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Sad Battle Music / Video Games

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Sad Battle Music in Video Games.

  • Ace Combat
    • Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War:
      • In mission 17, after Chopper crashes, the previous aggressive music abruptly stops and for a minute or so, there is no music at all. Then, just as new waves of enemies arrive, "Into the Dusk" picks up and plays until the end of the mission. It's made even worse by your remaining wingmen sobbing quietly on the radio.
      • In mission 24, the fight against the sabotaged Arkbird is set to a grandiose, yet mournful theme, serving to underscore the tragedy of its current predicament: being corrupted from a majestic symbol of peace into a pitiful superweapon of mass destruction by the Grey Men, all for the sake of prolonging the war between Osea and Yuktobania.
      • In the mission “Sea of Chaos,” a beautiful, yet wistful song about longing for peace plays during a fierce sea battle, which turns out to be because of your aircraft carrier’s captain playing the song from a record over the airwaves. The context is that several Yuke sea captains have come to their senses and decided to defect to the Osean navy, having learned that their prime minister has been rescued by the Oseans after having been kidnapped by Belkan spies who had started the war on purpose.
    • In Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, a chilling, appropiately somber piece titled "Lost Kingdom" plays during the raid of a small, near-defenseless country for fuel and supplies, during which part of the mission involves the bombing of refugee tents, civilian vehicles, and such, and you'll have to take part in it.
  • In Angels of Death, there's First Quarter Moon, played after Ray falls to despair on her floor and tries to kill Zack to make him hers. Mournful piano and violins backed by intense dubstep.
  • In Assassin Blue, the penultimate "battle" against your boss, who doesn't actually fight you at all, simply reuses the main menu theme, which sounds like this. The final boss battle track is also anything but cheerful.
  • Half the music in Asura's Wrath is like this, and this game is 90% fighting. It is that sad of a story. Most of those music incorporates the melody of In your belief.
  • Blade Master has a rather downbeat-sounding final boss theme, considering that the Final Boss is the Damsel in Distress having turned into a monster.
  • Bloodborne:
    • The game has its own in the final battle against Gehrman, the First Hunter. There he is, trying to free you from this horrific nightmare and send you back to the world of the living, and you refused his help. The entire time, he's trying to save you. The fight is fittingly accompanied by a slow, melodic track by the name of The First Hunter.
    • The Old Hunters DLC is no slouch when it comes to sad battle music either, as the battle theme of the Orphan of Kos consists primarily of an Ethereal Choir backed up by slow, mournful violin melodies. A fitting theme for a Battle in the Rain against a newborn alien god weeping over the corpse of its mother. It stops being an example of this trope in the second phase, though.
  • Brutal Wolfenstein 3D has a remix of "Into The Dungeons" by Rich Douglas, which plays in the secret level of Episode 2, and Floor 7 of Episode 3. It is a sad and mournful song which reflects the countless horrors and brutality of World War II.
  • Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin has the aptly-titled "Dance of Sadness". The sadness part isn't apparent when you fight the boss with this theme the first time, but soon after you find out that Stella and Loretta, whom you thought were the villain's daughters turn out to be Brainwashed and Crazy.
  • "Prisoners of Fate" in Chrono Cross plays during the climax of the game's Wham Episode, when it's revealed that things did not end well for the protagonists of Chrono Trigger, and that their actions are directly responsible for the events of the game. It culminates in the fight against the infamous Miguel, who was bound to the Dead Sea by Fate. It also plays in the fight against Dario, a noble knight who lost everything he had and was driven to madness just by acquiring a once-holy, but now sadistically-twisted sword.
  • In Creepy Castle, the battle against Darking is at first your standard climatic battle against the Big Bad, but then Darking asks to what extent we know pain and if we have ever felt the loss of love, and Heart Heist starts to play as the tone of the battle changes.
  • The Cruel King and the Great Hero's battles with the Demon King have appropriately sad music with a lot of pianos, woodwinds, and violins, given Yuu's connection to the boss as her father.
  • Dandy Dungeon: For such a silly and otherwise carefree game, an absolutely depressing track called 'Goodbye, Yasu' plays during when Yasu reveals his past and why he messed with Yamada’s game. For added Tear Jerker points, he requests that Yamada punishes him for his actions.
  • Danganronpa:
    • The final Rebuttal Showdown of Chapter 5 of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair against Sonia, who's desperately trying to prove that Chiaki isn't The Mole, which would get her convicted and executed for a murder she was tricked into committing, forgoes the more beat-driven theme that typically accompanies it for a more somber, despairing theme.
    • The final Rebuttal Showdown in the last chapter of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony does the same. This time, you're playing as K1-B0, trying to talk Shuichi out of his Heroic BSoD following the revelation that everything he knew is fiction.
  • Dark Chronicle plays Sad Fate during the second half of your second battle against Emperor Griffon. Only natural, considering everything that led him to villainy in the first place.
  • Dark Souls:
    • The first game uses this trope in a couple places to communicate something critical about the boss being fought, as the game eschews more traditional exposition. The thing communicated is often why you should be feeling guilty right now.
    • The theme of the Final Battle in Dark Souls against Gwyn, Lord of Cinder is one of the saddest tracks in the game. Sure, he's mutely charging headlong at you with unparalleled viciousness, swinging a blazing greatsword like a man possessed. But it's not fury that's motivating him. It's simple, blind desperation to preserve the Age of Fire, for which he sacrificed everything from his kingdom to his body to his very soul, in the struggle to fuel the First Flame that turned him from a dragon-slaying god to the disfigured, nearly brain-dead husk you end up fighting. His boss title even emphasizes this: he was famously known as the Lord of Sunlight, yet all that's left for him to rule is cinders. It's made even worse by the fact that The Ringed City reveals that his actions probably just made things worse despite his intentions. For an extra easter egg, the tune is played entirely on the white keys of the piano. Appropriate for an old man afraid of the dark.
    • Dark Souls 2 does this for Vendrick, when you finally meet him. The lonely piano piece that plays when you find the man you've been searching for the entire game and discover that he's nothing more than a mostly-naked, mindless Hollow now also plays as you fight him to finally put him to rest, once and for all, and accomplish what he could not.
    • The second game also does this in the Scholar of the First Sin expansion. The optional final boss fight against Aldia uses a song that is rather melancholy, as the player is meant to have learned that fighting against him doesn't amount to much in the endless cycle. Even death doesn't mean much for Aldia: he's perfectly capable of talking after his physical body appears to be destroyed.
    • Dark Souls 3 has its final boss start out with a bombastic orchestral track... which, over the course of the battle, slowly fades into a melancholic piano theme (the very same theme that played for Gwyn in the first game, as the boss itself takes on his form), underpinning exactly what it is the player is fighting against. The song is aptly named "Soul of Cinder".
    • The battle against the Abyss Watchers is accompanied by a particularly tragic male choir alongside a One-Woman Wail, which really helps establish the fact that the once proud Band of Brothers are being forced to kill their own endlessly resurrecting comrades who have been corrupted by the very force they once fought against.
    • The music for the battle against Slave Knight Gael begins as a sad piano piece accompanied by a One-Woman Wail, emphasizing the tragedy and futility of the fight as the two of you, possibly the last beings alive in the world, kill each other for tiny fragments of a long-lost power. The music becomes much more intense once Gael Turns Red, which is also when you notice that Gael now bleeds Blood of the Dark Soul — the only thing that can paint the new world, which may finally be better than what you have waded through for all three games.
  • Death Road to Canada normally has an incredibly upbeat soundtrack, but if you reach the Pre-Final Boss siege named the City of Crushed Hopes on any of the harder difficulty modes, you get treated to this incredibly lonely-sounding track, as if to remind you that the entirety of the united states (if not nearly the entire world) has been overrun by the Zombie Apocalypse, and you're some of the last remaining survivors.
  • Ashes, to Ashes, to Ashes (to Ashes) in Deadbolt, the track that plays during the final confrontation with Ibzan once his motivation is revealed.
  • Moonlit Sniper is a quiet, subtle theme, played in Death's Gambit during the battle with Origa, the Last of Her Kind who has been the only one of her race to resist Brain Uploading that ultimately resulted in the monstrous Bysurge, and now fights only to preserve the sanctity of her species' graves.
  • Demon's Souls has Maiden Astraea, the subtle, harpsichord-heavy theme that is unlike every other boss music in the game. It also very much reflects the nature of the level, as the Maiden has become an Archdemon only in order to heal the Depraved Ones in the Valley of Defilement, and so she never fights you, and repeatedly asks you to leave at the start of the level. As you make your way towards her, you are duelled by her bodyguard, knight Garl Vinland, who is very much human and sane. Once you defeat him, Maiden Astraea simply commits suicide so that you can take "your precious Demon Soul" off her.
  • In Destiny 2, "Journey" plays during a section of the second half of the Homecoming mission, taking place after the Red Legion takes humanity's last refuge, captures the Traveler, and renders all Guardians Brought Down to Normal. Here, you escape from the fallen city as the Red Legion hunts down and executes defenseless Guardians, and survive as you try to fend off patrolling soldiers along the way.
  • In Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Angel of Sorrow plays during most of the battles in Chapter 8, which naturally is the saddest chapter in the entire game as it explores the main character's aversion to love and kindness, and it also seriously tests the Character Development he's acquired up until that point.
  • Dragalia Lost:
    • Happens twice in the main story. Chapter 5 has the Wham Episode that The Other, the evil entity that had possessed Euden's father Aurelius and turned him into an evil emperor... has now possessed his kind and benevolent sister, warping her into Empress Zethia. On top of that, he has to fight against Zodiark, the Shadowyrm to prove his bond with him. Chapter 10 is another whammy that uses the same music after finding the sixth Greatwyrm, Cthonius, has been sealed away for the last several hundred years while fused with King Alberius to keep the full power of Morsayati, aka the Other, from taking him over. At this point, it becomes an utter Mercy Kill.
    • The "Resplendent Refrain" event has the "Overture" theme fought against a dark entity that came from Elias's resentment that he's losing his soprano voice as he gets older and that he unleashed it by accident.
  • Drakengard 2: In the game's C Route, you fight against Legna, the dragon who raised Nowe from birth. All the while, the song Growing Wings plays; however, unlike the first game's version, this one is quiet, melancholic, and really fits the tone of the battle.
  • Drakengard 3 has this in the True Final Boss in Route D. Even though Zero has finally killed One, she needs Mikhail to kill her so that the Flower, part of the Grotesqueries, aka Watchers, can't invade. Mikhail does so tearfully in a Nintendo Hard final battle set to “The Last Song.”note 
  • This piece from Ehrgeiz's quest mode, which is rather jarring, considering the game.
  • Elden Ring:
    • Malenia is the Super Boss of the work who handily outclasses the rest of the game's foes, so you'd expect her theme to be the most bombastic and powerful of them all... but that's not the case. Instead, her first phase features a calm violin piece accompanied by a One-Woman Wail, reflecting the goddess's sad state due to the Scarlet Rot ravaging her body and mind, and how much she misses her brother Miquella. The understated tone also fits her fighting style, which appears smooth and measured despite simultaneously displaying her immense strength and speed. The track is significantly more energetic in her second phase with its cymbals and Ominous Latin Chanting, but is still dominated by mournful strings.
    • The Elden Beast's theme follows Radagon's triumphant climactic piece, but is itself very serene and calm, using a another One-Woman Wail and chorus to demonstrate the size, majesty, and otherworldiness of your final challenge.
    • Radahn's entire boss fight is a Mercy Kill for a once-beloved hero whose mind has been destroyed by the Scarlet Rot, and his slow, chanting music very much brings to mind a funeral march.
  • El Paso, Elsewhere has "yesterday's sobriquet is tomorrow's sorrow" for the first phase of the Final Boss fight against your ex-girlfriend vampire whom you're reluctant to kill.
  • All of the enemies in ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights, including the bosses, are Tragic Monsters driven mad by a Hate Plague, so most of the boss themes are this to some extent. The standout example is the final boss theme during the path to the Golden Ending - all of the other boss themes switch to a more intense version when the boss Turns Red, but when the final boss enters its second phase, you instead get a Nostalgic Music Box leading into a Boss Remix of the game's main theme, a soft and somber track.
  • Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard: "Guardians Of The Sorrowful Ice", further reinforced with its remix in the Fafnir Knight remake. It stands out from the other boss themes in the game for having a more melancholic tone, especially during the first half (it then gradually transitions into a foreboding tone). It symbolizes the suddenly somber reveal about the opponents you're facing: Artelinde and Wilhem have killed several explorers that got into near the end of Frozen Grounds, because letting them advance would led them to fight Scylla, originally the founder of the guild Artelinde and Wilhem are now part of and now turned into a monster due to the Overlord's actions.
  • Final Fantasy:
  • Fire Emblem:
    • Fire Emblem: Awakening has "Don't Speak Her Name!", which plays throughout an entire chapter, including battles and even when fighting the boss, after Exalt Emmeryn's (apparent) death. For bonus points, said chapter is also a Battle in the Rain, with the enemy leader only fighting against the Shepherds in order to protect his family from his king; he genuinely expresses regret for Emmeryn's death, insists he can find a way to spare the Shepherds if they surrender, and his only request before he's killed is that his men be spared... if you haven't already killed them all for experience.
    • Similarly, Fire Emblem Fates has "Thorn in You", which plays during Chapter 6 no matter which option you take during the Sadistic Choice, and again in Birthright Chapter 26 and Conquest Chapter 25 when you engage your older brother from the nation you sided against in a Duel to the Death.
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
      • "Between Heaven and Earth", the theme for the brutal three-way battle of Gronder Field after the Time Skip, which is a Dark Reprise of both "Blue Skies and a Battle", the battle theme for when the students held a mock-battle at the same location in happier times, and "Edge of Dawn", the game's main theme and also the personal theme of Edelgard, a major antagonist in all the routes where this battle occurs.
      • The Long Road is the standard story battle theme during the second half of part 2, and it's a slow, somber piece, reflecting the escalating tragedy of the war.
      • Even one of the final battle themes fits here. A Funeral Of Flowers plays during the final battle of the Church Route, where Rhea suddenly loses control of herself and goes berserk, forcing the player to put her down. It's a mercy kill of an ally you'd thought you saved. Fittingly, it's incredibly sad, and the battle version is actually more subdued than the map version.
    • Fire Emblem Engage:
    • “Broken Bonds,” which plays during Chapter 11, “Retreat,” when Sombron has successfully been awoken and Veyle has taken all of Alear’s Emblem rings. This makes them too powerful to take on, and as the name of the chapter implies, they must retreat. As Alear and friends must run away from Veyle through the forest, she gives the rings to The Corrupted, meaning that Alear and friends are forced to fight against their former allies.
    • "Falling Petals" plays during Chapter 17, and is a Dark Reprise of Veyle's theme, as Alear has just learned of the depths of Sombron's abuse towards her, and is now forced to fight her evil Split Personality alongside five other opponents with Emblems, including a Corrupted King Hyacinth.
  • Fobia: St. Dinfna Hotel has the score of the Pianist boss fight, which is a solemn piano piece to highlight the Pianist as a Tortured Monster.
  • Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon: It's not an exaggeration to say the final boss music would not sound out of place on The Fountain's soundtrack.
  • Fuga: Melodies of Steel tends to have war march-like music tracks per its War Is Hell theming, but it nevertheless indulges in this trope by quite a fair amount, sharing a developer and composer with Asura's Wrath to boot:
    • "Flower on the Trails" is the main theme for the game and the music for most story-critical bosses, and is meant to instill a sense of melancholy despite its hopeful nature, with its lyrics being about holding onto said hope in the midst of war.
    • "Elegy of Winds" is a choir song (with different variations for Japanese and French) themed around the losses and hardships the children experience throughout the war. The first time the game uses it as a backing track for a fight is following the Soul Cannon tutorial at the beginning, showing the children losing the will to fight on after losing their friend. The second time is when the children have to very, very reluctantly fight Britz, with Britz himself being shown going through a mental breakdown.
    • On the other hand, "Flames of Delusion" is a piano and string piece for the second boss fight with Flam Kish, as if to pity her for letting her desire for revenge consume her, and to hammer in how this is a fight that she has absolutely no hope of winning.
  • Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 continues the trend:
    • The battle and route theme for Chapter 4 is a more down-tempo remix of "Holy Samoyede" from Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, as a reflection of the children's feelings of defeat and grief following Hanna's Plotline Death.
    • The boss theme for Chapter 7 is a more lullaby-like theme meant to represent the love the Female Engineer had for the hybrid children she cared for— with the boss having been programmed to protect her last child, Jihl.
  • Several examples in Furi, most notably Make it Right, the theme of The Song, an angelic boss who doesn't want to fight you, and even offers you to quit before her battle. And you can actually take her up on the offer, receiving an alternate ending if you wait in her area for long enough. Then there's A Monster for The Beat, a barely adult girl who spends her battle running away from you, with her turrets being the only attackers.
  • The Gears of War series has a habit of using sad music in its trailers, which usually feature at least some fighting. Gary Jules's cover of "Mad World", used in the first game's trailer, has even become somewhat of an iconic song for the series.
  • Gloom has Cosmophobia, the theme for either of the two real final bosses. While the slow melancholic melody remains the same, the meaning behind the sadness is different in either battle:
    • The final battle of the worst Cosmic ending is sad because win or lose, the dreamer has already cast off any decency or humanity he had in the hunt for cosmic knowledge. After all, the battle is triggered by him literally sacrificing a baby, who may have been his own child: we outright see him stab it with a dagger and get the whole arm splashed in its blood, which is what turns the dark moon of the dream into The Gate to the new realities.
    • The final battle of the true Royal ending is sad because you confront King Domnhall, who was once a great king and did so much for his people. However, he did so at the price of carrying the Yellow Monarch Eldritch Abomination within him, and it eventually drove him mad, to the point he ordered a complete genocide of the rival kingdom they defeated in battle, and eventually decided to escape Renegade God's plague through putting all his subjects into the Common Dream, where so many went mad and became the enemies you fought in the Unholy Parish. Thus, you are doing something difficult but necessary, and it's reflected in the battle itself going through three stages: Great King Domnhall, Mad King Domnhall, and, finally, the Yellow Monarch bursting out of his dead body and challenging you on its own.
  • G.O.D.: Heed the Call to Awaken has "The Reunion with Mother", which plays when Gen is forced to kill his own mother, as well as in the Post-Final Boss against Sadness.
  • The Halloween Hack has a remix of the aforementioned song from Final Fantasy Legend III for the first phase of its final battle, which plays out similarly to the same battle from that game, with the twist that the old man here is begging you not to kill him. Also, the EarthBound (1994) theme Buzz Buzz's Prophecy is repurposed as battle music for the Remember Me? enemies.
  • Halo: Reach is a game allowing you to play through the Fall of Reach, and by the time of the final level "Lone Wolf", Noble Six is alone, every other member of his team either off-world or dead. He has successfully bought time for the UNSC Pillar of Autumn to escape to locations unknown (later revealed to be Installation 04) with its package by taking down Covenant forces on its tail, and now all that's left is for him to fight to the bitter end as wave after wave of Covenant forces come after him. The level is heralded by the Lonely Piano Piece section of "Epilogue."
  • A Hint of a Tint has "sorry", the theme for the battle between Tyalline and Jezebel, after she tricked her into betraying her vows to the Bee Queen, through offering Tyalline the chance to see her long-thought-dead human beloved, without telling her he's become a desiccated Vampire. It's also tragic for Jezebel, because she knows Tyalline is fated to die along with the rest of Flesh of the Tail in the flood of blue water, and only manipulated her to ensure her own race would survive this apocalypse through a deal she struck with the first humans.
  • Hitogata Happa has the track "The price of playing with fire — paid in full" for the stage 4 boss. It's a solemn piece with a violin playing the melody complemented by a flute and church bells for percussion.
  • Hollow Knight:
    • While Broken Vessel theme sounds sinster, it also has a melancholic vibe which amplifies with the violins' dialogue (at 1:04).
    • The theme that plays for some foes in Godhome is also saddening in its own right, even if it becomes more trimphant when percussions kick in at 1:32.
    • Halfway through the final boss fight, the music changes completely (at 2:15) as the titular knight, through brief moments of clarity from the Infection, repeatedly and viciously stabs itself in an attempt to help you kill it and free itself from its eternal suffering. The theme for your rematch at Godhome is nothing but a sad battle music, as it represents the warrior it failed to become. The music for the true final boss is all action, though.
  • Homeworld examples:
    • Agnus Dei, a choral version of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, plays during the Burning of Kharak as well as the final mission to reclaim Hiigara.
    • Swarmer Battle Music plays in the battles in the Kadesh Nebula, befitting the fact you aren't fighting the Taiidan or their servants but just trying to get out of the nebula alive and that the Kadeshi are actually the descendants of another group of Hiigaran exiles and are trying to kill you for fear you'll cause the Taiidan to track them down.
  • In Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, the soundtrack for missions is usually pulse-pounding, but there are several exceptions:
    • The Way Home. An appropriately bittersweet tune for Beard's last mission before he can leave war-torn Hawaii.
    • Remorse. Plays during the mission where The Henchman carries out his final mission before leaving the russian mafia..
    • We're Sorry. Utterly haunting, in one of the game's creepiest levels.
  • The fight against the final boss of I Am Still Alive Act One, Chance has "Alone" and its short intro, "The Last Fight" for the first phase. It's somewhat upbeat, showing just how determined both Emily and her opponent are — but this only makes it all the more sad once you realize that both potential outcomes of the fight are tragic. Either Chance, a man who lost his home, his wife, all of his friends (or so he believes), and his daughter, will die, or his daughter's tormented soul will continue to suffer for an eternity, and Chance will be even more hopeless and guilt-ridden than before.
    • His flavor text when using the Diagnosis skill only makes things worse: "The man who lost everything." In addition to this, unlike other enemies whose Hearts are described in terms of strength (Strong, Weak, etc.) his is simply labeled "Broken".
    • The name of the intro song, "The Last Fight", references both the fact that this is the last battle in Act One, and the melancholy, creepy "song" Chance played to properly express his emotions about losing everyone he loved, entitled "The Last Light".
    • It only gets sadder. The second phase occurs when Chance breaks down into tears, and tells Emily that no matter what, she has to win the fight. "Rest in Peace" begins to play as the name of the enemy you're fighting changes to simply "The Father", and Emily is forced to fight against a man whose will has become so broken that he can barely deal 20 damage to Emily.
      • During this phase, the information gathered from Diagnosis changes to reflect just how low Chance's stats have become. The flavor text also changes into: "Man fueled entirely by desperation." Couple this with the fact that the only skill (aside from normal attacks) he will now use is called "Desperation", and suddenly the name of the act starts to make a lot more sense.
    • To a lesser extent, the song that plays for the fight against Lyght's deranged mentor, Grand Paladin Egon, "To Battle", is a mixture of an intense orchestral battle theme and a melancholy violin/choir duet. It emphasizes how powerful Egon was before losing his sanity, without glossing over the tragedy of his descent into madness. It doesn't help that his "Diagnosis" flavor text reflects on the irony of his nickname, "Unbreakable Egon", and the fact that he inflicts a status effect on himself called "Unbreakable" in one last desperate attempt to protect his Queen. This is made even 'more' tragic when it's later revealed that the Queen he was trying so hard to protect was actually the one he was attacking with an axe — Emily.
  • "Moonlight, Side A", the track that plays during the first part of the second battle with Agent Black in Iconoclasts. "Moonlight, Side B", which plays during the second part, is more energetic, yet also sad, especially considering that Agent Black was just murdered by Robin, in the first time she ever truly killed someone personally, and yet she comes back as an inhuman, pained Ivory Beast through the sheer power of her stubbornness and despair.
    • Memento Mori, the track which plays in the battle with the Optional Boss Fitzroy, is possibly even sadder. After all, you are fighting a man who's lived so long, the only thing he has left is a memory of how he failed the woman he loved, and you are letting him die by destroying that memory.
  • The final level music of Immortal Defense, "A Winter's Journey".
  • inFAMOUS: Second Son has "Double Crossed", which plays during the fight with Augustine right after she murders Reggie.
  • Killer7: The second phase of the boss fight against Greg Nightmare trades the Boss Remix of the Coburn Elementary level (heard in the first phase) for a very solemn organ-based composition that signals the inevitable defeat of all the Smiths except Garcian (and he can still join them if the player doesn't react quickly enough to grab the Golden Gun and kill the last remaining Heaven Smile and then Greg himself).
  • The King of Fighters:
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, during Sora's battle with Roxas. The song that plays is a melancholy remix of Roxas's theme (which was sad to begin with), and it is called "The Other Promise". Likewise, the final boss is a Sequential Boss that uses different variations of the same track ("Darkness of the Unknown") for each stage, with the final one being much slower and more somber than the others.
    • In Kingdom Hearts coded, the battle against Data-Roxas uses Roxas's regular theme instead. Similarly, the battles with Data-Riku are accompanied by his rather somber leitmotif.
    • Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days: Xion's fight theme, "Vector to the Heavens" is a somber, piano-heavy piece set to underscore the tragic circumstances of the Climax Boss.
    • Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep:
      • "Tears of Light" plays when Terra visits Castle of Dreams for the first time and battles several Unversed, while Cinderella cries in the aftermath of her stepsisters ripping her dress to shreds.
      • "Dismiss", the final boss theme, is a more tragic version of the recurring "Destati" theme with Terra and Aqua's character themes mixed in.
      • The Final Mix rerelease adds "Night of Tragedy", the battle track for the Realm of Darkness.
    • Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] has a dark battle theme exclusive for the boss of the TRON: Legacy world, and for a good reason: "Rinzler Recompiled".
    • Kingdom Hearts III:
      • "Aqua (Dark Dive)", Anti-Aqua's battle theme is an incredibly depressing remix of Aqua's own theme. It can be downright haunting.
      • "Nachtflügel", Yozora's battle theme, is a much more sombre and melancholy affair than the series norm with an underlying melody of tragedy, emphasized by its minimalism in instruments and preference for keeping in the minor scale. Mind you, it's no less epic.
  • Kirby:
  • The Last Story has a sad theme heard right after one of the final bosses kills Lowell, during Chapter 40. The quiet, yet melancholic tone of the theme contrasts by all means all other battle themes in the game.
  • Library of Ruina:
    • The game has the song Gone Angels, the theme of the final phase of the Black Silence reception, which details Roland's conflicting emotions (specifically, his friendship with Angela against the grudge he holds against her for causing the Distortion phenomenon that led to the death of his wife) and self-destructive desire for revenge. Really, the entire Black Silence reception counts, as the theme used for the other three phases, Furioso, is also plenty melancholic.
    • Many of the other boss songs in the game as sorrowful as well, as the game is full of tragic characters who inevitably meet their end when they enter the Library. In particular, The Crying Children's theme, And Then Is Heard No More, is a melancholic piece detailing the story of Philip's life.
    • During the second chapter of the sequel, Limbus Company, most of its last fights in the ice castle are played to an instrumental arrange of the credits song Pass On. This serves to highlight the melancholy feeling of the chapter and its focal character's guilt over indirectly causing the deaths of all the souls recreated there.
    • The track that plays during the first battle against the end boss of the fourth chapter, the distortion of Dongrang. It highlights the tragedy and vanity of this foe who sacrificed so much of himself and those he once cared for out of desperation to find fulfilment, and who just realized how monstrous he had become in doing so.
    • The track that plays in the second phase of the battle against Hindley following his distortion into The Reaved Lamenter, which demonstrates how pitiable Hindley really is beneath all his bluster and anger toward Heathcliff.
  • It's almost a series standard for Like a Dragon final bosses to have this (and sometimes they're not even the only one): since the series deals heavily in the Anti-Villain and Tragic Villain tropes, even the more pulse-pounding boss themes will often have a segment where the mood dips into melancholy. It's almost easier to list the ones that aren't sad:
    • Yakuza has "For Who's Sake", the final boss theme for Akira Nishikiyama which empathizes on the grief of him and Kiryu. It gets a much more dramatic remix in the Kiwami remake.
    • Yakuza 2 has A Scattered Moment, which plays during the final fistfight with Goda. Like the above, it gets remixed in the Kiwami 2 remake.
    • Yakuza Kiwami 2 has another remix of Fiercest Warrior as Jo Amon's theme, only this one is more somber and emotional than the normally energetic, pulse-sounding versions, reflecting that this is the final game (at least in terms of real-life chronology) where Kiryu and Amon will face off.
    • Like a Dragon: Ishin! has the final phase of the Final Boss theme "Assassination Of Bodhisattva", which is notably more somber that the former two.
    • Yakuza 0 has a final boss for each protagonist, and each gets a distinctly non-sad theme: Majima gets "Archnemesis", a tension-filled, imposing track fitting for a fight against the ruthless hitman Lao Gui, while Kiryu has "Two Dragons", a powerful metal song perfectly suited to Keiji Shibusawa, one of the most manipulative and cold-blooded villains in the series. It also has "Oath of Enma", which plays during Kiryu's last fight against Kuze; the song is a melancholic remix of Kuze's earlier boss theme, highlighting the newfound respect the two men now have.
    • Yakuza 6 has "The Way Of Life", a song that underscores both the nature of the fight as Kazuma Kiryu's final bout and the sheer smackdown you're laying on the sociopathic, childishly cruel Tsuneo Iwami.
    • Yakuza: Like a Dragon has "ism", the boss theme of Ryo Aoki, AKA Masato Arakawa, Ichiban's Evil Former Friend. The song's somber nature emphasizes how Ichiban is fighting to save the man he sees as his brother as well as Aoki's Villainous Breakdown.
    • Spinoff Lost Judgment has "Unwavering Belief", the theme for the final fight against Jin Kuwana, a Dark Reprise of his earlier theme "Dig In Your Heels" that underscores the grim determination of the villain.
  • LISA: The Painful RPG:
    • The game has The End is Nigh, Rando's battle theme, which goes from sorrowful to brooding to terrifying.
    • Go Home Johnny also counts, as while it's climactic when you battle the Dojo Buster/Tiger Man, it becomes downright tragic when you battle Sticky, if you've spared him before.
    • Bloodmoon Rising, the track playing while you fight the Indian tribe who guard the last bloodmoon tree in Olathe, because Brad is trying to build the new boat for Shardy to find Buddy, after she escaped from him on the old one.
  • Luminous Avenger iX has "Painful Determination", which plays during the boss battle against Mytyl, Copen's own sister, who has been reduced to a Brain in a Jar that begs her brother for death.
  • All over the place in Mass Effect 3, but especially during the fall of Earth and the asari homeworld of Thessia.
  • Max Payne 3 has "Tears" during the final battle.
  • Medal of Honor: Frontline has this during the levels "Rough Landing" and "Arnhem Knights", the latter of which is set during the failed Operation Market Garden.
  • Mega Man X4 has the boss battle theme of Iris in Zero's story mode, when she turns on him after he's forced to kill her brother Colonel, and fuses with his salvaged core to transform into a Ride Armor-like monstrosity that requires Zero to fight her as well, leading to her accidental death.
  • Metal Gear:
    • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater: The final boss starts with no music, but five minutes in, the instrumental of Snake Eater kicks in, followed by the full song. The melancholy elements of the song come to the forefront here, as the instrumental removes the lyrics to allow the somber strings to command the melody, and when the vocals come in, the player becomes fully aware of how the lyrics reflect the tragic tale of The Boss.
    • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has different musical themes from previous games played during your last fight with Revolver Ocelot. The last music score is the sombre sad theme of 4 and it reflects how Ocelot and Snake are both on their last legs, with the fight mechanics even changing to show they can barely stand and even if Snake wins, he's doomed anyways.
  • Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has sad but intense music during the battle against Rundas.
  • Due to its Grey-and-Grey Morality, nearly every boss theme in Minoria is sad. Special mention goes to Decisive Battle, which is played during the battle with Sister Devoir, and starts off heroically, but then quickly takes on a much more sorrowful tone. Then, once she's heavily wounded and reduced to limping while slashing ineffectively and saying her last words, the music shifts to a slower and very appropriately titled On the Brink of Death.
    • The Final Boss theme, Auto-da-Fé (Portuegese for "act of faith"; usually associated with the Inquisition's ritual of public penance and/or execution of the heretics) is already sad as by that point the player should well realize they were fighting for a genocidal theocracy against non-believers trying to defend themselves all along, and it also shifts to Auto-da-Fé II when Princess Poeme Turns Red and becomes even more angelic-looking as Snake Witch Poeme. Then, standing up to Princess Amelia after that battle triggers the final, short fight, scored to Auto-da-Fé III.
  • Minecraft doesn't seem like a game that'd have a sad battle theme at all, but the theme of the Final Boss the Ender Dragon is surprisingly low-key and somber.
  • In Mitsumete Knight, there's "Sorrowful Blade", the battle theme played when fighting the enemy Eight General Salishuan the Spy, alias Raizze Haimer (one of the winnable main heroines), when she's torn between her duty and her love for the protagonist. You actually need to hear this theme to get her ending: if not, she's gone forever.
  • "The Enemy of my Enemy" from Modern Warfare 2 is set to Boneyard Intro, which rather fits the level immediately after The Reveal that Shepherd's been a traitor all along.
  • Being a spiritual precursor to Minoria, even the default boss theme in Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Confrontation, is far from being cheerful. However, Pardoner's Dance, played during the battle with Pardoner Fennel, is in a league of its own, since the entire battle is essentially a case of Poor Communication Kills.
  • Mother 3 does this during the final battle against Claus: "Battle Against the Masked Man", a distorted confusion of sound reminiscent of Giygas's themes from the previous game, is periodically interrupted by "Memory of Mother", which combines it with one of Hinawa's themes, and eventually both are replaced by "It's Over", a heartrending rendition of the Love Theme. Earlier, there's "Tragic Reconstruction", a combination of the Pigmask Leitmotif and Beethoven's Symphony no.3, which underscores the fate of the animals that were subjected to the Pigmasks' experiments.
  • Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: Bond of snow Tears.
  • NieR:
  • It'd be easier to count the boss themes in NieR: Automata that don't have an air of sadness to them. Of particular note are Grandma (Destruction), Emil (Despair), and Song of the Ancients (Atonement), more fast-paced, actionized versions of slower, more solemn/wistful themes from the original Nier that play during moments such as a grieving 9S losing his mind after having to fight hostile copies of 2B, a battle against against Emil's clones, who've been driven to insanity and nihilism after thousands of years of living, and Devola and Popola's Heroic Sacrifice to buy 9S time to hack the entrance to the Tower.
  • Nioh: Against The White Tiger Ishida Mitsunari, both "heroes" in their respects who have fallen. Especially appropriate for the Ogress, the quiet rage and grief of a mother spurned and bereaved permeates the fantastic stringwork.
  • Nuclear Throne has the final boss first form theme. The second form has a snippet of the main theme instead.
  • In Octopath Traveler, the first fight with Simeon in Primrose's Chapter 4 is tragic and solemn, unlike every other battle theme.
  • The music for the Final Boss fight against Levanthan in Odin Sphere is usually the mellow, but somewhat uplifting world map theme, but if the player is on track to the bad ending, A Fate Accepted (which is normally reserved for sad/somber scenes) is used instead.
  • OFF has a few, like the Queen's theme, The Meaning of His Tears, and to a lesser extent Japhet's theme, Minuit A Fond La Caisse.
  • OMORI has "OMORI", the theme for the Final Battle: a Battle in the Center of the Mind between Sunny and Omori, with the latter attempting to get the former to kill himself.
  • The route to the C ending of Pandora's Tower replaces Zeron with Possessed Elena, the bright final battle location to a dark dungeon, and the powerful, intense final boss theme with an oppressing chanting. The fact that it is the only ending where Aeron and Elena worsen the war they were trying to run from makes it even more fitting.
  • Parasite Eve has Someone Calls Me... Someone Looks for Me, a very sad, somber music that plays when fighting the True Final Boss: the original Eve, possessing the body of Aya's late sister.
  • "Heartful Cry" in Persona 3 FES, a powerful yet melancholy piece that plays when you fight the other members of SEES.
    • The Reincarnation version of "I'll Face Myself" in Persona 4 Golden, a powerful but tragic piece that hammers home that Marie really doesn't want to fight you.
    • "Throw Away Your Mask" in Persona 5 Royal (and its instrumental version, "Keep Your Faith"), featuring a very beautiful piano riff at the beginning, really hammers in the fact that the True Final Boss of the game is not at all as malicious as the other Palace Rulers and the final boss of the original game, especially with lyrics like this:
      Don't sleep through dreams that can come true
      No more tears shall drop from your cheeks anymore
      You won't need to strive for greatness
      Believe in me that you don't need to suffer from anything
  • In Pyre, the Lone Minstrel and the Gate Guardian perform the duet Never To Return for each Liberation Rite.
  • Sad But True from Resident Evil 5, for the battle against mind-controlled Jill Valentine.
  • Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers has "Dialga's Fight to the Finish!", an epic yet melancholic theme with an underlying tragedy about it, played during the final battle of the main story. It's even more tragic when you realise that at this point, the Hero is very much aware of their fate regardless of whether or not they win the fight, but still fights to the very end to protect their partner regardless.
    • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has "Battle! Zero Lab", which plays during the battle against an AI version of Professor Sada/Turo and after the revelation that the original professor died from serious injuries before the events of the game. It is clear that neither the player character nor the AI Professor want to battle, but the time machine's defense systems override the AI professor's personality. The theme itself is a melancholy reprise of the music that plays during Tera Raids, both of which were composed by Toby Fox.
  • In Red Dead Redemption 2, the music that plays during the fight with Micah is aptly titled "Red Dead Redemption" after the final mission of Chapter 6 (which doubles as Playing the Heart Strings!), where we know that it's never gonna end well with Arthur fighting him off while his lungs are failing him due to tuberculosis.
  • Rise of Nations has a soundtrack that changes depending on recent events, whether it be peaceful economic building or engaging the enemy in battle. After the end of a losing battle, music is likely to turn melancholic, as with the touching Battle At Witch Creek.
  • In Risk of Rain, a number of tracks carry this tune, but the one that stands out the most is Coalescence, which plays in the last level while the player fends off hordes of enemies and Degraded Bosses amongst the Scenery Gorn of the UES Contact Light's crash. This sets up an atmosphere of finality and triumph, but also mourning and loss.
  • Romancing StellaVisor, a Fan Remake of Hoshi wo Miru Hito, breaks out the Nostalgic Music Box and somber violins for the boss fight against Marionette!Aine.
  • RuneScape holds the world record for the most original music tracks in a game (over 1300), but these are surprisingly uncommon.
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has Gentle Blade, which plays if you decide to forsake Kuro and fight against Emma.
  • Shadow of the Colossus has Demise of the Ritual. Words cannot describe how fitting it is, as it makes you reflect on your actions, and if they were worth the price.
  • Shin Megami Tensei:
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Splatoon 2 has "Tidal Rush", a Boss Remix medley of "Tide Goes Out" and "Bomb Rush Blush" played during the second phase of the final boss battle. Although much more rousing than many other examples here, it still has a clear emotional edge, since in-universe it's a duet sung between Callie and Marie as the latter tries to snap the former out of her brainwashing.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
  • Tales of Vesperia: A slow melancholic rendition of the game's theme song, Ring a Bell, plays during Yuri's battle with Estelle, during which she pleads with him to kill her to save himself and the others.
  • Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology: The track Sad Memory plays while battling Kanonno. Upon regaining memories and their true purpose of being in Terresia, they allow Gilgulim to continue devouring the world and end up battling the Descender.
  • Unsurprisingly, the Total War series has this in abundance. For example, in Medieval II: Total War, a battle the game thinks you won't win may be fought to "This is It," and the European defeat music is "Did They Have to Die Today?"
  • Toontown: Corporate Clash: When fighting Rainmaker, the battle music isn't as upbeat as the rest of the bosses. It's an unsettling and lonely piano/techno piece that incorporates the sound of water droplets.
  • Touhou has a wonderful soundtrack, with some character boss themes that definitely qualify as this.
  • Transistor; Sybil remembers Red's music. "In Circles", then "_n C_rcl_s" play during this fight.
  • The Final Boss theme in The Treehouse Man, Apotheosis, is a slow, heavily melancholy piece, as it's revealed your real opponent is an insane Dark Messiah, and how unnecessary the conflict he started had been.
  • Trials of Mana:
    • Innocent Sea:. It plays when fighting Heath the fallen cleric and Charlotte's adoptive big brother. After he was kidnapped by Goremand, the Masked Mage brainwashed him and forced him to fight Charlotte and co. After he's defeated, he reveals the Masked Mage is his father who was once famous mage whose study of dark arts in an ill-fated attempt to cure a young girl twisted his mind and body and transformed him into the Dark Mage.
    • Fable: Plays when fighting the Darkshine Knight with Duran in your party. He reveals that he's in fact Duran's long-lost father, the Golden Knight Loki, thought to have died while fighting the Dragon Lord. In reality, he was Left for Dead and then subsequently revived by the Dragon Lord to serve as his loyal servant.
  • Tyrian has Asteroid Dance, Part 1.
  • ULTRAKILL has the bombastic but mournful "Order", the theme for the tragic Minos Prime, complete with a Dark Reprise of the chapter's Leitmotif.
  • Undertale:
    • Toriel's battle theme that plays at the end of the first dungeon and is notably called "Heartache" on the OST. Rather appropriate, given that Toriel is trying to stop the player, who she grew to admire upon their meeting, from leaving the ruins and risk getting killed by Asgore. But the player needs to leave to progress the story, and they may even end up (accidentally) killing their friend instead of sparing Toriel several times until she gives in and lets you go.
    • Asgore's battle theme. It's not as sad-sounding as most examples on this list, but is a lot more serious than the silly and whimsical boss themes the player has gotten used to, with a subtle air of melancholy about it, and fits the far more solemn nature of the fight. This fits his Tragic Villain status and reluctance towards having to kill the child protagonist and fighting for his people, but he has to soldier on if that's what it takes for him to bring hope to his people from getting out to the underground that they retreated in.
    • Undyne's battle theme is normally bombastic, but if she is killed in a Neutral run the theme is replaced with the much more somber Lonely Piano Piece "An Ending". Even her normal battle theme is, like Asgore's, considerably more serious than most other boss themes, to go with Undyne being the first monster you meet in the game who legitimately wants you dead. And times ten worse in her battle theme in Genocide Run, with Battle Against a True Hero, which really shows how desperate she is enough to tap determination even that means that she will suffer into a gruesome meltdown all in the name of saving both monsterkind and humankind against the player's wanton mass murdering.
    • True Pacifist's final boss, Asriel Dreemurr, starts with the upbeat and hopeful "Hopes and Dreams", before switching to the more oppressive "Burn in Despair" when he unleashes his true power, then turns back to hope again with "SAVE the World" when you try to save your friends he absorbed to become a god of destruction. However, the battle ends with the triumphant but melancholic "His Theme". At this point, the boss realizes his desire to destroy you is nothing against your determination to save him and his own desire to reunite with his lost sibling, despite them being the reason behind his suffering.
  • Most bosses in Unworthy have battle themes that are more sad than anything else, to highlight that they used to be good people, who fell to their gravest sins. This is at its most obvious with Gaston's and Frayed Knight Dominic's two themes. Even Altus, The First Father, whose experiments led to the entire apocalypse, still has a sympathetic theme.
  • The track for the final battle in Utawarerumono is the slow and melancholy The End of Legends. A track fitting given that you are fighting to forever seal away the main hero in order to stop his evil half.
  • Void Memory has a very sad theme play during the late-game boss battle against the Nameless Investigator, who is a phanthom much like yourself, and is pretty much a Mirror Boss.
  • Wandersong has "The King Of Hearts" playing during the fight with the beast that's been pursuing you throughout Act 6. It sounds energetic on the surface, only for most of the instruments to go silent when the boss is stunned, bringing the melancholic heartstrings and the singing of the Bard to the forefront as they try to cure the King of Hearts of their corruption.
  • In Xenogears, Id's eerily calm theme plays during the fight against him, instead of the usual boss music. It gives the battle a sad, unsettling feeling that suits the abandoned city it takes place in, and becomes even sadder once you learn that he is Fei's Split Personality.
  • The third installment of the Xenosaga trilogy has the battle between KOS-MOS and T-ELOS. While their previous battles were accompanied by intense music, their final confrontation has the melancholic "Hepatica" playing.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles:
  • Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim has "Defend and Escape" while escorting Olha out of the Romun fleet.

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