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!
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.
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.
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:).
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.
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).
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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.
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.
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?
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Here are a few songs that I especially recommend on OCRemix (assuming you have my same preferences, you likely don’t ):
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.
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.
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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