Top 5 "WTF?" Boss Themes

 

A good boss theme can be the highlight of any game soundtrack. Check out Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid and almost every Mega Man game if you need examples. But sometimes they stick out for reasons other than being just plain awesome—although that certainly doesn't hurt. What I'm looking at here is a handful of boss themes that are, for one reason or another, kind of weird. Boss themes that came right the hell out of nowhere. Here are my top five picks for "WTF?" boss themes.

 

 

5. Optimism, Chrono Cross

 

Ah, Solt and Peppor, you lovable morons. The recurring boss encounter duo had one of the silliest themes in Chrono Cross, and yes, it was used frequently as their boss theme. Doesn’t really fit, does it? I guess that’ll happen with comic relief characters who most often serve as tutorials. Most of the encounters with Solt and Peppor are freebies, so unless the actual boss theme starts playing, have fun facerolling to this silly number.

 

 

4. Boss Music (JP Release), Sonic CD

 

Here’s a weird one. What’s going on with it? Not that Sonic CD had a poor boss theme, but does this sound particularly, well, boss-like to anyone? It almost sounds like it belongs in a special stage. And the special stage theme sounds more tense, like it belongs in a boss stage! Did they switch the tracks by mistake and decide to keep it? …Because I’m totally OK with that.

 

 

3. Otherworld, Final Fantasy X

 

Not that I’m complaining, but what the hell was this doing in a Final Fantasy game? And why didn’t Jecht throw up the horns during the battle? Dude is frickin’ metal. Otherworld is very much an acquired taste—I like it, but that seems to be an uncommon opinion—but the fact that it was in one of the best boss fights in the game makes it even more memorable.

 

 

2. Waltz of the Flowers, BioShock

 

Nobody ever said music not written specifically for games wasn’t allowed. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is great. The inclusion of his work in BioShock, doubly so. Waltz of the Flowers was wildly incongruous with what was happening while it played, but that somehow made it work. Killing a horde of Splicers to the Romantic composer’s (in my opinion) best work felt great. Somehow, the serene piece fits the scene much better than would a more intense song (Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, for instance). It’s weird, and it doesn't fit at all—and it's all the better for it.

 

 

1. Bronze Jam, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

 

Finally, we arrive at one of the all-around coolest songs from WoW. While most of the game’s score is the orchestral fare you’ve come to expect from fantasy-adventure (unless you’re unfortunate enough to enjoy A Knight’s Tale), Bronjahm's boss theme breaks out the wild jazz fusion and pays homage to the late James Brown. Hell, the entire encounter is littered with references to the Godfather of Soul. Item drop names, Bronjahm's voice and mannerisms and even his title (The Godfather of Souls)! Blizzard should be commended for asking the composers to do something different—and to use so much non-traditional instrumentation in the composition. What we got was WoW’s Crowning Music of Awesome. And for a game with so much great music, that’s a hell of an accomplishment.