My Favorite Video Game Music, #26: Billow Of The Dark

#26: Billow Of The Dark

Ogre Battle

As far as final battles go, you just don't get any more sinister than Ogre Battle's. And it has the music to match.

The final boss, the Big Bad of Ogre Battle, the one guy you have to defeat to prevent the destruction of the world, is--wait for it--Satan.

No, seriously. Satan.

Technically he's called "Diablo" in the U.S. version; that's the Spanish name for Satan. There is no question who "Diablo" is supposed to represent. The presumed Big Bad, Rashidi, with his Dragon, Gares, take off at the very end of the game to a super-secret dark temple where you have to race to track them down (OK, not really; you can take forever if you want, but the story makes it clear you're supposed to hurry) before they summon Satan. Which they're doing pretty much out of spite, because they're pissed off the Rebellion showed up and authoritatively kicked their asses. Stay classy, Rashidi.

Anyway, you might expect--I did--to show up just in the nick of time and deliver one final beatdown to Rashidi--but no! You don't show up in time, and you show up just in time to confront Satan.

This is the theme music, then, for your battle with Satan. And it works. The music is, simply put, very evil, and very intense.

Incidentally, if you use an appropriately pumped up unit and bust out your full deck of Tarot cards, Satan is kind of a pushover. But then, everyone is, by that point in the game.

My Favorite Video Game Music, #34: White Storm

#34: White Storm

Ogre Battle

Ogre Battle was one of the neatest video games I ever played. I wouldn't call it legendary, and it doesn't quite make my top ten favorite video games ever list, but nonetheless it was awesome, and it was uniquely awesome. It featured a rich story complete with backstory and an ominous future even after you save the world, and events and characters would change substantially depending on your actions as Opinion Leader of the Zenobian Rebellion. But it's not an RPG, not like the various Square classics; it's a real-time strategy game with RPG blended in. Starcraft meets Dragon Warrior, if you will. For 1995, this was all very, very cool stuff. Come to think of it, it's still cool in 2011. Not many names had as much thought put into their story and design as this one. And it's very deep--one of the deepest stories ever, filled to the gills with deceit, betrayal, aggression, compassion, sympathy, and (depending how you play it) corruption or justice.

And the soundtrack fit the various moods of the game very well. This first of two Ogre Battle entries into this Top 50 is the overworld music for winter-themed lands; your enemy is located in the Highlands, and the further you penetrate into Zeteginean territory the more snow you see, and the more you hear this music. The music has a knack for making whatever you're doing sound urgent and inevitable. Perfect for a struggle for the soul of the continent in the snow-smothered Highlands.