Game Composer Can't Shut Up About DANCING MAD - Final Fantasy 6 

Man, Uematsu is such a legend. I have other videos on Uematsu and other FF music legends btw. You can watch them here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y_95w3emjlQ.html&pp=gAQBiAQB

I forget who originally said it (Jeremy Jahns I think), but I feel like it's obligatory to put this critique of Dancing Mad here: "For a musician, using the Super Nintendo sound chip is like an artist using Crayola crayons. Uematsu used those Crayola crayons to draw the Sistine Chapel."

Loved FF 7 as most, & yes Sephiroth was just badass but for me, 6 is THE one. Kefka was so-I mean he’s the only villain that actually “wins” (not in the end but, no-the hero’s did not prevent the end, entirely) Brutal, mad, absolutely chaotic & best of all; completely out of nowhere, unexpected & what a blindsided hit to the gut Kefka was 1st FF to get pretty heavy into the bleak. Will never forget it

8:52 that's Kefka's theme. It plays whenever he's onscreen. Also it's present in other parts of "Dancing Mad".

Went there from the funny Touhou video. It's fun to see you try to imagine the character only based on the music. Well, as fans it makes us happy to see someone else enjoy our nerdy song and be able to guess mostly correct stuff about the game only from the melody. This one was different, you obviously knew the melody before and the music is so long you stopped less to explain chords stuff, you even get a little emotional at the end ! I tend to downplay a lot the stuff that i actually love so i'm not sure Dancing mad will get as much recognition in, say, 200 hundred years from now on but as someone who listen to those music and more every day it's a fun way to listen to them ! We learn stuff in what you do ! I'm still not really sure if Uematsu is "aware" of what he is using ( the "self-taught part" ) or if if he is just imitating the works he actually love since i'm quite sure i heard some of those melody parts in classical / baroque music but he is incredible nevertheless. It's interesting to see how Uematsu is influenced by stuff like progressive rock and classical music ( i wonder how much of the "opera" thematic in FFVI is due to him ) and someone like ZUN takes more note on those repetitive electronic music like Yellow Magic Orchestra. Different generations i suppose. So yeah, it ended up being a comment more about your channel rather than this specific videos. Thanks for what you do !

Wow, this is really good timing since Pixel Remaster just came out! I love this piece. It's such a banger that always takes me to another dimension! This video is really great. It feels like it's full of your passion for VGM. It's nice to see your eyes light up when you talk about Nobuo Uematsu and his works! Dancing Mad, Pain the Universe, and Serpent Eating the Horizon are in my top three JRPG boss battle themes of all time. Thank you Davi!!!

Oh my god, you're finally covering one of my all-time favorite FF tracks. HYPED.

"I recognize this melody." That would be Kefka's theme.

Yay!!! I love Dancing Mad!!

第4パートの上モノと下モノのリズムの違いの解説してほしいです!

I discovered this song through theatrhythm (rhythm game spinoff and celebration of the musical history of FF), and knew it was something special, even without having played the game. The internet agrees when i looked slightly deeper into it, and got a lot of info just through osmosis. Kefka's theme is present in many different forms throughout, and the entire piece has a certain twisted quality to it; what initially sounds heavenly, like gospel, or just anything else that would play in a church, the regal-ness never lasts long as the insanity of Kefka never lets it stay in a major key. Praising a god is great and all, but a mad god like Kefka warps the holy praise (of almost exclusively major keys) into something perverted. In what other context would you hear a minor key attempting to hold all the same weight and value as a major key, all while missing the entire point? You take special note of the major key start in movement 3, but completely miss the shift into minor alongside hints of kefka's theme. 8:38 is one of those exact moments. Whilst the major key is going strong, the baseline of the tokata is a direct quoting of Kefka's them. Kefka doesnt *do* major keys. Kefka demands a minor key, and the song warps to fit the mad god's mental state.

I really want you to hear morticide from the binding of isaac

OMG, best soundtrack of all time. The Magnum Opus of God.

Get yourself someone who looks at you the way Davi looks at this theme.

I always thought of the third part to represent Kefka ascending to godhood.

In addition to hiring you as a composer, developers and composers should totally hire you as a consultant. You're amazing at pulling the meanings out of music, enough to even understand the story of a game without playing it. They should hire you to make sure their music conveys what they want it to.

The fact such a few people in the west are able to notice how EXTREMELY diferent Kafka is from Joker speaks how deep he is as a character.

Third movement is basically happy and heroic because Kefka is the hero of his own story, and he pretty much won. He beat you up until that point. He succeeded in destroying the world. The final movement, with how all over the place it is, is one of the most iconic and disturbing pieces of music I've ever heard. Video game music or not. It's absolutely mind-blowing.

For anyone who sees this listen to the unravel 2 soundtrack especially rooftop escape it's just amazing

8:44 isn't that in Orochimaru's Theme or am i delusional?

FF VI crushes every video game soundtrack in history. every single song is amazing. FF VII is great, no doubt, but has some serious lame tracks in between the great ones. FF VI's tracks have so much more spunk and energy. There will never ever be anything like Dancing Mad. Not even One Winged Angel can measure up. Bold statement, I know, but that's just a fact for me. The symphony style of this track is just .... words will never be enough to describe. The goosebumps do all the explaining.

Should check out the track "Undertale" from Undertale.

Could you give a listen to the terraria soundtrack? It has a very unique feel, and I don't see being talked about enough

Final fantasy 7 remake 🙏👍

Let's goooooo it's Kefka time

Its amazing that Uematsu managed to get this out of the SNES's sound system. He pushed that poor little chip to its absolute limit.

The leitmotif you play at 8:52 is Kefka’s main theme. The 4th part of Dancing mad is also a restatement of Kefka’s theme.

What I find absolutely unbelievable is, if you listen to each part individually in the final prog rock part, you'll notice the melody is doing a theme in 8/8 -> 7/8 -> 8/8 -> 7/8 while simultaneously the drums and the bass are doing 7/8 -> 8/8 -> 7/8 -> 8/8, so there's 7/8 overlapping 8/8 and it creates and absurd madness of cross rythm. I have never heard anything like that.

Damn, I spent so much time listening the distant world version I almost forgot that Uematsu wrote this masterpiece with only a super nintendo audio processor. He had only 8 audio channels to build that crazy track. What a performance!

10:20 I think there's a degree of... say, Divine Comedy to this too? Moving from the base of the tower upward, the music reflects the metaphorical (and somewhat literal) ascent out of hell toward holiness and becomes more rapturous. The action on the low end, I think, clearly perverts that whole idea, leading to the sense of unsettling dissonance. (And then you breach into heaven and it's crazy prog nonsense that rocks.)

I always get a Dante's Inferno vibe from this one. The character of each segment changes. Starting in hell, moving up through purgatory and heaven before facing Kefka, the self-styled god of magic. It fits the operatic themeing of the whole game, a great finale.

Your reverence for this track is so deserved. What an absolute masterpiece. My in-laws adore classical music of all types but didn't understand the beauty of this piece. It makes me quite sad they are losing the chance to appreciate the musical geniuses living alongside us. Nobuo is one of the most talented composers who has ever lived. Also thank you to everyone on the Patreon who voted in this track on my birthday, it was a nice present! 😂

14:29 you see that sorrow... THAT is Kefka deep down, a true nihilist... and how does a nihilist greet their own end? With a Bitter cackling laugh. He's my favorite villain from ANYTHING. Someone said it best, "Even as a god, Kefka is deep down still the broken clown hell bent on destruction, and that is TERRIFYING." Also that synth lead there is to mimic a choir, lotta 16 bit era games do that. This game is a literal Opera. Edit: Spelling. Words are hard XD

This was my favorite final fantasy song growing up! Glad to see it's getting the recognition it deserves Also, PLEASE do Risk of Rain 2! It fits in really well with the game itself and the songs are sci-fi perfection!

8:52 IT'S KEFKA'S THEME!! oh my god, years of me listening to this and i just realized it after you pointed that out! Literally mind blown.

such a good final boss music, it just screams finality and holiness

Every time I see one of the music composers I follow listen to Dancing Mad, I always have to appear to comment that, in my opinion, the best version of Dancing Mad is the one Uematsu did with his previous rock band, The Black Mages.

I feel you would enjoy Little Nightmares 1 and 2’s music. It’s haunting and lonely like hollow knight but less energetic and more environmental and mellow. Not sure if you take requests in comments but that’s my suggestion for a new game soundtrack to react to

dancing mad is probably one of my all time favorites for final boss themes, its got 4 movements, its super dynamic, and the feats nobuo reached with the snes sound chip is incredible

Although i never have gotten to play the Game. This theme makes me want to play it sooooo much. Another amazing video as always!

This is one of the best games IMO. Absolutely love FF6

After listening to you, I was able to connect a few dots in my head. It's all theorycrafting, though, but it makes sense to me. The first movement is based on Kefka's early life. To me it sounds very serious and very dark, fitting to the Empire that he served before his transformation into a magitek knight. The second movement represents his descent into madness after the magitek infusion made him go nuts. This would explain the more playful of the nature song, as Kefka's personality has been completely warped into the mad jester that we meet. The third movement is the moment that he actually succeeds in his goals of destroying the world. He achieves his dreams and becomes a god like figure who rules over his handiwork, and the music's happy type of tone is a representation of this. The final movement is the culmination of all of the previous movements. The beginning of the song creates dread and awe at the true birth of Kefka as a godlike figure. The music is violent and powerful, representing the figure that he has become. The sadness that he potentially feels is his realization that once he destroys everyone and everything, there will be nothing left for him to unleash chaos on. Kefka is hands down the greatest villain in Final Fantasy history. He actually accomplishes his goals, something very few villains can claim. His lack of concern for life, his iconic look, his laugh, and his absolute insanity create the perfect monster. We all love to hate him.

The 3rd movement is my absolute favorite. The baroque style gives the battle a total different vibe, the counter melodies and the arpegio playing is just magnificent. I can't stand how beautiful that movement alone. And the way it also includes the leitmotifs. Also the last organ part in the 4th movement has such a cool harmony composition. Nobuo it's a genius.

What an iconic piece, its hard to believe that this is even game music, let alone that its on the GBA with how crisp those organs are. The theme is a perfect encapsulation of Kefka: his destructive nature, his lunacy, his pride in achieving divinity, his frustration at your challenge and the lament at the end of it all. I didn't even know that Nobuo Uematsu was self taught until this video, he's such an icon in the music and gaming sphere with pieces that can stand against some of musics' tallest giants. He serves as an inspiration that anyone can produce truly amazing masterpieces with enough hard work, creativity and passion.

Yeah, this track is wicked awesome! Not sure if you know or if anyone ever told you, but Final Fantasy XIV has a Kefka fight, and they did a version of Dancing Mad! Give it a listen if you haven't!

The fact that Uematsu was able to create something like this on the shitty SNES sound chip is nothing short of miraculous.

Simply an amazing game and soundtrack, blew my mind as a kid and made me appreciate video game music more as something serious and not just bleeps and bloops. Would love to see your reaction to the Theme of Episode Ignis from Final Fantasy XV, since it was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, almost every song on that DLC was composed by him and it's by far some of my favorite FF music.

You can just telll Uematsu is a massive progressive rock-fan, the final movement is him wearing his influences on his sleeve *cough*EMERSONLAKEANDPALMER*cough*

Im SO happy to see this song get some apprication!!! Id love to see you cover more songs from final fantasy 6, it has such a solid track overall, you can really feel who each character is by their themes alone, it's wonderful

Incredible review. Dancing Mad will always be one of the best songs in a game ever, as it does everything it needs to so right and correct. If I had to recommend one song, it would be Star Conquering Traveller from Kirby, with Astral Birth Void. It’s a final boss song of multiple phases, similar to this one, with astral birth being the final phase. I think you’ll love it.

You really have to check out old Dragon Quest soundtrack by Koichi Sugiyama.

dancing mad > one winged angel

I feel extremely lucky to say that I got to see Uematsu perform this live with his band The Black Mages!

Definitely a complex piece, damn unique among final boss themes.

dancing mad is the nobuo's interpretation of the divine comedy of dante alighieri ( hell , purgatory and paradise ) the masterpiece of the videogame.

Underrated fact: In current editions of FF6 (including the Pixel Remaster) this music "switches" to its next movement immediately with each phase of battle BUT in FF6's *original editions* (SNES, PSX port) the track just continued playing seamlessly until its natural loop/transition point except _this time_ it plays through instead of looping, making the transition between movements seamless. The 3DS game _Bravely Default_ used something similar with its own final-boss theme, where each phase of battle "unlocked" progressively more of the track without having to actually switch/interrupt the track while it's playing. (e.g. in phase 1 it is looping movement 1 by itself, but by final phase it is looping _all movements in order)_

have you ever listened to the soundtrack to Lost Odessey? it was also composed by Nobuo Uematsu though very few people seem to know about this game in general and I absolutely love it.

Nobuo Uematsu is easily the greatest composer of my lifetime, and i wouldn't take issue with putting him in the top 5 of all time. Yasunori Mitsuda can also compete, but Uematsu is always in a steady lead position. If you've played an RPG in the last 40 years, and REALLY loved thr amazing music, there's a decent chance that they were involved. My favorite of this game is probably Terras Theme, because it can evoke serious nostalgia. The whole soundtrack is great. Thanks for the breakdown video.

This is bar none, the greatest boss theme ever created. I don't know how you can even ARGUE that anything tops this. This is my favorite boss theme of all time, and I use it as my case in point when arguing that Nobuo Uematsu is the greatest video game music composer to ever live. Also, NEVER apologize for nerding out about Uematsu or Final Fantasy music. Music is one of the selling points of the classic Final Fantasy series. It's one of the things that makes classic Final Fantasy as great as it is. I also love how each movement is very distinct from the other musically, as you fight a distinctly different tier of Kefka's final boss. It adds to the gravity and the ambiance of the fight in such a masterful way. Also when you played the letmotif of the 3rd movement, I realized what the melody is. It's Kefka's letmotif in general that's played whenever he's on screen!! I NEVER EVEN REALIZED THAT. That's insane. The fourth movement is also my favorite movement. Something about the intensity of that movement just gives you the "okay, shit's getting REAL now. This is the ultimate part of the fight." Plus, including the Kefka laugh is just amusing and such a "chef's kiss" moment in making this theme really signature "Kefka". This is such a video game musical masterpiece. Hell, who am I even kidding? It's just a musical masterpiece in general! It's like JeremyJahns once said in a very overused but accurate quote: "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like an artist using Crayola crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." Very true.

I always saw the first three movements of Dancing Mad as Kefka posturing his godliness to the party. He doesn't take them seriously, so he might as well have some fun while he toys with them. The fourth movement is him giving the party his full, undivided attention as he tries to murder them, all while the realization that they CAN kill him begins to dawn on him before he tries to laugh it off.

That bass thing you said "I think I've heard it before" that's Kefka's motif, very fun and fitting that it is merely the deep, bassy undercurrent to the chaos on the surface, it shows off in an even more fragmented form during the actual "battle" portion at the end of the song

I just watched an awesome story analysis for Resonant Arc and one of their hosts was saying he viewed this boss design as being kefka’s journey of ascension to godhood. It made me look at the artwork more closely. It also matches with the idea of hell-purgatory-heaven-god. Kefka is experimented on in his time in “hell” he then ascends into the Gestahlian empire along with other generals and is “purged” and purified in the fires of war. Finally he ascends to heaven where he meets the “Mary” figure (the warring triad) who revive him from near-death (Celes stabbing him) and finally allow him to ascend past the Gestahlian empire (represented by the metallic steel horns that slowly disappear the higher up you get). The warring triad gives him a new body in the final form where you face his idea of god (himself). The music matches this so well. It may be the most well thought out last boss ever… or they got really lucky and there’s tons of symbolism to draw from something that isn’t there lol. In the music the ever increasing chaos as a figure is trapped from the waist up just fits that idea of increasing experimentation on him in the first form. The second form mimicking the empires weird desire to conquer, and kefka enjoys it now that his mind is warped. He see how ridiculous it all is, both from the perspective of why the empire is fighting and how people can have hopes and dreams and then they’re just gone. He begins to recognize his true desire. There’s no reason for anything to exist. The music takes on strange dance. It’s a dance of meaninglessness and triviality. The melody is almost a slog if it weren’t for the drums. In the third form, the warring triad blesses him multiple times by protecting him from death on the floating continent. Holding him in their arms. Apparently this form was inspired by “La Pieta” by Michelangelo. Now the music becomes a joyful melody as the saviour is revived and protected by the godesses. But the undertone shows that this is still kefka. He’s elevated himself. He’s not a god just a clown telling you a glorious story of his ascension. Finally he allows you to approach and see the face of god (himself). The music starts to reflect his panic as he fights. You’re not dead yet. You should be. He begins to remember that he’s not god and he has to fight for his survival. The sad part of the music may either be your party’s struggle to continue on, or his realization that he’s lost. He’ll soon be reduced to the nothingness he desired for the world and he laughs as he realizes that his goals were as meaningless as anything else he’s seen in the world. My favourite track from Uematsu 😊

This theme and your passion are absolutely amazing. Also I love Uematsu!!!

Dancing Mad > One Winged Angel

If you ever do another Final Fantasy song Id recommend Born Anew or Nascent Requiem from Final Fantasy 13

Davi, PLEASE do Bury the Light from Devil May Cry 5 next. It's one of my favorite songs, not just in gaming, in general too.

Can we admire the guy fighting Kefka in the corner? He absolutely kicked that boss's teeth in.

8:51 mind blown! Never realized it is there, but it is the Kefka's theme! Yes! My most favourite FF game and it has such epic soundtrack, also the Pixel Remaster improved some songs. But not most for me, just some. For example Searching For Friends or Aria Di Mezzo Carattere. Anyway, this game is so great and I liked the video earlier when it had 666 likes so I kinda broke that number, but that number fits this endgame well.

Tower of the Gods Boss List Tier 1: Visage [HP30000] Long Arm [HP33000] Short Arm [HP27000] Tier 2: Tiger [HP30000] Machine [HP24000] Power [HP28000] Magic [HP41000] Tier 3: Rest [HP40000] Lady [HP9999] Tier 4: Kefka [HP62000] All in all, that's almost 325000 HP for this boss gauntlet. And to all people who say that giving Kefka 62000 HP is a crime is truly overestimating the processing power of the SNES, which can only take in 16-bit unsigned integers, whose values can range anywhere from 0 to 65535 (65536 just loops back around to 0). Tell me what the difference would be if Kefka started out with 3536 more HP than he has been given! The answer is obviously absolutely nothing because of a certain spell called Ultima. This alone deals 9999 damage all the time. So you can make mincemeat out of the Tower of the Gods.

This theme is why I purchased the OST CDs from Japan back in 1998. While there has been plenty of masterpieces since this was written, none have matched its complexity.

When the 4th sets come on I get goose bumps every time! One of my favorite top 3 FF game of all time! Brings me back to my early teenage years. So much nastolgia. Thank you for commenting on the musical masterpiece!

Man I’d love if you reacted to either birth of a god(FF7), maybe I’m a lion(FF8), or force your way(FF8)

And all of this in 16bits. If people understood how limited that is, and how difficult it is to work with, would be even more impressed. Nobuo Uematsu is truly a Maestro and will be remembered as such for as long as we keep reccords of his compositions.

Think of it like this: First Movement - Hell Second Movement - Purgatory Third Movement - Twisted Heaven Fourth Movement - God, a.k.a. Kefka

I have always thought of this song as kefka threw you into hell and you are clawing your way back up to him. 1st Movement (Hell) - Despairing, slow and sad 2nd Movement (Purgatory) - Lots of uncertainty and struggle also the section with the most enemies 3rd Movement (Heaven) - You've made to the gates of Heaven and the angels have come to meet you to defend their god. very cheerful and light-hearted 4th Movement (Judgment) - You've made it back to Kefka, time to finish this once and for all!

10:10 Each movement from 1-4 has fitting titles 1st is hell 2nd is purgatory 3rd is heaven (which is why the melody seems joyful) And 4th is god.

Movement 1: Fight is gonna kick yo' ass. Movement 2: Madness exposed. Movement 3: Madness behind the veil of holiness Movement 4: We done fucking around, we in finding out territory now.

If you were to listen to this piece without knowing the story and gameplay around it, you’ll get half the gist. But you’re totally right in that the parts you think sound like a more uplifting piece is nothing more than a delusion giving the context of who we are up against. Totally unsettling. It is like watching an opera unfolding and you as the audience know better. Couldn’t have said it better myself mister. I wanna revisit this fame in the pixel remaster version. Seeing the gameplay clips and how the graphics look more updated in color especially the magic spell, Ultima, ooh la la! Terra / Celes / Relm and Edgar

この曲名、妖星乱舞(Yousei Ranbu)は別の方がorchestra風にアレンジしています。そちらはさらに壮大さが極まっています。是非聴いてみて。

13:37 playful and disturbing. That’s Kefka for sure

Kefka: "You say my song took inspiration from the Baroque period of music? Well if it ain't Baroque, don't fix it."

They dont make bad guys like Kefka anymore. 10/10. Please play this game if you haven't. The music matches his personality. This has always been my favorite ff.

Hm, say, have you heard of Asura’s Wrath? ‘Cause I would like to see you cover In Your Belief at some point. I would also like to see you cover Sakura’s Good Fight from Ultimate Ninja Storm 2.

Uematsu had the SNES sound board SCREEEEAMING! Lol young me even knew he pushed it to its limit for its time. BTW what headsets do you use? Im in need of a new pair and would like recommendations.

I actually hear the section at 12:30 or so as being 4-beat measures with some measures of 3 thrown in, skipping a beat basically, rather than 5-beat measures. 4+4+4+3 = 15 = 5+5+5

I would love to see your take on the less "singable" and more "orchestral" themes of FFXIII. Mainly "Fighting Fate" and "Born Anew".

[USERNAME] I compose as well.

The dread I would feel at 13:54 - 15:02 would cut deep each time I played this boss fight

That movement that you’re hearing that you couldn’t quite put your finger on that’s Kafka‘s theme that little piano piece there that you played was definitely Kafka’s theme.

is no secret that nobuo uematsu is a big fan of ELP, and is really hard not to notice when you hear the 3rd movement of dancing mad the parallels between that and the song the three fates, from elp debut album, the main difference being some instrumental configuration and that elp uses mussorgsky as motif base for that song while uematsu uses the kefka theme as the motif but the way is arranged is extremelly similar at comparison. however the case, is a great theme with lots of mastery in composition and setting the tone

If Kefka wasn't such an absolute monster, he would be a truly pitiable character. The process that made him a magitek knight ruined him. Kefka was the first magitek knight, and the process wasn't perfected yet. It drained the espers power into him, yes, but it destroyed his mind in the process. Geshtal's ambition truly did ruin the world, and the Emperor personally crafted the blade that ended him. That sadness you hear in the fourth measure, mixed with the laughter and rage? Kefka's emotions and mental state are a tempest trapped in a bottle. Unstable doesn't begin to cover it.

It's nice that young people are slowly catching up to what some of us discovered 29 years ago. FF7 is the most popular of the franchise, but for a few of us who were fans before it... it will never be the greatest. Final Fantasy 6 hasn't been beat.

I highly recommend you give a listen to this arrange of Dancing Mad: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--O-9U_QKhgA.html In my opinion it's on par with, and quite possibly even better than the original. What it may have been if Uematsu had modern tech back then.

I highly suggest you listen to Final Fantasy 14's Dancing Mad! It's a modern take on it, and is REALLY good!

Best final fantasy song period.

Like I said on Family Jules' cover of this track, One Wnged Angel has nothing on this

Ohhhhh you did kefka's theme!! Sweet!!! The grissini's project did this track on a church organ. You should see that too. Brilliant!

Prog rock organ and all that Nobuo Uematsu sauce makes it seven levels of epic higher than anything.

Every time I listen to this piece, I really hope the SNES sound chip had a cigarette after Uematsu was done with her lol.

Hey Davi. Could you cover some Castlevania SOTN music?