As I mentioned in the last post, the VGM vinyl craze certainly has not lost any steam in the past year or so. While it continues to chug along and while we can’t cover every single vinyl release of video game soundtracks, there are still some coming out that bare special mention. The release of the soundtrack to beloved Capcom game OKAMI is one such special mention.
While Data Discs have, up until now, only released the soundtracks of SEGA-published video games, they have done a special team-up with Capcom to create a 4xLP boxset, with over two hours of remastered audio, 40-page artbook, double-sided litho print & download code.
Originally released in 2006 and composed by Masami Ueda, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Rei Kondoh and Akari Groves, the music of OKAMI perfectly embodies the creative beauty of the game and its recurring themes of restoration and resolve. Using traditional Japanese instruments and inspired by distant folklore, the score moves between peacefulness and danger, colour and darkness, echoing the dualities of the natural world and transporting the listener to an ancient Nippon that never existed, yet feels like a half-remembered dream. OKAMI is one of the most contemplative, unique and unequivocally beautiful game scores ever made.
OKAMI is presented as a quadruple LP boxset, comprising over two hours of newly remastered music and packaged in a spot-varnished hardboard slipcase. It is accompanied by a 40-page artbook and double-sided lithographic print, featuring original illustrations from the CAPCOM archives in Japan. A download code for the album in both lossless and lossy formats is also included.
The OKAMI 4xLP boxset is currently available for pre-order with a projected shipping of October of this year. They note that the limited edition frosted Clear vinyl with “Cherry Blossom Pink” and “Amaterasu White” splatter will only be available to pre-order through August 15th and only one can be pre-ordered at a time due to packaging, so collectors should act sooner rather than later.
So many of us in the video game and VGM scene are avid collectors of our favorite games and game soundtracks. Even the most manly fan would likely fork over a fair sum to own a dainty music box that played familiar tunes from the likes of Super Mario Bros. and Chrono Trigger. Unfortunately, mass-producing custom music boxes is not an industry many have gone into, and maybe some day we’ll see it tapped into like the video game music vinyl craze that’s been ongoing for the past year or two. Until then, Materia Collective and String Player Gamer have made up the difference by creating seven albums of classic video game music that have all been transcribed into charming music box covers.
Video Game Music Box is a series of album that takes classic games such as Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda and turns their most beloved music tracks into renditions you’d hear straight out of a music box from the days of old. Each album grabs from music from either a select game or from several games across a particular franchise, and redubs them into simple music box chimes that seem to speak to the little kid in you, winding up our grandmother’s music boxes and listening to the melodies until it runs out. Thankfully with these albums, not only is winding them up not necessary, but unlike a standalone music box, you get more than just one tune.
Each Video Game Music Box album is currently available for pre-order for $7 apiece and will release on August 14th. With any luck, it inspires some physical releases of video game music boxes sometime in the (hopefully near) future, because having a custom music box of Castlevania or Undertale music at your bedside would be about as delightful as it gets.
Square Enix Music is doing their best to gives fans of their earlier games some love by bringing the music of two of their classic game franchises to Blu-ray. The first three games of the Final Fantasy series as well as the SaGa series will be seeing their soundtracks brought to Blu-ray, along with video from the games and other art assets showcased in a special “Revival” disc series.
Both revivals are linear progressions. The first SaGa game was known as Final Fantasy Legend on the Gameboy in the states. As such, these revivals are the first three NES/Famicom and Gameboy games in the Final Fantasy series respectively. Nobou Uematsu worked on Final Fantasy 1-3, and also worked on both Legend and assisted with fellow composer Kenji Ito on Legend 2. (Ito would go on to composer for the Romancing SaGa games that succeeded the Legend series) Legend 3 was composed by Square newcomers Chihiro Fujioka and Ryuji Sasai.
The Blu-ray releases will not only feature the soundtracks to the games, but also gameplay and other art assets, as revealed by the Square Enix Music twitter.
The world of video game music labels seems to be (thankfully) growing, and VGM Classics (NM, USA), a classical record company specializing in video game music, has started three crowd-funding campaigns for new orchestral CD albums featuring music from the video games to help launch themselves into the scene.
VGM Classics has invited the award-wining composer/conductor Kentaro Sato (Final Fantasy Type-0, DISSIDIA Final Fantasy) to be its music director to oversee and direct the recordings of the orchestral compositions of music from the games Star Fox, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Suikoden II.
The campaigns, which launched on July 20th, aim to raise US$40,000 each in an all-or-nothing format, and they all end on August 31, 2018, with $15 each being the entry-level pledge to receive the digital album from each campaign. You can check out more on each campaign by clicking the above links and contribute to the albums you want to see the most.
On August 3, 2018, Materia Collective will be releasing Jason Grave’s score to Moss. Jason Graves has scored several games including the Dead Space series, Tomb Raider, Until Dawn, and Far Cry Primal.
The VR game was developed by Polyarc for the PlayStation 4 and PC. The game’s description reveals that it begins in a library, where you play as the reader. You find an old book and once you flip through pages you get transported to a fantasy land inside the book. There you meet a young mouse, Quill and the adventure begins. You can view the game’s trailer below.
The game’s trailer features the song “Home to Me” with vocals performed by Malukah, who has worked with Jason Graves previously on Far Cry: Primal, and with Austin Wintory on The Banner Saga. The soundtrack also features Kristin Naigus on Flute, Oboe, English horn and Jeff Ball on Violin. You can sample three of the upcoming album tracks featured on Polyarc’s Soundcloud page below.
The album will features 11 tracks, and can be pre-ordered digitally from Amazon. Have you played Moss? Did you enjoy the music?
It’s been 25 years since the Super Famicom/SNES successor to the Blue Bomber, Mega Man X, was released. As such, Sony Music and Nintendo have released a special soundtrack collection to commemorate the musical history of the sequel series.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Capcom’s hit action game Rockman X series releases a commemoration album with 27 new tracks made for Rockman X Anniversary Collection Soundtrack and Rockman X Anniversary Collection Soundtrack 2, plus 1 bonus track specially created for this album, all provided by popular composer Yasumasa Kitagawa. Newly illustrated cover artwork by Mizuno Keisuke.
The soundtrack seems to pay homage to the music of the Mega Man/Rockman series music as a whole and features the following track list.
1.THE WORLD OF X
2.ORBIT
3.GALLERY (RELAXED)
4.GIVE IT A SHOT
5.PRESAGE
6.GRAVITY
7.STAGE START
8.X – BOSS 2
9.X2 – BOSS 2
10.X3 – BOSS 2 (EXTENDED)
11.X4 – BOSS
12.X5 – BOSS (EXTENDED)
13.X6 – BOSS
14.GAME OVER
15.WARNING
16.RE;FUTURE
17.GIVE IT A SHOT (EXTENDED)
18.STAGE CLEAR
19.GRAVITY (RESULT)
20.OVERCOME
21.RE;FUTURE FEAT.ERICA
22.TOTAL RESULT
23.GALLERY
24.THE CRISIS CONTINUES
25.END OF FILE
26.BREAK OUT
27.RE;FUTURE FEAT.JANET
28.ORBIT (NOSTALGIC)
The Rockman X Anniversary Collection Soundtrack releases today and is available for around $25 from PlayAsia and CDJapan.
The Splatoon games have always had a hand it marketing their music as much as their gameplay. Splatoon 2, which was released last year, it no exception as it’s about to see it’s Octo Expansion drop its own soundtrack.
The Octotune soundtrack will be two disc long. The first disc will include songs added to the game via updates and the upcoming Octo Expansion. The second disc will have the Game Party Japan 2018 performance tracks. Of course, no Splatoon music collection would be complete without our favorite idols. Off the Hook will definitely be on it, and for all you die hard fans the second Octotune disk will also contain recordings from one of their recent live performances.
The album contains 71 tracks covering the aforementioned content from the expansion and more. The Splatoon 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK -Octotune- releases July 18th to import retailers Play-Asia and CDJapan.
