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Note: “Gyakuten Saiban” is known in America as “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.” The literal translation is “Judicial Reversal”, and “Yomigaeru Gyakuten” can be translated as “Reversal Revival” or “Revival of the Reversal.” A special-order item from Capcom, the Yomigaeru Gyakuten soundtrack contains all 27 tracks from the first disc of the “Gyakuten Saiban 1&2 Original… Read More »

Konami’s Tokimeki Memorial is one of the premiere games in the dating-simulator genre; a genre that has pretty much stayed in Japan. Tokimeki Memorial shares something in common with traditional RPGs in that you have to micromanage your character’s development in a variety of statistics in order to woo a particular girl. Fancy the girl… Read More »

You probably haven’t ever heard of (much less played) Depth Fantasia, Asia’s Enix-published MMORPG. One reason for this may be because of the game’s unpopularity. In 2005, Enix shut down the servers for the game, so it’s probably not being played by…anyone, now. As for the game’s quality and fun factor, I wouldn’t know. I… Read More »

So you think you’ve heard all that Koichi Sugiyama has to offer from Dragon Quest. You’ve heard his compositions in Brass, on Electone, on Koto, even put to lyrics. His works have been performed by NHK, the London Philharmonic, and the Hungarian Philharmonic. Now, get ready for pure class, as Sugiyama takes all your favorite… Read More »

Of all the months in 2005, I can already safely say that none of them will have as much hype as August did. During the second to last week in the month, the “big five” soundtracks were released (Grandia III, Shadow Hearts:FTNW, Near Death Experience, FFXI: The Star Onions, and Tales of Legendia). Of the… Read More »

Let’s begin this review by making a few clarifying statements. A great number of online shops advertised this single as an FFXII single. This is only a half-truth. The FFXII theme song is called “Kiss Me Good-Bye,” and is found only on the DVD portion of this single. Hence, if you purchase the regular edition,… Read More »

Nobuo Uematsu, Kenji Ito, Hiroki Kikuta, and Yasunori Mitsuda represent Square’s first generation of composers. They helped to shape game music from an amorphous, unfocused mass into a viable art form independent of other genres. All of these, as well as a few others, have since left Squaresoft to either work freelance or fade into… Read More »

Front Mission 4 was Hidenori Iwasaki’s first composing project. It was a very impressive first effort; he proved more than adequate for the task of composing for one of Square Enix’s major franchises. Front Mission 5 ~Scars of the War~ was also given mainly to Iwasaki, and it represents both the progression of his style… Read More »

Note: the limited edition includes a bonus music video version of “In The Sky.” Click on this link to watch the music video, which includes scenes from Grandia III. Performed by pop star miz, the Grandia III theme song single “In The Sky” is one that I frankly do not care for. These are standard… Read More »

Noriyuki Iwadare has never let Grandia fans down. Even the soundtrack to Grandia Xtreme was excellent (although the game wasn’t). The newest soundtrack, Grandia III, does not disappoint. Fans of Iwadare will be pleased to know that he still has the “Grandia feel” down pat. GIII isn’t quite as spectacular as the original Grandia, but… Read More »

Already an obscure find after only two years on the market (thanks to DigiCube’s fallout), the Hanjuku Hero VS 3D OST is not the sort of album you purchase for pure musical enjoyment. Its value comes through its quirkiness, its humorous references to Final Fantasy tunes, and, on the third disc, its powerful and nostalgic… Read More »

The “Colors” single, while not relevant to any videogame on its own, does contain the English version of “Hikari,” called “Simple and Clean.” this song was used in the American version of Kingdom Hearts, and that’s why we’re talking about it. (In case you were interested in my thoughts about “Colors”—the song is not on… Read More »

Hikaru Utada has been described by fans as a no-nonsense non-Western version of an American pop star. Take Britney Spears, cut out all the weird stuff with that Kevin guy, add decent lyrics, give her the ability to write her own songs: you’ve got Hikaru Utada. The young lady previously recorded both the English and… Read More »

I wasn’t too great a fan of the original Kingdom Hearts, nor its music. It often felt too understated or quiet, too willing to be soft and boring. Little outside of the opening song caught my attention, and it’s a shame too, since music is such a huge part of what makes a game. Thankfully,… Read More »

Released in America by Working Designs as Vanguard Bandits, Epica Stella was a PS1 RPG that managed to slip under the radar of many gamers. Not that I know much about the game, but I am certainly familiar with its soundtrack. Let’s talk about it. First of all, there are a fair number of vocal… Read More »

Even one listen through Hiroshi Fujioka‘s score for Growlanser III will reveal one simple truth to the listener: Fujioka likes to use strings. He likes to use them a lot. In fact, Fujioka seems to like all of the traditional western instruments found in an orchestra. Unfortunately for Fujioka, Growlanser III didn’t make use of… Read More »

Growlanser was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare. Growlanser II and III were composed by Hiroshi Fujioka. Growlanser IV brings us to our third composer for the series, Tomoyuki Hamada. Dare I say that this is the best Growlanser soundtrack yet? No, I cannot deny the genius of Iwadare. But Hamada sure beat the pants off of… Read More »

Released around the same time as Sakura Taisen 2, Red and Konami brought Mitsumete Knight to Japan. The game had elements of gameplay similar to the Sakura Taisen series and dating sims such as Tokimeki Memorial. It also had music from three relatively unknown composers who took a courageous move in attempting to create this… Read More »

Editor’s Note: Thanks to “Ogawa Burukku” of Strawberry Sherbert for allowing us to use excerpted portions of her review for this special box set at RPGFan. While the collection covers not only game vocals but also vocals from various anime episodes and live performances, we at RPGFan felt it fitting to cover the box set… Read More »

Sakura Taisen 3 Music Collection Paris Music Hall is the soundtrack to the third major installment of the Japanese anime, mecha RPG Sakura Taisen series from Sega/Overworks. Sakura Taisen 3 ~Is Paris Burning?~ is composed by the Japanese music composer Kouhei Tanaka (composer of the Alundra Original Soundtrack). Ever since playing Sakura Taisen Atsuki Chishio… Read More »

Bonjour! Welcome to Paris! Take in all the sights and sounds, and enjoy your stay. What’s that you say? You didn’t expect to hear Japanese imperial ballads in Paris? Then clearly you haven’t exposed yourself thoroughly enough to Red Entertainment’s “Sakura Taisen” (Sakura Wars) series. In the series’ third title, “Is Paris Burning?”, the Teikoku… Read More »

Sakura Taisen 4 ~Maidens, Fall in Love~ is the fourth title in the popular Japanese Sakura Taisen series from Sega/Overworks. Composed by Kouhei Tanaka, this is fourth installment he has worked on. The soundtrack comprises of 17 tracks, 5 tracks being Bonus Tracks (the last 5). The soundtrack has 2 vocal songs, the Declaration! Imperial… Read More »

Co-developed by Red (Sakura Taisen) and Atlus (Shin Megami Tensei), this traditional RPG / dating sim title that somehow managed to reach the US was one of the most unqiue PS1 titles I have ever played. Atlus was also kind enough to package together a soundtrack CD as part of a limited bonus for Americans… Read More »

KID is a Japanese game developer well known for their excellent love adventure games. One of their more compelling series is called Infinity, which includes the likes of Never7 and Ever17. The characters and plots in these games are not connected in any way, but some elements remain true, such as intellectually stimulating storylines and… Read More »

The Ever17 vocal collection is a collection of songs from a bunch of vocal singles released in a two year span. “LeMU ~Far Away Continent of Lemuria~” and “Aqua Stripe” are the two vocal numbers that are used in the game itself. A nice addition to this soundtrack is the instrumental versions of “LeMU ~Far… Read More »