Music
Overview
There are few things in City of Heroes that set the mood more than the short pieces of music that play as you move about the city. Nearly every neighborhood in every zone has unique music that clearly identifies where you are, even without seeing what's on the screen.
The styles of music used vary widely, and range from soft pop and techno to hard rock and full orchestra. The music used for the original release of the game through Issue 5 consisted of fairly generic synthesized instruments and percussion, which makes it more difficult to maintain uniqueness without sounding amateurish. With the release of City of Villains and Issue 6, the palette of instruments and percussion was completely overhauled which allowed for more realistic and lush arrangements. All zones added or revamped (such as Faultline and Rikti War Zone) have made use of these updated sounds.
Reused Music
Although there is a large amount of unique music found throughout the game, there are several neighborhoods that use musical cues which have slight differences from or are exact duplicates of those used elsewhere. Listed below are examples of the neighborhoods that use identical or similar music. They are sorted by the earliest zone/neighborhood in which the music is used, or by the first zone that uses the most complete version. If there are no notes after a secondary listing then it uses the identical version as the primary one.
- Galaxy City / Freedom Court -- longer version
Atlas Park / Chiron Medical Center
- Skyway City / LaGrange Medical Center -- longer version
Galaxy City / Constellation Row
- Firebase Zulu / Point X-Ray -- longer version
Galaxy City / Cygnus Medical Center
- Kings Row / Crowne Memorial
- Steel Canyon / Steel Canyon Medical Center
- Faultline / Overbrook Medical Center
- Independence Port / Bell Medical Center -- shorter, similar version
- Talos Island / Phoenix Medical Center
- Founders' Falls / Harvey Medical Center -- similar version
- Peregrine Island / Aquarius Medical Center
Sewer Network / Atlas Park Sector
- Eden / The Utopia Complex
- Abandoned Sewer Network / Atlas Park Sector
Sewer Network / Kings Row Sector
- Abandoned Sewer Network / Kings Row Sector
Sewer Network / Skyway City Sector
- Abandoned Sewer Network / Skyway City Sector
- Perez Park / Hell's Highway
- Crey's Folly / The Blight
- Rikti War Zone / Bloody Lane
- Abandoned Sewer Network / Underworld
- The Chantry / Bastion of Pain
Sewer Network / Steel Canyon Sector
- Abandoned Sewer Network / Steel Canyon Sector
Sewer Network / Boomtown Sector
- The Hollows / Grendel's Gulch
- Rikti War Zone / Sunken Road
- Abandoned Sewer Network / Boomtown Sector
- St. Martial / The Flush -- unused longer version
- Atlas Park / Downside -- shorter version
- Rikti War Zone / The Bulge
- Firebase Zulu / Point Victor -- similar version 1, added intro
- St. Martial / Turtle Spit -- unused similar version 2, added intro
- The Hollows / Eastgate Park
- Talos Island / The Serpent's Teeth -- similar, shorter version
- Striga Isle / The Bogg -- same as Talos Island version
- Croatoa / The Misty Wood -- extended version
- Eden / Adeva Towers
- Peregrine Island / Curry Cove
- Firebase Zulu / Point Sierra
- Port Oakes / Villa Montrose -- extended version
- Dark Astoria / Romero Heights -- similar, shorter version
- Founders' Falls / Louis Forest -- omit rhythm, added animal sounds
- Striga Isle / The Maw
Skyway City / Land of the Lost
- Striga Isle / The Wolf's Throat
- Terra Volta / Raysun Petroleum
- Sharkhead Isle / The Crush -- similar, longer version
Independence Port / Bell Point
- The Hollows / Eastgate Heights
- Peregrine Island / Poseidon Square
- The Storm Palace / Lock of Fury
- Perez Park / Gaiman Woods -- added animal sounds
- Dark Astoria / Barca Plaza -- longer, added background effects
- Brickstown / Dark Waters
- Founders' Falls / Hutchinson Park -- longer, added bird sounds
- The Chantry / Bastion of Shame -- same as Dark Astoria version
Independence Port / Industry Pier
- Brickstown / Prison Power Station
- The Chantry / Path of Rage -- longer version with intro
Independence Port / Liberty Quay
- Striga Isle / Council Base -- extended version
- Firebase Zulu / Firebase November
- Nerva Archipelago / Agincourt -- longer version
- Nerva Archipelago / Primeva -- longer version
- Nerva Archipelago / Thorn Isle -- longer version
- Croatoa / Salamanca -- extended version
- Croatoa / Sunset Ridge -- extended version with intro
Terra Volta / Coroman Manufacturing
- Cap au Diable / Mount Diable -- similar, longer version
Terra Volta / Rogers Industries
- Sharkhead Isle / The Pit -- unused longer version
- The Hollows / Cherry Hills
- Independence Port / Power Island -- slower, shorter version
- Peregrine Island / Nelson Borough
- Striga Isle / Port Noble
- Peregrine Island / Bayside Docks
- Port Oakes / Arena District -- longer version
- Striga Isle / Bonny Morass -- longer, added animal sounds
- Peregrine Island / Mera Heights
- The Storm Palace / Path of Madness -- longer version
- Rikti War Zone / Pavia -- added intro effect
- Cascade Archipelago / Tyrant's Rock -- slightly longer version
- The Storm Palace / Lock of Destruction -- extended version
- Breakout / The Yard -- longer version
- Pocket D / Hero Lobby 1 -- longer version
- Pocket D / Hero Lobby 2 -- muffled version of Hero Lobby 1
Founders' Falls / The Red River
- The Hollows / The Red River
- Sharkhead Isle / Hell Forge -- unused longer version
Crey's Folly / Paragon Water Works
- Peregrine Island / Cutlass Isles
- Monster Island / Cutlass Isles
- The Storm Palace / Lock of Anger -- longer version
Peregrine Island / Tempest Quay
- The Chantry / Bastion of Denial
- Monster Island / Tempest Quay
- Faultline / Overflow
- Recluse's Victory / Sector 2
- Pocket D / Villain Lobby 1 -- similar version
- Pocket D / Villain Lobby 2 -- muffled version of Villain Lobby 1
- Warburg / Warburg
- Faultline / Overbrook Dam
- Grandville / The Fab
- Warburg / Hero Base
- Faultline - Aftershock
- Faultline - Arachnos Dig Site
- Grandville / Spider City
- Recluse's Victory / Sector 4
Unused and Alternate Music
Some neighborhood music cues have alternate unused versions or were omitted completely from the game. The list below highlights some of these.
Atlas Park
- Downside -- unused
Steel Canyon
- Fool's Gold District -- unused
Faultline (pre-issue 8)
- Aftershock -- removed in Issue 8
- Dark Canyons -- removed in Issue 8
- Downfall -- removed in Issue 8
- Precipice -- removed in Issue 8
- Reservoir -- removed in Issue 8
- Subduction -- removed in Issue 8
Faultline (issue 8)
- New Overbrook -- extended version
- New Overbrook -- unused alternate version
- New Overbrook -- unused New Age version
- New Overbrook -- longer Oriental version looped in Mr. Yin's store
Dark Astoria
- Moth Cemetery -- unused loop
- St. Elegius -- unused
The Chantry
- Bastion of Regret -- unused
- Bastion of Sorrow -- unused
Breakout
- Arachnos Pilot -- unused
Mercy Island
- Fort Darwin -- unused alternate version
- Mercy -- unused alternate version
Port Oakes
- Dockside -- unused alternate version
- Fort Blood -- unused
- Marconeville -- unused alternate version
- Villa Montrose -- unused alternate version
Cap au Diable
- Devil's Coat Tails -- unused alternate version
- Haven -- unused alternate version
- New Haven -- unused alternate version
Sharkhead Isle
- Hell Forge -- unused alternate version
- The Pit -- unused alternate version
St. Martial
- Double Down -- unused longer version
- The Flush -- unused
- Turtle Spit -- unused
Miscellaneous Unused Music
- J1_faded
- J2_faded_short
- J3_faded
- J5_faded
- J7_faded
- J13_faded
- J18_faded
- J19_faded
- J20_faded
- J24_faded
- J25_faded
- J26_faded
- J28_faded
- J29_faded
- J30_faded
- J32_faded
- J34_faded
- J36_faded
- J37_faded
- J39_faded_short
- M2_faded
- M11_faded
- M13_faded
- M20_faded
- Zone1
- Zone2
- Zone4
- Zone5
- Zone7
- Zone11
- Zone12
- Zone13
- Zone14
- Zone17
- Zone18
Easter Eggs and Obscure Music
This final list includes music cues which a player would typically have to go to a specific spot to be able to hear.
Faultline
- Bianco's Italian Cuisine -- Stand outside the restaurant door at (881, 31, -1830) in New Overbrook to hear this music.
- El Super Mexicano -- Stand outside the restaurant door at (1088, 31, -1537) in New Overbrook to hear this music.
Grandville
- Lord Recluse Voice-over -- This is the speech that loops in the main entrance to Grandville
- Dev Prison -- This music can be heard coming from the restrooms in the Dev Prison room hidden in the tunnels of Grandville. It is an altered version of the old standard Moon River, with some PG-rated sound effects added.
Miscellaneous
- Hero Title Screen -- This is the music that loops on the City of Heroes login screen.
- Hero Mission Complete -- This is the music that plays when a Hero completes a mission.
- Villain Title Screen -- This is the music that loops on the City of Villains login screen.
- Villain Mission Complete -- This is the music that plays when a Villain completes a mission.
- Zombie Stinger -- This music is heard when a Zombie invasion begins in a zone.