For most people, beating a game is rewarded with a ending cutscene or in the case of Metal Gear Solid 4, a 90 minute movie. I'm not complaining about either really.  With the game over, the threat is dealt with.  The crisis has been averted.  However I don't just stop with the closing movie.  I stick around for the credits.  The ending songs of games are sometimes overlooked by gamers, but for me it is an integral part of the experience.  I am a huge fan of video game music.  If I like it enough, I'll listen to excerpts from it over and over.  If I love, it I'll just get the whole soundtrack.  So today, I am using GamingExcellence's space to share with you my favorites in the ending theme department.
 
10. Spider-Man 2 - Spider Man theme by The Distillers
This was an interesting thing for the game.  This was a song that was actually teased on the box of the video game and it wasn't the theme from the 1990s cartoon, it was based on the original cartoon from the 1960s.  The Distillers put a punk rock spin on the old theme and it just sounded incredible.
 
9. Borderlands - No Heaven by Champion
Borderlands may have introduced people to Cage the Elephant with their song Ain't no Rest for the Wicked in the opening of the game, however there was a gem of a song that commenced after you downed The Vault boss.  Fun fact: My friends yelled at me while I was listening to this to continue playing the game as the game continues after the credit and they already skipped the credits to collect the loot from downing the boss.
 
8. Dragon Age II - I'm Not Calling You a Liar by Florence and The Machine
The original version of this song sounds okay, but something about the remix that Florence and The Machine made with Inor Zur just made it all the better.  Also, the version of the song that was made for the game was dubbed Varric's Theme which was a perfect name for it as it works for a character that takes up residence in a bar.  I do hope BioWare and Florence Welch work together again as a song of her's, Seven Devils, was recently used for a Game of Thrones Season 2 trailer and would fit perfectly in a game like Dragon Age III.
 
7. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Ending Theme
One of the first, if not the first, ending theme I repeatedly listened to over and over.  The save feature in the game was kind of weird, so after beating the game, it saved the game right at the time the credits started playing, so I always reserved one save spot on my game to have easy access to the song.
 
6. Sonic Adventure - Open Your Heart by Crush 40
Most of choices made in Sonic games, I was okay with.  In Sonic Riders, it made sense for a Sonic racing game to have him ride on a hover board instead of driving a car and for Sonic's theme it made sense for him to have a rock theme like the one Crush 40 delivered for him.  Each character arc in the game had their own ending theme, but the true ending of the game came after Super Sonic defeated Chaos and that was a theme worth replaying.  And the team was so good, Crush 40 returned to make themes for other Sonic games since then.
 
5. Transformers: War for Cybertron - Till All Are One by Stan Bush
War for Cybertron was a love letter to old school Transformers fans.  These were for the people that watched the original cartoon in the 80s and the awesome (and scary) animated movie. This storyline was given the blessing of being accepted as official canon, so it made sense for Stan Bush, who created The Touch that was used in the animated movie, to return and make an original sweet ballad that served as the theme for the Transformers.
 
4. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones - I Still Love You by Stuart Chatwood
Ubisoft saw something great in Stuart Chatwood, so they added him on for the Prince of Persia series.  Not only did his music just sound great with the Persian theme, but it added to the storytelling.  When playing The Sands of Time, the first thing you do is jump into a window and then you start to hear The Prince tell someone a tale in real time all the events you do in the game.  When you get to the end of the game, you realize it is the Princess Farah's room and you are lead to believe that he is telling her the events of what he had to do to get there.  However, it isn't until the end of The Two Thrones when Farah asks The Prince how he knew her name that you realize that is when he told her the story. He didn't just tell her the first story.  Through releasing the sands that destroyed and entire kingdom, through being tormented for seven years by time itself and fighting a demon inside of you, you meet back up with the princess to once again profess your love for her and that is where I Still Love You shines.  Not only did that song wrap up a game, it wrapped up the entire trilogy saying you still loved this woman.
 
3. Infamous - Silent Melody by Working For A Nuclear Free City
This song completely wrapped up the experience of Infamous for me; especially after beating the hero side of the tale.  A city on the verge of collapse pretty much walled off and left to fend for itself, one guy decides to step up and bring hope back to the people of it.  So listening to this song, you can't help but picture Cole leaping heroically from a building in slow motion saving the citizens from utter destruction.
 
2. Mass Effect - M4(Part II) by The Faunts
For me, Mass Effect is by far the best science fiction story told (or still being told really).  It ranks over the greats of Star Trek and Star Wars.  BioWare is great at storytelling and them choosing this song by The Faunts adds to that.  After Udina or Anderson gives their speech saying that we must all prepare for the coming of the Reapers, this song starts to play right when The Normandy takes off into space for parts unknown and it sends a powerful message: the threat is still out there and this battle is far from being over.  Listening to this song, you just instinctually knew that this game was coming back for more.  You had complete and utter faith that this series would continue and that BioWare had once again created something great.
 
1. Prince of Persia - Time Only Knows by Stuart Chatwood
Stuart Chatwood not only gets mentioned twice in this feature, he is also gets the number one spot on the list.  He is perhaps the best thing that has happened to video game music.  Prince of Persia sticks out for me in many ways.  I rented it on a whim, beat it, loved it and then bought a few months later.  But most importantly, the ending song sticks out for me.  After hearing it, I just had to sit back and play it again.  Then I had to write about it in my journal THEN go back and listen to it once again.  This is perhaps the ending theme that got me actively searching for good video game soundtracks and that is what makes it the best.  It changed my outlook on gaming and added an additional venture of what I look at in a good title.
 
So that is my list.  Did I completely overlook something that you see as a great ending title?  Let me know in the comments below.