Songs in the Key of Panic: Difference between revisions

{{examples|Examples of Hurry Music:}}

 

*** This music is also used for other things (like if the thing you're standing on is starting to sink into quicksand).

** The music also gets faster when you damage most bosses enough. Naturally, they get harder.

* ''[[Mappy]]''

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' does it with the drowning music. Said music has been known to scare a surprising number of people.

* ''TMNT Tournament Fighter'' on the NES

* ''[[Mendel Palace]]''

* The player has ten minutes to defeat the final boss in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3''. The music becomes louder and more intense as the time limit nears its end.

* A ''[[Metroid]]'' game isn't complete without at least one of these.

* One level of ''[[Splinter Cell]]: Chaos Theory'', where you have to disarm [[Time Bomb|Time Bombs]], integrated the beeping of the bombs into an increasingly frantic techno piece.

* In the 3D ''Zelda'' games, music will speed up in minigames when time is almost out. Similarly, timed switches in many of the games emit a series of rhythmic clicks or ticks which gradually become faster until the switch deactivates itself.

* [[Spelunky]] inverts it: The music slows down when you have only 30 seconds left to finish the level before the ghost appears.

* In ''[[The Journeyman Project]]'''s Mars Maze, the music creepily slows down and fades to a heartbeat and heavy breathing sounds as your oxygen supply depletes.

** Actually, this was present in the original Super Mario World. In the Special Zone's "Funky" level, you can allow the timer to run down low enough for the music to speed up, then use Yoshi to eat one of the green berries that give you extra time. Rinse and repeat.

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* In ''[[Street Fighter]] II'' (all five of them), the music becomes more urgent when one of the fighters' health bars is low.

** ''[[Columns]]'' does the same thing.

** As did both ''Blastris'' games packaged with the [[Light Gun|Super Scope]].

** Some versions of ''Tetris'' actually change the song when you're near the top. If the threshold for the warning music and the threshold to switch back are the same (or too close to each other), the song can switch back-and-forth a little too much.

*** ''Tetris DX'''s music has three levels of speed. the type B track has an entirely different second part which can only be heard on the second level of speed.

* ''Winback'' does this at 50% health, then again at 25% health.

* As mentioned above, the ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'' example doubles as this once the timer hits one minute.

* The danger/panic themes in the ''[[Syphon Filter]]'' series were usually faster remixes or [[Variable Mix|Variable Mixes]] of the level themes, although sometimes completely different.

* Many [[Battle Theme Music|boss battle themes]] are [[Boss Remix|sped-up remixes]].

* ''[[Star Trek Bridge Commander]]'' has a very good version of this. The battle music comes in 3 distinct flavors, though it's still the same tune: Optimistic, Neutral, and Danger. The game keeps track of your shields, weapon status, and hull integrity compared to the enemy. So you can be at 100% health, but if you're facing half a dozen Romulan Warbirds, you get the Danger music.

 

'''Different tune is played altogether:'''

* ''[[Puyo Puyo]]'' uses a frantic recurring theme whenever your screen of Puyos is filling too close to the top. The edited ''Kirby's Avalanche'' variant borrows this tune for same gameplay scenario, while ''Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine'' uses another, even more hectic theme (which is in fact a remix of the original ''Puyo Puyo's'' final boss theme). Less advanced gamers were most likely completely screwed at this point in gameplay, so usually hearing this music basically informs "YOU LOST"!

* ''[[Shadowgate]]'' plays a song when your torches are about to run out of light.

* In most ''[[Pokémon]]'' games, hitting low health caused a constant, incessant [[Critical Annoyance|beeping]]. In ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', they actually ''turned the beeping into a new [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jFofg7jGgY battle theme]'' that plays at low health.

* In ''[[Kirby Super Star]]'' [[Musical Spoiler|Heavy Lobster's theme]] is pretty much [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdjcBIDIqy4 despair in musical form.]

* The ''[[Soldner X]]'' series plays a different, more frantic track when the player is below 25% health.

* In the 3D ''Zelda'' games, a dissonant music piece [[Variable Mix|segues in]] when enemies are nearby.

* In ''[[X Wing Series|X-Wing]]'', the music switches to a more intense one when enemies arrive, and calms down when enemies are gone. This was dropped in the collector's edition, which played music from the CD (and only changed on victory/loss) instead of synthesizing it.

* ''[[Total Annihilation]]'' was one of the first RTS games to implement this with CD music. However, the unpatched version always played the same battle track; later versions chose from a set of tracks instead.

* ''Zok Zok Heroes'', an obscure Japan-only [[Game Boy Color]] RPG, changes to a different battle theme when your hero is at critical HP.

* In the [[.hack GU Games]], if you stay out in an outdoors area for too long, a Doppleganger will appear on the map. If it notices you nearby, it deliberately invokes [[Nightmare Fuel]] as it slowly and [[Implacable Man|implacably]] walks towards you. The music will change from a generally calm and serene tune into something that can only be described as ''exceptionally scary'' and fear inducing. It also speeds up the closer it gets to you. Activating a Battle Zone in order to engage another monster will not stop it from following in after you.

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=== Nearing the End Music: ===

 

* As an early example: In ''[[Asteroids]]'', the blip blop gets faster as the number of asteroids decreases.

** Same goes to ''[[Space Invaders]]''.

* During the ''[[Wii Sports Resort]]'' Swordplay gauntlet, the music slowly adds more instrumentation when you get close to the end of the course.

* Seth's stage music in ''[[Street Fighter]] IV'' becomes more urgent as the fight goes on.

* During the final lap in races in ''[[Split Second]]'', the background music will swell and become more tense. The effect is handled nicely as its crescendos happen after a bullet-time show-off of a wreck, which are usually triggered by the player.

** And at Level 20 itself... [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Korobeinki]].

* Boss music in ''[[An Untitled Story]]'' speeds up once the boss is down to 1 HP. All its bosses will have [[Turns Red|Turned Red]] by this point.

* In the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series, as you wear the witnesses down in cross-examination, the music becomes more urgent and elaborate. This is actually a separate track on the soundtrack, the 'Allegro' version. In ''Investigations'', a 'Presto' version is heard during the final testimony of any of the antagonists. [[Crowning Music of Awesome|And it is epic.]]

* When you are on the Gym Leader's final Pokémon in ''Black and White'', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSJ8FMCy-Q4 this remix] of the main theme starts playing, practically screaming "You can do it! You're almost there! Victory is within your grasp!"

* The ''[[Halo]]'' series usually intensifies the music towards the climax or end of a battle. For example, on the second and third levels of the first game, the "Brothers in Arms" music goes into its climax section when the Covenant bring in reinforcements. When you reach the toll plaza at the end of the bridge on Metropolis, rock drums and bass guitar are added to the Halo theme music, and when you go into the tunnel, the music quiets down. While riding the second gondola on Regret, the first part of "Leonidas" plays on a loop, then when you reach the end, it segues to the awesome climax of the piece, which loops until you defeat all the enemies. "Blow Me Away" also does this for the Mausoleum battle. In the second half of Tsavo Highway, the Halo theme changes to the "Rock Anthem for Saving The World" variation in the area with all the Choppers and Wraiths. The first and third installments both apply a [[Theme Music Power-Up]] during their final [[Escape Sequence|escape sequences]].

** Also in the first game's third level, the percussion of "Enough Dead Heroes" starts up as you get closer to the gravlift, and when the Hunters arrive, it goes to full instrumentation. Same with "Covenant Dance" during the cargo bay battle immediately after.

* In ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'', at the end of the finale level when you must make a dash for the rescue vehicle, the track [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA9totuk3fU Skin On Our Teeth] will play as the Survivors rush towards their escape.

* In [[Ganbare Goemon|Goemon's Great Adventure]], the music becomes more tense as you further progress through a castle level.

* In ''[[Twisted Metal]]: Black'' and ''Head On'', the battle music changes when you're down to one opponent.

* The [[Think Music]] on the Japanese game show ''[[Time Shock]]'' (hear it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6V5whgQF-Y here]) starts becoming increasingly tense starting at 30 seconds left. Also qualifies as the Hurry Music variant, as the same music is used in the "12 Answers" rounds, where a single contestant has only one question with multiple answers and 60 seconds to rattle off as many of them as they can (up to a maximum of 12).