History Main / RecurringRiff

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' is positively filled with remixes of its main theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMMphBe36FQ Beam Katana Chronicles]], with variations popping up as in-game battle music, background music in cutscenes and occasionally doing DiegeticSoundtrackUsage when whistled by the protagonist.
** It even makes its way into the ShowWithinAShow, Bizarre Jelly 5, in ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', ending up in the boss theme for the UnexpectedShmupLevel video game mashed up with the Bizarre Jelly 5 theme song.

*** Neither of these bands restricted their use of this technique to just that one album. For example, in NIN's ''The Fragile'', the piano motif from "La Mer" reappears in "Into the Void". Pink Floyd used this in all their albums from ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' to ''Music/TheFinalCut''. On ''Dark Side'' there's the obvious case of the heartbeat motif which {{bookends}} the album, but "Breathe" returns not merely as a reprise but also as the harmonic backing to "Any Colour You Like". ''Music/WishYouWereHere'' has the obvious example of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and ''Music/{{Animals}}'' has the obvious example of "Pigs on the Wing", both of which book end the album ("Sheep" also reprises elements from "Dogs"), but ''The Final Cut'' really takes it UpToEleven as there are a rather large number of motifs that make multiple appearances on the album.

** Music/{{Genesis}} made a habit of this for awhile:

** The "Inside A House" theme introduced within ''Ocarina Of Time'' that usually plays whenever Link visits a house appears within almost all Zelda games in the series released after ''Ocarina Of Time'', only skipping ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'' (which use a different song) and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' (which doesn't play separate music for interiors since they're loaded on the same map as the rest of the overworld, instead saving this music theme for one of the Hebra Mountain minigames).

** [[SimSimSalabim Great Tiger]] has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0S9Xxtn2N8 Indian mystical sounding music.]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXDwSsb48gM In your Belief]], the absolute TearJerker of an AwardBaitSong from ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' can be heard all of the place, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVnJtXsTrEs the ethnic version of the theme]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_msenGEMQ The Repirse of the theme]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRkDs0xxYtM Vajra Asura vs. Vajra Deus]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryv-fb_Fcz4 Bonds]].

* In the first ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'', the main riff of "Asphalt Assault" recurs alot, most prominently in "Cyburb Hunt" and "Cyburb Slide".

** The last track of the ''Combat Evolved'' OST includes a hidden EasterEgg, the TearJerker piece "Siege Of Madrigal" from the ''VideoGame/{{Myth}}'' games. The song also appears as an Easter Egg in every Creator/{{Bungie}}-made ''Halo'' game.

* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' has a theme called "Growing Wings" which represents the series (all two of 'em) as a whole. A version of it is played when [[spoiler:the main protagonist from the first game dies in the second]] which is just heart-wrenching.

** All of Organization XIII's themes in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' contain a piece of the Organization's main theme, "Another Side." These pieces have been collected in to an orchestrated work called "[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic The 13th Anthology]]".

* Many songs in the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' games (Theme of Laura, I Want Love, Your Rain, Waiting For You, etc.) feature a guitar riff from the latter part of the opening theme of the first game. Variations of this theme occur in the TearJerker scenes with Lisa in [=SH1=](Not Tomorrow) and Angela in [=SH2=](Theme of Laura Reprise).

** "Dance With Night Wind" in the third game resembles "True" from the second game, and both are {{Tear Jerker}}s.

** A melodic line from the guitar solo in "I Want Love (Studio Mix)" from the ''Silent Hill 3'' soundtrack shows up again in "Your Rain" from ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'' and "Hell Frozen Rain" from ''Silent Hill: Shattered Memories''.
*** On a similar [[IncrediblyLamePun note]], a melodic line from "Theme of Laura" also appears in the second solo of "Waiting For You" from [=SH4=].

* The composers for the ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' VisualNovel use this quite often. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic zts]] is quite notable for using this; for example, parts of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAupQUUglkU goldenslaughterer]] have been reused for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuRRe1moVhY dreamenddischarger]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqjm6QZOeUs resurrected replayer]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euezX9D3aDE the_executioner]]. The aforementioned resurrected replayer also reuses a part of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqvl3aTztPQ far]].

* ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' reuses its main melody on occasion, usually during a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' does this for both the first and third phases of the final boss fight. In the first phase, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcZgujbU1Bs&list=PL6akIKaXBeU1mb4pVAcVHepVZysNoNG_m&index=83 "Time To Raise The Cross"]], a remix of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxnhSwpFd7g menu theme]] plays, and for the third phase, the player is [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic treated]] to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EGnFgsdDnM&index=27&list=PL6akIKaXBeU1mb4pVAcVHepVZysNoNG_m "Finish The Promise"]] which features the [[EleventhHourSuperpower Grand Fonic Hymn]], a [[MagicMusic powerful musical incantation]] made up of six smaller Hymns that the main heroine [[WhiteMage Tear]] learns throughout the story.

* ''Radiant Silvergun''[='=]s SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}'' has much of its soundtrack consisting of various remixes of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAn6XxsDDTI Ideal]]''. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Nobody particularly minds the repetition]]. The only music in that game that doesn't use any recurring riffs is "Faith".

** In the hospital after Maria's death, a piano hook from "Forest"(the graveyard cutscene music) is reused, in TearJerker fashion.
* In ''VideoGame/ClockTower'', the notes that you hear in the track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glw0GrUAwDo I'm Looking for Mary]]" are repeated throughout many songs. It's played for NightmareFuel, as with many things in the game.

* ''Anime/ShugoChara'': Yuuki No Uta and ''especially'' the Open Heart theme, which has an honestly hilarious amount of variations, for such differing situations. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Not like either of them are or get tired/boring, though.]]

** "Dance With Devils", the intro of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry2'', has its octave changed to serve as "Evil Tower" (the theme of the battle with [[EldritchAbomination Nefasturris]]) while its guitar riff and OminousLatinChanting respectively are featured in "Shoot The Works" (Dante's second battle theme) and "Cry For The Moon" (Arius' boss theme).

** In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', "Out of Darkness" is used as a shop theme and is played during cutscenes involving both Nero and Kyrie,

* Most ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' games use variations on a four-measure riff ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHS97lomzUk heard here]]) when a stage has been selected. The piece's name is "Robot Master Chosen."

** To a lesser extent, there is the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' ending theme, which shows up in some later games, usually during the credits, though is most famous as the title them for ''2''. Even appeared as Mega Man's theme in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom''.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 4'' has a riff that appears multiple times throughout the game; At [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4B_yPWZRdU the base camp]], the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5XQB7uE1To 2nd intro stage]], the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt83BTKXxRQ mid-game base camp defense stage]], and during the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LfhxEzA1A0 end credits.]]

* ''VideoGame/MegaMan 9'' has several of its [=BGM=] tunes use a recurring riff based on its title theme.

** The "Stage Clear" theme (also known as the Kirby Dance jingle); a variation on the general melody appears in every Kirby game except ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack''.
** ''Kirby's Dream Land'' has "[=BubblyClouds=]", which often appears in cloudy or sky areas. ''VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse'' is an exception, though.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsv5ofGeTJs A song originally used in the]] BossRush of ''Kirby's Dream Land'' shows up [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgme6flm6Lc as the Choose Weapon theme]] in ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8EedeY7HE0 the Sound Test theme]] in ''Kirby's Dream Land 3'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e87ufc_tQC0 the Enemy Info theme]] in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx_rA3uWLYY the Boss Game Select theme]] in ''VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse'', as well as the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d7XhbaSUcc stage]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d7XhbaSUcc boss intros]] in ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack''.

** In ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'', "Kirby's Triumphant Return" is heard in various songs, the most glorious example being during the destruction of the final boss (and his Cosmic MacGuffin). Its first appearance is in a Green Greens remix in the Crystal and Garden cave areas, and it's normally used for big or climactic events. While it was forgotten for a while, it reappeared in ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack'' in one of the minigames, and has been heard every game since then.
** The mini-boss theme of ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' is heard in quite a few the following games; the remake of [[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure an earlier game]] works it in, and ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' even has a song resembling it as the final boss theme.

* Music/TheBeachBoys' ''Music/SMiLE'' does this so often that its track divisions are more or less arbitrary, particularly since the tracks rarely have clearly defined song structures to begin with. In particular, the opening vocal motif is reprised immediately before its most famous track, "Good Vibrations".

* ''WesternAnimation/BunsenIsABeast'' uses nothing except variations of its theme song for its background music.

* Several in the ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' series, the most notable being "Theme of Puyo Puyo" from the first arcade game, "Area A" from Tsu, and "Fun Puyo Puyo Hell" from Fever.

** ''Franchise/StarWars'' uses this a lot, despite many themes apparently being intended to mainly represent specific characters. The "Main Theme" was originally meant to be Luke's theme, but was used as this [[BootstrappedTheme less and less]] as the series went on. In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Yoda's theme is often used at seemingly unfitting times. The original film uses Princess Leia's theme at odd points as well, such as when Obi-Wan dies. Most prominently variations of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcZ9kQ1h-ZY The]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjDaPOWdx6s Force]] [[http://youtu.be/GW-E0dOfdoc?t=1m54s Theme]] are common in a lot of StarWars tracks, especially in the more important scenes.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series has several recurring riffs, for example, "Adol's Theme", which is one of the opening musics for ''Ys Book I and II'', recurs in some of the dungeons of the other games (eg. the Canal in ''Ys II'', Mountain Shrine in ''Ys IV'', the stage entrance and Ilbern Ruins musics in ''Ys III'', and the ending of ''Ys V''), and the ''Ys IV'' overworld theme not only has many variations in its titular game(Field, Great Forest of Selceta, Blazing Sword, Beyond Reminiscence, Valley of Quicksand, etc.), but in ''Ys VI'' as well(Release of the Far West Ocean, Windslash Steps, Mountain Zone, which also partly sounds similar to the Solomon Shrine music in Ys II, and Defend And Escape! (when you escort Olha and Terra out of the Romun ship), which also resembles part of Niena's theme from ''Ys V'', and the latter part of "Field Of Gale" in ''Ys V''. "Overwater Drive", heard in the Limewater Cave in ''Ys VI'', is roughly a remake of "Beat of the Terror", the Abandoned Mine music in ''Ys I and II''. The motif during the cutscene where the Ark of Napishtim is revived recurs during the second half of the final boss battle(The Depth Napishtim), as well as in Defend And Escape!.

A {{Leitmotif}} that doesn't apply to a particular character; instead, it applies to a particular work or series. Sometimes a character's {{leitmotif}} is even reused in an installment of a series where that character is not part of the story. Very popular in [[VideogameTropes Video Games]], but by no means exclusive to it. If used across a series, it can have nostalgic connotations. Obviously, {{Crossover}} games like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' use the themes of the games represented to form the majority of the soundtrack.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'': a variation of the opening riff of "Blow Me Away" is heard during the sniper alley sequence in Outskirts. Blow Me Away proper, of course, is used during the Mausoleum battle in Gravemind.

** In ''Videogame/CrashTeamRacing'', the opening theme has five variant themes for each of its hubs, from the [[PatchworkMap tropical beach to the frozen wastes]].

* ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':

No relation to the ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' character [[TheSmartGuy Riff]]. See RecurringElement for non-music examples, ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack for extreme examples of the "within a single work" version, and ThemeTuneCameo for the series theme appearing in-universe.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' is positively filled with remixes of its main theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMMphBe36FQ Beam Katana Chronicles]], with variations popping up as in-game battle music, background music in cutscenes and occasionally doing a ThemeTuneCameo when whistled by the protagonist.

** The "Inside A House" theme introduced within ''Ocarina Of Time'' that usually plays whenever Link visits a house appears within almost all Zelda games in the series released after ''Ocarina Of Time'', only skipping ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'' (which use a different song) and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' (which doesn't play separate music for interiors since they're loaded on the same map as the rest of the overworld).

* ''VideoGame/Terraria'' has a few examples.

** The surface Corruption and Crimson tracks share a DroneofDread at the beginning even though they're otherwise very different.

** ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'', in addition to it's leitmotifs and reprises of the first game's themes, has a few recurring riffs not associated with a particular character or location, such as the motif heard in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjO1_9TnET0 the E3 2018 trailer]], [[https://youtu.be/rE3Qdx1nW9s?t=1m9s A Yearning For The Sky]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QAqvXJKNwY&t=3m9s The Eyes of Kwolok]], [[https://youtu.be/CMZ6PV_6QG0? Dashing and Bashing?t=1m23s]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITctb2o12Io&t=2m Luma Pools]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th0LBiIRQbA Windswept Wastes]].