As VGM fans we all what Danger (or Crisis) tracks are... tracks that play when your character(s) are in grave danger. What are are your favorite and least favorite danger tracks? Who do you think writes the best danger tracks?

Here are mine:

Best:
"A Shot of Crisis" by Yasunori Mitsuda from Chrono Trigger
- this just gets me pumped, after I edit the warping SFX off the tail end of it

"Fuse" by Yasunori Mitsuda from Xenogears
- seemlessly goes from danger track to battle theme like that

"Weapon Raid" by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy VII

"Chase" by Yuki Kajiura from Xenosaga II
- it's questionable if this is a danger track since it's a cut scene piece but I definately enjoy it

Good
"Hurry!" by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy VII
- I love this even though the ticking clock motif is rather stereotypical and uninspired

"Never Look Back" & "Only a Plank Between One and Perdition" by Nobuo Uemstsu from Final Fantasy VIII

OK

"Hurry!" & "Those Who Come Closer" by Junya Nakano from Final Fantasy X

"Enemy Attack" by Takao Miratsu from The Legend of Dragoon
- as much as I dislike the game there are some tracks I dig

Bad

"Giant Ant" by Tsuyoshi Sekito from Brave Fencer Musashi
- Sekito creates a monster here: a hideious, annoying giant monster that is the first thing I delete when the album is on my HD

"Escape from U.B. by Yoko Shimomura from Parasite Eve
- shouldn't need to explain

"Desert Island" by Motoi Sakuraba from Star Ocean 2
- don't ask Chris about this one

Anyway, Mitsuda gets my vote...

Playing kinda fast and loose with the definition of 'danger' music here, but then, so did Ashley, at least a little. Some of my favorites:

Battle in the Base, from Metal Gear Solid 3
Fight Ver. 2, from Grandia 2
Pressing Pursuit ~ Cornered 2007, from Apollo Justice
Under the Progress, from Parasite Eve
Won't Stop, Just Go!, from Sonic Adventure 2

In overall quality, I'd say the Metal Gear games get the Lifetime Achievement Award in Danger Music, personally.

As far as bad ones go, there's been plenty I've found underwhelming, but only one I flat-out despise, and that's:

Mad Biscarsh, from Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil. Hisssssssss.....

Awesomely good one is "Raid" (translations vary, I think it's disc 3 track 10) from FFX. TOTALLY love this song.

2 tracks come to mind:

"An Imminent Crisis" by Hitoshi Sakimoto from Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter
- Plays when you get locked in a room full of monsters.

"Hunting - Surprise Raid" by Shoji Meguro from Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
- Slightly-modified normal battle theme. Plays when the enemy ambushes you while in your human (i.e. weak) form.

I'm not much for the "danger" track variety, but there are a few that have captivated me.

Junya Nakano - "An Endless Chase" from Another Mind

and I actually liked "Escape from U.B."

I get that the tracks are supposed to invoke feelings of tension/apprehension/fear, but most the time they just come off sounding overly loud and just a bunch of notes thrown together for drammatic effect.  The tracks that build up to a defining moment without bombarding you with loud nosie are the ones that make me sit up and take notice.

Continuing on the Mitsuda hurry themes, "Signal of Emergency" from Soma Bringer is quite nice. On par with "Fuse" from Xenogears, if you ask me. Perhaps it might be slightly better, but that's all opinion.

Since I'm at work at the moment, and I don't have access to my music, I'll post more later.

Hm..... but the "Pursuit ~ Cornered" tracks generally play when your OPPONENTS are in a grave or dangerous situation - not your own character. :p  That said, I'm surprised you didn't mention "Suspense" or AJ's "Suspense ~ Thrill."  Did you happen to hear Aoi Shoudo's nifty upgrade to Suspense?  It's one of the tracks from the GSAP project:

Suspense:
http://files.filefront.com/Suspensemp3/ … einfo.html

I hate to go for the obvious, but Super Mario Bros. comes to mind. Nothing gets my blood pumping more than hearing the "Warning" theme followed by any variation of "Hurry Up!"

"Escape" from Super Metroid also never fails to thrills me.