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This is the soundtrack to the hit game Zelda: Ocarina of Time released for the Nintendo 64, composed by Koji Kondo, Nintendo’s “music man,” who wrote the music to Mario and a number of other games. Let me clarify that there are two versions to this CD. One is the Japanese version, containing all the… Read More »

Seiken Densetsu 3 (Or to us hopeful’s here in the states: “Secret of Mana 2“) never came out in the US, which is a shame because it is one of Squaresoft’s finest works. Nowadays, the only way to obtain it is to import the cart in its original form, or download a third-party translated ROM.… Read More »

Dear God, the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack takes me back. It takes me back to the days when there was no such thing as an “old-school” gamer because the transition to all-graphics gaming hadn’t become a reality yet. Want to relive those feelings without having to play through that 30-hour game again? Have no fear,… Read More »

Not the most-sought-after soundtrack, but very hard-to-find nonetheless, the Tales of Phantasia OST is a great. Originally recorded for Super Famicom in its latest years, the quality is amazing. Every song has its own “this song fits great in the Tales series” sort of sound. Motoi Sakuraba did a great job with this one. Many… Read More »

Final Fantasy III‘s official arranged album, Legend of the Eternal Wind … What to say? The beginning of every track on this CD begins with some “deep” words (in English) from a man with a “deep” voice. It sort of…oh…sets the mood for each track. With that being said, plucking small portions from the album… Read More »

If you’re a regular shopper for game music and you’re a Final Fantasy fan, you’ve probably seen the contrasting reviews on Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale. A bunch of 5 stars, a 3 star, and a 1 star from a guy who says “avoid this at all costs!” I have actually had serious arguments with… Read More »

Final Fantasy VII was very controversial for its American release. The transition from low-graphic high-storyline to “allegedly low-story” high-graphic was a big deal to most people. Unfortunately, a lot of people who are all anti-FFVII “old-school” will not listen to the music. It is true, Uematsu was only given less than a year to write… Read More »

This CD is an arranged soundtrack from the Nintendo 64 game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. All of the music is from the game except the final track, which contains songs from several other Zelda titles. Overall this is a very good CD, but I have two minor complaints. The first is that… Read More »

The Final Fantasy series has always been one to steal our hearts and capture our imaginations. The tradition continues with the release of Square’s Final Fantasy VIII. The game itself is truly something special on its own. However, add in the music and you get one dynamite game! Composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the Final Fantasy… Read More »

To (almost) every single Final Fantasy OST, there is an arranged counterpart. However, some fail to see what Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite really is. This is the arranged version to the Final Fantasy 1&2 OST (which came on one disc). The music on here came from a live concert recorded in May of 1989, and… Read More »

Editor’s note (3/25/2013): While this album is no longer in print and not available from outlets like Play-Asia and CDJapan, collectors may want to try their luck at the VGMdb Marketplace. Phantasy Star Collection Sound Collection is one of the best arranged CDs that I’ve heard. This is a relatively unknown CD that was released… Read More »

Editor’s note (3/25/2013): While this album is no longer in print and not available from outlets like Play-Asia and CDJapan, collectors may want to try their luck at the VGMdb Marketplace. Phantasy Star Collection Sound Collection II is at the same time an incredible soundtrack and a disappointment. First of all, it’s an amazing soundtrack… Read More »

The music on Piano Collections Final Fantasy IV is quite simplistic, especially compared to the other FF Piano Collections. However, its simplicity calls for a different feeling, and it is still great. Basically, like FFV and VI Piano, this CD was rare as anything (until the reprint). Unless you plan on buying the reprint, the… Read More »

This music is amazing. Purely amazing, I just love this one the most of all of them. Basically, like FF IV & VI Piano, Piano Collections Final Fantasy V is rare as anything, though this is probably the most rare of all. The ONLY place you can get this is on eBay…And it’ll probably cost… Read More »

Piano Collections Final Fantasy VI has the some of the most complex piano music in the FF Piano series, it even beats FFVIII Piano in “The Castle.” Like FFIV-V Piano, this CD is rare as poo-doo in Antarctica (that’s RARE). The ONLY place you can get this is on eBay…And it’ll probably cost ya $350… Read More »

A funny thing occured, to how I got this soundtrack. I had ordered the Lunar: Eternal Blue original Soundtrack from this company that dealt with Japanese game music cds, and they sent me this one instead of the other one. Well to say the least I was disappointed when this wasn’t what I asked for,… Read More »

If you’ve read my previous soundtrack reviews, you will read about how it is close to my favorite, but that its position in my “favorites” listing would change with the release of the Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack. This way, you knew that I had VERY HIGH expectations for this soundtrack. Just so you know, this… Read More »

This CD is awesome. Purely spectacular. It deserves more praise-like adjectives than I can think of. That might be prejudice, seeing as I am a fan of both Celtic music and Final Fantasy music…So there you have it. If you like Celtic music or Final Fantasy music, this CD is for you. Even if you… Read More »

Square’s Final Fantasy Anthology included a music CD in addition to a pair of classic RPGs. The inclusion of this CD was touted by Square as a way of making up for not having Final Fantasy 4 as part of the package. When the CD’s track list was announced, some people were disappointed when they… Read More »

Genso Suikoden OGS was a phenomenal breakthrough for Konami, marking a spot for them in what seemed to be a new style of VGM in itself…Impossible to describe, but great to listen to. If you have played a significant amount of Suikoden, you should know that you are not only in the majority of RPG… Read More »

This CD is the arranged soundtrack to Genso Suikoden II: Orrizonte (sometimes listed as “Pure Melodies”, though Orrizonte translates from Italian to the word “horizon”). The CD has a very Celtic/traditional folk feeling to it, and has been compared as a rival to Xenogears: CREID. However, rather than a rival, it just so happens that… Read More »

Suikoden II‘s complete original game soundtrack spans four discs (that’s four times the size that the game comes in). While there are plenty of “remake” tracks from the original Suikoden, there is also plenty of new music to keep Suikoden fans coming back for more. I would have to say that, above all other things,… Read More »

Of all the Suikoden soundtracks I’ve heard so far, this one is probably my favorite. And why would that be the case? Well, that’s because this soundtrack contains nearly all of the best tracks from the Suikoden series. And this is all coming from a game that probably will never make it to American shores.… Read More »

Final Fantasy Vocal Collections I -Pray- is the first of two vocal soundtracks that Square released for Final Fantasy I–VI. Basically, tracks are taken from the first 6 FFs and arranged for vocals. This soundtrack is simply incredible. It’s hard to describe the feeling you get when you hear your favorite songs SUNG… but it’s… Read More »

“The Shenmue Orchestra Version soundtrack can be summed up in one word: AWESOME. Imagine some of the greatest orchestrated pieces ever created, sprinkle a bit of eastern culture on top, and you come up with the music that’s on this CD. There’s a total of just over 37 minutes of music on the CD, and… Read More »