been continuously remixed throughout the series, having been used as Background Music, boss battle music, and post-battle music.
  • The main theme of Wild ARMs 2 is played in Wild ARMs 5 when the cell phone belonging to the Expy of Ashley rings.
  • Pulseman's Neo Tokyo theme was remixed for the Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum rival theme.
  • Persona:
    • Persona 4's class trip to Tatsumi Port Island brings back "Joy" and "P3 Fes" from Persona 3. The anime adaptation added a few more tracks to the mix.
    • Persona 3 Portable returns the favor, with Persona 4 music playing during the female main character's trip to Inaba.
    • In Persona 3 FES, various music tracks from Persona and Persona 2 are remixed to play in Tartarus — not that English-speaking audiences would recognize "Snow Queen" as such, as it was Dummied Out of the initial Western release of the first game.
    • In Persona 5, the Crane Game theme is a chiptune remix of the Junes theme from Persona 4.
  • Mega Man:
  • Metal Gear:
  • Street Fighter V uses this for DLC character Akira Kazama's stage: when a combatant's HP starts to run low, the opening bars to the opening theme of the PlayStation version of Rival Schools kicks in.
  • Another Code R starts using the music from the first game during the final few chapters, starting with a particularly jarring moment: the reunion music from the first game when Ashley meets her dad is replayed as Matthew breaks his Trauma-Induced Amnesia and remembers how he accidentally let go of his sister's hand playing on the Lake Juliet dock, leading to her drowning in the lake.
  • Metroid:
  • Chrono Cross uses Lucca's Theme for its victory fanfare. The overworld theme for the Home dimension is also a tropical-sounding remix of one of the 1,000 AD pieces of map music (i.e. the one that plays when away from towns) from Chrono Trigger.
  • In the various guest Optional Boss instances of tri-Ace games (e.g. Lenneth and Freya in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time or Gabriel Celeste in Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria) music from their original games will play. The Bonus Dungeon of Valkyrie Profile also shares a theme with the Maze of Tribulations from the Star Ocean games.
  • Spore has one during the civilization and space stage when ever you hover over a city that isn't yours. It's "Grunge City" from Sim City 4 Deluxe.
  • Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts 'N Bolts has this all over the damn place. Virtually every single piece of music from the game has nods to songs from not only previous games in the franchise itself, but also from other games made by Rare like Conker's Bad Fur Day and Donkey Kong 64.
  • The Starbase stage from Turtles in Time uses an arranged version of the music from Krang's ship in The Manhattan Project.
  • The Speed Slider boss theme from Knuckles Chaotix appears in Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, as the music for Circus Park's night stage. Mariko Nanba composed music for both games.
  • Sonic The Hedgehog:
    • "Sonic - You Can Do Anything," the Japanese theme of Sonic the Hedgehog CD, is a lyrical remake of the Green Hills stage theme from the GameGear/Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
    • The final segment of Sonic Adventure's Windy Valley is accompanied by the Green Grove theme from the Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast. Likewise, the latter's Panic Puppet (Act 1) theme is used in the former's Twinkle Park level.
    • White Park Zone Act 2 from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II manages to cram part of the Twinkle Park: Pleasure Castle theme from Sonic Adventure into one of the bridges.
    • In Sonic Generations, the solo of Classic Sonic's remix of Escape from the City is the beta version of the theme, plus the second verse gets Auto-Tuned to the melody of Endless Mine.
  • The hang gliding music in Pilotwings Resort contains snippets of its counterpart from Pilotwings 64.
  • The fanfare when the boss door opens in Donkey Kong 64 is an arrangement of the one that accompanies the elusive "Stop-N-Swop" items from Banjo-Kazooie (both games were composed by Grant Kirkhope).
  • Mushihime Sama Futari's Stage 3 BGM, Shinjuu Forest Rebel Army?, takes a page out of Mushihime-sama's final stage BGM, The One Who is Always in the Forest.
  • In DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu, a somewhat different version of the stage BGM plays if you access a hidden path in stages 2, 3, or 4. In Stage 2, the music shares a phase with "Colored Rainbow", the stage 2 BGM of DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou. Stage 3 borrows from the stage 3 BGM of the original, and stage 4 has a segment from the Dai-Ou-Jou boss battle theme DoDonPachi.
  • The theme song of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim incorporates musical elements from previous iterations of the Elder Scrolls theme, notably a similarity to the drums of Morrowind's theme and a segment of Oblivion's theme near the end (about 3:00 into the Skyrim theme, the original musical cue comes from this segment of the Oblivion theme.)
  • In Kid Icarus: Uprising, parts of Chapter 24's music are taken from the first Kid Icarus's castle theme. Also, Chapter 4's music uses variations on the first game's "angry Reaper" music as its motif. To make this clearer, the original version plays whenever a Reaper spots Pit.
  • The various hidden maps in Vandal Hearts II are each accompanied by one of three tracks not heard elsewhere in the game; all three are more densely-orchestrated versions of battle themes from Vandal Hearts I.
  • In The Great Circus Mystery (Disney's Magical Quest 2), you get to fight a living painting of Emperor Pete, the final boss from the first Magical Quest, complete with the same music.
  • Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, being a genre swap of previous titles, understandably reuses a lot of music. One worth mentioning, which is played during Wesker's first mission, is a combination of two tunes: "Wreckage of the Mad Experiment" from Resident Evil 2 and Wesker's theme from the original Resident Evil. And it sounds awesome.
  • .hack//G.U. character Tri-Edge has an action-packed, rather dark theme... which mysteriously contains a brief snippet of the calm and peaceful Mac Anu music from the first set of games, heavily contrasting the rest of the theme. At first this merely seems to be a nod to the fact that Tri-Edge shares Kite's design but it turns out to be a hint at his true nature as a defender of the system, and therefore on the side of the heroes.
  • Tekken:
  • In Mokujin's Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ending, he's invited to Bandai Namco Entertainment's Future Research Laboratory. After hitting it off with a female Mokujin and then toying with her affections, Mokujin is "escorted" off the premises. The Dig Dug death jingle plays.
  • The Game Boy version of Tetris Attack remixes the SNES game's/Panel de Pon's credits music to include Yoshi's theme, a remix of the story music box from Yoshi's Island. This remix is what the GameCube Nintendo Puzzle Collection remake/sequel of Panel de Pon bases its ending theme on, including the snippet of Yoshi's theme.
  • In World of Warcraft the music used during the Pet Battle minigame is all remixes of music from Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II.
  • In a nod to both the composer and producer's previous works, the Hall of Termination area theme from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night opens with the classic Castlevania death jingle.
  • Soul Series:
    • While several themes in Soulcalibur IV were rearranges of previous compositions (which is nothing new for the series), "Infernal Offering," used for Astaroth and Lizardman's stage, is the loosest example. With the exception of the opening bells being lifted from "Bred from the Gap" (Astaroth's theme in Soulcalibur and SCIII note ), it's almost entirely an original piece.
    • "Let My Soul Burn," the theme of the Sinking Merchant Ship in Soulcalibur V, begins with nearly the same set of notes as "Sail Over the Storm" note  from the Indian Port stage seen in Soulcalibur and Soulcalibur III. Unsurprisingly, these arenas and their respective musical accompaniment are associated with the series' resident nunchaku-swinging Ryukyu pirate, Maxi.
    • Being a Continuity Reboot that expands upon the events of the original Soulcalibur, many of the character-specific stages in Soulcalibur VI feature deliberate musical throwbacks to their SCI counterparts. The clearest example is "Under a Pledge" (Sophitia) when compared to "Wings of Faith" note , but both "Undying Legend" (Kilik) and "Standing Against the Storm" (Maxi) feature snippets of previous tunes (those respectively being "The New Legend" note  and "Sail Over the Storm"). "Darkest Shadow," used for both Nightmare and Siegfried, is a twofer; while it takes more from "In the Name of Father" (Nightmare's theme), there are a few cues from "Worth Dying For" (Siegfried's theme) in there as well, which is fitting considering the game is set during the period where Siegfried and Nightmare were on in the same. note  "Diabolous Amalgam" (Astaroth) is another double whammy, as it's both a rearrangement of "Bred from the Gap" and uses part of "Recollect Continent," Rock's theme from Soul Edge, as a bridge. note  Meanwhile, though "Myriad Souls" (Inferno) doesn't seem to take any overt cues from "Immortal Flame," Inferno's theme from Soulcalibur II ("Hellfire") is used as the basis for the final battle theme in Soul Chronicle, "The Evil Flame."
  • Street Fighter V "newcomer" Zeku note  is heavily implied to be the forefather of none other than the Strider organization, and one of the many, many hints dropped by Capcom lies within his theme—right before the song loops, a snippet of "Defense Line," the classic Strider fanfare, triumphantly blares.
  • Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order uses this to terrifying effect when Darth Vader shows up as the Hopeless Post-Final Boss, with the usage of "Anakin's Dark Deeds" from Revenge of the Sith.
  • Bayonetta 2 does this twofold; first with "Lumen Sage and Temperantia", which samples and rearranges segments from "You May Call Me Father" from the previous game as a hint towards the Masked Lumen's true identity. And after it's explicitly revealed that the Masked Lumen was a young Balder, the third and final fight against him directly uses "You May Call Me Father".

    Visual Novels 

    Western Animation 
  • The first episode of Reboot features a distinctive theme for the Space Game in its first episode. The theme is brought back much later on in the episode "System Crash" when the User from that game emerges in Mainframe.
  • Episode 4 of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated has Daphne humming the theme from The New Scooby-Doo Movies as she knits an ascot for Fred.
  • A cool shout out to Robin's origins is used in Teen Titans when Slade taunts Robin — who has temporarily become his Dragon to protect the other Titans — by claiming that eventually Robin might start to see him as a sort of father figure. Robin responds with "I already have a father" as the screen pans up to show bats rising to the sky while music from Batman: The Animated Series plays.

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

XMen Theme in Dr Strange 2

The introduction Charles Xavier in Multiverse of Madness includes a musical nod to the X-Men animated series.

Disney Princess...

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top

XMen Theme in Dr Strange 2

The introduction Charles Xavier in Multiverse of Madness includes a musical nod to the X-Men animated series.

How well does it match the trope?

4.9 (21 votes)

Example of:

Main / MusicalNod

Media sources:

Report

XMen Theme in D...

Disney Princess...