20th Anniversary: Rockman 7 & 8 Soundtracks

In 1987, Rockman blasted his way onto the NES in what is arguably (and ironically) one of toughest games in the series. Since then the Rockman series has taken on several different forms and faces throughout the years.

With the series' 15th Anniversary in 2002, VGM enthusiasts saw the floodgates for the backlog of unreleased Rockman music open wide with the Rockman 1-6 box and the X1-6 box the subsequent year, giving these scores a place to call home outside of their respective games. The pace of releases hasn't let up any with Inti-Creates remastered series and soundtrack releases for newer games becoming more of a habit.

Rockman hits the big 20 this year and with Capcom/Team Entertainment cooking up a four release bonanza you might think that being a Rockman fan right now would be pretty sweet. However, despite this milestone these releases show that not everything in Mega Man VGM land is perfect.

As to not repeat anything that has already been talked about in various forums I'll try to keep this short: the Rockman 7 OST falls victim to all the woes you've been hearing about, and it's truly a shame considering how it continues the wonderful feel of the NES soundtracks on the SNES. Rockman 8 comes out for the better outside the exclusion of the Saturn exclusive tracks and a wonky transition in one of the stage themes. Of course, the world (and I) will survive but it certainly takes the level of quality and novelty down a notch.

Of the two, Shusaku Uchiyama's work on the Rockman 8 soundtrack is more likely to be overlooked because for a Mega Man score it is a little unorthodox in a few areas - pieces like Sword Man, Aqua Man, Wily battle themes and the synth is somewhat quirky. Anyway, even though Rockman 7 is a given to most in terms of musical content give Rockman 8 another chance if you haven't in a while. Both soundtracks also seem to sport a louder volume than their game-ripped counterparts.

Anyway, in closing, considering the continued effort in releasing back Rockman soundtracks does that mean I can count on that Rockman & Bass soundtrack I’d love to see in five years?

Manabu Namiki's music in Death Smiles

Thanks to Hitoshi Sakimoto's move to form the company Basiscape, several growing composers began to make a name for themselves. One of these is Manabu Namiki, whom is responsible mostly for shoot-em-up soundtracks for arcade games such as Battle Garegga, Armed Police Batrider, Ketsui, Mushihime-Sama and so on. His style of music is usually some pulse-pounding Techno or grinding Rock. He quickly became one of Cave's favorite for-hire composers, having scored the majority of their games since Ketsui in 2002.

More recently he scored Cave's latest game "Death Smiles", a horizontal-scrolling shoot-em-up arcade game which has a nice mix of fantasy and gothic horror setting. It is supported by some of the best rock and electronic based music Namiki has cooked up in a while. The Boss theme has been noted to being similar in style to Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black".

Given the current console explosion since the PlayStation and N64, arcades have pretty much faded into nothing in the US and Canada at least. Yet, even after all these years, arcades continue to thrive nicely in Japan, in which Cave has quickly become a well-known and respected game developper there.

On to the good stuff, feast your eyes (and ears) on these two Youtube videos of stage 2 and 4. Even with all the noise, it is possible to make out some of the music. Good ol' game music, am I right ? ;)

Stage 2

Stage 4

On a final and somewhat humorous note... HOLY BULLET SPAM BATMAN !

(Sorry, I had to :p)

(It's alright to) Bow down to the NES

So I said I would post something on the CC blog when it went live. If I had had the realization that I had nothing to post about before promising to post, we wouldn’t be stuck here, you and I, but here we are. So I’ll talk about what I did this Thanksgiving weekend. This might get boring, but it’s not my fault your lives are all more interesting than mine. What I did was, on a weekend full of amazing deals on all the hot new systems and games, I bought a Yobo FC Game Console, an inexpensive and amazingly tiny Famiclone system that plays NES games - essentially an NES on a chip. And I bought a stack of NES games to go with it. This was the first time I had played actual NES games on my TV since the infamous Mass Purge of ’92, a devastating incident in which a very stupid 14 year old boy decided that the NES was a kid’s toy he didn’t have time for, now that he had his awesome new Sega Genesis, and sold off his library of 40+ games for chump change. Obviously we can assume that 15 years later, he feels pretty murderous and stabby towards his 14 year old self, and we need not speak further of this contretemps. The important thing is that I spent the weekend playing NES games, and re-established a number of facts:

• It turns out that the NES is still the best system ever made. It’s better than your Xbox 360. It’s way better than your PS3. It’s better than your Wii by the exact number of NES games that still aren’t available on the Virtual Console (so it’s like 200 times better). It’s better than ice cream. And it’s better than sex. I think. Because someone described it to me once, and it didn’t sound all that great.

• It turns out that when you put an NES game into the system and turn the power on, the title screen immediately appears. This is apparently not an error. The first time this happened, I turned the machine off and back on, just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally skipped the 15 minute pre-title cutscene. But I hadn’t.

• It turns out that if you hit start and go to the kitchen to get a drink while the 15 minute post-title cutscene and/or tutorial exegesis plays out, you’ll come back to find that there was no post-title cutscene and/or tutorial exegesis, and you’ve already died twice. This is apparently not an error. The first time this happened, I assumed the system was especially susceptible to relativity due to low manufacturing standards in China, and would age 15 minutes for every 30 seconds I spent in the kitchen. But it doesn't.
  

• It turns out that you have to know how to play NES games before you’ve ever played them, because the game isn’t going to give you any help. How do you jump? How do you fire? It could be any of these buttons. You’ll never know.
  

• It turns out that modern games all suck because, with their 15 minute pre-title cutscenes, 15 minute post-title cutscenes, 15 minute in-level cutscenes, post-grad dissertation length tutorial missions, and pedantic instructions on how to make your character do anything before he does them, none of the above is true for any of them.

• It turns out that I cannot get past the second level of Ghosts n’ Goblins, because I am a gimp.

Hopefully, the next post I make will have some point, and also not conclude with me admitting I'm a gimp.

Origins...

Some may call me fangirlish in my love for the Silent Hill series, but I think of myself as passionate. I'd like to thank Mr. Yamaoka for much of my enthusiasm for the series. Even though it's had its low points (ahem....Silent Hill 4), he has never failed to use his vivid imagination to create jarring, terrifying and beautiful compositions that I have yet to hear replicated in any other soundtrack, be it game or movie. But when word came down that the series was making the jump to a handheld game system, I couldn't help but be skeptical of the transition. I mean, how could one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had in videogaming be the same on a 4 inch screen? And what about the score? Could the PSP handle the music and game sounds from a technical standpoint? Oh sure, it probably would sound OK, but would it sound real enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up once again?

It took me 6 hours (probably more like 8 taking into account deaths and all the time in my mini-map) to finish Silent Hill Origins, and I have to say my skepticism was unfounded....but not completely. Despite the amazing graphics (easily some of the best for the system), the gameplay can be clunky at parts, and the story is quite predictable and a little too similar to SH2's narrative structure. But the music? Yes, the music...

Yamaoka did the best with what he was given, and it turned out pretty damn good. The music IS very Silent Hill, and you can hear some of the past games in these pieces (especially SH3), but the score itself has it's own feel to it and blends in relatively well with the environments. There were plenty of times when I'd walk through a door and the music would queue up, my heart would immediately start racing. It's awesome to have that feeling again! I did find myself missing the use of real instruments (most of the sounds here are clearly synthesized), but they worked well enough.

As for the vocals, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn returns with her earthy, soulful voice and does a fine job once again. While I can't say the songs are as memorable as previous ones, they're still a highlight of the soundtrack. Hopefully, once the original soundtrack is released, I can give them more of a chance to grow on me, but there's definitely potential. One thing that I found kinda neat was that the lyrics seemed to fit the game a bit better than previous songs (i.e. You're Not Here).

I have to say my biggest gripe is the fact that the music was used almost too often during gameplay. I have so many memories of walking through a dark corridor, my footsteps the only thing to be heard...and then stopping in my tracks as I catch a faint noise in the shadows. I strain my ears to try to catch it again, and then wonder if something really is there or if it was all in my mind. In Origins, there aren't too many of these moments. Most of the time the music plays continuously throughout certain areas almost to the point that it becomes annoying. So now I'm straining to hear where that monster is because the music is playing too loud to focus in on it. I guess I could've just turned the music down and SFX up, but then I would be missing out on one of my favorite parts of these games! ARGH!! Anyhow, if I had to put a point on it, I'm guessing the limitations of the system are likely to blame, but I still feel the dynamic nature of these scores is part of what makes them so enjoyable.

Despite being a little disappointed with its implementation, I am quite pleased with Origins' score. That said, I am now eagerly awaiting the soundtrack release in January. I have a feeling given a little quality playtime outside of the game (and listening to the vocals closer), I'll be able cement its entry on my favorite soundtracks list. One thing is for sure, though....I'm really looking forward to Silent Hill V now. ;)

Super Mario Galaxy is why I play video games.

I think the title says it all, but I want to share some spoiler-free thoughts about Mario Galaxy. I completed it with 120 stars earlier today, and I am still just as hyped about it as I was when I first started playing. Believe the overwhelmingly positive reviews out there, because this game really is one of Mario's best adventures and is the most consistently solid, enjoyable and accessable game to hit the Wii thus far. I really can't stress that enough; while playing through the game I've wondered if Mario Galaxy is the reason why, in the grand scheme of things, human beings have thumbs and the ablity to shake their wrists around. Well, there is that, and then there is the ability to open doorknobs. Both are equally important.

Super Mario 64 was a revolutionary game. Super Mario Sunshine was a Gamecube game. Super Mario Galaxy takes the intial design of Mario 64 and literally turns it up on its head and shakes out all the brilliant ideas while leaving all the clunky and outdated ones behind. Per usual, there are 120 stars to collect while exploring various themed levels that branch off of a central hub area (that has a few secrets of its own and some cleverly hid 1-up Mushrooms). What's so great about this new hub area is not just the design, but as you progress farther into the game, the hub makes all of its satellite levels more easily accessable. You may need to make a trek up to the top a couple of times, but then the game rewards your efforts and gives you an elevator of sorts so you can zoom up there in several seconds. There is a large map in the area that shows your progress and neatly checks off a diagram of each level with a little crown to tell you when you've completed a level 100%. It makes things very easy to keep track of when going for the gold.

The levels themselves are nothing short of inspired, fresh and totally awesome. You'll tread some familiar ground on occasion, but more often than not that familiar ground is spun 180-degrees and you're doing something completely new and exciting on that ground... er, ceiling. The level designs are so unorthodox and ridiculous at times that I couldn't help but giggle and grin like the four year old I was back in 1986 that would jump every time I hit the A-button to make Mario jump on the NES. This game is saturated with life, and while playing you'll question why you play most of the other games that you have played; I know I did. There are more "holy crap" moments than you can shake a Wiimote at within the first hour of playing, never mind the entire game. I really can't put how fresh and exciting this game is into words. Even when I had 110+ stars, there were new experiences and levels that I was just starting to explore. I remember anything past the 70 star mark in earlier 3D Mario games slipped from being fun directly into "I need to do this crap to beat the game 100%" territory. Not here, friends.

Technically, the game shines in all aspects. It controls wonderfully, there are no noticable load times, and the music is phenominal. Online stores have just started taking pre-orders for the OST - the discs are only available to these stores and to people in the Nintendo Club in Japan, so they'll be pretty hard to get once they're out of print. As of this writing, Play-Asia is preparing for preorders. There are some classic remixes on there, as well as a bunch of great new tunes that did not disappoint me in the least.

So, as I type this I'm debating on whether to give the game another go. I might save it for later on this year when I start craving some more Mario Galaxy, but I might just hop right back into it and enjoy the amazing adventure all over again. I can't recommend this enough to Wii owners in general, as well as platforming fans and people that don't have broken thumbs. Yeah, it's that good.

Ah Friday night

A second bonus day off from work that I really needed. I would say I wasted a lot of the day between playing games on the PC and PSP (Call of Duty 4 and DJ MAX Portable 2). However, right now I've just popped in my Granado Espada OST (which took two weeks in shipping to arrive >< ) and I'm trying to burn the midnight oil with some more translations from Chudah's backlog. I did finish two earlier, which brings the edits/translations to be posted up to five at the moment... though I'm sure they can be posted in short order once she sits down with them so no resting on my laurels. Earlier I also continued ripping my collection which has been a slow and steady process and ended up fixing another page. For some reason not only was Racing Lagoon missing all the kanji on the non-character name titles (and one name was wrong) but it was missing composer Ryo Yamazaki in the credits. I'm trying to think of other edits I probably didn't post on the forums and the only coming to mind immediately are edits to JDK Band 1 & 2, and fixing my sloppy translation on Sakura Taisen 4. ...ah great a phone call and I lost my train of thought. Well, I'll close this post by saying, six songs in and I'm really enjoying GE. Now back to work, goodnight!

Welcome!

I want to officially welcome all of Chudah's Corner's visitors to our brand new blog! The staff is very excited to begin writing for our readers and hope to give you insight, entertain, and discuss videogame music related topics from 8-bit to the newest orchestral score. So please make yourself comfy while we sharpen up our pencils (and wits) and begin writing about what we love most, game music.