Awesome Music / Kingdom Hearts II

• As good as "Dearly Beloved" was in the original, Shimomura just turned it into an utter masterpiece for the second game. The calming reprise of "Dearly Beloved" that plays on the "The End" screen also deserves a mention.
• Kairi's Theme is just as beautiful as its Kingdom Hearts version.
• Roxas's Theme, due to its context at the end of the Prolonged Prologue:
  Roxas: "Sora, you're lucky. Looks like my summer vacation is...over..."
• In the same vein as "Hikari", "Passion" was also orchestrated... and in doing so was turned from a fairly good J-Pop song to an awesome mood-setting piece.
• Fans of Utada Hikaru's songs from the first game knew from the commercial for this game that she's back with her song "Sanctuary", being just as lovely as "Hikaru" and "Simple and Clean" before it. Not only that, but there's also "Sanctuary (Ending)" that plays as the ending of the game.
• The 2.5 version of Kingdom Hearts II's take on One-Winged Angel In addition to re-orchestrating it with live instruments, the chorus has been re-recorded, rather than simply re-using the 1997 chorus, as both PS2 versions of OWA did. And it's superlative.
• "The Other Promise", a remix of Roxas's Theme only heard in the Final Mix version of the game. The 2.5 version is, if anything, even sadder. It starts off slow and quiet, but builds to an absolutely gut-wrenching crescendo.
• "Fate of the Unknown" plays during the extended secret ending in the Final Mix. "Sunset Horizons", the wonderfully ominous song that plays during the original secret ending serves as its precursor.
• Running down the Ravine Trail to avenge a boulder-beaned Goofy to "Vim and Vigor" is also epic. When combined with the pairing-up with Final Fantasy characters, it becomes an all-around Crowning X of Awesome.
• "Hazardous Highway", a rockin' piece of Gummi Ship music. The two levels that feature it were already reminiscent of Sonic games, but the music clinches it.
• The other Gummi Ship songs, "Asteroid Attack", "Cloudchasers", and "Floating in Bliss". They sound like something straight out of Disney World.
• "Sinister Shadows" is so beautifully perfect and epic during the Grim Reaper Fight and the 1000 Heartless battle.
• "The Afternoon Streets" plays while controlling Sora in Twilight Town. A short but soothing piece capturing the warmth of a small neighbourhood town, it's one number to relax to.
• "A Twinkle in the Sky", the world selection theme, is simply magical.
• The Gummi Ship themes are all surprisingly peaceful or upbeat, and the levels are kind of goofy, really. Well... all of them but the Star Wars-ish last one, with dreadnoughts of doom blasting the hell out of you, and its epic theme called "Battleship Bravery".
• You want a kickass battle theme? Try "The Encounter"! The best part is that it plays mostly during Disney villain boss fights, so you get a good background song for your Catharsis Factor.
• "The Corrupted", a suitably epic tune for the Colossus Climb boss Groundshaker.
• "A Fight to the Death" accompanies the first phase of the final battle. Perhaps the only track that could possibly match the awesomeness of cutting skyscrapers in half while you soar through the nothingness towards an armored Xemnas sitting on his throne atop the giant dragon airship.
• "Darkness of the Unknown" plays during the multiple phases of the fight against Xemnas.
  • This version of "Darkness of the Unknown" plays against Armored Xemnas 2.
  • The final version nearly matches "Dearly Beloved" in terms of sheer beauty while incorporating the other parts.
• The credits music, "Fantasia Alla Marcia", contains amazing renditions of "Dearly Beloved", "Sora", and most especially "Destati" back to back with "Another Side" at 3:00.
• "Rowdy Rumble" is yet another boss theme. This one plays primarily for the Quirky Miniboss Squad characters, like Lock, Shock, and Barrel, the hyenas, and Pete. It was deemed good enough to appear again in both 358/2 Days and Birth By Sleep.
• "Dance to the Death" is another fun but tense theme which plays for certain bosses, and the Heartless' invasion of Disney Castle.
• "Sora's Theme". Sure, it sounds all light and airy, because Sora's so happy all the time, but underneath it you can hear this steady, driving beat. Not only does it remind you of a heart, but it also shows his sheer determination to find his friends and generally win. It sends shivers down the spine.
• "Working Together". It has such a happy beat to be a battle song, instead making you feel like you want to dance. It is the battle music for real Twilight Town which is more upbeat than the battle music for digital Twilight Town, so it's perfect music to uplift your spirit after the emotional ending of Prolonged Prologue. It is also carried over to be the battle music for Mysterious Tower in Birth by Sleep. The first half has a similar leading melody to "Sinister Sundown", which helps to accentuate the main group's greater confidence compared to Roxas' confusion.
• "Showdown at Hollow Bastion", the theme that plays right before the 1000 Heartless battle.
• "Sacred Moon", the hauntingly awesome theme for The World That Never Was. There's a reason why some keep running around The World That Never Was besides the plot (and seeing Organization XIII's HQ).
• The KHII arrangement of "He's a Pirate", remixed from its original Pirates of the Caribbean form into a battle theme. For fans unsatisfied with the original arrangement, the 2.5 arrangement is far more faithful to Hans Zimmer's original rendition, about ten times more epic, and was far and away the most universally popular track on 2.5's OST.
• The Villain Song "Ursula's Revenge", which many consider to be the one tolerable part of the Atlantica world.
• "Tension Rising" is the kind of music you think of when you are just DESTROYING Nobodies while in Final Form.
• "Riku's Theme" is very dramatic and just lovely.
• "The Home of Dragons", the theme of the Land of Dragons, is kickass. Special mention should go to the 2.5 ReMix version. Some people felt that the original was a bit too screechy because it tried to make the generic PS2 string sample sound Chinese to... mixed results. Their general reception was "this song would be great with real instruments, not so much with MIDI." Sure enough, with 2.5, the re-orchestrated song uses proper Chinese instruments and sounds like it was always meant to.
• The main theme from the Pride Lands world. Makes you want to go on an adventure, doesn't it?
• Final Mix also has "The 13th Reflection", a fast-paced tune to show the Organization's evil and power.
• "Rage Awakened" is a masterpiece for solo violin to shine while everything else goes eerie, fast and frantic to show the brute force of this mysterious walking armour.
• "Cavern of Remembrance" is a mysterious pounding tune to set the stage for the boss Data versions of Organization XIII.
• This game's version of "Arabian Dream" (Agrabah battle) is exciting.
• Same goes for the Underworld tournament theme "Beneath the Ground".
• "The 13th Struggle" (KHII Version). Also known as Axel's Theme.
• And the new Organization XIII boss theme for KHII called "The 13th Dilemma" is really epic.
• "Desire For All That Is Lost". It even makes up for Phil's endless repeating of "GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK!"
• Final Mix and 2.5 ReMIX provided for Christmas Town what a lot of people felt it always should have had: a proper town theme, "What a Surprise?!" and battle theme, "Happy Holidays!"
• The events of Beast's Castle close with a fittingly beautiful instrumental version of "Beauty and the Beast". Kinda makes one wish this sort of thing could have been done with original music from the films in some of the other Disney worlds.
• If you thought the original "Darkness Of The Unknown" was incredible, wait until you hear the 2.5 ReMIX version. The armored Xemnas part is especially intense and amazing.
• Friends In My Heart the somber, sweet, and nostalgic track that plays during Sora, Donald, and Goofy leaving Twilight Town and when Sora and Riku are reunited. The song is sure to bring a tear to the eye. That part of its melody is similar to "Dearly Beloved" only adds to it.
• Sinister Sundown, Roxas' battle theme in Twilight Town, starts out fun and bouncy, but starts to slowly gain more instruments, as if they're warning you that something isn't quite right...