Favorite battle themes

[MegaHiro91]

For me it will always be Final Fantasy X's normal battle theme. FFX was one of the games a classmate I no longer talk to introduced me to, and I remember it to be THE game that knocked my socks off and demonstrated the leap between PS1 and PS2, not just graphically - that famous FMV where Yuna says "I have done it. I have finally become a summoner" where you see her up close - but also the orchestral soundtrack that hit 12 year old me like a truck. It made such an impression on me, I was disappointed to learn that all FF games have different battle themes.

My second favorite is the one from the Japanese phone monster catching game; Keitai Denjuu Telefang on GameBoy Color, which back in the early 00s circulated on the internet as the infamous pair of bootleg Pokémon games "Diamond" and "Jade". It is super upbeat and "bubbly" and you can't help smiling at just how overly whimsical it is. Like someone wanted to copy Pokémon, but decided to go above and beyond and make the most over-the-top battle theme they could think of.

Speaking of Pokémon, my third is of course the trainer battle theme in Pokémon RBY. Not only was it catchy as hell, but sometimes, maybe due to the GameBoy limited sound channels, the battle theme would overwrite the sound effects of the attacks, which made 7 year old me imagine that the fight was so intense it drowned out all other sounds. Like the thing they sometimes do in anime fights where the battle is so intense that the human characters flap their mouths as they yell commands, but their words get drowned out.

Fourth, just to cap it somewhere (and because 4 is my favorite number), is Digimon World 2003. No backstory this time, it just has a sick computer-y beat.

 

[RanmyakuIchi]

The battle theme from Fire Emblem 4 Genealogy of the Holy War often randomly pops in my head, so that one.

 

[tenkai star]

Those are the two franchises I thought of as well. I’ll also put the FFX battle theme as one of my favorites. As for Pokémon, I nominate the theme for the battle against red on mount silver. That one is so good, even the original on GBC sounds incredible

 

[Ikagura]

The instrumentation of the game is a bit weak but the melody gives me some mood boost.

Not a battle theme per se but you'll hear it often

 

[fake-kun]

 

[Ikagura]

Motoi Sakuraba the goat

 

[Waffles]

And:

 

[Bakuma1997]

 

[Omegapunch]

Literally ALL of the battle themes from Shin Megami Tensei IV.
Here's some of my favorites:

 

[Eclipse14]

I'll stick to three.

 

[MasterEn]

For me it will always be Final Fantasy X's normal battle theme. FFX was one of the games a classmate I no longer talk to introduced me to, and I remember it to be THE game that knocked my socks off and demonstrated the leap between PS1 and PS2, not just graphically - that famous FMV where Yuna says "I have done it. I have finally become a summoner" where you see her up close - but also the orchestral soundtrack that hit 12 year old me like a truck. It made such an impression on me, I was disappointed to learn that all FF games have different battle themes.

i rank ffx's battle theme up alongside ff4's and ff9'sas being the best normal battle theme's with ff1's standing just an inch behind. lulu's intro scene is better in my opinion.
otherworld is probably the best final boss theme hands down in the series and most other games in general. rivaled only by eternity from blue dragon. not a final boss theme, but it should have been.

 

[LiberoVulpes]

Touhou alone has a ton which are fantastic, if i was forced to choose a favorite, i would say Maiden's Capriccio from Imperishable Night.

Library of Ruina also has a bunch of good ones, but the Floor realization themes are my favorite.

Also SMT adjacent games have total bangers:

 

[Bonkers225]

3 comes to mind:

 

[Korova]

One of the best in FF8.