I often wonder what it takes to make a good boss song for a video-game. Since I am endeavoring to make an entire album dedicated to the boss fight songs (which are my favorite part of a soundtrack i na game), I will ponder this matter at greater depth.

I don't think genre has much to do with it... Orchestral, Dance, Techno, Pop, Rock, Metal... these all contain the necessary components that make a good boss song.

As well, I don't think speed can really do it either... Afterall, the song that plays when you fight Miguel in Chrono Cross is slow and sad, just like the fight itself. Fast and frantic is usually the norm though. Nothing wrong with that... Variety is the spice of life though.

I think it has something to do with the energy surrounding the characters taking part of the tableaux the game developers set up for you. The song has to mold itself around them, or else without that, they have really nothing to go off of. Though even then, character-centric songs are not the rule, considering some of the earlier boss fight songs of the early NES and SNES days.

In your eyes, do you think a song during a fight should match a certain feeling, even if that feeling doesn't necessarily connect to the conflict at hand? Or maybe, the song in a soundtrack should do its best to convince you that you utterly have to defeat this enemy at all costs, or else the world is doomed?

Or maybe I am putting too much thought into this?