5 Best Fighting Game Stage Themes
Image via Bandai Namco
Fighting games and music have a long and storied history together. Ever since the masterwork of Yoko Shimomura’s iconic Street Fighter 2 soundtrack, many fighting games have captivated us with high-quality theme songs for our favorite characters and stages. These songs keep us engaged and ready for battle with their energetic tempos and riffs. Here are five of the best fighting game stage themes throughout video game history.
Tekken 7 - Infinite Azure
Starting us off is a popular theme song for Tekken 7, “Infinite Azure” originally by Akitaka Tohyama, Taku Inoue, Rio Hamamoto, Nobuyoshi Sano, and Keiichi Okabe. The excitement first builds with the piano’s melody alongside the snare of the drum, and then the music explodes with the drumbeat and the bass in the background. Next, the music takes another step 30 seconds in, going heavier on the bassline until it drops. The catchy melody alongside the masterful flow of music that goes up and down is exciting and gets you right into a match of Tekken 7. For this list, I decided to highlight KickazzLucazz’s “Epic Metal” cover of this song. It goes hard in an epic fashion, but when “Infinite Azure” requires a mellow section to play, he focuses on a softer tinge of the guitar while the background instrument takes more center stage. It’s well-composed for a YouTuber with less than 200 subscribers (hint hint: go support him).
Marvel vs Capcom 2 - Clock Tower
“As soon as I heard this song I knew I had to remix it,” said musician Mewmore in their video description. Marvel vs. Capcom 2’s soundtrack by Tetsuya Shibata and Mitsuhiko Takano is legendary among the fighting game community; it has tunes that stick around in your head for weeks, and Mewmore’s cover of “Clock Tower” is no exception. The jazzy theming mixed with the incredible riffing from the guitar, piano, and brass instruments keeps the melody flowing. The melody is also joyous, keeping you pumped up in the battle. Mewmore flies this song to the stratosphere with some incredible percussion beats that make the song more well-rounded. The slight bass increase improves the song overall as well as making everything else sound more pronounced. To his credit, Mewmore stays true to the original melody while making a banger out of it with the modern additions.
Street Fighter EX3 - Precious Heart (Sakura's Theme)
Sakura is one of the most iconic fighting game characters of all time, standing tall next to the likes of Ryu, Chun-Li, and Cammy in terms of popularity. Her popularity is due in large part to her theme song “Precious Heart” by Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Takayuki Aihara, and Yasuhisa Watanabe. What’s more, the track perfectly matches her personality; there’s an upbeat beat, a peppy percussive background, and a lighter guitar riff that showcases her willingness to fight. DS Music alongside The Consouls delivered a faithful cover of the original song. The saxophone gives a great character to the piece while the xylophone-like sounds from the keyboard are poignant within this nostalgic piece. We have to love the piano and saxophone solo towards the end of the song too.
Capcom vs SNK 2 - This is True Love Makin'
Capcom is the king of fighting games, so it only makes sense that they have three songs in this list. Also, this is also the second time we’re featuring DS Music! This Future Funk remix of the song takes it into the modern age with stellar vocals by Lacey Johnson (who always seems to make her way into these lists), a tasty bassline by Music on the D Lo, and some incredible piano playing by DS Music. “This is True Love Makin’” is such a vibrant and energetic song in Capcom vs SNK 2, and these musicians absolutely nailed it. Interestingly, this song was originally composed by Satoshi Ise, who also wrote some music for Devil May Cry 2.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Bramble Blast
Last, but not least, is “Bramble Blast” from the platform fighting crossover Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This is a calmer piece than the others, but it’s a more energetic arrangement of Donkey Kong Country 2’s “Stickerbush Symphony.” The melody remains mostly the same, but it adds some exciting strings from the guitar and a wild percussive element courtesy of Michiko Naruke. Speaking of great arrangements, insaneintherainmusic did a wonderful cover of this song with the help of Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza, and Dom Palombi. Carlos performs a wonderful flute solo in the middle of the track, while Nico Mendoza adds some nostalgic magic to the piece with the picking of the fretless violin. Clearly, this a song for the ages!
There are many amazing theme songs we still haven’t covered, so maybe there will be a part 2 of this article in the future. What are some of your favorite covers of beloved fighting game themes? Let us know in the comments below.
Chris Penwell
Chris Penwell is a writer and podcaster who loves to talk about video game music. His favorite soundtracks are from the Kingdom Hearts series, Celeste, Beyond Good & Evil, Gravity Rush, and Final Fantasy X.