Shinji Hosoe is one of VGM's most prolific and longest-working composers. From Dragon Spirit, an arcade game released in 1987, to Folklore, a PS3 game released on June 21 this year in Japan and set to be released some time in November in North America, Hosoe has worked on the soundtracks to more than fifty games. His highest profile works are those in the Ridge Racer series, those in the Street Fighter EX series, and the in-game music to Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (the much more well-known cutscene music was done by Yuki Kajiura, who fully scored Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra).
A friend gave me a link to a YouTube video by TYKUN called "Shinji Hosoe chronology," which samples eighteen of Hosoe's video game and original works, along with title screen or box art pictures for each work. It's a fascinating look at one of the industry's distinguished veterans:
TYKUN also has a chronology video for one of Hosoe's colleagues at Namco, Nobuyoshi "sanodg" Sano. Be sure to check it out too.
7.07.2007
Personal feelings about Akitaka Tohyama
This isn't composer spotlight. That's CHz's thing, and he is good at it. This is something else. I just had to write something. You see, I've listened to Akitaka Tohyama for hours in a row now. That man is a freaking genius. Someone give him a medal or something! He has a sense of style and a way of using sounds that I've never experienced before. The only man on this earth that's even close to Akitaka Tohyama's uniqueness is, in my opinion, Trent Reznor, and that's saying a lot. So let me tell you why Akitaka Tohyama's work constantly blows my head up.
The works I've heard by Mr. Toyama are his tracks in Tekken 4, Tekken 5, Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari (all must-have soundtracks by the way; Tekken 4 is maybe not that must-have). They share a really unique feel to them. Extensive use of effects with some serious automation, interesting and phat synths, and amazing beatwork. Now pick up your copy of Tekken 5 (you've got one, right?) and play some arcade. Then die. Yes, I know it pains you and lowers your ranking but do it anyway. Now you're at the continue screen. Here is what I'm talking about. Turn the volume to max, plug in some headphones and you'll hear something unbelievable. Akitaka Tohyama get's freaky. The extensive use of bitcrush and the fast repetitive drum-rolls (made popular by IDM music) is amazingly well programmed and It's really a something the world of game music hasn't heard much of before. The bleepy synth sounds, at first sound completely random but you soon realize he knows exactly what he's doing. In a way Tohyama captures the essence of old-school game music witht the lo-fi and upgrades it to fit the role that game music has today. This is high-quality, interesting and highly listenable music.
If you're not impressed yet and think the glitchy lo-fi stuff is just THAT bad, don't turn off Tekken 5 just yet. You want some pumping techno? You like zircon's use of phat synths or you plain just want to move your butt and still not ruin your reputation as the geek who only listens to game music? Go into training mode and select the level to play on. Select the final stage (the last of the two stages you meet Jinpachi on). Keep your headphones on. If I was out clubbing or dancing (which I sometimes do, especially at the club-tent at Arvikafestivalen, a music festival in Sweden) this would most certainly get me to move my feet. Again, it's Tohyama's unique skill to find the right sounds that makes this track so good. He also get's some of the classic VGM elements in there. The strings alone could be used in any RPG and the chord progression isn't that bad either. Still able to keep a groove that gets my adrenaline pumping faster than any other beat 'em up soundtrack has ever done, this is quality game music.
Sadly, this composer is very hard to find some decent information about. He's one of the Namco house composers (I guess?), so he's worked on some Namco games, but I only know of the four soundtracks I named up there and Soul Calibur. If ANYONE has a list or something of any of his works, please contact me on anothersoundscape@gmail.com. Any information about more of his works are welcome. Now get going and play some Tekken 5, because it has one hell of a soundtrack, even if it's not all Akitaka Tohyama. I might as well be back some other time with more rundowns of Tekken 5 tunes and composers. I'm just that nice.
The works I've heard by Mr. Toyama are his tracks in Tekken 4, Tekken 5, Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari (all must-have soundtracks by the way; Tekken 4 is maybe not that must-have). They share a really unique feel to them. Extensive use of effects with some serious automation, interesting and phat synths, and amazing beatwork. Now pick up your copy of Tekken 5 (you've got one, right?) and play some arcade. Then die. Yes, I know it pains you and lowers your ranking but do it anyway. Now you're at the continue screen. Here is what I'm talking about. Turn the volume to max, plug in some headphones and you'll hear something unbelievable. Akitaka Tohyama get's freaky. The extensive use of bitcrush and the fast repetitive drum-rolls (made popular by IDM music) is amazingly well programmed and It's really a something the world of game music hasn't heard much of before. The bleepy synth sounds, at first sound completely random but you soon realize he knows exactly what he's doing. In a way Tohyama captures the essence of old-school game music witht the lo-fi and upgrades it to fit the role that game music has today. This is high-quality, interesting and highly listenable music.
If you're not impressed yet and think the glitchy lo-fi stuff is just THAT bad, don't turn off Tekken 5 just yet. You want some pumping techno? You like zircon's use of phat synths or you plain just want to move your butt and still not ruin your reputation as the geek who only listens to game music? Go into training mode and select the level to play on. Select the final stage (the last of the two stages you meet Jinpachi on). Keep your headphones on. If I was out clubbing or dancing (which I sometimes do, especially at the club-tent at Arvikafestivalen, a music festival in Sweden) this would most certainly get me to move my feet. Again, it's Tohyama's unique skill to find the right sounds that makes this track so good. He also get's some of the classic VGM elements in there. The strings alone could be used in any RPG and the chord progression isn't that bad either. Still able to keep a groove that gets my adrenaline pumping faster than any other beat 'em up soundtrack has ever done, this is quality game music.
Sadly, this composer is very hard to find some decent information about. He's one of the Namco house composers (I guess?), so he's worked on some Namco games, but I only know of the four soundtracks I named up there and Soul Calibur. If ANYONE has a list or something of any of his works, please contact me on anothersoundscape@gmail.com. Any information about more of his works are welcome. Now get going and play some Tekken 5, because it has one hell of a soundtrack, even if it's not all Akitaka Tohyama. I might as well be back some other time with more rundowns of Tekken 5 tunes and composers. I'm just that nice.
7.06.2007
Video Games Live in Washington, DC (6/29-6/30) Report
Having attended both nights of concerts (June 29th & 30th) from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, I finally wanted to get my thoughts down. My girlfriend, The Lady, has her own take on the concerts, available at Century Fille. She has a great outsider perspective on things, and always speaks her mind.
As the OC ReMix group stopped by after rehearsal was over on Friday, one thing I really liked about Tommy Tallarico was that he wears what he wants whenever he wants. His outfits are crazy (love his Spider-Man shirt; wish they had it in black), but I relish the freedom he has to do as he pleases.
Tommy and his brother Mike Tallarico (VGL's merchandise manager) dipped their hands everywhere trying to coordinate things leading up the show. As noted by my colleague Jimmy "Big Giant Circles" Hinson, Mike in particular was very attentive and integral to getting djpretzel and the OCR representatives set up for prize giveaways on both days, as well as stocking OCR t-shirts for sale alongside VGL merchandise.
Every time we needed help, Mike was more than willing to assist, and we were thankful for his help the whole way. "Merchandise Manager" doesn't begin to describe the amount of things Mike assists with or is responsible for. In lieu of djpretzel's unavailability for Saturday's show, Mike provided Jimmy & I (and our respective ladies) with the backstage hook up, which we greatly appreciated. Luckily, one of Jimmy & I's last memories of VGL was taking a picture with Mike and saying our goodbyes as he and the rest of the tour got ready to leave DC and head to Detroit for the July 6th leg of the tour.
I was very impressed with The Lady, as she worked effortlessly to get djpretzel involved in media coverage of the Friday night show, working the room and obtaining interviews with the National Symphony Orchestra's in-house media team as well as National Public Radio and Wired Magazine. She also spoke afterwards at length with Cindy Wall (Jack Wall's wife) regarding both Video Games Live and OverClocked ReMix and also provided each of the celebrities at the Friday meet-and-greet with Andrew "zircon" Aversa's latest CD "Antigravity". She's very well suited to be OC ReMix's press liaison, and I liked watching her in action.
The shows themselves were a great experience. It was rewarding hearing OC ReMixes playing in the Concert Hall as people entered in to take their seats. DjSammyG of our meetup group managed to snag top honors in Friday night's costume contest as a red L-block from Tetris. (Check him out in the Washingtonian's blog, hoping to be outdone by Mega Man.) Sammy won, thanks to the crowd's nostalgia of Tetris over all other games. The OCR delegation made sure to whoop it up.
The music itself was excellent. My lady thought the more traditional-sounding orchestral arrangements (e.g. God of War, Medal of Honor, World of Warcraft) felt too similar, and that you only got a substantial change of pace from the arrangements based on non-orchestral soundtracks (Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog). I'm a fan regardless of genre, and I felt like the pieces arranged from orchestral originals were significantly different. For more modern game scores, the soundtracks are more create moods rather than hooks, thus seeming less defined by any one particular aspect. It gets into the debate of the values of older vs. newer game music, but that's neither here nor there.
During the Metal Gear Solid portion, one could tell that Tommy was the guy under the box on stage due to his telltale shoes. What I didn't learn until I hung out backstage the following day was that Mike was actually the soldier who ended up being alerted to "Snake's" presence, with real armor (but a plastic gun). Definitely a cool tidbit just illustrating how into the nitty-gritty these guys are in terms of putting on the show.
djpretzel got a little of the VGL shine reflected on him not just via the interviews and autographs he gave, but also being able to head up on stage and give away the swag from Friday's Space Invaders intermission (courtesy of DreamAuthentics and the very affable Rick Baretto [President & CEO]), including a DVD full of OC ReMixes. Having gone on stage Saturday night, I can confirm the excitement one feels. It's just good to be involved in something that helps legitimize the quality and professionalism of video game music, which is a mutual goal of OCR and VGL.
Martin Leung, the Video Game Pianist, also tore it up with a 10-song medley from the Final Fantasy series. There was a cool video crossfade effect that was done on Friday but not Saturday (one camera on keys, one on Martin), so I was glad to be in the audience when it was possible. The guy reminds me of Shnabubula's material, not in terms of writing, but in terms of sheer speed. The speed Martin maintains on the keys was impressive, straight up.
Martin seemingly almost had to have his set trimmed down in order to maintain the show's rigid schedule (a Kennedy Center issue, not VGL's), but it was cool seeing Tommy check in with Martin every few minutes just keeping him aware of what would end up happening. Luckily, Martin's planned Final Fantasy set went off without a hitch, though we didn't get to see him perform blindfolded.
Laurie Robinson of Advent Rising was on board for soprano for AR's portion of the show, with some amazing vocals. Being a regular part of the tour, Laurie really seemed in her element backstage on Saturday in terms of simply enjoying the show and chatting with the other performers, frequently joining we backstage onlookers at the right wing of the stage to check out her colleagues in actions. The power in her voice was only made better being a mere 10 feet or so away just offstage.
At any point, I would have loved to have gotten anonymous comments from members of the National Symphony Orchestra on their feelings regarding the concert. The Lady mentioned that one member loved the God of War set in particular, while another member seemed pretty dismissive of the whole affair. I'd think it would be a great thing to play two back-to-back sold out shows with very enthusiastic crowds, but crowds aren't everything.
The meet-and-greet Friday night was fun, and I enjoyed getting acquainted with the pros there, who were all very friendly. Along with other pros, I also met Laurie's husband, fellow composer Emmanuel Fratianni, Brothers in Arms' Stephen Harwood, Jr., as well as Civilization IV's Christopher Tin. The post-show was pretty long though, and I could tell by Jack Wall's demeanor that he was hoping to get elsewhere. As the conductor, he's got as busy a time as anybody as compared to some of the pros who were merely part of the crowd and after-events. Jack was nice enough to snap some quick pics with Jimmy and I on Saturday before getting the hell out of dodge, hopefully for some relaxation.
After mentioning Mazedude's recent God of War ReMix "Minatour Nightmares" (arranging material by Cris Velasco), Gerard Marino gave me his business card and mentioned that if anyone wants to arrange pieces from God of War, he'd hook them up with sheet music, MIDIs, SFX samples, anything they needed to help get the job done. Indeed, Big Giant Circles was yet another person who was astounded by God of War's set in particular, so he confided that he may take Gerard up on the offer.
It was a real pleasure meeting up with the OverClocked ReMix group for our Washington, DC meetup. After traveling to other meetups in the Mid-Atlantic area, it was nice to have one right in my backyard that didn't involve any meaningful travel on my part. Meetups are always fun, and I met a lot of new faces, especially arrangers I'd never met in person yet. I finally got to meet face-to-face with former judges panel colleague Shariq "DarkeSword" Ansari, as well as successfully have Vinnie "Palpable" Prabhu, Wilbert "bustatunez" Roget II, and Brandon "Harmony" Bush all snap up loose tickets on very short notice. I missed having pixietricks and zircon there, especially zircon (who had unexpectedly suffered from appendicitis on Friday and had to convalesce). If I had to "trade them away", I was glad to at least substitute in a lot of really talented musicians who I'd never officially met before.
We all had a great time attending the festivities. One of the most encouraging things I'd heard from Tommy backstage was that ticket demand for the back-to-back shows was so strong, both in presales and walkups on the day of the event, that DC could have run a 3rd show. Very promising news in terms of future shows for a concert series that, in its infancy, almost ceased to be soon after it started. Looking healthy and gaining momentum, whenever Video Games Lives swings by again (Tommy hopes for next year), I'll certainly be there.
As the OC ReMix group stopped by after rehearsal was over on Friday, one thing I really liked about Tommy Tallarico was that he wears what he wants whenever he wants. His outfits are crazy (love his Spider-Man shirt; wish they had it in black), but I relish the freedom he has to do as he pleases.
Tommy and his brother Mike Tallarico (VGL's merchandise manager) dipped their hands everywhere trying to coordinate things leading up the show. As noted by my colleague Jimmy "Big Giant Circles" Hinson, Mike in particular was very attentive and integral to getting djpretzel and the OCR representatives set up for prize giveaways on both days, as well as stocking OCR t-shirts for sale alongside VGL merchandise.
Every time we needed help, Mike was more than willing to assist, and we were thankful for his help the whole way. "Merchandise Manager" doesn't begin to describe the amount of things Mike assists with or is responsible for. In lieu of djpretzel's unavailability for Saturday's show, Mike provided Jimmy & I (and our respective ladies) with the backstage hook up, which we greatly appreciated. Luckily, one of Jimmy & I's last memories of VGL was taking a picture with Mike and saying our goodbyes as he and the rest of the tour got ready to leave DC and head to Detroit for the July 6th leg of the tour.
I was very impressed with The Lady, as she worked effortlessly to get djpretzel involved in media coverage of the Friday night show, working the room and obtaining interviews with the National Symphony Orchestra's in-house media team as well as National Public Radio and Wired Magazine. She also spoke afterwards at length with Cindy Wall (Jack Wall's wife) regarding both Video Games Live and OverClocked ReMix and also provided each of the celebrities at the Friday meet-and-greet with Andrew "zircon" Aversa's latest CD "Antigravity". She's very well suited to be OC ReMix's press liaison, and I liked watching her in action.
The shows themselves were a great experience. It was rewarding hearing OC ReMixes playing in the Concert Hall as people entered in to take their seats. DjSammyG of our meetup group managed to snag top honors in Friday night's costume contest as a red L-block from Tetris. (Check him out in the Washingtonian's blog, hoping to be outdone by Mega Man.) Sammy won, thanks to the crowd's nostalgia of Tetris over all other games. The OCR delegation made sure to whoop it up.
The music itself was excellent. My lady thought the more traditional-sounding orchestral arrangements (e.g. God of War, Medal of Honor, World of Warcraft) felt too similar, and that you only got a substantial change of pace from the arrangements based on non-orchestral soundtracks (Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog). I'm a fan regardless of genre, and I felt like the pieces arranged from orchestral originals were significantly different. For more modern game scores, the soundtracks are more create moods rather than hooks, thus seeming less defined by any one particular aspect. It gets into the debate of the values of older vs. newer game music, but that's neither here nor there.
During the Metal Gear Solid portion, one could tell that Tommy was the guy under the box on stage due to his telltale shoes. What I didn't learn until I hung out backstage the following day was that Mike was actually the soldier who ended up being alerted to "Snake's" presence, with real armor (but a plastic gun). Definitely a cool tidbit just illustrating how into the nitty-gritty these guys are in terms of putting on the show.
djpretzel got a little of the VGL shine reflected on him not just via the interviews and autographs he gave, but also being able to head up on stage and give away the swag from Friday's Space Invaders intermission (courtesy of DreamAuthentics and the very affable Rick Baretto [President & CEO]), including a DVD full of OC ReMixes. Having gone on stage Saturday night, I can confirm the excitement one feels. It's just good to be involved in something that helps legitimize the quality and professionalism of video game music, which is a mutual goal of OCR and VGL.
Martin Leung, the Video Game Pianist, also tore it up with a 10-song medley from the Final Fantasy series. There was a cool video crossfade effect that was done on Friday but not Saturday (one camera on keys, one on Martin), so I was glad to be in the audience when it was possible. The guy reminds me of Shnabubula's material, not in terms of writing, but in terms of sheer speed. The speed Martin maintains on the keys was impressive, straight up.
Martin seemingly almost had to have his set trimmed down in order to maintain the show's rigid schedule (a Kennedy Center issue, not VGL's), but it was cool seeing Tommy check in with Martin every few minutes just keeping him aware of what would end up happening. Luckily, Martin's planned Final Fantasy set went off without a hitch, though we didn't get to see him perform blindfolded.
Laurie Robinson of Advent Rising was on board for soprano for AR's portion of the show, with some amazing vocals. Being a regular part of the tour, Laurie really seemed in her element backstage on Saturday in terms of simply enjoying the show and chatting with the other performers, frequently joining we backstage onlookers at the right wing of the stage to check out her colleagues in actions. The power in her voice was only made better being a mere 10 feet or so away just offstage.
At any point, I would have loved to have gotten anonymous comments from members of the National Symphony Orchestra on their feelings regarding the concert. The Lady mentioned that one member loved the God of War set in particular, while another member seemed pretty dismissive of the whole affair. I'd think it would be a great thing to play two back-to-back sold out shows with very enthusiastic crowds, but crowds aren't everything.
The meet-and-greet Friday night was fun, and I enjoyed getting acquainted with the pros there, who were all very friendly. Along with other pros, I also met Laurie's husband, fellow composer Emmanuel Fratianni, Brothers in Arms' Stephen Harwood, Jr., as well as Civilization IV's Christopher Tin. The post-show was pretty long though, and I could tell by Jack Wall's demeanor that he was hoping to get elsewhere. As the conductor, he's got as busy a time as anybody as compared to some of the pros who were merely part of the crowd and after-events. Jack was nice enough to snap some quick pics with Jimmy and I on Saturday before getting the hell out of dodge, hopefully for some relaxation.
After mentioning Mazedude's recent God of War ReMix "Minatour Nightmares" (arranging material by Cris Velasco), Gerard Marino gave me his business card and mentioned that if anyone wants to arrange pieces from God of War, he'd hook them up with sheet music, MIDIs, SFX samples, anything they needed to help get the job done. Indeed, Big Giant Circles was yet another person who was astounded by God of War's set in particular, so he confided that he may take Gerard up on the offer.
It was a real pleasure meeting up with the OverClocked ReMix group for our Washington, DC meetup. After traveling to other meetups in the Mid-Atlantic area, it was nice to have one right in my backyard that didn't involve any meaningful travel on my part. Meetups are always fun, and I met a lot of new faces, especially arrangers I'd never met in person yet. I finally got to meet face-to-face with former judges panel colleague Shariq "DarkeSword" Ansari, as well as successfully have Vinnie "Palpable" Prabhu, Wilbert "bustatunez" Roget II, and Brandon "Harmony" Bush all snap up loose tickets on very short notice. I missed having pixietricks and zircon there, especially zircon (who had unexpectedly suffered from appendicitis on Friday and had to convalesce). If I had to "trade them away", I was glad to at least substitute in a lot of really talented musicians who I'd never officially met before.
We all had a great time attending the festivities. One of the most encouraging things I'd heard from Tommy backstage was that ticket demand for the back-to-back shows was so strong, both in presales and walkups on the day of the event, that DC could have run a 3rd show. Very promising news in terms of future shows for a concert series that, in its infancy, almost ceased to be soon after it started. Looking healthy and gaining momentum, whenever Video Games Lives swings by again (Tommy hopes for next year), I'll certainly be there.
Bjørn Lynne in 5.1
I got my first exposure to Bjørn Lynne's material from Song of the Week, a piece of in-game music from Spin Jam for the PlayStation. He's got some really creative, dynamic material, as evidenced by other tracks of his I've heard, including "Jooli's Song" (which I encountered from Song of the Week as well).
Lynne makes the rounds via his MySpace page, pimping the latest developments on his site to those on his friends list. If you're up for a 14-minute experiment of sorts, give his latest message a look!
Lynne makes the rounds via his MySpace page, pimping the latest developments on his site to those on his friends list. If you're up for a 14-minute experiment of sorts, give his latest message a look!
I hope you don't mind me taking this opportunity to let you know that produced a brand new music track in 5.1 SURROUND which is now available to download from my web site, for free, in WMA (Windows Media Audio v10) and in AC3 (Dolby Digital) surround music format. The track is a 14-minute ambient rock space journey that sounds pretty cool in surround audio, and I hope you'll enjoy it!
Download the track Voyager in 5.1 surround from my free surround music page.
PS, you can also hear it in regular stereo format (no surround speaker system required for that) on my blog
All the best,
--
Bjorn Lynne
www.lynnemusic.com
7.04.2007
Why I hope my marriage is like Super Mario Bros. 3: A long improvised-essay
OC ReMixer and former OC ReMix judge Antonio Pizza just posted an essay at the OverClocked ReMix forums likening his upcoming marriage to Miss Robin to Super Mario Bros. 3. But for better or for worse? Or for both?
For posterity's sake, we reproduce the entire essay in full:
Why I hope my marriage is like Super Mario Bros. 3:
an improvo-essay by Antonio Pizza
On Monday, February 12, 1990, Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in the United States. I don't know when I got my copy, but I do remember the anticipation leading up to it. I remember seeing the trailers for The Wizard; I remember hearing from a classmate that it was at "The Fun Factory", the local mall's arcade in a Playchoice-10 machine; I remember the brilliantly effective hype commercial with thousands of kids all across North America grouped in different colored shirts chanting "Mario! Mario!" until the camera pulled back into outer space revealing that the kids had formed Mario's smiling face upon the face of the earth. I was hyped, I was eager, I was amped. The classmate (Jeff Kraak, if you're out there somewhere, what's up?) told me magnificent things about the game such as not reverting directly to small Mario if you were injured as Fire Mario, a frog suit(?!), and (get this) the ability to fly! Oh! I had to have it! Everyone knew and loved Mario 1, and Mario 2 was, though not identically, equally loved and adored. How I asked for it, I don't recall. How I convinced my mother to buy it, I don't remember. When we went, I couldn't tell you. What I do remember was travelling to The Crossroads Mall in Portage, Michigan with her and purchasing Super Mario Bros. 3 from K.B. Toy Store for $55.
What I remember next disturbed me at the time and disturbed me in later retrospect, but now I recognize it as an important life lesson. We walked out of the mall and I had Super Mario Bros. 3 in my hands. Finally! I could get this weird "frog suit" and "teddy bear suit" (Tanooki Mario) that I'd heard about. I could try and get the whistle just like Jimmy Woods did in The Wizard, I could do better than Moira Grissom who stupidly fell and died in World 1's first miniboss castle, and I whoop the snot out of the evil and arrogant Lucas and his crony Toby Maguire. I could see if "Wart" was coming back!
I could finally do what I'd been waiting so long for. But the strangest feeling washed over me on our way back to the car.
I didn't want it anymore.
The excitement, the fever, the hype, the rush... all of it had vanished. I wanted to take the game and just throw it away. Not because it disgusted me, but I just didn't want it anymore. It was taking up precious space in my hands. Though nine-year-old me couldn't articulate it at the time, twenty-six-year-old me can say that it wasn't the game I desired most. It was wanting the game that I desired most. And as soon as I had it, my need had been fulfilled and I felt extremely disappointed at what I now had. Keep in mind, this is before I ever got home. This is still on the way to, and in, the car. Of course I hid this from my mother who had just shelled out $55 on something she had not the slightest interest in. I feigned excitement and contentment as well as a nine-year-old could in 1990. The inevitable logical question arises: "Why on earth would you desire for your marriage to emulate that?" Follow me and I'm going to bless you...
I'm not much of a gamer. The Legend of Zelda came out in 1987, Super Mario Bros. came out in 1985. I didn't beat either of them until 1996. I don't know how long it was until I beat Mario 3 but I'm sure it was well into the 90s as well. But that didn't stop me from playing it over and over again. Initially disappointed, I took the game (since I had it now and dare not even attempt to conjure up the notion of maybe suggesting that it should possibly be returned to the store), played it, eventually embraced it, and grew to love it. My next door neighbor and I would have all night Mario 3 sessions in the summer to see how far we could get without warping before we finally fell asleep (he always fell asleep by Water Land, I usually got tired around Level 7 or 8 ). I mastered the timing to hit the star at the end of every level. I could line up the Starman in Toad's scrolling extra lives game every time without trying. I memorized patterns in the N-card memory game. I discovered other whistles, I'd hunt the mysterious coin ships and blue Toad houses, I'd hoard P-Wings and Lakitu clouds until Dark World. Above a bachelor's, but not quite a doctor, I had mastered SMB 3 except for one part... I couldn't beat the freakin' thing. Getting through Dark World was hard enough, but throw in Bowser's castle plus the fact that I had no initial idea on how to beat him and it wouldn't be rare for me simply to get to Dark World and turn the game off. I wasn't unfulfilled, but I wasn't at a level of skill where I could face what was facing me. This wasn't, nor is, a matter of disappointment for me as Super Mario Bros. 3 ranks as one of my top 5, if not number one, favorite video game of all time. This isn't necessarily for matters of excellent construction or graphics or challenge, but because when I think of joy I've experienced when playing a video game, Mario 3 is at the forefront of my memory. I associate Super Mario Bros. 3 with pleasant memories and experiences. And though I have no difficulty breezing through the game today and stomping Bowser in the mud (or letting him stomp himself rather), it still brings me great pleasure despite it being 17 years old.
What I mean to say is that on the sixth anniversary of the party by the pool thrown by Flowerguy, I will become a married man and I have great expectations, hopes, and dreams. Admittedly, there are a few anxieties that I would not call cold feet, but merely recognition of the tasks and responsibilities that lie before me. I do not take what I am about to embark upon lightly. I am very excited but I hope that my excitement isn't quick to wear off in the eventual normalcy of everyday life. Keep in mind, I never imagined that upon walking out of the store in 1990 that I would no longer want what I'd been fiending for for weeks on end. But the redemption in that (besides a true calling from the Lord for me to marry this woman and my own personal desire and love to do so) is that my own life has revealed a wonderful precedence. What began as intense desire became, through time, hard work, passion, and zeal, a timeless and lasting experience. I get a kick every time I play Mario 3. It's as much fun now as it was in 1990, '98, and '06. I couldn't beat it at first, but by not giving up on it and sticking it through I eventually mastered it and began discovering fun new elements all the time (like getting all the coins in World... 2-2 I believe, makes a blue Toad's house appear). Yeah I'd throw the controller in disgust at times, and of course I'd angrily hit the power button on the NES and declare "I DON'T WANNA PLAY THIS NO MORE!" but rash statements can't quench a love of the game that easily. Of course I had to try again. I'd had too much fun to give up on it forever.
People say marriage is no picnic, but I youthfully disagree. Having been in the relationship with my fiancée for an adequate number of years, I know that it takes actual work to build on what you started with and to keep the two of you growing together. And if you and your honey want to go on a picnic, it takes work. Food must be bought and prepared. Decisions must be made on what to bring. An agreement must be made on when the time to have the picnic is available and where the two of you are going to go. How much is being brought? What is being brought? Is anyone else coming? Someone has to carry the stuff and if your locale is far off someone has to drive, be it you, your honey, the bus driver, the cab driver, or your grandma. The site must be set up and cleared of debris. But once all of that has taken place, you and your mate can literally enjoy the fruits of your labor. I'm not going into Dr. Phil mode, but I submit unto you folks in relationships; when was the last time you and (s)he went on a picnic?
Just as I'd heard and seen so much about Mario 3's fun (and difficulty via The Wizard) without ever having played it, I have high hopes that my inital eagerness and excitement about my upcoming and only marriage will mature into a lasting love and appreciation upon which I can fondly reminisce in 17 or, God willing, even 71 years from now. My father once wrote a poem about how we do not desire the sunshine, but desire the desire for sunshine. Immaturely, I fell into that trap as a 3rd grader in mid-1990 (and again when DKC 2 for the SNES came out) but now I realize that the desire for the desire can occasionally confirm that what you were chasing after was your true treasure after all. You didn't enjoy the desire of Mario 3, you actually wanted Mario 3 the whole time. You just didn't know it. You were merely sidetracked, but time can correct and redirect the course of that river. Have I stretched and exegied too much out of my illustration? Possibly. Does any of this make a lick of sense to someone out there? Possibly. Could it impact someone for the positive? Hey, anything could happen. That was not my inspiration for this improvised essay, but instead one of those quick 1½ - 2 second thoughts in which is compacted and compressed an entire day's worth of meditation and verbal dialogue. Nonetheless, I fancied it an interesting simile worth sharing and figured that if it could be appreciated anywhere, it would be on a videogame webforum.
If you read all of this, I thank you. If you're a Christian, we'd appreciate your prayers for our marriage. If you're not a Christian, I still would still love to cheerfully accept your well wishes. We need all the support we can get. And if you're like one of those types who has been on the forums since I first joined but still have yet to grow or mature any in the past 6 years, your immaturity, bitterness, snide attitude, and anger at the world is cause for great sadness. There is a world outside of your computer. The sunlight doesn't hurt. Embrace it occasionally. I beg you, turn away from Dustin Diamondism. I don't say this to whore out congrats for myself, but I believe in the prayers of the saints and would love their prayers for my marriage. However I recognize that everyone does not believe what I do and I don't want to deny a well meaning person the opportunity to say "ur gettin' /\/\4rr13|)??!!!11~ omg kewl." So I leave you on a positive note. Buy yourself an ice cream sandwich, fire up your NES if it still works, and play through all of Super Mario Bros. 3 (with the one you love if you can convince them) without warping, and beat the game.
Till next time, peace out, God bless, and may the force be with you.
-ap
P.S. But if you really want to show us you're happy for us, we want a Wii. :)
For posterity's sake, we reproduce the entire essay in full:
Why I hope my marriage is like Super Mario Bros. 3:
an improvo-essay by Antonio Pizza
On Monday, February 12, 1990, Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in the United States. I don't know when I got my copy, but I do remember the anticipation leading up to it. I remember seeing the trailers for The Wizard; I remember hearing from a classmate that it was at "The Fun Factory", the local mall's arcade in a Playchoice-10 machine; I remember the brilliantly effective hype commercial with thousands of kids all across North America grouped in different colored shirts chanting "Mario! Mario!" until the camera pulled back into outer space revealing that the kids had formed Mario's smiling face upon the face of the earth. I was hyped, I was eager, I was amped. The classmate (Jeff Kraak, if you're out there somewhere, what's up?) told me magnificent things about the game such as not reverting directly to small Mario if you were injured as Fire Mario, a frog suit(?!), and (get this) the ability to fly! Oh! I had to have it! Everyone knew and loved Mario 1, and Mario 2 was, though not identically, equally loved and adored. How I asked for it, I don't recall. How I convinced my mother to buy it, I don't remember. When we went, I couldn't tell you. What I do remember was travelling to The Crossroads Mall in Portage, Michigan with her and purchasing Super Mario Bros. 3 from K.B. Toy Store for $55.
What I remember next disturbed me at the time and disturbed me in later retrospect, but now I recognize it as an important life lesson. We walked out of the mall and I had Super Mario Bros. 3 in my hands. Finally! I could get this weird "frog suit" and "teddy bear suit" (Tanooki Mario) that I'd heard about. I could try and get the whistle just like Jimmy Woods did in The Wizard, I could do better than Moira Grissom who stupidly fell and died in World 1's first miniboss castle, and I whoop the snot out of the evil and arrogant Lucas and his crony Toby Maguire. I could see if "Wart" was coming back!
I could finally do what I'd been waiting so long for. But the strangest feeling washed over me on our way back to the car.
I didn't want it anymore.
The excitement, the fever, the hype, the rush... all of it had vanished. I wanted to take the game and just throw it away. Not because it disgusted me, but I just didn't want it anymore. It was taking up precious space in my hands. Though nine-year-old me couldn't articulate it at the time, twenty-six-year-old me can say that it wasn't the game I desired most. It was wanting the game that I desired most. And as soon as I had it, my need had been fulfilled and I felt extremely disappointed at what I now had. Keep in mind, this is before I ever got home. This is still on the way to, and in, the car. Of course I hid this from my mother who had just shelled out $55 on something she had not the slightest interest in. I feigned excitement and contentment as well as a nine-year-old could in 1990. The inevitable logical question arises: "Why on earth would you desire for your marriage to emulate that?" Follow me and I'm going to bless you...
I'm not much of a gamer. The Legend of Zelda came out in 1987, Super Mario Bros. came out in 1985. I didn't beat either of them until 1996. I don't know how long it was until I beat Mario 3 but I'm sure it was well into the 90s as well. But that didn't stop me from playing it over and over again. Initially disappointed, I took the game (since I had it now and dare not even attempt to conjure up the notion of maybe suggesting that it should possibly be returned to the store), played it, eventually embraced it, and grew to love it. My next door neighbor and I would have all night Mario 3 sessions in the summer to see how far we could get without warping before we finally fell asleep (he always fell asleep by Water Land, I usually got tired around Level 7 or 8 ). I mastered the timing to hit the star at the end of every level. I could line up the Starman in Toad's scrolling extra lives game every time without trying. I memorized patterns in the N-card memory game. I discovered other whistles, I'd hunt the mysterious coin ships and blue Toad houses, I'd hoard P-Wings and Lakitu clouds until Dark World. Above a bachelor's, but not quite a doctor, I had mastered SMB 3 except for one part... I couldn't beat the freakin' thing. Getting through Dark World was hard enough, but throw in Bowser's castle plus the fact that I had no initial idea on how to beat him and it wouldn't be rare for me simply to get to Dark World and turn the game off. I wasn't unfulfilled, but I wasn't at a level of skill where I could face what was facing me. This wasn't, nor is, a matter of disappointment for me as Super Mario Bros. 3 ranks as one of my top 5, if not number one, favorite video game of all time. This isn't necessarily for matters of excellent construction or graphics or challenge, but because when I think of joy I've experienced when playing a video game, Mario 3 is at the forefront of my memory. I associate Super Mario Bros. 3 with pleasant memories and experiences. And though I have no difficulty breezing through the game today and stomping Bowser in the mud (or letting him stomp himself rather), it still brings me great pleasure despite it being 17 years old.
What I mean to say is that on the sixth anniversary of the party by the pool thrown by Flowerguy, I will become a married man and I have great expectations, hopes, and dreams. Admittedly, there are a few anxieties that I would not call cold feet, but merely recognition of the tasks and responsibilities that lie before me. I do not take what I am about to embark upon lightly. I am very excited but I hope that my excitement isn't quick to wear off in the eventual normalcy of everyday life. Keep in mind, I never imagined that upon walking out of the store in 1990 that I would no longer want what I'd been fiending for for weeks on end. But the redemption in that (besides a true calling from the Lord for me to marry this woman and my own personal desire and love to do so) is that my own life has revealed a wonderful precedence. What began as intense desire became, through time, hard work, passion, and zeal, a timeless and lasting experience. I get a kick every time I play Mario 3. It's as much fun now as it was in 1990, '98, and '06. I couldn't beat it at first, but by not giving up on it and sticking it through I eventually mastered it and began discovering fun new elements all the time (like getting all the coins in World... 2-2 I believe, makes a blue Toad's house appear). Yeah I'd throw the controller in disgust at times, and of course I'd angrily hit the power button on the NES and declare "I DON'T WANNA PLAY THIS NO MORE!" but rash statements can't quench a love of the game that easily. Of course I had to try again. I'd had too much fun to give up on it forever.
People say marriage is no picnic, but I youthfully disagree. Having been in the relationship with my fiancée for an adequate number of years, I know that it takes actual work to build on what you started with and to keep the two of you growing together. And if you and your honey want to go on a picnic, it takes work. Food must be bought and prepared. Decisions must be made on what to bring. An agreement must be made on when the time to have the picnic is available and where the two of you are going to go. How much is being brought? What is being brought? Is anyone else coming? Someone has to carry the stuff and if your locale is far off someone has to drive, be it you, your honey, the bus driver, the cab driver, or your grandma. The site must be set up and cleared of debris. But once all of that has taken place, you and your mate can literally enjoy the fruits of your labor. I'm not going into Dr. Phil mode, but I submit unto you folks in relationships; when was the last time you and (s)he went on a picnic?
Just as I'd heard and seen so much about Mario 3's fun (and difficulty via The Wizard) without ever having played it, I have high hopes that my inital eagerness and excitement about my upcoming and only marriage will mature into a lasting love and appreciation upon which I can fondly reminisce in 17 or, God willing, even 71 years from now. My father once wrote a poem about how we do not desire the sunshine, but desire the desire for sunshine. Immaturely, I fell into that trap as a 3rd grader in mid-1990 (and again when DKC 2 for the SNES came out) but now I realize that the desire for the desire can occasionally confirm that what you were chasing after was your true treasure after all. You didn't enjoy the desire of Mario 3, you actually wanted Mario 3 the whole time. You just didn't know it. You were merely sidetracked, but time can correct and redirect the course of that river. Have I stretched and exegied too much out of my illustration? Possibly. Does any of this make a lick of sense to someone out there? Possibly. Could it impact someone for the positive? Hey, anything could happen. That was not my inspiration for this improvised essay, but instead one of those quick 1½ - 2 second thoughts in which is compacted and compressed an entire day's worth of meditation and verbal dialogue. Nonetheless, I fancied it an interesting simile worth sharing and figured that if it could be appreciated anywhere, it would be on a videogame webforum.
If you read all of this, I thank you. If you're a Christian, we'd appreciate your prayers for our marriage. If you're not a Christian, I still would still love to cheerfully accept your well wishes. We need all the support we can get. And if you're like one of those types who has been on the forums since I first joined but still have yet to grow or mature any in the past 6 years, your immaturity, bitterness, snide attitude, and anger at the world is cause for great sadness. There is a world outside of your computer. The sunlight doesn't hurt. Embrace it occasionally. I beg you, turn away from Dustin Diamondism. I don't say this to whore out congrats for myself, but I believe in the prayers of the saints and would love their prayers for my marriage. However I recognize that everyone does not believe what I do and I don't want to deny a well meaning person the opportunity to say "ur gettin' /\/\4rr13|)??!!!11~ omg kewl." So I leave you on a positive note. Buy yourself an ice cream sandwich, fire up your NES if it still works, and play through all of Super Mario Bros. 3 (with the one you love if you can convince them) without warping, and beat the game.
Till next time, peace out, God bless, and may the force be with you.
-ap
P.S. But if you really want to show us you're happy for us, we want a Wii. :)
Xoc back at it with Kirby's Adventure & Gremlins 2 tribute albums
Jason "Xoc" Cox has has plenty of arrangements, side projects and concept albums come out since the ultra-popular Super Mario World tribute "SMW", but the spiritual successor to "SMW" finally arrived a few weeks ago with the Kirby's Adventure tribute album "What's Pink and Sucks?"
Go for it now. You're bound to find something that you like within the album. It's over 30 minutes of Jason at his best, making creative use of a cavalcade of instruments and coming up with some great results. I don't have any nostalgic ties to the Gremlins 2 NES game (that's never stopped me), but Jason's arranged that as well, so you should know "G2EP" is worth the download.
Go for it now. You're bound to find something that you like within the album. It's over 30 minutes of Jason at his best, making creative use of a cavalcade of instruments and coming up with some great results. I don't have any nostalgic ties to the Gremlins 2 NES game (that's never stopped me), but Jason's arranged that as well, so you should know "G2EP" is worth the download.
Introducing yet another blogger at VGF
Whozzat? Sum n00b?
I know. You don't know me, therefore I'm not as interesting as the mighty Larry Oji. But it's okay. I'm still going to write stuff here from time to time. Let me give you a brief introduction to the man that is Another Soundscape.
My name is Mattias Häggström Gerdt. It's a strange name because I'm from Sweden. You know the ever-neutral country up north? Where Gecko Yamori is from? Yeah, that's the one. I am one of those new ReMixers that haven't really made it on the big scene yet. I am also one of the small percentage of new ReMixers who's still here, still trying, after rejections.
I do have some merits though. I have two finished songs for the FF7 project (schh, it's a secret) and I'm also a part of some other projects, including Larry's own Dirge for the Follin. I make all of my music in Reason 3.0 as it is now (you back there, yeah you FL user, stop booing) and I enjoy tweaking sounds beyond recognition and acoustic drums and percussion mixed with synths. When I'm blogging here I'm going to tell you about many things, including: OCR as a beginner, OCR as a European, ReMixing, video game music I enjoy, video game music in general and other more or less relevant stuff. Now, that's enough introduction for me. Let's get it on!
So it's 4.30 PM and I recently got home from work. All sweaty and tired, I get down to my computer and start iTunes. Since I'm such an impulsive fellow I usually have iTunes set to 'shuffle'. I clicked the VGM playlist and there it was. "Voiceless Poem" from Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, composed by Ken Nakagawa, Daisuke Achiwa and Akira Tsuchiya (probably just one of them but I don't know who to credit).
Atelier Iris is one of those series of RPGs that hasn't really made it here in Europe, I don't know about the USA but in Japan this series, produced by Gust, is a long-runner. The first game in the series (that I know of) is Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg, released in 1997 for Sega Saturn. Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana on the other hand is for the PS2 and was released in mid-2004. Thinking it was a Disgaea rip-off (hey, 2D graphics in PS2 games isn't THAT common), I bought the game about a year ago and boy was I surprised. It's a classic 2D RPG with all elements you may and may not expect. Charming characters, incredibly smooth 2D graphics and the kind of plot that makes you think "ooh, the 90s". On top of this we have the soundtrack. Man, the soundtrack.
When the song "Voiceless Poem" was first heard in the game I thought to myself "this is one cozy track. It's got the melody and mood so right it's incredible. It's piano, it's synth pads and plucked stuff. Yum." And then out of nowhere comes an analogue, sharp, bouncy kickdrum. It could've been sampled right out of any psytrance song out there. Together with some 909-style hi-hats, the once so mellow tune goes downbeat-breakbeat, and I love it. The soundtrack is filled with those kinds of surprises. We have the regular Motoi Sakuraba-influenced songs, some sad themes and loads of the classic that's-the-funny-person-in-the-game-themes.
Although in Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, all the tunes share an experimental and interesting approach to this. With loads of ethno instruments and bells joining hands with analogue-type synths, beats and strange FX, the composers created a soundtrack that is really interesting to listen to, especially as a composer or remixer. You don't even have to play the game to enjoy these tunes. Sometimes the soundtrack suffers from some low-quality instruments, not in the bad-MIDI-way, but in the this-is-like-SNES-and-PSX-but-cooler-way. So do yourself a favour, pick up the soundtrack. Or even better, get the game at a game outlet near you. It's pure pleasure.
I know. You don't know me, therefore I'm not as interesting as the mighty Larry Oji. But it's okay. I'm still going to write stuff here from time to time. Let me give you a brief introduction to the man that is Another Soundscape.
My name is Mattias Häggström Gerdt. It's a strange name because I'm from Sweden. You know the ever-neutral country up north? Where Gecko Yamori is from? Yeah, that's the one. I am one of those new ReMixers that haven't really made it on the big scene yet. I am also one of the small percentage of new ReMixers who's still here, still trying, after rejections.
I do have some merits though. I have two finished songs for the FF7 project (schh, it's a secret) and I'm also a part of some other projects, including Larry's own Dirge for the Follin. I make all of my music in Reason 3.0 as it is now (you back there, yeah you FL user, stop booing) and I enjoy tweaking sounds beyond recognition and acoustic drums and percussion mixed with synths. When I'm blogging here I'm going to tell you about many things, including: OCR as a beginner, OCR as a European, ReMixing, video game music I enjoy, video game music in general and other more or less relevant stuff. Now, that's enough introduction for me. Let's get it on!
So it's 4.30 PM and I recently got home from work. All sweaty and tired, I get down to my computer and start iTunes. Since I'm such an impulsive fellow I usually have iTunes set to 'shuffle'. I clicked the VGM playlist and there it was. "Voiceless Poem" from Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, composed by Ken Nakagawa, Daisuke Achiwa and Akira Tsuchiya (probably just one of them but I don't know who to credit).
Atelier Iris is one of those series of RPGs that hasn't really made it here in Europe, I don't know about the USA but in Japan this series, produced by Gust, is a long-runner. The first game in the series (that I know of) is Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg, released in 1997 for Sega Saturn. Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana on the other hand is for the PS2 and was released in mid-2004. Thinking it was a Disgaea rip-off (hey, 2D graphics in PS2 games isn't THAT common), I bought the game about a year ago and boy was I surprised. It's a classic 2D RPG with all elements you may and may not expect. Charming characters, incredibly smooth 2D graphics and the kind of plot that makes you think "ooh, the 90s". On top of this we have the soundtrack. Man, the soundtrack.
When the song "Voiceless Poem" was first heard in the game I thought to myself "this is one cozy track. It's got the melody and mood so right it's incredible. It's piano, it's synth pads and plucked stuff. Yum." And then out of nowhere comes an analogue, sharp, bouncy kickdrum. It could've been sampled right out of any psytrance song out there. Together with some 909-style hi-hats, the once so mellow tune goes downbeat-breakbeat, and I love it. The soundtrack is filled with those kinds of surprises. We have the regular Motoi Sakuraba-influenced songs, some sad themes and loads of the classic that's-the-funny-person-in-the-game-themes.
Although in Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, all the tunes share an experimental and interesting approach to this. With loads of ethno instruments and bells joining hands with analogue-type synths, beats and strange FX, the composers created a soundtrack that is really interesting to listen to, especially as a composer or remixer. You don't even have to play the game to enjoy these tunes. Sometimes the soundtrack suffers from some low-quality instruments, not in the bad-MIDI-way, but in the this-is-like-SNES-and-PSX-but-cooler-way. So do yourself a favour, pick up the soundtrack. Or even better, get the game at a game outlet near you. It's pure pleasure.
6.29.2007
virt experiences wet dream, scores Contra 4
As CHz reported over at ThaSauce, arrangement scene old-schooler turned professional game composer Jake "virt" Kaufman was outed in the current issue of Nintendo Power as being the composer for Konami's upcoming Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS. (Here's hoping they at least stick with Contra IV/4 in the title, and don't drop that in favor of just a subtitle.)
While unable to comment much beyond confirming his role on the upcoming shoot-them-motherfuckers-up (loosely translated, "schmup"), Jake backs up the Ninty Power interview and assures us that we'll be rocked by new themes as well as rearrangements of classic themes from the Contra series.
I personally can't wait until Jake has a chance to score another console game a la 2005's Legend of Kay, but congratulations to Jake on a dream project that's a major footnote in his growing career.
While unable to comment much beyond confirming his role on the upcoming shoot-them-motherfuckers-up (loosely translated, "schmup"), Jake backs up the Ninty Power interview and assures us that we'll be rocked by new themes as well as rearrangements of classic themes from the Contra series.
I personally can't wait until Jake has a chance to score another console game a la 2005's Legend of Kay, but congratulations to Jake on a dream project that's a major footnote in his growing career.
OneUp Studios: The Extra B Stands for BYOBB
OneUp Studios recently hosted their latest BBQ, marking the event's 5th anniversary. I was invited by Mustin to the 3rd (honored, to be perfectly honest), and ever since then it's been open invitation. I :'-( every year I can't make it to Arkansas for the festivities. One day though...
Be sure to check out the OUS forums for information on how everything went. The OneUps themselves (OUS's cornerstone band) have been given new life since all but calling it quits last year, and will be performing at this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).
Nice new OUS gear, by the way. Remind me to buy a black medium-size shirt.
Be sure to check out the OUS forums for information on how everything went. The OneUps themselves (OUS's cornerstone band) have been given new life since all but calling it quits last year, and will be performing at this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).
Nice new OUS gear, by the way. Remind me to buy a black medium-size shirt.
6.26.2007
Dale muses on "Fail"
OneUp Studios co-founder and OC ReMixer Dale North has a new post up at Destructoid on America's history of crappy video game art and animation. Clearly the Mega Man series is in there. The video accompanying the post is tough in some cases (EarthBound? It's different, but what's wrong with that one?), but the gist of it is that Japanese art that's much more relevant to games is passed up for oftentimes non-sequitor art, usually resulting in cases of "fail."
Best moment of the video for me:
An iconic picture of Pac-Man is shown midway through the video: "Oh man! How are they gonna fuck that up???"
Seconds later, the Atari box art: "Dear LORD!"
Oof. I also don't believe I've ever seen anything as comparatively anti-septic and bland as the American box art for Breath of Fire III after the vibrant Japanese art.
And say what you will about the US-based cartoons being poor. You still watched them. Never ever heard of that DarkStalkers cartoon until now. Don't forget though that the Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoon segments and Mario 3/Mario World cartoons by DiC were really strong all things considered.
One thing that could be noted for the present is that, with the foothold that manga and anime have on pop culture nowadays, a lot of the showcased art deemed unpalatable to American consumers back then is significantly more permissible. It remains to be seen what that'll translate to for future releases, but hopefully the days of Mega Man I's American box art are basically behind us.
A long-time gamer, Dale's been really active at Destructoid, so be sure to check out his regular updates.
Best moment of the video for me:
An iconic picture of Pac-Man is shown midway through the video: "Oh man! How are they gonna fuck that up???"
Seconds later, the Atari box art: "Dear LORD!"
Oof. I also don't believe I've ever seen anything as comparatively anti-septic and bland as the American box art for Breath of Fire III after the vibrant Japanese art.
And say what you will about the US-based cartoons being poor. You still watched them. Never ever heard of that DarkStalkers cartoon until now. Don't forget though that the Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoon segments and Mario 3/Mario World cartoons by DiC were really strong all things considered.
One thing that could be noted for the present is that, with the foothold that manga and anime have on pop culture nowadays, a lot of the showcased art deemed unpalatable to American consumers back then is significantly more permissible. It remains to be seen what that'll translate to for future releases, but hopefully the days of Mega Man I's American box art are basically behind us.
A long-time gamer, Dale's been really active at Destructoid, so be sure to check out his regular updates.
Composer Spotlight #1: Hiroyuki Iwatsuki
Hiroyuki Iwatsuki is the master of the generic beat 'em up track. What does that mean? Well let's find out!
Works featured in this post:
full list of works
~~~~~~~~~~~~
One thing to note about Iwatsuki is that it's hard to get his "sound," so to speak, because he frequently collaborated with other Natsume sound team members, most notably Iku Mizutani and Haruo Ohashi. However, four out of his six chiptune works were solo ventures, so from these we can get some insight into the man's usual style.
"Area E"
Choujin Sentai Jetman (NES)
"Stage 1"
Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GB)
We can already see some similarities in the structure of the songs. Each loop has three basic sections: an intro, main body which ends in an upward sequence, and high conclusion. Both songs also have a driving bassline and percussion too. We'll see the tripartite structure and backbone in the next two co-composed samples from the SNES.
"Crazy Woods"
Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Gokuraku Daisakusen (SNES)
co-composed with Kinuyo Yamashita
"Last Boss"
The Ninjawarriors (SNES)
co-composed with N. Tate
I've been hand-picking tracks on purpose to reinforce the first sentence in the post, that Iwatsuki is the master of the generic beat 'em up track. All four games featured so far are side-scrolling/platforming beat 'em ups. More important, though, is how similar these songs are; the games Iwatsuki has worked on are chock full of songs just like these that grab you and yell out, "Beat up enemies to me!"
However, what I like about these soundtracks are just how eminently listenable they are. "Generic" does not automatically mean a song is bad; despite the four songs I picked being mostly interchangeable with one another (discounting the synth qualities of the three platforms), each track has its own decent melody and hooks, variety, and development. If these types of tracks are up your alley, then you should definitely check Iwatsuki out, because there are lots more tracks just like these.
Now that I've talked about how his music is all the same, let's look about some of his work that actually does sound different!
"Staff Roll"
Spanky's Quest (GB)
"Haunted House"
Pocky & Rocky (SNES)
"Airport"
Shin Kidoesenki Gundam Wing - Endless Duel (SNES)
co-composed with Haruo Ohashi
So in addition to beat 'em up tracks, we also have almost Kirby-like ^___^ness, almost RPG dungeonness, and almost technocrapness. I used "almost" and "-ness" in all three of those "genres" because each track does manage to still retain a little bit of the Iwatsuki flavor. Staff Roll and Haunted House have pumpin' basslines, and Airport still gets you ready to kick the crap out of something. Iwatsuki has a consistent style in his works that just rocks.
Works featured in this post:
- Choujin Sentai Jetman (NES)
- Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Gokuraku Daisakusen (SNES)
- Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GB)
- Pocky & Rocky (SNES)
- Shin Kidoesenki Gundam Wing - Endless Duel (SNES)
- Spanky's Quest (GB)
- The Ninjawarriors (SNES)
full list of works
~~~~~~~~~~~~
One thing to note about Iwatsuki is that it's hard to get his "sound," so to speak, because he frequently collaborated with other Natsume sound team members, most notably Iku Mizutani and Haruo Ohashi. However, four out of his six chiptune works were solo ventures, so from these we can get some insight into the man's usual style.
"Area E"
Choujin Sentai Jetman (NES)
"Stage 1"
Ninja Gaiden Shadow (GB)
We can already see some similarities in the structure of the songs. Each loop has three basic sections: an intro, main body which ends in an upward sequence, and high conclusion. Both songs also have a driving bassline and percussion too. We'll see the tripartite structure and backbone in the next two co-composed samples from the SNES.
"Crazy Woods"
Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Gokuraku Daisakusen (SNES)
co-composed with Kinuyo Yamashita
"Last Boss"
The Ninjawarriors (SNES)
co-composed with N. Tate
I've been hand-picking tracks on purpose to reinforce the first sentence in the post, that Iwatsuki is the master of the generic beat 'em up track. All four games featured so far are side-scrolling/platforming beat 'em ups. More important, though, is how similar these songs are; the games Iwatsuki has worked on are chock full of songs just like these that grab you and yell out, "Beat up enemies to me!"
However, what I like about these soundtracks are just how eminently listenable they are. "Generic" does not automatically mean a song is bad; despite the four songs I picked being mostly interchangeable with one another (discounting the synth qualities of the three platforms), each track has its own decent melody and hooks, variety, and development. If these types of tracks are up your alley, then you should definitely check Iwatsuki out, because there are lots more tracks just like these.
Now that I've talked about how his music is all the same, let's look about some of his work that actually does sound different!
"Staff Roll"
Spanky's Quest (GB)
"Haunted House"
Pocky & Rocky (SNES)
"Airport"
Shin Kidoesenki Gundam Wing - Endless Duel (SNES)
co-composed with Haruo Ohashi
So in addition to beat 'em up tracks, we also have almost Kirby-like ^___^ness, almost RPG dungeonness, and almost technocrapness. I used "almost" and "-ness" in all three of those "genres" because each track does manage to still retain a little bit of the Iwatsuki flavor. Staff Roll and Haunted House have pumpin' basslines, and Airport still gets you ready to kick the crap out of something. Iwatsuki has a consistent style in his works that just rocks.
6.24.2007
A plug for "Music from SSX Blur"
The Song of the Week competition (Week #98) currently has an entry from Tom "Junkie XL" Holkenborg from Nettwerk/Electronic Arts' recent Music from SSX Blur album, the track being "Wanlong Mamoth".
All I can say is that, after hearing it, I'm really disappointed that I didn't have a chance to attend the Washington, DC part of the album release tour at GLOW on April 21st. That was back before I had my current (and thoroughly enjoyable) job, so all of my attentions had been going towards job hunting.
Nonetheless... :'-(
Great track, and I'll definitely be checking out the rest of the album.
All I can say is that, after hearing it, I'm really disappointed that I didn't have a chance to attend the Washington, DC part of the album release tour at GLOW on April 21st. That was back before I had my current (and thoroughly enjoyable) job, so all of my attentions had been going towards job hunting.
Nonetheless... :'-(
Great track, and I'll definitely be checking out the rest of the album.
6.21.2007
Dhsu Presents: Doujin Spolight
Hey guys, it's your friendly neighborhood Dhsu here: ReMixer extraordinaire and Asian debonaire. My job is to familiarize all you gaijin with video game arrangements made by our friends in the Land of the Rising Sun. These arrangements are commonly referred to under the umbrella term "doujin" (i.e. amateur or fan) music, and are closely linked to Japan's large "DTM" (or "DeskTop Music") community. The recently-posted "Dignity Ark" by Ryo Lion is but one example of what the majority of Western ReMix-lovers are missing out on.
There are a number of factors that contribute to the relative inaccessibility of doujin arrangements: in addition to the obvious language barrier, the doujin community doesn't have (at least to my knowledge) the equivalent of dedicated, centralized submission sites like OCR or VGMix. The closest thing would probably be sites such as CREATOR BACKER that keep track of the myriad personal sites run by the artists. Also, like their American counterparts, Japanese arrangements aren't all good, so it's a task in itself to sort through all "bleh" stuff. What's worse, the arrangements that actually turn out to be amazing are often available only as part of albums sold on the artists' websites.
But hey, that's what I'm here for! I'll be your tour guide of sorts to the wonderful world of doujin music, sharing sites and various other finds that I've come across during my own travels. I did a Doujin Spotlight feature at ThaSauce too a while ago, so the 2 whole people who ever went there will know the drill. ;)
As I close this post, I do have a small confession to make: namely that I typically only check arrangements for games or sources that I'm familiar with. Since I'm a bit of a Squaresofgt, that means mostly Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. Although that's pretty much the only thing Japanese people remix anyway, aside from Touhou and hentai games. :P Oh yeah, and the Ys series, but nobody's ever played those.
There are a number of factors that contribute to the relative inaccessibility of doujin arrangements: in addition to the obvious language barrier, the doujin community doesn't have (at least to my knowledge) the equivalent of dedicated, centralized submission sites like OCR or VGMix. The closest thing would probably be sites such as CREATOR BACKER that keep track of the myriad personal sites run by the artists. Also, like their American counterparts, Japanese arrangements aren't all good, so it's a task in itself to sort through all "bleh" stuff. What's worse, the arrangements that actually turn out to be amazing are often available only as part of albums sold on the artists' websites.
But hey, that's what I'm here for! I'll be your tour guide of sorts to the wonderful world of doujin music, sharing sites and various other finds that I've come across during my own travels. I did a Doujin Spotlight feature at ThaSauce too a while ago, so the 2 whole people who ever went there will know the drill. ;)
As I close this post, I do have a small confession to make: namely that I typically only check arrangements for games or sources that I'm familiar with. Since I'm a bit of a Squaresofgt, that means mostly Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. Although that's pretty much the only thing Japanese people remix anyway, aside from Touhou and hentai games. :P Oh yeah, and the Ys series, but nobody's ever played those.
6.17.2007
Other people besides Liontamer might post here too sometimes
Apparently I've been given the ability to post here. I'd better make the most of it before Larry fires me for making fun of his stench (like that of an African elephant) or pubefro (no modifiers needed). D:
I'm CHz, sometimes known as 'Ili Butterfield. I'm one of the folks who runs Song of the Week. Spiel:
I just updated the site with this week's winners about two hours ago, so check Week 97 and all the previous weeks out and see if you like what you hear. Maybe even participate if you have the time.
But anyway, why am I here? Well, since the scope of this blog is not just video game remixes, Larry wanted contributions from people who know more video game music than just a couple of tracks from whatever lame 2D fighter they played ten years ago. Since I owed him a lifedebt for saving me from a Nicaraguan death squad, I agreed to help him out with this "VG Frequency" thing.
So what can you expect from me? I don't know either! Presumably something about video game music! My original ideas were composer spotlights on lesser-known guys who aren't totally obscure (like, say, a Motoaki Takenouchi vs. a Nobuo Uematsu or Nobuo Ito) and looks at overlooked works by big-name composers, like the Hanjuku Hero series or DynamiTracer by Uematsu. But I'm not that organized, so I might end up just making things up off the cuff, kind of like this post!
I've gone on far enough here without any actual content, so I'm just going to end this post with a song I really like. It'll give me a chance to test this cool Flash MP3 player dealie. It also could be a preview of my next entry...?!
"Energy Generator Lab (Stage 5)"
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (SNES)
Hiroyuki Iwatsuki
I'm CHz, sometimes known as 'Ili Butterfield. I'm one of the folks who runs Song of the Week. Spiel:
Song of the Week (or SotW, for short) is an online, ongoing, weekly event. The purpose of this event is to promote the proliferation of quality video game music that is seldom heard amongst the society of VGM fans.
I just updated the site with this week's winners about two hours ago, so check Week 97 and all the previous weeks out and see if you like what you hear. Maybe even participate if you have the time.
But anyway, why am I here? Well, since the scope of this blog is not just video game remixes, Larry wanted contributions from people who know more video game music than just a couple of tracks from whatever lame 2D fighter they played ten years ago. Since I owed him a lifedebt for saving me from a Nicaraguan death squad, I agreed to help him out with this "VG Frequency" thing.
So what can you expect from me? I don't know either! Presumably something about video game music! My original ideas were composer spotlights on lesser-known guys who aren't totally obscure (like, say, a Motoaki Takenouchi vs. a Nobuo Uematsu or Nobuo Ito) and looks at overlooked works by big-name composers, like the Hanjuku Hero series or DynamiTracer by Uematsu. But I'm not that organized, so I might end up just making things up off the cuff, kind of like this post!
I've gone on far enough here without any actual content, so I'm just going to end this post with a song I really like. It'll give me a chance to test this cool Flash MP3 player dealie. It also could be a preview of my next entry...?!
"Energy Generator Lab (Stage 5)"
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (SNES)
Hiroyuki Iwatsuki
6.13.2007
How a Russo-Nigerian Stallion Found Video Game Music, Part 6: Joining the Establishment
The coolest aspect by far of working at OC ReMix has been the job of helping select which tracks are posted. Especially as a listener/non-musician judge, being invited on board the Judges Panel validated the extent of my fandom for the amateur video game music community. Getting into the stories of my time on the panel will be cool for those insterested enough of the inner workings of the site, so I might as well lead off with how I ended up joining them.
Dain "Beatdrop" Olsen had recently stepped down from the panel after his second go-round, again for a lack of time. Long-time judges Ari "Protricity" Asulin and Binnie "Digital Coma" Katti were pretty merciless in pointing out that they thought he was a shitty judge for being so inactive at the end of both of his stints. I wouldn't know firsthand, but their complaining was probably a significant reason that pressure came down on Beatdrop to step down.
Myself having been on the panel for almost 3 years, I can tell you that the collective mindset of the panel never dwells on a loss. When someone resigns or is removed from the panel, it's unfortunate, but the gears immediately spring into motion for selecting a replacement. At the time Beatdrop left, several people were immediately brought up. JigginJonT likely would have been invited had he had the free time to join, but told whomever asked him about the opportunity that he didn't have the time. In the end, the two serious candidates brought up were Jack "Adhesive Boy" Ryerson and myself.
If you ask me, Adhesive Boy got a raw deal when he was nominated. If you listen to his material, you'll find that he's an A-grade arranger that's come out with some really impressive and creative pieces. By the time of his second posted ReMix, Treasure Hunter G 'Linoleum Stalactites', I had felt that he was on the road to making it onto the panel if he continued on that level, as he was only bound to get better.
When it came down to him or me, I ended up winning out, but at the same time, the potential to simply take on two new members was there, so AB and I weren't in any direct competition. After I joined though, I learned that close to the end of the selection process, the panel collectively decided they didn't need two people (which would have put the panel size at a then-unheard of 12 members). On top of that though, two mainstay judges felt AB made calls that nitpicked details and missed a lot of the big picture, and unfortunately that was it.
I was nominated by Protricity after a brief AIM conversation. From the looks of it, he had read the summer music reviews I had maintained for VG Frequency as he told me that he had the impression that I was enthusiastic about the community's music, but was able to call and spade a spade and be honest about when something was weak. I'd never find out that he was actually the one who nominated me outright until I joined.
Because I had always gotten along well with Gray "GrayLightning" Alexander, and he was my main source of communication as to what was going on in the judges panel, I had assumed that he had been the one who put my name forward. In actuality, he had reservations about me because I was already devoting so much time to college and the VG Frequency radio show there; he was wary of a someone coming on board who wouldn't make the panel something of a priority.
Digital Coma had bigger reservations about my objectivity but was ok enough to give me his support. I wouldn't know it until years later, but a long vote on one mix in my third day on the job caused him to go on a rant in the private judges chatroom on how I ended up being a terrible choice.
Vigilante intially had a bad vibe about my objectivity as well, but after he got a hold of me on AIM and gave me some test songs, I ended up with his strong support. Paraphrasing him, he could tell that I was capable of giving critical opinions and not trying to figure out what he wanted me to say. I forgot the other songs I listened to, but my first vote was one of the test batch songs Vig asked me about, Koelsch1's Valkyrie Profile 'Blind Eternity'. I figured it was worth it for my first vote to be a submission I would remember. My first YES vote went to a young up-and-comer by the name of Andrew "zircon" Aversa, for his very first passable submission Chrono Trigger 'Calamitous Judgement'.
When I was finally selected for the panel, djpretzel messaged me that night and made the official invitation. While I was secure in my skills, I was ecstatic that I was selected. As a non-musican, the fact that I had won the support of a very talented and selective group of musicians was especially gratifying.
Five hours later, after talking with djpretzel about the responsibilities of the job, getting congratulated by my new collegues, and reading through all the old topics and policy debates in Judges Discussion, I was ready to go. In my first four days, I had voted on everything there was to vote on, which was around 35 submissions.
After seeing my opening flurry of voting, Gray immediately warned me about working too hard and risking burnout. I dunno if he had ever seen anyone come in and annihilate the queue like that. And as soon as djpretzel posted the next flood of submissions a few days later, I voted on all 20 of them in 16 hours. There's no way I could do that nowadays, but my overall work ethic remains the same to this day. If a submission comes through the panel, I've voted on it 99% of the time.
Working these past three years evaluating OC ReMix's submissions has been almost nothing but fun. There have been plenty of internal squabbles, bouts of panel ennui, emo artists, ignorant assumptions by outsiders, and straight up crappy subs to weather. Depending on how forthcoming I am, you'll get to hear bits and pieces of all of that stuff if you stick around the blog. At the end of the day however, I'm currently one of only 10 people on earth who decided what you hear at OC ReMix. It's an envious job if you have an open mind and really, really love video game music.
And ever since I found it, I've really, really loved video game music.
Let's talk about someone other than me now.
If you ask me, Adhesive Boy got a raw deal when he was nominated. If you listen to his material, you'll find that he's an A-grade arranger that's come out with some really impressive and creative pieces. By the time of his second posted ReMix, Treasure Hunter G 'Linoleum Stalactites', I had felt that he was on the road to making it onto the panel if he continued on that level, as he was only bound to get better.
When it came down to him or me, I ended up winning out, but at the same time, the potential to simply take on two new members was there, so AB and I weren't in any direct competition. After I joined though, I learned that close to the end of the selection process, the panel collectively decided they didn't need two people (which would have put the panel size at a then-unheard of 12 members). On top of that though, two mainstay judges felt AB made calls that nitpicked details and missed a lot of the big picture, and unfortunately that was it.
I was nominated by Protricity after a brief AIM conversation. From the looks of it, he had read the summer music reviews I had maintained for VG Frequency as he told me that he had the impression that I was enthusiastic about the community's music, but was able to call and spade a spade and be honest about when something was weak. I'd never find out that he was actually the one who nominated me outright until I joined.
Because I had always gotten along well with Gray "GrayLightning" Alexander, and he was my main source of communication as to what was going on in the judges panel, I had assumed that he had been the one who put my name forward. In actuality, he had reservations about me because I was already devoting so much time to college and the VG Frequency radio show there; he was wary of a someone coming on board who wouldn't make the panel something of a priority.
Digital Coma had bigger reservations about my objectivity but was ok enough to give me his support. I wouldn't know it until years later, but a long vote on one mix in my third day on the job caused him to go on a rant in the private judges chatroom on how I ended up being a terrible choice.
Vigilante intially had a bad vibe about my objectivity as well, but after he got a hold of me on AIM and gave me some test songs, I ended up with his strong support. Paraphrasing him, he could tell that I was capable of giving critical opinions and not trying to figure out what he wanted me to say. I forgot the other songs I listened to, but my first vote was one of the test batch songs Vig asked me about, Koelsch1's Valkyrie Profile 'Blind Eternity'. I figured it was worth it for my first vote to be a submission I would remember. My first YES vote went to a young up-and-comer by the name of Andrew "zircon" Aversa, for his very first passable submission Chrono Trigger 'Calamitous Judgement'.
When I was finally selected for the panel, djpretzel messaged me that night and made the official invitation. While I was secure in my skills, I was ecstatic that I was selected. As a non-musican, the fact that I had won the support of a very talented and selective group of musicians was especially gratifying.
Five hours later, after talking with djpretzel about the responsibilities of the job, getting congratulated by my new collegues, and reading through all the old topics and policy debates in Judges Discussion, I was ready to go. In my first four days, I had voted on everything there was to vote on, which was around 35 submissions.
After seeing my opening flurry of voting, Gray immediately warned me about working too hard and risking burnout. I dunno if he had ever seen anyone come in and annihilate the queue like that. And as soon as djpretzel posted the next flood of submissions a few days later, I voted on all 20 of them in 16 hours. There's no way I could do that nowadays, but my overall work ethic remains the same to this day. If a submission comes through the panel, I've voted on it 99% of the time.
Working these past three years evaluating OC ReMix's submissions has been almost nothing but fun. There have been plenty of internal squabbles, bouts of panel ennui, emo artists, ignorant assumptions by outsiders, and straight up crappy subs to weather. Depending on how forthcoming I am, you'll get to hear bits and pieces of all of that stuff if you stick around the blog. At the end of the day however, I'm currently one of only 10 people on earth who decided what you hear at OC ReMix. It's an envious job if you have an open mind and really, really love video game music.
And ever since I found it, I've really, really loved video game music.
Let's talk about someone other than me now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
