Awesome Music / SNK

The Band of Fighters! (Yes, that's a real thing.)

SNK may be best known for their assembly line of cheap, sadistic bastards, but hey, at least the stellar soundtracks made the beatdown something to look forward to.

Individual Games/Series:

• The King of Fighters

Franchise-Wide Leitmotifs

Yes. SNK has songs that are so omnipresent throughout the entirety of their games portfolio that they get their own section.

Psycho Soldier

• The main theme of the titular game, which was notable for featuring down-sampled vocals within the arcade sound chip at the time. It was later repurposed as the main theme of Athena Asamiya in KOF.
  • The original version had two different regional versions for Japan (with vocals from Kaori Shimizu) and overseas. There was also a studio version, also recorded by Shimizu, that was only available via a cassette tape in Japan that was packaged with the NES version of the game.
  • Psycho Soldier (KOF Version), the theme of the Psycho Soldier Team in KOF '94. While the original game version lacks vocals, the arranged version has the lyrics from the original song performed by Reiko Fukui, Athena's voice actress at the time.
  • Psycho Soldier Remix '96 gives the song a '90s dance mix flavor. The arranged version once again features vocals, this time from Atehna's '96 voice actress Tamao Satoh.
  • Psycho Soldier Remix '97, on the other hand, decides to go with J-Pop influences. The arranged version really shows off the pop influences, and it's especially reflected in the vocals from Yukina Kurisu, Athena's '97 voice actress.
  • It came back in 2002, this time with a more rock-themed instrumentation, and ended up getting rearranged for Unlimited Match as Psycho Soldier ~Super Chinese Remix~ in another dance mix style with Chinese elements incorporated akin to the team's '95 theme.
  • With the release of the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, a new version of the song was included sung by Athena's current voice actress, Haruna Ikazawa. It even takes a section from the English version. This version of the song is also used in King of Fighters XV when Athena is fighting on the concert hall stage.

For Geese

The theme of Geese Howard, and one of the most iconic series of boss themes in fighting game history.

• A Kiss for Geese, the very first theme for SNK's iconic Final Boss. Pure, unadulterated rock from beginning to end that lets you know that you are in for the fight of your life.
  • The arranged version from the Image Album is a unique club-style arrangement that precedes the Cyber Edit by several years.
  • A Kiss for Geese -Cyber Edit- turns the song into a menacing, distorted techno remix that almost feels incomplete, reflecting Geese's younger self lacking the experience he would later gain by killing Jeff Bogard and attaining the Jin Scrolls. The arranged version sounds like something you'd hear at a live DJ performance. It was eventually brought back in KOF XIV as the theme for Ryo vs. Geese, combining elements from both the original and arranged versions.
  • Kissed by Geese serves as the 2nd round theme of Geese in Fatal Fury 3 and Real Bout Fatal Fury. It carries a sense of dread, but also decisiveness to it, as this is Geese's final battle in Fatal Fury canon before he dies for good. It actually received 2 arranged versions. One in Fatal Fury 3 that signifies Geese's grand canonical return, and another in Real Bout Fatal Fury that has a much more climactic feeling, featuring a wickedly distorted bassline.
  • One More Kiss for Geese from Maximum Impact manages to combine both aspects of "A Kiss for Geese" and "Soy Sauce for Geese" to create an absolutely epic fusion of hard rock and Japanese instruments.
• Soy Sauce for Geese. The most iconic version of Geese's theme, and one that marked a completely unexpected event - him coming Back from the Dead. This single theme fully encompasses who Geese is as a character - an unrepentantly evil bastard and formidable warrior with his own personal code of pride and honor. It's so iconic that they remastered it as the theme of Nightmare Geese in Real Bout Special and again as Soy Sauce for Geese with Orchestra Hit for Real Bout 2 and King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match as the theme of EX Geese, fittingly showing that even in death, Geese's very legacy is enough to haunt the cast, and by extension, you. It got another arrangement in XI for the console version.
  • The Fatal Fury Special arranged version, the first of many, takes on a feel very similar to that of Samurai Shodown, featuring a blend of traditional Japanese instruments in addition to rocking guitars.
  • The Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and 2 arranged version, also used in '98 Ultimate Match as the arranged theme of EX Geese, offers a drastically different take on the song. One that is suitably more fitting for Nightmare Geese. It forgoes the Japanese instruments and is instead a heavy metal number with a very dark, imposing tone and hauntingly chilling guitar riffs. It almost gives the impression that it's a funeral dirge and final tribute to Geese.
  • Soy Sauce for Geese ~End of the First Nightmare~ serves as his boss theme in the non-canon Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition. A much darker take on his theme with an absolutely sinister ambience, rather than being a traditional rock track it is now a slow, pulse-pounding techno number. The arranged version extends the song and grants it a much more terrifying presence.
  • Soy Sauce for Geese -KOF XIV ver.- is used for rival matches between Terry and Geese. It combines the Japanese and heavy metal elements of past arrangements to give a simple but effective message: Geese is back.
  • KOF XV gives us yet another remix of "Soy Sauce for Geese", this time performed in the style of Samurai Shodown, which means the traditional rock sound that Geese's theme is known for, but now with SamSho's epic orchestral backing and full emphasis on Japanese instruments. Ladies and gentlemen, the aptly-named Soy Sauce and a Dash of Sake for Geese.
• Stiff Shoulders for Geese heralds Geese's playable debut into the world of King of Fighters, and boy howdy does it deliver. By far one of the most imposing versions of his theme to date, the ominous choir and overall darker tone of the theme compared to the other versions almost makes it feel as though Geese has conquered Hell itself in order to return. Even in this alternate timeline where he isn't dead, Geese's very legacy grants him immortality. The arranged version, befitting the symbolism, is an orchestral heavy metal arrangement. It received another arrangement in XIII, though this time used as the alternative theme of Billy Kane, showing that Geese is always lurking in the shadows and that no KOF tournament is ever truly free of his influence.
• Mustard for Geese serves as his theme in King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match. This time, the rock elements take to the background, while the Japanese instruments are brought to the forefront.
• As part of the soundtrack collection celebrating the 15th anniversary of Fatal Fury, a new arrangement was made titled An Ego for Geese - a jazz-style rendition of his theme, befitting his nature as a notorious crime lord.

Fatal Fury

• Geese Howard's recurring theme. The minute you hear that, you know that you're gettin' an asskicking. Geese's leitmotif is definitely one of the more iconic (and oft-rearranged) SNK themes. Aside from the aforementioned Fatal Fury 3 theme ("Geese ni Chuushite"/"Give Geese a Kiss"), the "Geese ni" series has seen many a rearrangement: Geese ni Kissu (A Kiss for Geese) from Fatal Fury -> Geese ni Kissu ~Cyber Edit~ from Art of Fighting 2 -> Geese ni Shouyu (Soy Sauce for Geese) in Fatal Fury Special -> Geese ni Kattakoi (Stiff Shoulders for Geese) in KOF '96 -> A rock-oriented version of Geese ni Shouyu from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special -> Geese ni Shoyu ~Ichiban Akumu no Hate~ (Soy Sauce for Geese ~The End of the First Nightmare~) in Fatal Fury Wild Ambition -> another version of Geese ni Kattakoi in KOF XI -> Kiss Geese Once More in KOF Maximum Impact 2. This culminated with Geese ni Mustard (Mustard for Geese) in KOF 2002: Unlimited Match. It surfaces again in KOF XIV in two different remixes: one when Terry and Geese face each other, and one when Ryo and Geese face each other, the latter a call back to the fight with young Geese in Art of Fighting 2. It's even awesome when other composers remix it, such as for Geese's stage in Tekken 7.
• Dies Irae, Wolfgang Krauser's theme. Mozart is the perfect tune for a fight with a big German guy. It gets quite the imposing remix in the form of Maximum Impact's Requiem.

• All the music in Garou: Mark of the Wolves qualifies.
  • Take a good long listen to Invincible Mask and sau it doesn't fit the awesomely heroic pro wrestling phenomenon that is Tizoc, the Griffon Mask.
  • Slacking off can be awesome, especially with more rocks on Loose Genius, Dong Hwan's theme.
  • For something more heartfelt (no pun intended) and relaxing, there's Full Moon: Heartful, Hotaru Futaba's theme.

• Exceed the Limits, Rick Strowd's theme from Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 fits the character well; that is to say it's pure awesome. While we are on the subject of the Fatal Fury Series, let us turn to our attention to Alfred Airhawk, also from Real Bout 2. (No, not Dominated Mind like everyone else thinks.) Get the Sky ~With Your Dreams~ fits Alfred quite well, actually.

• One word: Kurinkinton (Well, actually, it's four: "Chestnuts and Mashed Potatoes"). Odd name aside, Terry's peppy and upbeat trademark theme is always a great addition to any game. The KOF 2002 version deserves special mention, as do Kuri To Itsu Made Mo ("Chestnuts and Forever") from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special/Real Bout Fatal Fury 2/KOF '97 and Kurikinton ~Gomame Guitar Ver.~ from KOF '98.
  • Most of Terry's other themes are of equal caliber. His list of greats includes Big Shot! from Fatal Fury 3/Real Bout Fatal Fury/KOF XI (complete with an acoustic version in KOF '96), 11th Street from Fatal Fury Wild Ambition, Sunrise on the Train from Garou: Mark of the Wolves, 176th Street from KOF '99, and Terry 115 from KOF 2000.
  • Napolitan Blues from '94, Club M ~ Flute Under Blue Sky from '95, and Prolongnation from 2003 weren't too shabby either. Honestly, Terry really can't do any wrong and his teammates (who sometimes drew the short end of the stick when it came to music, especially Joe) benefitted from being grouped with him.
• Blue Mary's Blues from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special/Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 and KOF '97. Not only it is a soothing yet melancholy song, but Harumi Ikoma, Blue Mary's seiyuu, actually provides the vocals. (For those who want to hear the non-vocal version, here you go.)
  • Blue Mary also has Kiss Me from Fatal Fury 3 and Real Bout. Not as good as "Blue Mary's Blues", but still good. Here's the arranged version, and here's the KOF XIV version.
  • While we're on the subject of the Ryan family, Kevin Ryan/Rian has Wilderness Policeman. What it sounds like is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Here's the arranged version.
• Much like the refreshingly good hip-hop provided by the American Sports Team, a similar case can be made for the themes of everyone's favorite Southtown DJ, Duck King. Whether it's Shitamachi no Abarenbou (The Wild Boy from Downtown) from the original Fatal Fury, Duck Dub Dub from Fatal Fury Special/KOF XI, or Duck Duck Duck! from the Real Bout series, the sound team knows how to churn out snazzy tracks. Props to Kong Kuwata (as in the seiyuu of Duck King and Geese) for actually rapping in a few of Duck's themes.
• Ole! Laurence Blood, bullfighter extraordinate from Fatal Fury, has some fiesty themes backed by a magical Spanish guitar. There's Hataraku Tougyuushi (The Hard-Working Bullfighter) from 2/Special and Ushi to Otawamure (Playing Around with Bulls) from Real Bout Special/Real Bout 2.
• Ti!! Ti!! Ti!! Ti!!, the hard rock theme of Hot-Blooded composite Jackie Chan-Bruce Lee Clone Hon Fu from Fatal Fury 3/Real Bout Fatal Fury. WAAAATAAAAA!!!
• Pangyago Houho, the Fatal Fury 2/Special theme of Acrofatic Chinese brawler Cheng Sinzan. It even gets a remix in the form of Hapushu! Fuuu in the Real Bout series.
• Gori-Rock, Franco Bash's theme from Real Bout Fatal Fury Special/2. What do ya know? The guy wasn't lying when he said he was a "DYNAMOOOOOOO!". OH MY GAWWWD! His previous theme, White/Shiroi Franco, sounds very awesomely inspiring like bringing in a training theme from Rocky into a fighting stage.
• C62 -Shirokuni-, the theme of Ryuji Yamazaki. A very casual but rocking tune that shifts around wildly between soft and hard to match Yamazaki's unstable psyche. The arranged version also sounds a lot like "Young Lust" by Pink Floyd. It gets a pretty neat remix in KOF XIV.
• Fatal Fury Wild Ambition is a bad game with even worse graphics... and awesome music, such as boss Terry's theme. It's not every day you get to fight the main hero as a final boss, especially not with a grand-scale epic remake of one of his classic themes blasting in the background.
  • The themes for Billy and Raiden encapsulates each of their characters. With Billy, it's all about his Brit punk and rock background. With Raiden, it sounds like a solid wrestling entrance theme for NJPW.
• Raiden's original theme is very kickass because it paints the picture of bone-breaking violence and malevolence that builds as the tracks keeps going.
• While Oh Angel is from The Movie and not a specific game, it's the perfect song to close an epic adventure.
• Kim Kaphwan's theme of "Let's Go to Seoul" really captures the heart and soul of the heroic Kim with its pulsing beat and action-packed pace. This goes double for the arranged version, of course.

Art of Fighting

• The theme of Ryuhaku Todoh from Art of Fighting, which will return in Art of Fighting 2 as Ryo Sakazaki's theme "Uma-to-Boku", and one more time in KOF 98, cementing its status as theme of Art of Fighting series.
• Jack Turner's theme is okay, but it's the PC-Engine arrange that makes it awesome. His theme in the sequel, however, is awesome on its own, and while the arrange version makes the song more upbeat, you gotta love that sax.

• King's theme and Kabocha-To Piero in the sequel. KOF XIV has a remix of King's first Art of Fighting theme that plays when Ryo and King face each other.
• Mickey Rodgers's theme in the first game perfectly captures his design as an gritty underground boxer, while his theme in the second game does so again with more Rocky atmosphere.

• Mr. Big's theme, returns as Blue Moon Factory in the sequel. During his appearance in KOF 96 as a part of Boss team, he got Dust Man. There was also a scrapped version of his theme for the SNES that was probably more interesting than his arcade theme.

• Yuri Sakazaki is in the middle of the Diet!. Also serves as the Women team theme in 2002, and makes another appearance in XI.

• The music for the third games is stage based and most of them are based on the same tune, but that doesn't stop it from being awesome.

Samurai Shodown

• From Samurai Shodown, Tuna, the theme of series' staple McNinja Galford D. Weiler. It even has a live version, and a few awesome remixes.
• Samurai Shodown Warrior's Rage has a brilliant arranged soundtrack and may be the single greatest music SNK has has ever done. First off, there is Asura's theme which is very dark, yet very tragic sounding. Then we have Haohmaru's appropriately named theme which probably suits him as a character as well as any theme can possibly suit a character. Galford and Nakoruru get probably the best versions of their themes to date, and to say nothing of the boss themes... Gandara has a fittingly ominous track for a giant... THING and Yuga's theme has a dark and terrifying sound that lets you know what kind of being you are up against.
• Speaking of Samurai Shodown, Three Destinies Of Lamentation, the theme of the insane ghost, Basara Kubikiri. Arranged version is even more awesome!
• The dark, gritty tone of the fourth episode is accompanied by a fitting soundtrack made of ominous minimalism. The arranged version of Demon's Song -Revised-, notable for being the only other hard rock track in the game next to Tuna, and actually being better than the original version.
• From the fifth game, Yoshitora's theme is best described as "Tuna + Shamisen + Awesome."
• Three words: Revive the Soul. Samurai Shodown is back, and it's brought the same epic caliber of music that it used to have along with it via the opening theme of the reboot.
• From the 2019 installation, we have Way of the Crook, Earthquake's theme, blending traditional Japanese instrumentation together with heavy metal guitar riffs into a perfect fit for a huge, heavy guy like Earthquake.
• Shrieking Abyss, musical theme for the ever Ax-Crazy Basara, complete with a slightly discordant feel to mirror his insanity.
• "What is Strength?" heralds the entrance of The Warden to the Samurai Shodown universe, and what better way to do so than with a powerful orchestral piece with powerful drumming to back it up? The theme itself is a remix of the original Knights Theme from For Honor. The Samurai Shodown remix of The Warden's theme would then be used in the For Honor home game for Season 3 "Resistance".
• When you're bringing over a Guest Fighter from a series whose creator is practically synonymous with awesome music, you had better be ready to bring the thunder music-wise. And bring the thunder SNK did with Baiken's Samurai Shodown theme "Smoking Hot". It's metal as all hell, as befitting a Guilty Gear character, makes great use of the traditional Japanese instruments Samurai Shodown is known for, and has one of the best takes on Baiken's Recurring Riff from "Momentary Life".

Metal Slug

• The original version of Final Attack has shown up since Metal Slug 2, and it's so badass that it became the most recurrent leitmotif in the series. The two times the original version is used, you're fighting a mothership with Morden's army or engaging into a dramatic showdown with Rootmars. Anyway, this song is guaranteed to make you feel badass enough to fight an entire army and win.

• Metal Slug 3 keeps the trend of awesome music alive. Into the Cosmos is equal parts rocking and otherworldly, perfect for the opening stages of the final level's Battleship Raid.

• The only thing Metal Slug 4 didn't recycle was the music, and it is amazing:
  • Secret Place (misnamed "Furiously" on the OST). Especially when the piano part starts playing.
  • Snowy Road ("Let's Run Through!" on the OST) sounds like a James Bond theme cranked up to eleven.
  • Furiously ("Secret Place" on the OST) may be the most ominous boss theme in the series.
• Metal Slug 5 may be unfinished, but it still manages to have the most hard-rocking soundtrack in the series:
  • The Metal Slug 5 version of Final Attack, the Final Boss music used in damn near every game - now with more metal!
  • The stellar guitars from Heavy African.
  • Intrigue is one of the most hard-rocking stage themes in the game.

• If the soundtracks of Radiant Silvergun and any Cave shooter had a child together, the Metal Slug 6 soundtrack would be that child:
  • The character select theme, Last Resort is all kinds of crazy awesome.
  • Asian Impact is one of the most catchy electronica themes to hit arcades.
  • The Metal Slug 6 version of Final Attack subverts the usual tone of the song with a surprise drop after the intro into a dark and foreboding theme that slowly raises in intensity, from a slow, abstract melody that sounds truly "alien" to a pounding, thrashing climax that really sells the Knight of Cerebus nature of the Invaders.
  • "Discharge" is a unique theme for the Final Boss, having more of a horror vibe in contrast to the standard "Final Attack" that played throughout the series. Listen closely at the beginning, and you can hear a heartbeat, as if the player character were afraid. And when those drums kick in, you KNOW you're in for a really intense fight with an alien.

Others

• Every boss theme from NeoGeo Battle Coliseum. And not just the boss themes. Try The Castle? Antenna. here's SNK Planet Cafe with an even more awesome arranged version. Even the How To Play theme is awesome!
• While it may not be from a fighting game, Dark Ran's theme from Twinkle Star Sprites, Rosselian, is a work of art. And that's not even getting into its arranged version.
• Another non-fighting example: Neo Turf Masters has possibly the best music of any golf game ever produced. The BGM for the Germany course in particular stands out.
• Despite being a mediocre game, Rage of the Dragons had some swinging tunes.
  • Most memorable by far was the theme to Jimmy and Sonia's stage.
  • Yohan/Johann's theme, Statelessness.

• And here's some from Kizuna Encounter: Slums, Toll-road, Skyscraper Construction, and Docks. Gotta love that guitar.
• Another non-fighter example: The Stage 5 theme of Mutation Nation.
• Ugly Hero, Astro Guy's theme in the first King of the Monsters.
• Buriki One might be an obscure game on an equally obscure arcade system but its soundtrack turned out to be great! In High Gear, Gai Tendo's theme, has also been remixed for King of Fighters XI.

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