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EarthBound Beginnings (Mother 1)
- The Mother games' signature song: "Pollyanna (I Believe In You)".
- As far as the actual in-game versions go, they aren't too shabby; Mother, Earthbound, Mother1+2, and Mother 3.
- Also the Smash Bros. version. Definitely one of the better remixes from Melee.
- Here's an acoustic and flute cover with vocals. The singing is even better than the original, slowing down the tempo making for a rather soothing rendition.
- And yet another cover, this one with an acoustic jazz flavor, also incorporating flute. Primarily taking Melee's version as inspiration, it keeps close to the tune while adding some variations of it's own.
- Yet another jazz remix, but mixed with funk and its own fantastic vocal track with two vocalists.
- Probably the best cover yet: the positively epic R&B/Jazz/Gospel fusion cover by The 8-Bit Big Band!
- The EarthBound Beginnings title theme, also called "Mother Earth" or "Time Passage", is a surprisingly tender, emotional track for the title theme of a NES game, and its beautiful combination of warmth and melancholy deftly sets the tone for the story to come.
- Snowman, aka the Winters theme appeared in MOTHER/EarthBound Beginnings, MOTHER 2/EarthBound, MOTHER 3, was remade for MOTHER 1+2, appeared in a remixed form on the MOTHER soundtrack (which was an incredible album considering it was more than just a BGM-rip) and of course has the obligatory Brawl remix which makes it even more haunting and beautiful.
- The awesomely romantic All That I Needed (Was You).
- "Maybe now you have figured it out, that's what bein' friends is all about!" (And the game version, as well.)
- Take a melody, simple as can be...
- Also, the equivalent song in the sequel.
- See also the song in Mother 3 which combines the two melodies above and the Love Theme.
- Show me the wisdom of the world... Here's a great string orchestral version.
- Versus Giegue, the final boss theme, is nothing but a screeching Drone of Dread. It is used to rather great results, though, as it perfectly captures the tense atmosphere of the game's final battle and makes it all the more powerful when the aforementioned Eight Melodies kick in.
- Fallin' Love. It's...beautiful. This is an awesome remix that twists the melody into something new.
- The Twinkle Elementary theme. Which was then remixed into the file select theme from the sequel. And was then made even more awesome in the credit crawl for the Game Boy Camera.
- The relaxing Magicant theme from EarthBound Beginnings. Then Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U gave us this spellbindingly beautiful remix, the orchestration taking the catchiness to new heights. For the icing on the cake, the bridge contains a condensed violin cover of the Eight Melodies.
- The factory theme used for Sweet's Little Factory and Duncan's Factory. Very, very eerie...
- Paradise Line, like all music for forms of public transportation in the Mother series, sounds awesome and catchy and is the only public transportation theme in the series to receive an equally as awesome vocal track.
- The haunting theme that plays at Mt. Itoi, an ominous theme filled with horns and Scare Chords that befits one of the hardest final dungeons in JRPG history. The GBA port's inferior audio quality ironically makes it WAY better than the Famicom/NES originals!
- The intense, fastpaced beats of Roving Tank fit perfectly for the adrenaline rush of driving a tank.
EarthBound (Mother 2)
- If the game's title screen has an epic jingle, you know you're in for a ride.
- This ambient track is a brilliantly evil and threatening opening to the game, featuring loud, distorted brass, bassy percussion, and (presumably) the screams of terrified people fleeing Giygas's wrath. It's also listed on the the game's Nightmare Fuel page, and for good reason.
- The music used in the battle against Giygas in the "Devil's Machine" starts out like a throwback to traditional 8-bit RPG battle music, then unexpectedly erupts into thrash metal. The unique instruments and the sudden intensity perfectly encapsulate the situation - you're fighting an alien menace, and he wants you gone.
- A simple but effective Thrash Metal remix that'll get your blood pumping. Unlike a lot of other remixes, this one keeps the tempo in both the fast and slow parts accurate.
- A couple of Japanese guys gave it rap lyrics in this vocal remix. SPARK SPARK SPARK SPAAAARK...
- One of the beautiful ending themes to Earthbound, known as Smiles and Tears.
- "I miss you."
- Here is a beautiful rendition on piano, perfectly covered.
- Good Friends, Bad Friends. All the best songs combined into an amalgam of awesome.
- The beautiful Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U remix, which also has the original Eight Melodies mixed in for good measure.
- Because I Love You or even the remixed version which plays in Fourside.
- Even better is the remix for Super Smash Bros. Melee.
- Or the version from the Mother 1+2 soundtrack.
- Or even this version with LYRICS. Your heart will melt.
- Giygas's battle "music" that plays from his second form onwards. Insanely creepy and way ahead of its time, this Merzbow-esque Dark Ambient/Harsh Noise backdrop sounds like something from Silent Hill. Certainly not the kind of music you expect from a final boss fight in a JRPG. Those death cries over the static set in musical tone were one of the most jaw-dropping death scenes of the generation.
- For some 1950's rock 'n' roll goodness, you have a choice for the 'New Age Retro Hippie' battle theme from the first and second games, and 'Rock and Roll' (either 'Mild' or 'Spicy') from Mother 3.
- Bound Together; "48 songs Nearly 3 hours of music 8 bonus songs including demos and alternate takes the VG Frequency radio show from October 29th which featured the debut of Bound Together." Download it and give it a listen, If you have any love for EarthBound, it will take you back. Also Mustin's vocal version of the Flying Man theme from said album.
- Two and themes associated with The Runaway Five, for jazz goodness. As well as a vocal arrangement made by Hyadain himself.
- The sublimely groovy Sanctuary Guardian boss theme is an absurdly chill remix of EarthBound Beginnings' main battle theme.
- How about the hotel music in Threed? Sounds like the hotel is having a stroke...
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon has extremely fitting music. Hell Is That Noise, thy name is the Cave of the Past theme. Would you believe it's entirely composed of a pitch-shifted sample of the first 3 seconds of The Beach Boys Deirdre?
- The Onett theme. A ridiculously ear-wormy theme for a wonderful first town.
- This theme that plays in Threed is calm, cheerful, and upbeat, a sharp contrast to the bizarre and creepy theme that plays while the zombies are in charge.
- This theme is equal parts warm and saddening; it sounds exactly like the nostalgic sensation of coming back to visit your mom after a long time, which is exactly what the song is used for in the game.
- The hotel theme is a short, but surprisingly emotive song.
- The Bazaar theme is an enrapturing Arabian-styled tune.
- The surprisingly catchy Pyramid theme, also with some Arabian influences.
- These two/themes, playing respectively before and after the Kraken fight, is a soothing sea shanty that'll make you bob in your seat.
- If you can't yet get enough of the Runaway Five jazz goodness, check out this theme.
Mother 3
- Hell, "Isn't This Such A Utopia?!" and the Super Smash Bros. Brawl version, "You Call This a Utopia?!", are Creepy Music.
- "F-F-Fire!". The ROM Hack "Mario Must Die" has this as its World 1-2 theme, a red hot cavern full of boiling lava.
- "Ode to Ancestors: 8th Movement" works as a Moment of Awesome, since it puts several well-known pieces of classical music together. "Family Matters: 2nd Movement" also works for the same reason.
- "Porky's Porkies" is a bizarre, yet supremely awesome, 8-bit track, used for the battle against the Mecha-Porkies.
- While not complete, this guy's remix probably counts as well.
- By the same token, that little song that plays when DCMC comes to the rescue. Surprisingly good, considering it's something most people probably won't hear all the way through.
- One Word: "Mother!?" As if Chapter 6 of Mother 3 wasn't poignant enough, this song really drives it into absolute Tear Jerker territory.
- "Sunflowers and Illusions" is especially tragic yet hauntingly beautiful.
- "Dry Guys" and its faster remix "Even Drier Guys". Its whimsical and slightly melancholy tone coupled with an accordion and an excellent piano solo captures the top quality standard for music in the game as well as the tone of the story.
- "Run, My Dog, Run!". It's basically the soundtrack to Boney's Moment of Awesome. Whether or not Boney is the most powerful character, that scene singlehandedly solidified his "Boney is awesome" status forever.
- Whether cheery or heartrending, the Mother 3 Love Theme is simply a beautiful song. The vocal version of the song is sweet and heartrending no matter what language it's being sung in.
- "Intense Guys". It seems like okay boss music, until you realize that... "Whoa, that's not a boss I'm fighting. It's a freaking golden bat." Possibly the most epic non-boss tune in existence.
- "Volcano! Inferno!". A slow yet exciting piece, perfect for exploring a volcano.
- "A Railway In Our Village?" is sadly only played in the beginning of the future.
- Piggy Guys is so awesome that it received an epic remix that contains another song which SHOULD have been in Brawl.
- Any theme that has the leitmotif of the Pigmasks, an awesome little tune that fits quite possibly Nintendo's most vile evil organization.
- Though they were basically a spinoff of the Runaway Five from EarthBound, DCMC was an in-game rock/jazz band that took a few of the best Awesome Music candidates from the game and made them a million times more Awesome. For example, the "DCMC Theme", a remix of Duster's "Mind of a Thief" tune.
- "Fate" and "Serious" have a catchy recognizable beat that, unfortunately, is a little difficult to combo to. Here's an awesome remix of these songs too!
- "Natural Killer Cyborg". An amazing rockin' theme that assures the player they are going up against a massive super-robot, and it's even got a bit of "Beat It" mixed in for extra awesomeness.
- At the end of Mother 3, the most beautiful songs from the trilogy are reprised, including (surprisingly) the EarthBound Beginnings main theme. What makes it go into absolute Tear Jerker territory, though, is the reprise of "Pollyanna (I Believe in You)", played as you take the boat ride to Porky's room. What makes it so sad is that Porky has crossed the Moral Event Horizon so many, MANY times, in such horrible ways, that you know there's no way he can have a happy ending, and also that you're surrounded by mementos from EarthBound: turns out he really did like Ness as a friend after all, huh?
- Both "Dangerous Guys" and "More Dangerous Guys" feature a fantastic saxophone line that you just can't help but smile when listening to either.
- "Bon Voyage, Amigo". Only a game like Mother 3 can make what's supposed to be the joyous occasion of completing your party, a Tear Jerker moment.
- "It's Over", a remix of the Love Theme played at the climax of Mother 3 where The Masked Man AKA Claus finally comes to his senses and says one last goodbye and apologizes to Lucas before killing himself. It's... very sad.
- "Sorrowful Tazmily" is a slower version of the Tazmily town theme that plays during Hinawa's funeral and captures the collective sorrow of the villagers.
- The transitioning of the music in Mother 3 works out really well. "Absolutely Filthy Apartments" song represents mystery, what has happened to our world? Immediately afterwards, "Leder's Gymnopedie" explains. The scene is concluded by The unnamed remix of the Chapter 3 closing music, which symbolizes Lucas's ambition to do whatever it takes to bring back peace.
- "Refreshing Toilets" reuses the amazing "Alec's Log House" leitmotif from the beginning of the game, and is pretty calming despite the intensity of the endgame.
- "Monkey's Love Song". Being stuck with a total douchebag should not sound this catchy...
- "Strong One" is quite possibly one of the best boss themes in a game with nothing but good boss themes. Enjoy comboing to the 15/8 meter.
- The music used in the battle against Mecha-Drago. Very melancholic, very awesome.
- "Battle Against the Masked Man" continues the series's trend of scary Final Boss themes. Massive terror in this song; it sounds like the soundtrack is dying. Absolutely nightmarish in reverse.
- "Wasteful Anthem" has a flute portion worth listening to.
- "Gentle Rain", a very peaceful and soothing track. The Mother 3i remixed version combines this with a remix of Confusion, the music that plays when Flint finds out Hinawa has been killed in a not precisely tactful manner, perfectly conveying a sense of shock and loss.
- The entire game kicks off with a little song called "Fun Naming". It's a gentle, moving piece that helps welcome the player to the Mother 3 world. And after that, this song accompanies a sweeping view over the Nowhere Islands.
- "The Attic's A Dungeon!?" is pretty easily overlooked, playing in only one pretty short area, but that doesn't stop it from being an awesome beat.
- "The Green Train's Fun Too!" sums up the joy of riding a green-colored train.
- The normal train music is really awesome, really making use of the electric guitar.
- "A Tiny, Enormous Miracle", one of the game's most heartwarming pieces of music. Especially at the 1:05 mark, when it changes to a beautiful reprise of "A Railway In Our Village?".
- "Open Sesame Tofu!" will make you unable to resist bopping your head along with Wess's dance.
- "Memory of Life", the very last song of the entire franchise. A soft, heartwarming track that is all but saying "the happy ending is finally here, after all this time."
- "And Then There Were None" captures the loneliness when you return to Tazmily Town to discover it's been reduced to a ghost town.
- "Monkey's Delivery Service", though not as sad as "And Then There Were None", is still damn hard to listen to without getting teary, as it embodies all the shit Fassad put Salsa through. Halfway in, a quiet synth joins the main flute/oboe melody, but one eighth note behind, and only on the left audio channel. Could this represent Salsa, forced to quietly and obediently follow his bombastic master?
- After going through a long adventure, seeing the ending, the "The End?" screen and its secret, you're treated to a roll call of the characters you met in the game, set to [1], appropriately called "Curtain Call". The way it starts, you can almost hear an entire audience roaring with applause in your head.
- "LOG-O-TYPE", a grand, majestic theme that plays when the Mother 3 logo appears in the intro of the game. To quote a YouTube commenter, "The first time you heard this, you knew you were in for one hell of a game".
- "Accelerondo". It's used as the battle theme for the walking tombstone enemies, whose gimmick is that they walk towards you... slowly... until they very painfully strike. And the music sounds slow and lumbering at first, until it gets faster... and faster... and faster...
- "And El Mariachi", used for battles against the cactus wolf. Sounds absolutely nothing like battle music. Is still awesome.
- The song for the credits, "16 Melodies", combines all three main themes from each Mother game. It starts out with brief snippets of the "Mother 3 Love Theme", "Eight Melodies", and "Smiles and Tears", then plays the first full verses of "Eight Melodies" from EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound's "Smiles and Tears", and finishes with a reprise of Mother 3's "Love Theme", this time played in full, which ends its last remaining verse very triumphantly. It's uplifting, tearjerking, and heartwarming all at once as it embodies the strong end to this trilogy of great games.
- The Game Over theme, "Stand Up Strong", is - like pretty much everything else in Mother 3 - beautifully tearjerking, in that it embodies the serenity of death: it's pretty much a funeral tune, played with an organ. It is, essentially, "you can now rest in peace" in musical form.
- "Something Strange is Going On", the song that plays during the Epilogue of Chapter 3 and after Leder tells the party his lengthy story of the Nowhere Islands, is absolutely phenomenally fitting for the times it plays. It gives the feeling that Lucas is growing into a true hero in the former scenario, and a feeling of having the fate of everything in your hands. One of the most underrated pieces in the soundtrack.
- "Tragic Reconstruction" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: the player's first glimpse at the horrific creations of the Pigmasks. The music conveys both the frightening nature of the cyborg caribou, but also the sorrow of the cybernetics eating its soul.
- "Life's An Inner Turn Radius" is a slow-paced, laid-back remix of the Pig Army theme which is great to listen to.
- Despite not being (technically) the final boss, Porky gets a suitably awesome battle theme in "Master Porky's Theme", in which Sakai brings together the Pigmask theme, "Monkey's Delivery Service", and "Smashing Song of Praise" into a piece of music as epic and blood-pumping as his battle theme from the previous game, yet with a tragic, almost-but-not-quite-hopeless feeling that really says "this is it". A fitting theme for possibly the series' most devious yet complex character.