
Liz, Goblin, Part-Time Shark, VTuber, retired speedrunner, author, GDQ staff, Sega fan, "Yuri Sommelier", Walking Encyclopedia of All Things Useless, Twitch partner, general menace. Says "Murr" a lot. This is not a place of honor, views my own, etc. Avatar art by me.
Absolutely never stops being a banger of a track.
specifically the transition of Octopath Traveler's For Treasure ~ Decisive Battle 2 from the preamble into the battle theme is still just incredible
Reach For The Moon, Immortal Smoke is always so cool, even though i have never been able to get to this battle in person. it feels surprisingly bright? i love touhou...
and then there's I'll Never Falter from the last Get In The Car Loser DLC... the haunting vocals and the HEY, HEY chorus hits, and how it's wrapped up in a highly emotional boss fight, it just rules
Starting new but spoilery is the stage nine boss theme of 30xx. Easily the best track in a game full of bangers.
https://youtu.be/ADGrFQD-n-g
Going to my old star ocean school, it's the SO3 remix of Confidence in the Domination for a very late game bonus boss. It's also the Valkyrie Profile main boss theme.
https://youtu.be/_ssj3E_A7R0
every battle theme in lufia 2 slaps but I think its regular boss theme is often unfairly overshadowed by its super boss theme: https://youtu.be/tbBg5Mb0avI
also I wouldn't be doing my duty as a zeroranger fan if I didn't bring up like all of its boss themes lol, but especially Heavy Heart and For Your Security (and Sky XXXX Days, and...)
this one is borderline anxiety-inducing & i am never getting over that saxophone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=103F1YbbSv0
Always need to bring up this perfection
https://youtu.be/gmh4Qs20DZA
https://youtu.be/gmh4Qs20DZA classic yoko shimomura banger (someone else just posted this)
https://youtu.be/yZUbP8vZZrs lots of good battle tracks in SMT5 but this is the one that's stuck with me the most
https://youtu.be/xOeb7StJlRc this is a "Unique Monster" battle song but those are kinda like bosses and this song kicks ass
https://youtu.be/D8dDZ6S__70 here's a fun FFXIV song from savage raiding. (Pandaemonium 8 savage)
I can think of quite a few, honestly; I'll start with Tor, the final battle track from Iji ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86IxmklUgEM ), an excellent theme for a final decisive battle
There's Lady Luctopus from Psychonauts 2 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lfM-d5j86I ), a jazzy theme for the gambling based first boss
Jet Black from Iconoclasts ( https://konjak.bandcamp.com/track/jet-black-vs-black ) has a good mix of ominous and somber parts that fits Black's character nicely
Disclaimer, I haven't played Skeleton Boomerang so I don't know the full context to Calcium Defiency ( https://plustek.bandcamp.com/track/calcium-deficiency-true-final-boss ) but it's another great mix of tense, triumphant, and sad pieces arranging earlier themes from the game
Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass has Gut Punch ( https://kaseyozymy.bandcamp.com/track/gut-punch ), a chaotic and dramatic metal-inspired piece that serves as the unique battle music for one of the key bosses
Lenna's Inception has The Usurper ( https://joelbaylis.bandcamp.com/track/the-usurper-32-bit ), its own final battle theme rearranging the main theme and standard battle themes into a climactic track
And I'll cut myself off with Cassette Beast's Same Old Story ( https://joelbaylis.bandcamp.com/track/same-old-story ), the battle theme used by it's Archangel bosses, and which doubles as the theme used in trailers to make it one of the game's main themes overall
FatalizeFrom Tales of Symphonia. Shows up maybe once or twice, but its a great tune.
Formidable Foe from the Raidou Kuzunoha SMT games. It's a shame this one doesnt show up as often in #2 as it does in game #1.
spoiler warning for the FFXIV Pandæmonium raid series. The music for all of the raids is incredibly good, but this is by far my favorite: https://youtu.be/I4O5CVvwgFI
"Max Heartbeat Distortion", the final boss track from FX Unit Yuki (a recent homebrew game for the PC Engine and Dreamcast): https://garbledwaves.bandcamp.com/track/mhd-max-heartbeat-distortion
The first minute is what you'd expect from a boss track, but I live for the chords that come in around 1:10
the Chicory OST by Lena Raine has amazing boss tracks, and they stand out more by being such a contrast with how comfy the rest of the game is
When I'm playing ALttP Randomizer with my Chicory music pack and Probably Ancient Evil comes on, often people in my chat are like holy shit how is this suddenly going so hard
though my favorite boss track from it would be the final one, Do the Impossible
I could post boss themes from FFXIV until the sun comes up. There's so much musical range in that game (big spoilers, obviously, if you haven't played and intend to someday):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG8op2o8omQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njYgggITz2g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_-bGLLhn0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEZVfZmMFDQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nih4x5hv89Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORaWo4RMcjc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoHo_Sju-X0
Yakuza 0 has some absolute bangers, notably [redacted]'s theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApreCAQiZ4w
Dicey Dungeons has some fun ones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVPEgJxzjpc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb-HswVr0bs
Speaking of Chipzel, I also love the boss theme from Interstellaria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12mwOpTTWQw
Guilty Gear Strive's arcade mode boss theme goes so hard that for a while I just assumed it was Nagoryuki's personal theme (it's not—he gets two songs, lucky fellow):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBZJbDctJzo
For a more obscure pick, here's the boss theme from Deep Fear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PApmd1wx84Y
Here's some nineties shmup goodness—one of the boss themes from Einhander:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luwi50FwRlg
I've also gone wild for the old Armored Core OSTs lately... but since I haven't actually played more than the first few missions of AC1, I can't tell which tracks are boss themes. Oh well!
That first linked ffxiv track with out of game context makes it a massive tearjerker, GOD IT'S SO GOOD
The main one that comes to mind for me is God Shattering Star from Fire Emblem Three Houses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WMYL6HuUoI
For me it's Hiroki Kikuta's work on Secret of Mana, Danger is iconic in just how cacophonous it is in the outset before it rushes into a badass Mana Theme leitmotif before transitioning into something lighter before looping back to the opening.
By far, the Mana Beast final boss is more focused and feels like an epic battle, but it's the normal boss music that really got memorable by sheer repetition initially and then later the complexity it has as I studied it more.
AXE BURSTS THROUGH WALL DID SOMEONE SAY BOSS THEMES
Okay, off the top of my head! I desperately wish Rise of the Third Power's soundtrack had a higher quality upload literally anywhere, because I'm a sucker for violins enhanced violence
Also a huge fan of Loop Hero's boss themes, but Cosmic Temperance is my favorite from it
From the megamans, there's Cannon Ball from MMZ3, Battle Spirit from Battle Network 2, the very creatively titled Boss Battle! from Battle Network - there's SO MANY good ones from Battle Network! -, Rockman & Forte's boss theme, and while I'm on the megamans, I'm gonna cheat and include this track from the 30XX soundtrack.
Honorable mentions go to C'thulhu Saves the World's final boss theme which goes shockingly hard for a comedy shitpost game, Ara Fell's Moonstone Dungeon Boss theme, Chroma Squad's second boss fight theme, and Bahamut Lagoon's boss theme despite the fact that you only ever hear about 10 seconds of it at a time.
The Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha boss themes go so so hard
https://youtu.be/fPOS3FxP0GM
https://youtu.be/FoXX5FZatGg
Special shoutout the the Bravely Default final boss theme because a final boss theme that works in the leitmotif of the 4 main characters at the climax is peak
https://youtu.be/pRFgviKp5hA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPbJhuAqDzk Serious Sam 3's Boss Fight Strings is one I keep going back to regularly
Everyone on this website has good taste because almost all the themes I want to post are here!
"I'll post some Megaten... oh, there's four Megaten songs"
"What about Chicory? Oops, already there"
"Dicey Dungeons? ...taken!"
"Cassette Beasts has good music! ...wait, the OP replied with Cassette Beasts"
That being said, Everhood is kind of cheating since it's a boss-rush adventure game with rhythm elements in the fights (so the songs have to be good), but some of the encounter songs in that game go super hard. Examples:
Demondelic Inc.
Why Oh You Are LOVE
The Final Battle (disclaimer: not actually anywhere near the final battle)
Definitely one worth checking out
Also on the topic of Megaten music I would be remiss not to mention Fierce Battle which is pretty much "the video games are corrupting our children" distilled into song form. The weird distorted shouting is actual lyrics and they're unbelievably metal. Drink of the wine of the wrath of God!
I think, as far as boss themes go, Metroid Prime is one of most stand out to me.
Oh, this is the kind of stuff I live for. Let me dig through my collection...
MO: Astray is a fantastic hidden gem. Sadly, it's so hidden that OST uploads online are sort of... fragmented? Maybe you'll have better luck, but if you can handle some SFX + gameplay going on, maybe this Boss Rush video someone did will sell you on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WikTSMDHp-4
Solar Ash has an overall amazing OST I cannot recommend enough (such an amazing game), but it's first boss, Crater Ouroboros, has probably my favorite mix of the bunch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w8L_tLVvDE
Hollow Knight... well, you probably know Hollow Knight. The adaptive OST for the "postgame" boss rush arena is amazing, and is probably one of my favorite tracks in the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjBTtNU27Ec
Pikmin 3, and the Pikmin series as a whole, has some fantastic adaptive soundtracks. The Titan Dweevil, the Man-At-Legs... since I can't send you, like, all of them, instead I'm liking a funky and cute little video on how the adaptive boss music of Pikmin 3 works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaBJ2C7Am6E
Patapon... oh man, Patapon. A marvelous rhythm-game trilogy. Still, probably the final boss of the first game, Gorl/Goruru, has one of the most intense themes of the whole game (excluding it's rock-and-roll remix in Patapon 3). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q647xGW2HjQ
... I'd send tons and tons more, as you've hit me right in the hyperfixation, but here's a nice-sounding 5 so I don't, like, bury you in recommendations. I have a whole collection of bangers I listen to on the regular, so... if you ever crave more, I'm happy to oblige!
Very hyped for Ratatan, the spiritual successor, what with the original composer returning and all! :D
Dire Miralis, the last LAST hunt of Monster Hunter 3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDC_NYX4NNU
It took me A MONTH to beat this fucker solo when I was still learning the game, also shoutout to the misheard lyric "Hope is bleeding" because it's extremely accurate!
Also Dancing Mad is an inevitable entry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSEI7tkA0_k
Ys 6 MIGHTY OBSTACLE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DfzxdyfRO4
And last one i'll drop here, bldkgt from Arknights. Seriously, look up this goddamm TOWER DEFENSE gacha's soundtrack, it's phenomenal https://youtu.be/IuC4oAzJqWw?si=iCOZ67ARE_aXsep6