The game starts of with it's iconic title theme, which mixes trumpets, marching drums, clocktowers bells and flutes to signify the long and exhilirating adventure in store.
Welcome To World Of Pokémon has a sense of wonder and safety too it, cemented by the light string plucking and a tune that could belong in an old music box.
Guildmaster Wigglytuff perfectly fits the characters whimzy and quirky personality, while at the same time giving me associations to other tutorial theme's from the pokémon series.
Goodnight is a sweet little lullaby.
Treasure Town is really fitting for the town bustling with life and stores, sounding somewhat like irish folk-music?
Heartwarming is happy and calm track, just as it's name states.
Dungeon Themes
All the dungeon themes loop nicely, since they're meant to be played the whole way throughout each dungeon. The game has different tracks for each section of the longer dungeons. One could say the dungeon tracks are the "mystery" part of these games, due to how unpredictable and innovative they can be, which in turn make them great background music in my opinion (also there is a lot of them, another plus):
- Beach Cave
- Drenched Bluff
- Waterfall Cave
- Mt. Bristle
- Craggy Coast
- Apple Woods
- Amp Plains
- Upper Steam Cave
- Steam Cave
- Mt. Horn
- Foggy Forest
- Northern Desert
- Quicksand Cave
- Quicksand Pit
- Crystal Cave
- Crystal Crossing
- Chasm Cave
- Dark Hill
- Sealed Ruin
- Sealed Ruin Pit
- Dusk Forest
- Deep Dusk Forest
- Threeshroud Forest
- Brine Cave
- Lower Brine Cave
- Hidden Land
- Hidden Highland
- Temporal Tower
- Temporal Spire
Waterfall Cave sounds mysterious with it's use of xylophone-like tones pitched up fading in and out. The track Waterfall from Undertale sounds very similar similar, using the same quality of the bell-sound.
Craggy Coast is a good example of the unpredictable and dynamic nature of the dungeon themes. It makes for an exquisite track.
Mt. Horn creates an interesting composition by playing opposing beats on the left and right sides of the stereo sound. The marching beat and the deep drums helps picture the steep traverse towards the mountain peak.
Steam Cave is the first dungeon that features two tracks in the game. Steam Cave sounds somewhat ominous with it's constant drumming-like bass rythm and the uneasy light flute and tingling notes spread throughout the composition. Upper Steam Cave continous with a similar bass-beat, but with more notes layered.
Amp Plains uses a pulsating and groovy beat to signify the electric feel of the area and the typing of the pokémon that reside within it. Far Amp Plains builds further on the same beat by introducing somehwat distorted, echo-y and computer-esque sounds. The track also picks itself up in a way when it loops over, like someone just turned the voltage up**.**
Rising Fear is played a lot throughout the game. It's a sinister and ominous sounding track, foreboding something horrible.
Crystal Cave uses light xylophone-like synths to signify the light reflecting of every crystal of the cave as you move (Figuratively speaking, that's not coded into the game...). Crystal Crossing is a bit slower in comparison, with a constant wandering beat and notes in the deeper end of the scale.
Dark Hill seems somewhat reminiscient of the Bowser's Castle theme from the Super Mario World franchise.
Sealed Ruin gives of a sense of mystery for what's laying ahead. Sealed Ruin Pit picks up the beat by introducing heavy basslike drumsynths and an almost sad or sinister sounding melody. It uses a rising notes progression to build tension and then after the climax moves over into a spiraling type of motif leading you into the depths of the dungeon.
Threeshroud Forest emulates a forest shrouded in mystery and also conveys some sort of sadness linked within, but also a sense of wonder with its back-and-forth moving arpeggio.
The contrast between Brine Cave and lower Lower Brine Cave is also quite nice even though they use the same motif, with the latter using deeper notes and a slower progresion to build tension.
Hidden Land is one of the calmer and serene tracks, but it also has a sense of mystery to it like many others. Hidden Highland uses the same key to create a connection between the tracks.
The Power of Darkness uses something called quartal, which I honestly don't fully understand, but the track sounds cool 😅.
The second Time Gear theme uses subtle choir-like sounds and a light note progression somewhat akin to a lullaby. It really gives the sense of fleeting time and makes for a quite soothing track. In one word: Beautiful.
Through The Sea of Time uses the same chord progression to connect to the common theme of "time". This track gives me goosebumps each time I hear it.
In the Hands of Fate continues with the same motif, but breaks it down to something akin to a simple music box tune.
Temporal Tower is sounds awesome with its walking beat and light echoing tunes, giving of an ethereal vibe fitting for the towering structure reacing the clouds. It borrows the same "time" motif for some parts and the way the notes progress upwards and the light synth notes just "respond" to each other is sublime.
Temporal Spire uses an actual ticking sound effect to convey the "time" theme, but again also the same exact chords as used in Time Gear
Dialga's Fight to the Finish! is a bit of an unorthodox boss theme with it's airy and upbeat melody. Since Dialga isn't actually an enemy, but rather a victim of the events that unfold, the track is not meant to sound threatening like most boss themes. The composition is layered with sounding heroic and hopeful.
Don't Ever Forget is another one the games most beautiful themes. Together with the following tracks it accompanies the turning point where it seems like the story is over:
Memories Returned smartly reuses the same motif as the Title theme to convey that there is more more adventure to be had ahead. It's also a very calming and serene theme.
Do Your Best, as Always! is a very happy and hopeful track as the title states. It also interestingly mixes in the same iconic motif as the other games in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Franchise, which you also hear in the Intro Theme from PMD: Red Resuce Team.
2nd Part Dungeon Themes
- Mystifying Forest
- Sky Peak Forest
- Sky Peak Cave
- Sky Peak Prairie
- Sky Peak Coast
- Sky Peak Snowfield
- Sky Peak Final Pass
- Surrounded Sea
- Miracle Sea
- Aegis Cave
- Concealed Ruins
- Mt. Travail
- Dark Crater
- Deep Dark Crater
- Random Dungeon Theme 1
- Random Dungeon Theme 2
- Random Dungeon Theme 3
- Star Cave
- Deep Star Cave
- Murky Forest
- Fortune Ravine
- Fortune Ravine Depths
- Spring Cave
- Lower Spring Cave
- Spring Cave Depths
- Southern Jugnle
- Boulder Quarry
- Illusion Stone Chamber
- LimeStone Cavern
- Deep Limestone Cavern
- Barren Valley
- Dark Wasteland
- Spacial Cliffs
- Dark Ice Mountain
- Icicle Forest
- Vast Ice Mountain
- Vast Ice Mountain Peak
Sky Peak Forest sounds so happy and bustling with life, simply a very fun composition.
Sky Peak Cave is clearly a remix of the Buried Relic theme from the previous game in the Mystery Dungeon series.
Sky Peak Coast is similarly a minimal remix of Stormy Sea
Blizzard Island Rescue Team Medley is a medley comprised of 4 tracks from the PMD: Red Rescue Team:
Aegis Cave seems to have some middle-eastern influences I think?
Defy the Legends is another boss theme from this game, and much like Dialga's boss theme it doesn't sound very threatening.
Star Cave honestly just sounds like what I imagine sparkling stars would sound like.
Murky Forest is a remix of Tiny Woods
The music for the Spring Cave area uses Magma Cavern, Magma Cavern Pit and a remix for of the latter for Spring Cave Depths
Southern Jungle is an exquisite funky jungle theme.
Boulder Quarry remixes the music from Mt. Steel.
Geez, there are so many dungeon themes 😧.
Team Charm's Theme is a banger.
Favorites
- Through The Sea of Time
- Time Gear
- Dialga's Fight to the Finish!
- Temporal Tower
- Sky Peak Forest
- Craggy Coast
- Mt. Horn
- Sealed Ruin Pit
Oh boy, this was a long one. Great game and great soundtrack.
Composers
- Arata Iiyoshi
- Hideki Sakamoto
- Keisuke Ito
- Ken-ichi Saito
- Yoshihiro Maeda
Links
- Published:
- 25 November 2024
- Last Updated:
- 10 September 2025