Best Game Menu Themes · 4:09am Sep 26th, 2023
Alright, not quite off the top of my head, but also without spending days and days recalling every single game I've play in my life, I've got 15 main menu themes that I believe stand out. Lets go in order of release!
Donkey Kong Country - SNES - November 1994
Real talk time; I never beat this game. Not as a kid, not as an adult. The final levels of the game are just too big of a middle finger. There's one level where the lights constantly go out and you're expected to navigate platforms in pitch black. So luckily, I never had the opportunity to fall victim to those FAKE ENDING CREDITS. This also won't be the only time Rare is on this list.
GoldenEye 007 - N64 - August 1997
The iconic James Bond theme is absolutely nothing new. While this game hasn't exactly aged well, the music is amazing throughout, and I know more than a few of us sat there and watched the cast of characters draw their guns as they were introduced while the compressed guitar shredded away.
Jet Force Gemini - N64 - October 1999
This list is going to be more than sucking off 90's Rare, I swear to various gods. But these guys pushed the N64 cartridge to its absolute limits. Seriously, a level weren't able to be put in in their entirety, and had to be partially cut from the game due to memory limitations. Also, while not technically a main theme, I have to give an honorable mention to the character select screen, which I'm sure a lot of us also sat at:
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion - N64 - September 2000
We're almost done with the N64 days. Acclaim was another developer that managed to put some quite impressive stuff onto the cartridge, but as they moved into the new millennium, they weren't doing so hot. Turok 3 ended in a cliffhanger, and after they went off to make a prequel for the Xbox, Gamecube, and PS2, they filed for bankruptcy shortly after in 2004. Turok 3 is slated to be re-released on PC this November. Hope series newcomers are prepared for that cliffhanger.
Sonic Adventure 2 - Dreamcast - June 2001
Certainly the shortest entry on this list, but immediately drew us in with what are now some of the most iconic guitar riffs in the entire franchise. The song, Live and Learn, plays nearly in full for the game's final boss, and, again, is still one of the most beloved songs in all the games.
Halo - Xbox - November 2001
With a new generation of consoles, more and more game composers were rapidly moving away from MIDI files and compressing their songs, and were bringing in bigger and bigger orchestras. Halo: Combat Evolved, without a doubt, was one of the largest steps forward in putting video game soundtracks on the map.
Need For Speed Underground - Xbox, PS2, Gamecube, PC - November 2003
I will not have it said that I'm a prude that only enjoys orchestral game music. NFS Underground launched when street racing culture was undoubtedly in its prime. Countless players simply cannot understand why EA hasn't remastered or re-released this game. I'd wager that it would somewhat involve licensing fees for the cars and music.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - GameCube - November 2004
After the first game was a smash hit and single-handedly sold GameCubes like Halo did with the Xbox, Retro Studios immediately got to work on a sequel that was an improvement in almost every way. It was prettier, longer, harder. Much harder. Those text animations are certainly on the creative side too.
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords - Xbox, PC - December 2004
Knights of the Old Republic sent ripples through the early oughts RPG scene, and one of the biggest bullet points is was it was the first Star Wars game that didn't simply recycle John Williams' score from the movies. Capitalizing on the hype, KOTOR 2 was rushed beyond belief, with large amounts of content cut, and some story beats that wouldn't get resolved until 2011 with the release of The Old Republic. Luckily, Mark Griskey didn't need long to compose a masterful score that accentuated how dark and bleak this chapter of the Old Republic era was. Speaking of the Old Republic...
Star Wars: The Old Republic - PC - December 2011
With how KOTOR 2 left us hanging on several unsatisfying cliffhangers, Star Wars fans were chomping at the bit for seven years, until The Old Republic finally, finally released. Rumored to be the most expensive game ever made (at the time), they certainly spared no expense for the music, not only bringing back pieces from the first two games, but also hours of new scores.
Freedom Planet - PC - July 2014
Okay, let's jump forward to a game that originally started off as a Sonic fan game. But creator Sabrina DiDuro realized that if she changed the setting, she'd have her own IP on her hands. Good thing she did, because this fast-paced platformer is quite addictive, with fully voiced cutscenes. A sequel came out in 2022, which I'm still making my way through, but if I'm brutally honest, very little of the music grabs me like the first game did.
Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - Xbox One, PS4, PC - May 2015
Okay, if you're like me, you had no idea what the Witcher franchise even was, until the third game in the trilogy started making headlines as raising the bar across the board for fantasy RPGs. And the fact that the game was being offered for free along with the purchase of GTX900-series graphics cards for PC. So you install it, the splash screens fade in and out, and then... This hits, and you realize you are in for one hell of a ride.
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair - PC, Xbox One, PS4 - October 2019
After an underwhelming and somewhat controversial franchise debut, Rare alumni stayed on at Playtonic to give us a sequel that swapped up genres to return us to the nostalgic Donkey Kong Country-era of platforming. Legendary Rare composer David Wise returned again for the music. I have not made time to get very far in this game, but it is on my shortlist for Extra Life 2023.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Onslaught - PC - October 2019
So, it turns out, if a game update replaces its menu theme with something just as epic with its 6.0 release, then yes, I can certainly feature the same game twice in one list.
Terminator Resistance - PC, Xbox One, PS4 - November 2019
This game is probably the widest gap I have ever seen between critic reviews and player reviews. IGN was quite critical, saying "If mindlessly blasting away robots to Brad Fidel's iconic score is enough for you, this might be enjoyable. Well, to players, that was more than enough. This game is insanely faithful to the lore of the first two movies, while the rest of the films have been shitting the bed for more than 20 years. The music is just as faithful.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - PC, Xbox - March 2020
I'd like to say that this stunningly beautiful piece of music prepares you for how emotional the tone of this sequel will be, but it doesn't. It almost gets there, but then around the halfway point, the game rips your fucking heart out and scrapes it against the rotting ground. Moon Studios had to change the latter half of the story considerably, because playtesters got so depressed they wanted to stop playing.
Well, there you have it. I know I didn't get everything, but those are what popped into my mind first, and writing this blog took me long enough as it is. Enjoy, and thanks for reading, and listening!
My personal favorite is Metroid Prime 3 (Wii).
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That one was also really good.
Never finished that game, because, well, I rarely, rarely touched my Wii.
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Compared to the rest of the Prime Trilogy, the final boss wasn't that great, but still, one of the better Wii games.
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Honestly hoping to rectify that if Prime 2 and 3 make their way to the Switch.
Unless Retro is looking to do one hell of a lore dump for Metroid Prime 4 for newcomers.
Can't argue with Prime 2 and Freedom Planet, but bit of a nitpick. I could've sworn you were talking about main menu themes. Those two are title screen themes. And believe me, Echoes has a much different theme when you're picking or starting a save file.
Speaking of which, love Prime 2. I'll even play it over Prime 1 or 3, though all three are great.
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That... Is actually a very fair nitpick.
Sim City for the SNES had a good title theme:
It also a good ending theme:
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I give up on Prime 2 when I keep getting lost.
The KoTOR themes, DKC, and Halo are the best ones on the list, IMVHO…