There's a very funny thing about this song where no matter how people try to remix it or mess with it, it always somehow manages to be recognizable and even sound pretty damn good. I'd say that's the mark of a good song.
@@darkmatter100 I've heard this song entirely out of sync, remixed out the wazoo, and even a version that only has a single note. The only ones that didn't still kick like a mule were the ones that fully chopped up the original and reordered it, sometimes omitting parts. Even then its origin was readily recognizeable. Also, a lot of Toby's songs sound great in 6/8 time. 🍻🏴☠
The thing about Megalovania is, it wasn't made for Undertale. It was touched up for Undertale, sure, but it appeared previously as a contribution in Homestuck, and long before that, it was made for an Earthbound fan project Toby made. Before Undertale, this song is what he was most known for. It plays when you've come to the biggest challenge in the whole game - for most players, likely when they've exhausted everything else the game has to offer, when they've set themselves against everything in it and burned it all to squeeze out one last bit of content. When the author has given them every chance and every incentive to turn back, and the player has refused. So, the thing to understand is, this isn't the theme for when you're fighting Sans. This is the theme for when you're fighting Toby Fox.
I feel like the nature of the song also shifts as the player learns the fight. At first it describes the insanity that is Sans' fight, being this seemingly overwhelming behemoth. But as the fight goes on, the tide starts to turn and it is no longer describing Sans' ridiculous power, but your own ridiculous nature as you are somehow dealing with all of it. It doesn't start as a song that describes the player, but eventually becomes it. The song fits both for different reasons.
@@TotallyDapper I know, I just don't fully agree with it. It seems more like a specific scenario theme that also fits both characters in different ways. It is definitely not the player's theme at first because it's the player who will see Sans as an overpowered monster.
I'd agree that it applies to both combatants. On Sans's side, he's the maniac because he is so avoidant to do ANYTHING for or against you (aside from guilt-tripping or threatening you) in every other run. On your side, YOU are the final boss, the one who finally manages to force Sans out of his depressive rut and stand up to you. He also attacks first, which is the right of the protagonist in every fight. The title Megalovania is a combination of megalomania and vanity. You are the ultimate center of the universe and impose your violent will on everyone else for simple curious /sadistic reasons.
What's even better is the contrast to the moments before the song plays. You hear birds chirping, as Sans delivers his iconic lines: "It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like this, kids like you..." And then it all stops. Dead silence. "S h o u l d b e b u r n i n g i n h e l l" But the music doesn't start yet; oh no. He hits you with an absolute *nightmare* of an attack, the first time in the game you *don't* go first... Meaning this is the first time someone else 'shoots first' so to speak. And after surviving *that*... Only then does the music kick in.
The first 5 minutes of this video is literally just Marco going insane as the Sans memes enter his body. This is the quality content I expect to see on this platform.
So, you can hear in this San’s song Megalvania, you can hear his disappointment. It almost says, “I trusted you and you betrayed me”. And even, “ I thought we were friends”. Go ahead listen for those notes.
@@baileycreane4060 Oh right, some suggestions are: Finale Asgore Spear of justice Metal crusher/Death by glamour Undertale I'm too lazy to post more songs, there are many good songs, he could listen the whole soundtrack.
Marco: "Is this a musical reaction and analysis channel without thinking about this song? I don't think so." Marco: *goes through the seven stages of grief*
It would have been so interesting to see Marco go through "The bad time" in his gameplay, but Marco is a nice and friendly Meatball that went for pacifist, which is sweeter :)
I think he doesn’t want to do genocide. Which is completely understandable. Anytime in that route, you will always question “Do I really want to do this?”
@@Kaltsit- I know when I played Undertale I first did Pacifist, restarted, got to... I think the "Core" in my Genocide play through, stopped, went "Yeah I think I'm done" and restarted to do one final Pacifist play through to end the game on a good note and haven't touched it since with no intention on going back.
Honestly, I just don't think he wanted to try and fight sans and undyne knowing that they were tougher than anything he's fought in pacifist. Or slog for eight hours to grind the kills needed.
as much of a meme as this song is, this will go down in history as one of the greatest videogame songs of all time. absolute gamer classic banger. even without the story implications or even having any knowledge of the game its from, absolute banger
megalovania is like a pb&j sandwich, but a really well-made one. everyone knows it, it won't disappoint, and you can't really complain with it even if you like others more
What's really impressive about this to me is that Toby wrote this when he was 17. In 2008 he made an Earthbound ROM hack called Earthbound Halloween Hack and the first version of this track can be found during a boss fight. This is the third iteration of the song, with it eventually finding its way to Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Composers know when they wrote something that's good and know when to use it again in later projects (See Earthbound 2012-I Miss You Fan Album, Toby contributed 4 tracks to that, including the first version of Fallen Down). Love his music!
I don't know if this adds to your veiw of the song, but there is a few things in the fight that adds to the intensity. WARNING:sans fight spoilers. First: if you check sans during the fight you find out he does only have 1 attack and defense. After hearing that you might wonder why funny bone man hurts so much. But if you look at the UI you will notice the letters KR next to your health. This is because sans has the ability "Karmatic retribution" in witch he does more damage based on your LOVE and not his attack Stat. Second: very simple. He is the only one in the game that can dodge attacks.
@8:54 it gives me the feeling that they both know this is a stalling match, and that no matter how many times we/frisk die sans CANNOT WIN, its hopelessness but with perseverance and the "determination" to see things done to the end to FINISH what we started.
So in essence, Megalovania holds such power because it's a legit rock-opera song. You don't hear any lyrics, but you know exactly what they 'are' (and no two people's interpretations need to be the same).
In the Undertale community, Megalovania is known as a genre of music, since there is so many different remixes, and changes to it that people started making their own "Megalovania" Megalovania is a theme not for a boss, but for someone that is punishing another for terrible crimes, giving justice! I would challenge you, Music UA-cam Man! Make your own Megalovania fight theme song, what do you want to play if you had to be The Royal Judge?
one thing i don't agree with is that "Megalovania is a theme for punishing someone who commited terrible crimes, giving justice" part there are megalo's that don't follow this rule Proditiophobia is a prime example ua-cam.com/video/pGRPz1b_gvE/v-deo.html Proditiophobia itself means "the fear of being betrayed", and Henry Stickman (The antagonist in Proditiophobia) is seen betraying people MANY times in the series, and has been betrayed MANY times as well. To put it simply, it's perfectly fine, if not, *better* to add your own twist to the story of a megalovania.
Interesting note about Megalovania is that this is actually the third time Toby Fox uses the track (or lets someone else use it); the first time in the Earthbound Halloween Hack and the second time in Homestuck. I can't speak for the context of the first one, but in the second, it plays at a climatic moment of the story which... well, fittingly when knowing its Undertale context, sees the death of a protagonist at the end of another, due to a mix of misunderstanding on the part of the victim and overconfidence on the part of the killer. And in the meanwhile, another protagonist serves a piece of humble pie to the main antagonist of the moment. Doubling up on the duality of the song.
No matter how long it has been This song still slaps so hard. There's a reason this blew up so much that it practically became a meme on the internet. And Marco jamming to the song is a testament to it 😂
A little more backstory(Genocide Spoilers): Megalovania is a theme that plays when you fight the last stand of the Monsters before the world gets erased: Sans. It's true that the song is a banger, but if you listen very closely you can also hear heroic and sad tunes in Megalovania, in fact the song has the intention to make you feel guilty for your actions, especially for these lines: * You feel like you're gonna have a bad time. * You feel your sins crawling on your back. I see Megalovania as a way for Sans to say: " I'm tired of your bullsh*t with the timelines kid, this time I won't stay out of the way." He usually doesn't fight you, even when you kill Papyrus or Toriel, because he knows eventually the world will be resetted and everything will go back to normal, so why would he even try? But on the genocide run, he knows that if he doesn't do anything, something WAY terribile might happen, I don't know about you, but in Megalovania I can listen very well Sans's depression and anger against the player. Toby Fox usually gives the Megalovania theme to the characters he really likes(Yes, it's not an original Undertale Soundtrack, but still) he decided to give to Sans Megalovania for a very good reason, Sans has a lot of secret we don't really know, and interesting backstory and one of the best characters in the game. He totally deserve Megalovania to be his theme.
I'd say the genre is generally defined by starting with a repeating motif, the starting note of which moves with the bassline. followed by a section where the motif isn't present. followed by a section wherein you return with a different permutation of said motif.
In my personal opinion, this is Toby Fox’s MAGNUM OPUS. It’s, PERFECTION, for a video game OST! You can’t help but ROCK OUT to the song, just as you did Marco!! Undertale is, SPECIAL, isn’t it!? EDIT: DUDE, TOBY DID A LOT OF THE MUSIC OF POKÉMON SCARLET AND VIOLET!!!! HEAR THEM OUT AS WELL!!! THERE LEGITIMATELY GOOD!!!
I would say it's less his Magnum Opus and more his SIGNATURE. He's used it so many things at this point we just need to wait for it to appear in DeltaRune.
So glad he let it loop. This is definitely the song that deserves to loop. As for the analysis, though it's not super well agreed with, I've always subscribed to the head canon that this is _your_ song. This is what sans hears when he's fighting you, because _he's_ the protagonist by this point. This is the point of true no return. Even by Undyne, you could turn around and be good again (I think). At this point, though, there's nobody left to spare. It also helps that there's literally a song in the game called "a song that might play when you fight sans" that is much more his theme than this.
Even by NEO, i'm pretty sure if you missed some (intentionally or no) you could drop from Genocide. But once you're at Sans, the only possible way out would be a Reset (if available).
The title “Megalovania” comes from the word “megalomania” or “megalomaniac”, which basically refers to a person who is “obsessed with power/domination over others” (taken from the internet), which would explain why some would think that Megalovania is more like a theme for the player instead of Sans.
"he's the protagonist by this point" that's not how it works. protagonist is the main character. in certain media, such as video games due to the interactivity of them, you could argue who is the protagonist can change, but not Sans. he does not have enough story relevance for that. he's a heroic antagonist.
This song feels like challenging fate. I'm still practicing the Camilla remix on Beat Saber, and all I hear, is the resistance that Sans is putting up against frisk and the determination of the character, putting them in an impass, and that clash is this song. It pushes me to keep trying, even though I keep failing, just like Sans and his friends' attempts to stop Frisk in the many saves.
megalovania is one of my favourite songs, period. it's the theme of someone pushed to their absolute limit, completely outside of their comfort zone, but, in his own words "I can't afford to not care any more".
A lot of people have been arguing that Megalovania was Frisk/Chara/Your battle theme, seeing as the megalomaniac in this instance is the playable character. But tbh my stance has always been more similar to yours: This is the theme of the fight between you and Sans. It represents the stakes of that fight, and you're absolutely right that it radiates confidence on both sides: Your confidence that nothing can stand in your way, and Sans' confidence that he's the only one who can give you a bad time. There's also definitely something to be said about the use of the pentatonic scale here (with some added chromatism). Pentatonic is really common in rock, blues & whatnot, but it's very fitting here, because it's a very confident-sounding scale^^
something maybe worth noting: the remix of Megalovania in Smash Brothers has little bits from the other boss themes... possibly as a "we're representing all of UT with this" thing or, even better, possibly as a "Sans is fighting for everyone here" thing
I now realize that outside of being a real banger, I never paid enough attention to this song. I knew of the kind of play on words for the title, but I now see that the "megalomaniac" aspect of it totally eluded me. You are absolutely right about the tone it gives, and I never took notice of the duality that presents itself in the song either. I will now listen to this track with an even bigger respect than before, and I think I'll need to start paying closer attention to all game music in general in the future. This was not only a very interesting point of view, but very funny as well! Thank you!
This song is something special for me. I'm one of the many who first heard this not in Undertale, but Homestuck, and that opening guitar in that version still sends chills down my spine.
I think the other cool thing about Megalovania is that it's almost like two egos clashing. Frisk/Chara or whatever are so cocky that they killed everything and they believe wholeheartedly that Sans won't stop them. Then there's Sans, the incredibly lazy Sans, who is also just depressed, he feels in his heart that he knows what happened in the other timelines. He believes he can pull the good back out of Frisk, by dodging and whittling down their health , because Sans is the perfect equivalent to Frisk. He would be useless in any other fight but against Frisk, he is so powerful. I can see both Sans and Frisk in this song and that's awesome
Since every track of that game represents a personality of each character, i think of megalovania more like as Sans going with "I'm gonna be The Ultimate Power", or "The Last One" who can and will get you in trouble, who can stop you from genocide route. He want you, a player, not to be that. Repeating over and over line represents how many times you do exact same thing, with reloading and learning his moves just to end him. At the end of the song he found out that he lost,and he saying "But you still gonna be that genoside thing, right?", or "Even i couldn't change you", it's almost his soul crying, understanding that he can't stop you.
Considering how hard the fight is, in my eyes this theme will always be Sans's last stand. The point where he has no more excuses and has to be the hero that tries to stop you for the last time. You are the monster, and you'll pay.
I feel some feelings were lost as you did not experience the grief and hardships up till that moment. And while, in an ideal world, discovering Sans was powerful without the internet spoiling it (as I have) in that moment would also have been powerful. In wrestling, there is this term used to have a "strong" fighter lose to a new face to make the new face seem strong. Before this fight, you one shot Mettaton in his NEO form. You feel powerful and strong in that moment, disturbingly so. And then, RIGHT after that, Sans one shots YOU! (If you're going truly blind into the fight.) or you survive in 1 hp thanks to the poison effect. My words alone can never encompass the emotions and feelings I felt experienceing all this back in 2015 completely blind. Sans, the funny man, just one shot me. How? He's supposed to be a weak slacker. Even checking his stats shows 1 Atk and 1 Def. But that's when you realize that the stats don't really carry much weight anymore. 1 Atk can still hurt a lot if done in extreme rapid fire succession with some poison stacked on top of it. 1 Def dosen't matter if you never land a hit. The fight is a slog, and you lose a ton just learning his moves to avoid them next time. And even if you win, the feeling of satisfaction is stolen from you when all what you've done is slammed in your face with one. Single. Sentence. And that sentence hits hard enough to cause your heart to drop and your victory fuled smile to fall off your face.
I think to truly appreciate how good Megalovania is in Undertale, it's even better if you also know about its usage as Toby's signature song in prior works. The small details of the Undertale version compared to, say, the Homestuck version really highlight that not only is it a fantastic composition, Toby is also a master when it comes to arranging it for another project.
I don't know if you ever read anything about it Marco, but your words were on point! Many people speculate that this song isn't actually Sans's battle theme, it's our battle theme. Not only megalomania fits the player in this situation way more, but Sans actually has his own battle theme in the game OST - "Song that might play when you fight Sans", which just so happens to never play in-game.
As someone who loves music, I enjoy seeing Marco just having fun listening to it. Amazing music can take you elsewhere, and sometimes we (or at least I) can act it out my own imagination. Cue faces, gestures, etc. You can feel the story and world unfolding in your own mind and body. Keep up the good work Marco!
This song is the embodiment of feeling ultimate, pure self vindicating catharsis through the exercise of total unhinged wrath. Despite what Toby has said otherwise, this fight (and song) was anything but a bad time. It was exactly what the player wanted going down the genocide route. It’s just executed so well. Thanks for coming back and giving a more in depth analysis 🎉
I really love this interpretation. I never considered that the song represents both Sans and the player. I like how you try to explore the emotional narrative of a song. A lot of music reaction channels only look at a song's construction or the surface layer emotions the song is trying to create. It's a nice change of pace that gets to what I think a lot of people are actually looking for in music reactions.
Everyone who says they DIDN'T react to this song the way Marco did when they heard it the first time is lying. They did. Everyone did. I did. I do! I WILL EVERY TIME. This song straight up slaps SO HARD, and very unironically. :D
This song is not Sans' theme. It is Toby Fox's theme. He's used it in other game projects hes worked on before Undertale, slowly building it up, polishing it, and refining it to this sparkling gem of a song we have now. And it's such a fun yet intimidating bop of a song that I have no hesitation declaring it to be his Magnum Opus, and that declaration alone already has intense competition.
Same! I also associate it with Homestuck, mostly because I first listened to Homestuck Megalovania (although at the time I had no idea what Homestuck was)
Incidentally, there have been some very good attempts to put lyrics to this. ManOnTheInternet did a musical, San's actual words in the fight to music. And adrisaurus wrote some original lyrics: You know, I've been thinking, About you and me Was this preordained? Was this meant to be? Somewhere deep down, I Thought that you could change Fighting means nothing, But I'll fight anyway! There's not a bit of good inside, You followed the path of genocide You're gonna have a bad time, Here I stand I must prevail vs Human child, depraved and vile, In your smile the terror of a killer When you stand before the mirror, Do you still hold your head high? Carved their sentence with a knife, Stole the gift that they called life So now you'll stand and answer for yourself Prepare for a living hell You chose to have loved and lost Knowing well that they'd never get to see each other again Can you hear their memories calling from within?
I feel like the part you described as Sans' monologue is really Sans talking to the player, disappointed: "Can't you see what you've done?", as well as the player's conscience. After that, the original melody, the self-taught brutality, starts to slowly seep in, gradually taking over the player's mind (represented by the melody taking up almost the entire soundscape), with the small melodic flourish at 10:16 representing the breaking point of the player's sanity, as another part of their mind tells them: "Go on, you now like what you've become." Shortly after, the player's character entirely breaks down and turns into a rabid animal, tearing apart anything that crosses its path.
Oh how I'm glad to have very recently stumbled upon your channel, after getting into a new Undertale phase as I recommended this game very heavily to someone and it made me seek for any content related to it, especially it's music! I'm still making my way through the playlist of your playthrough, but I'm really enjoying it so far! Also, it would be so fun if you could release the version with your audio from the "jam session"; hearing your take on singing to this song would be amazing!
meglovania fits undertale so much that its even crazier when you know toby fox didnt even write it for the game originally. the song was made for the earthbound halloween hack he made as a teenager and then he put it in the webcomic homestuck when he was on homestuck's music team. at this point megalovania is kind of like his calling card, wouldnt be surprised if it makes its way into deltarune too
Battle against a true hero is also a beautiful piece of music as well, defiance against fate, you should analyze it as well but if you do be sure to catch a version that has the intro segment “but the earth refused to die” too, it’s very important to the buildup of the actual song imo :)
The way I feel it, it’s exactly as you described it, plus feelings from Sans’ POV of the fight. When the player says “you can’t beat me; I killed everyone! You’re nothing!”, Sans in return says “yeah, sure thing kid, check out my blue bone to your face.”
something to say. This version of megalovania is the third iteration toby has written. the first for the Earthbound Halloween hack for Dr. Andonuts. the second being the theme used in Homestuck, to be specific [S] Wake. as vriska's theme, noted by the hints of her theme weaved into the version promptly titled MeGaLoVania. and the third, of course being Undertale's rendition of Megalovania used in the fight against the player and sans. there is a fourth iteration used in smash bros ultimate, but I'm not counting that as one since its just a remix of undertales. the definition of megalomania, as you said, is "obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others." which in terms of the three times megalovania is used would represent, Dr. Andonuts, Vriska, and The Player (in Undertale) but if you were to split it up into its other two meanings, it would be Megalo - "Abnormally large or great" and Transylvania, which can be translated in the meaning of it being used in the song as something spooky. so, an abnormally large spook. or something very spooky. which when put in the meaning of the song "Megalovania" you have 1. a scientist gone insane. (something very spooky) 2. a person with paranoia so bad they end up killing people (something very spooky) and 3. a person who will stop at nothing to end an entire species off the face of the planet. / a person (or skeleton in this regard) who will go all out despite being incredibly weak, to stop you in your tracks by killing you over and over and over. till you just give up. (something. very. spooky.) megalovania (Undertale) is a song about two horrifying people going up against each other to try to kill the other person dead. a dual till the last one standing. till only the winner remains.
I kinda wish he could listen to Homestuck's songs made by Toby Fox, even if it's a webcomic with interactive elements (No longer since Adobe Flash is dead), if only to see his evolution and see which elements make a very distinguishable Toby Fox piece. There are some songs he made that after just a few seconds you can tell "Yes, this was composed by him"
i would say it's Sans who is saying " You are nothing to me! What the hell you think you're gonna do?"... it's HIS FIGHT THEME AFTER ALL. It's actually pretty obvious when you see how hard the fight is and how Sans hint's through all the game that he can enter that maniac state if the player makes the wrong choices.
9:34 - 9:49 that is an interesting take on it, I always thought that demonic bit of the song represents Sans's internal struggle with the situation he is in, he lost his friends and more importantly, his brother, knowing that he cannot do anything to get him back the only thing he can do is fight until Chara (the demon guiding Frisk) takes his soul, cause even if Sans knows he might be stronger, Chara can try and try again until the end of existence, Sans being destined to lose in one of the infinite timelines at some point, anyway loved your video and keep up the good work Marco
It's interesting how a lot of this analysis also fits the version of the track used in Homestuck. "Unbridled confidence" kinda describes the character it's associated there as well. And she'd 100% go the genocide route :P.
Mans was so into the jam session he went through a loop of the song. I don't blame him. X) Your analysis makes sense. Honestly, now that you put words to it it's like, oh yeah, that really IS there, isn't it? Also, you're very outgoing in this video, and your editor is having a good time with it. Both are good things. Shoutouts to the editor. X)
I'm not sure if this will even get seen, but I have a theory regarding Megalovania. I think it's not actually Sans's fight theme, but yours. The player's. There's another song in the Undertale soundtrack called "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans," which I think is Sans' actual battle theme. Megalovania is the song of the player, of Chara, who has been killing thousands of people to get power. The tl;dr is: we think we hear this song when we fight Sans; what if this is what Sans hears when he fights you?
First, shoutout to Marco's editor because they did a great job in this one. And about the song, your interpretation is interesting because it makes a lot of sense but it's the opposite of my own reading this time. This always felt like a Sans POV to me because he's pretty cocky in that fight, and also *furious* to the bone (mandatory skeleton puns) so the sinister tones fit as well. As for why I associated with him and not Frisk, it's hard to explain but the higher parts have this clown-like trickster feeling to it. Like he's a jester juggling colorful balls but the balls are tibia and he's punching us with them. This does feel like a good song for a comic relief character who's 1000% done and drops the mask to get serious and show he was always a badass. That said, I don't think you're wrong either in your reading and it opened my eyes to that possibility. Since Toby didn't write this one for Undertale -and honestly I'd absolutely recycle it too if I were him- I think there's not a real reading and we can be both right or wrong at the same time, which is pretty cool as well
I feel like this video should have a notice at the front that says "Enable Closed Captions for Clearer Dialogue!" And then the captions have a description of all the sound effects you're making while you Rock Out !
Even if you've never played Undertale, you've definitely heard Megalovania somewhere. The track is iconic! Taking this opportunity to recommend the Super Meat Boy soundtrack again! Especially Carmeaty Burana, The Battle of Lil' Slugger, Forest Funk, Rocket Rider and It Ends! The whole thing is a blast of a mix of chip tunes, synth and orchestral themes.
for me the part where it gets deep and disturbing seems more like sanses inner despair as he watches the horror u unleash upon his friends which then slowly leeds up to him letting it out in full force with a burning vengance in the guitar solo when he cant just stand by and look on anymore which is also a line that he has during the battle
1 moment of appreciation for the little ducky working so hard to censor Marco, who's gotten intoxicated by the power of Determination that oozes from Megalovania... Stay determined, ducky!
The fights against sans and Undyne the Undying are the absolute most fun battles in the entire game, and also the most difficult, and you can only do them on the Genocide route lol. I dunno if anyone else has mentioned it, but the original Megalovania was actually made in the Earthbound Halloween Hack, an extremely edgy romhack Toby made when he was.. 15, I believe? He's not proud of it, but I honestly think it's impressive from a technical standpoint that he made something like that at that age. Megalovania was that game's final boss theme, where basically people said "You can't alter a game's music files" and he just went "Watch me" lol. I don't remember which song exactly it was that he altered, but it became the first Megalovania, which as you said, was inspired heavily by Live A Live's Megalomania. Years later, in the webcomic Homestuck, there's a certain arc where everyone's favorite murderous spider pirate Vriska goes on _a bit of a rampage_ , and Toby came back to reprise and remix Megalovania, modernize it a little. And then, as we know, he remixed it _again_ for Undertale, where it's sans' battle theme. And like, memes aside, it really is just an incredible track, focusing on two titans who both firmly believe that **they cannot and WILL not be stopped** , no matter what context it plays for. There's actually a video out there with all three versions playing at once, and I actually really love it lol 'cause it's just this chaotic mess of three songs all trying to steal the spotlight, but also still managing to compliment one another in a weird way.
The way i've always interpreted the song itself, when it plays, etc. is that it's actually the theme of the player. Megalomania - the desire and seeking out of power, fits the player as in their genocide route the player is actively searching for everything they can overpower. Transylvania can also be assumed through the nature of which the player gets power, killing. But there's also something to be said about when the song starts. Usually in most fights the song doesn't start until the boss' idling animation starts, but with Sans he isn't in control of it like the others, it starts when the player's ready to fight. Sans also already has a theme in the game before this, it's even (fittingly) named after him.
The fact Sans actually talk with birds singing in the background first then attack and then the music starts make the pressure even better, everytime you lose up to 10 times he'll comes up with puns about your number on deaths, some says that megalovania is actually our "killer self" theme (aka Chara)
There's a lot of back and forth in the community about whether it's Chara or Sans theme, and I don't think it's really either. I think the whole thing is a call and answer between the two, a struggle of powers, a perfect track for the exact moment it's played for.
Random information, the game did something fairly amazing, looking into google trend and word search shows that since that game the word Pacifist has exploded, the word genocide too, but still.
I think the dual nature of the song with the main melody playing over the guitar symbolizes the nature of Chara and Sans. Chara is this emotionless, dark but intense metal guitar just pushing forward in a heartless push to end you and the melody on top is Sans, his emotions burning as he fights with his senses dialed up to 11, in the zone in refutation of Chara's emptiness.
Hey, if you're interested in Toby Fox's compositions beyond Undertale and Deltarune, I've got a couple of reccomendations. Megalo Strike Back and Dream Devourer. Even if you don't do a video with them, they're definitely worth a listen. The first is a song that Toby released prior to Undertale on a tribute album called I Miss You: Earthbound 2012. (Also on this album you can find a faster paced, early version of Fallen Down.) The second is a remix of Schala's Theme from Chrono Trigger, which I feel is one of his best tracks ever. Many of my listens have brought me to the verge of tears. It might just be nostalgia for the game, but I doubt it. This one's still on UA-cam on his old channel called FwugRadiation... Really wish I had that mp3 from the description. T_T
I've only watched one genocide run (jacksepticeye) and the high difficulty of this fight kinda shows sans is giving it his all to stop you because asgore is next and needs protection. This song tho. Is definitely a banger I can listen to and haven't gotten burned out. This and spider dance
The beautiful thing is that a theme called "song that might play when you fight sans" is in the files of the game and in the ost, however I'm pretty sure it NEVER plays in the game. Theories imply that this isn't Sans' fight theme, which sounds weird right? Well let me put it this way, this theme has a demonic tone, a feeling of being unstoppable as you said: Sans feels untouchable at the beginning, for some players he is untouchable, they will never beat him, EVER. However as time goes on, you realize, it gets more violent, more loud, more relentless, as you get closer to beating him you realize, It's not Sans that is unstoppable, IT'S YOU WHO IS. Sans knows what he is doing is trying to get you to quit, to get away from playing, however he is just delaying the inevitable, He know you have the DETERMINATION needed to literally reset time, and try again, FOREVER. He is powerless, you are a monster this is Your theme, the Genocide player's theme (spoiler for the genocide route: this would be Chara's theme, as her violent nature takes you over). This is a very long comment but this game is my childhood, it basically made me who I am and the music will accompany me to my grave Thanks for having given Undertale a chance Marco, I hope you enjoyed it even a little bit as much as I did.
God I love the electric guitar riffs on this one so much, always been my favorite part! Love how you broke down the song from Frisk/player's perspective which is honestly pretty accurate :D This song just gives me that overconfident dark vibe, and gosh the intensity of the guitar and drums adds literally so much to it (playing it is so much fun too)!! I've kinda always believed this song was from both Sans and Frisk/Player's POVs honestly, because Sans also acts cocky and overconfident in his fight so the "lighter" parts could be him taunting us because he knows he can overpower us, and the intense parts is obvs the overwhelming attacks he does, though the "dark" parts of the song could indicate when he's trying to reason with us. The last part part before the main motif kicks in again reminds me so much of the feeling you get in his final attack, quiter, darker, super intense as you concentrate to nOT die to it lmao. To add to it, just the first few seconds of the song kinda summarize the feelings of the first few seconds of the fight. A slow build up as Sans starts his short monologue...and then it all goes to shit as he unexpectedly throws the first overwhelming attack. Then things lighten up a bit as he starts to slowly build up his attacks lol. Man I just think it's cool this song can have so many interpretations for this one fight. 😅
I highly recommend Megalomania from Live A Live, the song that inspired this one. Megalovania *would not exist* if Toby Fox did not initially set out to make an Earthbound-soundfont remix of Megalomania.
this man made a lesson out of the most memed undertale ost, mad respect for giving me this way of looking at this track, ive always just thought of it as "cool bop"
Fun Fact: Megalovania actually existed BEFORE Undertale went into production and was put into other porjects Toby Fox worked on in the past! As far as I recall, his first iteration of Megalovania was for a Halloween-themed romhack Earthbound game, and the second I know of is for a ridiculously long and overly complicated webcomic called Homestuck.
There's a very funny thing about this song where no matter how people try to remix it or mess with it, it always somehow manages to be recognizable and even sound pretty damn good. I'd say that's the mark of a good song.
Oh I been to differ... I've heard some pretty bad ones, but most of the time you're right.
Juggling act before the freaking pope...
@@darkmatter100 the bad ones just appear when someone tries to genuinely make a fangame adaptation, those can be reaaaally bad
same thing with every theme in undertale
@@darkmatter100 I've heard this song entirely out of sync, remixed out the wazoo, and even a version that only has a single note.
The only ones that didn't still kick like a mule were the ones that fully chopped up the original and reordered it, sometimes omitting parts.
Even then its origin was readily recognizeable.
Also, a lot of Toby's songs sound great in 6/8 time. 🍻🏴☠
This is the song that plays when Marco gets spoilers about a game he just started playing
Lmfaooo
Underrated
Fr
Relatable
Honestly
The thing about Megalovania is, it wasn't made for Undertale. It was touched up for Undertale, sure, but it appeared previously as a contribution in Homestuck, and long before that, it was made for an Earthbound fan project Toby made. Before Undertale, this song is what he was most known for. It plays when you've come to the biggest challenge in the whole game - for most players, likely when they've exhausted everything else the game has to offer, when they've set themselves against everything in it and burned it all to squeeze out one last bit of content. When the author has given them every chance and every incentive to turn back, and the player has refused. So, the thing to understand is, this isn't the theme for when you're fighting Sans. This is the theme for when you're fighting Toby Fox.
the true boss of the game
[Insert Dog room theme here]
...a new version of megalovania in deltarune's weird route confirmed???
I feel like the nature of the song also shifts as the player learns the fight. At first it describes the insanity that is Sans' fight, being this seemingly overwhelming behemoth. But as the fight goes on, the tide starts to turn and it is no longer describing Sans' ridiculous power, but your own ridiculous nature as you are somehow dealing with all of it. It doesn't start as a song that describes the player, but eventually becomes it. The song fits both for different reasons.
There’s a theory that it’s not Sans’ boss theme, it’s YOURS. Sans’ actual theme is Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans.
@@TotallyDapper I know, I just don't fully agree with it. It seems more like a specific scenario theme that also fits both characters in different ways. It is definitely not the player's theme at first because it's the player who will see Sans as an overpowered monster.
I'd agree that it applies to both combatants.
On Sans's side, he's the maniac because he is so avoidant to do ANYTHING for or against you (aside from guilt-tripping or threatening you) in every other run.
On your side, YOU are the final boss, the one who finally manages to force Sans out of his depressive rut and stand up to you. He also attacks first, which is the right of the protagonist in every fight.
The title Megalovania is a combination of megalomania and vanity. You are the ultimate center of the universe and impose your violent will on everyone else for simple curious /sadistic reasons.
What's even better is the contrast to the moments before the song plays. You hear birds chirping, as Sans delivers his iconic lines: "It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. On days like this, kids like you..." And then it all stops. Dead silence. "S h o u l d b e b u r n i n g i n h e l l"
But the music doesn't start yet; oh no. He hits you with an absolute *nightmare* of an attack, the first time in the game you *don't* go first... Meaning this is the first time someone else 'shoots first' so to speak. And after surviving *that*... Only then does the music kick in.
The first 5 minutes of this video is literally just Marco going insane as the Sans memes enter his body.
This is the quality content I expect to see on this platform.
he did label it as "Jam Session" xd
Inject them straight into his bloodstream
this video could have started at the 5min mark
So, you can hear in this San’s song Megalvania, you can hear his disappointment. It almost says, “I trusted you and you betrayed me”. And even, “ I thought we were friends”. Go ahead listen for those notes.
Battle Against a True Hero is fantastic, so much character can be understood through just listening to it
It's really a good song, this video is about Megalovania tho, but whatever
@@BIELOpdb yea it's just a suggestion if he wanted to explore more undertake OST
@@baileycreane4060 Oh right, some suggestions are:
Finale
Asgore
Spear of justice
Metal crusher/Death by glamour
Undertale
I'm too lazy to post more songs, there are many good songs, he could listen the whole soundtrack.
@@BIELOpdb He listened to those in his gameplay.
Marco: "Is this a musical reaction and analysis channel without thinking about this song? I don't think so."
Marco: *goes through the seven stages of grief*
I thought there were only five stages of grief
@@Querez8504 no, there's actually seven. You can look it up
@@roomba4520 Might you be confusing it for the seven deadly sins?
Marco doesn't seem to be in grief though ? He seems to be enjoying himself.
@Querez No, the seven stages of grief are 1 shock, 2 denial , 3 anger, 4 bargaining, 5 depression, 6 testing, 7 acceptance
I always felt this song was basically Sans' badassness + his hopelessness. Like, "I know I'm going down, but I'm not gonna make it easy for ya."
spite. he's not dwelling on it being sad or upset, but he's not gonna sugarcoat it as he goes down either
It would have been so interesting to see Marco go through "The bad time" in his gameplay, but Marco is a nice and friendly Meatball that went for pacifist, which is sweeter :)
I think he doesn’t want to do genocide.
Which is completely understandable. Anytime in that route, you will always question “Do I really want to do this?”
@@Kaltsit- I know when I played Undertale I first did Pacifist, restarted, got to... I think the "Core" in my Genocide play through, stopped, went "Yeah I think I'm done" and restarted to do one final Pacifist play through to end the game on a good note and haven't touched it since with no intention on going back.
@@MythagoWoods the OST is good enough to make you feel the emotion you felt again. I find that amazing
Honestly, I just don't think he wanted to try and fight sans and undyne knowing that they were tougher than anything he's fought in pacifist. Or slog for eight hours to grind the kills needed.
I personally just wanted to see his reaction to Sans's "First Attack". "Kids like you, should be burning in hell!"
9:34 to me is the musical expression of "You feel your sins crawling on your back"
as much of a meme as this song is, this will go down in history as one of the greatest videogame songs of all time. absolute gamer classic banger. even without the story implications or even having any knowledge of the game its from, absolute banger
I most definitely agree with this statement
megalovania is like a pb&j sandwich, but a really well-made one. everyone knows it, it won't disappoint, and you can't really complain with it even if you like others more
What's really impressive about this to me is that Toby wrote this when he was 17. In 2008 he made an Earthbound ROM hack called Earthbound Halloween Hack and the first version of this track can be found during a boss fight. This is the third iteration of the song, with it eventually finding its way to Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Composers know when they wrote something that's good and know when to use it again in later projects (See Earthbound 2012-I Miss You Fan Album, Toby contributed 4 tracks to that, including the first version of Fallen Down). Love his music!
Dude, the jam session is EXACTLY what I do when I listen to music. Love it.
I don't know if this adds to your veiw of the song, but there is a few things in the fight that adds to the intensity.
WARNING:sans fight spoilers.
First: if you check sans during the fight you find out he does only have 1 attack and defense. After hearing that you might wonder why funny bone man hurts so much. But if you look at the UI you will notice the letters KR next to your health. This is because sans has the ability "Karmatic retribution" in witch he does more damage based on your LOVE and not his attack Stat.
Second: very simple. He is the only one in the game that can dodge attacks.
@8:54 it gives me the feeling that they both know this is a stalling match, and that no matter how many times we/frisk die sans CANNOT WIN, its hopelessness but with perseverance and the "determination" to see things done to the end to FINISH what we started.
So in essence, Megalovania holds such power because it's a legit rock-opera song. You don't hear any lyrics, but you know exactly what they 'are' (and no two people's interpretations need to be the same).
In the Undertale community, Megalovania is known as a genre of music, since there is so many different remixes, and changes to it that people started making their own "Megalovania"
Megalovania is a theme not for a boss, but for someone that is punishing another for terrible crimes, giving justice!
I would challenge you, Music UA-cam Man!
Make your own Megalovania fight theme song, what do you want to play if you had to be The Royal Judge?
yeah, i agree with PurpleSkies Marco Polo, you should make your own
Do you accept the challenge Marco? :)
Signal Boost this please, I absolutely love this idea!!
one thing i don't agree with is that "Megalovania is a theme for punishing someone who commited terrible crimes, giving justice" part
there are megalo's that don't follow this rule
Proditiophobia is a prime example
ua-cam.com/video/pGRPz1b_gvE/v-deo.html
Proditiophobia itself means "the fear of being betrayed", and Henry Stickman (The antagonist in Proditiophobia) is seen betraying people MANY times in the series, and has been betrayed MANY times as well.
To put it simply, it's perfectly fine, if not, *better* to add your own twist to the story of a megalovania.
@@leonoraarocho658 And that's the "magic" in it :> Not everything will follow those rules, not everyone follows rules
Interesting note about Megalovania is that this is actually the third time Toby Fox uses the track (or lets someone else use it); the first time in the Earthbound Halloween Hack and the second time in Homestuck. I can't speak for the context of the first one, but in the second, it plays at a climatic moment of the story which... well, fittingly when knowing its Undertale context, sees the death of a protagonist at the end of another, due to a mix of misunderstanding on the part of the victim and overconfidence on the part of the killer. And in the meanwhile, another protagonist serves a piece of humble pie to the main antagonist of the moment. Doubling up on the duality of the song.
Toby creatrd the Halloween hack and Dr. D I forgot full name of this character is Toby's character.
No matter how long it has been
This song still slaps so hard. There's a reason this blew up so much that it practically became a meme on the internet.
And Marco jamming to the song is a testament to it 😂
despite everything
megalovania still slaps
7:30 POV: Marco asks for your strongest potion.
Underrated comment
The sheer insanity in Marco's face is hilarious
A little more backstory(Genocide Spoilers):
Megalovania is a theme that plays when you fight the last stand of the Monsters before the world gets erased: Sans.
It's true that the song is a banger, but if you listen very closely you can also hear heroic and sad tunes in Megalovania, in fact the song has the intention to make you feel guilty for your actions, especially for these lines:
* You feel like you're gonna have a bad time.
* You feel your sins crawling on your back.
I see Megalovania as a way for Sans to say: " I'm tired of your bullsh*t with the timelines kid, this time I won't stay out of the way."
He usually doesn't fight you, even when you kill Papyrus or Toriel, because he knows eventually the world will be resetted and everything will go back to normal, so why would he even try?
But on the genocide run, he knows that if he doesn't do anything, something WAY terribile might happen, I don't know about you, but in Megalovania I can listen very well Sans's depression and anger against the player. Toby Fox usually gives the Megalovania theme to the characters he really likes(Yes, it's not an original Undertale Soundtrack, but still) he decided to give to Sans Megalovania for a very good reason, Sans has a lot of secret we don't really know, and interesting backstory and one of the best characters in the game. He totally deserve Megalovania to be his theme.
Megalovania is just peak music
It's basically a genre at this point, let's be honest
I'd say the genre is generally defined by starting with a repeating motif, the starting note of which moves with the bassline. followed by a section where the motif isn't present. followed by a section wherein you return with a different permutation of said motif.
In my personal opinion, this is Toby Fox’s MAGNUM OPUS.
It’s, PERFECTION, for a video game OST! You can’t help but ROCK OUT to the song, just as you did Marco!!
Undertale is, SPECIAL, isn’t it!?
EDIT: DUDE, TOBY DID A LOT OF THE MUSIC OF POKÉMON SCARLET AND VIOLET!!!! HEAR THEM OUT AS WELL!!! THERE LEGITIMATELY GOOD!!!
I would say it's less his Magnum Opus and more his SIGNATURE. He's used it so many things at this point we just need to wait for it to appear in DeltaRune.
It’s what he’s known for, but not at all near his best
first version of megalovania wasn't created for undertale tho
it was created in 2008
@@nikshir why does that matter?
Personally I think Hopes and Dreams is the better Undertale song
So glad he let it loop. This is definitely the song that deserves to loop.
As for the analysis, though it's not super well agreed with, I've always subscribed to the head canon that this is _your_ song. This is what sans hears when he's fighting you, because _he's_ the protagonist by this point. This is the point of true no return. Even by Undyne, you could turn around and be good again (I think). At this point, though, there's nobody left to spare.
It also helps that there's literally a song in the game called "a song that might play when you fight sans" that is much more his theme than this.
It does fit. Marco said this is a two person song, theres this duality, which fits out character, we can be a pacifist or a serial killer
Even by NEO, i'm pretty sure if you missed some (intentionally or no) you could drop from Genocide.
But once you're at Sans, the only possible way out would be a Reset (if available).
The title “Megalovania” comes from the word “megalomania” or “megalomaniac”, which basically refers to a person who is “obsessed with power/domination over others” (taken from the internet), which would explain why some would think that Megalovania is more like a theme for the player instead of Sans.
"he's the protagonist by this point"
that's not how it works. protagonist is the main character. in certain media, such as video games due to the interactivity of them, you could argue who is the protagonist can change, but not Sans. he does not have enough story relevance for that.
he's a heroic antagonist.
@@Dukstless Semantics, you know what I meant. He's the hero, the one you'd be rooting for if you weren't the one trying to kill him.
This song feels like challenging fate. I'm still practicing the Camilla remix on Beat Saber, and all I hear, is the resistance that Sans is putting up against frisk and the determination of the character, putting them in an impass, and that clash is this song. It pushes me to keep trying, even though I keep failing, just like Sans and his friends' attempts to stop Frisk in the many saves.
You may be the protagonist of the game…
But your the antagonist of the story
Hiya~! :3
@@AliceSpringz332 Hey
@@AliceSpringz332 I'm about to ruin your perspective of Undertale. The monsters speak Englih, meaning the British once colonized the underground.
@@markmckittrick2596 WOW, who would have thunk it? XD
@@AliceSpringz332 How confused do you think the rest of UA-cam is?
megalovania is one of my favourite songs, period. it's the theme of someone pushed to their absolute limit, completely outside of their comfort zone, but, in his own words "I can't afford to not care any more".
i was feeling down but your jam session lifted my mood. Thank you Marco
Glad to hear that!
A lot of people have been arguing that Megalovania was Frisk/Chara/Your battle theme, seeing as the megalomaniac in this instance is the playable character. But tbh my stance has always been more similar to yours: This is the theme of the fight between you and Sans. It represents the stakes of that fight, and you're absolutely right that it radiates confidence on both sides: Your confidence that nothing can stand in your way, and Sans' confidence that he's the only one who can give you a bad time.
There's also definitely something to be said about the use of the pentatonic scale here (with some added chromatism). Pentatonic is really common in rock, blues & whatnot, but it's very fitting here, because it's a very confident-sounding scale^^
He's finally made a video on it, the most recognizable song in gaming history.
something maybe worth noting: the remix of Megalovania in Smash Brothers has little bits from the other boss themes... possibly as a "we're representing all of UT with this" thing or, even better, possibly as a "Sans is fighting for everyone here" thing
I now realize that outside of being a real banger, I never paid enough attention to this song. I knew of the kind of play on words for the title, but I now see that the "megalomaniac" aspect of it totally eluded me. You are absolutely right about the tone it gives, and I never took notice of the duality that presents itself in the song either. I will now listen to this track with an even bigger respect than before, and I think I'll need to start paying closer attention to all game music in general in the future. This was not only a very interesting point of view, but very funny as well! Thank you!
You're so welcome!
This song is something special for me. I'm one of the many who first heard this not in Undertale, but Homestuck, and that opening guitar in that version still sends chills down my spine.
I think the other cool thing about Megalovania is that it's almost like two egos clashing. Frisk/Chara or whatever are so cocky that they killed everything and they believe wholeheartedly that Sans won't stop them. Then there's Sans, the incredibly lazy Sans, who is also just depressed, he feels in his heart that he knows what happened in the other timelines. He believes he can pull the good back out of Frisk, by dodging and whittling down their health , because Sans is the perfect equivalent to Frisk. He would be useless in any other fight but against Frisk, he is so powerful. I can see both Sans and Frisk in this song and that's awesome
Since every track of that game represents a personality of each character, i think of megalovania more like as Sans going with "I'm gonna be The Ultimate Power", or "The Last One" who can and will get you in trouble, who can stop you from genocide route. He want you, a player, not to be that. Repeating over and over line represents how many times you do exact same thing, with reloading and learning his moves just to end him. At the end of the song he found out that he lost,and he saying "But you still gonna be that genoside thing, right?", or "Even i couldn't change you", it's almost his soul crying, understanding that he can't stop you.
Marco was legitimately having so much fun while listening to this sing and it fills my heart with joy.
Considering how hard the fight is, in my eyes this theme will always be Sans's last stand. The point where he has no more excuses and has to be the hero that tries to stop you for the last time. You are the monster, and you'll pay.
Hell, Sans probably doesn't even consider himself the hero by that point. He's the only one left to make you pay... he's your punishment.
I feel some feelings were lost as you did not experience the grief and hardships up till that moment. And while, in an ideal world, discovering Sans was powerful without the internet spoiling it (as I have) in that moment would also have been powerful.
In wrestling, there is this term used to have a "strong" fighter lose to a new face to make the new face seem strong. Before this fight, you one shot Mettaton in his NEO form. You feel powerful and strong in that moment, disturbingly so. And then, RIGHT after that, Sans one shots YOU! (If you're going truly blind into the fight.) or you survive in 1 hp thanks to the poison effect.
My words alone can never encompass the emotions and feelings I felt experienceing all this back in 2015 completely blind. Sans, the funny man, just one shot me. How? He's supposed to be a weak slacker. Even checking his stats shows 1 Atk and 1 Def. But that's when you realize that the stats don't really carry much weight anymore. 1 Atk can still hurt a lot if done in extreme rapid fire succession with some poison stacked on top of it. 1 Def dosen't matter if you never land a hit. The fight is a slog, and you lose a ton just learning his moves to avoid them next time.
And even if you win, the feeling of satisfaction is stolen from you when all what you've done is slammed in your face with one. Single. Sentence.
And that sentence hits hard enough to cause your heart to drop and your victory fuled smile to fall off your face.
I think to truly appreciate how good Megalovania is in Undertale, it's even better if you also know about its usage as Toby's signature song in prior works. The small details of the Undertale version compared to, say, the Homestuck version really highlight that not only is it a fantastic composition, Toby is also a master when it comes to arranging it for another project.
I don't know if you ever read anything about it Marco, but your words were on point! Many people speculate that this song isn't actually Sans's battle theme, it's our battle theme. Not only megalomania fits the player in this situation way more, but Sans actually has his own battle theme in the game OST - "Song that might play when you fight Sans", which just so happens to never play in-game.
Man the thrill I get from just listening to this song. It's absolutely incredible!! Really feels like an ultimate bossfight.
As someone who loves music, I enjoy seeing Marco just having fun listening to it. Amazing music can take you elsewhere, and sometimes we (or at least I) can act it out my own imagination. Cue faces, gestures, etc. You can feel the story and world unfolding in your own mind and body. Keep up the good work Marco!
Prob to the editor for all these hilarious edits as always 👍
This song is the embodiment of feeling ultimate, pure self vindicating catharsis through the exercise of total unhinged wrath. Despite what Toby has said otherwise, this fight (and song) was anything but a bad time. It was exactly what the player wanted going down the genocide route. It’s just executed so well. Thanks for coming back and giving a more in depth analysis 🎉
I really love this interpretation. I never considered that the song represents both Sans and the player.
I like how you try to explore the emotional narrative of a song. A lot of music reaction channels only look at a song's construction or the surface layer emotions the song is trying to create. It's a nice change of pace that gets to what I think a lot of people are actually looking for in music reactions.
Aw thanks it means a lot
Everyone who says they DIDN'T react to this song the way Marco did when they heard it the first time is lying. They did. Everyone did. I did. I do! I WILL EVERY TIME. This song straight up slaps SO HARD, and very unironically. :D
You can also hear the pain of sans and that he is suffering and seeks revenge.
Yo the way he’s reacting 😂😂😂 this is so funny to watch, good job Marco!
This song is not Sans' theme. It is Toby Fox's theme. He's used it in other game projects hes worked on before Undertale, slowly building it up, polishing it, and refining it to this sparkling gem of a song we have now. And it's such a fun yet intimidating bop of a song that I have no hesitation declaring it to be his Magnum Opus, and that declaration alone already has intense competition.
Let's not start with this again, it's been confirmed since at least 2018 that is Sans's Theme.
@@sans-theskeletonplayerita1634 I can't believe Andonuts & Vriska travelled into the future to steal Sans's theme, that's crazy.
I swear, every time I hear this song I am reminded that Homestuck exists as this was used for that before it was used in undertale
Not just homestuck: the origin of the song was Toby's Earthbound Halloween Hack.
@@aliasisudonomo yeah! I just associate it with homestuck more as I never got to play that
Same! I also associate it with Homestuck, mostly because I first listened to Homestuck Megalovania (although at the time I had no idea what Homestuck was)
Incidentally, there have been some very good attempts to put lyrics to this. ManOnTheInternet did a musical, San's actual words in the fight to music. And adrisaurus wrote some original lyrics:
You know, I've been thinking, About you and me
Was this preordained? Was this meant to be?
Somewhere deep down, I Thought that you could change
Fighting means nothing, But I'll fight anyway!
There's not a bit of good inside, You followed the path of genocide
You're gonna have a bad time, Here I stand I must prevail
vs
Human child, depraved and vile, In your smile the terror of a killer
When you stand before the mirror, Do you still hold your head high?
Carved their sentence with a knife, Stole the gift that they called life
So now you'll stand and answer for yourself
Prepare for a living hell
You chose to have loved and lost
Knowing well that they'd never get to see each other again
Can you hear their memories calling from within?
I feel like the part you described as Sans' monologue is really Sans talking to the player, disappointed: "Can't you see what you've done?", as well as the player's conscience. After that, the original melody, the self-taught brutality, starts to slowly seep in, gradually taking over the player's mind (represented by the melody taking up almost the entire soundscape), with the small melodic flourish at 10:16 representing the breaking point of the player's sanity, as another part of their mind tells them: "Go on, you now like what you've become." Shortly after, the player's character entirely breaks down and turns into a rabid animal, tearing apart anything that crosses its path.
That guitar at the back is so suited for this song
Oh how I'm glad to have very recently stumbled upon your channel, after getting into a new Undertale phase as I recommended this game very heavily to someone and it made me seek for any content related to it, especially it's music! I'm still making my way through the playlist of your playthrough, but I'm really enjoying it so far!
Also, it would be so fun if you could release the version with your audio from the "jam session"; hearing your take on singing to this song would be amazing!
meglovania fits undertale so much that its even crazier when you know toby fox didnt even write it for the game originally. the song was made for the earthbound halloween hack he made as a teenager and then he put it in the webcomic homestuck when he was on homestuck's music team. at this point megalovania is kind of like his calling card, wouldnt be surprised if it makes its way into deltarune too
Battle against a true hero is also a beautiful piece of music as well, defiance against fate, you should analyze it as well but if you do be sure to catch a version that has the intro segment “but the earth refused to die” too, it’s very important to the buildup of the actual song imo :)
The way I feel it, it’s exactly as you described it, plus feelings from Sans’ POV of the fight.
When the player says “you can’t beat me; I killed everyone! You’re nothing!”,
Sans in return says “yeah, sure thing kid, check out my blue bone to your face.”
something to say. This version of megalovania is the third iteration toby has written.
the first for the Earthbound Halloween hack for Dr. Andonuts.
the second being the theme used in Homestuck, to be specific [S] Wake. as vriska's theme, noted by the hints of her theme weaved into the version promptly titled MeGaLoVania.
and the third, of course being Undertale's rendition of Megalovania used in the fight against the player and sans.
there is a fourth iteration used in smash bros ultimate, but I'm not counting that as one since its just a remix of undertales.
the definition of megalomania, as you said, is "obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others." which in terms of the three times megalovania is used would represent, Dr. Andonuts, Vriska, and The Player (in Undertale)
but if you were to split it up into its other two meanings, it would be Megalo - "Abnormally large or great" and Transylvania, which can be translated in the meaning of it being used in the song as something spooky. so, an abnormally large spook. or something very spooky.
which when put in the meaning of the song "Megalovania" you have
1. a scientist gone insane. (something very spooky)
2. a person with paranoia so bad they end up killing people (something very spooky)
and 3. a person who will stop at nothing to end an entire species off the face of the planet. / a person (or skeleton in this regard) who will go all out despite being incredibly weak, to stop you in your tracks by killing you over and over and over. till you just give up. (something. very. spooky.)
megalovania (Undertale) is a song about two horrifying people going up against each other to try to kill the other person dead. a dual till the last one standing. till only the winner remains.
I kinda wish he could listen to Homestuck's songs made by Toby Fox, even if it's a webcomic with interactive elements (No longer since Adobe Flash is dead), if only to see his evolution and see which elements make a very distinguishable Toby Fox piece. There are some songs he made that after just a few seconds you can tell "Yes, this was composed by him"
There are so many parts of this video that would be hilarious out of context
i would say it's Sans who is saying " You are nothing to me! What the hell you think you're gonna do?"... it's HIS FIGHT THEME AFTER ALL. It's actually pretty obvious when you see how hard the fight is and how Sans hint's through all the game that he can enter that maniac state if the player makes the wrong choices.
9:34 - 9:49 that is an interesting take on it, I always thought that demonic bit of the song represents Sans's internal struggle with the situation he is in, he lost his friends and more importantly, his brother, knowing that he cannot do anything to get him back the only thing he can do is fight until Chara (the demon guiding Frisk) takes his soul, cause even if Sans knows he might be stronger, Chara can try and try again until the end of existence, Sans being destined to lose in one of the infinite timelines at some point, anyway loved your video and keep up the good work Marco
It's interesting how a lot of this analysis also fits the version of the track used in Homestuck. "Unbridled confidence" kinda describes the character it's associated there as well. And she'd 100% go the genocide route :P.
Wow I actually never noticed that little background lick at 1:50 until this video. This game’s music is endlessly surprising tbh haha
Mans was so into the jam session he went through a loop of the song. I don't blame him. X) Your analysis makes sense. Honestly, now that you put words to it it's like, oh yeah, that really IS there, isn't it? Also, you're very outgoing in this video, and your editor is having a good time with it. Both are good things. Shoutouts to the editor. X)
I'm not sure if this will even get seen, but I have a theory regarding Megalovania. I think it's not actually Sans's fight theme, but yours. The player's. There's another song in the Undertale soundtrack called "Song That Might Play When You Fight Sans," which I think is Sans' actual battle theme. Megalovania is the song of the player, of Chara, who has been killing thousands of people to get power.
The tl;dr is: we think we hear this song when we fight Sans; what if this is what Sans hears when he fights you?
First, shoutout to Marco's editor because they did a great job in this one. And about the song, your interpretation is interesting because it makes a lot of sense but it's the opposite of my own reading this time. This always felt like a Sans POV to me because he's pretty cocky in that fight, and also *furious* to the bone (mandatory skeleton puns) so the sinister tones fit as well. As for why I associated with him and not Frisk, it's hard to explain but the higher parts have this clown-like trickster feeling to it. Like he's a jester juggling colorful balls but the balls are tibia and he's punching us with them. This does feel like a good song for a comic relief character who's 1000% done and drops the mask to get serious and show he was always a badass. That said, I don't think you're wrong either in your reading and it opened my eyes to that possibility. Since Toby didn't write this one for Undertale -and honestly I'd absolutely recycle it too if I were him- I think there's not a real reading and we can be both right or wrong at the same time, which is pretty cool as well
I feel like this video should have a notice at the front that says "Enable Closed Captions for Clearer Dialogue!" And then the captions have a description of all the sound effects you're making while you Rock Out !
Even if you've never played Undertale, you've definitely heard Megalovania somewhere. The track is iconic!
Taking this opportunity to recommend the Super Meat Boy soundtrack again! Especially Carmeaty Burana, The Battle of Lil' Slugger, Forest Funk, Rocket Rider and It Ends! The whole thing is a blast of a mix of chip tunes, synth and orchestral themes.
for me the part where it gets deep and disturbing seems more like sanses inner despair as he watches the horror u unleash upon his friends which then slowly leeds up to him letting it out in full force with a burning vengance in the guitar solo when he cant just stand by and look on anymore which is also a line that he has during the battle
1 moment of appreciation for the little ducky working so hard to censor Marco, who's gotten intoxicated by the power of Determination that oozes from Megalovania... Stay determined, ducky!
The fights against sans and Undyne the Undying are the absolute most fun battles in the entire game, and also the most difficult, and you can only do them on the Genocide route lol. I dunno if anyone else has mentioned it, but the original Megalovania was actually made in the Earthbound Halloween Hack, an extremely edgy romhack Toby made when he was.. 15, I believe? He's not proud of it, but I honestly think it's impressive from a technical standpoint that he made something like that at that age. Megalovania was that game's final boss theme, where basically people said "You can't alter a game's music files" and he just went "Watch me" lol. I don't remember which song exactly it was that he altered, but it became the first Megalovania, which as you said, was inspired heavily by Live A Live's Megalomania.
Years later, in the webcomic Homestuck, there's a certain arc where everyone's favorite murderous spider pirate Vriska goes on _a bit of a rampage_ , and Toby came back to reprise and remix Megalovania, modernize it a little. And then, as we know, he remixed it _again_ for Undertale, where it's sans' battle theme. And like, memes aside, it really is just an incredible track, focusing on two titans who both firmly believe that **they cannot and WILL not be stopped** , no matter what context it plays for. There's actually a video out there with all three versions playing at once, and I actually really love it lol 'cause it's just this chaotic mess of three songs all trying to steal the spotlight, but also still managing to compliment one another in a weird way.
Marco being cool and fckin relatable for jamming to Megalovania is just the best!
I'm just a dude
I like this style, more than stoping the song (and the mood) to pause and explain something.
i have to change songs so they are viewed as fair use.
The way i've always interpreted the song itself, when it plays, etc. is that it's actually the theme of the player. Megalomania - the desire and seeking out of power, fits the player as in their genocide route the player is actively searching for everything they can overpower. Transylvania can also be assumed through the nature of which the player gets power, killing. But there's also something to be said about when the song starts. Usually in most fights the song doesn't start until the boss' idling animation starts, but with Sans he isn't in control of it like the others, it starts when the player's ready to fight. Sans also already has a theme in the game before this, it's even (fittingly) named after him.
The fact Sans actually talk with birds singing in the background first then attack and then the music starts make the pressure even better, everytime you lose up to 10 times he'll comes up with puns about your number on deaths, some says that megalovania is actually our "killer self" theme (aka Chara)
Yeah it's just a game theory
The first 5 minutes of the video are straight up epic like what the hell of a demon possessed Marco? I couldn't stop laughing at this xD
The determination demon
There's a lot of back and forth in the community about whether it's Chara or Sans theme, and I don't think it's really either. I think the whole thing is a call and answer between the two, a struggle of powers, a perfect track for the exact moment it's played for.
Ultrakill P-2: Wait of the World just dropped, Marco you NEED to hear it's soundtrack
How this track manages to not blow out the speakers in my phone is beyond me!
Random information, the game did something fairly amazing, looking into google trend and word search shows that since that game the word Pacifist has exploded, the word genocide too, but still.
I think the dual nature of the song with the main melody playing over the guitar symbolizes the nature of Chara and Sans. Chara is this emotionless, dark but intense metal guitar just pushing forward in a heartless push to end you and the melody on top is Sans, his emotions burning as he fights with his senses dialed up to 11, in the zone in refutation of Chara's emptiness.
Hey, if you're interested in Toby Fox's compositions beyond Undertale and Deltarune, I've got a couple of reccomendations.
Megalo Strike Back and Dream Devourer. Even if you don't do a video with them, they're definitely worth a listen.
The first is a song that Toby released prior to Undertale on a tribute album called I Miss You: Earthbound 2012. (Also on this album you can find a faster paced, early version of Fallen Down.)
The second is a remix of Schala's Theme from Chrono Trigger, which I feel is one of his best tracks ever. Many of my listens have brought me to the verge of tears. It might just be nostalgia for the game, but I doubt it. This one's still on UA-cam on his old channel called FwugRadiation...
Really wish I had that mp3 from the description. T_T
the plot twist is that he didn't turn on the music, he sang it all himself
I've only watched one genocide run (jacksepticeye) and the high difficulty of this fight kinda shows sans is giving it his all to stop you because asgore is next and needs protection. This song tho. Is definitely a banger I can listen to and haven't gotten burned out. This and spider dance
The beautiful thing is that a theme called "song that might play when you fight sans" is in the files of the game and in the ost, however I'm pretty sure it NEVER plays in the game. Theories imply that this isn't Sans' fight theme, which sounds weird right?
Well let me put it this way, this theme has a demonic tone, a feeling of being unstoppable as you said:
Sans feels untouchable at the beginning, for some players he is untouchable, they will never beat him, EVER. However as time goes on, you realize, it gets more violent, more loud, more relentless, as you get closer to beating him you realize, It's not Sans that is unstoppable, IT'S YOU WHO IS. Sans knows what he is doing is trying to get you to quit, to get away from playing, however he is just delaying the inevitable, He know you have the DETERMINATION needed to literally reset time, and try again, FOREVER. He is powerless, you are a monster this is Your theme, the Genocide player's theme (spoiler for the genocide route: this would be Chara's theme, as her violent nature takes you over).
This is a very long comment but this game is my childhood, it basically made me who I am and the music will accompany me to my grave
Thanks for having given Undertale a chance Marco, I hope you enjoyed it even a little bit as much as I did.
such a well thought out comment, wow.
i agree completely that it is in-fact the players theme not sans’
That thumbnail on discord tho 🤣
God I love the electric guitar riffs on this one so much, always been my favorite part! Love how you broke down the song from Frisk/player's perspective which is honestly pretty accurate :D This song just gives me that overconfident dark vibe, and gosh the intensity of the guitar and drums adds literally so much to it (playing it is so much fun too)!! I've kinda always believed this song was from both Sans and Frisk/Player's POVs honestly, because Sans also acts cocky and overconfident in his fight so the "lighter" parts could be him taunting us because he knows he can overpower us, and the intense parts is obvs the overwhelming attacks he does, though the "dark" parts of the song could indicate when he's trying to reason with us. The last part part before the main motif kicks in again reminds me so much of the feeling you get in his final attack, quiter, darker, super intense as you concentrate to nOT die to it lmao. To add to it, just the first few seconds of the song kinda summarize the feelings of the first few seconds of the fight. A slow build up as Sans starts his short monologue...and then it all goes to shit as he unexpectedly throws the first overwhelming attack. Then things lighten up a bit as he starts to slowly build up his attacks lol. Man I just think it's cool this song can have so many interpretations for this one fight. 😅
ALSKFH sORRY for writing so dang much-
Out of context the name of both sections are great.
you made me cry with you Playthrough, and now you made me laugh in the first 5 minutes XD
:D
Sans really do struggle when fighting the player
Basically because of our determination and save files
I highly recommend Megalomania from Live A Live, the song that inspired this one. Megalovania *would not exist* if Toby Fox did not initially set out to make an Earthbound-soundfont remix of Megalomania.
this man made a lesson out of the most memed undertale ost, mad respect for giving me this way of looking at this track, ive always just thought of it as "cool bop"
To think this came from an unrelated Earthbound Romhack Toby made a long time ago and he just thought it would be cool to bring it back
Fun Fact:
Megalovania actually existed BEFORE Undertale went into production and was put into other porjects Toby Fox worked on in the past!
As far as I recall, his first iteration of Megalovania was for a Halloween-themed romhack Earthbound game, and the second I know of is for a ridiculously long and overly complicated webcomic called Homestuck.
Jamming to this song… it fills you with determination
In the intro there's also a lot of posturing like two apex predators circling prior to a territorial dispute.