VG Frequency

Eleven years ago, Akihiko Mori passed away from cancer. Even though his last work was in 1996, he to this day stands as one of my favorite VGM composers of all time.

Works featured in this post:

• Gokinjo Bouken Tai (SNES)
• Kidou Senshi Z Gundam: Away to the Newtype (SNES)
• Mystic Ark (SNES)
• Shien’s Revenge (SNES)
• Wonder Project J: Mechanical Boy Pino (SNES)
• Wonder Project J2: Josette of Corlo Forest (SNES)

full list of works

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Mori worked at a company called Mint, which did sound development for video games. Thus, in addition to composing for some games, he also adapted music for the SNES sound driver developed by Mint. Two such games, Bounty Sword and Lennus II: Fuuin no Shito (Lennus II: Apostles of the Seals, Japan-only sequel to Paladin’s Quest), were composed by veteran game and anime composer Kouhei Tanaka, and actually have rather decent orchestral soundtracks. The over fourteen minute staff roll from Lennus II is particularly impressive.

But I guess maybe I should go on with Mori’s own compositions?

“Land Exploration”
Kidou Senshi Z Gundam: Away to the Newtype (SNES)

“bon voyage! ~ Come On! To the Skies! Medley”
arranged from Wonder Project J2: Josette of Corlo Forest (N64)

“Mountain”
Gokinjo Bouken Tai (SNES)

I could devote an entire post just to Gokinjo Bouken Tai’s soundtrack, one of the very best the SNES has to offer, but I’ll limit myself to one more track. Mori’s battle themes stand out to me as some of the best done by any composer, with the normal battle theme from GBT leading them all with its jazz stylings and madcap energy.

“Battle”
Gokinjo Bouken Tai (SNES)

“Bad Dream”
Shien’s Revenge (SNES)
co-composed with Tsukushi Sasaki

Overall, Mori’s battle theme work shines brightest in Mystic Ark, the Japan-only sequel to The 7th Saga. Mystic Ark is one of three games Mori composed to receive a soundtrack release, but unfortunately the album is marred by a defect, a hiss in the left channel audio.

“Hey! Don’t Attack Me!”
Mystic Ark (SNES)

“Your Fighting Eyes Are Always Beautiful”
Mystic Ark (SNES)

“Are You the True Form of Darkness?”
Mystic Ark (SNES)

I suppose it’s rather cliché to leave the ending themes for last, but this is a post in memory of one of my all-time favorites, so I’m going to get as sappy as I want to.

“Ending”
Shien’s Revenge (SNES)
co-composed with Tsukushi Sasaki

“Ending”
Wonder Project J: Mechanical Boy Pino (SNES)

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was a game company named Toaplan. They made quite a few games in the 80’s and early 90’s, like Snow Bros. - Nick & Tom and Zero Wing (known for the “All your base are belong to us meme). Most of the games they created were, like Zero Wing, shmups.

In 1994, Toaplan declared bankruptcy, but its employees went to form other companies, like CAVE, known for its flamingly difficult bullet hell shmups like those in the DonPachi and Mushihime-sama series. Another company formed from the remnants of Toaplan is 8ing/Raizing, which made shmups early on, but has recently focused on fighting games like the Naruto: Clash of Ninja and Bleach: Heat the Soul series.

Where am I going with this? Well, Atsuhiro Motoyama was one of 8ing/Raizing’s composers, and he’s the subject of this Composer Spotlight. Let’s dance.

Works featured in this post:

• Digital Champ (TurboGrafx-16)
• Dimahoo (Arcade)
• Kururin Paradise (Game Boy Advance)
• Maruan Series 1: Umihara Kawase Shun ~Second Edition~ (PlayStation)
• Sorcer Striker (Arcade)

full list of works

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Motoyama’s music can be very roughly partitioned into two groups, corresponding to the two different types of games he’s worked on. The first is the “laid-back” style, the tracks of which are generally slower and more melody- or groove-oriented.

“Flower Land 3″
Kururin Paradise (Game Boy Advance)

“BGM 2″
Maruan Series 1: Umihara Kawase Shun ~Second Edition~ (PlayStation)
co-composed with Shinji Tachikawa

The “laid-back” style generally corresponds to the games that are more, well, laid-back. Games like Ganbare! Golf Boys and those in the Kururin and Umihara Kawase series are all generally easy-going, and so have easy-going soundtracks to match. Even though I say that all these soundtracks fall into one style, as shown by the samples above, the actual pieces of music can sound quite different. The songs of Umihara Kawase and Maruan Series 1: Umihara Kawase Shun ~Second Edition~ is all very light like the sample above, while those of Kuru Kuru Kururin and Kururin Paradise are more varied, ranging from bouncy, happy songs to darker ones like the sample.

Then again, games from which you’d expect more upbeat or driving tracks also fall into this style. Motoyama’s tracks in Beastorizer, a fighting game perhaps more familiarly known as Bloody Roar in its PlayStation port and subsequent sequels, are also not high octane pumpfests, but more grooving, albeit with some majestic flares. And Digital Champ, a boxing game, has an exceptionally mellow and groovy soundtrack.

Track 5
Digital Champ (TurboGrafx-16)

And the other style, in contrast to “laid-back,” is, well, not laid back. The tracks, while not necessarily faster, tend to be more tense, more driving, and so on. The other commonality these soundtracks have is that they all belong to shmups developed by 8ing/Raizing.

“SORCER STRIKER (Stage 1 BGM)”
Sorcer Striker (Arcade)

“THUNDER STORM ~ Stage 5″
Dimahoo (Arcade)
co-composed with Ken-ichi Koyano

Despite shmups only comprising a third of Motoyama’s total game output, of the five soundtracks of his that have had album releases, three belong to shmups. His music on CDs doesn’t adequately show his full range of music, so my secondary motive behind this spotlight was to show off some of his other material.

Alternate title: “Sales Pitch #2: Koichi Namiki”

Works featured in this post:

• Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu 2 (PlayStation)
• GuitarFreaks (PlayStation)
• Rail Chase (Arcade)
• Super Hang-On (Arcade)
• Thunder Blade (Arcade)

full list of works

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Koichi “Mickey” Namiki (who has also had the nickname “Pretty K.N”) is an oddly system-specific composer. He’s also old guard as far as video game composers go, starting in 1987 with the game Super Hang-On, which he composed with Katsuhiro “Funky K.H” Hayashi and Shigero “Recruit O” Ohwada. For eight years, he composed solely arcade games, mostly ones published by Sega.

“Winning Run”
Super Hang-On (Arcade)

“Type II (BGM2)”
Thunder Blade (Arcade)

The soundtracks to many of Namiki’s older games have the same style: they’re not the strongest in the melody department, but they have enough hooks to get through the song and just groove along. Rail Chase stands as the most notable exception with its almost adventure movie-style score.

“Stages 1 & 4″
Rail Chase (Arcade)

Starting with 3D Shooting Maker in 1996 and reaching until his most recent game credit, Akudaikan 2 in 2003, he composed solely for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 systems, with the exception of 2002’s Magides Fight for the Xbox. Even though he composed more games during this second time period, fewer of those games were released in the U.S. or even had soundtrack releases.

Namiki was a member of the S.S.T. Band, Sega’s official band composed partially of Sega composers who played rock arrangements of different songs from Sega games. He was one of two guitarists in the band (the other was Jouji Iijima, who composed the soundtracks to Galaxy Force II and Zero 4 Champ RR), and played for the full five years that the band was active. In some of his later compositions, Namiki wields his mighty axe.

“Dream One”
Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu 2 (PlayStation)
vocals by Shoji Koganezawa

“J-STAFF”
GuitarFreaks (PlayStation)

I did mention in the first line of this post that this should be called “Sales Pitch #2,” so let’s get to that. Over the past couple of years, Sega’s Wave Master sound development studio has released soundtracks to classic Sega video games, such as the Monster World and OutRun series. They have also started the “SOUND!SHOCK SERIES” of albums, the first of which was released this month, SUPER HANG-ON 20th Anniversary Collection. In addition to the soundtracks of Hang-On and Super Hang-On (of which Namiki composed three tracks, including “Winning Run” above), the album also includes five new arrangements, one by Hiroshi “Hiro” Miyauchi and four by Namiki, all of which rock.

The second album in the series, Galaxy Force II & Thunder Blade Original Soundtrack, is set to be released on the 26th of this month. I mentioned Galaxy Force II and Jouji Iijima, its composer, earlier; its style of music is actually quite similar to Thunder Blade’s. This album will have another four arrangements by Miyauchi and Namiki. Both albums are available from VGM World, along with the ten disc Game Sound Legend Series Box 2 ~Platinum Box~, which contains the soundtrack to Bonanza Bros. and many, many more games.

Play-Asia.com has the GUITAR FREAKS 2nd MIX ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK, which consists mostly of tracks from GuitarFreaks 2nd Mix, but also has three tracks from the original GuitarFreaks, all written by Namiki, as well as extended versions of each. Also available is SEGACON: The Best of SEGA Game Music - Vol. 1, which also contains the soundtrack to Super Hang-On, as well as those of other older Sega games.

Finally, CDJapan might have a copy of Bakusou Dekotora Densetsu 2 ~Otoko Jinsei Yume Ichiro~ Original Soundtrack. (”Usually ships within 3-7 days” means that CDJapan doesn’t know if the distributor has any in stock, but if they do, it’ll take about 3-7 business days to ship.) The tracks are all vocal like the sample above, and there are four vocalists other than Shoji Koganezawa.

“Come on, CHz. What do you think you’re doing, dude? Everyone knows who S.S.H is. He’s that badass doujin remixer dude from Japan who slings the best guitar synths in the business and totally rocks out VGM covers. You can’t just talk about stuff that’s not original game material.”

That’s why we’re going to be talking about stuff that’s original game material!

Works featured in this post:

• Lost Child (PC)
• Sixty Nine 2 (PC)

full list of works

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ll just come clean and say that S.S.H’s original game compositions sound, well, just like all his other songs: thrashing guitars, smooth synth melodies, etc. The difference is that, instead of having nostalgia for his tracks to rest their laurels on, they stand fully on original material.

And, of course, they still completely rock. This is S.S.H we’re talking about, after all.

“Fly High”
Sixty Nine 2 (PC)

Of course, in regard to both his remixes and original pieces, not all of S.S.H’s tracks are synthrockin’, high-flying (see what I did there) power extravaganzas. For example, “Crying” on LOST CHILD ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK FROM S.S.H SIDE-A and “Into the Noize Ocean” on Sixty Nine 2 ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK FROM Saitama Saisyu Heiki are both slowly building tracks, “Crying” taking the rock ballad approach and “Into the Noize Ocean” featuring synth melodies, that only break out with guitaric ferocity after more than three minutes in. LOST CHILD ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK FROM S.S.H SIDE-B has the most variety, from the industrial-like “Amitto” to “Relieve,” a piano version of the vocal opening theme composed by Soshi Hosoi.

“Amitto”
Lost Child (PC)

Currently, both SIDE-B and Sixty Nine 2 are available for purchase at VGM World. If you’ve heard all of S.S.H’s tunes on his web site Live House S.S.H and desperately need more, or just want some music to rock out to, both of these albums would be well worth your time and money.

VGM World has also stocked SIDE-A in the past, but they are currently out of stock (although the “Buy Now” button, which usually disappears when an album is sold out, is still there, so maybe they really have some…?). LOSTCHILD ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALTERNATIVE SIDE-X was a bonus single packaged with the limited edition version of SIDE-B, and LOST CHILD ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK FROM S.S.H THE FINAL SIDE-Z was only packaged with the 2006 re-release of Lost Child, you will likely have to check eBay or elsewhere.

Hiroyuki Iwatsuki is the master of the generic beat ‘em up track. What does that mean? Well let’s find out!

Works featured in this post:

• Choujin Sentai Jetman (NES)
• Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Gokuraku Daisakusen (SNES)
• Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GB)
• Pocky & Rocky (SNES)
• Shin Kidoesenki Gundam Wing - Endless Duel (SNES)
• Spanky’s Quest (GB)
• The Ninjawarriors (SNES)

full list of works

~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing to note about Iwatsuki is that it’s hard to get his “sound,” so to speak, because he frequently collaborated with other Natsume sound team members, most notably Iku Mizutani and Haruo Ohashi. However, four out of his six chiptune works were solo ventures, so from these we can get some insight into the man’s usual style.

“Area E”
Choujin Sentai Jetman (NES)

“Stage 1″
Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GB)

We can already see some similarities in the structure of the songs. Each loop has three basic sections: an intro, main body which ends in an upward sequence, and high conclusion. Both songs also have a driving bassline and percussion too. We’ll see the tripartite structure and backbone in the next two co-composed samples from the SNES.

“Crazy Woods”
Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Gokuraku Daisakusen (SNES)
co-composed with Kinuyo Yamashita

“Last Boss”
The Ninjawarriors (SNES)
co-composed with N. Tate

I’ve been hand-picking tracks on purpose to reinforce the first sentence in the post, that Iwatsuki is the master of the generic beat ‘em up track. All four games featured so far are side-scrolling/platforming beat ‘em ups. More important, though, is how similar these songs are; the games Iwatsuki has worked on are chock full of songs just like these that grab you and yell out, “Beat up enemies to me!

“However, what I like about these soundtracks are just how eminently listenable they are. “Generic” does not automatically mean a song is bad; despite the four songs I picked being mostly interchangeable with one another (discounting the synth qualities of the three platforms), each track has its own decent melody and hooks, variety, and development. If these types of tracks are up your alley, then you should definitely check Iwatsuki out, because there are lots more tracks just like these.

Now that I’ve talked about how his music is all the same, let’s look about some of his work that actually does sound different!

“Staff Roll”
Spanky’s Quest (GB)

“Haunted House”
Pocky & Rocky (SNES)

“Airport”
Shin Kidoesenki Gundam Wing - Endless Duel (SNES)
co-composed with Haruo Ohashi

So in addition to beat ‘em up tracks, we also have almost Kirby-like ^___^ness, almost RPG dungeonness, and almost technocrapness. I used “almost” and “-ness” in all three of those “genres” because each track does manage to still retain a little bit of the Iwatsuki flavor. Staff Roll and Haunted House have pumpin’ basslines, and Airport still gets you ready to kick the crap out of something. Iwatsuki has a consistent style in his works that just rocks.