If you haven’t been following their work over on YouTube, Square Enix has been championing the VGM community with their aptly named SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Channel (no, you don’t need to shout that). There are two thousand-plus videos with everything from mood playlists to orchestra concerts to “Video Soundtracks”—entire classic game soundtracks paired with clips of their in-game contexts. Another staple of the channel is professional arrangements and covers by a wide variety of global musicians. Debuting at Tokyo Game Show 2025, Guitar Cover Collection from SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Channel is… well, I think the title explains it.
The fifteen tracks on Guitar Cover Collection span over 35 years of Square Enix history, highlighting popular songs from fan-favourite series, the most “niche” perhaps being SaGa. Despite the breadth of composers, games, and arrangers/musicians collected, the album maintains a tonal consistency, warm and comforting with more than a dash of Spanish influences. The fingerstyle guitar performances are at times astounding, and so I will link each song discussed to the original YouTube video so you can see the magic at play.
The first three tracks span Chrono Trigger covered by Mitsuhiro Ohta, whose guitar-playing has appeared on titles like Shadow Hearts, Final Fantasy XV, and the recent Octopath Traveler 0. “Wind Scene” has a haunting, echoing opening that makes me think of a windswept plain. It moves through escalating repetitions of the unforgettable overworld theme from early in the game.
“Robo’s Theme” is a fun choice considering the song is so often written off as stealing from Rick Astley (unrelated point: PlayStation 8 reveal trailer here!!!). Well, I for one am glad Square Enix is never gonna give “Robo’s Theme” up. The cover is energetic, bright, and brings forth the, err, non-Astley melody in the middle to really highlight this track’s lasting worth.
“Peaceful Days” is an unsurprising favourite given the nostalgia of the original and how it opens Chrono Trigger. Ohta’s playing wraps the slow melody around you like a hug, with the fingerstyle variations altering the tempo and emotional heights of the song with each refrain.
Next, “Bejeweled City in Ruins” (Legend of Mana) is a slower, more sultry take on the Yoko Shimomura original. I do feel like some of the original’s mystery is lost here, though I like the guitar replacing the twinkling piano. Perhaps arranger/performer Seiji Igusa was trying to evoke a sense of hopelessness.
“Gather Up the Night Stars” (Xenogears) brings Ohta back with a very romantic, flamenco-inspired, mature take on a rather cutesy song. This is one of the strongest tracks on the album, both in how its arrangement draws new emotions from its source material and in its impassioned playing. For the most part, Guitar Cover Collection lets you intimately hear every scrape of the strings and every tap on the guitar’s body echoing in the recording booth. That closeness works very well here.
A string of Final Fantasy favourites follows, starting with “Eternal Wind,” the iconic overworld theme from FFIII. Igusa’s solo guitar arrangement here balances the uptempo fore and background melodies without feeling overwhelming or like any aspect is lost. “Melodies of Life ~ Final Fantasy” (Final Fantasy IX) is Igusa’s best work here, as the original lends itself perfectly to a slow, pensive guitar that culminates in the FF series’ iconic main melody. Seiji Igusa plays wonderfully, though his arrangements stick a little too close to the source material and thus feel like comfort food on the album.
Arranger/performer Toru Tabei takes the next two on Guitar Cover Collection: “Besaid” (Final Fantasy X), which by nature veers from the watery, electro-ambient original, and “Blinded By Light” (Final Fantasy XIII), a high-energy battle track. It’s impressive how Tabei maintains the driving chords in “Besaid” and manages to creatively dance around them with the song’s other components. The beachy quality of FFX is retained, but the recording feels so raw here, similar to the redone acoustic tracks in the FFX HD Remaster. “Blinded By Light” explores its melody from a variety of tempos, tapping along, slowing down, stripping away the chords, muting the strings, and so on.
The SaGa parade kicks off with Romancing SaGa 2’s “Encounter with the Seven Heroes,” trading Kenji Ito’s operatic battle theme with a cover that would make for a fine opening cinematic of recounting an old legend. It’s slower, more pensive, and filled with lingering expectation. Next, “Battle #5” (SaGa Frontier) is one of only two tracks featuring two performers—arranger Sorao Mori joined by Zenya Sakata. It’s appropriately speedy, with restless tremolo and quick chord strumming, and has trading solos not found in the original.
“Mißgestalt” (SaGa Frontier 2) is propelled by its bass notes and the escalating, rhythmic tapping. Like the other Toru Tabei arrangements on Guitar Cover Collection, this one feels starkly different from the original, highlighting its underappreciated elements.
Moving on, LIVE A LIVE is represented with “Birds Fly, Fish Swim,” originally a traditional Chinese myth-coded song, now interpreted as a dusty Western theme. This is the other track with Mori and Sakata’s dual guitars, and again, they allow themselves a very tasty solo in the song’s middle section. The trotting speed of this one is fun and would fit perfectly in, say, a Wild ARMs game.
Finally, the NieR series is represented by arranger/performer Takanori Goto, first with NieR (Replicant/Gestalt’s) “Song of the Ancients / Fate.” This is a slow, gentle take that loses the original’s pounding drums and female vocals. It builds in passion and tempo into its repeated, blazing refrain, and really stands out as a unique interpretation you could nonetheless imagine appearing in-game.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Square Enix album if it didn’t include NieR: Automata’s “Weight of the World.” The catchiness of this song’s melody is always undeniable, even if the absence of J’Nique Nicole’s vocals has let me down in the past. Still, this version sits close to the original’s quality for me. This is a quiet, tasteful cover, gospel-like at times, that seeks to soothe rather than surprise.
Guitar Cover Collection from SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Channel is an earful as much as its title is a mouthful. VGM diehards will go gaga for its well-curated setlist, and the beautiful, tonally consistent performances also make it an easy recommendation to any general listener. With how accessible Square Enix is making their music, this is yet another incredible gateway into a world of RPG music, and an album that’s already been on heavy rotation while I’m cooking, writing, or looking forlornly across a windswept plain.
My favourite tracks include “Gather Up the Night Stars,” “Melodies of Life ~ Final Fantasy,” and “Birds Fly, Fish Swim.” You can purchase or stream Guitar Cover Collection digitally.
