How Cynthia's Theme Terrorized a Generation

There's also the psychological impact of walking into a random house on the beach in Pokemon B/W and getting smacked in the face with the approach theme the instant you're inside. No warning whatsoever. At least for the champion fight you knew to expect something epic.

I played the first two bars of Approach in a crowded auditorium once. Instant silence. Palpable fear. It was glorious, and terrifying.

Piano is absent from battle themes throughout DPPt. We're conditioned to associate the piano with familiary and safety. Then Approaching Cynthia turns that on its head. Youre familiar with her, but you are not safe.

The literal embodiment of, "Why do I hear boss music?"

Bro, hearing you talk about how menacing and daunting Cynthia is while you're showing chibi Cynthia I CAN'T😂

I think the impact of these themes are greater because of how they contrast with how Cynthia is a friendly character throughout the game, yet her themes sound so villainous, making them even more intimidating.

The one detail I would add regarding the “approaching” piece is that the fact that it’s a solo piece emphasizes her power. She stands alone in this room and she’s able to command that much power solely from her presence. It adds to her intensity and adds to your isolation as you have to face that force one on one.

"A skeleton that will feel very familiar to any Pokemon fan." -Shows a Cubone You monster.

Ok but you forgot to talk about that beeping sound that permanently is played fighting cynthia that normally only occurs when your mon is low hp!😂

One thing that's notable about Battle Against Cynthia being a slower intro that ramps up to a faster, disco vibe is that her theme was rearranged for Black and White (the famous House Jumpscare) and again for B2W2 (the Pokemon World Championships) and both times the rearrangement was up-tempo compared to the previous version. Cynthia's theme gets faster and scarier and everyone cries.

I feel Cynthia is the perfect champion for gen 4. To me gen 4 has some of the strongest storytelling in the franchise, rivalling B/W at its best. The previous generations were about kids coming in and cleaning up messes of problems made by adults, but Gen 4 is the first one that really makes you feel like you're not ready to enter this scary adult world that's much bigger than you expected. Sure, Gen 3 had its adult villains losing control of forces they didn't understand too, but Max and Archie felt like petty squabblers who were too caught up in their own dreams to actually talk things out and think things through. Cyrus, on the other hand, is very understandable: he's an old man who never grew up. Fundamentally, he fully knows the world is scary and unpredictable, and he hates it. He wants to destroy and remake the world into something simpler easier to grasp, so that he doesn't have to face the difficulty of living in a world that's much bigger and more powerful than he can fathom. The irony is that he has to face uncontainable cosmic power in order to achieve this goal, and in Platinum this is especially apparent when the sublime eldritch horror that is Giratina simply ignores any attempt to control it. But after defeating Cyrus, what's next? The story's basically over, right? Well yes, the threat is done, but Cynthia is still a continuation of the player's journey. She is in many ways Cyrus' opposite. Where Cyrus wishes to control pokemon and the world, Cynthia has already mastered it by accepting the world. She is calm, elegant, and at peace with herself. Her party is full of pokemon who are fundamentally "untamable": Garchomp, Milotic, Spiritomb. She is a pokemon master not because she can control her pokemon, but because she understands them and accepts them. She's tough not just as a final challenge, but also because she's an illustration of the final message of the game: that even though you've come so far, even though you've faced cosmic horrors beyond your imagining and saved the world, you still have only had a glimpse into the true grown-up world, a world full of wonders and horrors and struggles and triumphs you can't even imagine yet. Cynthia is the kind of person Cyrus wished to be without understanding what makes that kind of person great, an open person who is able to deal with life's problems with flawless grace and deceptive ease. And her fight and the music that accompanies it are so threatening not because she herself is a threatening person, but because she represents the true final boss of pokemon: the world itself. Idk maybe I'm thinking too deeply about pokemon. But I love Cynthia and I love this music.

More like "How teaching her entire team Earthquake terrorized a generation".

Bro the seeing Cynthia on the thumbnail poppin up on my notification was enough to jump me

13:18 I Love that you mention how these lines are "alien", because that actually connects in game with the Palkia/Dialga/Giratina themes(not only musically) of eldritch-like entities. Cynthia is probably the first spot you'll see a Spiritomb, a pokemon with no weaknesses, and having this type of "alien" structure in music combined with the overall theme of the game just makes it even more memorable.

I always thought Cynthia's theme was a brilliant study in contrast. Sure, some of the melodic motion is unsettling, but the bouncing bass and drums just give you such a powerful feeling of excitement. Heroic major sections clash with dissonant minor sections, and the darkest chord at the end leaps right back into the eager intro. To me, her theme evoked a mood of something tense and serious, but also joyful. It feels like one of the hardest things you've ever done, but also one of the most exciting.

9:00 "Champion Cynthia theme but it never starts" gave me as much anxiety as the battle did. Thanks for that!

I never noticed the similarities between Fairy Fountain and this theme. I always used to like them both very much. That's cool to notice.

It took me 15 years to finally defeat Cynthia... No, I am not exaggerating, I got the game as a child and didn't defeat her until last year. To say I have PCSD is an understatement. Unknowingly walking into her house in Undella was terrifying. It was a surprise when I did manage it though. My strongest Pokémon was a whole 5 levels below her weakest. When her Garchomp went down, and the tide of battle shifted, I felt it. I focused up, gave it everything I had left and finished her off. Once it was over, I stared at my game in shock. I had defeated Cynthia with a team below her level!

You wanna experience REAL damage from Cynthia, set the piano that plays before her battle to your morning alarm. Never have I woken up faster in my life.

I didn't understand a word of this. 10/10 quality content.