Top Ten Boss Battle Themes (Redux)

Note: This article contains spoilers.

Back in 2014, we made an article called “Top Ten Boss Battle Themes” in collaboration with a third party. As the years and the 1000 review milestone went by, we’ve looked back on this list and wondered how we could improve it with tracks that we’ve come across since then. We decided then to write up a new list while still taking our previous criteria into account:

• Must be from a boss fight (includes licensed music)
• Must be memorable
• Only one song per game

So, without further ado, here’s our revised list of boss battle themes (in no particular order).

Lewis Legend Theme (Lollipop Chainsaw)

Boss: Lewis Legend

Composer: Jimmy Urine

Although he’s really the penultimate boss in the game, Lewis Legend is easily the most fun due to his “tough guy” personality and engaging multi-stage battle featuring his guitar gun and transforming motorcycle, “Ellyphant”. Just like Lewis, the battle theme hits hard, with a Rock N’ Roll style that demonstrates the strengths of the genre while still looping very nicely. It fits the stage perfectly and has managed to stand the test of time as a memorable instrumental.

Silver Bullet (Devil May Cry 5)

Boss: Vergil

Composer: Kota Suzuki

Devil May Cry 5’s soundtrack suits the action-oriented gameplay and horror atmosphere, with tracks that emphasize a different aspect of the game’s world and narrative. “Silver Bullet” not only captures the climactic atmosphere of fighting Vergil, the game’s final boss, but, as a remix of “Devil Trigger”, also represents his familial connection to Nero. Since the game also fills in more of the combat music as your style ranking goes up, it feels cathartic to do well enough against Vergil to clearly hear all of the vocals and instrumentation. The full song as it’s presented on the CD is very fun to listen to, but hearing it in the original context leaves quite an impact.

Gladiator Boss (Doom Eternal)

Boss: Gladiator

Composer: Mick Gordon

Doom Eternal is one of the most metal games ever made and has a soundtrack to match. While each of the boss themes match the intensity of the fights, the one that stands out the most is “Gladiator Boss”. As you fight the Gladiator in an interstellar arena, the music immediately hits you, doing away with any sense of buildup to keep you energized throughout. The signature feature of this track, however, is hearing a choir chant “Kar En Tuk”, which translates to “Rip and Tear”, simulating an audience engaged in spectating the ensuing bloodbath. This level of detail in such a heavy track is truly impressive and showcases Mick Gordon’s unique talents.

It Has to Be This Way (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)

Boss: Senator Armstrong

Composer: Jamie Christopherson

After fighting his way through a military base and fending off the titanic Metal Gear EXCELSUS, Raiden comes face-to-face with Senator Armstrong in a one-on-one close quarters fight. The theme that plays underneath it all, “It Has to Be This Way”, manages to have instrumentation that’s energetic and yet sorrowful. This fits the tone of the lyrics, which read like an apology; both of them realize that they share similar goals and philosophies, but this mutual understanding is also what forces them to fight to the death. Like the rest of the soundtrack, the strength of this composition is what helps it stand on its own and remain completely listenable outside of its original context.

Confronting Myself (Celeste)

Boss: Badeline/Part of You

Composer: Lena Raine

Celeste is a brilliant game in terms of gameplay and storytelling, but the soundtrack helps tie the themes together, even if the player doesn’t realize it. During a climactic boss battle, Madeline confronts Badeline, who represents her deepest insecurities. The brilliant part of this track, however, is how it musically manifests this confrontation. Among the many synth sounds used to create the track, two of them are the voices of the two characters themselves, as though they’re speaking to each other during the song. During the latter half of the song, the music also glitches out at an increasing frequency, symbolizing Badeline’s loss of power. Only Lena Raine, the composer, could create a boss track with so much to unpack.

MEGALOVANIA (Undertale)

Boss: Sans

Composer: Toby Fox

Of all the songs from Undertale, the most immediately recognizable is “MEGALOVANIA”, which plays during the fight with Sans on the Genocide route of the game. While I’m fully aware that this track has been meme’d to death by the internet, we still consider it fantastic in its own right. The combination of guitar, drums and piano plays at a tempo that encapsulates the weight of the fight, both in terms of Sans’ power level and his role as the only being preventing you from destroying the world with your actions. With the strength of its composition, we’d say that its popularity is completely earned, as is its place on this list.

Rivers in the Desert (Persona 5)

Boss: Masayoshi Shido

Composer: Shoji Meguro

As Persona 5 reaches its climax, the Phantom Thieves’ goal is seemingly within reach as they confront Masayoshi Shido, a powerful politician in charge of a grand conspiracy secretly controlling Tokyo. Like other battle themes in the game, “Rivers in the Desert” eschews the soundtrack’s acid jazz tone in favor of a heavier rock sound. However, the tempo also lines up well with the speed of the gameplay, fast and energetic, yet slow and methodical. Additionally, this track features metaphorical lyrics that tie in with the main themes of game and the journey that the Phantom Thieves took, both individually and as a team, to get to this point. This particular combination of elements makes for a song that continues to stick with us and is the reason we chose this over the game’s actual final boss theme.

Darkness of the Unknown (Kingdom Hearts II)

Boss: Xemnas (2nd Fight)

Composer: Yoko Shimomura

Throughout the Kingdom Hearts series, composer Yoko Shimomura has shown her ability to create memorable music, especially when incorporating multiple pianos and violins. One of her best pieces, “Darkness of the Unknown”, evolves not only with the different phases of the fight against Xemnas, but also the emotion and scale. It starts out quick and chaotic to go with the sheer scale of fighting Xemnas in his Armored and Dragon forms a second time, but then slows down once he enters his Final form. At this point, the music uses fewer instruments and feels more somber, matching the more personal nature of the fight and highlighting both the visual theme of Nothingness and Xemnas’ tragic nature. Even with stronger villains later on with more intense themes, there aren’t many quite like this one.

Demise of the Ritual (Shadow of the Colossus)

Boss: Malus/The Sixteenth Colossus

Composer: Kow Otani

By the time Wander fights the sixteenth Colossus, nicknamed Malus, his motives have come into question. Is he really doing the right thing by killing the Colossi? Are they truly malicious, or are they actually innocent? “Demise of the Ritual” captures these feelings in its melancholic instrumentation, which also fits the moody imagery of the rainy battlefield. Out of all the Colossi themes, this one manages to express the feelings of not just the moment, but the entire game perfectly and without words.

One-Winged Angel – Rebirth (Final Fantasy VII Remake)

Boss: Sephiroth

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

(Note: Sephiroth is not actually in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

[Edit: He is now.]

No matter how many times “One-Winged Angel” is reinterpreted, it still sells the power of Sephiroth, one of Final Fantasy’s most iconic villains. “One-Winged Angel – Rebirth” is no exception, capping off Final Fantasy VII Remake with a bang as perhaps the best version of the song yet. From start to finish, the track has a very foreboding and menacing atmosphere thanks to the increased tempo of the orchestration and the expert timing of the vocals. As a tie-in to both the “Rebirth” and “Remake” subtitles, this version also incorporates elements from previous incarnations, musically hinting that this is indeed the same Sephiroth seen throughout Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. At about the halfway point, for instance, it incorporates the instrumentation from Advent: One-Winged Angel, which kicks in around the same time that Sephiroth sprouts his iconic black wing from the Advent Children film. There’s no telling where FFVII Remake will go, but, like Sephiroth, this track may come back even stronger.