MEGALOVANIA

> so, i've got a question for ya. do you think even the worst person can change...?
> — Sans before his boss fight
>
>

"**MEGALOVANIA**" (/ˌmɛ.gʌ.loʊ.ˈveɪ.niː.ə/) is the 100th track in the Undertale Soundtrack. It is a fast-paced song which plays during the final battle against Sans on the Genocide Route.

## History

"Megalovania" was originally composed for Toby Fox's hack of *EarthBound* known as "Radiation's Halloween Hack" which was a submission to Starmen.Net's 2008 Halloween Funfest. The original song from the EarthBound Halloween Hack can be found here.

"Radiation's Halloween Hack" was about an alternate universe of *EarthBound* where the chosen four never returned, or simply put "bad rom hack with swears." According to "The Making of Radiation's Halloween Hack," the track "Megalomania" from *Live A Live* was originally planned to be used as the game's final boss theme instead. Toby Fox never got around to it, so he "yelled whatever [he] felt like into a microphone and copied it down," thus creating "Megalovania." Toby Fox has also hinted that Megalovania was also inspired by the SFC/SNES version of "Gadobadorrer" from *Brandish 2: The Planet Buster*, where the hack's protagonist originated from.

This song would later be reused for the webcomic, *Homestuck*, as "MeGaLoVania" on the Homestuck Vol. 6: Heir Transparent album with guitars from Joren "Tensei" de Bruin. This version makes a brief appearance in the Trickster Mode of "[S] Past Karkat: Wake up." and then makes a full appearance in "[S] Wake." This track's lietmotif can also be heard in the AlterniaBound bonus track, "The Blind Prophet", another track by Toby Fox. Homestuck additionally mentions Undertale on "*[S Collide]*" at 11:10 as Davepetasprite^2 takes on the appearance of an orange-green heart to battle a gaster blaster-like Lord English.

## Trivia

* The word "*Megalovania*" is a combination of "*Megalomania*" and "*Transylvania*".
	+ "*Megalomania*" is the boss theme from the game *Live A Live*, which served as an inspiration for "*Megalovania*." Though Megalovania doesn't directly quote Megalomania's melody, it has a similar feeling and structure. In real life, megalomania is the delusion of being vastly more important and powerful than one really is.
	+ The word Transylvania was jammed into the name to give it a feeling reminiscent of Halloween.
* Toby Fox's mother calls MEGALOVANIA 'MEGALAVEGALA'.
* According to an interview with Toby Fox, this was one of the six songs originally composed for other projects. The other five were "*Fallen Down*," "*Heartache*," "*Nyeh Heh Heh!*," "*Bonetrousle*," and "*Another Medium*."
* Toby Fox has composed a 'sequel' to Megalovania dubbed "Megalo Strike Back" which was composed for the I Miss You - EarthBound 2012 album.
* Toby Fox has stated that "Megalovania - Clash with a Doctor", the version found in the MOTHER fangame "Cognitive Dissonance" (CogDis), was not made by him on his Twitter account.
* The original version of Megalovania was in the key of A in a minor blues scale, whereas the version found in Undertale is a pitched up, slightly faster and modified version in the key of D minor.

## References

1. ↑ "*Okay, finally finished. After wayyy over 140 hours (I spent hours every day since 9-12, yeah some days I didn’t do stuff but some days I was up until 12 since after school) I have finished my hack. Eeeeek.*" - Toby Fox. November 1, 2008. Starmen.Net.
2. ↑ "*This is the censored version of my hack. Technically they are exactly the same except for some swears near the end, but if you don't mind or are judging, I highly suggest you play the version provided at the following URL: http://forum.starmen.net/forum\_attachments/0007/0301/radiationhalloweenhack.zip Otherwise, this hack is NOT appropriate for you.*" - Toby Fox. November 6, 2008. Starmen.Net. Halloween Funfest 2008.
3. ↑ "*Today is Halloween, so it’s a good time to post some Halloweeny stuff! So my obvious choice was Radiation’s Halloween hack of EarthBound from last year.*" - Mato. October 31, 2009. EarthBound Central.
4. ↑ "*I guess I should just accept "bad rom hack with swears" as part of my eternal legacy*" - Toby Fox. February 9, 2016.
5. ↑ "*This is it, the final boss theme. I wanted to put Live A Live's Megalomania in here but I didn't get to so I made my own last boss song. I pretty much just yelled whatever I felt like into a mike and copied it down. Yep. Took forever, but it was superkickass-worth-it. Total embodiment of final bossitude.*" - Toby Fox. The Making of Radiation's Halloween Hack.
6. ↑ "*also, the last boss music was a little inspired by brandish 2's, see if you can catch the similarities*" - Toby Fox on the making of Radiation's Halloween Hack.
7. ↑ "*Namewise yes, it is a direct reference to Megalomania from Live A Live. I've seen a few people pick up on that because that's cool. The chords are kind of similar but I wouldn't say it's a huge inspiration for the COMPOSITION of the song itself but it's TOTALLY attempting to be the kind of a badass song that might be suitable for a similar purpose. A little more in-depth: I originally made it for that Halloween EarthBound hack forever ago (and by forever ago I mean "back in high school") and people were ripping the song themselves from the game. I felt like maybe I should do a semi-official release ripped straight from the music editor program (the song actually lags in-game). I realized the song didn't have a name, so I took the inspiration for the track and the whole idea of the final battle (Megalomania) and just slammed some Halloweeniness into it (transylVANIA) and boom Megalovania.*"- Toby Fox. January 7, 2011. MSPA Forums.
8. ↑ "*mom: "So the song that everyone likes... Megalavegala or whatever?"*" - Toby Fox. October 22, 2015. Twitter.
9. ↑ "*There’s an arrangement of a song from a previous project here, as well. People are well aware of this one.*" - Toby Fox. October 10, 2015. Existential Gamer.
10. ↑ "*the version of megalovania in cognitive dissonance is not by me it's a fansong (?) by this guy:*" - Toby Fox. September 22, 2015.