History Main / OrchestralBombing

* Later games in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series have embraced this trope for their final boss battles, using orchestral versions of the games' main themes. These include ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006''’s arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRe3h1iQ1Os His World]], ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''’s arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdDwqJiYO6c Endless Possibility]], and ''VideoGame/SonicColors''’ arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBna1sm6XhY Reach for the Stars]], all of which also [[AutobotsRockOut add electric guitars for good measure]]. While it's been noticeably absent for most ''Sonic'' final bosses post-Colors, this trope came back with a vengeance in the ''The Final Horizon'' update for ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', [[spoiler:with THE END's first phase blasting an intense orchestral rendition of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHPfd-tkAS4 I'm Here]].]]

* VideoGame/SpongebobSquarepantsBattleForBikiniBottom's FinalBoss music is this.
* Every single ''VideoGame/StarFox'' game. The original game and ''VideoGame/StarFox2'' distinguish between stages on planets (except for [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Venom]]) and stages in outer space with techno for the former and orchestra for the latter, but later games drop these contrasting styles.

* Later games in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series have embraced this trope for their final boss battles, using orchestral versions of the games' main themes. These include ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'''s arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRe3h1iQ1Os His World]], ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'''s arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdDwqJiYO6c Endless Possibility]], and ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' ' arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBna1sm6XhY Reach for the Stars]], all of which also [[AutobotsRockOut add electric guitars for good measure]].

** ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' does it in the ColdOpen of its ''very first episode'', as background to the Class 3a ApocalypseHow that sets up the rest of the series. OneWomanWail and OminousLatinChanting included.

* ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope]]'', based on the previous.
** Ditto for the battle themes in the rest of the series.
* Used pretty-much constantly in ''Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie''. With tons of OminousLatinChanting. More than justified, since it has pretty much an hour of nuclear explosion footage. I definitely heard Dies Ira, and I think I heard Die Valkyrie.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpo4PEiRH2E "God Shattering Star"]], one of the series' most bombastic final boss themes with thunderous orchestration and OminousLatinChanting for the Golden Deer route's final fight [[spoiler:against Nemesis]].

Nothing quite beats an orchestra for a battle, especially an [[HighAltitudeBattle aerial one]].

It may involve OminousLatinChanting or AutobotsRockOut. Or both.

* Much of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'''s soundtrack is quiet and understated to fit the theme of you wandering a huge, mostly empty world all on your own. Whenever you're in combat (particularly with a boss monster), trying to shut down a [[HumongousMecha Divine Beast]], or ''especially'' storming [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Hyrule Castle]], things get much more rousing.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' had its space battle episode (the ShoutOut to ''Anime/UchuuSenkanYamato'') employ this trope with Shostakovich's ''Leningrad Symphony''. Fittingly, the "training" course that they went through was set to the almost-comical, waddling march at the end of the first movement.
* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD's'' soundtrack is surprisingly full of this. Highlights include Vali Lucifer's leitmotif [[https://youtu.be/y72E0MOConk "Saikyou no Sonzai"]] as well as some of Issei's heroic themes such as [[https://youtu.be/PM0jE4M5i1g "Ishi"]], [[https://youtu.be/mVgzFdgkUjk "D No Ishi"]], and [[https://youtu.be/l6gOa9SivDY "Shouri"]].

* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'' pumps out a booming orchestral score often mixed with OminousLatinChanting to give it an unbelievable powerful presence. This got especially true in the third season. Being hammered out by the same guy who did the ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' soundtrack, this is to be expected.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' loves this trope, so much so that it has fell victim to MemeticMutation: "[stuff happens] [[WebAnimation/YouTubePoop while Hideaki Anno plays]] [[SoundtrackDissonance unfitting music]]". Two examples are Shinji vs. [[spoiler:Kaworu]] (''Ode to Joy'') and Asuka vs. [[spoiler:MP Evas]] (Bach - ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkY1_TpucLA II Air]]'').

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has "One They Fear" and "Watch The Skies", which plays every time a dragon shows up. The former in particular is an insanely epic reworking of the main Elder Scrolls theme featuring [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Dovahzuul Chanting]] and bombastic brass.

* Parodied in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, when it is revealed that a long-ago [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} Quirmian]] general, when he got round to launching an invasion of [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Far Überwald]] shortly after ten past six one evening, took an orchestral composer with him to chronicle the glorious invasion in music. Public performances of this piece were generally very lively indeed, until the percussion sections realised it was perhaps best ''not'' to load the siege weapons and to only charge the Barking Dogs with blank rounds. One conductor lamented the slaughter and destruction done to lots of expensive and hard-to-replace musical instruments during one early performance, when the technical problems of the production were still being ironed out.

See XylophoneGag for when someone makes an ''actual'' bomb out of a musical instrument. Has no relation to ExplosiveInstrumentation. This trope does not refer to the idea of attacking an orchestra with explosive ordnance.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid 3: Snake Eater'', the final boss fight takes place in a field of white flowers and has a 10-minute time limit. If you have not defeated your opponent by that point, you both get killed in an airstrike. The fight starts with no music at all, but after 5 minutes an instrumental version of the games main theme, which you have heard several times at that point, starts playing and you know that if you haven't won by the final note, you'll be dead.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy's'' soundtrack is 90% orchestrated (same for the sequel), and has this all over the place in varying degrees, but the best examples would have to be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTFgZK5XSts every]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv4oRt79AP0 single]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9cmUFBQK2E Bowser]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glzkh5jl31k battle theme.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UYXABAC06s Melty Monster Galaxy]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' is downright ''magnificent'' in all its orchestrated glory.
* Given the huge number of remixes and styles incorporated in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series, pure statistics alone dictate that a ludicrously epic orchestral piece will be playing in the background at some point.
** ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLJuT8zPmvA Final Destination]], which is both this and OminousLatinChanting.

* ''WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier'' tends to use the finale of the 1812 Overture to accompany scenes of StuffBlowingUp, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IKz4hAMPOE#t=692 blowing up a bar]] in ''VideoGame/TerminatorII'' (commenting on how time-travel movies usually make an effort to minimize violence in the past) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLeCJW3t0Io&t=1128s or the]] DifficultySpike in ''{{VideoGame/Rambo}}''.

* ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' loves this trope to itty-bitty little pieces, usually combining it with OminousLatinChanting.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' had its space battle episode (the ShoutOut to ''Anime/UchuuSenkanYamato'') employ this trope with Shostakovich's ''Leningrad Symphony''. Fittingly, the "training" course that they went through was set to the almost-comical, waddling march at the end of the first movement.
* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD's'' soundtrack is surprisingly full of this. Highlights include Vali Lucifer's leitmotif [[https://youtu.be/y72E0MOConk "Saikyou no Sonzai"]] as well as some of Issei's heroic themes such as [[https://youtu.be/PM0jE4M5i1g "Ishi"]], [[https://youtu.be/mVgzFdgkUjk "D No Ishi"]], and [[https://youtu.be/l6gOa9SivDY "Shouri"]].

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0pfo7obtuc REALLY]] likes orchestral music during major battles. Sometimes with OminousLatinChanting and/or a OneWomanWail, sometimes without them.
** ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' does it in the ColdOpen of its ''very first episode'', as background to the Class 3a ApocalypseHow that sets up the rest of the series. OneWomanWail and OminousLatinChanting included.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' has the eponymous Unicorn's leitmotif.
* ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' initially averted this trope, but later installments went ''really'' wide with it. Examples include [[http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/zPoXtsY6jm4/ Horobi no Uta]] from ''Anime/MacrossZero'''s final battle and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exg-zf2nouQ several]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRBlX-7qvzU other]] [[http://music.myeverything.info/song/ZWZC7UUZ/Battle-Frontier-Yoko-Kanno.html tracks]] from ''Anime/MacrossFrontier''.
* The music is as important a character as any other in ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato''. The various series and movies do not hold back on the score during battles.
* This musical style is in full effect during Nanoha's final battle with Fate in the first ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' movie. Better yet, the first half of the heroine's revised {{Leitmotif}} is strongly reminiscent of Music/GustavHolst's ''Mars, the Bringer of War''. Specifically, the part which Music/JohnWilliams also borrowed for the very first space battle in ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars: A New Hope]]''...
* In turn, the ''Jupiter'' part was used in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' when Bonolenov uses his "Jupiter" attack--as Bonolenov is a DanceBattler, there is perhaps no better song to use.
* Invoked in ''Anime/KillLaKill'', wherein Nonon decides that the upcoming battle between Ryuko and Tsumugu is a ''perfect'' opportunity for band practice. Later, in her one-on-one fight with Ryuko, she takes this trope [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZmATEDylBA as literally as it possibly can be]], right down to nuking the battlefield with weaponized music.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', when Luffy finally gets to multi-punch the ever-living crap out of Crocodile, part of Antonin Dvorak's ''New World Symphony'' (specifically, the first part of the fourth movement, "Allegro con fuoco") plays. It fits the scene surprisingly well.
* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'' pumps out a booming orchestral score often mixed with OminousLatinChanting to give it an unbelievable powerful presence. This got especially true in the third season. Being hammered out by the same guy who did the ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' soundtrack, this is to be expected.

* ''Film/DrStrangelove''
** We'll meet again... don't know where, don't know when...
* ''633 Squadron'', possibly the TropeMaker. Scored by Ron Goodwin.
* ''Film/TheDamBusters'', with music by Eric Coates.

* ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope]]'', based on the previous.
** Ditto for the battle themes in the rest of the series.

* Happens [[PaintingTheMedium quite literally]] in ''Film/VForVendetta'', where the titular V plays Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" over London's public address system when he blows up the Old Bailey and the Houses of Parliament.

* Used pretty-much constantly in ''Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie''. With tons of OminousLatinChanting. More than justified, since it has pretty much an hour of nuclear explosion footage. I definitely heard Dies Ira, and I think I heard Die Valkyrie.
* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' uses this a lot, particularly in the ambush of the Marines as they enter the hive and Ripley's escape with Newt from the exploding atmosphere processor.

* Literally in ''Film/ASongIsBorn'', as a rousing rendition of "Flying Home" manages to cause a drum to fall on one of the villains, knocking him out (after "The Anvil Chorus" failed to work).

* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' recently had some fun with this trope in their Top 25 Special showing off their various explosions to the ''1812 Overture''.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'' used this in every space battle, to cover the (unique for SF shows at the time) [[ShownTheirWork absence of sound in space]]. The opening and closing themes also count.
* The PilotMovie of ''Series/{{JAG}}'' has this in its final aerial battle scene.
* Spoofed on ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG184YzkDX8 sketch]] that shows an orchestra in a field playing the "Blue Danube Waltz." [[RuleOfFunny For no particular reason]], in each successive musical phrase another musician [[StuffBlowingUp blows up]]. A long sketch on a recorded comedy album, ''Monty Python's Matching Tie and Hanky'', builds on the TV sketch and escalates it into all-out insurrection causing a major air force to be sent in to bomb the orchestra into submission.

* Music/RichardWagner's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOQlG8YRxEQ Prelude to Act III of ''Lohengrin'']], has become something of a StandardSnippet for air raids. Likewise, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU Ride of the Valkyries]]'' for a bombastic assault. It was used in ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' for a very good reason.

* Music/LudwigVanBeethoven was probably the first one to use the trope. His ''Eroica'' Symphony opens with two full orchestral chords, to underline this point (Timpani included). His overture "Wellington's Victory" plays it even more literally, with the score calling for muskets and artillery sound effects to represent the battle.

* In ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'', Bazelgeuse's theme is a bombastic piece evocative of old warplane and bombing propaganda videos. Considering [[StuffBlowingUp its main method of attack being carpet bombing its preys with exploding scales]], this fits all too well.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' 's later levels go all out on orchestral music and choir, to match the [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu scale of what's going on]].
* ''VideoGame/BungoToAlchemist'''s OST consists entirely of orchestral, classical-like music and this extends to battle themes, which are as energetic and pounding as they're elegant and classy, and can get pretty intense in the case of the boss theme. ''To'' and ''chi'' shelf themes subvert this by starting to incorporate the ''koto'', a decidedly non-orchestral instrument.
* ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes'' does this on a regular basis, one minute the music can barely be heard as your troops move around the village or pass a few bushes and blaring you with Trumpets and a wide assortment of instruments the next as your tanks get blown to pieces by rockets or shells raining down from heaven as if the sky was crashing down.. In short, as the action heats up the orchestra start doing their thing, and it is [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Awesome]].

* No matter how bad the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianTwilight'' was, and how the soundtrack is completely different from previous installments, anyone had to admit this: When you playing as GDI, and some action starts, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcOUyZw69yg THIS]] is freaking epic. Too bad it's just about only epic thing from game officially entitled "epic conclusion of the saga".

* An orchestral version of [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Beyond The Bounds]] plays during an epic air siege in ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders: The Second Runner''.
* Given the huge number of remixes and styles incorporated in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series, pure statistics alone dictate that a ludicrously epic orchestral piece will be playing in the background at some point.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy's'' soundtrack is 90% orchestrated (same for the sequel), and has this all over the place in varying degrees, but the best examples would have to be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTFgZK5XSts every]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv4oRt79AP0 single]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9cmUFBQK2E Bowser]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glzkh5jl31k battle theme.]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UYXABAC06s Melty Monster Galaxy]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' is downright ''magnificent'' in all its orchestrated glory.
* Later games in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series have embraced this trope for their final boss battles, using orchestral versions of the games' main themes. These include ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'''s arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRe3h1iQ1Os His World]], ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'''s arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdDwqJiYO6c Endless Possibility]], and ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' ' arrangement of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBna1sm6XhY Reach for the Stars]], all of which also [[AutobotsRockOut add electric guitars for good measure]].
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' has this trope in spades, fittingly enough coming from the same music team behind the ''Galaxy'' games. While the overworld themes are surprisingly low-key (with the exception of the Sky theme), the boss themes in particular are particularly bombastic. The overall theme, ''Ballad of the Goddess'', starts with a solo HarpOfFemininity (appropriately enough), and after about 45 seconds launches into epicness.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLJuT8zPmvA Final Destination]], which is both this and OminousLatinChanting.
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}''. When you place the third (out of four) picture in the art collab, the already unstable Sander Cohen freaks out and, in a fit of instability, orders his henchmen to kill you. Cue the SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome as you beat the living crap out of splicers who seem to come out of HammerSpace. You'll be symphonizing a bloody massacre while Waltz of the Flowers blares throughout the studio for minutes, though odds are that you'll be done by 2:44.
* The action themes in the later ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' games.
* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' is full of them.
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' is more well-known for its [[AutobotsRockOut heavy metal]] than orchestral music, yet ''Guilty Gear Xrd'''s rendition of Ky's classic theme "Holy Orders" ([[BGMOverride which only plays when Ky's ponytail is undone]]) proves that not only does the series do orchestral music well, but that pairing it up with heavy metal makes it even better.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp6KEjqATxA&feature=related This]] is the music during the [[EarthShatteringKaboom Exterminatus]] scene in ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II''.

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'' allows the player to invoke this at will once they come across the game's [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity +1]] {{BFG}}, the RYNO V, as the gun in question plays the finale of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture for as long as it's fired.
* ''Kessen'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/KessenII''. ''[[http://youtu.be/aVBc-f7dbJw Kessen]]'' [[http://youtu.be/noIrsm62gF8 in particular]] was one of the first games ever to have a full orchestral soundtrack, performed by the Moscow International Symphonic Orchestra, so it was almost nothing ''but'' OrchestralBombing. ''Kessen III'', the last of the series, also has some bombing but uses GenreBusting for most battle themes.

* Several of the battle themes from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JL3oDPS35E Battle 5]], aka "Behemoth", which plays, as its name suggests, when you’re battling one of the five Super Mutant Behemoths.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fmZHGlDn7I Hoover Dam]] theme in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. Double points when the Boomers commence their bombing run on whichever faction you're fighting against.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' goes ahead and just gives you a classical music radio station so you can make just about any situation in the game run on this trope.
* In the helicopter {{rail shooter}} level of ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', the pilot decides to play "Music/RideOfTheValkyries" as a {{shout out}} to ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', but the stereo is destroyed by gunfire.
* ''Videogame/MountAndBlade'': In the ''Napoleonic Wars'' mod, you get artillery to fire at the enemy. You also get troops that carry nothing but musical instruments to play for morale. The rest of the equation is up to you.
* ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' has a powerful soundtrack that is [[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/03/08/download-the-beyond-good-amp-evil-soundtrack-for-free.aspx completely downloadable on the web]]. The very first fight that Jade has involves a big stick, several aliens and a choir of [[OminousLatinChanting pissed-off angels singing background]] for her. The final fight took it to the next level.
* The soundtrack of ''VideoGame/ElementalGearbolt'' is all orchestral, all the time and the gameplay is all aerial battles, all the time.
* In ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'', all of the music is orchestrated. It also only starts playing when you encounter the Colossi.
* Subverted by ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', which has the lighter portions of the ''1812 Overture'' playing during the Napoleonic board game level.
* The soundtrack to ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheVoid'' makes liberal use of this trope. Standout examples include:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUzxdczZKjY The Golden Armada]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymPfyoGcAfc Attack on Korhal]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqI2EOxoW3c Blades of Justice]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qe1o4RZ9lk Holding up the Sky]]
* In ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'', the Gessen girls' themes are arrangements of classical music:
** Yumi: Requiem Mass in D minor, by Mozart and Piano Sonata No. 8 (Sonata Pathétique) by Beethoven for ''Shinovi Versus'', and Requiem Mass in D minor (the Lacrimosa portion) and Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals (Aquarium) for ''Estival Versus''.
** Murakumo: Scythian Suite Op. 20 (Dance of the Pagan Monster), by Sergei Prokofiev.
** Tozakura: Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata), by Beethoven.
** Shiki: The Four Seasons, by Vivaldi. [[MeaningfulName Interestingly, "Shiki" literally means "Four Seasons".]]
** Minori: The Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a, by Tchaikovsky (Specifically, "Russian Dance") for ''Shinovi Versus'', and Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals for ''Estival Versus''.
* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' busts out the live orchestra for the final battle against [[spoiler:DJ Octavio and a BrainwashedAndCrazy Callie.]]
* ''VideoGame/TinkerQuarry'''s battle music is an epic orchestral theme simply titled "Attacked".
* Much of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'''s soundtrack is quiet and understated to fit the theme of you wandering a huge, mostly empty world all on your own. Whenever you're in combat (particularly with a boss monster), trying to shut down a [[HumongousMecha Divine Beast]], or ''especially'' storming [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Hyrule Castle]], things get much more rousing.
* ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'' uses orchestral music for particularly large-scale boss battles, a pretty sharp contrast from the lower-key, atmospheric themes heard in the rest of the game (and series).
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', in just about every flight sequence and several land sequences as well. Boss fights lean more towards AutobotsRockOut, though.

* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' is the first non-spinoff ''Kirby'' game released on hardware capable of handling this trope, and the composers leapt at the chance with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3BTZDQEPn4 Marx's battle theme]].
** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' has the theme of the [[spoiler: final boss fake-out, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRkYZEWvtcg Landia]], doubling as SadBattleMusic.]] The [[spoiler:actual final boss, Magolor (Soul), uses this for his second phase's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0dzzE9MJFI CROWNED.]]]] The former also serves as the first phase of [[spoiler: Galacta Knight, before switching to [[AutobotsRockOut a remastered version of his own theme]].]]
** ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' plays with this with [[spoiler:''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr_RDK7WoVc VS. Star Dream]],'' used for the first phase of the final boss in question.]] It only seems to be partially orchestral, [[spoiler:as Star Dream is struggling to emulate previous final bosses]].
** ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' has [[spoiler: Void Termina's theme, "The Star-Conquering Traveler," which is an orchestral remix of the RecurringRiff [[SadBattleMusic ''Song of Supplication.'']]]]
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has "One They Fear" and "Watch The Skies", which plays every time a dragon shows up. The former in particular is an insanely epic reworking of the main Elder Scrolls theme featuring [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Dovahzuul Chanting]] and bombastic brass.
* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'' prominently uses this during its escape sequences and boss battles, notably [[https://youtu.be/AVChO2jMQM4 Mora the Spider]], [[https://youtu.be/g6Vhj3XH1PA Corrupted Kwolok]], the SandWorm [[https://youtu.be/9eR6JC_ng5E chase]], and the FinalBoss [[https://youtu.be/ClCW2A1355A Shriek]].

* ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit: WesternAnimation/ACloseShave'' does this with the porridge shooting run, as an homage to films like ''The Dam Busters''.

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' does this with the second season's siege on Dracula's castle. For bonus points, the theme used is an orchestral arrangement of "Bloody Tears" from the [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} games]].

* ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' lives and breathes this trope. Of course, it helps that the entire soundtrack is made up of classical orchestral works.

It may involve OminousLatinChanting or AutobotsRockOut. Or [[UpToEleven both]].

* ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil'' has a powerful soundtrack that is [[http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/03/08/download-the-beyond-good-amp-evil-soundtrack-for-free.aspx completely downloadable on the web]]. The very first fight that Jade has involves a big stick, several aliens and a choir of [[OminousLatinChanting pissed-off angels singing background]] for her. The final fight raised this UpToEleven.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''The 1812 Overture'' itself! To quote ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes:

* ''Fanfic/ContactAtKobol'' has an has an Invoked version, in which the Tau'ri set a propaganda video of their bombings to the 1812 overture and send it to the Colonial brass. [[spoiler: Except that the last bombing is a live missile feed [[OhCrap of the Colonial government's secret bunker]].

* ''Fanfic/ContactAtKobol'' has an has an Invoked version, in which the Tau'ri set a propaganda video of their bombings to the 1812 overture and send it to the Colonial brass. [[spoiler: Except that the last bombing is a live missile feed ... of the Colonial's secret bunker. OhCrap.]]