Archives

If you read my scathing review for the Spectral Force “Lovely Wickedness” soundtrack (which was actually printed after this second one), you may be surprised to find that I have much better things to say about this soundtrack. However, if you are surprised, you shouldn’t be: look up. See that? Kobayashi only contributed two songs… Read More »

One of Idea Factory’s earliest RPGs was Spectral Tower, the first game in a long line of games with “Spectral” as part of the title. This soundtrack is an extreme rarity, but its obscurity doesn’t match the quality. That’s right, it’s another mediocre soundtrack from Idea Factory. Though, we shouldn’t really say “another,” should we?… Read More »

Before Lantis took over publishing soundtracks for the SRT series, one of First Smile’s last soundtracks printed was very likely its best. This collection contains 17 OST version songs from various anime, and 8 well-arranged themes unique to the SRT series, some unique to the Alpha subseries. There are probably about a dozen versions of… Read More »

For over 15 years, the Super Robot Taisen franchise has grown. It’s a well established series in Japan, but it was virtually unknown here until 2006 when Atlus released the Original Generation games to give Americans a taste of the series. The original series started back on the Game Boy and ended roughly around the… Read More »

I’ve always liked the SRT series music, but I grew tired of hearing the same songs in many games. I suppose that is to be expected since they are anime theme songs, but listening through many SRT soundtracks in one go would probably make anyone grow weary of them. I sometimes thought it would be… Read More »

Hey, check it out, it’s another Super Robot Taisen album! The history behind this one is pretty complicated. Super Robot Taisen “F” was a remake of SRT4, but then it was remade again as “F Final.” F Final had two albums released for it, the Gold and Silver albums. Gold has vocal and instrumental arrangements,… Read More »

Of all the Super Robot Taisen soundtracks, perhaps none is more dominated by anime themes than the “F” (Final) OST. With a few exceptions (such as the arranged tracks), everything up to track 35 is anime music. However, the original tracks at the end, as well as their early arranged counterparts, have gone on to… Read More »

Super Robot Taisen “The Lord of Elemental” (Masoukishin) was a game released late in the lifetime of the Super Famicom. The game focused on the story of La Gias, the world within the center of the planet, and the protagonist was Masaki Andoh, who pilots the Cybuster. Unlike most SRT games, which use super-deformed cartoony… Read More »

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to Ichiro Mizuki? He is, truly, the king of mecha theme songs. In particular, he seems to be the key representative for the Mazinger series and other really old mecha series themes. Other than Cybuster, which is an SRT original, all the songs here are from other anime.… Read More »

The second SRT vocal collection is much like the first: more classic mecha anime theme songs, more Ichiro Mizuki, more ’70s (and now ’80s!) goodness. But, there are some lovely additions on this disc. You should first notice that this album has two discs. The second disc, of course, is nothing more than the karaoke… Read More »

Note: “Cockpit no Hagane” means “Steel Cockpit,” but also refers to the cockpit of one of the main battleships in the SRT series, named the Hagane. Occasionally, a vocal album for the Super Robot Taisen series gets released. Most of the time, it features vocal versions from various anime themes with spiffy arrangements. Other vocal… Read More »

Hooray for Chinese RPGs! This sequel to a well-recognized Chinese RPG, brought to Japan by our friends at Nihon Falcom, has something really special going for it. It tells the tale that Koei’s been re-telling for decades in their “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” games: the story of China at the end of the Han… Read More »

I had high expectations for this album. The original music is composed by the UserJoy team (in China), but these Super Arrange albums are the work of the in-house Falcom team. And, unlike the first game’s SAV, which was entirely too short, this album was advertised as “full length.” There was a lot to be… Read More »

Prior to playing Ys Origin, I was initially looking forward to hearing the game’s music more than playing the game. Despite playing Wanderers of Ys long ago, Ark of Naphishtim is what got me interested in the series and its music. After playing the excellent Oath in Felghana, it made me into an Ys fan,… Read More »

This being the definitive Kingdom Hearts soundtrack collection, I would be remiss in not writing the definitive Kingdom Hearts soundtrack review, and therefore I’m going to cover all three games, giving due attention to each (although many tracks are repeated at least once). Tracks almost universally fall into one of three categories: world themes, used… Read More »

Back in November, Wild Arms: The Vth Vanguard’s opening single “Justice to Believe” was released. The vocalist is a well-known voice actress and singer named Nana Mizuki. Along with the opening song, we also get another one of her songs, “Blue Color” which is a pretty cool bonus. There is not much I can say… Read More »

Wild Arms has remained unique series from the land of the rising sun. It’s the only JRPG I know of that comes with a strong, country-western theme. Another thing that makes the series stand out is Michiko Naruke’s excellent composition. Not only did she capture the Western feeling extremely well, a lot of her songs… Read More »

A few weeks after the first, the second and final volume of Wild Arms: The Vth Vanguard (aka Wild Arms 5) was released. I still do not understand why they split the soundtrack in two like that (probably to make money), but regardless, Masato Kouda and Noriyasu Agematsu are back. While the soundtrack still remains… Read More »

I’ve been a fan of the Harvest Moon (Bokujou Monogatari) series for quite a while. I remember my first HM game was the Nintendo 64 version. I got addicted to the game, and before I knew it, three years have passed (in-game), and I’d beaten it. My personal favorite title in the series is Harvest… Read More »

Level 5’s first PSP project is, strangely, a re-telling of the life and events of Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc). Though I regularly trust Level 5, and have really enjoyed music from their usual composer (Tomohito Nishiura), I was surprised to see a new face (Takeshi Inoue) accompany this new project. Despite the change in… Read More »

I can’t believe Pokémon still has a strong following. The new DS games, Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, made record sales in Japan, topping the original titles (and old record-holders) Red and Blue. What I once thought (and hoped) to be a long-dead fad has continued to grow and change along with the rest of Nintendo’s… Read More »

Ah, good ol’ Pokémon. Almost a decade ago, it was a huge phenomenon in the states; now, we moved on, and don’t care much for it any more. The anime started off well, but now, there is way too much filler that goes nowhere and countless repetition (I mean, how many times can you blast… Read More »

Known to English-speaking fans as the “Pocket Monsters Game Boy Sound Collection,” the album actually sports a rather lengthy title that doesn’t translate very well into English. The idea is that the your little Poké-friends are coming out to play with you while you listen to the CD. The source music for this soundtrack is… Read More »

I was originally disappointed when the Riviera Full Arrange Soundtrack was released and did not contain a copy of the original Game Boy Advance soundtrack, particularly as both Minako Adachi and Shigeki Hayashi had managed to fit some impressive music into a handheld game that already featured advanced graphics and voice acting. However, after their… Read More »

The latest contribution to the Harvest Moon series is a title that breaks the traditional mold by adding a “fantasy” element (sword-wielding, magic, and the like). Entitled “Rune Factory ~Shin Bokujou Monogatari~” (New Farm Story), the game has already received high marks from Japanese reviewers, including Famitsu (33/40). The new and interesting style to the… Read More »