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I can't really think of a very solid title for this, but I think "musical easter eggs" is pretty good. If you don't understand, what I mean is when the makers of music put in small bits of other songs into a new one or even entire remixes. I absolutely love these because they can add some depth to music and make you love it even more when you realize some of these things and they can bring nostalgia of what they're referencing. These are more subtle things I'm talking about. You can be a bit obvious, but not super blatant stuff everyone ever knows. As I said though, feel free to be pretty obvious because some people might have missed it and would like to know. This is mostly for soundtracks in games and movies, but some normal music can have this stuff too like musicians giving nods to past bands or even to their older albums.

Bear with me here, I know an awful lot, so prepare for a massive list:

- The instrumentals in "It Has to Be This Way" are the MGS Peace Walker theme
- Small parts in Lorule Castle from Link Between Worlds are the Hyrule castle theme backwards
- Some parts in Ballad of the Goddess from Skyward Sword are Zelda's Lullaby backwards
- The title screen theme for Ocarina of Time goes off of the recorder jingle from the original Zelda
- Twilight Princess's soundtrack was great because in nearly every important song in the game they included the main theme and Ganon's theme as well. Blizzeta's second form music has both Ganon's theme in it and the main theme. All three of the battles with Ganon at the end also included his theme in some way.
- Ook's theme from Twilight is a very distorted version of Saria's Song
- Phantom Ganon's theme from Wind Waker was a mix of the Ganon battle theme in Link to the Past as well as the human Ganondorf battle theme from Ocarina.
- Magmoor Caverns in Metroid Prime is the Norfair theme from Super Metroid
- Torvus Bog Depths from MP2: Echoes is the Brinstar Red Soil theme from Super Metroid
- The multiplayer theme from MP2: Echoes is the Brinstar Jungle theme from Super Metroid
- The Pirate World theme from MP3: Corruption is the Crateria theme from Super Metroid
- Metroid Prime 1, 2, and Hunters all had the title screen theme for their respective games as the intro for the final boss theme in the second phase.
- Connecting to the last easter egg, the Hunters final boss theme is a remix of the Metroid Prime 1 final boss theme, which might be the reason for having the same intro, but both games also had the same melody for the title screen theme which most Metroid games have in common. It might be both.
- Parasite Queen from MP1 is a remix of Mother Brain's theme from Super Metroid
- Amorbis from MP2 is a remix of Parasite Queen
- The Magma Boss theme from MP: Hunters is a remix of Parasite Queen
- Dark Samus' theme is a remix of Mother Brain from the original Metroid (different from Super's) The similarity is heard more when comparing it to Mother Brain's theme in Zero Mission, the remake of the original
- The Aurora Unit's theme from MP3 is a remix of Dark Samus' theme meant to sound closer to Mother Brain's theme
- Gandrayda's theme from MP3 is a mix of both the Chykka themes from MP2
- Savannah Citadel Day from Sonic Unleashed is a remix of the credits theme from the 8-bit version of Sonic 1

So there you have it! Anything you found interesting? Anything you'd like to show?

Don't forget that the first Tallon Overworld theme:

is actually a remix of the original brinstar theme!

Here's something really interesting:

So here we have Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3:

Now let’s take a look at a song called “Hard Times” by the Jetzons, released over 10 years before Sonic 3 was released, and even before the Sonic series entered the conceptual stages. Don’t get it? Well, just take a listen:

This video here should explain everything. It’s all fascinating in my opinion.

There's a couple of pieces of other songs hidden in Battle of the Heroes from Star Wars Episode 3 such as Binary Sunset, The Imperial March, and Duel of the Fates.

Also, Augie's Great Municipal Band from Star Wars Episode 1 is the same as Darth Sidious' theme from Star Wars Episode 6.


The only difference is that Augie's Great Municipal Band is pitched higher and played more upbeat.

A tetralogy of examples I can think of come from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and the newest Killer Instinct

The Music Box theme is reminiscent to Vampire Killer.

At 5:30, it starts playing a tiny part of 'Beginning', from Castlevania III (or whichever version you prefer).

At 7:20, it starts playing TJ Combo's theme of Killer Instinct 2/Gold

Same case for Chief Thunder. It starts at 5:20.

The rest of the characters also have their original themes remixed briefly, however, I think both TJ Combo and Thunder stand out from the rest.

@Kraser

Wow, that's pretty interesting. I've listened to the Star Wars soundtrack plenty but I never knew they did that much stuff with it.

@Miketroid

Oh yeah! I forgot those two. I was honestly dumbstruck when I heard Hard Times when someone led me to it in the comments of the Ice Cap song on YouTube. I had my jaw hanging open quite literally. Pretty strange.

This stuff reminds me of a pretty controversial instance, the original Metal Gear Solid theme before they replaced it with part of MGS3's theme in 4 and introduced a new one in Peace Walker was taken out of the series because of its similarity to some Russian orchestral composition. It's interesting as hell. Here's a comparison video:

Though it is very subtle the melody in Danny Elfman's Spider-man tittle theme (original Spider-man movie trilogy) is actually a sequenced (in the baroque sense) version of the melody from the original Spider-man television theme.

@akalink
Funny thing about Elfman is that he has referenced other music in his other scores. His Batman theme actually takes some cues from Universal's classic horror film the Wolfman.


I wish I could've found the particular piece, but the main theme will do. And on an ironic note is that Elfman later did the soundtrack to the Wolfman film a few years back.

Here is another funny Easter egg. This is not a liet motif like the other posts, but a often missed mistake. For context, French horns have difficult executing certain lines because the way they are built, often times hitting high notes becomes a game of hit and miss. Now in Asian cultures there is actually a caste like system relegated to instruments. Pretty much if you are good musician you don't play brass instruments you play piano or violin. It's a strange system that results in these countries have orchestras with very unbalanced player skills. Now we look at the soundtrack to star fox assult, listen to the horn line in the beginning of this track, the horn player slightly beefed it.
Because I'm on mobile enjoy this not embedded video
http://youtu.be/VLKEPTAH-h8

i think the word you are looking for is sampling

dont know if it counts, but mac miller sampled the piano from UP in this song

get it? cause birds are up.

The first five notes in the final dungeon theme from Okamiden…

…are the same as the first five notes of the final boss theme of its predecessor, Okami. The only difference is that the notes are played for different lengths.

Video game composer Kazumi Totaka includes a short theme as an easter egg hidden deep within the soundtracks of the games he composes for.

"Ballad of the Goddess," the main theme from Skyward Sword, is "Zelda's Lullaby" played backwards.

Speaking of backwardsness, Lord English's theme from Homestuck is a palindrome; playing it backwards results in (roughly) the same song.

The term is actually liet motif which means; the use of a musical idea that represents ideas. Sampling falls under that so you mistake is reasonable. The technique was perfected by Wagner in his the ring opera cycle, but it was popularized by John Williams in movies and koji kondo in games.

The Doctor Who theme at around the 2:20 mark in Pink Floyd's "One of These Days."

The morse code for the Toronto Airport in Rush's "YYZ."

The entire first verse of the song in Kraftwerk's "Radioactivity" played in morse code.

If you listen to the ending of Silent Lucidity, you can hear Brahms' Lullaby played on the cello.

Also if you listen to the people talking in the middle, they tell how you to perform lucid dreaming.