Jayson was going on about how long he’s had to wait for the Granado Espada Original Soundtrack Volume 3 all last week, so it seemed appropriate to turn OSV’s attention towards the sequel that we’ve only been waiting eight patient, bloody years for: Shantae: Risky’s Revenge.
Jake “virt” Kaufman, the same man/myth behind the original Game Boy Color game’s soundtrack, returns. As if this wasn’t enough, you may recall last week that we posted that the soundtrack is now available digitally for free with the option of donating whatever you see fit. So, is the soundtrack worth your valuable bandwidth and money?
Jake “virt” Kaufman, the hunky maestro of retro game music, returns this week with the release of the heavily hyped Shantae: Risky’s Revenge Soundtrack, the sequel to the rare and sexy Game Boy Color title released 10 years ago. Jake’s name should be enough to sell you on the quality of the release given that his back catalog includes such fabulous works as Contra 4, the recent Batman: Brave and The Bold and his participation on the Chiptuned Rockman album. But should you be curious as to what Shantae: Risky’s Revenge sounds like (and it has been ten years since the first game after all) then simply imagine how much better Aladdin’s soundtrack would have been if they’d remixed all the songs so you could dance to them, then remixed the result of THAT to sound like chiptunes, so you can fist-pump whilst you dance.
If that doesn’t interest you, virt and the good people at Wayforward are allowing you to download this wonderful slice of aural pie for FREE… or pay whatever you feel it’s worth. If you’re a fan of virt’s delicious videogame music and want more, all donations go towards upgrading and maintaining the audio equipment at Wayforward Studios. So go listen, shake your tummy and enjoy the sounds of Shantae: Risky’s Revenge! Hopefully the people will feel inclined to donate them some well-earned cash. A music video has been released to celebrate the release of the OST with some hilarious virt taint all over it.
We got a small taste of Jake’s new material for Shantae: Risky’s Revenge at MAGFest 8, where he performed some tracks that were WIP of what would eventually go into the game. The DSiWare game was announced by WayForward last September and is the highly anticipated sequel to Shantae on the Game Boy Color. It was one of the last games on Game Boy Color and despite being a rather rare title, it has a healthy following, part of which is because of Kaufman’s excellent soundtrack.
The new debut trailer shows up the theme song for the new game, and it is expected to be released on the download service on the 2nd quarter of 2010.
We’ve already spoiled the big news that Jake Kaufman is leaving Volition to join Wayforward in Los Angeles next year, but we promised you an interview regarding his work on Red Faction: Guerrilla, and true to our word, here it is.
While we had the opportunity to speak with Timothy Wynn regarding his work on the game’s cutscenes, we now get to talk to Jake regarding the in-game music, some of his inspirations, and his thoughts on game music in general. It’s a good time, and you owe it to yourself to check it out.
We are sure you’ll find Jake’s interviews just as entertaining as his scores! Click the jump for more. (more…)
As promised in our A Boy And His Blob soundtrack review last week, we’re back with a second interview with composer Daniel Sadowski, following up on some of our pre-release interview several months back. He has a lot to say about his work on the project and some of the individual tracks from the game. You might get a kick out of the fact that he says Blaster Master was a musical inspiration for him.
The biggest news of all, however? There will be an iTunes release for the game’s soundtrack. We don’t know when that will be, but we’ll be sure to let you know when. In the meantime, check out our interview with Daniel Sadowski and visit his Facebook page for more up to date information on the upcoming soundtrack release.
Hit the jump for our interview with Daniel Sadowski. (more…)
Yes, it’s true! Jake “virt” Kaufman has confirmed to us in an upcoming OSV interview about his work on Red Faction Guerrilla that he will be moving to the Los Angeles area in January 2010 to work in-house as staff composer and sound designer at Wayforward Technologies, the creators of Shantae and Contra 4 (both of which he scored) as well as A Boy and His Blob, which we just featured this morning (in case you already forgot!).
This is huge news for a number of reasons. Not only will we be hearing a whole lot more of Jake Kaufman in his natural element of retro game audio, but we’ll likely be within the vicinity of any live shows he does in the area. Here’s hoping that he sets something up around the time of E3! Also, this likely means he’ll be working on their upcoming Shantae titles that everyone was pretty convinced he wouldn’t be working on.
Are you surprised by Jake’s big and shocking move to the West coast? Will you be looking forward to his music at Wayforward and possibly some live shows in the LA area in the future?
Yes, both “blob” games on the Wii have amazing soundtracks. I’m of course referring to last year’s de Blob from THQ and the recent release of A Boy And His Blob (ABAHB) from Majesco. We had the pleasure of talking to ABAHB composer Daniel Sadowski in an interview earlier this year, before the game was released, and we’ve since received word that the soundtrack will be coming to iTunes in the near future.
Well, we have an exclusive review of the game’s score for you right here and now. For anyone who played the game, you already know how the soundtrack contributed to the magical atmosphere of the game, but for those who didn’t play it, Sadowski combines orchestral and ambient elements to create an engaging score that is just as unique and vibrant as the game’s visual style.
Check out our early review of the A Boy and His Blob Soundtrack after the jump! (more…)
