One of Neverland’s first RPGs to be localized outside the Taito branding was a GBA RPG known in North America as CIMA: The Enemy. The original title of this game, in Japan, was “Frontier Stories.” The soundtrack to this game is extremely hard to find, as it was distributed as a LE/preorder bonus with the game in Japan.
But it features Neverland’s composer Tomoko Morita, as well as Taito’s Yasunori Shiono and Yukio Nakajima (from Lufia and other Taito/Neverland RPGs). That’s a star-studded cast for anyone who wants classic RPG tunes. So, is this ridiculously obscure soundtrack worth hunting down? That’s question I’d asked myself for years, until I finally got my chance to hear it.
The answers are here, and what I’ve learned is that, to be sure, there’s a reason this soundtrack didn’t get a retail release. It’s not bad music, no, but there’s just enough substance to have made it a worthwhile published soundtrack. There are some cool battle themes that double as character themes (see, for example, “Xenox”). But there are only two or three really strong tracks like these, and maybe one or two memorable tracks that run at a slow/mid tempo and soft/mid dynamic range.
The last five tracks are drama tracks with music from the OST portion mixed in; there may be some slightly higher quality synth arrangers worked into the drama portion. But a lot of it is that sequenced MIDI tinny sound typical of GBA music.
Only the most hardcore fans of Shiono’s work will want to procure this CD. Everyone else, just take my word for it, you’re better off getting something related to Lufia (Estpolis).
