What are some of the standout songs of Undertale, and why?
Warning! This article contains spoilers!
The music of Undertale is as memorable as the game itself. Even without the context of the game in which they belong, many of the songs can stand alone as epic, emotional, or fun to listen to. For sure, the music of Undertale ranges from epic battle jams to haunting music box themes.
It’s all instrumental– though many fans have written their own lyrics to the songs of their choosing, the original instrumentals stand on their own. In this article, I’ll be discussing some of the most popular, standout tracks of the Undertale OST, and my top 10 favorites.
10. Heartache
Toriel's fight as you try to leave the Ruins, where Heartache plays
This song plays during the tutorial boss fight against the motherly character Toriel. She wants you to prove that you’ll be strong enough to travel the Underground alone. It’s nearly impossible to lose the fight against her– if your health gets low enough her attacks will avoid you!
Toriel desperately wants to keep you safe from the dangers of the Underground. The problem is, if you want to get out of the Underground and get back to the human world, you have to continue forward. And Toriel knows this, so this aptly-named song shows her heartache as she wrestles with herself between keeping you safe and letting you continue your journey.
9. Undertale
Two monsters telling the story of the royal family while Undertale plays in the background
Undertale plays near the end of the game when you travel through New Home and Asgore’s Home. During this segment, you learn the story of the First Human, Asriel, Toriel, and Asgore– the same story that has been haunting you as you travel through the Underground.
While the song itself might not be particularly memorable– good, but not memorable– when put in context in the game you realize just how much longing, sorrow, and hope are baked into this song. This song is a symbol of the entire story of Undertale, and so it earns spot number 9.
8. Bonetrousle
Papyrus' battle, where Bonetrousle plays
This song isn’t quite as emotionally heavy as the previous 2. Bonetrousle plays during the fight against Papyrus as an extended version of Nyeh Heh Heh! with added drums and violin. It’s an upbeat bop of a song.
Papyrus becomes one of your closest friends within the game if you choose to keep him alive. Once he decides you’re on good terms, he’ll stay by your side. Even during the Genocide Route– the kill-everyone run of the game– he decides that you can be saved, even up to his death by your hands. Hiding behind his childish veneer is a hopeful soul that doesn’t stop even at his end; Bonetrousle reflects this in every way. But Bonetrousle is a bop, so even without the context of the game, you can jam out whenever you want!
7. Death by Glamour
A fight or a dance-off? Mettaton EX's battle is to the tune of Death by Glamour
Death by Glamour is a bop to rival Bonetrousle. It plays during the fight against Mettaton EX, a robot that has purportedly been created as a human-hunting monster that was later repurposed as a showman. In reality, Mettaton’s human-hating nature was all an act to help his friend, Alphys, become closer to you.
Death by Glamour is upbeat and showy with a hint of danger– at this point in the game, Mettaton does want to kill you, but only so that he can take your SOUL and escape the Underground to be a performer on the Surface. Well, that and to stop Asgore from killing you, taking your SOUL, and starting a war with the Humans.
So, Death by Glamour reflects Mettaton’s showy, but calculating, nature. It feels like a song from a game show taken to 500%, a song to dance and die to. Coupled with the images of Mettaton EX’s fantabulous dancing, Death by Glamour is a song for the ages.
6. Your Best Nightmare
Photoshop flowey really is your best nightmare...
Your Best Nightmare is a song that doesn’t fit in with any of the other songs in Undertale. It’s incredibly off-putting, with an obscure melody and an atonal bassline. This song plays during the Photoshop Flowey battle at the end of a Neutral Route (which can either end as a Neutral Route or goon to become a True Pacifist Route).
The Photoshop Flowey battle, too, is like nothing else in the game. Undertale is meant to resemble old 8-bit games and the like, but it always manages to turn your expectations around on you at the most effective moments. During this battle, Flowey becomes a disturbing photoshop monster with a design that, compared to the rest of the game, is utterly Lovecraftian in nature.
It’s at the lowest point of the game, the all-is-lost, your new friends are gone and your only fate appears to be an endless cycle of death and resurrection at the hands of Photoshop Flowey. Your Best Nightmare isn’t the most pleasant song to listen to, but it is memorable. And its place in the game is important to drive forward the plot, so Your Best Nightmare earns number 6.
5. Megalovania
You'll have a bad time fighting Sans, but not because of Megalovania
Megalovania is fast-paced and utterly memeable– seriously, check out all the memed versions on youtube. It plays during the Sans fight– the Sans fight being the biggest in the Genocide Route besides maybe the Undyne fight; but, unlike the Undyne fight, the Sans fight can only happen in the Genocide Route.
Sans has become disgusted with your actions of killing everyone in the Underground, including his brother, Papyrus. Like in the Pacifist and Neutral Routes, he judges you– only this time he finds you guilty. Allowing you to continue, to slaughter the rest of the Underground and maybe even the Surface, is something he cannot do.
So he traps you in the most difficult fight in all of Undertale, no matter the Route. He’s desperate and angry, and he understands more than any other character how to stop you. He has to make you too tired, too annoyed, to continue fighting him– he has to make you give up, and if he can’t do that, then he’ll trap you within the rules of the game and simply not let you take your turn.
Megalovania has all the themes of desperation and hysteria found in Sans during his fight. And seeing as it’s a song you’ll be hearing a lot of– many players never even get through the first attack of the fight without dying the first few times they play– it has to be a song that won’t get old. To sum it up, Megalovania is a perfect song to sum up the situation in-game, to stand as a battle theme, and of course, to be heard over… and over… and over again.
4. SAVE the World
Saving your friends to SAVE the world
SAVE the World plays during the final boss fight during the True Pacifist Route. It plays while you save the SOULS of all the friends you’ve made– Toriel, Asgore, Undyne, Alphys, Sans, and Papyrus.
It references your ability to SAVE in-game– i.e. having save files and the ability to overwrite them, a common thing in games– you die, you go to your last save point. In Undertale, SAVING, reloading, and resetting the game literally manipulates the story.
SAVE the World references this ability, but it also simply references that the goal during this segment is to save all of your friends. The upbeat epicness of this song mixed with your goal while it plays places SAVE the World at number 4.
3. Don’t Give Up
The entire Underground gathers to tell you don't give up
This song plays before Flowey takes over the game as Asriel Dreemurr, the final fight of the True Pacifist Route. He’s just secretly collected 6 Human SOULS for a major power gain and now intends to consume the SOULS of the monsters of the Underground– not that you, or any of the characters– know this.
The friends you’ve made during the game (Toriel, Papyrus, Sans, Undyne, and Alphys) have just congregated together to stop your fight with Asgore, so neither of you can kill each other to escape the Underground. Though it’s a sad moment– everybody will be trapped Underground rather than getting the freedom they crave– it’s also a happy one; you see that you’ve made some great friends as you traveled, people who dearly love you. It seems the game is coming to an end, and though it isn’t the end you’ve spent the entire game heading towards, it isn’t disappointing–
But of course, in a heart-stopping plot twist, Flowey makes his play and you realize the game isn’t over quite yet. He traps your friends in vines, threatens you, claims that the terrible fate of all the characters is your fault (if you hadn’t befriended them…), and then tries to kill you.
But your friends, trapped as they are, use their magic to defend you and encourage you. Don’t Give Up plays during this moment, and no matter what happens next, you know that your friends will always be by your side. The rest of the monsters in the Underground, too, even the ones that don’t get individual treatment; every monster that you’ve spared and been kind to the entire game shows up to encourage you because you’ve done the same to them.
Don’t Give Up is a track that touches on all of the feelings you’ve felt during the game– the determination that’s kept you going, the jokes that have made you laugh, the sad moments, and the annoying ones. Don’t Give Up, it says, keep going. All in a fairly simple arrangement of piano and strings.
2. Battle Against a True Hero
Battle against the True Hero, Undyne, during the Genocide Route
Battle Against a True Hero really is the song of a true hero. It’s Undyne the Undying’s battle theme in the Genocide Route as she gathers all of her determination– and then the determination of all the monsters in the Underground, too, to stop you from continuing your slaughter.
It’s a powerful orchestral song, fast-paced and truly dramatic. Undyne vows to stop you– even if it kills her, too. The battle against Undyne is almost as difficult as Sans’ fight later in the game and functions as a way to show you, the player, that what you are doing in the game (killing everyone simply to see how it goes) is wrong. You’re not some innocent soul just trying to get home (Neutral Route) and you're not the hero coming to save everyone (True Pacifist Route), you’re the villain, and that’s that.
Battle Against a True Hero is a fantastic song to listen to on its own, like many songs in Undertale. But behind it is the determination of someone willing to sacrifice themself for the greater good. For this, Battle Against a True Hero earns number 2.
1. Memory/His Theme
Memory plays from a forgotten statue in Waterfall
These songs are technically the same. His Theme functions as an orchestral version of the music-box tune Memory. They are the theme of Asriel Dreemurr, and his story is the story of Undertale. Both are haunting, solemn melodies, able to bring forth emotion even without the context of the game.
Memory can be found in Waterfall; it plays from a statue once you cover it with an umbrella and it’s the key to completing the Piano Puzzle. His Theme plays during the final part of the fight against Asriel Dreemurr during a flashback where you learned the final pieces of his story. Memory/His Theme can also be found several times in other tracks, usually when those tracks/characters/situations can be related to Asriel’s story in some way or another.
They are, for me, the most emotional songs in the game. Purely by audio standards, they are well-made and solemn, but with context added they become absolutely powerful pieces.
