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Theme Music Power Up / Video Games

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  • Ace Combat:
    • Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, whenever something particularly awesome happens the Latin guitar from the final boss fight kicks in for a short duration. And of course there is that final boss music.
    • Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War has "The Unsung War", which combines your theme song with Ominous Latin Chanting for 7 minutes of awesome. Did I mention the fact that you're shooting down a SATELLITE while being attacked by the best aces of the last war?
    • The entire series has a tradition of playing the game's main theme during the climactic battle.
    • Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown continues the fun with "Daredevil", a magnificent arrangement of the game's main theme that reaches its crescendo when the Arsenal Bird's energy shield is taken down, allowing the assembled battle group to take it down once and for all.
  • In Age of Mythology, when the player's units attack an opponent's major buildings (Town Center, Palace, etc.) the music switches to a more stirring track.
  • Asura's Wrath has Surge of Mantra, which is played upon Asura getting his ultimate form through the power of prayer and to beat down the will oof the planet's ass flat.
  • Awesomenauts has this in two ways. If you are on a killing spree a remix of your character's theme is playing. If your whole team is on a killing spree , that CMOA will be accompanied by its "main theme".
  • Azure Striker Gunvolt Series:
    • Whenever your Kudos score reaches 1000, the main BGM will be overridden by the song of Lumen/Lola playing. Nothing beats the adrenaline rush of obliterating every foe while listening to its catchy and energetic tune, and in LAiX2, this is the only way for Copen to make use of his Bullit Shift liberally since otherwise, he can only fly once before descending. In ASGV3 racking the score to 4000 while Lumen's song is still playing will have her sing Memoria of He and reaching 10000 will replace it with Traces.
    • In the first LAiX, activating Darkness Trigger will have Lola transform into an evil version of her Idol Mode and the song Beyond Probability will play over a BGM. Copen's EX Weapons will be of unlimited use as Lola's system is in an overdrive, but this comes at the cost of draining his HP if any of his enemies aren't tagged and annihilated to satiate her blood lust. It serves as an accessory option in LAiX2 after defeating Kurona (minus the unlimited EX Weapon use and steadily draining Copen's HP to 1).
    • Azure Striker Gunvolt loves this trope:
      • The game justifies it: Joule's Septima ability, The Muse, increases the power of Adepts to extraordinary levels (as well as revive the dead) by singing. This is the reason why many people want to obtain it.
      • When Lumen uses Anthem during the first game, Gunvolt revives with full health, unlimited EP, ability to air dash and air jump with no limit, and "Reincarnation" overrides the BGM.
    • The sequel Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 extends the mechanic to Copen due to Lola obtaining the power of the Muse. In his case, "Igniter" overrides the BGM. The sequel also manages to invoke this trope. To stop the Final Boss's otherwise Nigh-Invulnerable Desperation Attack, Gunvolt invokes the Muse's Anthem, "Reincarnation". Then a mic prompt appears in the top left, and the lyrics appear onscreen. That's right, you need to sing the song to defeat the final boss. Once you sing the opening lines, the song proper begins playing while the battle resumes, accompanied by onscreen lyrics for you to sing. Finally, the sequel plays with this trope in an unexpected way. Mytyl uses Anthem and the duet version of "Indigo Destiny" plays, not for you, but for the True Final Boss. Cue Oh, Crap! reaction from the player.
  • In Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel, activating Wonderwing plays the Banjo-Kazooie title theme. Though not as dramatically, so does donning a pair of the special shoes.
  • Baten Kaitos Origins:
    • The True Final Boss knocks the Power Trio on its ass a few minutes into the fight, but then Malpercio gives Sagi a Rousing Speech, 'Le Ali Del Principio' starts up, and the trio get back on their feet. And this time, you know it's going down.
    • Earlier than that, the songs 'The Power of a Pure Heart and the Path to the Distant Future' and 'Bitter Enemies in the Same Boat' are both used at powering-up points (namely, the end of the Heart-to-Heart and when Sagi first gets the power to destroy machina arma, respectively).
  • Used as a game mechanic in Beat Hazard, the more intense the music you plug into it, the more powerful and more spread your shots are. You can also grab volume up powerups to make it that much better. On the other hand, intense music makes explosions larger and makes enemies and their shots that much harder to see.
  • The True Final Boss of Blaster Master reuses the epic Stage 7 theme.
  • In the console version of BlazBlue, if a player performs Bang Shishigami's Furinkazan super move, the music suddenly changes to a brand-new song by Hironobu Kageyama called "Omae no Tetsui ni Kugi wo Ute". It's an over-the-top song about how much of a Hot-Blooded badass Bang is. And it is awesome.
  • In Bleach: The 3rd Phantom, whenever a character activates their Bankai or Release, in Grimmjow's case, an instrumental version of the game's theme song plays. Same with the cutscene where you acquire (depending on Free Time choices) either Rengoku, Rasen, Shunko, or Bankai.
  • Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night: If Miriam equips Zangetsu's sword during the battle against his nemesis, the normal boss theme is replaced by Zangetsu's theme and your attacks will always land critical hits on the boss.
  • In Bomberman Generation, the boss battles start off with a slower, more foreboding version of the game's Theme Song. However, when Bomberman brings a boss's health down to critical levels, the music changes to the main theme.
  • Bravely Default has music that starts playing when you activate a special move. Each character has a different theme for this. In a quite literal example, status buffs are applied to the party after using the moves that last exactly as long as the music does; you can extend their effects by using another special, as its music will override the previous one's but the buffs will carry over.
    • The game also combines this trope with Last Episode Theme Reprise in the final boss theme. After the heroes recieve the aid they need in order to stop Ouroboros from devouring the other worlds, and the fight draws towards the end, the music first plays a reprise of all four characters' themes, building in intensity, before launching into a triumphant final reprise of the game's main theme.
    • Bravely Second and Bravely Default II both continue the trend of playing the characters' themes during special moves. They also incorporate said themes into the end of their final boss tracks.
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has this in arcade mode when you reach a x8 score multiplier. While it is not the official theme of the game that plays and your abilities don't change, it does indicate that you have killed a huge amount of enemies in a short time, so it is more of an indication of how bad ass you are.
  • Captain America and the Avengers would play a cool Super-Hero type music when the level's boss was down below 30% health.
  • Castlevania:
    • During the second fight with Dracula in Super Castlevania IV, the music changes from the level music to Simon Belmont's theme. Note that this has worked in reverse as well; Dracula's theme music, Dance of Illusions, usually plays in the fights where he's the most difficult to defeat (like in Dracula X, where the battle takes place over a series of bottomless pits).
    • Two examples of this one in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. In the first example, when you enter the boss room for The Arena, the normal boss music plays, as a cloud of bats flies outward and reforms into one Giant Bat. Then, a giant hand stretches out from the background (a huge shattered cage) and crushes the bat in its grip, just as the music changes to an entirely new boss theme. You end up fighting Balore (a giant ogre), one of the tougher bosses in the game.
      The second example is in the extended ending. If you fight the normal final boss, Graham, a certain way, you will inherit Dracula's powers once you defeat him. This allows you access to a previously sealed area of the castle... where you get to fight Julius Belmont himself! The battle is a tough one, too — especially because Julius has the best theme music in the game.
  • In Cave Story the battle with Ballos has three different songs. His first form is accompanied by "Gravity," the normal boss music. Then when you reach his second form, the music switches over to "Eyes of Flame," which is usually reserved for more dangerous bosses. Finally, his third and fourth forms come with a side of "Last Battle," the background music to the battle with the Undead Core.
  • In Celeste, the most epic variation of the main theme is deployed in Chapter 7, the final leg of the main story.
  • Child of Eden fully powers up "Heavenly Star", the Genki Rockets' Signature Song, at the end of the final battle, after two remixes of it in the preceding Boss Rush and Sequential Boss battle.
  • Child of Light's Final Boss theme, "Hymn of Light", is an Ominous Latin Chanting-heavy arrangement of Aurora's theme.
  • When the main plot of Chrono Trigger starts up, they even let you bask in the theme music during enemy encounters.
    • Also, characters' personal themes. Frog is particularly notable for this.
    • Magus has a theme song that's awesome enough when your party is fighting him. However, if you happen to have him in your party when fighting a Optional Boss, his mother, he personally taunts his enemy and replaces the normal boss song with his own.
    • When Dalton commandeers the Epoch, he complains about the heroic music (which is in fact the main protagonist's theme) that starts as it engages ("No, no, no, no...! Stop the music!") and replaces it with a more villainous tune. ("Ha! There we go!")
  • Command & Conquer: Generals:
    • While you can choose the music playing in the earlier Command & Conquer, in Tiberian Sun: Firestorm, when Cabal activated his last line of defense, a huge and powerful Humongous Mecha, the song "Slave To The System" immediately plays unless you switch off the music. This applies for both GDI and NOD versions of the mission.
    • Also in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, the background music immediately changes when the player's unit is engaging the enemy in battle (and likewise changed again when the battle ends, to different songs depending on whether you won or lost).
  • Control normally has a more ambient soundtrack with no real song that could be called its theme... except for Take Control, which is played during a particularly cinematic sequence. During that level Jesse's abilities do significantly more damage as the House itself starts helping her.
  • When you fight Fire Fossil or any of the Final Bosses in Darius' G-Darius, with the exception of Lighting Coronatus, the main theme Adam plays.
  • Dark Souls III the final battle appears to have been won when the Soul of Cinder falls to the ground. However seconds later the piano keys of Gwyn ring in the background, Soul of Cinder gets on its feet charges its blade and channels the soul of the original Lord of Cinder Gwyn himself starting the real final boss.
  • The final mission of Dawn of War 2 switches on this when The Cavalry shows up and you get to go on the offensive.
  • Def Jam: Icon. When two players fight, they each choose a song. Whomever is winning the fight will have "their" background music playing (and the background shimmies and dances to its beat). Certain areas of the level explode during bass hits, and the fighters actually control the music by making DJ scratching motions in the air to wound their opponent. See how it works here, though the lyrics are NSFW.
  • Devil May Cry has dozens of awesome music tracks for bosses and the like, but here are the real standouts.
  • The final boss of Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, comes in three stages. The first stage has a unique battle theme, the second is recycled from earlier, but the third plays Raidou's theme, as a nice reminder of just how epic he is.
    • The themes of the final boss isn't about how grand he is as much as it is about Raidou kicking his ass.
  • Disgaea is fond of this. An interesting point is Kurtis' awesome return, which makes the music his theme by default.
    • Also, the anime switches to an instrumental version of Lord Laharl's Hymn whenever the Prince gets angry. But that's nothing next to what The earth SDF does when their theme music is first played.
  • The little-known unlicensed Mega Drive shooter Divine Sealing plays its title screen music during a boss encounter.
  • The Double Dragon title theme is played during the final battle in the first game instead of the usual boss theme. Return of Double Dragon (the Japanese version of Super Double Dragon) is the only other game in the series to do this as well.
  • In Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2, when you activate Raging Soul, the battle music turns from normal to the theme song sung by Hironobu Kageyama.
  • In Dragon's Dogma while fighting one of the larger creatures, each of which has its own unique battle theme, whenever you knock that enemy down or otherwise get it into a disadvantageous position, the creature's own theme will end and "End of the Struggle" starts to play for the rest of the battle.
  • The Dynasty Warriors games have Lu Bu, the greatest warrior of the Three Kingdoms, whose rock theme takes over from the stage's music whenever he is fought. His equivalent in Samurai Warriors is Honda Tadakatsu of the Tokugawa. The latter series also offers a more conventional example in that a Triumphant Reprise of the main theme will often start playing at the turning point of a battle.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
  • In Elite Beat Agents, the agents fight off against music-hating aliens by getting everybody in the world to dance to an epic cover of The Rolling Stones' Jumping Jack Flash. In fact, the entire game (as well as the Ouendan series it's based on) revolves around this.
    • Speaking of, Ouendan's final mission involves destroying an asteroid. The name of the music? Ready Steady Go!
  • Eternity: The Last Unicorn does this every time you're in a fight. For most of the game, you're exploring forests, ruins, underground caverns and the like, where the music is peaceful, calming, as serene as any Fantasy RPG, but the moment enemies or bosses shows up, the background score suddenly rises to an intense, action-packed tempo as you fight everything the game throws at you. When cleared of enemies the music went back to being calm.
  • As it runs on Magic Music, this is common in EXA_PICO. Most notably with "METHOD_REPLIKA", which plays when supercharging an attack spell.
  • In Fairy Fencer F, anytime players have their characters unleash their Super Mode, "Full Contact" will play and override the background music for the first timeline. Once Fang and Eryn travel back to the past, it's replaced with the calmer but just as energetic "All Our Might Tonight".
  • The Final Dungeon of Fallout: New Vegas uses an Orchestral Bombing arrangement of the main theme, which incorporates either the NCR's or the Legion's leitmotif, depending on which faction you are supporting, and powers up a step further when you engage the Final Boss. Other incidences include the leitmotif that plays if the Mysterious Stranger perk is taken and he shows up during a battle, and companion ED-E's battle theme whenever it notices and engages an enemy.
  • The final stage of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is set to the game's main theme.
  • Fate Series:
  • The Final Fantasy series has a ton of examples of this; practically one per game.
    • In Final Fantasy IV, when Big Bad Zeromus has all but obliterated the party, the Elder of Mysidia clears his throat, asks all the former party members for help, and "Final Fantasy", the theme song for the entire series (also known as "Prologue") plays. Cue the Combined Energy Attack that revives the party to full fighting strength.
    • Musical motifs from Exdeath's already evil and imposing theme in Final Fantasy V are used in his even more awesome personal battle theme.
      • Also, during an optional boss fight near the end of the game, a certain song starts playing when it becomes apparent that the party can't win. The song is Gilgamesh's theme song, "Battle at the Big Bridge", and sure enough he shows up to save the day.
    • Locke's Theme is the standard Theme Music Power-Up in Final Fantasy VI.
    • Inverted in Final Fantasy VII: A Flash Back to the Big Bad's deteriorating mental state is accompanied by a few, looping malevolent chords. When he snaps, they extend and turn out to be the opening of his leitmotif.
      • Not to mention the full-on Ominous Latin Chanting excellence of the final boss fight.
      • "One Winged Angel" is used several times through the VII Compilation as a Theme Music Power Up, most notably the above-listed transformation into Safer Sephiroth, as well as the fact that the song pretty much brought Sephiroth back from the dead.
    • In Crisis Core, there's a cutscene showing Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal having some fun on top of a virtual version of the Junon Cannon. When Genesis gets a little too serious about the fight, a version of "One Winged Angel" kicks in to show that Sephiroth is no longer playing around.
    • The last true boss of Final Fantasy X is heralded by a massively muscled arm clawing up to a platform — and much more importantly, metal guitar.
    • Final Fantasy XIII has one for the battle theme; a lively D&B arrangement.
    • Final Fantasy XIV has one in the Heavensward expansion: Dragonsong, the vocal theme of the expansion, plays as the Warrior of Light absorbs the eye of Hraesvelgr before a climactic fight with Nidhogg.
      • A more humorous example appears in the trial "Kugane Ohashi" in Stormblood: When the battle begins, the music starts with the standard dungeon boss theme as players fight Yojimbo. Then Yojimbo reveals his true identity, and the music switches over to "Battle on the Big Bridge", the theme of none other than Gilgamesh.
      • And then again in Shadowbringers, when the ghost of your alternate universe self merges with you to break the Lightwarden's curse for the final showdown with Emet-Selch.
  • Final Zone II has Momoko Ring's image song "Don't Stop" in Stage 4, the first stage where she is playable.
  • The final chapter of Fire Emblem: Awakening is set to "Id (Purpose)", a Triumphant Reprise of Robin's Leitmotif, complete with BGM Override. Bonus points for said Leitmotif featuring part of the series theme, making the piece fit this trope on multiple levels.
  • Freedom Planet does when you get an invincibility power up.
  • The climax of the Galaxy Angel games always follows the Theme Song variant, playing that year's version of Eternal Love or, in Galaxy Angel II games, Wing of Destiny.
  • In the game God Hand, the song that plays in the first level, the western-style one is an awesome surf song called "Gene's Rock-A-Bye". Whenever Gene unleashes his God Hand, a much faster version of "Gene's Rock-A-Bye", called "Broncobuster" plays, even drowning out the themes of bosses he's fighting. Even Azel, who has the Devil Hand and his own Theme Music Power Up (from "Devil May Sly" to "Duel Storm") can't win against "Broncobuster".
  • It's difficult to say whether Kratos' theme music in God of War is this or a particularly bloody version of Mickey Mousing. Either way, it's awesome on spoons.
    • "Rage Of Sparta" from God Of War III definitely qualifies as this, as when it kicks in, Kratos is about to fuck somebody up.
  • In Granblue Fantasy, when player characters who are in the Drum Master Class get a full chain burst, the party has their attack and defense boosted for five turns and whatever music is playing is immediately overridden by the song "Song of the Three Old Men" for as long as the boost lasts.
  • In Guilty Gear 2: Overture whenever one player gains a clear upper hand their character's theme music plays.
    • Also, special music plays when certain characters face off in a Master vs. Master battle.
  • This is essentially the effect of Star Power in the Guitar Hero games. Once activated, every note you successfully hit earns you double points, and the crowd rhythmically claps in unison. This is a great way to save you from certain death on difficult songs like "Bark at the Moon" and the faster second half of "Hangar 18".
  • One of the best things about the Half-Life series is that music is only played in certain situations, with the rest of the game being devoid of BGM. This usually translates into intense battles cranking things up to 11 by adding music, whether it's the high-octane fights against the military in the first game, the mad dash through the canals in the sequel's Water Hazard chapter, the showdown with the Strider in Episode One, or the big underground battle between the Vortigaunts and Antlions in Episode Two. In the more traditional sense of this trope, "Hazardous Environments", the theme song of Valve itself, plays when you finally regain the HEV suit in Half-Life 2.
  • Used throughout the Halo series. The Halo Theme generally starts playing whenever things get particularly exciting — a narrow, timed escape, a huge, 3-way battle, etc. And, of course, whenever Master Chief does something utterly awesome, the theme WILL be playing.
    • Depending on how awesome whatever Master Chief is doing is, you might get the "Brothers in Arms" mix, the "Rock Anthem / Mjolnir Mix", or the "Covenant Dance" mix.
    • One of the best examples is the final mission of Halo 3, which consists of one of the most epic escape sequences in video game history.
    • The Arbiter actually gets a mix of his own as well: "Unyielding," introduced in Halo 2, which plays when riding into battle against the Brutes in the last few levels. This track is later spliced into the Halo 3 version ("One Final Effort") that plays during the big escape at the end.
    • The "Breaking Benjamin Room" of Halo 2's "Gravemind mission". Towards the end of the level, the player must go through a room full of combatants from both the Elite and Brute factions in a firefight. Breaking Benjamin's "Blow Me Away" plays through here, and the rock quite fits the awesome battle the player is about to participate in.
    • In Halo 3: ODST, expect varients of "The Menagerie" or "Orbital Drop Shock Trooper" to kick in whenever something awesome happens. And of course, Halo: Reach continues the tradition with variants of "Unreconciled", "Lone Wolf", or "Noble Mission" kicking in whenever Noble Team readies up for asskicking.
    • Halo 4 introduces "Mantis", which starts playing whenever you're about to kick ass in a Mantis (it returns in Halo 5: Guardians as "Walk Softly").
  • Haven (2020) plays an extended version of its title theme starting when Yu and Kay launch the fully repaired Nest and head off towards The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, and continuing through the sequence of severing the Flow Bridge and escaping the volcano.
  • The Chapter 1 theme in House of the Dead is remixed for the Final Boss battle with the Magician. In turn, this version is reused for the rematch with the Magician in the second game.
  • The final boss of Ikaruga cuts the music for its final form and starts up "Stone Like", a remix of the first level's theme. As an added bonus, if you play your tennis right, the boss explodes right at the end of the musical phrase.
  • The King of Fighters:
    • Rugal Bernstein, the final boss of The King of Fighters '94, initially seems to be a rather reasonable opponent, even though he doesn't use any specials. Then, once you knock him out for the first time, he tosses off his tuxedo, "Showdown R&D" kicks in, and then you'll probably find out first-hand that he's considered the SNK Boss for a reason.
    • Krizalid, last boss of The King of Fighters '99, is in a similar boat. Round 1? He's clad in a bulky coat and only really capable of a 2-hit fireball and a divekick. Round 2? He burns off the coat as "Dear Fallen Angel" begins to play, and subsequently most likely utterly annihilates you to the point that SNK apologized for making him too difficult.
  • Kirby:
    • In Kirby's Return to Dream Land:
    • In Kirby: Triple Deluxe:
      • The final boss of its Extra Mode Dededetour plays his own theme when he Turns Red. This time, it's Dark Meta Knight.
      • In the main story, the second-to-last boss, a possessed Dedede, starts off with the Boss Rush theme despite it being Masked Dedede you're fighting. However, when the boss is seemingly defeated, he grabs a giant axe from a coat of arms, starts swinging and destroying pillars, and the REAL Masked Dedede remix starts to play. The music also accompanies the battle with Shadow Dedede in Dededetour.
    • In Kirby: Planet Robobot:
      • Stage 4-4 ends with a rematch against C.O.G.S. Once beaten, however, an old foe emerges. It's a mechanized Kabula, accompanied with its Bootstrapped Leitmotif.
      • The boss of Rhythm Route is a clone of Dedede. After beating it after it splits in three, the clones jump into a cannon and gain yet another remix of Dedede's theme.
      • In a delayed variation, we have the boss of Gigabyte Grounds, a mechanized Meta Knight. He returns as the first part of the final battle, now accompanied with his theme from Super Star.
      • The final use of Robobot Armor in a regular stage is soundtracked by a BGM Override c/o the Kirby Air Ride version of Green Greens.
      • The Final Boss in its final form. As it's related to Nova, the battle theme contains parts of Nova's own theme. Its True Final Boss variant also uses a straight remix of Nova's theme for a part of it.
      • Once again, Galacta Knight does this in Meta Knightmare Returns. After having the Grand Doomer's theme for his first phase, he suddenly gains a techno remix of his own theme for his second phase.
    • Kirby and the Forgotten Land
      • Once King Dedede is freed from mind control, he rushes to save a Waddle Dee and hold back an incoming horde of enemies... and his theme music flares up at that moment.
      • The final part of the final boss theme is a remix of the Invincible Candy theme, with snippets of the game's main theme thrown in, going as hard as the truck Kirby is using to ram the boss with, proving that you can power-up a power-up that already makes you invincible.
  • The final boss battle of La-Mulana begins with a fairly standard boss theme for the game: all the bosses have their own themes that nonetheless open with the same chord sequence. Then, for the second form onward, "Good Night Mom" kicks in: a remix of the protagonist's own theme (the Surface theme, "Mr. Explorer") that opens instead on the fanfare that last played the very first time Lemeza entered the ruins.
  • The battle music in The Last Remnant is tied to the morale meter. At low morale the music is ominous and desperate, but swing it high and the music becomes upbeat and triumphant. Fittingly, your squads also have a better chance of using their awesome special attacks at high morale.
  • Inverted much to any Survivor's dismay by the Tank's theme in Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
  • Live A Live:
    • This occurs at least once in each chapter, usually using that particular chapter's battle music. A notable example is during the Near Future chapter's giant robot Steel Titan (whose theme music is acknowledged by an NPC saying "Start the music!" whenever the player tries to activate it). Also notable is that the game's main theme is used as the battle music for the final chapter, making nearly every battle a Theme Music Power Up.
    • Also inverted in one chapter. Whenever you play as Oersted and somehing awful happens to him, he has a flashback of sorts and a loud droning noise is heard. By the end of the chapter where he reanounces humanity and becomes the Lord of Dark, Odio, the droning returns, but eventually becomes a song. The song name? "Odio, Lord of Dark", which has been used frequently in the game as a lead up to the boss battles of each chapter.
  • Played with in Lollipop Chainsaw. Juliet's ass-kicking theme in Star Soul Mode? The chorus of "Hey, Mickey" ("Oh, Mickey, you're so fine..."), originally by Toni Basil (the version in-game is the B*Witched cover). Oddly appropriate, given that it's sung from the point of view of a cheerleader.
  • Mass Effect:
  • Max Payne 3 has "Tears" during its final battle.
  • Mega Man series examples:
    • Zero in the Mega Man X games has a different theme song in every game, and it always plays when he does something awesome (blowing off Vile's mech's arm in the first game, sacrificing himself, destroying a copy of himself in just three shots, etc.).
    • This holds true in the Mega Man Zero saga. Whenever that particular game's Zero theme song starts sounding, rest assured — you're about to do something very cool. Also, the music changes into the foreboding final stage theme after the first form of the final boss is defeated and the Ragnarok satellite is plummeting toward the planet with Weil making a last bid by hooking up to the remains of its control system and directing it towards Area Zero. Then Zero has his "No More Holding Back" Speech and the absolutely awesome final boss music starts up.
    • Mega Man Battle Network:
    • The games have a theme in each game, based around the same two tunes throughout the series, which is played for no other reason other than to show off how something heroic is going on. The tracks are actually called "Heroism".
      • "You're Not Alone" for the Big Damn Heroes moments.
      • In what can only be described as Mood Whiplash, the 6th game has a slow, sad version of the theme, as Iris and Colonel reveal that they are going to fuse, deleting them to get rid of the Cybeast inside the eponymous character, then "You're Not Alone" plays as the event actually happens.
      • The MegaMan NT Warrior anime even did this in the Japanese version — if you heard the theme song, it was time for the heroes to start winning. Without fail. The dub did not retain this tradition.
      • The final match of the N-1 Grand Prix was, of course, between Netto and Rockman and Enzan and Blues. The fight takes place while the Anime Theme Song, "Kaze wo Tsukinukete", blares in the background, and both Navis pull off the Program Advance Beta Sword and commence a swordfight so epic the holographic display almost can't contain it. And then Blues wins by way of Single-Stroke Battle. Rock falls over, and Blues and Netto both congratulate Rock on his hard fight while a slow, sad ballad version of the very same opening theme plays.
    • In Mega Man ZX, you get a brief moment of your protagonist's bright idealism, accompanied by Green Grass Gradation (the very upbeat and optimistic Area A music from the very beginning of the game), before commencing the final battle. The music gets even more epic when you enter into the second part of the battle; click here to see what I mean.
    • In the promo video showing Mega Man joining Super Smash Bros., he starts fighting backed up by the Mega Man 2 theme, which ends when he other Smashers fight back. Down but not out, Mega Man taps into his old Robot Master weapons and tears up the others to Mega Man 2 - Wily Theme 1.
    • Mega Man Star Force 3 plays Sonia's song from earlier in the game right before the final boss, which is itself a take on the series theme.
  • Megadimension Neptunia VII has "Absolute" playing when the CPUs unlock their Next Forms, and from then on, the theme performs a Background Music Override whenever Next Form is activated in battle.
    • Also worth mentioning are "Will Be Venus", which plays whenever one of the CPUs activate HDD (the level below Next Form) or one of the Gold Third activate their Gold Form in battle, and "Drive Away", which plays whenever a character uses their Limit Break if one of the previous themes aren't playing. In fact, Will Be Venus was later used as background music in an OVA when Neptune and Nepgear transformed together to defeat a horde of monsters.
  • Medal of Honor:
  • Metal Gear:
    • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater invokes the song Snake Eater if the player is running out of time in the final battle with The Boss.
    • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots plays with this, where playing certain songs on the iPod provides ingame bonuses. Naturally the ridiculously awesome MGS3 theme (Someday, you walk through the raaaaaaain, some day you'll feed on a treeeee frog!) makes you almost unstoppable. Then there's the finale of MGS4, where a final fistfight with Liquid Ocelot comes in four parts, with music from each main game of the series (and matching health bars) for each section, until the music runs out of steam and it's just two old men throwing their last ounces of strength at each other.
    • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance does something similar with the Winds of Destruction and other bosses. Normally, the music is instrumental. But when Raiden begins to push them to their limits, their attacks begin to change and the songs begin to add vocals. It can be skipped in certain situations (for example, killing Sundowner without breaking his shields), but why would you do that?
  • Metroid:
    • Super Metroid's Final Battle. After the titular Metroid rescues Samus, is killed by Mother Brain, and confers the Hyper Beam to Samus, Samus begins to glow, and the remixed Crateria theme starts thundering over her Heroic Second Wind against Mother Brain.
    • The "Theme of Super Metroid" itself becomes a Theme Music Power-Up during Super Smash Bros Brawl: Subspace Emissary. It plays when Samus gets her Power Suit back on the Floating Continent.
    • Metroid: Zero Mission has a double instance in the late game: Throughout the game, whenever Samus picks up an item, the game plays a remix of the (rather subdued) Item Get! fanfare from the first game. Then comes a No-Gear Level where Samus is stripped of her armor, and is forced to sneak past a pack of murderous space pirates who can kill her in one shot. When she finally receives a new, more powerful version of her armor in the Chozo Ruins, two things happen:
    • The final boss of Metroid Prime is accompanied by the already slightly creepy, Ominous Latin Chanting filled main menu music, warped to sound even stranger and more alien. Given that the main menu has the interior of a Metroid for its backdrop, this really drives home just how wrong the final boss is, even compared to life energy sucking floating fanged jellyfish.
  • The Nintendo 64 / PlayStation Mission: Impossible Licensed Game powers up the MI theme during the Embassy Escape, Tunnel, and Gunboat levels.
  • Played for laughs in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, when Guybrush swinging heroically to grab a chest prompts the Indiana Jones theme tune. Then it's quickly subverted as Guybrush is left hanging from the rope and the music meekly fades out.
  • Monster Hunter plays its leitmotif of "Proof of a Hero" in the final stretches of its extremely dangerous beasts, such as Zorah Magdaros, Safi'jiiva, Lao-shan Lung, Jhen Mohran, Gogmazios, Ahtal-Ka, Fatalis, Narwa or Gaismagorm, usually after siccing the Dragonator on them. Once it starts up in any capacity, it's no longer you fighting the monster; it's the monster fighting you. If the monster has their own boss theme, "Proof of a Hero" is your boss theme.
  • In Nectaris, the ordinary music during the player's turn changes when the player gains a 2:1 advantage in unit count. There are also alternate player turn and computer turn themes that play if the computer gains a 2:1 advantage. (The latter doesn't necessarily mean that the player is doing badly in combat, since the distribution of neutral factories in some levels allows the computer to unstoppably acquire loads of additional units during the first few turns.)
  • Inverted in the final boss fight of NieR, where the Shadowlord's very powerful theme gets weaker and weaker as the fight progresses until all that's left is a music box rendition of his theme for his final sliver of health.
  • In the Nintendo Wars' Advance Wars 2/DS/Days of Ruin, when a CO Power is used, the normal CO theme will be replaced by a heavy metal tune depending on the CO's faction. Also happens when Will/Ed appears in the middle of "Hope Rising" to save everyone from Greyfield/Sigismundo. Before he arrives, you have no CO, so you have the frantic, desperate no CO music; once he shows up, his rocking theme takes over, and you know it's time to kick some ass.
  • The Final Battle of Ōkami actually has two Theme Music Power-Up. The protagonist: Amaterasu, Sun Goddess. The enemy: Yami, Lord of Eternal Darkness. Amaterasu is weak, beaten and on the verge of giving up until she she receives the prayers of every single person in Nippon, being inspired by Issun. Cue her not only healing, but gaining full godhood as she becomes Shiranui while "Okami White Light" plays majestically, leaving the player in awe. Once she is fully prepared and Yami decides to charger her, the second song starts playing: "The Sun Rises". Yeah, the Final Boss doesn't stand a chance.
  • In Omega Strikers, if your team wins a round, the player who earned the most XP on the winning team gets their theme music played throughout the next round as well as first pick from the pool of power-ups.
  • Ori and the Blind Forest uses epic arrangements of the main theme during the dungeon escape sequences, such as "Restoring the Light, Facing the Dark". Likewise, the sequel reprises "Restoring The Light" when Ori is near victory during certain boss battles, notably Mora the Spider and the Final Boss Shriek. Ori's own leitmotif also gets a power-up while escaping the Sand Worm in the Windtorn Ruins.
  • Overlord plays with this. The final boss has a remix of the title theme when he gains the upper hand in a cutscene, but the same theme is also used when the protagonist is on the verge of defeating him in the final boss fight. Since both of them are Overlords it's quite fitting
  • Paper Mario:
  • Persona:
    • In the original Persona, during battles where a new party member is introduced, the game uses a special battle theme called "Awakening". In these battles, the character(s) in question go from being regular high school students to full blown Magic Knights.
    • Persona 3:
      • The final boss battle is accompanied by a remix of Burn My Dread, the game's theme tune. It's appropriate for this trope because as the battle progresses, the Main Character gathers energy before they unleash the Great Seal.
      • Every version of Burn My Dread has the ability to either rock you in the face or punch you in the soul. The version in the final battle is incredibly tense, but also uplifting, with the slow rise of the chorus in the background and the solid, rhythmic hip-hop lead vocals creating this eternal escalator of pumped-upness. And once you've played that scene, you'll never be able to hear it without hearing Shinji helping you out.
      • The boss battle against The Dragon, and true (non-scripted) Final Battle, is fought to the sound of "Battle Hymn of the Soul" — a glorious power-rock remix of the Leitmotif for the entire Persona series, "Aria of the Soul".
    • Persona 4 has music for the Final Boss that starts out slow and ominous titled "The Genesis," then gradually picks up as you wear down the boss. Late into the fight, the instrumental arrangement of the main battle theme, "Reach Out to the Truth" starts playing in an uplifting manner.
    • In Persona 5, "Life Will Change", the theme song of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, can be heard in the last section of Palace gameplay before you steal said Palace's treasure. Instrumental versions play for the first five palaces, with the last three getting vocal versions. There's also "Awakening", which kicks in any time a character awakens to their Fighting Spirit and destroys a bunch of Mooks.
      • The third semester Palace in Royal has "I Believe", which is lyrically a sequel to "Life Will Change" and represents the Phantom Thieves going from vigilantes seeking revenge against society to champions of humanity who will confront anyone who would steal the world’s future. Not only does it play during the game's last infiltration before the fight with the True Final Boss, it plays as the Phantom Thieves and Joker defeat Adam Kadmon.
    • Persona 5 Strikers: A brief version of "You Are Stronger", the game's opening theme, plays as the Thieves destroy the Demiurge, the final boss, in the game's Coup de Grâce cutscene, with an All-Out-Attack performed by every member (except Futaba, who sets up Joker to deliver the final blow).
    • Persona 5 Tactica: An instrumental version of the game's opening theme, "Revolution in your Heart," plays as the Phantom Thieves deal the final blow to the Final Boss, with Erina and Joker driving a flag into Salmael's forehead, finishing him off once and for all.
  • Phantasy Star:
    • In Phantasy Star III, the world map theme adds instruments and background to the main melody as more characters join your party. However, if the main character of the generation falls in combat, a much more tense and negative tune plays until said character is resurrected.
    • Each area in Phantasy Star Online has two songs (or parts if you see the song listing in the Sound Test or the OST). Part one is soft and calm while part two, which starts up when enemies attack, is more intense and has a harder beat to it. Both parts last almost the same length and have the same BPM, which lets the BG music flow from one song to another as if it were just the same song just getting more intenser. The intensity between the parts goes up with each episode as well.
    • The major raid bosses of Phantasy Star Online 2 have the background music transition to a rendition of "The whole new world", the original opening theme, when the fight reaches its final phase. The first, Dark Falz Elder, uses it verbatim while each subsequent one has had their own remix.
  • In Pitfall! II: The Lost Caverns every time you grab a treasure or rescue someone a galvanizing, heroic, upbeat theme vaguely reminiscent of the Indiana Jones anthem plays. One of the oldest ones in the book, as it was the first console game to feature PSG music, in fact the only 2600 game to have a custom sound chip.
  • This pops up twice in Pizza Tower:
  • The Neon Mixtape Tour world in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time introduces Jams, songs that give specific zombies special abilities when played. Jams are brought back in Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, playing during a character's Legendary Mode, even reusing some of Neon Mixtape Tour's music.
    • Punk Jam: Punk Zombie gains the ability to Knock Back plants, and kick them out of the lawn if there's no space for it to land on.
    • Pop Jam: Glitter Zombie projects a rainbow that makes zombies behind her Nigh-Invulnerable while also removing statuses from them, it also allows her to One-Hit Kill plants.
    • Rap Jam: MC Zom-B gains the ability to use an "Instant Death" Radius attack by spinning his microphone to deal massive damage to all plants around him, enough to kill anything that's not defensive. Breakdancer Zombie gains the ability to kick other zombies forwards, combined with MC's microphone, this becomes a deadly Combination Attack.
    • 8-bit Jam: Arcade Zombie's Arcade Game machine gains the ability to spawn 8-bit zombies that can come in regular, conehead and buckethead flavours.
    • Metal Jam: Hair Metal Gargantuar gains the ability to send out a sonic blast projectile with each smash of his guitar, dealing massive damage to the plant it hits.
  • The last stage of P.N.03 uses the full version of the attract/intro music.
  • In Pokémon Black and White, when you've got the Gym Leader down to their last Pokémon this music cues up.
  • Even the Professor Layton series gets in on this. Don't believe me? How about this scene from Curious Village when Layton makes an escape from the Tower of St. Mystere using a glider he created out of household objects? Or this scene where Layton takes on Anton in a no-holds-barred swordfight in Pandora's Box? Or even the scene in Lost Future where the Laytonmobile transforms into a freaking plane during a death drop, immediately followed by THIS SCENE?!
  • In the Puyo Puyo series, entering Fever/Henshin mode changes the music to a more up-beat song.
  • The true final stage of Raiden IV uses a remix of Raiden II's first stage theme, and the True Final Boss's theme is a metal remix of the Raiden 1 boss theme.
  • In Razing Storm, during the final battle with Paulo Guerra in the PS3 sequel, the Five Finger Death Punch song Ashes plays.
  • In Resident Evil 2 (Remake) "Last Judgement" plays during Leon's Final Battle with the Tyrant aka Mr X. Similarly "Third Demise" plays when Claire faces G-Creature in it’s third stage.
  • Rigid Force Alpha reprises its opening theme for the final stage, "The Hive".
  • Rise of Nations replaces the usual ethnic rhythms with military fanfares every time your troops are kicking some enemy ass.
  • Sa Ga Frontier had Alkaiser's theme, which plays Once Red receives his upgrade to superhero status, when you fight Shuzer the 2nd time and when you fight Arachne (Cindy Campbell)
  • Saints Row:
    • Saints Row: The Third has three Theme Music Power-Up moments. "Power" by Kanye West plays when you parachute onto a rooftop party held by the Syndicate and take the building over for the Saints. Later, in a wrestling match with the head of the Luchadors, Killbane, and you have to fend off a ton of his lackeys with a chainsaw, you get You're The Best Around. Finally, The Boss is forced to choose between killing Killbane before he skips town or rescuing Shaundi and Viola from a STAG plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty expy and frame the Saints. If you choose the latter, this plays. There are no words.
    • Saints Row IV cues "You've Got the Touch" when the Boss dons Power Armor before the final boss, letting him use all his simulation superpowers in the real world
  • Meridian Dance plays when the Sword is finally revived in Secret of Mana.
  • In Sengoku Basara 3 when either Ieyasu or Mitsunari face off against each other in the end of their story paths, "Naked Arms" will play in the background. Also, characters will have their Leitmotif play whenever they're fought.
  • Grand Papillon (AKA Joachim Valentine) from Shadow Hearts: Covenant plays this semi-straight several times throughout the game, and parodies it in one scene. During his first fight with Veronica, though not actually the first time you meet her in the game, Joachim is beaten around rather badly until Yuma throws his trademark mask to him. he crawls toward the mask and puts it on. Cue dramatic theme music and a lensflare, after which he proceeds to win the battle without breaking a sweat. The parody comes from the fact that the mask in no way helps him — it's all in his head.
  • In Shadow of the Colossus, the music is usually a mournful, slow-moving tune when you start fighting a colossus, but when you grab onto the thing and prepare to stab, the music swells into a louder, (usually) faster, and more awesome song that certainly fits the theme of you stabbing a thing well over 10 times your size to death. And when you realize you're pulling a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, the music turns bitterly ironic.
  • Boss battles in Skies of Arcadia are accompanied by music that changes according to how well the player is doing. If the player's party has taken a lot of damage, the music is ominous and fractured; if the player is only a few turns from victory, it's upbeat and triumphant.
  • Skullgirls has this in the final battle with Bloody Marie.
  • The Smurfs 2, the videogame adaptation of the movie, has The Smurfs (1981) theme tune play whenever the True Blue Spell is activated.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • With the Adventure series giving each playable character theme song, said theme tunes were often used as leitmotifs, which ended up having this effect at times. Take, for example, Sonic Adventure 2. Dr Eggman's Egg Golem. In the Dark Story, Eggman moves to strike Sonic, to his own theme music. Then Sonic's theme tune suddenly takes over. Sonic dodges the attack, jumps on the Golem's head, and—with a TERIAAAAA!—delivers a single flying kick to the mind-control device on the Golem's back, which destroys it and sends it attacking Eggman instead.
    • In the DS version of Sonic Colors, an orchestrated version of 'Reach for the Stars' (arranged in a MIDI format) kicks in (for about ten seconds before you beat the boss, unfortunately) when you activate the 'Final Color Blaster'.
    • Sonic Generations:
      • In the Shadow rival battle, the stage's music gets replaced by "Live and Learn" or "All Hail Shadow", when Sonic or Shadow (respectively) gain full power of the power-up they're chasing.
      • Another time is during the Time Eater boss fight, using the Super Sonic theme from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 mixed into the soundtrack. Does it first in the cutscene at the start when both Sonics turn super, and again for the last hit on the boss.
    • In Sonic Forces, the main theme "Fist Bump" plays when Sonic and the Avatar team up to use Double Boost.
    • Sonic Frontiers has various tracks that kick in when facing down a Titan boss as Super Sonic.
  • In the Gamecube version of Soulcalibur 2, Link's theme starts blaring as he begins his destined battle against Raphael. Hearing the tune really pumps you up to kick Raph's arse.
  • Space Ace, when Dexter turns into Space Ace. And it is AWESOME.
  • Gig, Omnicidal Maniac hero of Soul Nomad & the World Eaters, has three theme songs. Consequently, he has three different stages of Theme Music Power-Up depending on which one's used, ranging from "you'll receive a verbal smackdown" to "you're Deader than Dead, and so's your Throw-Away Country And Your Little Dog, Too!".
  • The Space Channel 5 games also feature this trope. In the first one at the end, when Ulala is fighting Blank, the music starts with a small, acapella version of the game's theme song "Mexican Flyer". The better Ulala does in the battle, the more voices join in with the singing. As she gets closer to winning, even real instruments start to play, finally culminating in a thick and triumphant rendition of "Mexican Flyer" as Ulala defeats the Big Bad.
    • Similarly, the final battle of the second game, Space Channel 5, Part 2 features Ulala fighting against the new Big Bad named Purge. The song that plays there is called "Connected Hearts" and is also a triumphant rendition of "Mexican Flyer", complete with the characters singing lyrics to it!
  • Exaggerated in the Splatoon series, where the last phase of every Final Boss fight consists of your Mission Control blasting out some sick beats to motivate you during the final push, usually overriding the boss's own background music in the process. It's taken even further in Splatoon 3, where the music literally transforms your Smallfry companion into a giant salmon kaiju.
  • The theme song to the show-within-a-game Split/Second. Plays during the Elite races, which will most likely be the point of highest tension. Dynamically changes as you pull ahead or fall behind. Only serves to make whatever victories you can pull off against the most springy of Rubberband AI sweeter.
  • Star Fox has Star Wolf's theme which remain pretty much the same (just with different instruments) throughout the series. You can't have a Star Wolf theme without the Star Wolf team after all! Including a Mariachi Band in Star Fox: Assault and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
  • The original Star Soldier Shoot 'Em Up for the NES changes the music when you power up...and in a later remake for the PS2, GCN, and PSP a rock remix of the power up theme plays. AWESOME.
  • In Star Wars: The Old Republic, each class has a Heroic Moment ability (they do gradual healing and usually finish the cooldown on a stun move). Using it triggers that class's Leitmotif. Also, the Final Bosses are all set to "Battle of the Fates".
  • Super Robot Wars uses this by default.
    • The music that plays during any unit's Attack animation is often its series theme song. Same for the non-Badass Normal characters in the Original Generation games, until the remake gave everybody their own. In all SRW games, they will also play the trope completely straight at appropriate moments in the plot, and will play an entire game's theme song when some serious beatdown is about to commence. Through the Alpha and OG series', Elzam Branstein's "Trombe!" is so badass, overrides almost all other theme music (even bosses), and results in much ass-kicking. Particularly from Alpha 3 onwards, there is the option to change the unit's battle music, with exceptions (such as "Goldion Hammer" and "Goldion Crusher", which only play during their attacks—their badass attacks). In addition, the Sound Force from Macross 7 literally defeat enemies by singing at them—and can also power up your other units with their music.
    • The spin-off game Endless Frontier also uses this liberally: while the normal battle themes are randomly selected from 4 different possibilities depending on who's in the party, the character-specific theme starts playing whenever someone uses one of their special attacks.
    • SRW manages to take this to a true extreme in Alpha 3 when a song composed as a collaboration between Minmay and Basara (in the story, at least) actually saves the day in the final stage, by galvanizing the heroes against a wave of malice that comes from the series' ultimate Big Bad. It's no coincidence that the song was created in Real Life by JAM Project for that game.
    • Interesting to note, "Trombe!" was not the first instance of theme song override in the series. In Alpha Gaiden at least, certain units had "super attacks" that would trigger a different song. "Satellite Cannon", "Riders In the Skies" and "Dark History" were not programmed to have a lower priority than boss songs.
    • Ruri invokes this by playing the Gekiganger 3 theme during a key battle in Super Robot Wars W, giving everyone the extra dose of Hot-Blooded they need to save the day. Sousuke and Heero try to resist this, as they must be stoic.
    • Sheryl, in Scenario 18-A of Super Robot Wars Z2: Hakai Hen, sings "Iteza Go Go Kuji Don't Be Late" to pump up the heroes so much that they all instantly shoot to 130 Will and beat the Beastmen mooks. Baron Ashura arrives with some Kikaijuu, so Ranka takes the stage and sings her song "What 'Bout My Star?". Simon and Kamina get pumped up even further, to the point that Kamina debuts Gurren Lagann's famous Giga Drill Break(er), nearly obliterating the Kikaijuu Taros D-7 with it
    • Battle Moon Wars does the same thing. Villains will always override songs with their own themes when they are engaged, and several characters have their multiple themes. For example, Shirou's default music is the one used for Fate/stay night characters, but when using Nine Lives Blade Works, it changes into a remix of Emiya.
  • Play with the Spartans in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and every time your troops are fighting you'll hear an absolutely badass heavy metal theme.
  • In Space Invaders Extreme, picking up a powerup remixes the music into something louder and more intense for the duration of your powerup, and the music becomes even more epic if you go into Fever Time.
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl: At one point in Subspace Emissary, after Ganondorf and Bowser's gigantic Subspace Battleship shoots down the heroes' recovered Halberd, the heroes escape in their personal fighters to the Theme Music Power-Up. The music being Dramatic Latin Chanting doesn't hurt.
  • The final battle music in the original Syphon Filter is an epic, albeit dark, remix of the series' main theme. Even more prominent in Omega Strain, eg Carthage Mall, and Belaya Vezha, both of which also feature Cherubic Choir / Ominous Latin Chanting.
  • Tales Series:
    • Tales of the Abyss has this used against the party in the optional Arena battle with four previous Tales characters; at first, the game is playing "Everlasting Fight," which is a medley of previous Tales battle themes. If you don't defeat them fast enough, Reid will activate Aurora Wall, revive any of his fallen party members, deal tons of damage to you, and a remix of "Eternal Mind" suddenly starts up. This is about when any average player goes "Oh, Crap!."
    Reid: "We will not LOSE!!"
    • A traditional example shows up in the final battle of Tales of Xillia 2 when Ludger unlocks the full potential of his Corpse Shell and an awesome remix of the game's theme song starts playing. It can easily be subverted, though, as the boss is just capable of wiping out the party as before.
    • Tales of Symphonia: One of the playable characters, Kratos, has his own theme tune that plays slowly. However, during a certain event in the game, a faster, more upbeat and more complex version is played.
  • A side effect of the Variable Mix in Them's Fightin' Herds: if a player connects with a super, the music's likely to start playing their way.
  • Also whenever you hear Reunion in Threads of Fate. Expect something awesome will happen
  • In Thunder Force V, as you fly into space you encounter a replica of the ship you flew in Thunder Force IV as a boss, accompanied by an (even more) awesome remix of the heavy metal theme tune of Thunder Force IV (although this could be considered an inversion, considering its a Theme Music Power-Up for your foe).
    • This happens yet again during the boss battle with Orn's very own version of Vasteel in Thunder Force VI, but not only do you fight Rynex, but you also fight Styx and Gauntlet as well!
  • Whenever a character enters Border of Death mode in Touhou Soccer, the character's accompanying theme takes over as the BGM briefly (assuming that a theme exists).
  • The River of Souls stage in Turok 2 uses an extended remix of the game's title theme. In the sound test, there's another unused remix that was apparently intended for the Final Boss battle.
  • Twisted Metal 3 reprises its intro theme, Rob Zombie's "Meet The Creeper", for the final stage.
  • Most bosses in Undertale use a more upbeat remix of their Leitmotif for their boss battle theme, but the biggest of this is the Final Boss of the No Mercy Route where their normally relaxing leitmotif is outright replaced with MEGALOVANIA. Anyone hearing that music plays knows that when said boss warns them that they're going to have a bad time, it's not just empty boast.
    GaLm: Oh shit. This music. Oh God. I'm gonna die today.
  • Vampire Survivors has an amusingly bizarre example with Sammy the Caterpillar/Birthday Cake (based on another caterpillar birthday cake), a character that can gain decent Experience from coins, starts with awful damage and has massive Magikarp Power, only reachable through a Gold Rush. As such, when you trigger one and inevitably gain dozens of levels in a matter of moments, the game plays a Castlevania-fied version of the Happy Birthday song to mark your triumphant passage from "sucky" to "destroyer of worlds (and framerates)".
  • Vanguard used "Vultan's Theme" when powering up. No one legally threatened Centuri apparently, since they also shamelessly used the main theme of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (later of Star Trek: The Next Generation) as the opening theme.
  • Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune marks the introduction of a major character into an arc-ending race with his or her Leitmotif.
    • The "Challenge" soundtrack really comes into its own as a TMPU in the way it builds up in the cutscene in The Beyond and its peak when the fight against Yunalesca finally begins.
  • The Wild ARMs series, with the exception of the first and third games, have a tendency to have the game's theme song serve as the final boss's BGM. Possibly among the most awesome usages of this trope; Wild ARMs 2 and Wild ARMs 4 in particular use The Power of Friendship and a Combined Energy Attack completely shamelessly in the course of the fight, which when combined with the incredible songs makes for moments of total awesome.
    • Wild ARMs 2 also has Nightblaze/Knight Blazer, the protagonist's Super Mode. When triggered, it overrides the current music with an ass-kicking beat, no matter how dramatic a boss you're supposed to be fighting. The exception is the final boss which, as mentioned above, has its own Super Mode with its own music.
  • Most of the soundtrack in The Wind Road consists of peaceful, serene, Oriental-style music, which plays if you're in an area devoid of enemies. But the moment you enter a stage full of mooks, the music suddenly tenses up as you kick all sorts of ass. It goes back to serene once the fight is over.
  • In WinBack, the final boss battle with Cecile reuses the opening theme.
  • The World Ends with You: You're about to face down the final boss alone, leaving you practically powerless. Suddenly, your friends decide to stop being unconscious and help out. Cue the Surreal Theme Tune
  • Whilst XCOM 2 normally runs a Variable Mix for its soundtrack, the expansion pack gives each of the Chosen their own Leitmotif. Once the Chosen deploy to the field, the normal music cuts out and is replaced by an ominous version of their theme. When the Chosen is engaged in battle, it ramps up to full intensity.
  • During the boss battle against Vic Viper in Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, a remix of the Gradius boss theme, Aircraft Carrier, will be heard playing during the fight, complete with the crowd in the song chanting "Leo, Leo, Leo, let's go!" since the Vic Viper is piloted by the first game's protagonist Leo Stenbuck.

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