Earlier today, my partner came into the room and asked if I’d ever be interested in playing the 2007 Xbox 360 RPG Blue Dragon. This was sort of a weird question, even in our very gaming-centric household, but apparently the reason he asked is that the game is getting an unofficial PC port (as spotted by VGC).
That’s cool! It’s great that it won’t be stuck on the Xbox 360 anymore and will be accessible to more people. I politely declined to play Blue Dragon at this time (I am busy), but later today the game must have still been on his mind, because my partner sent me this:
That is, I kid you not, apparently the regular-ass battle music in Blue Dragon, a game composed by…Nobuo Uematsu? The Final Fantasy guy?!
Oh my God. This is great. You get like three measures of whatever guitar and then this guy just starts wailing out of tune. And it has lyrics that invoke a ridiculous anime OP from the 90s or something. All while rocking out as hard as possible so that you never lose the momentum of battle. Hell yeah!
I love RPGs, and I love an RPG that’s not afraid to do stuff with its music that’s unconventional. A boss theme that’s calm and soothing rather than intense, a field theme that’s unexpectedly sad, lyrics, rare or specialized instruments, I love it all.
It’s Friday, so in the spirit of Blue Dragon, let’s celebrate its arrival on PC by listening to some other totally unhinged, wacky, or out there regular RPG battle themes together. I will try to stick to regular battle themes, ones for normal ol’ enemies, because if I busted out the boss battles, we’d be here all day.
OFF – Pepper Steak
Let’s start with an oldie but goodie: Pepper Steak (or, if you run with the typo, Peper Steak). Oh, sorry, you think this one is disturbing? Yeah, it’s meant to be. OFF is an RPG about a baseball player “purifying” a messed-up world of blood and meat and plastic by murdering all the ghosts who live in it. Yes, really. Pepper Steak is probably its most infamous theme, with its weird, haunting swing and frequent dissonance and irregular rhythms. Alias Conrad Coldwood, the composer, was unable to return for the 2025 remake, so Toby Fox and Camelia stepped in to make themes for each different zone instead of one overarching Pepper Steak replacement. I have not a single bad word to say about anything Fox has ever composed, but I do think (and he seemed to agree in his statement about it) that it was always going to be impossible to replace Pepper Steak.
Deep in Coma – Shadow Hearts: Covenant
I haven’t personally played Shadow Hearts, but I guess this battle theme plays when you go to Japan? Anyway, someone has tried to explain the plot of this game to me a few times, and it hasn’t stuck, but dang if this isn’t an absolutely bonkers thing to have as your regular, normal battle theme for regular, normal enemies for a good chunk of the game.
Fit Battle – Ring Fit Adventure
Nintendo, when are you putting this on the Nintendo music app? This is just workout music. Which I guess is, like, appropriate for the game. But you didn’t have to go this hard.
New Age Retro Hippie – Earthbound
I don’t need to explain why this is in here, right? This is just Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. The Mother games are all music licensing hell, and I strongly suspect that similar issues in Mother 3 are why we’ll never get an official Western localization. I cannot believe they just put this classic into Earthbound and attached it to the hippie battles. Wild choice.
Transformation – The World Ends With You
I strongly felt that something from The World Ends With You belonged on this list due to the series’ daring commitment, on the Nintendo DS of all things, to make its entire soundtrack a straight-up rock and pop album. I was having trouble deciding which theme to go with, though, because while they’re all good, none of them really strike me as the level of off-the-charts wild that the Blue Dragon theme does.
Then I remembered that Transformation, Minamimoto’s absolutely fantastic boss theme, enters the regular battle song rotation in Week 3. Let’s GO. (The remix in NEO is pretty great, too!)
Battle Theme – Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
I want to take us briefly in another direction with this list, away from the hard, intense rock songs, and ask you all: what business does this have being a battle theme? This is a song for a minigame in Mario Party, or some pleasant phone hold music. I always find myself bouncing up and down a little while it’s playing. This is another one with a pretty great remix version in the remake. If you want a bonus second theme along these same lines of upbeat minigame music, enjoy Kiss of Jealousy from Live A Live, and from the remake of that too!
Mime Battle – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I don’t know man, you can put whatever you want from Clair Obscur on this list I think and it works. And I don’t want to hear any nonsense about how the Mimes are bosses. There are like a hundred of them in this game or something. Mimes everywhere. All with the same set of attacks.
Chaotic Dance – Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
When my partner sent me the Blue Dragon theme, this was what I immediately thought of. Then I wrote this whole list, and recalled that Chaotic Dance wasn’t a regular battle theme, explicitly breaking my own rule. So I included it on here as a little bonus treat in addition to the other five songs. It’s really that wacky and good!
Have a nice weekend, everyone!