*ATTENTION* You'll notice a cut at 6:02 of this video. I had to remove that part because the record label and copyright owner of the Undertale music was fighting me to get this video taken down.
Dispute the claim. Toby Fox always lets people use his music and apparently I guess youtube autoclaims stuff. If you dispute/apeal it it should get removed
I need to read homestuck at some point both because I've heard great things about it and because the music is super good I think sburban jungle is one of my favorite songs out there
Because it isn't actually a song from the OST. It was included, but originally it comes from Toby's Earthbound Halloween Hack Edit: It is also not a theme for the game, it is a theme for YOU, the player.
@@rafaelcastor2089i am aware. Also the "it's actually your theme" is a theory that hasn't been confirmed and actually new evidence has arisen to suggest it's not true.
@@AshenDust_ toby made a new remix of Megalovania for smash bros and the end contains asgore and bonetrousel, the two things sans would be fighting for in that moment. Protecting the king and avenging papyrus.
The jazzy bluesy contrasting with the intense rock electronic is really a great choice given the context of Sans being one of the most laid back and relaxed characters being forced into a position where he must unleash his power.
My personal interpretation of Megalovania is that it's actually two songs "battling". One is the jazz, swingy, more casual Sans. The other is the heavy metal, rock feeling of the genocidal player.
The song wasn't actually composed for Undertale; it was recycled from one of his older ROM hacks. So it might not be _quite_ as attuned to the exact situation as the other ones.
@@Ramusculus Absolutely! Wallet warriors are the worst kind of monsters! Undercutting everything the game is meant to convey by bypassing the content with your wallet sends the wrong message! And pirating does the producer a grave disservice! You should always experience the sound track through gameplay! As our lord and savior RNG-esus has willed it to be!
5:54 Speaking of tragedy. The original version of this track was used in Toby's Halloween Hack of Earthbound. In which you fight against Dr.Andonuts. The father of one of the protagonists and one of the people to help you on your journey. Originally a good guy, he had gone insane. In the context of Undertale, *SPOILERS FOR THE SANS FIGHT It is also tragic cause Sans knows he can't win. During this fight if you lose, Sans will comment on your facial expression and is able to tell how many times you died. He is also aware of the resets. This means he's fully aware that every time you die, you will come back to life. That the world will be reverted to how it was before you died. That no matter how much he tries to stop you, he knows he can't win. He's fighting a losing battle and all he can do is delay the inevitable.
I mean, in a way he can, but he knows that it's an unfair fight, because the way that he has to win isn't just to win the fight and kill Frisk (or, one could argue, chara), he has to win the fight over and over so many times that you, the player, get bored and quit playing or choose a different ending.
He doesn't really fight a "loosing" battle. He's fighting a battle of determination. He's trying to get you tired of fighting. He knows that you have the higher ground and in the end he's trying to overpower your will to continue your path with your desire to quit. He knows that you can die many times but he only needs to loose once and it's over. Partially I believe it's also him expressing his frustration and desperation. He's aware he's a toy to an immortal god. He's taking it out on you, the cause of his depression.
I never really think Sans remembers Resets, but he knows from the facial expression of Anger as he says, “From that expression.” He can tell the anger / confusion alone I highly doubt Sans would remember since its called a Reset for a reason, Reset the game to the start with 0 lv, 0 exp, 0 battles, and a randomized Fun Value for different outcomes for more “Fun”
One of the most interesting things about this song to me is it's history. The one in Undertale is in fact, the third iteration that Toby has used. The first was in an Earthbound Romhack he made, the second was used in the soundtrack for an animation in Homestuck, and then again in Undertale for the Genocide route.(I guess you will hear it in context if you ever play that too). Each version is a little bit different.
The original version was in an entirely different key, and was a tad more confined to the "8-bit music" genre. And the only (albeit big) difference between it and the Homestuck version was the addition of those iconic guitar samples.
It’s also got two other character motifs coming in at the end. I said on another posts I’d love to see how he’d interpret all three iterations because of how far apart they are in Toby’s career and how they serve a different context in each story and I wonder if those moments are reflected in those changes.
@@ninjapotatolorf6237 both the original and the Homestuck versions were in the Key of A minor when the Undertale version is in D, the original was limited because it was in an Earthbound romhack, so Toby could only use instruments from Earthbound. The Homestuck version is a recording of the Earthbound version with more stuff added on, mainly the new drums and guitar, also the guitar solo at the end. The Undertale version is a lot closer to the Earthbound version, while still making notable changes. The Smash version is kinda a mix between Undertale and Homestuck, but it's missing a few things from the Homestuck version for me to consider it that fully. Fun fact: in the code of Undertale there is a variable which pitches down Megalovania, making it closer in key to the original version. This was likely meant to play before or after Sans tries sparing you.
The key to understanding Megalovania is that YOU'RE ROOTING FOR YOURSELF TO LOSE. That's the beauty: You're the bad guy, and you're forcing yourself to make the wrong choice. The difficulty of the battle is to force the player to ask themself "Why am I doing this? Why am I struggling to hurt my friends for no reason?"
@@cdogthehedgehog6923Which brings us to the concept of solipsism. In the game solipsism is a fact, everyone else is just following GameMaker Scripts and have predefined dialogue. Surely everyone around you isn't just an NPC created by your imagination, right?
@@JohnSmith-ox3gy I would be very surprised if that turned out to be the case. There is no way i could imagine up the vile and goofy monsters that look like me. That being said, most people are basically on autopilot more than half their life. If your brain is the player, i would say NPC is pretty cheeky if not fully accurate. I like it.
I think it's worth noting that the track doesn't really "end" like that. It's made to loop so that it never really ends. In fact, it doesn't ever "end" in-game, either: it just fades out slowly over a few seconds. This is actually a worthwhile distinction because other fights' tracks end when the scenes change.
@@briansmith-dp4jy It's been a year since I watched this, but as I recall, he commented about not liking (and that it's bad music design) how it abruptly ends like that. This comment was to point out that no, it doesn't end; it loops. Most other looping tracks in the game actually do end and then restart, while Megalovania has a perfect loop. So that's not really its end, and it doesn't abruptly end at all. If in your watch through he doesn't say that, he might've edited the video since then to cut out that reaction. (I don't feel like rewatching the whole thing just to timestamp where this was, if it's even still there.)
I need this guy to decipher Gaster’s theme, cause at this rate, he might just figure out everything we want to know about the guy lmao Somebody make fun of the people who can’t comprehend sarcasm 🙏
This song is so famous; everyone seems to knows it even if they don't know Undertale. I played it for my Grandfather and he said "I've heard this." but didn't know when or where he heard it.
@@rafaelcastor2089That’s low-key Sans at his scariest, way scarier than Flowey. The fact that he has the self control to not attack you, but make that sly little remark, “Dirty Brother Killer.” Chills. Not on my back, but my balls…
The thing about this song. It's super aggressive because Sans just had everything taken from him, and he's out for blood. This song also ends on a note that loops right back to the start because that's how Sans intends this fight to go. Since he is aware of all other timelines, he's aware you'll just keep coming back. He intends to torment you as long as he can until you either give up, or kill him because he wants you to feel the pain you have caused him. And his pain is an endless void.
@@2_OP i don't think it's anyone's headcanon. not only does the word "megalovania" describe genocide frisk way better than it does sans, sans has his own song named "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans". that's his actual battle theme that would play if he started a fight. he doesn't start the final fight, you do - that's why he gets the first turn, and it's why your theme plays instead of his. i'd say it's genocide frisk's theme, fits them more
fun thing with this song is that its actually really debated whose theme this is. some assign it to you, the player. some assign it to sans, some assign it to a character who is spoilers
I like to imagine that the slow and sad part in comparison to the fast and heroic part shows the two sides of Sans' personality, as well as the two aspects you see in him during both his dialog and his fight. While his eyes remain a solid pale blue (the color for Patience in the game), they flicker on with yellow as well (the color for Justice.) He's miserable without his brother after you killed them. He's angry, and wants his revenge against you for not just his brother, but for everyone you killed. However, he knows that just blindly throwing himself at you in a fit of rage won't work. He knows better, to just take it slow and make you burn yourself out. Every time he wins, even if you come back, there's a chance that you'll finally get angry and give up, unable to hold out and be as patient as he is. Every time he wins, he's that much closer to getting the justice everyone deserves. When the music is slow, he's focusing extra hard, patiently waiting for you to drop your guard. When it's fast, he's back on the offensive, ready to put you down for good. That's just how I like to see it anyway.
Interesting. I'd like to point out that this combination of Patience and Justice might be related to his job: the Judge of the Underground. Your judgement has started, you were deemed guilty, but only sans is there to deliver the punishment.
@@elver2218 I mean, depressed he might really be, but i would love to see a more accurate depiction of Sans by the Fandom someone who is patient, smart and knows to be serious when he needs to be. (there's Inverted Fate though, that does a great job at doing that! Sadly, it isn't as popular as Underswap as an example)
@@davisdf3064 gawd i love seeing what people do with undertale-- most of the time. sometimes people miss the mark on what makes characters who they are in a very noticeable way, _especially_ with sans. i'm not really a fan of most AUs either, i have my reasons that i can't explain very well tho lol as for vanilla Undertale, i myself love to write (platonic) fanfiction that i try to keep as close to the original game as i can, usually dealin with life on the Surface but that their problems aren't over a simple concept but i love to write about it heh
A lot of Sans’s text during the fight gives a lot more matching context to what you explain. As always, Toby writes with reason and purpose to convey a story, character, and emotion.
I love the disturbing cord. It sort of shines a spotlight on Sans as an unwilling hero. Lazy, apathetic, unwilling to act, until finally his had his forced and he must become the hero. It shows how utterly unfit for the role is, and how determined he is to try anyways
@@leolen8029you seem to have a common misconception that Chara is the evil one, but that isn’t the case. Chara is pretty much good as confirmed to be the narrator in every route, and more than anything she’s an impressionable kid, so when you, the player, start teaching her that murder is good and power is everything, YOU make her become twisted. But players always push the blame onto her because it’s harder to believe that the character you play is the bad guy
The "disturbing cord" could stem from the fact that Sans is disgusted with his actions. Sans doesn't want to kill the main character because he made a promise to Toriel to protect them. Sans has to betray this promise to stop you, and fun fact, this promise is the only reason he doesn't fight you in any other route than Genocide. When the disturbing cord disappears in the finale that could show that Sans no-longer cares about his morals or the player/main character and he's pulling out all the stops to try and put you 6-feet-under.
The promise is an important reason, but another reason is because sans knows you’ll just reset everything no matter what he does so he just doesn’t really care. In genocide, you actually have the option to erase the world instead of just resetting so now sans has to fight you, because otherwise everything might be gone permanently once you are finished with the route. This is why he cannot afford to not care anymore
he did get the chord slightly wrong though also, it’s non-diatonic but it isn’t diminished, it’s actually a G major chord in 1st position rather than a B diminished chord.
Also the other reason may be that game suggests that Sans is the weakest character, even monster kid has 2/2 and he is just 1 attack/1 defense, he is only strong because of abusing game mechanics and cheating. for example he bypasses his 1 attack by doing massive multihits+poison and his ghaster blasters are considered "unused content" by lore.
Just like to point out that the point of commonality between the three versions of Megalovania that I could pick out, in their usage, is that they have, at their core, someone who is doomed to die putting up their final stand. Which is why my personal nickname for Megalovania is Dead Man's Last Stand.
@@medjaimcgraw5632 They are talking about the other two versions: the Dr. Andonuts fight in Earthbound Halloween Hack, and the one used in one of the Homestuck scenes.
@@medjaimcgraw5632 I’m not writing pages worth of plot to explain this, but to but put it short, It’s goes to a small team of heroes, one which you is your pov, and the rest also being controlled in battle (like deltarune),to 4x the amount (12), but some of them have their own minds, then being a villain and facing the failing hero, who can only desperately delay you, as you are becoming too powerful.
Some people say that this isn't Sans' actual theme because Sans originally had a different battle song, titled "The Song That Plays When You Fight Sans". Megalovania, some people argue, is the theme of you, the player, on the genocide route. You are the big bad boss at the end of the game, Sans is dodging your attacks as well. This song represents your descent into madness, replaying a game over and over for fun, murdering innocent people for fun, and your inability to satiate your curiosity. You are the one who this theme goes with, this is the song that the monsters hear whenever you approach, you are the villain in this story who still clutches the mantle of protagonist, the hero, a delusion necessary for you to continue this path. You may shift the blame, but you are the real villain.
@@wypmangames Sans' casual theme isnt referenced in Megalovania. Id assume this theme is either COLLECTIVELY the theme of the fight, or the theme of the player.
@@SupraShade even so, sans' theme is literally named after him, therefor it makes most san- i mean sense... that its his actual theme, and the song that might play (with similar leimotives) was for a pacifist/neutral version of a sans fight which ended up scrapped, and megalovania is only the fight theme with sans once you murder everyone, while being a fight theme, it has NO leimotives at all because by the time you reach the part in game of megalovania, everyone else is already gone
I've watched a number of your analyses of Undertale tracks so far. You "get it" more than most I've watched. This is a soundtrack that, having played more of the game than I'm willing to admit to, can move me to tears. I'm also a musician; I had to work from others' transcriptions; as you noted on an early video, Toby gets a little weird with time scales and semitones. Also you've been repeatedly spot on with the use of motifs. The game, and music, are VERY carefully woven. It's a game that will rip your heart out and force you to feed it to your mother if you're a completionist. Genocide is rough. Rougher than that. The "monsters" are more human than you are. There's a cause they're fighting for. Survival. From you. Towns that were populated end up empty, having heard word of your deadly trek. It's *rough*. Megalovania is a bit of a crescendo; a final-final boss that's insanely difficult, mechanically, and psychologically… interesting. Non-obvious, you might say, as are most of the "combat" sequences in the game if you aren't going full-murder. The track that cuts me the deepest: Asgore's. The sheer *lament* of it. The hopeless struggle. The absolute need to try. > You tell Asgore he's killed you before. > He nods, sadly. Edit: Yuppers, there's the tear.
I think you would enjoy listening to the remix Toby made for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It's basically what the song would be if it had other motifs included!
The song is so interesting because it was originally composed for a Halloween hack for Earthbound in 2008 as the final boss theme, then it was revamped and extended for a key moment halfway through the webcomic Homestuck in 2011. This version of Megalovania has a very different instrument selection than the originals. The song overall is pretty much "The Toby Fox Song" that he references in all of his stuff at very intense moments.
Down to being chosen to appear in Smash as the first Echo Fighter to get an accompanying musical track (unless I'm misremembering), with a new remix that incorporates other pieces of Toby Fox's work. (Bonetrousle and Heartache, the guitar riff from Homestuck's version of Megalovania, and I believe there's a cue from the original version as well.)
Davi!! Toby Fox is a beast! His latest work in the pokemon Scarlet and Violet soundtrack is great. The Area Zero and Professor (Turo/Sada) battle themes are absolutely too notch. I highly recommend you give them a listen if you haven’t already.
I didn’t know Toby Fox worked on it until the credits but as soon as I knew I thought back to Area Zero and that last battle and I figured he worked on those. It was some of the only music in the game that I didn’t get tired of after a while.
Yeah. The professor battle music is INSANE. Also, the final battle with Nemona has a keyboard solo to rival Jon Lord (of Deep Purple fame). Both are incredible.
The melody he brings up a few times such as at 9:28 eluded me for a bit, until I finally realised it sounds similar to the tracks "HOPES AND DREAMS" and "SAVE THE WORLD."
i don’t think it’s a leitmotif because the only way it could be is if hopes and dreams/save the world used the leitmotif of megalovania, because megalovania was made way before those songs were composed. not to mention way before undertale.
you are honestly the ONLY music reactor who is worth watching ! you analyse, decompose and explain the music and why it's made this way. SOOO underrated channel ! all these ''experts'' and musicians reacting to music really only tell what they are feeling or thinking. (usually just positive to reinforce confirmation bias of the viewer) but YOU actually show that you know what you are talking about !
I’ve come to the same conclusions after watching other people react to music. There’s actually interesting analysis here, unlike any other channel I’ve seen.
Whoa, very heavy claim; watch ongaku concept, games score fanfare, 8bit music theory or Adam Neely, if u don't exclusively care abt videogames When I first found this channel, I had the exactly opposite impression: too much describing some feeling, too little theory explanation I think I'd rly like it, if he actually used explicit terms... E.g. just say "E flat sus4" instead of "disturbing chord" or major/minor instead of happy & sad, mention intervals, instead of "heroic sequence" just put some sheet music w/ the chord progression there & explicitly call the chords by their names, that would be much more interesting
@@lenblackquill8608 thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out for sure. But I know precisely jack shit about music theory. E flat sus4... means nothing to me. But I can understand "Disturbing" English doesn't seem to be his native language (neither is it mine) and he is heavily vulgarizing the terminology for idiots like me to start understanding what is going on ! For me, a musical illiterate, his simplification and broad analysis of the songs is perfect !
I believe the leitmotif you point out at 6:14 is a callback to Papyrus’ theme song. To me the notes are played with a similar instrument and have a similar progression until the end when it becomes more sad/heroic at the end. Possibly representing Sans lamenting his dead brother as a reason he is fighting you.
Something I find it relevant on this track is how it ends. MEGALOVANIA is such a loud, heroic and high tempo song, but the end is totally anti-climatic. I mean, there's no fade out, no obvious clue we are at the end. It's just the repetition of the melody already played before (and also the beginning of the song!) That naturally encloses the song in a loop, must likely for practical reasons of gameplay. However, the fact that the song ends up without any flashy or crescendos kinda goes with the theme in here: Sans is not doing this for anything glorious, honorable or enriching; his is doing this because you are such a threat to the universe that made him broke a promise and come out of his easy going persona to fight and stop you, by any means necessary: breaking videogame tropes, introducing exclusive mechanics (karma), avoiding your hits, holding the turn so you cannot attack/act. This fight is a lesson on gameplay design and musical composition.
@@CryoHydra357 Time resets whether he wins or not, the moment we decide to continue playing the game beyond a pacifist route we are actively hurting the characters by taking their happy ending from them.
How great this man can dissect music is astounding. This also makes me appreciate Toby even more as well. With the explanation of the confusing melody of jazz calling back to sans's theme to the disturbing chord at midst of the other chords at the beginning signifying the horrors of the Genocide route, wow is Mr. Fox a music composer.
10:15 megalovania sounds similar to megalomania which is "a delusional fantasy of power, wealth or omnipotence", which you can hear in the soundtrack. But sans isn't that type of skeleton, so this theme doesn't fit his humble and kind personality. Megalovania is probably the player's battle theme as the final Boss of genocide route. And you can see this in the gameplay as sans can dogde your attack, whic is something that is somewhat exclusive to the player. Sans is the player here, and you are the final Boss, which is probably where the "violence" and "heroic end" comes from in this theme.
Oh a few things I think the familiarity of some parts does come from sans theme like when we first meet him, I’m no music expert but when you said it I was comparing them in my head and the parts did sound a bit similar but some notes were swapped in reverse of the meaning, but where there’s sort of a “run” in sound at the end of each it kinda mimics the theme. And maybe why it’s more tragic than heroic in the beginning is because Sans is standing up to the player despite him dying, atleast he gave the player a hard time rather than standing by and that’s something hero worthy. And the tragic sounds in the beginning could be like recounting the whole genocide route and why he’s doing it, something like that idk it’s not my full thought lol kinda hard to put into words
this actually just goes to show how expressive Toby's music can be, Megalovania specifically carries so much raw anger and hatred, yet still sounds justified by being "heroic", thus giving us the "you done fucked up" theme
I love this series!!! I know nothing about music theory but I love Undertale and get so excited hearing such an in depth analysis of the music. Great work!!!
Legit this guys explanation of how the cords make you feel made my mind explode Knowing the context of the battle, every feelling he said the cords represent are so fitting Toby is a musical genius But we already knew that We Just, realize Just how much of a genuis he is even more every day since undertale first realesed It makes me emotional thinking about how far that game has come
"It will be fun to listen to an Undertale track with more context and maybe recognise some more of the leitmotifs." I'm glad you did a video on Megalovania but god damn did you pick a bad song for those two criteria lmao
Can't wait to play the other routes in the game to experience this track for myself. Btw, if you are enjoying my Undertale videos, maybe you'll like my Hollow Knight videos as well? ruclips.net/video/1uTcGHliPoc/видео.html
Pacifist run made me cry tears of joy. Genocide was tears of sorrow. The thing I love about the genocide route is that you get to see a side of the monsters that they would never show until a real monster (you) threatens them. I can't look at Undyne the same way anymore, because I never would have seen the hero in her without that dark timeline.
I know you’ve already heard it In game. But i would love if you would listen to death by glamour. It’s one of the only ost,s that is different in game and out of game.
Oh, I just read an interview with Yoko Shimomura and Toby Fox talking about her “Megalomania” and his “ MEGALOVANIA” a few days ago! I like how this piece is keeping the tension of the battle, while showing rich emotions. I feel like I am driven by something. This banger seems to be filled with Toby Fox's overflowing passion. His works have an irresistible appeal which delights fans of old JRPGs, while also being something unique and new. Thank you for this, Davi :)
i really think you should analyze Pepper Steak from the Off soundtrack, that game was one of the major inspirations for undertale, and papyrus is even based on one of the characters from Off! the music in that game is phenomenal, and is well loved by the community, and i (as well as potentially many others) would absolutely love to see you break down and analyze that theme much like you do in your other videos! i promise you it's an absolute treat and the games music deserves more love for sure.
When you kill Papyrus, Sans literally disappears from the game, and only reappears at the end. He was probably alone, grieving, or just feeling miserable in general. Probably why he is so violent to you.
@@davisdf3064 Nope, that's fanon. He actually takes Papyrus' death pretty well in canon. He's not any more upset about him than Toriel, who is basically a total stranger and who he doesn't know for sure is dead(although he does accurately guess in several neutral endings). He's not fighting you because he's upset about Papyrus, he's fighting you because he's all out of excuses not to: you are literally a threat to everything in his eyes(he's right, of course, but he's also crediting you with Flowey's timeline f*ckery since he doesn't know of Flowey in the main story, except through the "reports" he mentions.)
@@Missingno_Miner You are very much right in the part where he only fights you because you are going to destroy the world, but i doubt he actually takes Papyrus' death pretty well. If you kill Toriel, someone who he doesn't know their name nor their appearance, he gets upset, because he did spend a good amount of time talking with her. Now, Papyrus, someone who's been with him for almost all his life, someone who inspires him to actually do something... I can't think he does take his death pretty well. Now, i know Sans has a pretty big problem with nihilism and "why bother doing anything if you are going to reset", and losing Papyrus is likely a [BIG SHOT] to his chest.
10:09 , sans being violent (if you don't talk about the gameplay), the fandom got a theory that this theme is actually yours, the player as a geonocider. but that's just a theory, a G.........
Just found your channel from watching your other Undertale breakdowns and was wandering where this song was. Good timing and I really enjoy these videos!
Oh is he doing the other two routes? I’ve only ever done true Pacifist. Just because of how I was introduced to the game I refuse to do any other, I just love all the characters so much, and Asriel is my favorite lol
@Obscure Gun bruh the neutral run is technically included in the pacifist run since you can’t physically get to the pacifist ending without doing it. The pacifist ending is just an extension you get when you don’t kill anyone. Kill none: true pacifist run Kill even 1: neutral Kill many: evil I have only done true pacifist, Aka killing none
I suspect that the idea is to have you be apprehensive at the start of the fight, but then kick into high gear for the intense battle... In tracks like these it might be worth bearing in mind that it's likely to loop... The end is not the end... We're not ending on a heroic note, it is transitioning between the two parts, back and forth.
The overall vibe I get from Megalovania is the intensity of the fight while at the same time conveying nuance of the repetition/determination of the player's aggression; since Sans generally takes no less than a dozen attempts when first encountered, the fight locks the player in a deja vu loop. The repetitive jazzy notes accompanied by the hard rock paints a picture of a very aggressive battle where a lot of attacks are being thrown and dodged on both sides, almost like an explosive dance which is exactly what's happening provided the player is hanging in there. The foreboding notes of 7:27 might be conveying a sense of "the end is near", not just for the player and the end of the G route, but the inevitability that a blow _will_ land eventually, something Sans seems to be fully aware of in his diologue during the fight where he expresses his awareness of the hopelessness of his situation and some subtle 4th wall breaking.
I feel like it would actually be a pretty neat idea to listen to popular fan remixes of these songs and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of their adaptations Just a random thought
Your comment about the 1 “ugly cord” in the backing that stops the melody from being heroic is very interesting. That definitely makes sense in the context of the fight, from both perspectives. It’s the grand finale fight as a judgment of sins… yet nobody is heroic Tobys music is amazing. You probably won’t run out of Undertale music… but after that you can definitely cover Deltarune, homestuck, his work on The last 2 Pokemon games, and his few Original songs
Indeed, Sans isn't a hero, if he was, he would have died just like Undyne trying to protect Monsterkind, he only decided to fight you because he understood that you would (quite literally) end the whole fricking world.
hearing you talk about compositions and chords and feelings in music is inspiring me to compose my own stuff for fun! i used to compose a bunch but lost some of that spark with school and work, but you're reigniting my passion! i love hearing you talk about music, i can FEEL how much you love it and it's inspiring me! thank you, davi!!!
Something else I want to mention is that I love what you’ve been doing! Playing the Chords along with the song to see the feeling he’s trying to make! I wanted to point out something cool I found! At the part at 7:23, I figured out the chords and feel free to follow along, so I believe it’s a B flat Major/happy chord, C major/happy, D minor/sad, and that makes the heroic chords, but then he throws a D flat major/happy and then an E flat major/happy! And those are both super surprising happy chords! And that’s why that part sounds crazy exciting! Because of the surprising happy chords making it exciting Again thank you for making these videos and helping everyone understand the harmonic language of music a little bit more!!
At 5:30 -ish you said that it sounds like he added a disturbing maddening sadness kind of vibe to something otherwise heroic. I'd just like to point this out to you since no one else has mentioned it yet, but the song "Megalovania" comes from the world *"Megalomania"* and is NOT a sans song. Megalovania is canonicaly a theme of the PLAYER on the genocide route, NOT Sans. So maybe this gives some more context to your thoughts on the song. Those motifs you heard have to do with DETERMINATION. It has emotion and tragedy at the start, but loses it to sound not heroic, but "TRIUMPHANT". It became fun, intense, and very violent, because that represents the player's decent into depravity and losing their care and love for the story of Undertale. It's one of the reasons it hits so hard and only works for the genocide route. Hope this helps and clears up your questions that you asked. :)
When you look at it, it stays sans theme for a reason : sans isn't being a hero, is is being *sellfish* for his brother's death. And if you avoid killing only him, he wouldn't care for you at all, and as the "judge" he is the last stand... he let you kill everyone as long as you do not hurt the one person he cares about, he is the one having a megalomania
@@lorrainebrunner2490 i mean, think about it. You can kill absolutely everyone, if papyrus stays alive, sans won't attack you, and if you only kill papy, he doesn't attack you, not because he doesn't want to, but because he knows his actions might get him in trouble with asgore and toriel
The reason it ends on heroic is because there's a little moment where he promises to show you a "special attack" at the end of the theme's volley of attacks as one last ditch resort to almost guarantee your loss if you get into it. Megalovania starts again after this "special" moment is done though and he can die after that if you survive.
Hey man! I see your comment about the copyright issue you had with this track. I guarantee that claim was a false one. Whenever I used to stream Undertale (particularly during the sans fight), I would get multiple claims on the video from a bunch of 3rd party companies. When I looked into them, they would be claiming the audio as things like "Megalovaniaia", or other inaccurate song names like that. Toby Fox has said that anyone is free to stream and monetize Undertale and Deltarune, so if you get an audio claim, it is no doubt someone posting his stuff on other websites and pretending it is theirs so they can monetize your stuff. Believe me, I have had to dispute so many of these and they have never been countered (they just ignore the 30 deadline they have to counter your dispute, then the full monetization and anything escrowed goes to you). Sorry about the legal comment, but it really annoys me how many people took advantage of Fox's kind nature. Great video!
Bro I’ve been going down the Undertale and Deltarune rabbit hole again, idk if it’s safe to say, but now that YEARS have passed since I’ve been an Undertale fan, I think it classifies as a childhood game because I found it around early middle school thanks to one of my besties. I’m almost off to college by my standards and wow how time flies! I’m glad you’re enjoying Undertale and that all people can still enjoy it years later and that the fandom is still going strong 🥹
There is an interesting fast: the most common leitmotif, used in a lot of Undertale's themes, is the intro melody; well, the thing is the intro of megalovania has also included that leitmotif if you remove some notes, some say that leitmotiv means "Undertale", the game itself, others say it means "the player"
Those weird light motifs you picked up-- i don't think you hear those notes in those specific order during the rest of game, BUT they sound VERY similar to bonetroustle's notes, just out of order. which makes me think that sans is really grieving his brother during this fight
Really well explained, the stuff you can learn about the game just from the music is insane. In terms of music recommendations I really recommend looking at some destiny music! I'd recommend either Gunslinger, The First Disciple, or Journey The First Disciple for a darker theme while Gunslinger for something more heroic. Journey is pretty self explanatory about the theme.
Wow! I can’t believe you happened to put this out now. I watched your precious videos yesterday about this game and I couldn’t find anyone looking at megalovania.
the whole jazz and blues talk at the beginning feels very accurate, sans definitely has some blues and jazz in his personality/character. then there's the chords for several conflicting emotions; sans is angry, sad, seeking justice, disturbed, towards the player and perhaps even towards himself. and yes, you're right, that melody does feel familiar, and i cant figure out why (maybe its just the vibes or nostalgia); i felt the same about flowey's theme, it has to have come from some nursery rhyme. looking at the song, it feels like it does portray the situation quite well: the beginning with jazzy elements implies this violent character to be the same person who would crack shitty jokes pushed to the breaking point, the mix of conflicting emotions (perhaps sans finds a thrill in his vengeance, further complicating his emotions towards himself), addressing the suffering followed by some particularly harsh notes then a sort of drone (like reminding yourself 'this person made me suffer' and striking a particularly hard blow, then just mindlessly attacking them), and then it loops all over again. if that makes sense
ooooohhhh my goooood I can't belive it! I have no idea that a gaming track can contains so many meaning like this, came here for the title because I thought "oh so you like megalovania? Me too!", and my mind just got so much opened by a video game sountrack composer!! Way to go! I really love this video!
There's a theory that say that like you said in the video isnt the sans theme. The song is called megalovina which is a hunger and addiction to power, in that line the song is better recognized as the player song; you are not figthing a boss but a hero, so the boss music is yours.
I love how in a lot of fights in Undertale, the "heroic" theme keeps coming up. It seems perhaps more fitting than most that it would feature prominently in the genocide route. You're the protagonist, but you're no longer the hero of the story.
It's debated, but the most dominant theory (at least in spaces I'm in) is that Megolovania is the player's theme. If you pay close attention to the fight, the roles are switched. Sans goes first in the battle, whereas the player usually does. He also has the capability to dodge, which previous to now only the player could (missing is not the same as dodging, Sans legitimately moves out of the way, you do not miss due to RNG). Once this fight is initiated, you are no longer the protagonist -- Sans is. You are the /villain/ and he is the attempting hero. This is further supported by the fact that Sans /does/ have a battle theme that never appears in game. It's titled "The Song that Might Play When You Fight Sans" and has motifs of both is own personal theme AND his brother's theme. This is the song that would likely play if you could ever do friendly battle with Sans, but Sans never steps up to fight you unless you're literally murdering /everyone/. This is hinted at by the fact that his eye is that cyan blue and flashes yellow, the colors that are associated with "patience" and "justice". He's been waiting to see if you'd change your path, you don't, so he has to try to enact justice before everything is lost. It's a fascinating thing to think about and consider, and really showcases Toby's wit and depth of creativity.
This is the song that plays when you know you are the villain, you know what it means for all these beloved characters, and you have to *commit* in order to finish it.
wowww...this is the first ever time i watch a video about analysing music composition, and for a person that deep dive into sans character and his fandom, I could really see sans in Megalovania after you explain some of those cords and melody. sans doesn't see himself as a hero and he is really depressed about everything that is happening in the genocide route, and also the endless resets, so the disturbing cords and the unusual compose choices all SCREAM sans to me. This is so cool!!! I never know about tis kind of music knowledge, thanks for sharing!
Interestingly enough, the part you've pointed out bears similarity to Gaster's Theme, a sample hidden within the game. The name also appears in one of Sans' attacks.
There are a lot of "video game music analysts" on youtube, but you're my favourite as a layman. I like that you explain in detail but also you simplify the explanations really well.
0:05 Actually Sans not the agressive one, Megalovania isn't Sans's battle song theme, but Frisk's (The player) battle song theme, 'cause Sans the hero here, we are the villain, we are the final boss in the genocide route, and Sans trying to stop us, he's trying to save everyone from being killed by Frisk even tough he's the weakest character just making 1 of damage and just having 1 HP, in the files of the game you can find an archive by the name of "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans" that's the proff, so Sans fighting us, and Megalovania is the final boss theme song of Frisk (The player)
I'd like to point out that he has 1 DF, not HP. We don't know his actual HP because we instantly kill him once we have the chance to, because of our strength.
I seriously love the fact that music tells a story. My music teacher had always told me this, I had understood why, but seeing this- Explains everything in one video. Good job!
4:42 my theory as to why he puts this note and disrupts the flow is because sans is not trying to be a hero, his reasons for fighting you is selfish in nature. there is only one monster you need to kill to trigger this fight and this battle is sans getting revenge for the murder. you can do a genocide run but leave that one monster alive and you dont have to fight sans, he cares, but doesn't care enough to fight.. so yeah, sans isnt being a hero, hes being selfish but by what hes doing for revenge can be passed off as heroic for what his success would mean. (you died, the rest of the monsters you haven't killed yet would live. he'd be a hero to them.)
i might be a century slow to notice this, but doesn't the part that starts on 7:27, which Davi picks on as being some leitmotif as well, sound kind of similar to "here we are", aka the music you hear in the true laboratory? maybe not in the chord progression, but the way the music sounds in general. i personally don't remember any other option of the game sounding like this if that's true, i feel like you can draw interesting connections between this fight and sans' character and the things you find out in the lab anyway, this video is a delight, just like all the others on this channel! it's really nice to see someone treat your beloved music with so much care, love, and expertise!
*ATTENTION*
You'll notice a cut at 6:02 of this video. I had to remove that part because the record label and copyright owner of the Undertale music was fighting me to get this video taken down.
Now do hopes and dreams
man, that is kinda funny
I would look into that. Toby Fox doesn't usually strike videos that use his music.
Dispute the claim. Toby Fox always lets people use his music and apparently I guess youtube autoclaims stuff. If you dispute/apeal it it should get removed
Dispute it, Its happens alot to undertale videos.
Toby composed the original version of this song at 14 YEARS OLD. Which is beyond impressive
When I was 14 years old, I also composed... pixel art in minecraft
I need to read homestuck at some point both because I've heard great things about it and because the music is super good
I think sburban jungle is one of my favorite songs out there
Hello there Marnie
@@hahahahahaha1946 pretty sure the song is from the Earthbound ROM hack.
@@leadfaun it is
Him : hears a single chord
Also him : *starts explaining the entire undertale lore*
Davi: It’s a blue note
Me immediately: “You’re blue now!”
🦴💙🦴
Yes I'm sure toby fox did it purposely it's MINDBLOWING
**throws blue bones aggressively*
THE COMMENT I WAS LOOKING FOR IS BEFORE MEE
* hehe, you're blue now kiddo
I love the fact that, in art, "Wrong" doesn't mean "bad" or "incorrect", it just means "different".
I might have to incorporate this word-for-word into some kinda daily mantra to get over my anxiety lol
@@meowkittymeowmeow2786 Please do. Don't give up!
@@meowkittymeowmeow2786 stay determined!
more like, incorrect, doesn't mean wrong or bad
Incorrect is a synonym for wrong
Megalovania is actually a unique song in the OST in that there are no motifs from any other songs in it.
Because it isn't actually a song from the OST. It was included, but originally it comes from Toby's Earthbound Halloween Hack
Edit: It is also not a theme for the game, it is a theme for YOU, the player.
@@rafaelcastor2089i am aware. Also the "it's actually your theme" is a theory that hasn't been confirmed and actually new evidence has arisen to suggest it's not true.
@@puglife658 I agree with you, but what’s the evidence that the theory isn’t true?
But there is a song which has the Megalovania theme. In Bring it in Guys, the scene where Sans appears
@@AshenDust_ toby made a new remix of Megalovania for smash bros and the end contains asgore and bonetrousel, the two things sans would be fighting for in that moment. Protecting the king and avenging papyrus.
The jazzy bluesy contrasting with the intense rock electronic is really a great choice given the context of Sans being one of the most laid back and relaxed characters being forced into a position where he must unleash his power.
Yea... He is such a chill character but he knows what has to be done... Even if he knows he cant do it...
unleash his UNLIMITED POWER
My personal interpretation of Megalovania is that it's actually two songs "battling". One is the jazz, swingy, more casual Sans. The other is the heavy metal, rock feeling of the genocidal player.
the jazz/laid back is sans normally, whereas the rock is him needing to fight in order to stop (or at least delay) you from destroying the world
This does sound like something Toby Fox would do
The song wasn't actually composed for Undertale; it was recycled from one of his older ROM hacks. So it might not be _quite_ as attuned to the exact situation as the other ones.
@@Nyerguds Personally, I was well aware of that when I made my comment. It was my attempt to square the song with the fight.
The song was made wayy before undertale though
"I know just by living in this world that this plays when you fight sans" made me laugh harder than it should have
Megalovania and Battle Against a True Hero are two of the best songs in the whole game, and you can only hear them by being a complete monster. Tragic
getting the soundtrack makes you a complete monster
@@Ramusculus
Absolutely! Wallet warriors are the worst kind of monsters!
Undercutting everything the game is meant to convey by bypassing the content with your wallet sends the wrong message!
And pirating does the producer a grave disservice!
You should always experience the sound track through gameplay! As our lord and savior RNG-esus has willed it to be!
@@Ramusculus
Ah... well muh point still stands...
(Don't have a computer so i couldn't play it)
@@nathanbrown8196
I listen to it for free on Spotify.
Or by, you know, looking them up on youtube....or buying the soundtrack.
5:54 Speaking of tragedy.
The original version of this track was used in Toby's Halloween Hack of Earthbound. In which you fight against Dr.Andonuts. The father of one of the protagonists and one of the people to help you on your journey. Originally a good guy, he had gone insane. In the context of Undertale,
*SPOILERS FOR THE SANS FIGHT
It is also tragic cause Sans knows he can't win. During this fight if you lose, Sans will comment on your facial expression and is able to tell how many times you died. He is also aware of the resets. This means he's fully aware that every time you die, you will come back to life. That the world will be reverted to how it was before you died. That no matter how much he tries to stop you, he knows he can't win. He's fighting a losing battle and all he can do is delay the inevitable.
I mean, in a way he can, but he knows that it's an unfair fight, because the way that he has to win isn't just to win the fight and kill Frisk (or, one could argue, chara), he has to win the fight over and over so many times that you, the player, get bored and quit playing or choose a different ending.
@@stevenneiman1554 Or you think about what you've done.
This. So he thinks he can beat you into submission and give up.
He doesn't really fight a "loosing" battle. He's fighting a battle of determination. He's trying to get you tired of fighting. He knows that you have the higher ground and in the end he's trying to overpower your will to continue your path with your desire to quit. He knows that you can die many times but he only needs to loose once and it's over. Partially I believe it's also him expressing his frustration and desperation. He's aware he's a toy to an immortal god. He's taking it out on you, the cause of his depression.
I never really think Sans remembers Resets, but he knows from the facial expression of Anger as he says, “From that expression.” He can tell the anger / confusion alone
I highly doubt Sans would remember since its called a Reset for a reason, Reset the game to the start with 0 lv, 0 exp, 0 battles, and a randomized Fun Value for different outcomes for more “Fun”
One of the most interesting things about this song to me is it's history. The one in Undertale is in fact, the third iteration that Toby has used. The first was in an Earthbound Romhack he made, the second was used in the soundtrack for an animation in Homestuck, and then again in Undertale for the Genocide route.(I guess you will hear it in context if you ever play that too). Each version is a little bit different.
It'd be interesting if Deltarune ends up with a version of Megalovania.
The original version was in an entirely different key, and was a tad more confined to the "8-bit music" genre. And the only (albeit big) difference between it and the Homestuck version was the addition of those iconic guitar samples.
It’s also got two other character motifs coming in at the end. I said on another posts I’d love to see how he’d interpret all three iterations because of how far apart they are in Toby’s career and how they serve a different context in each story and I wonder if those moments are reflected in those changes.
then there's the version they put in Smash Bros. and of course the version they played for the Pope
@@ninjapotatolorf6237 both the original and the Homestuck versions were in the Key of A minor when the Undertale version is in D, the original was limited because it was in an Earthbound romhack, so Toby could only use instruments from Earthbound. The Homestuck version is a recording of the Earthbound version with more stuff added on, mainly the new drums and guitar, also the guitar solo at the end. The Undertale version is a lot closer to the Earthbound version, while still making notable changes.
The Smash version is kinda a mix between Undertale and Homestuck, but it's missing a few things from the Homestuck version for me to consider it that fully.
Fun fact: in the code of Undertale there is a variable which pitches down Megalovania, making it closer in key to the original version. This was likely meant to play before or after Sans tries sparing you.
"I know, just by... LIVING IN THIS WORLD I know that this track plays when you fight Sans"
Yup, sums it up nicely.
The key to understanding Megalovania is that YOU'RE ROOTING FOR YOURSELF TO LOSE. That's the beauty: You're the bad guy, and you're forcing yourself to make the wrong choice. The difficulty of the battle is to force the player to ask themself "Why am I doing this? Why am I struggling to hurt my friends for no reason?"
Nah no self respecting bad guy wants to lose. You're doing it wrong.
@@cdogthehedgehog6923 So now the question becomes "are you really the bad guy?"
@@LAVATORR Depends on if killing fictional characters is bad. I would say it's morally ambiguous. Especially in video games.
@@cdogthehedgehog6923Which brings us to the concept of solipsism. In the game solipsism is a fact, everyone else is just following GameMaker Scripts and have predefined dialogue. Surely everyone around you isn't just an NPC created by your imagination, right?
@@JohnSmith-ox3gy I would be very surprised if that turned out to be the case. There is no way i could imagine up the vile and goofy monsters that look like me.
That being said, most people are basically on autopilot more than half their life. If your brain is the player, i would say NPC is pretty cheeky if not fully accurate. I like it.
I think it's worth noting that the track doesn't really "end" like that. It's made to loop so that it never really ends. In fact, it doesn't ever "end" in-game, either: it just fades out slowly over a few seconds. This is actually a worthwhile distinction because other fights' tracks end when the scenes change.
Tbf I think as a game composer he knows that
@@briansmith-dp4jy It's been a year since I watched this, but as I recall, he commented about not liking (and that it's bad music design) how it abruptly ends like that.
This comment was to point out that no, it doesn't end; it loops. Most other looping tracks in the game actually do end and then restart, while Megalovania has a perfect loop. So that's not really its end, and it doesn't abruptly end at all.
If in your watch through he doesn't say that, he might've edited the video since then to cut out that reaction. (I don't feel like rewatching the whole thing just to timestamp where this was, if it's even still there.)
@@briansmith-dp4jy even though "all" songs loop, sans is the one that makes the loop relevant to the context
I need this guy to decipher Gaster’s theme, cause at this rate, he might just figure out everything we want to know about the guy lmao
Somebody make fun of the people who can’t comprehend sarcasm 🙏
literal
Davi has some actually accurate Game Theories, rather than Sans in Ness.
@@kiro274 ?
@@kiro274 that theory wasn’t meant to be “accurate”. It was a theory that was for fun and to make you think about certain clues in the game
curious fact that probably u didnt knew: the sound effect that plays when mystery man dissapears slowed is actually gaster's theme
This song is so famous; everyone seems to knows it even if they don't know Undertale. I played it for my Grandfather and he said "I've heard this." but didn't know when or where he heard it.
Surprising
unsurprising
He probably hear the notes in another place
@@Twilight_Light_Lord he watches anime, i wouldn't be surprised if he heard it in a video
Maybe he heard it when it was played for the Pope??? 😂
"When did sans become this violent?"
When you killed his brother.
huh makes sense
Not even then. You can kill Papyrus and while Sans will be mad about it, he won't fight you if it's not the Genocide Route
@@rafaelcastor2089 he'll only fight on the true genocide route but it's really just papyrus he cares about.
@@rafaelcastor2089That’s low-key Sans at his scariest, way scarier than Flowey. The fact that he has the self control to not attack you, but make that sly little remark, “Dirty Brother Killer.” Chills. Not on my back, but my balls…
@@DaviVasc Ironically, they're totally wrong about that. It takes a lot more than just killing Papyrus to get Sans to this point.
The thing about this song. It's super aggressive because Sans just had everything taken from him, and he's out for blood. This song also ends on a note that loops right back to the start because that's how Sans intends this fight to go. Since he is aware of all other timelines, he's aware you'll just keep coming back. He intends to torment you as long as he can until you either give up, or kill him because he wants you to feel the pain you have caused him. And his pain is an endless void.
Did you know that Megalovania isn't really Sans's battle song theme but Frisk's battle song theme?
@@JenCloud did you know that that's your headcanon?
Did y'all know this is cringe?
@@2_OP i don't think it's anyone's headcanon. not only does the word "megalovania" describe genocide frisk way better than it does sans, sans has his own song named "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans". that's his actual battle theme that would play if he started a fight. he doesn't start the final fight, you do - that's why he gets the first turn, and it's why your theme plays instead of his. i'd say it's genocide frisk's theme, fits them more
@@mathze I'm more inclined towards it's Sans's theme but I understand your reasoning
fun thing with this song is that its actually really debated whose theme this is. some assign it to you, the player. some assign it to sans, some assign it to a character who is spoilers
Imo it's just the theme of Toby himself
Actually there's already a sans boss fight theme never used in the game, so I think it is the player theme
@@sheogorath6834 It is. It plays with Toby's entrance in the deltarune let's play video.
@@giorgiopretaz3794
Smash Bros version confirms that it is Sans' theme
@@davisdf3064 how exactly?
I like to imagine that the slow and sad part in comparison to the fast and heroic part shows the two sides of Sans' personality, as well as the two aspects you see in him during both his dialog and his fight. While his eyes remain a solid pale blue (the color for Patience in the game), they flicker on with yellow as well (the color for Justice.) He's miserable without his brother after you killed them. He's angry, and wants his revenge against you for not just his brother, but for everyone you killed. However, he knows that just blindly throwing himself at you in a fit of rage won't work. He knows better, to just take it slow and make you burn yourself out. Every time he wins, even if you come back, there's a chance that you'll finally get angry and give up, unable to hold out and be as patient as he is. Every time he wins, he's that much closer to getting the justice everyone deserves. When the music is slow, he's focusing extra hard, patiently waiting for you to drop your guard. When it's fast, he's back on the offensive, ready to put you down for good. That's just how I like to see it anyway.
Interesting.
I'd like to point out that this combination of Patience and Justice might be related to his job: the Judge of the Underground.
Your judgement has started, you were deemed guilty, but only sans is there to deliver the punishment.
At least there is no that much fanon in which sans eye flames and hes super depressed and wears his brother scarf
@@elver2218
I mean, depressed he might really be, but i would love to see a more accurate depiction of Sans by the Fandom someone who is patient, smart and knows to be serious when he needs to be.
(there's Inverted Fate though, that does a great job at doing that! Sadly, it isn't as popular as Underswap as an example)
@@davisdf3064 yes
@@davisdf3064 gawd
i love seeing what people do with undertale-- most of the time. sometimes people miss the mark on what makes characters who they are in a very noticeable way, _especially_ with sans. i'm not really a fan of most AUs either, i have my reasons that i can't explain very well tho lol
as for vanilla Undertale, i myself love to write (platonic) fanfiction that i try to keep as close to the original game as i can, usually dealin with life on the Surface but that their problems aren't over
a simple concept but i love to write about it heh
The ending being heroic despite it being a failure really evokes the feeling of "Welp, at least I tried"
A lot of Sans’s text during the fight gives a lot more matching context to what you explain. As always, Toby writes with reason and purpose to convey a story, character, and emotion.
I love the disturbing cord. It sort of shines a spotlight on Sans as an unwilling hero. Lazy, apathetic, unwilling to act, until finally his had his forced and he must become the hero. It shows how utterly unfit for the role is, and how determined he is to try anyways
And i'd like to think that the Sad chords come from the player/frisk, and the happy chords come from Chara, knowing that she is going to win.
@@leolen8029you seem to have a common misconception that Chara is the evil one, but that isn’t the case. Chara is pretty much good as confirmed to be the narrator in every route, and more than anything she’s an impressionable kid, so when you, the player, start teaching her that murder is good and power is everything, YOU make her become twisted. But players always push the blame onto her because it’s harder to believe that the character you play is the bad guy
Aren't Chara and Frisk nonbinary?
The "disturbing cord" could stem from the fact that Sans is disgusted with his actions. Sans doesn't want to kill the main character because he made a promise to Toriel to protect them. Sans has to betray this promise to stop you, and fun fact, this promise is the only reason he doesn't fight you in any other route than Genocide.
When the disturbing cord disappears in the finale that could show that Sans no-longer cares about his morals or the player/main character and he's pulling out all the stops to try and put you 6-feet-under.
The promise is an important reason, but another reason is because sans knows you’ll just reset everything no matter what he does so he just doesn’t really care. In genocide, you actually have the option to erase the world instead of just resetting so now sans has to fight you, because otherwise everything might be gone permanently once you are finished with the route. This is why he cannot afford to not care anymore
@@dando541 I couldn't have said this better myself.
he did get the chord slightly wrong though also, it’s non-diatonic but it isn’t diminished, it’s actually a G major chord in 1st position rather than a B diminished chord.
so it would technically be a “happy chord,” but it feels out of place.
Also the other reason may be that game suggests that Sans is the weakest character, even monster kid has 2/2 and he is just 1 attack/1 defense, he is only strong because of abusing game mechanics and cheating. for example he bypasses his 1 attack by doing massive multihits+poison and his ghaster blasters are considered "unused content" by lore.
Just like to point out that the point of commonality between the three versions of Megalovania that I could pick out, in their usage, is that they have, at their core, someone who is doomed to die putting up their final stand. Which is why my personal nickname for Megalovania is Dead Man's Last Stand.
That's badass.
.. well I mean he IS a skeleton.
@@medjaimcgraw5632 They are talking about the other two versions: the Dr. Andonuts fight in Earthbound Halloween Hack, and the one used in one of the Homestuck scenes.
@@syweb2 im talking about the name "dead mans last stand" ... its a pun
@@medjaimcgraw5632 I’m not writing pages worth of plot to explain this, but to but put it short,
It’s goes to a small team of heroes, one which you is your pov, and the rest also being controlled in battle (like deltarune),to 4x the amount (12), but some of them have their own minds, then being a villain and facing the failing hero, who can only desperately delay you, as you are becoming too powerful.
Some people say that this isn't Sans' actual theme because Sans originally had a different battle song, titled "The Song That Plays When You Fight Sans". Megalovania, some people argue, is the theme of you, the player, on the genocide route. You are the big bad boss at the end of the game, Sans is dodging your attacks as well. This song represents your descent into madness, replaying a game over and over for fun, murdering innocent people for fun, and your inability to satiate your curiosity. You are the one who this theme goes with, this is the song that the monsters hear whenever you approach, you are the villain in this story who still clutches the mantle of protagonist, the hero, a delusion necessary for you to continue this path. You may shift the blame, but you are the real villain.
But that's just a theory.
A GAME THEORY
Song that MIGHT play when you fight sans
*Might*.
sans' official theme is called "sans" and it plays when he talks with you in non-serious situations
@@wypmangames Sans' casual theme isnt referenced in Megalovania. Id assume this theme is either COLLECTIVELY the theme of the fight, or the theme of the player.
@@SupraShade even so, sans' theme is literally named after him, therefor it makes most san- i mean sense... that its his actual theme, and the song that might play (with similar leimotives) was for a pacifist/neutral version of a sans fight which ended up scrapped, and megalovania is only the fight theme with sans once you murder everyone, while being a fight theme, it has NO leimotives at all because by the time you reach the part in game of megalovania, everyone else is already gone
I've watched a number of your analyses of Undertale tracks so far. You "get it" more than most I've watched. This is a soundtrack that, having played more of the game than I'm willing to admit to, can move me to tears. I'm also a musician; I had to work from others' transcriptions; as you noted on an early video, Toby gets a little weird with time scales and semitones. Also you've been repeatedly spot on with the use of motifs. The game, and music, are VERY carefully woven.
It's a game that will rip your heart out and force you to feed it to your mother if you're a completionist.
Genocide is rough.
Rougher than that.
The "monsters" are more human than you are.
There's a cause they're fighting for.
Survival. From you.
Towns that were populated end up empty, having heard word of your deadly trek.
It's *rough*.
Megalovania is a bit of a crescendo; a final-final boss that's insanely difficult, mechanically, and psychologically… interesting. Non-obvious, you might say, as are most of the "combat" sequences in the game if you aren't going full-murder.
The track that cuts me the deepest: Asgore's. The sheer *lament* of it. The hopeless struggle. The absolute need to try.
> You tell Asgore he's killed you before.
> He nods, sadly.
Edit: Yuppers, there's the tear.
I think you would enjoy listening to the remix Toby made for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It's basically what the song would be if it had other motifs included!
Yeah to me the SSB version feels much more Celebratory, uplifting, triumphant.
The tune he tried to place at 6:18 was absolutely used in SSB before. Do you hear it? It felt awesome to notice.
The song is so interesting because it was originally composed for a Halloween hack for Earthbound in 2008 as the final boss theme, then it was revamped and extended for a key moment halfway through the webcomic Homestuck in 2011. This version of Megalovania has a very different instrument selection than the originals. The song overall is pretty much "The Toby Fox Song" that he references in all of his stuff at very intense moments.
Down to being chosen to appear in Smash as the first Echo Fighter to get an accompanying musical track (unless I'm misremembering), with a new remix that incorporates other pieces of Toby Fox's work. (Bonetrousle and Heartache, the guitar riff from Homestuck's version of Megalovania, and I believe there's a cue from the original version as well.)
Davi!! Toby Fox is a beast! His latest work in the pokemon Scarlet and Violet soundtrack is great. The Area Zero and Professor (Turo/Sada) battle themes are absolutely too notch. I highly recommend you give them a listen if you haven’t already.
not as good as Undertale song though. especially area zero.
I didn’t know Toby Fox worked on it until the credits but as soon as I knew I thought back to Area Zero and that last battle and I figured he worked on those. It was some of the only music in the game that I didn’t get tired of after a while.
Yeah. The professor battle music is INSANE. Also, the final battle with Nemona has a keyboard solo to rival Jon Lord (of Deep Purple fame). Both are incredible.
I had no idea he worked on that. I’m glad to know he exists outside of Undertale lol
Also all of the area zero feeling in plot, environment and other things there feels like toby put a hand there too
The melody he brings up a few times such as at 9:28 eluded me for a bit, until I finally realised it sounds similar to the tracks "HOPES AND DREAMS" and "SAVE THE WORLD."
i don’t think it’s a leitmotif because the only way it could be is if hopes and dreams/save the world used the leitmotif of megalovania, because megalovania was made way before those songs were composed. not to mention way before undertale.
you are honestly the ONLY music reactor who is worth watching ! you analyse, decompose and explain the music and why it's made this way. SOOO underrated channel ! all these ''experts'' and musicians reacting to music really only tell what they are feeling or thinking. (usually just positive to reinforce confirmation bias of the viewer) but YOU actually show that you know what you are talking about !
Thank you!
I’ve come to the same conclusions after watching other people react to music. There’s actually interesting analysis here, unlike any other channel I’ve seen.
Whoa, very heavy claim; watch ongaku concept, games score fanfare, 8bit music theory or Adam Neely, if u don't exclusively care abt videogames
When I first found this channel, I had the exactly opposite impression: too much describing some feeling, too little theory explanation
I think I'd rly like it, if he actually used explicit terms... E.g. just say "E flat sus4" instead of "disturbing chord" or major/minor instead of happy & sad, mention intervals, instead of "heroic sequence" just put some sheet music w/ the chord progression there & explicitly call the chords by their names, that would be much more interesting
@@lenblackquill8608 thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out for sure. But I know precisely jack shit about music theory.
E flat sus4... means nothing to me. But I can understand "Disturbing"
English doesn't seem to be his native language (neither is it mine) and he is heavily vulgarizing the terminology for idiots like me to start understanding what is going on !
For me, a musical illiterate, his simplification and broad analysis of the songs is perfect !
E flat sus4
sus
amogus
I believe the leitmotif you point out at 6:14 is a callback to Papyrus’ theme song. To me the notes are played with a similar instrument and have a similar progression until the end when it becomes more sad/heroic at the end. Possibly representing Sans lamenting his dead brother as a reason he is fighting you.
It sounded like the McDonalds' advertisement
Underscored by the return of the Blue Attack. You dirty brother killer.
Something I find it relevant on this track is how it ends. MEGALOVANIA is such a loud, heroic and high tempo song, but the end is totally anti-climatic. I mean, there's no fade out, no obvious clue we are at the end. It's just the repetition of the melody already played before (and also the beginning of the song!) That naturally encloses the song in a loop, must likely for practical reasons of gameplay. However, the fact that the song ends up without any flashy or crescendos kinda goes with the theme in here: Sans is not doing this for anything glorious, honorable or enriching; his is doing this because you are such a threat to the universe that made him broke a promise and come out of his easy going persona to fight and stop you, by any means necessary: breaking videogame tropes, introducing exclusive mechanics (karma), avoiding your hits, holding the turn so you cannot attack/act. This fight is a lesson on gameplay design and musical composition.
I thought it was looped because he was aware of time resetting every time he wins?
@@CryoHydra357
Time resets whether he wins or not, the moment we decide to continue playing the game beyond a pacifist route we are actively hurting the characters by taking their happy ending from them.
@@davisdf3064 just a theory from sans
@@CryoHydra357 It loops because it's a pretty common occurrence in undertale
I was gonna say that Undertale does take away some stereotypical parts of most games such as selling your items in (most of) the stores and such
How great this man can dissect music is astounding. This also makes me appreciate Toby even more as well. With the explanation of the confusing melody of jazz calling back to sans's theme to the disturbing chord at midst of the other chords at the beginning signifying the horrors of the Genocide route, wow is Mr. Fox a music composer.
There is so much to break down in megalovania,i was very excited for this video and you analysed these layers so well!
Glad you think so!
10:15 megalovania sounds similar to megalomania which is "a delusional fantasy of power, wealth or omnipotence", which you can hear in the soundtrack. But sans isn't that type of skeleton, so this theme doesn't fit his humble and kind personality. Megalovania is probably the player's battle theme as the final Boss of genocide route. And you can see this in the gameplay as sans can dogde your attack, whic is something that is somewhat exclusive to the player.
Sans is the player here, and you are the final Boss, which is probably where the "violence" and "heroic end" comes from in this theme.
It's a theme based on circumstance, _not_ on character.
2:37 "blue note, it makes everything sound more blue"
Just like how sans makes you blue and uses blue attacks, maybe?
whoa
@@DaviVasc whoa
whoa
whao
I broke the whoa chain
Oh a few things I think the familiarity of some parts does come from sans theme like when we first meet him, I’m no music expert but when you said it I was comparing them in my head and the parts did sound a bit similar but some notes were swapped in reverse of the meaning, but where there’s sort of a “run” in sound at the end of each it kinda mimics the theme.
And maybe why it’s more tragic than heroic in the beginning is because Sans is standing up to the player despite him dying, atleast he gave the player a hard time rather than standing by and that’s something hero worthy. And the tragic sounds in the beginning could be like recounting the whole genocide route and why he’s doing it, something like that idk it’s not my full thought lol kinda hard to put into words
It's so insane what this man finds out about the game, just by listening to the soundtrack!
It was actually how I found it actually.
this actually just goes to show how expressive Toby's music can be, Megalovania specifically carries so much raw anger and hatred, yet still sounds justified by being "heroic", thus giving us the "you done fucked up" theme
That’s EXACTLY how I found my favorite game of all time “Hyper Light Drifter”
Next thing you know he’ll accurately describe people through their boss theme. Not like that’ll happen.
I love this series!!! I know nothing about music theory but I love Undertale and get so excited hearing such an in depth analysis of the music. Great work!!!
Also I just realized the blue not may have been added because not only does it fit with sans character but also he turns you blue
Legit this guys explanation of how the cords make you feel made my mind explode
Knowing the context of the battle, every feelling he said the cords represent are so fitting
Toby is a musical genius
But we already knew that
We Just, realize Just how much of a genuis he is even more every day since undertale first realesed
It makes me emotional thinking about how far that game has come
"It will be fun to listen to an Undertale track with more context and maybe recognise some more of the leitmotifs." I'm glad you did a video on Megalovania but god damn did you pick a bad song for those two criteria lmao
Can't wait to play the other routes in the game to experience this track for myself.
Btw, if you are enjoying my Undertale videos, maybe you'll like my Hollow Knight videos as well? ruclips.net/video/1uTcGHliPoc/видео.html
Pacifist run made me cry tears of joy. Genocide was tears of sorrow.
The thing I love about the genocide route is that you get to see a side of the monsters that they would never show until a real monster (you) threatens them. I can't look at Undyne the same way anymore, because I never would have seen the hero in her without that dark timeline.
I know you’ve already heard it In game. But i would love if you would listen to death by glamour. It’s one of the only ost,s that is different in game and out of game.
I'll let you figure out what sans feels but I'll share with you a quote "I can't afford to not care anymore"
Should definitely try to do the pure mercy run, it unlocks more layers to the game.
If you try the genocide route, you're going to have a bad time.
I love how Megalovania has some happiness in it. It shows how Sans still has hope that everything can be saved, and restored!
8:50 is the appropriate reaction to listening to this song
Oh, I just read an interview with Yoko Shimomura and Toby Fox talking about her “Megalomania” and his “ MEGALOVANIA” a few days ago! I like how this piece is keeping the tension of the battle, while showing rich emotions. I feel like I am driven by something. This banger seems to be filled with Toby Fox's overflowing passion. His works have an irresistible appeal which delights fans of old JRPGs, while also being something unique and new. Thank you for this, Davi :)
i really think you should analyze Pepper Steak from the Off soundtrack, that game was one of the major inspirations for undertale, and papyrus is even based on one of the characters from Off! the music in that game is phenomenal, and is well loved by the community, and i (as well as potentially many others) would absolutely love to see you break down and analyze that theme much like you do in your other videos! i promise you it's an absolute treat and the games music deserves more love for sure.
"when did sans become this violent?"
I don't know but to my knowledge it happened in-game somewhere, I forgot where
Probably when you started having a Bad Time I'd assume
ha ha idk man. maybe when you killed his brother 🧍♂️
When you kill Papyrus, Sans literally disappears from the game, and only reappears at the end.
He was probably alone, grieving, or just feeling miserable in general.
Probably why he is so violent to you.
@@davisdf3064 Nope, that's fanon. He actually takes Papyrus' death pretty well in canon. He's not any more upset about him than Toriel, who is basically a total stranger and who he doesn't know for sure is dead(although he does accurately guess in several neutral endings).
He's not fighting you because he's upset about Papyrus, he's fighting you because he's all out of excuses not to: you are literally a threat to everything in his eyes(he's right, of course, but he's also crediting you with Flowey's timeline f*ckery since he doesn't know of Flowey in the main story, except through the "reports" he mentions.)
@@Missingno_Miner
You are very much right in the part where he only fights you because you are going to destroy the world, but i doubt he actually takes Papyrus' death pretty well.
If you kill Toriel, someone who he doesn't know their name nor their appearance, he gets upset, because he did spend a good amount of time talking with her.
Now, Papyrus, someone who's been with him for almost all his life, someone who inspires him to actually do something... I can't think he does take his death pretty well.
Now, i know Sans has a pretty big problem with nihilism and "why bother doing anything if you are going to reset", and losing Papyrus is likely a [BIG SHOT] to his chest.
10:09 , sans being violent (if you don't talk about the gameplay), the fandom got a theory that this theme is actually yours, the player as a geonocider. but that's just a theory, a G.........
i'm no music expert, i'm just into this game and its lore, plz be nice XD
Just found your channel from watching your other Undertale breakdowns and was wandering where this song was. Good timing and I really enjoy these videos!
Davi: can't wait to recognize some leitmotifs!
Megalovania: *has no leimotifs*
1:57 found in Blues Jazz, a genre associated with sorrow and feeling down. Given the context it's actually quite fitting.
Oh yesss
I love the breakdown of chords you do in most videos it really adds a lot of context people might miss
It's really such a delight to watch you react to this song.
I about screamed when I saw what he was reacting to! Snd I am not disappointed in the quality and fun!
Fun fact: Megalovania is actually one of the only tracks in Undertale to not use a single Liet Motif.
The other one is long elevator lmaoooo
You look so concerned in the thumbnail 😂😂 Just watched all the Undertale streams you did, looking forward to you doing the pacifist route! 😊
he really said "e e e e e e e e"
Oh is he doing the other two routes? I’ve only ever done true Pacifist. Just because of how I was introduced to the game I refuse to do any other, I just love all the characters so much, and Asriel is my favorite lol
@@AubDenashi how do you only do pacifist if you have to do neutral first
@@EnheTook50Benadryl you don’t have to do neutral first
@Obscure Gun bruh the neutral run is technically included in the pacifist run since you can’t physically get to the pacifist ending without doing it. The pacifist ending is just an extension you get when you don’t kill anyone.
Kill none: true pacifist run
Kill even 1: neutral
Kill many: evil
I have only done true pacifist, Aka killing none
I suspect that the idea is to have you be apprehensive at the start of the fight, but then kick into high gear for the intense battle... In tracks like these it might be worth bearing in mind that it's likely to loop... The end is not the end... We're not ending on a heroic note, it is transitioning between the two parts, back and forth.
The overall vibe I get from Megalovania is the intensity of the fight while at the same time conveying nuance of the repetition/determination of the player's aggression; since Sans generally takes no less than a dozen attempts when first encountered, the fight locks the player in a deja vu loop. The repetitive jazzy notes accompanied by the hard rock paints a picture of a very aggressive battle where a lot of attacks are being thrown and dodged on both sides, almost like an explosive dance which is exactly what's happening provided the player is hanging in there. The foreboding notes of 7:27 might be conveying a sense of "the end is near", not just for the player and the end of the G route, but the inevitability that a blow _will_ land eventually, something Sans seems to be fully aware of in his diologue during the fight where he expresses his awareness of the hopelessness of his situation and some subtle 4th wall breaking.
I feel like it would actually be a pretty neat idea to listen to popular fan remixes of these songs and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of their adaptations
Just a random thought
Your comment about the 1 “ugly cord” in the backing that stops the melody from being heroic is very interesting. That definitely makes sense in the context of the fight, from both perspectives. It’s the grand finale fight as a judgment of sins… yet nobody is heroic
Tobys music is amazing. You probably won’t run out of Undertale music… but after that you can definitely cover Deltarune, homestuck, his work on The last 2 Pokemon games, and his few Original songs
did toby fox work on HOMESTUCK?
@@haggisllama2630
He worked on Homestuck's music (wich has, actually two or three instances of Megalovania)
Indeed, Sans isn't a hero, if he was, he would have died just like Undyne trying to protect Monsterkind, he only decided to fight you because he understood that you would (quite literally) end the whole fricking world.
hearing you talk about compositions and chords and feelings in music is inspiring me to compose my own stuff for fun! i used to compose a bunch but lost some of that spark with school and work, but you're reigniting my passion! i love hearing you talk about music, i can FEEL how much you love it and it's inspiring me! thank you, davi!!!
Something else I want to mention is that I love what you’ve been doing! Playing the Chords along with the song to see the feeling he’s trying to make!
I wanted to point out something cool I found! At the part at 7:23, I figured out the chords and feel free to follow along, so I believe it’s a B flat Major/happy chord, C major/happy, D minor/sad, and that makes the heroic chords, but then he throws a D flat major/happy and then an E flat major/happy! And those are both super surprising happy chords!
And that’s why that part sounds crazy exciting! Because of the surprising happy chords making it exciting
Again thank you for making these videos and helping everyone understand the harmonic language of music a little bit more!!
Wow the copyright part cut out the part I realized 💀
At 5:30 -ish you said that it sounds like he added a disturbing maddening sadness kind of vibe to something otherwise heroic.
I'd just like to point this out to you since no one else has mentioned it yet, but the song "Megalovania" comes from the world *"Megalomania"* and is NOT a sans song. Megalovania is canonicaly a theme of the PLAYER on the genocide route, NOT Sans.
So maybe this gives some more context to your thoughts on the song.
Those motifs you heard have to do with DETERMINATION. It has emotion and tragedy at the start, but loses it to sound not heroic, but "TRIUMPHANT". It became fun, intense, and very violent, because that represents the player's decent into depravity and losing their care and love for the story of Undertale. It's one of the reasons it hits so hard and only works for the genocide route.
Hope this helps and clears up your questions that you asked. :)
WOW like
Actually, looking at the history, it's evidently the Bad Time theme, meaning that, in this context, Sans _is_ the proprietor.
When you look at it, it stays sans theme for a reason : sans isn't being a hero, is is being *sellfish* for his brother's death. And if you avoid killing only him, he wouldn't care for you at all, and as the "judge" he is the last stand... he let you kill everyone as long as you do not hurt the one person he cares about, he is the one having a megalomania
@@Legu-feline That is an objectively incorrect statement. But ok.
@@lorrainebrunner2490 i mean, think about it. You can kill absolutely everyone, if papyrus stays alive, sans won't attack you, and if you only kill papy, he doesn't attack you, not because he doesn't want to, but because he knows his actions might get him in trouble with asgore and toriel
Yay. I missed you and your videos so much ಠ◡ಠ
I'm glad!
Seeing you break down these video game songs is so much fun, thanks a lot for this content!
10:31
"the famous" that's the best way to describe it
That screaming high note at 1:21 is just perfect, one of my favorite parts of the whole song, that one note
man, it really is a "blink and you'll miss it" in audio format cause i genuinely didn't notice it.
Of course Sans's song has the "Blue note" 😂
I was gonna say that LOL
Him: When was Sans so aggressive?
Me: He doesn't know...
Him: I've only beaten the neutral route
Me: *HE DOESN'T KNOW!*
The reason it ends on heroic is because there's a little moment where he promises to show you a "special attack" at the end of the theme's volley of attacks as one last ditch resort to almost guarantee your loss if you get into it. Megalovania starts again after this "special" moment is done though and he can die after that if you survive.
Hey man! I see your comment about the copyright issue you had with this track. I guarantee that claim was a false one. Whenever I used to stream Undertale (particularly during the sans fight), I would get multiple claims on the video from a bunch of 3rd party companies. When I looked into them, they would be claiming the audio as things like "Megalovaniaia", or other inaccurate song names like that. Toby Fox has said that anyone is free to stream and monetize Undertale and Deltarune, so if you get an audio claim, it is no doubt someone posting his stuff on other websites and pretending it is theirs so they can monetize your stuff. Believe me, I have had to dispute so many of these and they have never been countered (they just ignore the 30 deadline they have to counter your dispute, then the full monetization and anything escrowed goes to you). Sorry about the legal comment, but it really annoys me how many people took advantage of Fox's kind nature. Great video!
Sans became violent when everyone was killed by your hands lol
Bro I’ve been going down the Undertale and Deltarune rabbit hole again, idk if it’s safe to say, but now that YEARS have passed since I’ve been an Undertale fan, I think it classifies as a childhood game because I found it around early middle school thanks to one of my besties. I’m almost off to college by my standards and wow how time flies! I’m glad you’re enjoying Undertale and that all people can still enjoy it years later and that the fandom is still going strong 🥹
There is an interesting fast: the most common leitmotif, used in a lot of Undertale's themes, is the intro melody; well, the thing is the intro of megalovania has also included that leitmotif if you remove some notes, some say that leitmotiv means "Undertale", the game itself, others say it means "the player"
Those weird light motifs you picked up-- i don't think you hear those notes in those specific order during the rest of game, BUT they sound VERY similar to bonetroustle's notes, just out of order. which makes me think that sans is really grieving his brother during this fight
Really well explained, the stuff you can learn about the game just from the music is insane.
In terms of music recommendations I really recommend looking at some destiny music! I'd recommend either Gunslinger, The First Disciple, or Journey
The First Disciple for a darker theme while Gunslinger for something more heroic. Journey is pretty self explanatory about the theme.
Wow! I can’t believe you happened to put this out now. I watched your precious videos yesterday about this game and I couldn’t find anyone looking at megalovania.
4:18 actually, knowing genocide route, it's more surprising to find a happy cord.
Crazy how toby makes the music fit so mutch to the story, battle, and characters
Can't wait until Dovi gets to hear this song in the game! Looking forward to the next playthrough video. Maybe another fridge update?
I hope I wont have any fridge updates for a looooong time
Why do so many youtubers have fridge problems?
“i’m excited to recognize the leitmotifs”
megalovania, which was composed years before undertale was made:
the whole jazz and blues talk at the beginning feels very accurate, sans definitely has some blues and jazz in his personality/character. then there's the chords for several conflicting emotions; sans is angry, sad, seeking justice, disturbed, towards the player and perhaps even towards himself. and yes, you're right, that melody does feel familiar, and i cant figure out why (maybe its just the vibes or nostalgia); i felt the same about flowey's theme, it has to have come from some nursery rhyme.
looking at the song, it feels like it does portray the situation quite well: the beginning with jazzy elements implies this violent character to be the same person who would crack shitty jokes pushed to the breaking point, the mix of conflicting emotions (perhaps sans finds a thrill in his vengeance, further complicating his emotions towards himself), addressing the suffering followed by some particularly harsh notes then a sort of drone (like reminding yourself 'this person made me suffer' and striking a particularly hard blow, then just mindlessly attacking them), and then it loops all over again. if that makes sense
Flowey's theme is based off of "The FUN Song" from Spongebob.
ooooohhhh my goooood I can't belive it! I have no idea that a gaming track can contains so many meaning like this, came here for the title because I thought "oh so you like megalovania? Me too!", and my mind just got so much opened by a video game sountrack composer!! Way to go! I really love this video!
6 years later, this is still an unmitigated banger.
There's a theory that say that like you said in the video isnt the sans theme. The song is called megalovina which is a hunger and addiction to power, in that line the song is better recognized as the player song; you are not figthing a boss but a hero, so the boss music is yours.
I love how in a lot of fights in Undertale, the "heroic" theme keeps coming up. It seems perhaps more fitting than most that it would feature prominently in the genocide route. You're the protagonist, but you're no longer the hero of the story.
It's debated, but the most dominant theory (at least in spaces I'm in) is that Megolovania is the player's theme. If you pay close attention to the fight, the roles are switched. Sans goes first in the battle, whereas the player usually does. He also has the capability to dodge, which previous to now only the player could (missing is not the same as dodging, Sans legitimately moves out of the way, you do not miss due to RNG). Once this fight is initiated, you are no longer the protagonist -- Sans is. You are the /villain/ and he is the attempting hero.
This is further supported by the fact that Sans /does/ have a battle theme that never appears in game. It's titled "The Song that Might Play When You Fight Sans" and has motifs of both is own personal theme AND his brother's theme. This is the song that would likely play if you could ever do friendly battle with Sans, but Sans never steps up to fight you unless you're literally murdering /everyone/. This is hinted at by the fact that his eye is that cyan blue and flashes yellow, the colors that are associated with "patience" and "justice". He's been waiting to see if you'd change your path, you don't, so he has to try to enact justice before everything is lost.
It's a fascinating thing to think about and consider, and really showcases Toby's wit and depth of creativity.
This is the song that plays when you know you are the villain, you know what it means for all these beloved characters, and you have to *commit* in order to finish it.
"Maybe i'll recognise some of the leitmotifs"
To the one song without leitmotifs
The end of the track loops perfectly into the beginning, it always impresses me. Toby Fox made something really incredible
wowww...this is the first ever time i watch a video about analysing music composition, and for a person that deep dive into sans character and his fandom, I could really see sans in Megalovania after you explain some of those cords and melody. sans doesn't see himself as a hero and he is really depressed about everything that is happening in the genocide route, and also the endless resets, so the disturbing cords and the unusual compose choices all SCREAM sans to me. This is so cool!!! I never know about tis kind of music knowledge, thanks for sharing!
Interestingly enough, the part you've pointed out bears similarity to Gaster's Theme, a sample hidden within the game. The name also appears in one of Sans' attacks.
There are a lot of "video game music analysts" on youtube, but you're my favourite as a layman. I like that you explain in detail but also you simplify the explanations really well.
0:05 Actually Sans not the agressive one, Megalovania isn't Sans's battle song theme, but Frisk's (The player) battle song theme, 'cause Sans the hero here, we are the villain, we are the final boss in the genocide route, and Sans trying to stop us, he's trying to save everyone from being killed by Frisk even tough he's the weakest character just making 1 of damage and just having 1 HP, in the files of the game you can find an archive by the name of "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans" that's the proff, so Sans fighting us, and Megalovania is the final boss theme song of Frisk (The player)
I'd like to point out that he has 1 DF, not HP. We don't know his actual HP because we instantly kill him once we have the chance to, because of our strength.
And he's not the weakest enemy in the game.
Nah, Sans’s theme is more likely “sans”
Seems like something he’d give himself
@@StuffyRUclips i'm pretty shure that in the files he has 1 ATK, 1DF AND 1HP
@@Ideenloser yeah but he also has 40 karma which counters the 1 atk
There's a track in the official soundtrack titled "The Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans"
it appears nowhere in the game
2:23 [blue attack]
I seriously love the fact that music tells a story. My music teacher had always told me this, I had understood why, but seeing this- Explains everything in one video. Good job!
4:42 my theory as to why he puts this note and disrupts the flow is because sans is not trying to be a hero, his reasons for fighting you is selfish in nature. there is only one monster you need to kill to trigger this fight and this battle is sans getting revenge for the murder. you can do a genocide run but leave that one monster alive and you dont have to fight sans, he cares, but doesn't care enough to fight.. so yeah, sans isnt being a hero, hes being selfish but by what hes doing for revenge can be passed off as heroic for what his success would mean. (you died, the rest of the monsters you haven't killed yet would live. he'd be a hero to them.)
i might be a century slow to notice this, but doesn't the part that starts on 7:27, which Davi picks on as being some leitmotif as well, sound kind of similar to "here we are", aka the music you hear in the true laboratory? maybe not in the chord progression, but the way the music sounds in general. i personally don't remember any other option of the game sounding like this
if that's true, i feel like you can draw interesting connections between this fight and sans' character and the things you find out in the lab
anyway, this video is a delight, just like all the others on this channel! it's really nice to see someone treat your beloved music with so much care, love, and expertise!