Best of the Best: Favorite music by category

[Lord Chainsaw]

I'm trying to cover as many different aspects of game music that I can.

List your favorite game track by category. The categories are:

1) Best Title Theme

- I got to give this one to the original Wizards & Warriors. It's still my favorite title theme to this day.

2) Best Intro Theme

- A lot of games have great intro themes. I'm talking about the ones that play when you don't press start, or the one that comes up as the game begins. I find myself choosing the Ninja Gaiden 2 intro theme to be my favorite of the bunch.

3) Best Level Music

- I really had to think hard about this one. There's just so many great level tracks out there. With VERY much reluctancy, I give my vote to Lower Norfair from Super Metroid.

Honorable mentions

(Super Castlevania IV) Clocktower
(Ninja Gaiden) Nails of Lukifell


4) Best Character Theme:

- I gotta go with Castlevania yet again. Terra's theme comes close, but nothing compares to the Theme of Simon Belmont.

5) Best Town Theme:

- Not a lot of towns in video games are known for their themes. Most of them are pretty bland. Breath of Fire 2 is quite an offender in that sense, however it does actually have my favorite town music.

(Breath of Fire 2) The Grand Church Theme - Decadance of God

6) Best Villain Theme:

- My mind is drawing a blank on villain themes right now. I'm sure there are some better ones out there, but for now the best I can think of is Thorn and Zorn's theme.

(Final Fantasy IX) Thorn and Zorn - Jesters of the Moon

7) Best Game Over Track

- They really aren't songs more then they are just catchy jingles. I guess this could apply to either tracks that play when you lose a life or tracks that play at the game over screen. Either way, I choose the Castlevania 2 Game Over track.

8) Best Boss Theme

- My favorite boss track by far is the fight with Skorne in Gauntlet Dark Legacy. I also like the Boomerang Flash battle from Wild Arms, but that is a distant second.

(Gauntlet Dark Legacy) Skorne Battle

Honorable mentions:

(Wild ARMs) Boomerang Flash Battle

9) Best Final Dungeon Theme

- This one was a no-brainer for me. I loved Doom Castle from Mystic Quest so much. I've yet to see a final dungeon track as good.

And lastly...

10) Best Final Boss Track

- The music is the greatest part of the final battle. This category had the most of my favorites. I was forced to choose the K. Rool battle from Donkey Kong Country, although I have many favorites.

(Donkey Kong Country) King K. Rool - Gangplank Galleon

Honorable Mentions:

(Final Fantasy VI) Dancing Mad
(Final Fantasy VII) One Winged Angel
(Lufia 2) Sinistral Battle, Battle with Daos

Once again, the categories are:

1) Best Title
2) Best Intro
3) Best Level
4) Best Character
5) Best Town
6) Best Villain
7) Best Game Over
8) Best Boss
9) Best Final Dungeon
10) Best Final Boss

Post your favorite track for as many categories as you can. Try to provide a link to the track if you can. If you can't then that's okay too. I'm just curious to see as to what everyone's favorite track from each of those categories will be.

EDIT: Links didn't work. Oh well...

[Silent Warrior]

1: I don't understand what this title-theme is supposed to be... but the only title-theme as such I'm sure I've heard is Icewind Dale, a game commanding great respect for its music.
Verdict: Icewind Dale.

2: Hm... I don't suppose FF8 counts? The REALLY intense FMV with Squall and Seifer exchanging whacks with their gunblades? IMO, THAT's a proper intro. ... Oooooooh, this is a tough category...
Verdict: Xenosaga pt. 1!
Honourable mentions: Freespace 1&2, Independence War (1), Grim Fandango, Planescape Torment.

3: I don't believe I play games where "level-music" appears, as such (well, NOT ANYMORE, and I was too young back then to recall the music clearly), so I guess RPGs' area-music would have to be sifted through here. Said and done.
Verdict: Planescape Torment - Outside Fortress of Regret (ya gotta be there to believe it).

4: Auron's theme was A-OK, as was Terra's... Hm... THE nightmare-category.
Verdict: Terra's theme: FF6.
Honourable mentions: Auron's theme: FFX, Glottis' theme: Grim Fandango.

5: I've heard no such themes that I like. No verdict.

6: CLEAN AND EASY VERDICT HERE!
Verdict: Sephiroth: FF7.

7: When I'm game over, this isn't the sort of thing I concentrate on. Either way, such small pieces, as they often seem to be, don't earn much respect from me. No verdict.

8: I actually have a soft spot for Seymour-battle here (Seymour Omnis), though OWA simply HAS to win. Period! ... Oh, wait, that's farther down! :D ... Oh yeah! *Remembers another one.*
Verdict: Galm: Shining Force 3, Scenario 3.
Honourable mention: Seymour battle [Omnis]: FFX.

9: Insta-verdict: Shining Force 3, Scenario 1.

10: Another insta-verdict: One-Winged Angel: FF7.

-----------------

Oy, we need a few more categories here! Suggestions:
Best end credits (Currently a tie between FF8 and Xenosaga pt. 1)
Best ambient (Terminus is actually VERY good here, as are a couple of other games - in fact, I'll elevate Terminus here, as it won't be elevated in many other areas on these forums :) )
Best cutscene (Xenosaga 0wnz j00!)
Best instrumentation/arrangement in relation to the rest of the game (Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos)

[Trumpet Thief]

Rubedo:

Best Title theme- Xenosaga

Best Intro theme- Xenosaga

Best level Music- Xenosaga- Proto Merkabah

Best character theme- Shadow's theme

Best Town theme- Narhse

Albedo:

Best Villan theme- Hm... this will be a toughie... oh, I know! Albedo!

Rubedo:

Best Game over- Xenosaga

Best Boss theme- FFVIII- Legendary theme

Best Final Dungeon- Xenosaga- Proto Merkabah

Best Final Boss theme- Last Battle- Xenosaga

[Del Murder]

1) Best Title
Donkey Kong Country 2.
Runners up: Wizards and Warriors, FFIX.

2) Best Intro
Chrono Cross.
Runner up: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

3) Best Level
Tetris A-Type. It probably goes here.
Runners up: Temple of Ancients (FFVII), Clock Tower (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night).

4) Best Character
Beatrix from FFIX.
Runners up: Too many. Shadow (FFVI), Magus (CT), Frog (CT), Auron (FFX), Aramant (FFIX), Cid (FFVII), Glenn (CC).

5) Best Town
Gold Saucer, FFVII.
Runners up: Wutai (FFVII), Esthar (FFVIII), Black Mage Village (FFIX), Figaro (FFVI), Doma (FFVI).

6) Best Villain
Globez, FFIV.
Runners up: Kuja (FFIX), Sephiroth (FFVII).

7) Best Game Over
Tough, so I'll go with the death music in Donkey Kong, NES.
Runner up: Super Mario Bros., NES.

8) Best Boss
FFVIII. Made all that time drawing tolerable.
Runner up: FFVII Jenova battle.

9) Best Final Dungeon
FFIV.
Runner up: FFVIII.

10) Best Final Boss
Sephiroth (One Winged Angel), FFVII.
Runner up: Kefka, FFVI.

[Lord Chainsaw]

I completely forgot about how cool the clocktower theme from Symphony of the Night was. It seems all Castlevania clocktower themes kick ass these days. I've heard the one from Aria of Sorrow and I have to say I like that one too.

I believe that there were two clocktowers in Castlevania 3. One was the second level, and the other was the final level. I probably would have enjoyed the music in the final stage more if I didn't have to replay it so many times since I kept losing to Dracula.

[SeeDRankLou]

(By best title do you mean the song playing when you turn the game on?)
Best Title - Final Fantasy X-2
Runner up - Super Smash Bros. Melee

Best Intro - Final Fantasy VIII
Runner up - Ico

Best Level - Mt. Gagazet (Final Fantasy X)
Runner up - The Spirit Temple (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

Best Character - Yuna (Final Fantasy X)
Runner up - Cid (Final Fantasy VII)

Best Town - Esthar (Final Fantasy VIII)
Runner up - Clock Town (Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)

Best Villain - Kuja (Final Fantasy IX)
Runner up - Kefka (Final Fantasy VI)

Best Game Over - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Runner up - Final Fantasy VIII

Best Boss - Odwala (Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)
Runner up - Yunalesca (Final Fantasy X)

Best Final Dungeon - Final Fantasy VIII
Runner up - Kingdom Hearts

Best Final Boss - Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)
Runner up - Skeith (.hack/INFECTION)

[Mo-Nercy]

1) Best Title
Need For Speed Underground. Get Low.

2) Best Intro
Definately Liberi Fatali of FF8. The epic battle between Seifer and Squall. That's GOLD!

3) Best Level
I'll give this to Pandemonium in FF9.

4) Best Character
Beatrix. FFIX. I haven't heard it in a while but I remember it being very honourable-sounding and extremely happy. Kinda suited Beatrix.

5) Best Town
Black Mage Village. FFIX. That's one happy village music score.

6) Best Villain
Dunno if this counts but Seifer had a pretty nice upbeat theme.

7) Best Game Over
Battle Arena Toshinden 3. I looked forward to dying. Even though it was near impossible for such an easy game.

8) Best Boss
Dauragon's battle theme. You can barely hear it over the sound of your characters dying but it's there and it's all good.

9) Best Final Dungeon
Ultimecia's Castle in FF8 did it for me. The sudden change in atmospheres. The wonky room. The organ. The huge chains in the front yard. Clocktower. It's got it all.

10) Best Final Boss
Kuja's Dark Messenger. One Winged Angel and Dancing Mad get boring after you here them too much.

[-N-]

Well, most of the music I recognize is FF-based, so my responses will be limited.

1) Best Title - I've never really paid attention to Title music... :(
2) Best Intro - Metal Gear Solid 2
This piece is great stand-alone as well as when it accompanies the opening scene. It's really well done.
Runners up: FFX, To Zanarkand, FFVI - Opening Theme, FFVII - Opening / Bombing Mission - very dependent on the scene, but enhances the scenes it accompanies very well. FFVIII is also really close, because it's good as stand-alone as well as great accompanying the scene. Damn, maybe I should have picked FFVIII instead...
3) Best Level - Let's face it, Super Mario Brothers has the catchiest level themes ever. I'll go with the Underground theme here.
4) Best Character - Auron's Theme, FFX
Difficult choice, but mostly because I adore Auron as a character. It was this or Kefka's Theme from FFVI.
5) Best Town - Can the Dream Zanarkand theme in the beginning of FFX count? That was catchy as hell.
6) Best Villain - Oh yay! Now I can add Kefka's Theme here!
Sephiroth's Theme from FFVII was a close second.
7) Best Game Over - FFVII, mostly because my computer plays that when a program crashes. :p
8) Best Boss - Oooh, either FFVI, FFVII, FFIX, or FFX here. I haven't included anything from FFIX yet, and their boss fight is really good, and it's all orchestral too, so I'll go with that here.
9) Best Final Dungeon - Another tough split here - Lunar Castle, FFIV (really the Red Wings theme), Deus, XG, or Kefka's Tower, FFVI. Really cool tunes - I'm going to have to choose Kefka's Tower over Deus, because it's better as a standalone piece as well as plays throughout the dungeon, while at times the Deus music cuts out in XG.
10) Best Final Boss - Oooh, this is so tough. FFVII - One Winged Angel, FFVI - Dancing Mad, or Xenogears - Awakening. I'm going to have to go with FFVII here.

In conclusion:
1. ?
2. MGS2/FFVIII
3. SMB
4. Auron, FFX
5. Dream Zanarkand, FFX
6. Kefka, FFVI
7. FFVII
8. FFIX
9. FFVI
10. FFVII

I suggest an extra "run" category - stuff like MGS's "Escape!" and FFX's "Run!" and FFVII's "Hurry" and "Hurry Faster".