by mento
Hey all. That Japanophiliac jackanape Hailinel couldn't do his final boss blog series this month (I can attest to how time-intensive a month-long daily blog series can get) so I've thrown together a composite of 30 final boss themes as a hopefully worthy substitute. We all need to celebrate our final boss fights somehow, consarnit.
I've tried to provide some context behind these tracks without including anything too spoilery, because I know how much the internet likes that, and although a list of 30 might necessitate a bit of padding here and there I've tried to represent a wide spectrum of styles and emotional tones. Each track is a testament to that respective game's unique personality, and that of its composer(s).
Because the current list system still doesn't allow you to embed links in individual entries, here's a handy YouTube playlist that you can all follow along with at home. It's just over 2 hours long, so have fun.
(One last thing: Make sure you don't look at the YouTube comments for these videos. Not because they have spoilers for the games they pertain to (they may well have) but because they're YouTube comments.)
Showing 1-10 of 30 items
I hear starting with a showstopper is the way to go. Persona 3's dramatic theme for its absurdly long final boss is a bona fide classic which I'm sure you've all heard before. And if not, why not? "I don't have time for a 120 hour long anime highschool JRPG"? Pfft, that's not an excuse.
Yoshitaka Hirota adds a lot of weird, dark, almost industrial touches to Shadow Hearts' various battle themes. Covenant's "The 3 Karma" is one of his best in the way it highlights the antagonist's desperate nihilism - it's filled with anger and sadness. You might also want to check out the other tracks from the same game (especially those for the Astaroth and Amon fights). Or hell, just play it: it's one of the greatest PS2 RPGs ever made, after all.
Deceitful Wings is an amazing track. That the remix by S.S.H. still blows it away is a testament to that fellow's skill at arrangements. It's no secret (or at least it shouldn't be) that every Gust RPG has a great soundtrack.
Lost Odyssey's "Howl of the Departed" is another track where the anger is palpable. To say Lost Odyssey is overly emotional is an understatement, but the game's overt melancholy is put to better use in the soundtrack than it is in the plot and dialogue.
This list is rather JRPG-heavy so as a concession I've made every fifth track the final boss theme from a decidedly non-RPG vidya. DKC's final boss fight is full of surprises; the first being the incongruously cheery theme as you start the level, deceiving you into believing it's another regular stage. It morphs into its true form around the same time King K. Rool's first crown toss hits one of the apes in the face.
The Shadowlord isn't technically the final boss, but just go along with it for now. Any excuse to promote NieR's fantastic soundtrack again. It's sad music, but as all Nier fans know that's pretty much par for the course as far as the boss fights with the "evil" shades are concerned.
The overwhelming theme of Grandia II's final boss fight is catharsis. The final foe is a rather negligible one in the grand scheme of things and the heroes are eager to bring their very long and arduous journey to a conclusive end. And holy shit, what a journey. Put a few weeks aside before you jump into this one.
The Wild ARMs soundtracks are all a little special. How often do you hear Ennio Morricone flourishes in JRPG music? I love the wind sounds in this too.
The key to Ys' consistent popularity is that the series fully embraces its Action RPG roots and never lets up: wall-to-wall excitement and frantic boss battles. Ancient Disputation is simply one of many bombastic tracks from Ys SEVEN.
Marx just kind of turns up at the start of Super Star's final segment Milky Way Wishes to tell Kirby where to go and then turns up again at the end just as suddenly to usurp a whole bunch of cosmic power. The fight's similar to "Kirby's Adventure"'s Dark Matter, just with this manic theme music.
