Game Soundtracks For Your Soul: Level Nine

In this edition of Game Soundtracks For Your Soul I am looking back at two personal favorite Sony Playstation soundtracks from the PSOne, and PS3.  The first soundtrack is on Sony Playstation was composed by Noriyuki Asakura, and whenever I hear the main theme I find myself air plucking.  The second soundtrack from Playstation 3 was composed by Joe Hisaishi and is stunning orchestral masterpiece, but my favorite themes in the game may not be what you expect.

These are my thoughts on the music from Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was one of the first titles I owned on the PSOne and I played a lot of it.  One of the best things about the game was the engaging music.  The soundtrack album is available on iTunes for $9.99 and contains a total of 12 tracks.  Tracking down a copy of the original CD may cost you about 10 times that amount as it’s long been out of print.  The one thing I enjoy about the album presentation is that some tracks are introduced with game sound effects that take me back to the glorious stealth ninja gameplay. YouTube user Stonethrower7 has uploaded the track “Punish The Evil merchant” which contains the music from the first mission in the game. The track begins with some echoing percussion, then blends vocals, horns, rich acoustic guitar and at times both tense and cool strings.

The opening theme “add’ua”  for the game features wonderful vocals by Yui Murase and runs just under three minutes.  If you’ve never heard it, or the rest of the soundtrack you can listen to the original sound version thanks to YouTube user AABIDtheSPPON here.

If you’ve ever wanted to feel like a ninja, the Tenchu Stealth Assassins soundtrack is for you.

Level 5’s Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch in my opinion is an example of video game perfection.  Joe Hisaishi’s orchestral compositions for the game’s soundtrack are just as good as all of his works for Hayao Miyazaki, and Takeshi Kitano’s films.  The soundtrack is still available from WAYO Records which is based in France for 20 Euro plus shipping.  The first CD is the exact same as the soundtrack released for the earlier Nintendo DS version of the game Another World.

The second disc is dedicated to music that was newly recorded for the Playstation version of the game including the English version of the ending theme.  My favorite tracks are “The Fairyground” and “Mummy’s Tummy” which you can hear on YouTube thanks to user StrawberrySkele.  These tracks play when your visit the home of Drippy who is your helpful sidekick in the game.  The tunes are lighter fair, and have a childish jolliness to them.  I still listen to them regularly, and I recommend you check them out if you haven’t yet – they’ll put a smile on your face.

Have you enjoyed the music of these games, and do you have any favorite tracks? Let us know!