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Final Fantasy VI has, in my opinion, the best music of all the Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy VII has masterpieces also, and in great amounts, but this game was the ultimate culmination of creativity and the essence of RPGs to ever grace Super Nintendo. It was rated 2nd best game of 1994, and with good reason. The plot, characters, and graphics are all superb, and received second place only after Donkey Kong Country, which was just an animation experiment. But here we can blissfully immerse ourselves in the joyous chords of Final Fantasy VI. If you have a MIDI I don't but should, please email it to me posthaste.
| Name of MIDI | Description | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Aria de Mezzo Carattere | Now I'm no fan of the opera, but I do like this piece. This is the time when Celes stood on that balcony in the Opera House and sang her love song. Very touching. | 8.6 |
| Aria de Mezzo Carattere 2 | An excellent version of this piece. | 8.7 |
| Atma's Theme | You know that big guy, Atma, who keeps on spouting long-winded speeches and finally attempts to crush your party into four piles of goo? Well, this is the guy's theme. Very good, I must say. | 8.0 |
| Atma's Theme 2 | This is an even better version. | 8.4 |
| Atma's Theme 3 | This one's pretty good too. | 8.1 |
| Awakening | Terra's eyes open...the Slave Crown is no longer on her head. An old man is watching her. One of the early pieces in the game. It's all right. | 7.6 |
| Awakening 2 | This is a totally different piece but goes under the same name. I must say this one is much better in the game than in this adaptation. | 7.5 |
| Battle | It's pieces like this that get your adrenaline pumpin', your eyes set fast on the screen, and your brain racking itself for strategy. I love this piece! | 10.0!! |
| Blackjack | The theme of Setzer's airship. Flyin' over the world...has a sort of high-flying feeling to it. | 8.0 |
| Boss Battle | This is a weird-sounding piece if you compare it to what it actually sounds like in the game. It's great, nevertheless. | 8.3 |
| Boss Battle 2 | If the purpose of my site wasn't to provide a thorough compilation of all available Final Fantasy resources, I'd throw this piece out. This adaptation is horrible in some parts. It's very good in the beginning, but then it really degrades. | 6.5 |
| Cave Theme | Can't really say much about it. I was going to give this one a bad rating but then I changed my mind. It sounds pretty good once you listen to it for 30 seconds or so. | 7.6 |
| Celes' Theme | The theme of Celes, warrior and Magitek Knight. Actually, she's a much more emotional character than her occupation suggests. Her theme really brings that out. | 7.9 |
| Celes' Theme 2 | This sounds like a remake of Aria de Mezzo Carattere, but for some reason it's named Celes' Theme...oh well. Sounds like a rock adaptation. | 7.9 |
| Cyan's Theme | Now this is the piece everyone should hear at least once in their lives. The theme of honor, courage, strength, and sadness, or in short, Cyan the Knight. You know, this reminds me of a painting I once saw. This castle is standing proud and tall, and kind of reflects a sort of stationary power. | 10.0!! |
| Cyan's Theme 2 | After the wonderful first version, you now listen to the second. What a big pile of crud, huh? Well, it's not that bad, but the first one is much, much better. | 7.5 |
| Disaster | As the name signifies, whenever something really bad happens this piece plays. There is a sort of chaotic panicky feeling to it. | 7.8 |
| Ending | This is a medley of slightly redone character themes. This piece is great, and very long. You really should listen to it. | 10.0!! |
| Ending 2 | This one's great too. | 10.0!! |
| Ending 3 | Another good piece. The ending theme is a very powerful piece in any game. | 10.0!! |
| Epitaph (Daryl's Theme) | This would be a great piece, but the percussion in the background absolutely killed it. *sob* | 6.9 |
| Epitaph (Daryl's Theme) 2 | This one's inaudible. What happened? Actually, Daryl's Theme wasn't really a strong piece in the game, either. There are much better lyrical pieces in this game alone. | 7.0 |
| Esper Theme | This is a vaguely mysterious piece, like the Espers themselves. Now a good thing about Final Fantasy music is that it fits the topic wonderfully well. | 7.9 |
| Esper Theme 2 | I like this one more. I can't explain why, but it's the subtle differences between the two versions that make the whole difference. Maybe you should listen to it for yourself. | 8.4 |
| Falcon! | I know, I know...this piece is officially called "Searching for Our Friends". But since it's the theme of the airship Falcon, and has the soaring feeling to it that Blackjack had, I'm calling it Falcon. Now this is a great piece if I ever heard one. | 10.0!! |
| Fanfare | The original fanfare theme, everyone! This one is the absolute classic. Unfortunately, this version just doesn't cut it. | 7.6 |
| Fanfare 2 | This one's even worse. I'm sorry, but it is. | 7.3 |
| Fanfare 3 | AT LAST!!! The Fanfare theme--the way it should be heard! | 10.0!! |
| Figaro Castle | Figaro Castle, home of the two best fighters and the two possibly most well-developed characters in the game. This piece is very good. The castle is clearly a friendly place, and when you hear this upbeat theme after a long and hard battle it really lifts your spirits. | 9.3 |
| Figaro Castle 2 | This one's even better. I like the trumpets and the echoing sound effects in this one. Perfect 10! | 10.0!! |
| Final Battle (Nameless Ones) | This piece is for fighting those three guys on top of each other right before the final boss. You know, the unnamed ones. It's a good piece, but it can't compare with the actual final battle. | 8.0 |
| Final Battle (Kefka) | This is, in my opinion, a masterpiece of Square music. The chaotic theme of the final battle of Final Fantasy VI has yet to be equalled. | 10.0!! |
| Gau's Theme | The theme of the wild boy, Gau. A sort of rambling little piece. Very soothing, almost like a town music. I guess it sort of fits him... | 7.5 |
| Gogo's Theme | Gogo, the unexplained enigma of Final Fantasy VI. Who is he? Where does he come from? Oh well. This is the piece you hear inside the belly of the Zone Eater, where you find Gogo. A sort of bouncy theme. I can't explain it, but this really matches the surroundings. | 9.0 |
| Jidoor (The Magic House) | Wrapped in mystery...This is the theme for the demon-infested house of Owzer the art collector. At some points it sounds like an old tune nobody knows anymore called "The Big Crocodile". Now this is what I call a good piece. When you're exploring the dark basements of Owzer's mansion, this really gives you a feeling of mystery. | 8.8 |
| Johnny C. Bad | Now this does sound at points like a blatant, speeded-up piano-version ripoff of "Johnny B. Good". The song for a setting like the colosseum or a cabaret. Where the soldiers tell raunchy jokes and get into drunk fistfights, in other words. | 7.2 |
| Kefka's Theme | The theme is very good. Kefka at first seems like a regular guy, but there's an ominous tone of warning in this. It is pieces like this that make us Square fans jump up and want to burn incense to Nobuo Uematsu. I mean, the guy is a musical genius! | 10.0!! |
| Kefka's Theme 2 | This adaptation has more chimes in it. Usually chimes are for mystical-type situations. This theme is awesome! | 10.0!! |
| Kefka's Theme 3 | This one is a much softer theme. Sounds incredibly beautiful. Done entirely by piano. I like it a lot. | 10.0!! |
| Kefka's Tower | This is it. The final dungeon of the game. Sounds a little better in the game. This is way too techno-sounding. | 8.2 |
| Kids Run Through the City | The ol' boring town theme. Really, it's soothing. But not too interesting. | 7.8 |
| Kids Run Through the City 2 | This one's a bit better, actually. | 8.0 |
| Locke's Theme | The theme of Locke the thief...I mean treasure hunter. A very adventurous character, and a theme song to match it. This isn't one of my favorites, but it sounds good, and it matches the topic perfectly. | 8.2 |
| MagiTek Factory | I really don't like this. It starts out inaudible, then when you can actually hear it, it's not very good. | 7.3 |
| MagiTek Factory 2 | This one's better, but still not that good. The low bass sounds at the beginning are still barely audible. | 7.5 |
| MagiTek Factory 3 | How bad can they get? This one's got a more audible, but a much worse bass sound. Frankly, it's annoying. | 6.9 |
| March of the Empire | YES!! This one you MUST HEAR!! This is the exciting theme for whenever Imperial armies attack. This is one my favorites. | 10.0!! |
| Martial Law | The sad theme of an occupied town. There's not much more to say about it. | 7.9 |
| Mine Cart | This is heard twice, if I recall, and one of those times is when our heroes are escaping the Empire in a mine cart. Not too, um, heroic. The theme is all right, but I really had trouble with this point in the game, so I shudder inwardly when I hear it. | 8.0 |
| Mog's Theme | Mog is a Moogle, basically a cute furry teddy bear with white fur and wings. He likes to dance. That's why this music has two elements: the dancing swing sounds, and the little high-pitched "cute sound". | 7.7 |
| Mt. Koltz | The music is much better than the mountain theme of Final Fantasy IV. It begins with the air of a long climb, then goes into sounds which I can only assume mean that we've reaches the top and are seeing wondrous things. | 8.2 |
| Mt. Koltz 2 | Basically the same, but quieter. Less accentuated sounds. It gets the same rating. | 8.2 |
| Narshe | A very good theme for a few houses stuck on a snowy hillside with mountains on three sides and snowy waste on the fourth. Has a feeling of a long but empty expanse. Very pleasant to hear. | 8.4 |
| Narshe 2 | Louder than the first one, with sharper differences between sounds. It's still a very good peice to listen to. | 8.4 |
| Opening Theme (The Clouds Are Breaking) | There is a dark fog. Something is penetrating. What do we see...Windy cliffs, grasslands, and an Empire of evil. This leads us into the next part of it. Very good opening piece. | 8.9 |
| Opening Theme (The Empire) | This is the theme for the beginning of a new game. You see windblown wastes, and are told that this came about after the war of the Magi, 1000 years ago, a horrible cataclysm in which the world was almost destroyed. It also shows the Empire, focus of all evil. This is an awesome piece as well. Later, we are led into the final part of the opening theme. | 9.6 |
| Opening Theme (World of Balance) | The overworld theme of the World of Balance. I believe this is heard when the two Imperial soldiers lead a brainwashed young woman to the town of Narshe. While they are traveling, this theme plays. | 9.0 |
| Opera House | Aren't we all bored with jazzy piano songs by now? This echoes Johnny C. Bad a bit too much. | 7.0 |
| Overture | This is the piece that plays in the Opera House while the play is being performed. A masterpiece of game music. This is really worth hearing. | 9.5 |
| Phantom Train | The piece you hear while traveling on the Phantom Train. A spooky atmosphere, basically. This adaptation has too many chime sounds in it, however. | 7.0 |
| Prelude | Ahh, the soothing melody of the Prelude...the classic which has withstood the test of time and went from Cecil's Crystals to Final Fantasy VII's Prelude. The one we all love! | 10.0!! |
| Rachel's Theme | A sad, wistful melody for Locke's lost love. Whenever you hear it, it really touches you. | 8.5 |
| Relm's Theme | The peaceful theme of the artist Relm, whose paintings can come alive (is that good or bad?) A very peaceful theme. Kind of reflects nature's beauty, which Relm portrays. I don't think I can explain without sounding like an idiot. Listen to it for yourself. | 8.6 |
| Relm's Theme 2 | Whatever your opinion on the first version, you will most likely agree that this one is worse. | 7.9 |
| Returners | Theme of the underground anti-Imperial faction. Sounds like a military march-type piece. | 8.0 |
| Ruin Town (The Day After) | Notice, this isn't Ruined Town, it's Ruin Town. The theme of most towns in the World of Ruin. Very sad, and certainly better than Kids Run Through the City (in my opinion). | 8.2 |
| Serpent Trench | In the game, this is a very good theme. It is very hard to adapt, however. This attempt is quite bad. | 6.5 |
| Setzer's Theme | Setzer has a very flamboyant persona. He is a freelance pilot and a born gambler. (My second favorite character in Final Fantasy VI!) But if you listen closely, there's some sad and some gloomy elements in his devil-may-care rock'n'roll-all-night'n'party-every-day theme. | 8.7 |
| Shadow's Theme | Now this one is incredibly good. The theme of Shadow, the wandering ninja. His theme as a feeling of loneliness and mystery, like he does himself. | 10.0!! |
| Shadow's Theme 2 | This one is also very good. It starts out worse than the first one but the haunting wind instruments compensate for it. | 10.0!! |
| Strago's Theme | When listening to this wacky theme, one might think Strago is an eccentric old kook. And he is, in more ways than one. Despite this, he's a great character and an awesome addition to the story. | 8.3 |
| Terra's Theme | Terra is the half-human half-Esper girl around whom the first half of the story revolves. Her history is a sad one. The Empire murdered her parents and enslaved her. When she broke free, she couldn't even remember anything about herself. When she finally did, she was desperate for love, and so on. This theme is also sad, and some good listening. | 10.0!! |
| Ultros' Theme | Ultros is the annoying octopus who keeps on bugging you. You have to beat him up a total of 4 times. This is his wacky and chaotic theme. Well, seriously speaking, how can you make a music theme for a deranged octopus with a flair for the dramatic? | 8.1 |
| Umaro's Theme | Umaro is a lumbering and very strong Yeti. He's got a theme to match his clumsy bulk. | 8.4 |
| Unforgiven | This is the theme when something happens which requires the heroes to urgently do something, like when the Empire attacks suddenly. This is another of my favorites. | 10.0!! |
| Vector | The capital of the Empire...similar to the second part of the opening. This piece is too quiet and the bell sounds in the background aren't accentuated enough. | 7.9 |
| Veldt | The primeval drumbeats of the Veldt make a good rhythm, but it gets annoying after a while. | 7.8 |
| World of Balance | Theme for the overworld of the World of Balance. A very peaceful theme which makes you think of huge expanses of land. | 9.0 |
| World of Balance 2 | Now this is a totally different adaptation of this theme. I'm not sure what style of music this reminds me of, but it sure is a good piece. | 9.4 |
| World of Balance 3 | Here's another good version of this piece. I'd say you'd have to try pretty hard to make a version that doesn't sound good. | 9.1 |
| World of Balance 4 | Finally, one to make the perfect 10! This theme is just great, which makes the destruction of the World of Balance all the more deplorable. | 10.0!! |
| Zozo | The town where you can't trust anyone, where you have to hold on to your money and watch for assassins at every corner. Another name for it would be Crimeville. The theme reflects an odd feeling of danger as well. "Do you get the feeling that we're being watched?" | 8.2 |
| Zozo 2 | This starts off with a totally botched noise which is supposed to be the rain in the background. The theme itself sounds somehow better than the first one. Maybe because it's louder and the sound effects are accentuated more. | 8.4 |
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