Suspiciously Similar Song / Final Fantasy

• The "Prelude" is predated by an obscure electronic song, Francis Rimbert's "Voices of Paradise" from 1979, which contains a tune very similar to the ascend/descend notes (only half shorter or twice faster). Also, compare to the opening tune of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open The Door". Also, compare to the ending tune of "Mr. Blue Sky" from Electric Light Orchestra (1977).
• The main theme of the series has a lot in common with the track "Misty Roses by Astrud Giblberto. Also, Atreyu's Quest from The Neverending Story. Many fans believing Nobuo Uematsu was directly inspired by that film due to finding many other soundtrack connections between them.
• Final Fantasy
  • The main battle theme uses a similar bass line to "Love Machine" by The Miracles.
  • The Overworld Theme sounds similar to a part of Zigeunerweisen
  • Matoya's Cave sounds similar to "Moscow Evenings" by Vladimir Troshin.
  • The dungeon theme sounds similar to "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
  • "Coneria Castle" sounds very similar to the Russian/Soviet national anthem.
• Final Fantasy II
  • The Rebel Army theme is a soundalike of "Throne Room" from Star Wars: A New Hope.
• Final Fantasy III
  • The underwater theme sounds a lot like "Serenade" by Franz Schubert.
  • The Sylx Tower theme resembles Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair".
• Final Fantasy IV
  • The refrain of the Red Wings' theme sounds like part of the ending credits theme to the Star Wars films. Furthermore, Rydia's theme sounds like the main theme of Summer of 42.
  • Fittingly, Golbez's theme sounds like the Imperial March fed through a classical orchestra.
  • "Melody of Lute" sounds almost exactly like Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier: Prelude No. 1".
  • The airship theme sounds like "Bastian's Happy Flight" from The Neverending Story.
• Final Fantasy V
  • The game's main theme sounds like a cross between the "Raiders' March" from the Indiana Jones series and theme from the Back to the Future franchise.
  • Exdeath's theme, at its beginning, sounds like a sped-up version of the shower scene music from Psycho.
  • Exdeath's battle theme features snippets that sound similar to the final boss theme of Dragon Quest III.
  • "Clash on the Big Bridge", aka Gilgamesh's Theme, is a weird lovechild between the keyboard sections of Quicksilver Messenger Service's "Edward The Mad Shirt Grinder" and bridges from "Hotel California".
• Final Fantasy VI
  • Compare "Spinach Rag" to "Invention No. 15 in B Minor, BWV 786" by J.S. Bach.
  • Locke's Theme and the theme of Back to the Future.
  • One that falls between this and orchestration: Terra's Theme from Final Fantasy VI and Alkan's La Chanson De La Folle Au Bord De La Mer which dates to 1847. The beginning of Alkan's piece is very close to that theme apart from it being slower and for piano.
  • The title theme sounds like "Thus Spake Zarathustra" played on an organ. It also resembles Kraftwerk's Trans Europa Express.
  • The first few bars of Shadow's theme sound a lot like the opening theme to The Virginian. Of course, it also sounds very similar to the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
  • "Johnny C. Bad" is named after Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" but is more thematically similar to "Rock This Town" by the Stray Cats. The bassline sounds like it was ripped straight from Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't".
  • The intro to Celes's theme (before it transitions into a reprise of "Aria de Mezzo Carattere") bears no small resemblance to the file select/fairy fountain theme from The Legend of Zelda series. Parts of the main melody also sound similar to "Quei Giorni Insieme A Te'' from Don't Torture a Duckling.
  • Then there's "Slam Shuffle", or Nobuo Uematsu's take on The Pink Panther theme.
  • "Terra" shares a bassline with the Mars Movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets.
  • "Dancing Mad" sounds quite a bit like Triumvirat's "The Burning Sword of Capua". The more rocky parts of the tune seem to have been inspired by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, "Tarkus" in particular.
  • "The Magic House", and the unused dungeon music from Final Fantasy II on which it's based, both sound just like Mozart's "Rondo Alla Turca".
  • "Kids in the Street Corner" is essentially a more medieval-sounding version of the 60's hit "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto. The key, multiple chords and parts of the bassline are taken straight from Sakamoto's song in a really obvious manner, and even the instrumentation is similar, as both songs use a string section and an acoustic bass.
  • "Techno de Chocobo" sounds like "Technopolis" by Yellow Magic Orchestra.
  • "Mystic Forest"'s beginning is essentially part of "Is There Anybody Out There?" by Pink Floyd, arranged with a choir.
  • One part in "Epitaph" is taken directly from "Moonchild" by King Crimson. Another song from the same album (In the Court of the Crimson King) is fittingly also called "Epitaph", though it doesn't have any obvious similarities to Uematsu's song.
• Final Fantasy VII
  • The iconic battle music sounds like a rock cover of Blue Rondo a La Turk by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
  • The music that plays during the intro scenes resembles the "Tunnel Chase" music from the first Terminator movie.
  • "Gold Saucer" is clearly inspired by "Herr Jesu Christ, Dich Zu Uns Wend (BMV 655)".
  • The first part (before the choir comes in) of "One-Winged Angel" sounds a lot like the music from the shower scene in Psycho. The chorus also seems at least inspired by the second part of "Dancing Mad" from Final Fantasy VI.
  • "Electric de Chocobo" is basically the Chocobo theme pretending to be "Wipeout" by The Surfaris.
  • "Cinco de Chocobo" is in turn a pastiche of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's jazz standard "Take Five".
  • "Forested Temple" resembles the Habanera from the opera Carmen, the bells of the FF7 piece in particular syncing well to the Habanera.
  • Aerith's theme is basically a reinterpretation of Final Fantasy VI's opera climax.
  • "Fight On!", the main boss theme, borrows from Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" in its intro. A later part, including the chorus, is actually a relatively unknown part of Final Fantasy VI's opera theme sped up. It also sounds similar to Motörhead's "Jailbait", along with "M-93R" by the Japanese metal band Action!.
  • "Anxious Heart"'s intro is lifted note-for-note from Kraftwerk's Spacelab.
  • The refrain of Tifa's theme resembles the "sad walking-away music" from The Incredible Hulk (1977).
  • It also sounds a lot like the Twin Peaks theme.
  • The theme of Costa del Sol sounds like "And I Love Her" by the Beatles.
  • It also sounds like "Oye Como Va", which is originally by Tito Puente, but the rock band Santana's version of it is more well-known.
  • "Underneath the Rotting Pizza"'s bassline sounds a lot like "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys, which is fitting considering the lyrics of the song.
  • "Who... Am I?" sounds like the theme to The Fog (1980). The director and composer of that movie also happens to have directed The Thing (1982), which is known for seemingly having inspired Jenova.
  • The Mako Reactor theme partly resembles "There's a World" by Neil Young.
  • "J-E-N-O-V-A" starts with a sine wave arpeggio that sounds like a note-for-note rip of the strings beginning Paul Mauriat's cover of "Les feuilles mortes".
  • "Shinra, Inc. resembles Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".
• Final Fantasy VIII
  • There's a track called "The Landing", which plays when your team lands in Dollet to fight the Galbadian army. In the demo version of the game, the track was an altered version of the main theme from The Rock. Apparently, it wasn't altered enough, as the track was changed for the actual game. Maybe someone involved with the movie complained.
  • "Ultimecia's Castle" starts off with an organ section identical or extremely similar to one found in the final battle of Final Fantasy VI (which itself borrows liberally from Bach's "Toccata & Fugue").
  • "Eyes on Me" (and all its related tracks) repeats a phrase from Tifa's theme in Final Fantasy VII - listen for "You'd always be there in the corner of this tiny little bar", appropriately enough.
  • "Fisherman's Horizon" sounds similar to "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto.
• Final Fantasy IX
  • The opening song sounds like "Stairway to Heaven". Uematsu has said Led Zeppelin is one of his favourite bands.
  • The main battle theme sounds like a cross between those from Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VIII.
  • Compare "Kuja's Theme" to "We Will Rock You" by Queen. One of the more obvious ones.
  • Kuja's theme is a remix of Final Fantasy V's Slumber of the Ancient Earth.
  • "Melodies of Life" has a beat similar to "We Are the Champions."
  • Freya's theme identically to Philip Glass' "Glassworks".
  • "Evil Mist" contains a part which is a note-for-note rip of part of the intro to "Watcher of the Skies" by Genesis.
  • Kuja's theme (and all its variations) is actually a combination of Chrono Trigger's "Tyrano Lair" and aspects of "Silent Light" (the main dungeon theme), both of which were also written by Nobuo Uematsu.
• Final Fantasy XIII
  • The Vile Peaks music sounds like a more upbeat version of Yuki Kajiura's "Les Soldats", complete with very similar ominous chanting.
• Final Fantasy XIII-2
  • The beginning of "Starting Over" is remarkably similar to "Flawless" by The Ones.
  • The climax of "Caius's Theme" and all of its variations sounds like "A Pressing Need to Save the World" from Doctor Who.
• Final Fantasy XIV
  • The boss theme that plays in the second phase of Sephirot's boss battle sounds very similar to the Powerman 5000 song "When Worlds Collide." In fact, Powerman 5000 in their Facebook page claims that Sephirot's boss theme is "a straight up rip off" of their song.
  • Good King Moggle Mog's boss battle theme resembles "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
  • The popular song "Calling for Rain" opens with a guitar riff that sounds remarkably similar to "Greko (Sketch)" by Kevin MacLeod, and also to "Tipično Muški", a Eurodance song by the Croatian group Colonia. Of course, Kevin Macleod specializes in composing music specifically in the public domain, so "Calling for Rain" might have more legitimacy than most examples.
• Final Fantasy XV
  • The Playroom theme from the Platinum Demo sounds exactly like the orgy theme from Conan the Barbarian.
• Final Fantasy Tactics
  • The final boss victory jingle borrows from the last few notes of the song "You Are My Sunshine."