End Game Themes Mix

This is going to be our first mix episode in awhile. Our previous episode about Mega Man III got me thinking a lot about great end game themes. Mega Man III is fine, but Mega Man II has a fantastic end theme and, in general, sequence as Mega Man walks off into the sunset as the seasons change around him. I started thinking about different games that have great end themes and came up with what I hope is a cool mix of some of my favorites.

Let’s go straight to Mega Man II first…

….This is such a beautiful track that immediately swaps the tense and hyperactive screen where Dr. Wily is defeated (by Bubbles!) and follows Mega Man through a series of scenes where the seasons change and then finally to a screen of his helmet laying on a grassy hill. I have read in recent years that this was meant to be a series ender because Capcom thought they would not be making more Mega Man games and that makes sense. As a kid I puzzled over this ending and tried to add some other kind of meaning to it. I always thought the changes from season to season personified the amount of time Mega Man had to take to finish his quest, but who knows…..

…..one day we will do a longform episode about the Contra series. I have a lot to say about various games in this series and would love to deep dive into the games I have not played, which is basically everything past Contra III: The Alien Wars. While the original Contra is still my favorite, Super C on the NES has a great end theme that surprised me when I replayed the game a few years ago………

……….Isn’t that really good? Reminds me of something that would play in an eighties action film near the end………….

……………..We’re still a few years away from the 20th anniversary, which is roughly the amount of years I use to consider something “retro,” of Final Fantasy IX, but I had to include its version of the Final Fantasy end theme, which is one of my favorites. Final Fantasy IX was the game that made me fall back in love with video games after growing bored and often frustrated with newer systems. Its retro aesthetic and combination of old and new was very welcome when it came out……….

………FIRST though, let’s briefly break out of discussing end themes to play the amazing Final Fantasy 9 battle theme…seriously this is so good….

……………….That is so good! The end theme for Final Fantasy IX begins with a long pop song, but eventually transitioned into an orchestral version of the classic end theme. I was at a pretty down point in my life while playing game and had gotten pretty heavily emotionally invested in the plot. When that familiar note hit, I broke down crying. When Final Fantasy IX hits its 20th anniversary we will be doing a very long episode on how much the game meant to me at that time and still does………..