A good boss soundtrack makes a fight with a powerful enemy all the more enjoyable and epic. Here are 10 Boss themes that made the fight better. Nowadays, almost anyone uses YouTube to listen to music, so I’ll link the mentioned tracks in each entry. This list is not ranked in any order.
The Only Thing I Know For Real
The fight between Jetstream Sam and Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is one of the game’s best fights. The two swordsman clash blades in the middle of the desert and the fight is one-on-one. No one is there to interrupt or assist any of the fighters and it ends with one’s defeat. The boss music is epic and the vocals tell more about the boss, Jetstream Sam.
Pledge of Demon
Daisaku Kuze is one of the main antagonists of Yakuza 0 and one of the strongest characters in the Yakuza games. I’m not only talking about his physical prowess but especially his mental strength which is practically unbreakable. He suffers defeat at the hands of Kiryu multiple times, but he gets up again and again and fights Kiryu all throughout the game. His perseverance is very admirable and he’s one of the reasons why Kiryu became the legend he is.
Despite being old, Kuze is very agile and strong. He was a professional boxer in his younger days and it’s safe to say that he’s an absolute beast of a man. The heavy music which plays when you fight him matches his personality and strength perfectly.
Divine Dragon
The Divine Dragon is practically a God and is hundreds of times bigger than the Wolf. This fight takes place in a beautiful arena that’s different from other fights in Sekiro. This fight is simply flabbergasting and it’s one of the most insane showdowns in gaming history. Like the Wolf, the Dragon has only one arm and the fact that the Shinobi killed the Dragon God is simply astounding. Sekiro’s composer, Yuka Kitamura, combines classical Japanese instruments like the flute and mixing techniques to make the boss theme so perfect.
Gladiator
Doom Slayer faces the Gladiator in Sentinel Prime. Obviously, the Slayer killed the Gladiator – an expected outcome. He killed the demon with its own weapon and emerged as the victor. In the boss theme, the sentinels chant, “Kar En Tuk” which means “Rip and Tear”. One YouTube comment said that this theme is not of the Gladiator, but of the Slayer himself, and that’s not far from the truth, actually.
Deliverance
2018’s God of War’s first boss fight felt like an end boss. A strange man appears at Kratos’s front door and Kratos’s fight against “The Stranger” starts. It’s mysterious what the Stranger wants and this fight ends up in the destruction of the surrounding area and Kratos’s victory.
The Final Battle
Elden Ring has a ton of great bosses all throughout the game, and arguably, the best boss music plays in the final boss fight. What’s so amazing about this track is that it’s a remix of the main menu theme of Elden Ring. Basically, the main menu theme but a hundred times more epic. The showdown between Radagon and the Golden Order and the Tarnished is a chaotic battle and this theme suits it very well.
Rolling Eyes Fall Down the Dragon Wall
In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, you play as a new protagonist who eventually gets to fight the legend himself, Kazuma Kiryu. Now, anyone who has played the previous games knows that Kiryu is basically like a god disguised as a human. Unlike any other entries on this list, the fight ends with Ichiban’s defeat. It was to be expected, really.
Soul of Cinder
Soul of Cinder is the final boss fight of the brilliant Dark Souls III. This fight is such an epic showdown and the theme alone can make a veteran Dark Souls player get teary-eyed. It was composed by Yuka Kitamura and it’s so dramatic and insanely emotional. Especially if you’ve played the original Dark Souls, this fight will be so impactful.
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