History Main / OrchestralBombing

** ''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 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0dzzE9MJFI second phase.]]]] 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 Mind in a PROGRAM]],'' used for first phase of Star Dream.]] 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, an orchestral remix of the RecurringRiff [[SadBattleMusic ''Song of Supplication.'']]]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

->''"The music [in the game] is right out of the movie! I don't know '''which''' movie, because this level sounds like I'm being attacked by Music/DannyElfman and Creator/TimBurton."''

* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'' prominently uses this during its escape sequences and boss battles, notably [[https://youtu.be/AVChO2jMQM4 Mora the Spider]], Corrupted Kwolok, the SandWorm chase, and the FinalBoss Shriek.

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 ordinance.

* Every single ''VideoGame/StarFox'' game.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has One They Fear and Watch The Skies 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.

* Music/GustavHolst wrote the "Mars, Bringer of War" segment of ''The Planets'' suite before World War I had started, but it depicts the brutality and scale of its mechanized warfare brilliantly. John Williams certainly had it in mind - see the ship chase at the opening of ''''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars Episode IV]]''.

* 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/StarWars: Film/ANewHope''...

* Music/GustavHolst wrote the "Mars, Bringer of War" segment of ''The Planets'' suite before World War I had started, but it depicts the brutality and scale of its mechanized warfare brilliantly. John Williams certainly had it in mind - see the ship chase at the opening of ''Film/StarWars'' [[Film/ANewHope Episode IV]].

* ''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 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0dzzE9MJFI second phase.]]]] The former also serves as the first phase of [[spoiler: Galacta Knight, before switching to AutobotsRockOut.]]
** ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' plays with this with [[spoiler: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr_RDK7WoVc Mind in a PROGRAM]],'' first phase of Star Dream.]] It only seems to be partially orchestral, as [[spoiler: Star Dream is struggling to emulate previous final bosses.]]

* A game that's unfortunately been largely forgotten, ''Kessen'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/KessenII'', runs on this trope. ''[[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.

* ''VideoGame/Skyrim'' has One They Fear and Watch The Skies 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.

* A game that's unfortunately been largely forgotten, ''Kessen'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/KessenII'', runs on this trope. ''[[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 NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly for most battle themes.

** [[EarWorm We'll meet again... don't know where, don't know when...]]

* 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...

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

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'' has the epynomous Unicorn's leitmotif.

** No Original Series score exemplifies this trope quite like the scores for "Amok Time" (by Gerald Fried) and "The Doomsday Machine" (by Sol Kaplan). Cues from both scores would go on to be reused throughout later episodes, with the cue "Ancient Battle" from the former being commonly known as ''the'' Star Trek Fight Music. The music from both episodes were even included together on one soundtrack album.
** Ron Jones was probably the best among the composers for the sequel series at using this in his scores (see "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2" in particular the track "Intervention", for a perfect example). Too bad he left ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'' during the fourth season. The main reason was because Rick Berman ''hated'' this trope, and wanted the music to be strictly part of the background of the show, like wallpaper.

* 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.

* ''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]].

** ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'' departs from this, to a degree, through the use of a Rather Depressing Boy's Choir. It also plays it straight at the same time, however, with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HGQS5XSoJ4 Liberation of Gracemaria]].

* 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 its just about only epic thing from game officially entitled "epic conclusion of the saga".

** The [[ThemeTune Halo Theme]], naturally. It becomes even more bombastic in ''Halo 3'' as "Greatest Journey" (the final escape theme), when Martin O'Donnell swapped out the first game's synthesizers with a live orchestra.

* 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 air strike. 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.

* Later games in the ''Franchise/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]].

* Several of the battle themes from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JL3oDPS35E Battle 5]], aka "Behemoth", which plays, as it’s name suggests, when you’re battling one of the five Super Mutant Behemoths.

* Several of the battle themes from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JL3oDPS35E Battle 5]], aka "Behemoth".

* Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' develops a sight-gag TV sketch into a longer piece on a recorded comedy album, ''Monty Python's Matching Tie and Hanky''. This builds on the theme of a TV sketch and escalates it into all-out insurrection causing a major air force to be sent in to bomb the orchestra into submission. The sketch is based on a typical somewhat stuffy and highbrow [[Creator/{{BBC}} Radio Three]] presentation of an orchestral concert. It involves a prima donna violinist who persists in doing to his instrument - and other people's instruments - what [[Music/TheWho Peter Townsend]] did to guitars. Then the violence starts to cascade as the Radio Three announcer (Creator/MichaelPalin) dutifully commentates.

* 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]].

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' provides the best example in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. [[spoiler: Though the orchestral Avengers theme had been used in the previous three Avengers movies during climactic , when past Thanos's forces invade Earth for the Iron Gauntlet, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_mhWxOjxp4ultimate version of the theme]] plays as heroes arrive through portals to aid Captain America in fighting against them.]]

-->-- '''Noah ''"[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]]"'' Antwiler''', on ''VideoGame/DemolitionMan'' for the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]].

See XylophoneGag for when someone makes an ''actual'' bomb out of a musical instrument. Has no relation to ExplosiveInstrumentation.