There are many things that can define a Pokémon Generation, but one that you may not have considered is musical style. Pokémon music is some of the most iconic in all of gaming thanks to how effectively it conveys character and emotion with very simple techniques. It has battle themes that stick in your head, and overworld themes that carry you along your grand adventure.
Each Generation does something unique with its music. Whether it’s the bold trumpets of Hoenn, the sombre piano of Sinnoh, or the full-force electro-rock of Galar, no two regions sound the same. We’ve gone through the entire series to find the very best Pokémon songs of all time.
Tera Raid Battle - Pokémon Scarlet/Violet
Tera Raid Battles are much faster than Sword and Shield’s Max Raid Battles, and the music reflects that. It’s a fairly simple melody, but it keeps thhe energy high for the entire battle, which is important when you’re in the midst of a tough fight.
These battles have the added advantage of a time limit, meaning you’re only going to hear it loop at most once or twice before the battle is over. It’s one you might get a bit sick of otherwise.
Jubilife City - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
The built-up media centre of Sinnoh, Jubilife City, should have a fast-paced song to complement the busy nature of the city. Instead, it goes for a leisurely jaunt of a track with an upbeat piano that manages to invoke a strange sense of nostalgia, even when hearing it for the first time.
This song invokes the image of wandering down the city streets in a clear state of mind. All this activity is going on around you, but you get to just enjoy the sights and sounds of the city without a care in the world. Despite being Sinnoh’s biggest city, there is no Pokémon Gym here, and it’s the first major location you reach on your adventure, so it feels like a nice place to settle into the world.
Battle vs Ultra Necrozma - Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Despite complaints that modern Pokémon games are too easy, Generation 7 has one of the hardest battles in the series, and it’s against just one Pokémon. Ultra Necrozma is an extremely tough boss fight because of how many buffs it gets, and even a full team of Pokémon will struggle to take it down without proper strategy.
Its battle theme is all about intimidation. The starting notes sound like a God is descending from on high to smite you, and once the song picks up in pace, you’re thrown into a chaotic array of synthesised layers, constantly pressing the high notes for extra terror. This track wants you to know that you should be extremely scared of the monster you’re facing.
Route 210 - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
While Route themes serve an essential purpose, they’re often the most forgettable tracks in any given game. These songs are constantly interrupted by wild Pokémon battles or trainer battles, so making them too complex would be frustrating to listen to. However, the Sinnoh games struck the perfect balance between simplicity and enjoyable music.
Route 210 is one of the longest Routes in the game, and one you’ll have to come back to multiple times, so it makes sure to throw a bold and enjoyable track at you to send you on your way. The intro takes just a few seconds to burst into the main melody, meaning you’ll always get to hear the enjoyable riff, no matter how quickly you sprint into the tall grass.
Battle vs Team Galactic Commander - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
Team Galactic is an eccentric crew. Although Cyrus is a master manipulator, all his followers are staunch believers in the absurd idea that Cyrus is going to take them to a new world. Why else would they all agree to name themselves after planets? That overzealous state of mind is conveyed perfectly in their battle themes.
This song is constantly in a rush. The regular Team Galactic theme is already fast, but this turns it up another notch. The bassline is frantic and all over the place, which serves the main melody’s intensity. This is a group of people who go all out with every battle they fight, and you can feel how much pressure they’re trying to put on you with each move.
Team Star Grunt Battle - Pokémon Scarlet/Violet
You may not have realized just how awesome this track is. That’s because the really good bit is about 90 seconds in, and any battle you’ll have with a Team Star Grunt probably won’t last that long.
Starting out with a frantic synth melody, this battle theme is one that just keeps building and building. It gets the energy going with the synth, holds it there for a bit, and suddenly gets extremely intense out of nowhere. If this were the final boss theme in a Xenoblade game, it wouldn’t feel entirely out of place, especially once that guitar section kicks into full gear.
Battle vs Lake Guardians - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
In some ways, this theme has a clash of musical styles, but they’re blended together expertly so they capture both the strength and benevolence of Sinnoh’s Lake Guardians. Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit only seek to help the player through their adventure in Sinnoh, but when you battle them, you’re immediately reminded that these are Legendary Pokémon, and you’re in for a fight.
The intensity of the bass is off the scale and the synthesised melody that plays over it is much lighter, reflecting the style of their attacks. They’re tough creatures, but they use psychic powers and illusions to defend themselves, not sheer power. This song is full of little touches that make it excellent, like the little flutters of piano that play in the song’s break, as if they’re quickly darting between rocks to avoid your attacks.
Sunyshore City - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
Sunyshore City is the final city on your journey around the Sinnoh region. When you arrive, you still have one more Gym Badge to win, but there’s an overwhelming sense of triumph to the occasion. You have just averted the end of the world by defeating Dialga/Palkia/Giratina, and now you can focus on your adventure once more.
The opening few notes are almost offensively upbeat, no one can hear that and not feel the urge to smile. Once the main melody kicks in, the happy vibes continue as you wander around this solar-powered city by the sea. The place is a paradise, which stands in hilarious contrast to Volkner’s downbeat state when you first meet him.
Battle vs Rainbow Rocket Giovanni - Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Despite being the very first villain in the Pokémon series, Giovanni didn’t get a unique battle theme until Generation 7. In the post-game of Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, Giovanni brings Team Rainbow Rocket across the multiverse to try and rule the world. You must fight your way through all the other team leaders before standing off against the boss in his most powerful form.
Menacing is the perfect word to describe this track. It has a great little nod to the Game Boy’s musical style at the beginning before descending into a methodical musical beatdown. Booming drums back up a hard-hitting base, all topped off with bold and intimidating trumpets. Giovanni may not be the ultimate villain he is often portrayed as, but this track makes you believe the hype.
Battle vs Lysandre - Pokémon X/Y
Lysandre is perhaps the most underwhelming villain in all of Pokémon. His motivations are really weird, he wants the world to be beautiful, and for some reason, that involves wiping out all life on Earth. Regardless, he has the look and aura of a great villain. His spiky mane of hair gives him a huge presence, and his theme would have you believe there is no possible way to defeat him.
His song has a great lead-in with lingering trumpets giving way to an all-out attack of electronic melodies. The sense of menace is in there, as the track returns to the trumpets in small parts, but that energetic and fierce melody pierces through and dominates the track giving everything a much grander sense of climax than X & Y’s story really deserves.
Battle vs Origin Dialga/Palkia - Pokémon Legends: Arceus
The climax of Pokémon Legends: Arceus sees you facing off against never before seen Origin Forms of either Dialga or Palkia with the help of both Adaman and Irida. These forms push their power levels to world-ending levels, and you have to face them all by yourself. The style of Pokémon Legends’ boss battles means you’ve got to somehow dodge the attacks of this God-like being and strike it down by hand.
The genius in this track is how starkly different it is from every other piece of music in the game. The historical setting means most of the music is analogue, but this track throws that out of the window. Like you are a person taken out of time, these monsters distort reality and bring hardcore electronic music to the fight.
Vast Poni Canyon - Pokémon Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
The music of Alola is drenched in its tropical theme, but no track stands out quite as much as Vast Poni Canyon. There is no traditional Victory Road in Alola, and Vast Poni Canyon is about as close as it gets. This is a winding cave full of puzzles, tough trainers, and a long climb to the top.
Despite the weighty sense of occasion – traversing this valley to encounter a Legendary Pokémon – this track is very fun to listen to. It plays heavily on the major keys creating a bouncy track, creating a melody out of many tropical-feeling wind instruments such as the panpipes. That said, there’s a steady baseline to make sure you always have that drive to keep pressing onwards.
Ending To Each Future - Pokémon Black/White
Black & White have by far the biggest narrative scope of any main-series Pokémon game – the ending feels more like a movie than any game in the series has managed before. Rather than hitting the climax with the Legendary Pokémon and then shrugging it all off to compete in the Pokémon League, this game ends on a very sombre note, with N saying goodbye after the final battle for the fate of Unova.
Like any good movie, after such a slow and poignant ending, it’s good catharsis to blast the audience in the face with emotion as the credits start to roll. ‘Ending To Each Future’ does this perfectly, bursts in with the credits for a fast-paced triumphant song that neatly wraps up the emotions of the final cutscene.
Dialga’s Fight to the Finish - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky
The spin-off Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games put a far greater emphasis on narrative than the main series, which makes them full of hard-hitting emotional moments. The most emotionally charged track in the whole series is easily ‘Dialga’s Fight to the Finish’, the final boss theme of Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky.
Unlike most other Pokémon villains, Dialga isn’t out to destroy the world, he’s not even evil in this story, he’s just been driven out of his mind by the loss of the Time Gears. This track supercharges all those emotive narrative elements. There’s a fast-paced intensity underlying the track, it is a boss fight after all, but the driving force of the melody is that smooth synth hitting all the emotional high notes as you and your partner fight desperately to calm Dialga down and save the world.
Battle vs Marnie - Pokémon Sword/Shield
Despite being a fan-favourite character thanks to her design, Marnie isn’t all that interesting in Sword & Shield. She helps you a few times throughout your journey but doesn’t feel that important in the grand scheme of things. That said, battling her is always a joy because you get to hear her rocking battle theme.
In line with her punk-rock aesthetic, guitars carry the bassline of her battle theme, making the whole thing something you can bop your head to. The best parts, though, are when the guitar overpowers the synth in the main melody and rocks about as hard as Pokémon can. What’s even better is the remixed theme for when you face her at the Pokémon League. Mixing in the crowd’s chanting and cheering into that theme makes her feel like a rock star.
Battle vs Volo & Giratina - Pokémon Legends: Arceus
When Volo was first revealed as a character in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, people immediately saw the connection between him and Cynthia, so people suspected there was more to him than met the eye. Ultimately, everyone was proved right, when he reveals himself as a villain in the post-game and attacks you with all his might.
This adapts Cynthia’s encounter theme, which is already an awesome song, into a battle theme, throwing a few extra layers on top for good measure. This is an extremely tough fight, and when you clear all six of his Pokémon, you learn you’re not done as Giratina rises from the Distortion World. Initially, the regular Legendary battle music plays, but once you defeat Giratina, perhaps the best musical cue in the series hits, its eyes glow red and you’re suddenly face to face with a fully-restored Origin Form Giratina, complete with chaotic battle music.
Battle vs Cyrus - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
The master manipulator of Team Galactic, Cyrus is a man devoid of emotion and has no qualms about creating a false ideal for all of his followers. His twisted desire for a world all his own drives him to do some very horrible things across Sinnoh, and his hatred for human emotion makes for an ironically very emotive piece of battle music.
The track builds slowly before kicking in with the main bassline that remains throughout the entire song. That bassline, constant, steady, and unchanging is the embodiment of Cyrus’ lack of emotion, and it comes into beautiful contrast with the drama and climactic nature of the main melody. Pokémon battles are often represented as Pokémon feeding off the wills of their trainers to succeed, and this is the best piece of music to show that, perfectly encapsulating Cyrus’ character.
Battle vs Eternatus Phase 3 - Pokémon Sword/Shield
The climax of Sword & Shield’s story sees you and Hop battle with the near-unstoppable force of Eternatus, which threatens to plunge Galar into darkness. The first two phases of the fight are tough, and their themes are menacing to show that, but phase 3 is very different, as the joyous music will tell you.
When phase 3 begins, victory is all but assured. Zacian and Zamazenta have awoken and are helping you slay Eternatus once and for all. Even if Sword & Shield’s story isn’t all that exciting, this single moment feels like an epic finale, aided by this music dripping with triumph and glory. It’s the kind of music that makes you feel like the hero you truly are.
Battle vs Cynthia - Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
This theme doesn’t necessarily represent Cynthia as a character or bring out some grand emotive climax, it’s just a kick-ass battle theme that gets the blood pumping. Cynthia is a notoriously tough battle, as she has a competitive-level team. Spiritomb has no weakness in Generation 4, Togekiss and Milotic could tank and heal just about anything, and Garchomp was likely faster and more powerful than anything you had on your team.
It makes for an intense fight, and nothing gives you the drive to keep going quite like an all-out battle theme like this. After both the song and the trainers wind up, you’re launched into an electronic track that moves a mile a minute and hits high points left, right, and centre. It ebbs and flows the same way Pokémon battles do, embodying that feeling of the two best trainers in the world fighting tooth and nail.
Written by Ryan Woodrow on behalf of GLHF.
