Old Composer Reacts to Video Game OST Undertale - Megalovania by Toby Fox

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#Undertale #videogameost #oldcomposer

[@theguitarassassin6639]

dude made the whole game and ost himself and is considered one of the most influential games of the last decade

[@snatch6129]

temmie helped him with the game but the ost was only him

[@guerra3710]

@@snatch6129 I forgot temmei was an actual person for a sec and was so confused how tem helped

[@scalesthebattlemage4634]

@@snatch6129 R.I.P. Temmie

[@jamesisafk]

@@scalesthebattlemage4634 wait what happened?

[@snatch6129]

@@jamesisafk nothing they are alive

[@HzizsVynryn]

I'm no internet historian, but Toby Fox uses this song in a lot of his projects in different forms. The rest of this album/OST was entirely composed by him. Worth a deep dive!

[@thegromlin6736]

I second this! Megalovania was actually originally written for a web comic called Homestuck, and then was slightly recomposed for Undertale (both songs made by Toby Fox, however the web comic is made by Andrew Hussie). It’s very interesting to look into.

[@M_Gargantua]

@@thegromlin6736 Not quite! It was originally from Toby Fox's Halloween Hack of Earthbound in 2008! Which was reused as Vriska's theme when he came on as a composer for homestuck. There is a very specific part of the sound files on the earthbound cartridge's that is the original sample for the famous riff.

[@thegromlin6736]

@@M_Gargantua oh yeah, I completely forgot about that! I’ve done a deep dive on the topic a while ago so some of the details escape me, my apologies.

[@herculejoestar5809]

It was originally made for a mother fan game

[@M_Gargantua]

@@herculejoestar5809 Same game, different localization name. Mother 2 = Earthbound in the US

[@earthboundisawsome]

There's something magical hearing an older gentleman who isn't part of the fan base of the game describe things with the same feeling of being amazed as we all felt when we heard this whole soundtrack for the first time.

[@samugames0]

Because it's so good that you can't enjoy it more, not even by knowing all the things that made you reach the moment the song plays

[@evep6886]

First time... Id like to forget Undertale so I could play it by first time at least once more. Hear this by first time

[@jerrahaynes1564]

hard agree :D

[@strawberrygemz2020]

I gotta say though, when u play the pacifist run, and THEN do a genocide run and hear this track after getting to know Sans better and deeper than just the jokester he is, this track really gains a layer of emotion and respect for his character. I feel like the song really conveys both his prankster, not too serious nature, and his very much intimidatingly unrelenting and surprising power

[@Phoenix-kn8uk]

@@strawberrygemz2020 yeaaah, I might’ve just started with genocide to get it over with no previous gameplay of the blue soul/jumping mechanic, and know I’m stuck.

[@MostlyJoJoMemes]

Fun fact: This song was used by a circus jugglers performance, who performed for the Pope - therefore the Pope has heard Megalovania :)

[@radwolf76]

He also was gifted a copy of the game a few years ago, but no word on if he ever got around to playing it.

[@Kendorable]

@@radwolf76 funny and tragic, the Pope condemned videogames shortly after receiving it. Guess he couldn't beat Sans!

[@_reZ]

@@Kendorable he probably got stuck on undyne lol

[@CaueJulio]

funny how matpat was the one that gave him the game but he doesn't like toby anymore

[@gradient5319]

@@CaueJulio ? wym

[@HarrisBoe]

Fun fact: this song has been played for THE POPE. And he loved it. There are videos on KZbin of it happening.

[@leila13dnd]

Wait WHAT-

[@EnderNobody]

@@leila13dnd I heard of it too, and many others mentioned it.

[@CturiX.IREALLY]

Returning fun fact! The circus that played the song had no idea of the source; They just thought it was a good song for performances

[@tog9341]

mat pat took a trip to venice like a year or so after undertale released and showed and gave the pope a copy of the game and he loved it so much

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@tog9341 Well, it's a game where you kill nobody, so it's pretty cool.

[@Abyss8564]

The history and trauma behind this song is unknown to this man, keep him protected

[@yoshiyahureynolds8603]

Yes!

[@HeyYouFromThatGame]

So basically the player makes frisk (mc) commits ge- oh ok

[@feerspreads]

Ddttt dtdtt

[@abadgurl2010]

Well, anyone who gets to the part of the game where Megalovania starts to play frankly deserves the trauma.

[@Abyss8564]

@@abadgurl2010 AMEN

[@musicbyshadofox]

The entire Undertale OST is worth a deep dive. Lots of unique keys, time signatures, and emotions that can't be found in many other places.

[@GoldPrince2468]

I haven’t heard it all but a good of what I did hear is an experience. Modern BEATLES. Modern QUEEN. Modern art.

[@PennyO_O]

yeah especially Long Elevator and Barrier

[@Trecko]

@@PennyO_O YOOO I love those so much! Such bangers!

[@mecha1105]

And most of all, Toby's main tool... LEITMOTIVS !

[@erikh1038]

Toby Fox made the entirety of Undertale (along with a small independent team of animators/developers) and the follow-up Deltarune. Undertale became such a massive hit that it’s opened up opportunities for Toby to also write and contribute to Pokemon. You would probably get a huge kick out of not just the rest of the OST, but also the game and it’s cast of characters, story, writing, etc.

[@KitsyX]

Possibly also the mechanics… I guess that’s covered by “etc.”, but you know? I think those are worth specifically mentioning.

[@ferret3423]

Deltarune has a team, but Undertale was basically all him and Temmie.

[@utes5532]

While Deltarune is technically the follow-up, it's what Toby came up with first. Undertale was basically his test for Deltarune, to see if people would be open to that type of game.

[@inuratus]

With the exception of character design, Toby did not have a team for undertale. He made everything himself.

[@sandsnake3896]

Ye-e dou-nt forge tem

[@TheAdvertisement]

Fun fact: This is the fourth version of Megalovania that Toby Fox has made. He almost always makes sure to include it once in his projects! Which of course, when he designed the entire soundtrack of Undertale on his own, using yeah a lot of old synthesizers in complex ways, he's gotta include an update of this song somewhere!

[@leonannaves9273]

I thought it was the third. (First is Earthbound halloween hack, and second is Homestuck)

[@notTLWO]

@@leonannaves9273 there was also Mother Cognitive Dissonance, even though it wasnt made by toby, its often included in the list of megalovanias

[@Christopher-md7tf]

Old synthesizers? Pretty sure the whole soundtrack was made in the box (with the exception of the acoustic guitar in "Undertale")

[@warriorjudson5618]

@@notTLWO then it’s the 3rd cuz it has to be made by Toby fox to be a true megalovania

[@TheAdvertisement]

@@Christopher-md7tf Wdym by "in the box"?

[@kantpredict]

The premise of this song is that you've played the very worst route of the game possible and the character here knows what you've done. You are now the villain of the game and this guy is doing his best to stop you and does not hold back. That's why it's so heavy and frantic. The sort of jazzy feel to the melody is because this guy has always been very laid back before and mischievous

[@fletcher1710]

Its also arguable that its not actually his theme, but yours, as it has nothing in common with any other track.

[@kikagezumi]

@@fletcher1710 I would say that it is his theme, since wherever that branch's Frisk goes and kills everyone, Silence follows.

[@Tzizenorec]

I don't think this song is _about_ him being the hero and you being the villain. I interpret it more as... "Shit just got real. This is the first time the game is _actually_ hard." Compare this song's usage in Undertale with this song's usage in "[S] Wake", where the moderately villainous (but very powerful) Vriska kills the relatively pathetic Tavros who was just trying to experiment with that "being brave" thing he had heard about.

[@devforfun5618]

@@Tzizenorec what do you mean undyne is hard as hell

[@Tzizenorec]

@@devforfun5618 Nothing compared to Sans.

[@Stephen-Fox]

Not only file space limitations, although that was present as well - Typically 8 bit systems had very restricted sound cards, often only about three channels, typically only square waves, triangle waves, and a noise channel (I believe basically allowing for bursts of white noise for percussion) Soyo Oka, who's probably most notable in video games for composing the original Mario Kart, compared working on 8-bit systems to being like a sound puzzle due to the restrictions on them. Undertale has a great soundtrack. One thing from it I'd probably suggest looking into is Asgore's theme based on other music reaction channels I've seen. Outside of Undertale, if you're wanting old-school sounds like you sort of implied near the start, I'd absolutely love it if you covered the Title Theme for Flimbo's Quest. Purely from my nostalgia.

[@Top_Hat_Walrus]

The fact that Tim Follin made legit good music with such limits is just amazing

[@Zejoant]

Oh yes, flimbos quest title theme is awsome. There are so many awsome c64 songs

[@mapmakerlich]

Toby never worked with 8-bit systems though. Earthbound was for SNES, 16-bit console.

[@JoeyCannoli97]

You should 1000% revisit Toby Fox. Undertale and Delta Rune's sound tracks are 🔥Totally worth a deep dive.

[@562.anthony2]

He has some bangers in the new Pokémon game. Area zero was really good

[@Iserele]

@@562.anthony2 What.

[@cinnamoncat8950]

@@Iserele I don't know much about it but, I heard toby fox worked on some music in recent Pokemon game

[@itskdog]

@@Iserele He did the Battle Tower in Sword & Shield, and now in Scarlet & Violet he's done the Tera Raid theme, wrote a melody that was used by other composers throughout the game, and the Area Zero theme was a collaboration with another composer.

[@Iserele]

@@itskdog oh thats cool

[@GeekMasterGames]

Honestly, it's worth the sit to react to the entire game's OST in one sitting, possibly as a livestream. Because there are a ton of leitmotifs and concepts you will see evolve through the OST. Super fantastic.

[@Cool-Vest_Leo]

Another song by Toby Fox, [Big Shot], is a prime example. It uses the leitmotifs from spamton. and Don't Forget (aka The World Revolving) from the game it's in as well as two from Undertale, being Ghost Fight and Death by Glamour.

[@MattTOB618]

@@Cool-Vest_Leo The World Revolving may have the Don't Forget leitmotif within it, but to say that they are one in the same is misleading - especially when The World Revolving has its own leitmotif. Don't Forget's leitmotif doesn't appear in Big Shot, but The World Revolving's does.

[@signedoutsorry]

The song is so chaotic and frantic, wanting to take a break. And has a bit of a jazz feel to it to make it more mysterious and laid back, resembling how Sans was before the fight, he is also trying so hard to give you the pain you caused him and so many others by killing everyone. The ironic thing about the song is that it is one of the best tracks in the game, And to get to hear it you have to kill everyone and everything to hear this masterpiece. Toby Fox is in-genius when it comes to stuff like this.

[@spiritwarhol707]

What I love about Megalovania is how much it sounds like a _song_ rather than a video game soundtrack if you know what I mean. It's not a short repeating piece for the player to tune out, it's front and center. The melody sounds like it should have lyrics, it has a lot of progression and different elements going on in the background. You can tell even without the context that there's emotional weight and significance to this point in the story.

[@insertcolorherehawk3761]

I’d argue if that if you tune modern game music out, it’s a failure of the song for the game

[@LinaBoeckwurm]

@@insertcolorherehawk3761 I would argue that that really depends on at what point in the game you encounter it. Sometimes you want the player to be sucked into the story, or be stunned by the visuals, or not distract them when they're doing some difficult gameplay. In those moments, you *want* music that you don't actively notice, that you tune out because it's part of a complete picture. You don't always want to notice the music. In fact, in some games, noticing the music can take you out of it a little bit. But in other moments, the *music* is what tells the story or what carries the moment. And in those cases it really gets to shine! Megalovenia is such a moment. A lot of other tracks on the OST are ro be repeated and tuned out.

[@insertcolorherehawk3761]

@@LinaBoeckwurm The irony is, Megalovania is generally a final boss/optional boss theme for a very difficult boss Of course, you can do the Kobayashi approach to OST design too

[@LinaBoeckwurm]

@@insertcolorherehawk3761 I don't think it is ironic. As I said in my last comment, Mechalovenia is an exception that carries the moment. Sure, it's for an incredibly difficult boss fight, but it helps more than it distracts? It makes you want to keep going and complete it, even if you fail many times. I suppose it might fill you with... Determination?

[@wolfkitty42]

I was a huge fan of Glitchtale and constantly hear the lyrics from the very first episode. Haha! Megolovania has always felt like an epic to me.

[@DonZmug]

Holy... your first impression at 3:30 "...maybe it's a part where you're shooting things or you're going through a maze..." is actually quite on point. Except the player itself is getting shot at. With maze like structures, which they have to maneuver through!

[@Marxdaft]

if you were curious! the part of the game that this song plays in, is a fight between you and the character on the song cover. the whole premise of the fight, is that the character your seeing named "sans" is trying to stop you from reaching the end of the game, with notably the hardest fight in the entire game. this game has a really unique premise, where as 2 or so of the characters remember whenever you've restarted and sans will constantly bully you for dying on his fight, every time. the only way to access this fight, is if you kill, every single character in the game. also know as "the genocide run" sans will stop you, on your way to the end, and ask you a few questions, before bombarding you with the hardest attack you've seen in the game so far. stating why he wonders why not just use your strongest attack first. sans is the most self aware character in the series, know that he is in a game, and he has to watch his friends die every time someone does the "genocide run" definitely a interesting and fun character, well also terrifying and unnerving. he's also a skeleton if you didn't catch on

[@VakovoSheggorri]

I don't think it's ever stated that sans knows he is in a game, as he never adresses the actual player from my memory. He is however aware of the players (and thus the player characters) ability to return to, and create save states, to an extent. He knows how many times hes killed you, vaguely, as he stops keeping track after a while. Anyway! Yea, since the ability to save and return to prior points is an actual lore thing, that another character was able to do as well before your character appeared. The only charater that actually shows any awareness beyond that, i think, is chara, as they talk to you after *spoilers* happens, and such. At least this is to my memory, I may be wrong!

[@RaxusXeronos]

@@VakovoSheggorri Only beings capable of using the ability remember (IE you and the previous character who used it). Sans doesn't remember at ALL. He knows about 'timelines resetting' but he's not aware of it when it happens. He knows when you reset because he can read your character like a book, hence him knowing all about your stats. He reads the expression on your face every time you come back and is able to tell just from that just how hard he's been kicking your butt around the judgement hall. He also can tell if you killed him and ran the fight back, and he's understandably disturbed.

[@VakovoSheggorri]

@@RaxusXeronos Ah yes, fair!

[@troljynx9953]

@@VakovoSheggorri Also Flowey

[@Marxdaft]

@@VakovoSheggorri does'nt flowey/asriel have that power? flowey knows if after you killed toriel, you reset the game, he says something along the lines of "here we are again" if you do the tutorial with him on the same save file again. but otherwise, i think sans is very aware that your a player.

[@pyronuke4768]

Toby Fox is an amazing composer. Everyone knows him for this song, but honestly practically every track from his Undertale and Deltarune games are bangers! He's just so great at creating atmosphere through music and soundbites.

[@podporWidelec]

I remember loving Spider Dance and the Home theme. While the one is a banger, the other one is nice, calm and gives me peace

[@TEG13]

Toby Fox is one of very few composers who frequently uses microtonality in many of his compositions. For example, the OST "Fallen Down" is almost entirely made by using microtones and "Bergentrückung/Asgore" (Bergentrückung being the interlude into Asgore) also shows a great usage of them.

[@Christopher-md7tf]

Being detuned from A=440Hz doesn't make those pieces microtonal. Microtonal means the music actually makes use of intervals smaller than a half-step. Listen to e.g. Flying Microtonal Banana by King Gizzard, it's a very particular sound that can be kind of uncomfortable at first.

[@FrostbiteKelvin]

Man... Undertale has such an incredible OST... you should react to the whole thing because every single piece is unique and amazing. Thanks for the awesome reaction :D

[@KitsyX]

Well, to say it’s entirely unique is slightly misleading, given that many of them share melodies or leitmotifs or whatever… But I would say that also makes it worth listening to the whole thing lol.

[@FrostbiteKelvin]

@@KitsyX Truth be told... I wrote on the original post "awesome" like 4 times... so I felt compelled to use more vocabulary hahaha. And you're right... "unique" maybe a bit misleding... but awesome none the less haha

[@Rain1]

I agree he should indeed, so fun and many good songs

[@linojvni2038]

amazing pick! this is one of THE video game tracks that everyone should hear. also there is a huge scene of newer games that continue and innovate on the bit-era of gaming.

[@aldahviirthedovah8148]

Seeing this guy's expression go from "oh, this is interesting" to "holy crap this is awesome" was perfect

[@TheArmestori]

Toby fox made almost this entire videogame by himself and also composed the music, he is an extremely talented guy!

[@makotroid108]

Toby fox is dynamite. Another composer that's his equal is Jake Kaufman, especially his 'Strike the Earth' track from the game Shovel Knight. Thx for listening to our gamer tunes!

[@SpikePilgrim]

Toby Fox, Jake Kaufman and Christopher Larkin. The trinity of game composers

[@glugglugglug.7963]

@@SpikePilgrim The DS3 composers also.

[@Radi_nce]

Chris Christodoulou is a GOAT too

[@HHog]

@@SpikePilgrim *Indie game composers But yes

[@DaggerSkullery]

Danny B is another fav of mine. He did Super Meat Boy, flash Isaac and Crypt of the Necrodancer.

[@V.F.D.DaleSalvador]

Undertale has an AMAZING Soundtrack. Try: Death By Glamor, Undertale, Hope's and Dreams/Save The World, Here We Are, Dating Start, Dummy, Fallen Down, Bonetrousle, Spider Dance, Asgore, Heartache, etc. The Soundtrack has so much variety, and it's all by 1 guy. And the game is amazing too. Fact: there are multiple versions of Megalovania. Toby puts a different version in everything he's worked on (like a musical signature or the like.) There is: Earthbound Halloween Hack, Homestuck Web Comic, Undertale, Mother: Cognitive Dissonance (not made by him but approved by him), Undertale, Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Fans of his have layered different versions over top of eachother and arranged different versions (I have done 1 as well, it was my first video back when I was 15) and many have done Covers in countless styles.

[@krobusstardew4139]

*hopes and dreams (not hope's)

[@Hrogthar]

Will also add that Deltarune is shaping up an amazing OST, and Toby's work on homestuck and Pokemon has also been stellar. Just about everything he touches turns gold musically.

[@ThatSneakman]

@@Hrogthar His work in Scarlet and Violet is phenomenal.

[@Hrogthar]

Toby Fox is establishing himself as a modern composer savant. He's able to come up with these hooking melodies and just play what sounds right. He is self taught and only played by ear for many years. If you haven't heard his improv video "An apple disaster", not only is it funny, but he really has a talent for creating hooking music.... In an instant!

[@randomdeliveryguy]

A lot of his melodies are borrowed, actually. Ofc he improves on it, but even Megalovania's melody is from Gadobadorrer from Brandish 2.

[@Hrogthar]

​@@randomdeliveryguy Almost all of them are not borrowed. He has inspirations just like every other artist. It's similar and he was inspired by games like Brandish and Earthbound, but it's very clear that he has his own unique style and sound.

[@lomie0489]

For reference, this song is for the hardest battle in the game. The skeleton guy is trying to stop you the player from killing everybody and he is the last against your GENOCIDE. Game has 3 endings, pacifist, normal and GENOCIDE. Toby Fox is an absolute legend.

[@JoinThe_BingvinArmy]

"The skeleton guy" 🗿

[@theiceygamer4742]

This here skeleton fellow

[@jacobgamer402]

oh, you gonna "spoil" the beans my friend

[@whyareyouhere6274]

The guy literally made flowey reset multiple times, safe to assume while being the weakest, he's one of the smartest, or maybe even the smartest monster in the game.

[@themisspultone]

I always felt that its more the boss battle music for YOU rather than Sans :)

[@N.A.M.LazyCloud]

It's so interesting just to watch Geebz listen to music, it's like a visualization of what music looks like, all the feedback on his face and in his movements to the different sounds. I feel like he has a special relationship to and experience of music that I've never really seen before. I never thought it could be so interesting to watch someone listen to a song I love. Please keep it up, sir! :D

[@ClubsDeuce5150]

Great reaction. Megalovnia is so iconic, the opening hook is frequently used in memes/references as short hand for "someone's about to get their a** kicked". Gonna suggest some of my favs: - Anything from Persona 5 OST, it's all fantastic ('Rivers in the Desert' and 'Keep Your Faith' are my favs) - 'This is What You Are' from Warframe - 'The Only Thing I Know for Real' from Metal Gear Rising - 'Savior of the Dreaming Dead' from Homestuck Keep up the great work!

[@Max-ep5ir]

This plays when you fight the hardest boss in the game. The wacky sound perfectly encapsulates the insanity of the fight. Also, an orchestral version was performed for the pope... he liked it.

[@keikonooner3756]

I gotta find that video. That sounds amazing.

[@TheSquirrelProductions]

Man, Toby is a legend when it comes to music, and it’s sad that most people only listen to megalovania and stop there, without giving the other amazing tracks a chance

[@YaM8Andi]

Finale is a banger

[@DarkWolf65865]

So is Bonetrousle

[@ame-chan579]

True, Dea4th by glamour is awesome

[@Buphido]

Some info on the context this track plays in: Undertale is a retro-style game with a mixture of turn based and bullet hell combat, meaning you get to choose an action in your turn (like talking or attacking) and then you need to dodge the opponents projectiles in their turn. The premise of the game is that you get to choose whether to be merciful to your opponents or to kill them. Being merciful all the way leads to the good ending, while going out of your way to kill everything leads you down a dark route known as the "Genocide Route", which is where the final opponent will have this track playing in the background. It is unquestionably the most difficult fight in the game. Traditionally, a soundtrack playing in the background of "the bad guy", ie. your opponent, can be said to be their specific theme. But the character in question, Sans, already has his own theme. Given the context this track plays in and its name ("Megalovania" being based on "megalomania"), it can be said that this is not the theme of Sans but YOUR theme, having gone power hungry after becoming "the bad guy", as Sans tries his best to stop you.

[@daggerace9918]

i disagree with the "megalovania is the player's theme" concept. Megalovania is Toby Fox's final battle theme, and has been used as such in every single project he's been in.

[@cameronleach5902]

People always ask you to do more from album x, or game y, for almost everything you cover. Unless you really do plan to cover everything individually, do you think you could do livestreams or something where you spend an hour or so just reacting to different tracks within a single album/game. Just an idea. Love your work ❤ 😊

[@momojishu]

I love that Toby Fox used the soundfont from Earthbound/Mother for so much of the soundtrack. It makes the tracks sound so retro and yet more modern at the same time.

[@TheCoroboCorner]

First time coming to this channel, but if you like this song, I'd recommend the song Bergentrückung, also from the same soundtrack. I'm only starting to get into music analysis, but I'm pretty sure it has microtones, which is always really cool to hear! Here's to the further growing of your channel :)

[@Sindraelyn]

When you mentioned the file size of the games, it reminded me of the fact that the early Pokémon games (and pretty much every GameBoy game) were super tiny; the number I see often is 1MB or 512KB. The file for the song you just listened to is probably larger than the entirety of the first generation of Pokémon games….

[@VeggieGamer]

*Only just discovered this channel through the FFX Zanarkand reaction "Wow, this is such an amazing way to breakdown such a beautiful tune" *Eyes float over to suggested videos "wait, HE HAS DONE MEGALOVANIA?!??!?!?!"

[@RealILOVEPIE]

Bad Apple might be a good one, also I'd recommend Bombs For Throwing At You from Portal 2. Also something you might want to try experimenting with in your music if you like old video game style sounds is the synth/sequencer/tracker called Little Sound DJ (or LSDJ) which allows you to use the Nintendo GameBoy as a synthesizer.

[@sodabug]

honestly, seeing somebody's first impression of this game and its music, even after these years is so much fun to see, especially someone who appreciates not only the song itself but has a love for the older and arcady 8-bit and synthetic music, so refreshing and fun!💖

[@andrewcarter3419]

This entire game album is actually incredible. Toby Fox is a big fan of leitmotifs and the whole album has soooo many spread throughout it. I would highly recommend at least a full personal listen through, if not a video or video series on it!

[@gideonwaithbraite]

You mentioned that this sounds like a song that would play during an intense and fun shooting or maze section, yet surprisingly this takes place during the final fight of the most depressing and dark pathway through the game.

[@trashcandy.]

My favorite piece from Undertale is probably Spider Dance, but the context in which this song plays in the game and the overall culture impact it's had makes it the perfect song to listen to first.

[@boomkruncher325zzshred5]

The shadow from the lava lamp looks like fumes coming out of the coffee cup. 10/10 environment details 👍

[@TheValorious]

3:32 Man has never played Undertale, yet his guess at to what this song is meant to be played around is not that far off. This song is a boss theme for one could argue the most difficult section of the game. Up until this point, the player had all the control of when combat began and had time to think between turns as this game was turn based for a good majority. But then the players faces the boss this theme is for, and that completely goes out the window. Very chaotic, very unforgiving, and it makes sure to remind you each time you retry how many times you've failed.

[@storminajar]

Dude, your energy alone is incredible. Glad I found your channel and I'm excited to see more!

[@Inkromont]

Couldn't think of a more relevant video than this to recommend a certain song. Area Zero Theme / Area Zero Battle Theme, also composed by Toby Fox, from Pokemon Scarlet/Violet. Beautiful, curious, ominous, other-worldy, past, future... and the dubious nature of the story unfolding as you explore a new and scary place no one has been before, all while experiencing it with the friends you made along the way. Seeing it to its conclusion. The sense of "We've come this far together, we'll finish it together! No matter what happens!" This will hopefully send you down the beautiful rabbit hole of Pokemon OSTs. Some of the most gut-wrenchingly nostalgic (or maybe in your case, anemoic) pieces of music made by human hands. When I was a child playing through the first games, I genuinely thought the soundtrack was just nursery rhymes, that's how intuitively nostalgic they are. Can't recommend enough.

[@mikel9292]

Man I got addicted to your videos. It's such a pleasure watching you enjoying every trak you listen to. Thanks!

[@noice5223]

3:30 Well, you certainly do have to go through something of a maze when this song plays...

[@caboosenom3rson]

Toby Fox also composed on the newest Pokemon game, Scarlet and Violet, and made a really memorable battle music track called "Penny's battle theme." Really a fantastic piece that gets your head banging and your feet tapping!

[@seetrrusiak18]

I dont believe toby did penny's theme, he recently confirmed in the undertale newsletter all the tracks he did for the game and pennys theme wasnt any of them

[@spinerflame7922]

Last I heard, he composed the Tera Battle theme, and it was re-arranged by Nintendo

[@SillyStarstruck]

He didn’t do the penny theme, but he did do the Tera Raid music and the Professor battle music

[@feffy380]

Your point about drawing from more traditional composition and then shifting to something new is interesting because it fits the context where the song is used: a boss fight against a character who takes your expectations of how the game works and completely subverts them

[@RaphaelRavenwing]

Considering this plays during a boss fight against a skeleton that painting in the background is very appropriate.

[@chupathingy13]

So glad that KZbin recommended this to me! Just looking through your channel and I see about 2 years worth of awesome content that I can't wait to binge.

[@zombiesxaliens]

Wait until the Final Fantasy 14 community gets their hands on you!! Our Master composer, Masayoshi Soken is just incredible. His use of leitmotifs throughout the game's history are just legendary, with the widest variety of genres in composition I've ever heard. Fantastic stuff, loved your analysis, subbed!

[@courage1024]

I’ll always say it and stand by… tal Tal heights from Links Awakening was the first video game track I heard that I fell in love with. And it’s honestly imo, the best video game track. I used to sot right under the egg and just leave my game boy on just to listen to it.

[@seanfriedhoff975]

This is the first time I've ever seen your channel and wow, what an amazing first impression!

[@MoD1510]

Your OST vids always make my day, thank you so much!!

[@crackwag3njax3n20]

Awesome Christmas present with this one, Megalovania is such a fun track I'm pumped you listened to it! I'll sing his praises just like everyone else here but man Toby Fox really is incredible for what he did with Undertale. Also if I could make a request, you should absolutely check out some music from Hollow Knight! It's another "indie game" made by a studio of only 3 people, one of them being the composer, who then made one of the greatest game soundtracks of all time. His name is Christopher Larkin, and I know you'd love his work. Strongly recommend the songs "Mantis Lords" "Dung Defender" and "City of Tears". Thanks for a great reaction once again, super stoked for the Halo video as well, and Merry Christmas!

[@anthonynelson1699]

Yep, here to spread the good gospel of Hollow Knight myself! I love it so much I've even done a cover or two of the music. Lol

[@xyobug]

Highly reccomend giving some of the music from Omori a listen. Some of the fandom favorites are Worlds End Valentine, Duet, By Your Side, It Means Everything, Bready Steady Go, and a lot more honestly! The soundtrack is amazing and huge!

[@Nankeroo]

I'm glad youtube recommended you to me, this was a great video and quite insightful!

[@deandage2703]

Watching you made it feel like it was my first time listening to this song as well. So glad I could relive that amazing soundtrack once more by watching your reactions!

[@samlowther9487]

Greetings for England, go get yourself a coffee 👍 Absolutely loving these soundtrack reactions, hoping to see a reaction to the main theme from the Uncharted video games! Also, it's super interesting to hear about the details of these much loved tunes and how they are made that i had never noticed before.

[@rpgeebzmusicarcade]

Thank yo so much, Sam!

[@samlowther9487]

@@rpgeebzmusicarcade no problem at all, keep up the great content!

[@nintendude794]

Hey Geebz! Remember when I said something like “react to more ‘classical’, retro, and tracker-based VGM”? This qualifies!!!

[@nintendude794]

Undertale is largely a tribute to, among other classic games, Earthbound and Chrono Trigger. Highly recommend those great old OSTs as well!

[@nintendude794]

Like I said that one time also, do Jake Kaufman and Shovel Knight!

[@jakubgorka315]

How about listening to Civilization 6 main theme, "Sogno di Volare"? Its composer, Christopher Tin, won a grammy award for main theme of Civilization 4. The song was called "Baba Yetu" and was the first video game soundtrack to get nominated and win the Grammy award!

[@SophiaAstatine]

It's always pretty interesting to hear takes on video game music independent from the games themselves. What usually gets me loving a piece of video game music is very much shaped by the way I experience it in the game, same way you might with a movie track except you're directly in control of part of what is going on. But that makes it so refreshing to see it extracted from that context and seen on its own the level of detail and effort that exists unrelated to the feeling imparted on it by the gameplay experience.

[@ali1810]

If you haven’t listened to it yet, I would listen to the title track “Undertale!” It’s an incredibly different (and gorgeous) song and really shows his versatility as a composer

[@JaCob_101_]

I'd really recommend the tracks Asgore and Heartache from Undertale too - absolutely incredible pieces of music.

[@rtb42]

I just found this channel and I gotta say, I really like that straight forward, quality content, I will look more into it

[@Lightforeverandever]

I always smile watchin you react , respect to you sir

[@paige1722]

If you enjoyed this one, I think you would also enjoy Wonderland - Round Three from The Suffering Game by Griffin McElroy! It often gets mashed up with Megalovania

[@BobzBlue]

Kirby has some amazing music, "Two Planets Approach the Roche Limit" is extremely impressive.

[@Ghost-Mom]

Just discovered your channel through this. Toby Fox is truly a talented individual. I can see many others have written informative comments all about him. His other tracks form this game is really worth a dive they are all beautiful and wonderful compositions. This game exploded in popularity for many reasons, Toby Fox really broke the mold with this game, his compositions are already greatly respected in many communities..

[@sleepychickadee4087]

Yooo, so glad I found your channel! You’re such a fun individual!

[@Audreybellpt]

I really love how you felt the environment of this song is that you're going through a maze, and the combat in Undertale is very much as if you're dodging the walls of a moving maze! Amazing how music can create such an accurate and acute feeling of action!

[@itsabwomp]

Did you ever listened some of Carpenter Brut's tracks? I've think peoples here will be interesting your reaction on one of CB's compositions. His "Trilogy" album really incredible: Paradise Warfire, Turbo Killer, Run Sally Run and many others a real masterpieces.

[@ryliesh]

based carpenter brut enjoyer

[@waaa3081]

your enthusiasm and genuineness is absolutely awesome. from a 19 year old, thank you for making these videos and you've earned a subscriber 🙌❤️❤️

[@thatguykekai2601]

I love how you compared it to older video games because this was originally from a ROM hack of earthbound so this song was originally made with the software of an snes

[@MadotsukiGaming]

I don't know if you've checked out the Hollow Knight soundtrack but there's a lot of good music there especially if you're really into moody dramatic instrumental pieces. It's a great game too.

[@R3_Live]

This track is the epitome of "Boss music."

[@Jinzo9988]

The game's OST in and of itself is so good, but to hear multiple orchestras around the world take a crack at it and turn them into orchestral pieces is pretty fantastic. My personal favorite is "Symphonic Gamers 3 - Undertale".

[@rafsandomierz5313]

I don't know if you noticed but there is also an organ sub melody that plays along with the organ chords and main melody in the 16 bars before the bridge part.

[@Goombario37]

I personally think Toby Fox is the most talented composer in the world of video games, his music is definitely worth a listen!

[@birdflox1337]

the Undertale soundtrack is incredible, one of my favorites is the track "Death By Glamour". it's definitely worth a listen.

[@ozymandias-_]

3:30 its during a part in the game where your basically fighting the most powerful being in all of time and space, he is also the winking guy in the picture

[@Cametendo]

When you heard it so much, that not even the figth feels like pushing you.

[@MrSporeaddict123]

Id love to see you listen to some of these tracks done in the official orchestral, i always get a kick out of how hard the musicians are going , the Obo on this song Legendary. Amazing stuff as always thanks for the videos!!

[@_uib_]

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed a lot seeing your reaction! You're very charismatic and fun to watch

[@ItsMeFern2019]

I don't think anything could ever shake my love for Undertale. Every single track either slaps, does a great job setting the tone, makes you want to cry, makes you chuckle, or all of the above. Every single character and aspect of the universe feels so fleshed out and you just can't help but love it ♥️

[@zackoon49]

I wont lie, at face value when I first found this channel, I was expecting some harsh criticisms or like... a generational gap or something. But the absolute joy you had all over your face throughout the entire song was absolutely wonderful. The fact that you, I assume not a gamer whatsoever, enjoyed this just as much as I did when I first heard it, me being merely a gamer and enjoyer of music, was so nice and promising. I'm sure this has been cleared up by now, but Undertale is a turn based role playing game where you fall into a world that all monsters were banished into, and you can choose to either defeat or spare said monsters as you go on your journey to escape the underground. This song is from the final boss of a route called "The Genocide Route" where you kill every single monster in the entire underground, and this skeleton, Sans, is basically the final judgement. He punishes you for your sins, by giving you the hardest most relentless battle in the entire game. As some other comments have mentioned, Megalovania is a song that Toby has been using and remaking for a long time. He originally used it in a modification of a game called EarthBound, and then later used it again in a game/webcomic/cartoon called HomeStuck, and they all have different renditions of the song. They're all relatively the same, but they have their own bits and pieces that make them unique.

[@fluffhead6757]

Glad to see you touching on some of Toby's stuff! He's a fantastic composer, and Undertale's entire soundtrack is rife with leitmotifs even when you don't expect them. Another song I'd love to see you cover (albeit not one of Toby's) is Heir of Grief by Joren "Tensei" de Bruin!

[@craz2580]

The smile on your face was so genuine, loved that

[@joyouslyprofane]

one of my favorite parts of the OST to this is how tied to the emotions of the game it can be. this song is during a particularly difficult battle and any time i hear it i still feel the panic of the battle, and the sadness of fighting a character that, until this moment, has been friendly. it's really something

[@skele_queen]

I love your reactions and how you talk about the wide range of music you're listening to and have been binging your channel recently! Toby Fox is one of those one people that can fill a lot of creative roles in a project and this song is iconic. Since anime and games are relatively new to you I'm half-hoping you pick up some VOCALOID songs too, like maybe Rolling Girl by wowaka.

[@Jan-lq1ki]

This song hits way harder when you know the story behind it.

[@UserShadow7989]

I’ve seen some conversations about classic video game music in the comments, so some examples of people pushing the envelope of what old 16-bit consoles could do if you knew how to really work them, David Wise’s work on the soundtracks for Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 are timeless, Aquatic Ambiance and Stickerbrush Symphony being the ones most people point to.

[@MinionOfCthulhu]

I found your channel just a bit ago (not sure how, honestly!) thanks to the Tank video and now this one. Count me as a fan. It’s really cool seeing someone with musical knowledge experience these things for the first time. I gotta hand it to Toby Fox. He made this small indie game and did all the music for it and ended up having this song and that skeleton character Sans put into Super Smash Bros Ultimate, one of the biggest fighting games of all time, and then hired by Nintendo to write music for the new Pokemon games. Going from an independent developer to being, I’m pretty sure, the first American to create music for the literal biggest franchise ever is quite the story.

[@chickenarmy7904]

Loving the OST reaction stlye videos! Highly recommend some of the tracks from the Ori games. Especially 'Light of Nibel' from the first game, and 'Shriek and Ori' from the second being the song from the final boss fight. These songs I see as some as Gareth Coker's best work.

[@felixtkatt]

I'm still here! What's interesting to me is the very, very strong remixing and stylized covers ecosystem that exists around VGM. DJ Cutman and his artist collective called GameChops are almost ubiquitous in the social streaming environment (a la Twitch, Discord, etc) for their DRM free offerings.

[@pudding1823lol]

The drums and guitars actually aren't live, everything was composed in a DAW. The drums are the LABS Drums sample library, the overdriven guitar and bass is from Shreddage X (another sample library). The melody 20-ish seconds in is an 8-bit type square synthesized through the 3x Osc plugin in FL Studio. The brass section is a Saw wave from 3x Osc and Brass 1 from the SGM soundfont. The synth at the beginning is the 'Overdriven Guitar' found in the Earthbound soundfont.

[@Palettblad]

Fun fact: first version of megalovania was made when toby was just 17 years old, and was included in a Halloween hack/mod from nintendos franchise Mother (or english earthbound) Later the song has been used in a Flash animation for the webcomic homestuck, later he made the most iconic one for his game undertale, and later a new remix was made for super smash bros ultimate, when the skeleton character sans became a purchable Mii character skin that came along with the song.

[@littleDoughie]

Scorching Wind has made me cry multiple times, its a song from a game called Kenshi, all I will say is wait for the chello to open up. It transports me to another place every time I hear it!