Theatrhythm

Game Music

E3 2012: Lots of Good Music Stuff Was There

June 12, 2012 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Okay, so OSV wasn’t out in full force at E3 this year, and that’s mainly because I was covering the event for Destructoid! I did see and hear a lot of great things, so I wanted to give a run-down of coverage I did over on Destructoid for you to check out:

Unchained Blades impressions
Orgarhythm impressions
Oscar Araujo confirmed for Castlevania titles
Halo 4 sounds like Metroid
You’re probably saying Theatrhythm wrong
Stuff at Turtle Beach

The main thing, though, is my E3-centric installment of The Sound Card covering the top ten soundtracks we heard at E3. I get to dig more into what I heard with titles including Unchained Blades, Halo 4, Pikmin 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Code of Princess.

Feel free to chime in about your favorite musical moments from E3. There was lots of great music to be heard in the E3 debut and gameplay trailers, so let us know what you’re looking forward to most.
Game Music, Reviews

Sounding Very SQEXY: Square Enix Music Sampler CD 2011 Vol. 6 (Review)

October 5, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Okay, first they strayed from their SQ series naming conventions with SQ Chips, and now they’ve added the date to their title for this year’s TGS sampler CD. But anal rant aside, it’s that time of year again, and while we’ve posted about some of the surprises on the sampler, we now have it in-hand for a formal review.

While the tracks here are once again snippets of the full-length versions that will later be featured on their respective final releases, I think this disc gives fans a lot to look forward to over the next year.

Hit the jump for more. (more…)
Game Music

Big Surprises on Square Enix’s Tokyo Game Show Sampler CD

September 16, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Big Surprises on Square Enix’s Tokyo Game Show Sampler CD Share this

It’s actually kind of strange that Square Enix is forgoing making announcements about some of their upcoming albums by sneaking them onto this sampler CD without much fanfare. As it turns out, the sampler CD will feature tracks from Final Fantasy XIII-2, the newly announced (and incredibly beautiful) Bravely Default, Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy (essentially confirming that a soundtrack release is in the works), and Final Fantasy XI -PLUS-.

In terms of arrangement albums, there’s a track from Cafe SQ and Re:Birth / Seiken Densetsu, but most interestingly tracks from Piano Collections I – II – III (it’s actually happening, and I’m throwing credit Patrick’s way for pushing the idea on Izumi Tsukushi and Akio Shiraishi last year) and Elshaddai & The Astrals are featured. It looks like the arrangement album for El Shaddai is not only in the works, but will also be published by Square Enix. The only thing missing is a track from the NieR piano album!

We’re looking forward to getting our hands on the disc, and will have impressions soon, but in the meantime, which releases are you looking forward to the most? Are you surprised that Square Enix allowed these titles to be announced via a sampler CD rather than a more formal method?

[via VGMdb]
Game Music

More Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Details

July 18, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on More Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Details Share this More Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Details

This game is starting to sound a whole lot like DJMAX Technika. It seems everyone is talking about this game, which is surprising given that I thought everyone would hate it. I for one am excited about Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and our friends at Destructoid and Siliconera have been reporting a number of details regarding the gameplay.

Apparently the game will be split into distinct episodes covering Final Fantasy games all the way from the original through Final Fantasy XIII. There will be three stages per episode, including a field, battle, and event stage. There are also three note types, including red, which you simply tap, green that you slide the stylus along with, and blue notes that you hold down for a defined number of beats. That’s where my DJMAX Technika comparison comes in (which is an awesome arcade game that you should check out if you never have).

The game will apparently feature some kind of story, but I’m not so interested in that aspect. I can’t wait to play through remixes from across the Final Fantasy series on the 3DS, and I’m pretty sure they’ll be announcing the soundtrack soon given that the game is out later this year in Japan. In the meantime, check out the game’s official website to hear the main theme, a remix of the series “Prelude.”

Can’t say I’m a fan of the game’s logo, though. What do you think?

[via Destructoid and Siliconera via Andriasang]
Game Music

Final Fantasy Finds It’s Rhythm: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Announced

July 9, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

This is honestly the type of game announcement that would have likely pissed me off years ago as a hardcore Squaresoft fan who was sick of the company’s experiments into genres other than the traditional JRPG. Perhaps I’ve gotten older and have lost my fighting spirit, but when it was announced that Square Enix was creating a Final Fantasy rhythm game for the 3DS, I immediately thought it was one of the coolest ideas I’d ever heard.

As it turns out, you’ll be doing lots of RPG-like things in Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy like exploring dungeons and doing battle with enemies, but the game will feature rhythm-based gameplay mechanics, perhaps centered around tapping the screen in time with the music. The game was announced in the latest issue of Shonen Jump without many accompanying details, but the above scan that we stole from Siliconera shows a bit of the action. I think that’s Cloud, Lightning, an Onion Knight, and the Warrior of Light that we’re seeing.

What do you think of this surprise announcement from Square Enix? One of the coolest ideas ever, or another example of Square Enix diluting the Final Fantasy franchise with needless spin-offs?

[via Siliconera]