Danger

February 28, 2021

This track is packed with elements that best show what is characteristic of the music of Seiken Densetsu 2. It’s shocking, dramatic, and shakes up your emotions. Even among the fans, this is the song that they will recall first.”  —Hiroki Kikuta

Secret of Mana’s boss battle theme is one of the greatest video game tracks of all time. It’s exactly what it needs to be—a searingly relentless rush with huge shifts in dynamics and musical schemes.  It helps make the active on-screen battles a memorable, immersive experience.  The tempo is very fast (approximately 184 BPM), and Kikuta experiments with a kick drum that moves faster than any human could play it.  

On a system that regularly featured miniatures in AB form, “Danger” has between four and six sections, depending on how the score is analyzed.  Each section, while different from the preceding, ties together into a cohesive whole.  It’s fitting that one of Secret of Mana’s most developed tracks is saved for its most important events.

The opening is accomplished with a clever use of orchestra hits—a sharply executed intro that makes you take note of what is unfolding.  Orchestra hits are generally used to accent strong musical events, but they’re used as an instrument unto themselves here.

After this, (:11) Kikuta pulls back the dynamics with a powerful, if conventional hard rock section. The chords are very simple here—D Major to F Major.  For the next section (:43), it’s important to keep in mind that we’re probably a ways into the battle, and the musical shift perpetuates the experience. Eschewing the simple form of the previous section, there’s now a long sequence of fast chromatic notes played over an active bass line.  There are multiple time signatures in this section—one wandering line after another, challenging the player through the complex process of winning the battle.

A short but very aggressive section follows at :53.  We return to a rock sound with descending orchestra hits raging against the melody.  This devolves to a short one line bridge (1:09), recharging our ears, and teasing yet another shift.  We’re made to feel that we’ve reached a clearing at 1:14, with a quick, exuberant sound that faces little resistance.  This section is an encouragement; the battle has been raging but it can be won with the right ingenuity.  Things soften further at 1:35 with harmony from a clean electric piano. This is followed by the long bridge at 1:45 that takes us back to the intro.

The result is a track that lasts over 2:00 and superbly represents the emotions of a player caught in these intense battles, while also telling the story.

Kikuta sums it up more poetically than I can:

In the world created by games there are many factors to consider. These factors of course are not always in harmony and are scattered all over. So naturally, you have the [positive] factors clashing with negative ones. When making something like battle music, thinking about the clashing of these different forces is very important. Once these clashing factors come together, they become one and you end up with a perfect sound that symbolizes that harmony. Much like in American football when you have the chaotic lead up of plays and the celebration when a touchdown is scored, battle music is very similar in how the colliding forces come together to create something amazing.”

Reddit AMA, February 23, 2014

Like Into the Thick of It, Danger’s remix is not as well received.  The intro is much lower in pitch and is part of a messy arrangement that makes us miss the original.  The various sections sound similar, and lack the shifts of the SNES version, though it’s still an exciting track, and one of the better ones in the remake.