Top Five Video Game Boss Battle Themes

As a side note, the recently announced Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD remake will have a new version of this song done with a full orchestra, and will finally bring the Enigmatic Man to audiences in the west.

2. Demise of the Ritual (Shadow of the Colossus)

This was the top of my list until extremely recently, and even then I will willingly admit it may only have been bumped off the top because the new leader is fresh in my mind.  It may well take back the top spot in due time. No amount of words will do this musical masterpiece justice. It’s slow, emotional…everything the player needs when facing down the final Colossus in this game. You’ve spent many hours murdering innocent creatures, many of whom are no threat to you and live peacefully. Your only excuse? Doing so will resurrect the woman you love. Going into the final battle, your horse (your only companion for the whole game) has fallen, the girl you’re trying to save is still seemingly dead and in the hands of a demon, and fifteen beuatiful and majestic creatures lie dead by your hands. As thunder claps over your head, and you stare down the fortress like Colossus that is the game’s final boss, this music begins to play.

Go play the game. Like I said, no words can do it justice.

1. Dismiss (Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep)

I tried so very, very hard not to list two Kingdom Hearts music pieces on this list. Even though they’re two separate games, it felt like cheating. I just cannot help it, and if I hadn’t limited myself in such a manner, every part of this list excepting Demise of the Ritual would have been Kingdom Hearts music. Dismiss plays during the final confrontation with Xehanort, the primary antagonist of the entire Kingdom hearts series. He’s possessed the body of one of your friends, has left the other in a coma and murdered your master. Not to mention, he destroyed your world and seeks the destruction of the known universe because of a perceived imbalance between light and dark. This energetic piece of music mixes in some themes easily recognised to Kingdom Hearts fans. The theme which is typical of battles against Xehanort (Destati, which also serves as a kind of overall theme for the series), combined with the musical theme for BBS itself, make for an incredibly powerful piece of music for an incredibly powerful foe. The violin, choir and piano all come together to make this what is in my opinion the finest pieces of music in the Kingdom Hearts series, as well as in my entire video game music library.

It is so perfectly suited to the enemy you’re facing, so brilliantly brings together numerous motifs from across the series, and so exquisitely backs up the fight taking place. If this music, or something like it, doesn’t play during the ultimate battle against Xehanort at the end of Kingdom Hearts, I will be sorely disappointed.