The soundtracks for Izuna and Izuna 2 were published together in a special-order two disc set from Success. For whatever reason, Success and Ninja Studio have decided to withhold any and all information about the game’s sound team. The games themselves don’t seem to have the information in any “end credits” sequence, and the composer(s) are not listed on any official sites, nor on the packaging for the actual soundtrack. We don’t know if it was one person or many, if the sound team for the first and second game remained the same or changed. We know nothing, and that’s quite frustrating.
If the score to these games were mediocre, maybe I wouldn’t care so much about who composed it. However, it just so happens that the music to the Izuna games are some of the best I’ve ever heard for a DS game. I was shocked, but the fact of the matter is that this music is extremely catchy. I’m a little surprised that Atlus USA didn’t publish any sort of compilation soundtrack for these games, considering how many bonus soundtracks they put out for their localized games.
The soundtrack sports plenty of East Asian ethnic influence. Sometimes, it feels like a blatant theft of Koichi Sugiyama’s “Shiren the Wanderer” music; generally, however, Izuna’s music is much more “contemporary,” with the percussion and rhythm. There is far less silence, less pauses or breaks in the music, than the Shiren soundtracks. It’s no wonder that the music, at times, reflects Shiren, since Izuna is another roguelike dungeon crawler with an East Asian setting.
At first, I was not sure if I had a preference between the two discs. But I have made my decision and my judgment: disc one is better than disc two. The two discs are the OSTs for Izuna and Izuna 2, respectively. I think that the dungeons being broken into different “levels” in the first Izuna, allowing for a musical progression as one descended further into that dungeon, really helped with this soundtrack’s continuity. The final dungeon, “Singularity,” has some especially memorable music.
The second disc has a few tracks that I must describe as “filler.” I felt like every song on disc one was a Grade A winner, but the second disc had its share of Grade B (and C) tracks mixed in. That said, the tracks that do shine on disc two are quite memorable, and very enjoyable to the ear. Again, the rhythm (enhanced by all manner of percussive sounds) is what makes Izuna’s music stand out most to me.
If you want this soundtrack, head to VGM World while they’re still in stock. If they run out of stock, direct orders from Success are the way to go. You may need a middleman service like Shopping Mall Japan to facilitate the order if you live outside of Japan. I highly recommend owning this obscure, catchy compilation from my favorite new anonymous composer(s).
