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Music in Pikmin 3: Difference between revisions
Finished bosses.
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==Cutscenes== | ==Cutscenes== | ||
{{todo| | {{todo| Find the exact fruit values that trigger the different epilogues.}} | ||
Most of the [[cutscene]]s of the game have pre-rendered soundtracks, as they are usually a specified length. The theatrical cutscenes have a Hollywood-style orchestra to perform them, plus electronics. Meanwhile, the in-game cutscenes can sometimes have a looped theme, since dialog occurs over the cutscene that requires player input to progress. These cutscenes can be performed by a wide range of ensembles and electronics, as they all have varying moods and contexts to convey. | Most of the [[cutscene]]s of the game have pre-rendered soundtracks, as they are usually a specified length. The theatrical cutscenes have a Hollywood-style orchestra to perform them, plus electronics. Meanwhile, the in-game cutscenes can sometimes have a looped theme, since dialog occurs over the cutscene that requires player input to progress. These cutscenes can be performed by a wide range of ensembles and electronics, as they all have varying moods and contexts to convey. | ||
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|header = y | |header = y | ||
}} | }} | ||
Heard during attraction mode, or when a new game begins. The first-ever narrator in the series reads the following passage, which contains key elements that change the soundtrack. | Heard during attraction mode, or when a new game begins. The first-ever narrator in the series (voice of Julian Macfarlane) reads the following passage, which contains key elements that change the soundtrack. | ||
{{transcript|Galactic date: 20XX. At the far reaches of space lies a planet on the brink of ruin. The planet's name: Koppai. Due to a booming population, booming appetites, and a basic lack of planning, Koppai's inhabitants have all but exhausted their food supply. Their only hope is to find another planet with edible matter. Accordingly, they send unmanned scout vessels called SPEROs out into space. To their dismay, the search is proving fruitless. Just as they're about to give up, the final vessel reports back with news of a miraculous discovery. They mobilize to investigate the planet which they name PNF-404. Koppai's last hope rests on three intrepid explorers. At last, the explorers' 279,000-light-year voyage nears its end. But, as they initiate the landing sequence, something goes horribly wrong.}} | {{transcript|Galactic date: 20XX. At the far reaches of space lies a planet on the brink of ruin. The planet's name: Koppai. Due to a booming population, booming appetites, and a basic lack of planning, Koppai's inhabitants have all but exhausted their food supply. Their only hope is to find another planet with edible matter. Accordingly, they send unmanned scout vessels called SPEROs out into space. To their dismay, the search is proving fruitless. Just as they're about to give up, the final vessel reports back with news of a miraculous discovery. They mobilize to investigate the planet which they name PNF-404. Koppai's last hope rests on three intrepid explorers. At last, the explorers' 279,000-light-year voyage nears its end. But, as they initiate the landing sequence, something goes horribly wrong.}} | ||
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==Bosses== | ==Bosses== | ||
{{ | {{todo|Find links, if any exist, to the short cues in main boss and mid-boss themes, just like the ones in ''Pikmin 2''.}} | ||
Boss themes have to build a lot more tension than normal gameplay themes, so they normally incorporate more orchestral textures with specific sounds that produce great intensity. A feature of most of the boss themes in this game, as in [[Music (Pikmin 2)#Bosses|the previous game]], is that the boss's actions determine changes or cues in the music. Except for the [[Plasm Wraith|final boss's]] case, a boss theme will only play in the boss's vicinity, since the theme's dynamism is generally controlled by the boss and not the player. | |||
===Main bosses=== | ===Main bosses=== | ||
For the [[Armored Mawdad]], [[Sandbelching Meerslug]], [[Scornet Maestro]], and [[Quaggled Mireclops]], the transition from area theme to boss theme occurs in this way: between the main game area and the boss arena is a passageway in which the area music fades into the sound of heavy wind the closer the player is to the arena. In the arena, the boss theme can began out of silence. | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Boss battle intro | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/046-boss-battle-intro.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard during a boss introduction cutscene; this particular intro is for the [[Scornet Maestro]]. There are two parts to the boss battle intro: A subtle tension-building ambience built on atonal strings and contrabassoon when the boss is beginning its appearance, and a hyper-tense stinger in full orchestra when the boss reveals its aggressiveness. As the Scornet Maestro's intro sequence is particularly long, the subtle parts plays twice; also, the intensity of its harp-beak sound effect changes with the intro's intensity. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Boss battle | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/047-boss-battle-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
The common boss theme. A powerful orchestra sound with blaring brass in low registers and resounding strings and brass in high delivers a high-contrast, high-dissonance thrill of a theme. Compared to the [[Music (Pikmin 2)#Common boss battle|previous game's boss theme]], this theme has freer percussion, now hammering out an irregular 7/8 time signature. The loop itself is not very long, because this theme normally does not last long before seamlessly transitioning into a different cue, prompted by the bosses' actions; once the cue is finished, this theme resets. Those actions and the cues they trigger are listed in the table below. | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
! !! [[#Boss attack|Boss attack]] !! [[#Pikmin vulnerable|Pikmin vulnerable]] !! [[#Boss vulnerable|Boss vulnerable]] | |||
|- | |||
! [[Armored Mawdad]] | |||
| Charging || Eating Pikmin || | |||
|- | |||
! [[Sandbelching Meerslug]] | |||
| Sucking/Launching boulders || Sucking large sinkhole || Fully exposed | |||
|- | |||
! [[Scornet Maestro]] | |||
| Commanding [[Scornet]] formation || Holding captured Pikmin || No Scornets, with no Pikmin held | |||
|- | |||
! [[Quaggled Mireclops]] | |||
| Charging/Swiping tongue || Charging with whole torso || Legs downed | |||
|} | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Boss attack | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/048-boss-battle-boss-attacks-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard during a boss's characteristic attack. The extremely low registers of the normal boss theme drop out here, implying an added stress to this cue. The augmented chords in brass, woodwinds, and xylophone here also imply a sense of mystery to what the boss is planning, since the boss battles are rather dynamic. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Pikmin vulnerable | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/049-boss-battle-pikmin-vulnerable-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard if Pikmin were captured during a boss attack, or during an especially dangerous attack. The extremely low registers return here, along with a heavy bass drum hit and dramatic rips in the horns. The high woodwinds and strings play a piercing puntual texture, almost as if expressively crying for help. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Boss vulnerable | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/050-boss-battle-boss-vulnerable-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard during a chance to attack the boss while it cannot retaliate. With the full orchestra playing full-throttle in 4/4 meter, the music suddenly becomes emphatically major, with hints of the ''Pikmin 2'' motif played in a new xylophone-like synthesizer, along with woodwinds and the xylophone. This theme can only happen if no Pikmin are in immediate danger at the time. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
There are also several small cues based on the transition between these three sub-themes and the main boss theme. There is one for Pikmin dying during a boss attack, two for the end of a boss attack (one in which Pikmin died and one in which Pikmin were safe), one for a boss shaking off Pikmin, and a specific one for the Quaggled Mireclops smashing its body into the ground (it is an attack, but it is too short for the attack theme). | |||
For the end of a boss battle, see the [[Vehemoth Phosbat]] section below. | |||
===Vehemoth Phosbat=== | ===Vehemoth Phosbat=== | ||
===Plasm Wraith=== | The [[Vehemoth Phosbat]] has a unique boss theme, since its arena is not merely designed for engaging it in combat. Its battle is more of a puzzle to begin with, and moreover, it occurs in darkness, adding an element of mystery and suspense. The theme is still somewhat dynamic, but certainly less so than other main bosses. | ||
The passageway to the Vehemoth Phosbat's cave still fades out the area music, but it stays silent until the player reveals the boss using the [[electrode]]. Then the boss battle intro plays, but the normal boss music does not follow. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Vehemoth Phosbat (all lights off) | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/060-phosbat-cave-all-lights-off-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard at the beginning of the battle, when no [[electrode]]s are activated. Played rather like a horror film or fantasy soundtrack, this eerie detuned theme makes the invisible boss all the more ominous. Although a beat is added, the Vehemoth Phosbat drawing near adds a spooky texture that alludes to the noises heard when [[#Charlie's cliffhanger|Charlie was first captured]]. This added texture can be heard [http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/061-phosbat-cave-all-lights-off-vehemoth-phosbat-near-.mp3 here]. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Vehemoth Phosbat (small lights on) | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/062-phosbat-cave-small-lights-on-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard after any of the smaller [[electrode]]s are activated. Orchestral textures are added, but not in the normal boss manner. Many of the sounds present here are still detuned, or have somewhat alien qualities, to make the Vehemoth Phosbat appear more otherworldly and to increase the horror-like tension. Once again, when the Vehemoth Phosbat nears, it superimposes its odd texture over this, increasing the overall discordance of the theme. This added texture can be heard [http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/063-phosbat-cave-small-lights-on-vehemoth-phosbat-near-.mp3 here]. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Large bulb activated | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/064-the-big-bulb-is-activated-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard when the largest electrode is activated, making the Vehemoth Phosbat vulnerable. This cue sounds a bit more like a normal boss cue, with booming brass and percussion, but the unusual horror-element instruments are still present, further separating this boss from others. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Vehemoth Phosbat (large light on) | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/065-phosbat-cave-all-lights-on-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard during the battle after the largest electrode is activated. This piece sounds like the Vehemoth Phosbat's theme and the normal boss battle theme spliced together; it contains melodic gestures and rhythmic structures from both. The boss's unique texture and detuned orchestra is present, but so is the rigid military percussion and string and brass patterns. Since the battle is now about combat in the light rather than strategy in the dark, this theme is effective at bringing the Vehemoth Phosbat back from the shadowy archetype of a dark, unseen threat to a real, tangible boss that can be defeated. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Boss defeated | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/051-boss-defeated-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard when any boss is defeated; this extended version is for the [[Vehemoth Phosbat]]. Unlike the [[Music (Pikmin 2)#Boss defeated|previous game]] that took a major [[wikipedia:Picardy third|Picardy third]] upon beating a boss, this game's boss theme chugs to a rather dissonant halt. In this extended version for the Vehemoth Phosbat, violins continue after the main cue is finished, slowly and continually ascending as the boss tries to fly away. This small gesture builds the final tension for the Vehemoth Phosbat's collision with the large light bulb, which truly ends the battle. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
===Mysterious Life Form/Plasm Wraith=== | |||
The [[Plasm Wraith|final boss]] of the game has two forms, with two very different themes. These two boss themes do not function like the normal boss themes; there is little (although still significant) dynamism that the boss can trigger. Also, since the [[Formidable Oak]] is entirely designed for this boss battle, the boss theme is global, and the second phase of it completely replaces the Formidable Oak's theme. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Mysterious Life Form | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/114-formidable-oak-interior-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard in the Formidable Oak's interior, while the [[Mysterious Life Form]] is giving chase. While this composition is all about building tension, it also needs to build a mood of futility, as the Mysterious Life Form is invincible and garners a great deal of control over the environment. Thus this piece has a very atonal gesture, the Plasm Wraith's motif, that repeats in two synthesizers. Over this, a vocal synthesizer solos, creating an avant-garde but still highly tense environment. The futility comes from the fact that this intensity level is kept no matter how far the player manages to get from the Mysterious Life Form, in a way saying that it will always catch up. An added sense of urgency also comes from the constant pounding of bass and tenor drums, along with the off-rhythm triangle-like percussion. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Mysterious Life Form (near Olimar) | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/115-formidable-oak-interior-mysterious-life-form-near-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard when the Mysterious Life Form is close to [[Olimar]]. This theme is extremely tense, perhaps the most tense in the game. In addition to the alien texture heard before, the percussion has been beefed with metal sheets, a polyrhythmic metal bar (perhaps the tensest element of them all), and dissonant staccato notes in basses. A new aleatoric texture has settled over the theme, as if the mood were not dissonant enough. The clutter is enough to give the Mysterious Life Form a real element of fright, and certainly enough to spell out the danger it poses to the leaders and Olimar. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Mysterious Life Form (Olimar captured) | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/116-formidable-oak-interior-captain-olimar-captured-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard when the Mysterious Life Form is escaping with Olimar inside of it. Now the tension and dissonance of the theme has backed down a little, but the Plasm Wraith's motif is still there and now a full orchestra is playing the urgency of rescuing Olimar. Fast brass stabs and string gestures articulate the commotion of quickly battling the Mysterious Life Form, while percussion still pounds on to the same rhythm as before. In addition, a strange choir-like sound can be heard in the background, similar to the ambient noise heard in the [[Formidable Oak]]'s theme. If Olimar is freed, the theme will return to its normal state (far from Olimar) until the Mysterious Life Form rematerializes, after which it can get close to Olimar once again. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Escaped Formidable Oak | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/117-plasm-wraith-battle-intro.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard when the leaders and Olimar make it out of the Formidable Oak's interior. This is the transition between phases of the boss battle, and although the first phase was tense, this transition cutscene needs to show that it is over. It does this with small iterations of the [[Music (Pikmin 2)#Leitmotifs|"Hocotatian motif"]], a motif that is major standing alone but in this context is made an atonal gesture. It does offer a small mood of victory over the Mysterious Life Form, but then the boss appears with its motivic instruments and figures until it transforms into the [[Plasm Wraith]], its appearance accented by a blast of low horns and trombones. After this, the Plasm Wraith absorbs all its excess plasm to become larger, and an ostinato in strings builds new tension for the impending phase of the battle, during which leaders and Pikmin are on the offensive side. Since the player is given power to combat the boss, the texture is of natural instruments and not alien synthesizers associated with the Mysterious Life Form. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Plasm Wraith battle | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/118-formidable-oak-exterior-interior-plasm-wraith-battle-.mp3 | |||
|header = y | |||
}} | |||
Heard during the battle with the Plasm Wraith, anywhere in the Formidable Oak. This climactic theme features a very eclectic collection of instruments and textures. It seems to contain sections: the first is an orchestral section of string ostinatos while an organ synthesizer and Hang drum play small repetitive gestures; the whole sound is very dramatic and carries a close intensity to the normal boss battle theme. Soon the Plasm Wraith's motif arises, and attaches to nearly all of the orchestra until every instrument plays it in unison. After 5 iterations (the fifth including percussive accents), the orchestra holds on an altered dominant chord, with a harp glissando and dissonant string flourish. The theme then switches to a new section of less intensity, featuring smaller-scale instruments and a thinner overall texture. Bassoons and cellos have a legato melody, followed flute and saxophone, until strings finish it off and the texture builds back up to full-orchestra steam. This tension allows it to come full-circle to the rich accents at the beginning of the theme. | |||
This is the extent of the theme; neither the Plasm Wraith's actions nor the player's actions instigate any dynamic change to the theme. While it does not score a dynamic battle as effectively as the other, more dynamic themes, its rigidity could be considered more climactic and certainly ultimate to the game, similar to the [[Music (Pikmin)#Emperor Bulblax|final boss theme]] in Pikmin. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
===Mid-bosses=== | ===Mid-bosses=== | ||
{{infobox track | |||
|name=Mid-boss battle | |||
|link=http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/pikmin-3/072-midboss-battle-.mp3 | |||
}} | |||
Mid-bosses in ''Pikmin 3'' are smaller bosses in the game that are larger and stronger than most enemies but that do not contain an important plot element. These are the [[Shaggy Long Legs]], [[Burrowing Snagret]], and [[Bug-Eyed Crawmad]] (the [[Baldy Long Legs]] does not trigger mid-boss music because it does not appear in Story mode). They get their own theme that plays whenever the active leader is near, similarly to how boss themes worked in the previous games. The theme itself is a new rendition of the [[Music (Pikmin 2)#Common boss battle|previous game's boss battle theme]]. The new theme is less brass-centered, with the melody in strings and a few muted horns instead. The percussion and synth bass are also more articulate. | |||
{{clear}} | |||
The mid-boss themes also include new renditions of the same [[Music (Pikmin 2)#Short attacks|cues used in ''Pikmin 2'']] for boss attacks and defenses, as well as a new rendition of the ending [[wikipedia:Picardy third|Picardy third]]. | |||
==Mission Mode== | ==Mission Mode== | ||