Top 25 Nes Games with Underrated Boss Themes, Part 1:

* Picks based on:
- Uniqueness of Melodies and Key Usage
- Richness of Sound/Tone
- Lenght of Music Loop
- Tempo/Time Signature Changes
- Sheer Variety (Multiple Boss Songs)

25. Metal Storm

You can hear the danger here. Very tense, almost psychotic and dissonant. This loses a few points because of the rather short loop, plus the annoying nature of the second half of it, but it is still a very competent boss theme, earning the first spot of this list.

24. Zoda's Revenge - Startropics II

This one has 2 conflicting melodies and is an interesting piece, by having both fast and medium pace tempos the other being fast. It almost feels sad, which is quite unique for a boss song.

23. Gargoyle Quest 2

Gothic and regal sounding, this song is very baroque in nature (as is the whole OST). This could very well be replayed with an harpsichord and no one would bat an eye, ever knowing it is actually from a game. Loses some points for the short loop.

22. Sword Master

Before Activision were truly known as villains of the gaming industry, they published games like Sword Master, this one really surprised me. It has a quite epic boss theme, which evoke both heroism and tension.

21. Darkwing Duck

This one sounds mischievous, perfect for a Capcom + Disney saturday morning cartoon video game romp, very effective. It has that distinct Capcom Nes sound that (almost) everyone likes. Fun fact, this was composed by Bun Bun, the same person who did the Mega Man 3 soundtrack.

20. Heavy Barrel

This one has slightly more than 30 seconds before looping and its main melody is literally anxiety inducing (in the good way) honing your senses to the upcoming danger. Particularly great usage of bass and as I said earlier, we can hear the panic here.

19. Jackal

I feel like Jackal is one of the lesser known Nes Konami games, especially compared to the likes of Contra. It never quite became mainstream and I rarely see people talking about it. Even this song is heavily reminiscening of Contra for me! This almost sounds like heavy metal and it has some very appealing drums.

18. Shatterhand

This has a lot of qualities as a boss music. Almost 30 seconds of lenght for the musical loop, a hectic roller coaster type melody (almost like guitar solos) conveying the action and a rapid tempo to make you feel everything that is at stakes during those boss battles.

17. Journey to Silius

This one has a fantastic tone and a phenomenal bass; this Sunsoft release had a special extra sound chip for more audio channels. The end of the rather long loop is a bit too chaotic and almost unpleasant to the ears, so it gets a few points slashed off. Still, very impressive use of those extra sound channels, technically speaking.

16. Gremlins 2 The New Batch

Another Sunsoft release with enhanced audio, this song is very solid. One of the very few movie based games that was well made. The reverb and strong bass compliment the wicked melody and the longest musical loop showcased thus far.

*TO BE CONTINUED, STAY TUNED FOR PART 2*

*Uploading credits go to GBelair, NintendoCompleteVGM and explod2A03 thank you.*

*All songs we talked about in this article are owned by their respective copyright holders and are discussed here for educationnal purposes, counting as fair use.*