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Videogame Music

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Evan

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I was just wondering if anyone here was a fan of videogame music outside of Nobuo Uematsu. I guess I'm wondering if anyone shares my videogame music tastes or has even been exposed to the same stuff.

Here are some things I enjoy:

-I personally really enjoyed The Parasite Eve soundtrack (Yoko Shimomura) which combined opera/instrumental influences with techno/rock.

-I also found Yamane Michiru's work on the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night sountrack to be really energetic and engaging.

-I also really liked Konami's use of Aoife Ni Fhearraigh on Metal Gear Solid's ending theme ("The Best is Yet to Come).

-I also really like some retro gaming music as well like some old school Sega Genesis music ala Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star IV, and Vectorman 2.

(all of these I have on my iPod right now actually).

If anyone has any comments or recommendations of their own, I would love to hear 'em!

Edited by Evan
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I never have owned a Nintendo system after the Super-Nintendo. The only systems I have ever owned have been the Game Boy Advance, Super-Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstation, Playstation 2, and then the Sony PSP.

I missed out on a lot of Zelda :rolleyes:.

Perhaps I will have to check 'em out when the Revolution comes out.

I liked the old school Zelda games from the NES and Super-NES days.

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There is some confusion about who composed Parasite Eve. I thought it was Mamoru (Joe) Hisaishi. He has a few soundtracks on his web site by that title, and the style is distinctively his.

That said, Xenogears is another nice game soundtrack that I own.

There's a lot of gold out there in the anime and Japanese game soundtracks. Some serious orchestral work went into a lot of these.

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There is some confusion about who composed Parasite Eve. I thought it was Mamoru (Joe) Hisaishi. He has a few soundtracks on his web site by that title, and the style is distinctively his.

That said, Xenogears is another nice game soundtrack that I own.

There's a lot of gold out there in the anime and Japanese game soundtracks. Some serious orchestral work went into a lot of these.

I own the official Parasite Eve soundtrack and Yoko Shimomura is credited distinctly in the booklet and on the back of the CD case. Joe Hisaishi is not mentioned anywhere because he did the soundtrack for the live action Parasite Eve movie...which came before the game anyway:).

from:

http://www.altpop.com/stc/reviews/pevemovie.htm

which says:

Parasite Eve. If you are reading this review, it's almost definite that you know that name because of the video game. You may even be wondering what exactly this CD is that I'm reviewing, because you know the music to said game was written by Yoko Shimomura, not respected anime composer Joe Hisaishi. Well, if you didn't know, Parasite Eve started out as a novel, which the Square game was in essence a sequel to. The novel was also made into a live action movie. The soundtrack to that movie is what I'm reviewing.

Now if you look at the CD time, you'll notice the CD runs just over 27 minutes. This isn't a mistake - the CD is indeed that short, with 6 tracks running from 4 to 5 minutes each. There was also a single released, however I don't know if there was any of the same music on it or not.

But enough about history and time lengths. What really matters is how good the music on the CD is. I'm happy to say that upon first listen it instantly became one of my favorites. Each one of the six tracks is wonderful. There's an overall feeling of darkness in the music, and much of it uses synths, but it never suffers to bore me. And it's interesting to hear the obvious influences that Shimomura had when she wrote the game soundtrack.

This review was so good that I'm going to buy the movie soundtrack! I knew that there was a Parasite Eve book, but not a live action movie. How cool! This confusion brought me to something good.

Thanks MWeiss!

-Evan

Edited by Evan
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lol, what do you expect? He's unparalleled.

<3 Chocobo song!

Lol. I'm a huge fan (see my post on the Nobuo thread), but the whole purpose of me starting this thread was to find out it people like videogame music OUTSIDE of Nobuo's work and if so...what?

That is why the sub-heading for this forum is "stuff OTHER than Nobuo Uematsu" (Read the topic description in the main forum and you will see what I mean...lol).

;).

Despite the fact that we are on the freight train to "off-topic land" I do indeed agree with you that Nobuo is great. Unparalleled....yeah. :).

There are some people that get pretty close though. In fact...Nobuo and Yoko Shimomura worked together with Nobuo on Final Fantasy IV's sountrack a bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Shimomura

She also did the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack, Legend of Mana's soundtrack, and Super Mario RPG.

Yamane Michiru has done work on mostl of the major Castlevania games. I don't think Yamane's music is quite up there with Nobuo...but it is still really darn good.

:)

If you ever get a chance, check either of those composers out. I don't think you would be disappointed.

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Metal Gear Solid- Theme

Metal Gear Solid- The Best is Yet To Come

Duke Nukem- Theme

Final Fantasy (All of the games have countless tracks that I really enjoy listening to)

Parasite Eve Soundtrack

Legend of Dragoon (The beginning song is very beautiful, I suggest downloading if you havn't heard it)

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This review was so good that I'm going to buy the movie soundtrack! I knew that there was a Parasite Eve book, but not a live action movie. How cool! This confusion brought me to something good.

Thanks MWeiss!

-Evan

"Parasite Eve" (Joe Hisaishi's version) is a mixed bag, but some tracks have an infections "techno" rhythm to them, that, although monotonous in some respects, seems to escapet that description in the experience of listening. The melodies of "Aya" share a particular theme which is infectious and pulse-quickening.

Overall, a good work by Hisaishi.

Does everyone know he has an official web site with an English version for international fans?

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"Parasite Eve" (Joe Hisaishi's version) is a mixed bag, but some tracks have an infections "techno" rhythm to them, that, although monotonous in some respects, seems to escapet that description in the experience of listening. The melodies of "Aya" share a particular theme which is infectious and pulse-quickening.

Overall, a good work by Hisaishi.

Does everyone know he has an official web site with an English version for international fans?

Awesome. Have you heard any of the stuff from the Parasite Eve *videogame* soundtrack that Yoko Shimomura composed? If not, that wouldn't be a bad CD to check out.

Nobuo also has an official site for his English speaking fans as well which I think is pretty cool.

-Evan

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Awesome. Have you heard any of the stuff from the Parasite Eve *videogame* soundtrack that Yoko Shimomura composed? If not, that wouldn't be a bad CD to check out.

Nobuo also has an official site for his English speaking fans as well which I think is pretty cool.

-Evan

I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I have the key to your Nintendo Rock N' Roll dreams. It's a band called The Advantage and they just came out with their second album. It's essentially a Nintendo music cover band and their songs are awesome.

Their website: The Advantage

Some MP3's: The Advantage MP3's

My favorite is their cover of the Ninja Gaiden (Level 2 I think) or the Wizards and Warriors Intro (both off of their 1st Album)

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Awesome. Have you heard any of the stuff from the Parasite Eve *videogame* soundtrack that Yoko Shimomura composed? If not, that wouldn't be a bad CD to check out.

Nobuo also has an official site for his English speaking fans as well which I think is pretty cool.

-Evan

No, I don't believe that I have.

The name did show up on a Google search for information about Parasite Eve, but that only served to create some confusion. But learning that there are two distinctly different soundtrack projects, explains this.

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  • 2 months later...
I view Nobuo Uematsu as "classical music engineered for a broad audience."

Anywho, I got one website that I get a lot of great video game music from:

http://ocremix.org.

Somewhat interesting site! Rather similar to my "MIDI Moment" feature on my weekly radio program, Adventures in Anime Music". I did not know there was a devoted cadre of game music rearrangers out there. Some of the arrangements are very listenable and somewhat enchanting. The best ones I've downloaded so far are from Final Fantasy and Xenogears.

I gotta dig out my old Sorcerian MIDIs and work on some arrangements on the Kurzweil synths when I get the time. Have to get a PC running pure DOS, install Sorcerian and hack the game so I can get all the music to play, then pipe the MIDI data to another PC running Cakewalk Sonar and capture it all. Years ago, I ran it through my old Roland CM64 and recorded it to 1/4 track reel to reel tape. I still have that reel to this day.

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Here are a few songs that I especially recommend on OCRemix (assuming you have my same preferences, you likely don't :P):

Megaman X - Dreams Come True

Megaman X - Brainsick Metal

Metal Gear Solid 2 - Metal Gear May Cry

Kingdom Hearts - Above the Rising Falls

Anyway, OCRemix is great. They strive to show that video game remixes can be and should be standalone pieces that aren't just rehashes of the original tunes. They are actually creative in what they do, and really show what productive minds are capable of. :D

By the by, I mostly like those songs because I love the feeling I get from them: a sense of being able to accomplish anything.

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  • 1 month later...

I absolutely love video game music. :dough:

It's really the only contemporary school of music I know of that almost always consistently has strong, recognizable, memorable, evocative melodies as the norm. But alas, it is so under-appreciated. :(

Definitely reccomend checking out:

Yasunori Mitsuda: Chrono Trigger Soundtrack / Xenosaga Soundtrack (has some amazing stuff on it, done by full orchestra.)

Yoko Shimamura: kind of hit or miss. Seems like she oscillates between doing really good soundtracks and doing pretty boring ones. The Super Mario RPG soundtrack is totally rad - everything is so happy and bouncy and cartoony. :lol:

The Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack (done by two people - I forget their names) is consistently very good. It has great Medieval sounding battle music.

The Star Ocean soundtrack (Motoi Sakuraba) has some really cool stuff too.

Anime soundtracks have some great stuff as well. The Inuyasha soundtrack (Kaoru Wada) has some really great character themes, done by a small orchestra.

Yami No Matsui soundtrack is somewhat hit or miss, but they have some really quirky orchestrated pieces, and one fantastic choral piece. And it has a really great sounding version of Tartini's "Devil's Trill" - they added Organ to it. :dough:

The Escaflowne soundtrack by Hajime Mizoguchi is AMAZING. In my opinion, it quite possibly has some of the best orchestra music written within the last 40 years. It's that good. Several of the pieces are immaculate in their perfection.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I play a few WWII shooters and a lot of them have incredible music. To list a few:

Hidden and Dangerous 2

Call of Duty

Medal of Honor: Frontline

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

There are more, too. They all have full orchestra, which is the best type of music, period.

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I'm also a huge fan of Yasunori Mitsuda(Chrono Cross is UNBELIEVABLE!)

Other soundtracks I love:

Secret of Mana

Ecco the Dolphin

Golden Sun

Also, the battle theme in Xenosaga 1 is great. Usually, I could care less about battle themes, but this one really stands out.

And of course, the original theme for Legend of Zelda is a classic.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 years later...

My first post on this board and I choose this topic? One should talk about what one knows best, I suppose. Anyhow, here goes:

1) Yasunori Mitsuda cannot be denied as one of the greats. He came up through Square as a protoge of Uematsu. Besides the actual soundtracks to his games, never forget that Japan usually has the good taste to release an "arranged" version of each quality game soundtrack. The Chrono Trigger arranged album, "Brink of Time", is smooth jazz arrangements that are well done and grew on me over time. Xenogears was his masterpiece, and the arranged album "Creid" is phenomenal. Full band Celtic-style goodness.

2) A much less known composer, but another of my personal favourites is Hiroki Kikuta. He did the Secret of Mana video game (Legend of Mana 2 in Japan). However, I believe his masterwork was a Square game that never made it to America, "Soukaigi". I ordered that CD from Japan sight unseen (sound unheard?) on recommendations and listened to it non-stop during one of my summers home from college. I can't even describe it properly. Find a sample, listen to it and then buy the album. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, he's dropped off the grid and I don't know if he's doing music anymore. I certainly hope so. The last work of his I could find was "Koudelka" which is half terrific, half okay.

3) Okay, this isn't video games, but it is music from the land of the rising sun, and since Joe Hisaishi is getting a lot of good press, I have to put Yoko Kanno out there. She is a woman without genre. She's a jazz pianist, but her compositions span every conceivable type of music. And she does them all deftly. Macross Plus, Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Turn A Gundam, her solo album "Song to Fly", and much more: all of it. Heck, even her writing and producing of J-pop is great. She's done every album for the artist Maaya Sakamoto (voice of the lead character in Escaflowne, BTW), and they're very relaxing and upbeat. It's a lot easier to feel happy about pop songs when you only know the meaning of one word in every twenty. It took me a long time, but I own most of Yoko Kanno's complete works (thankfully imported a ways back with a much stronger dollar). I can't really point to a good representative piece of her's because she is so diverse. However, the first album I ever bought by her was the Macross Plus Soundtrack 1 (so good that JVC did a domestic release). Start there. If I ever have my own private island nation, I've never been able to decide if I would purchase the main theme of Final Fantasy (not the harp one, the other one that shows up in all the credits) or the National Anthem of Macross as my own national anthem.

A couple asides before I go. For those not in the know, Nobuo Uematso left Squaresoft to found a game company of his own along with the original producer of Final Fantasy. It's called Mistwalker Studios and he's done the soundtracks to both games the company has done: "Lost Odyssey" and "Blue Dragon". Definitely worth a listen. Also, Uematsu plays in a hard rock band that plays exclusively arrangements of his Final Fantasy works. They're called The Black Mages and have three albums. Good fun. Personally, I love the Final Fantasy Piano Collection albums. They reduce his soundtracks to their hearts for single piano. These are available for games IV through X. IV, V and VI were originally sold with the song books as a method of piano teaching, so the arrangements are simpler. The complexity increases each album. And VII was put out only a few years ago, being the only game passed over for a piano collection. Fan outcry finally won the day on that one.

Okay, that's enough. I came on this board to learn, but here was a thread that I could contribute to with actual authority backed up by my hundreds of CD's from Japan. I love that country and always have. Seems like all they're interested in doing is working hard and enjoying themselves. Pretty admirable to me. And they turn out darned fine music.

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