Chip Orchestral
games music chiptunes awesomeness
I’ll forgive Naoshi Mizuta for stealing my awesome idea just this once, because what he’s doing with it is really interesting. I kid, of course, because while I’ve always entertained the concept of mixing orchestral ‘tunes with chiptunes, I haven’t actually done anything with it yet. So, beating me to the punch, is the really fantastic (samples of the) soundtrack to Final Fantasy Gaiden: 4 Warriors of Light.
The entire concept of the game is going back and saying hey, what if the original Final Fantasy was being made today for the DS? Therefore everything, from the world design, gameplay systems and music, gets reborn and is both old again and new.
From the samples of the soundtrack released so far, there is a really fantastic assortment of sound samples that range from old NES synths to a more 16-bit oscillation style synthesis to modern instrument samples. By picking and choosing, it seems Mizuta was able to milk the best qualities each generation’s sound style had to offer—from the driving crunchy triangle wave basses to the gorgeous square and sine wave leads, as well as modern percussion and even live instruments such as the great trumpet solo found in the main theme.
I’m a big fan of this approach, and may begin to adapt to it myself going forward. There really isn’t much of a downside to utilizing every tool in a medium’s tool belt when all you have is the richness of music history to back you up.
Very much looking forward to hearing how the rest of the soundtrack shapes up as well as the full tracks themselves! We should find out in a little less than a month when the game and soundtrack launch in Japan.
To Another World and Back
games music concert review
It’s halfway through 2009, and I think by now it is a given that the gaming community as a whole has a soft spot for Nobuo Uematsu and his 22 years of notable compositions. Ever since 1989’s Symphonic Suite in fact, there have been concerts held of his music. Children in Japan’s elementary schools learn Theme of Love from Final Fantasy IV as part of their standard repertoire. There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of remixes and arrangements of his music from nearly every game he’s composed for. People have, within good reason, acknowledged that this man can write great music.
Distant Worlds is an evolution of a concert series that conductor and orchestrator Arnie Roth started back in 2004, inspired by the 20020220 and Tour de Japon concerts in Japan. Originally called Dear Friends, Distant Worlds marked the decision to tour world-wide as opposed to just within the States. Last night, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend one of the performances in Seattle of the latest iteration.
Kicking off the concert right from the get-go, Uematsu himself came out on stage to an uproar of applause and standing ovation. Even without playing a note, the sold-out Beneroya Hall was on its feet to acknowledge the composer as he took his seat down about 10 rows ahead of where I was sitting. From there, standard concert etiquette welcomed the conductor Arnie Roth on stage and the first piece began.
Liberi Fatali from FFVIII seems to be a standard concert opener now, as it has lead off nearly every one up to this point I believe. It was a great opener for the game proper, and it still is a good statement to begin with: strong, but not too elongated. Amusingly, this was the chorus’s only piece for the first half of the concert, so after Fatali they took a seat and remained for the rest of the half.
Moving right along into To Zanarkand from FFX, the piano soloist collaborated with the orchestra on a gorgeous arrangement accompanied with an array of cutscenes from the game, ending fittingly with Yuna dancing over the water for the piece’s conclusion. Afterward, an interesting segue appeared on screen: In-game footage from FFVIII, which got a laugh out of the audience. The party ran across a bridge… until, yep, in comes Don’t Be Afraid, the battle theme from said title accompanied with a battle montage on the screen. Props for the clever transition, though the arrangement itself is the same tried and true one from the orchestral arranged album that I know so well.
One of the most effective video accompaniments of the evening was for the next piece, Aerith’s Theme. Also a familiar arrangement, but the choice of scenes that accompanied it were a very strong accent to the music, concluding with the Holy materia slowly dropping down the stairs and into the water. Following that, a classic medley of tunes from Final Fantasies I through III. Sadly, the on-screen representation was of their PSone remakes and not the original NES titles. However, the gorgeous CG cutscenes from the DS remake of III greatly made up for it in the latter parts.
At this point, I realized that the first half was only half-way done! Like most orchestra performances, the pre-intermission had been greatly front-loaded. A guest classical guitarist (not credited in the program) arrived for the next two pieces: a sweeping arrangement of Dear Friends from FFV and an incredibly epic Vamo ‘alla Flamenco from FFIX. It was quite possibly the best version of it I’ve heard arranged, even though the guitar parts were somewhat drowned out by the orchestra during its climactic moments. Post-concert of course I realized that both arrangements were from the 20020220 concert, though of course I’d never heard them live until now.
The final three pieces of the first half were my favorites up until that point: Beginning with Love Grows, the orchestral version of FFVIII’s Eyes on Me, the arrangement fairly standard from the orchestral album again. However, the entire second half of the piece was accompanied with the scene from VIII’s ending with Laguna and Raine; very fitting considering the song’s significance within the game itself.
The orchestra then launched right into the wonderful Ronfaure arrangement from Tour de Japon. Ronfaure is one of my favorite pieces composed by Uematsu, despite its simplicity in being just the background music for a starter area in an MMORPG. Perhaps it’s because I heard it endlessly while fighting myriad rabbits and giant worms. Concluding the first half was the Final Fantasy Prologue accompanied by a montage of footage from Final Fantasies I through XII (amusing, considering Uematsu’s minimal involvement in 12).
After the intermission, another classic opening theme provided the second half with an appropriate beginning. That opening being, of course,FFVII’s Opening - Bombing Mission. Afterward, an expanded choral arrangement of Fisherman’s Horizon from FFVIII was played. This one caught me by surprise, as it definitely wasn’t the standard arrangement that I’d heard often. It was an improvement however, featuring the choir in a far greater fashion than just the opening and ending of the piece.
For the next piece, the titular Distant Worlds, mezzo-soprano Angela Niederloh took the stage. The combination of Memoro de la Stono, FFXI’s opening theme, with the gorgeous vocals in Distant Worlds really shows how far Uematsu has come as a composer. To me, it still stands as some of his best work. Niederloh did an exceedingly powerful job at vocalizing the latter half of the piece as well, her deep mezzo tone a perfect match for the piece;more so than the pop renditions other vocalists have given it. Also powerful were the visual accompaniments taken from the ending of Chains of Promathia. It surprised me that they’d pay homage to one of the lesser-known stories of the FF series.
Unfortunately, the following two pieces were overshadowed by the previous performance; standard arrangements of FFVIII’s Man With the Machine Gun and the classic Swing de Chocobo. Great arrangements in their own rights, but they were a bit of a lull in the mood going from one operatic song to the next. Machine Gun also had some unfortunate issues with the drum kit parts, the drummer not quite getting the feel enough to stay with the orchestra 100%. It was all remedied, however…
I’ve always wanted to see the opera scene from FFVI performed live, and thankfully Angela Niederloh took the stage again along with Stephen Rumph and Michael Delos to join the orchestra in an epic performance of the operetta Maria and Draco. They even went so far as to conclude the opera itself, a section that in the game was interrupted by the fight with Ultros the octopus. The singers did admirable performances, and as a whole the sequence was my favorite of the evening.
Closing out the program proper was, again overshadowed by the epic operatic nature of the previous piece, a great performance of Terra’s Theme from FFVI. It was, unfortunately, covered up in the latter half with credits for the concert which everyone applauded to rather than letting the piece be performed.
Of course, there was one notable piece lacking from the program notes. Everyone knew it was coming, since it’s a staple encore of nearly every single orchestral game concert. I would have rolled my eyes at its inevitable inclusion, but…Uematsu took the stage before the encore, where conductor Arnie Roth egged him on to sing something. He took a breath, as if to start, but being the goofball that he is, feigned embarrassment and leaned on Roth’s shoulder “No! I can’t do it!” Upon which, Roth suggested that he go sing in the choir… which he did! Scampering back to the right of the Soprano section, Uematsu joined the choir for their performance of FFVII’s epic One-Winged Angel, belting out the chants right along with the rest.
Overall, the performance was an extremely enjoyable experience. The Seattle Symphony was on the top of their game (so to speak), and the soloists all treated the material with the same degree of professionalism as any other classical performance. The Seattle Choral Company, while lost in the background for the first half, laid out a powerful performance in the pieces that they were featured in; specifically the opening strains of Memoro de la Stono.
You may ask, hey, you linked to basically all of these pieces being played on YouTube. Couldn’t I just watch these and be done with it? Well yes, but there’s something that’s simply special about a live orchestral performance that can’t be topped by any recording or video. If you have the chance, I would absolutely recommend paying for good tickets to see this concert live if it comes your way. I could go into a long drawn-out ramble about the decline of interest in orchestra attendence, but sitting in the audience of a sold-out concert hall with as diverse a crowd as you could come by… I felt encouraged that the medium isn’t lost just yet.
Little Robot in the Big City
indie games watch
Adventure games were once a staple of the PC gaming scene. For me, actually, it was the solid basis of all things PC game. Whether it was getting absolutely boggled by the puzzles in Myst, or getting freaked out by the ambiance in 7th Guest or The 11th Hour, or laughing my ass off to the Secret of Monkey Island, or being blown away by what simple imagery and brilliant storytelling could do with The Longest Journey. It’s a shame that the art form of the adventure game has fallen by the wayside in recent years.
Thankfully, there are some independent developers out there such as Amanita Design that are putting their all into crafting new inventive point and click experiences. Machinarium is one such game that looks absolutely breathtaking. Set in a grungy futuristic robot world, it apparently is the story of a little guy thrown in the trash heap, adventuring back into the big city to find his robo-girlfriend. Along the way, he can squish or stretch his mid-section to various heights to aid him in solving all kinds of puzzles to proceed on his way.
So far the game is looking great, and in motion absolutely backs up its painted look; one fear I had since seeing the screenshots. Also of note, especially in the preview video, is the music. With all luck, the game will be releasing this October, and I’ll be sure to play it through and report back on how it holds up!
A Tale of Caves and Mimigas
indie games watch late to the party
About four and a half years ago, one guy (Daisuke Amaya) nicknamed Pixel put together an entirely self-made retro action-adventure game called Cave Story. Through the great efforts at Aeon Genesis, an English translation patch was made with the blessings of its original creator. About a month ago, I finally realized its existence.
One thing particularly striking about the game is how it melds its personality through the combination of its various elements: gameplay, story, visuals and sound; all created by the same person. In the same way that Everyday Shooter was a personal reflection on Jonathan Mak, its creator, Cave Story is certainly a reflection of Pixel. Though the characters are small and cute, its music up-beat and catchy, there’s a smart story being played out between the various creatures that populate the game’s scenario. It’s not just a series of progressively more difficult levels with bosses at the end, but rather an evolution of Metroid’s game design fused with a memorable cast you might find in an RPG.
When considering independent games, it’s easy to get caught up in the notion that it’s all amateur acts until someone gets noticed and consequently published. Certainly a lot of the crowd populating Xbox Indie Games (formerly Community Games) doesn’t help kill this notion; most of the popular titles I see rising to the top consist of programmer graphics and sound in need of a better ear. Yet, this is the image of indie games that is becoming popularized due to the ubiquity of console gaming. However, there are gems like Cave Story that suddenly appear and become classics among gamers in the know.
If Cave Story had been released either on the NES or SNES in their eras, I believe that we’d be seeing a huge following today with a multi-faceted franchise backing it up. It’s one of those games that you could have sworn you’ve played years ago. The music is instantly recognizable and hummable the moment you come back to the game after a few days away. It’s everything that makes me appreciate games, and for some miraculous reason it’s also legitimately free. If only there were more people of such high standards of creativity and generosity. Absolutely support Pixel and give his game a shot!
Bear Likes to Fly
games music
A common ramble of mine is to go off on some tangent about how big-budget games are drifting more and more away from what made them great, and how game composers in the west are more and more being drafted from TV composers, film composers, and existing recording artists.
Well, please allow me to retract that statement just a little bit and make a sole exception.
Ever since I started watching Battlestar Galactica, I looked at the credits and thought “hee, the composer’s name is Bear”. But then as the seasons went on, I realized just how awesome the music was. There are certain key episodes where the soundtrack just wowed me beyond anything I’d heard for a TV show before.
That said, when it was announced that Bear McCreary was writing the music for an upcoming game I’m looking forward to called Dark Void, I was torn. In the same way I was for my other favorite TV composer Greg Edmonson being called on to write Uncharted. However, seeing Bear’s announcement blog post about it all totally shed any of that away. The guy knows games, and their history.
Not only is he not totally alien to the concept of games, he’s a huge Megaman nut, even naming and labeleing all his hard drives as characters from the series! And then, to seal the deal, he goes and creates an 8bit Megaman-style version of the Dark Void main theme. You’ve sold me, Mr. Bear. Write for as many games as you please!
Also of note are three samples from the actual game… one of which features an Ondes Martenot! Doubly sold.
Gaming’s Pinocchio
retro games chiptunes
…Becomes a Real Boy Girl
The Great Giana Sisters have a legacy in gaming. Scheduled to come out in 1987, a year after the US release of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros refined the platforming genre, the game was in stores for a brief moment… but it wouldn’t last long. Just as soon as it was released, legal pressure forced them to remove it from the market. The reason should become clear once you see the original Commodore 64 title.
The game was an absolute rip-off of Super Mario Bros. The first level, the way the text at the top displayed, the fireball powerup. The facsimile was swallowed up by Nintendo the whale and their lawyers, barely given a chance to live. For good reason, mind. Supposedly the levels following world 3 began to introduce unique elements that distinguished it away from SMB, but… come on guys, you don’t tackle the giant not expecting to get squished.
The franchise however seems to have been given a chance to redeem itself, a good 22 years later. It has re-surfaced as Giana Sisters DS, still very much in the same vein as Mario. There are still enemies to stomp from above. There are still blocks to punch from below. There is still a fireball powerup… Yet, it looks and moves so good. While Mario may have made a permanent leap into the 3rd dimension on the DS with New Super Mario Bros, Giana ironically brings with her a 2D soul that Mario’s DS adventure sorely lacked.
As an addendum, the original C64 release contained one stand-out originality to it in the way of an awesome soundtrack by Chris Huelsbeck. A bit of a legend when it comes to his chiptunes, the theme for The Great Giana Sisters was no exception.
What interesting times we live in, when former rivals are releasing games on the same system. In fact, nearly all former rivals are finding a home on it. Even a game torn down by massive copyright infringement and legal tape is getting a vastly belated sequel that looks to exceed a sequel to the game it originally ripped off… on the same platform.
Bizarre, yet wonderful.
Famicom Chip-Love
games music chiptunes
Composer Yuzo Koshiro has seen the games industry through its infancy to its present incarnation. Beginning with the action RPG series Ys, through ActRaiser and the Streets of Rage series, he is probably one of the most diverse composers in games in terms of adaptability and variety of musical style. Most recently, he was behind the soundtracks for both Etrian Odyssey I and II for the DS.
Utilizing a medium on the DS with similar sound capabilities to older consoles rather than redbook audio, Koshiro has preserved what I like to call the inherent “game genre” of music. The chiptunes, the synths, the epic themes; they’re all part of a genre of music that seems to only fit in games yet thrives in them.
With his music for the upcoming DS RPG 7th Dragon published by SEGA, Koshiro is matching the game’s desire to be an oldschool RPG using today’s handheld technology. With that in mind, the entire soundtrack exists in two different versions which are available to be switched on the fly: The original version and FC (Famicom a.k.a. NES) version. (Check out samples of both versions of two tracks from the game at the link!) While the originals follow a set of synths reminiscent of PS1 or PS2 instrument samples, the FC version is total 8-bit chiptune style.
The chiptune rennaisance isn’t something just being done by SEGA’s 7th Dragon. It also happened with Capcom’s Mega Man 9, though mainly due to its entirety being 8-bit in style. Regardless, retro graphics and audio are very much something that is coming back into style after being such a shunned aspect of the gaming aesthetic in the transition to realism and ubergraphics. Being a fan of both pixel art and chiptunes, I say bring it on.
Just petals in the wind…
indie games review
I grew up in the city; lived here all my life. It may or may not be related, but I’ve always had dreams of flying. Soaring up, beyond the buildings and into a limitless sky. There’s a certain kind of resonance then, on a personal level, that I have with the dreams of the city-bound potted ones in That Game Company’s Flower.
To back-track, Jenova Chen and fellow developers have had a certain desire for flight in games from their origins. Cloud, their first game, let players take control of a blue-haired fellow dreaming of soaring through the skies to gather up the white fluffy into shapes and weather. While their second game flOw was a more abstract underwater departure, Flower returns again to the skies as you take control of the wind and its paths through the world, collecting petals of the many flowers into a torrent of colored specks through the air.
To say much about the contents of the game itself would be ruining its beautiful experience, so I’ll be as brief as I can in expressing my joy. Perhaps awe would be a better word for it. Just flying through the themed environments alone was enough to bring some amount of lightness to my soul, let alone the over-arching goal being striven toward in its six chapters.
While the game is short — easily beatable within an evening — it is an experiential adventure best taken in all at once such as Portal or Rez. It is perhaps even better compared to a game like ICO where a subtle story is told using as little dialogue as possible… Yet Flower takes it to another level, forgoing even the concept of characters and instead focusing solely on the cause and effect of elements in nature and urbanity.
By the time all had been seen and done, the feeling of what I was actually doing — I will admit — got me a bit emotional. Perhaps it’s the relief it brought from my currently stressful life; a relevant ping in this city kid’s thoughts and dreams; an aesthetically gorgeous synergy between visuals, audio and visceral control. Flower is all of those things.
And yet, it’s also a game. Once awake, secrets and perfecting routes through the soaring playground await and provide an opportunity to experience it many more times. I will be coming back again and again.
Looking for my Shining Star
indie games watch
An independent game for PC created by Petri Purho, Crayon Physics Deluxe is a stylish set of puzzles in a world drawn entirely with crayons. Each level’s goal is simple: Get the little red ball to the star(s). The pull, as the title declares, is that every object drawn in the world brings with it a certain set of physical attributes based on its size, mass, etc. Small pebbles will plink off of larger objects, while huge monoliths carry with them a power to move all sorts of things.
As it is a fresh set of ideas to grasp from the get-go, Crayon Physics starts off on the extremely easy side. You have access to the full toolset from the beginning, but you’ll be taught a variety of new techniques every now and then. Initially, you’re just drawing various rocks to push the ball towards the star. Eventually it’s revealed that you can push the ball directly left or right. Later, you’re shown that you can create little anchor points to attach new objects to the existing level, allowing for things to swing around or to bolt down more platforms. As the levels go by the challenges ramp up pretty fast, eventually getting to the point where each level may be the focus of your entire play session, coming up with elaborate contraptions to make passage for the tiny circle.
An added bonus are the great community features tied into the game’s website. You can create new levels and share them with the community, adding even more content to the already packed main game. For twenty bucks, there’s a ton here to play with: I’ve been digging into several levels every day since it came out. It’s a good bit of relaxing gaming without needing to take up much processing power - for your computer that is. Your brain will be getting a hefty workout from some of the more challenging puzzles.
Check it out at the Crayon Physics Deluxe website. There’s a good-sized demo for free if you just want to give it a shot. It’s well worth it!
Commence Snake Hating
indie games watch
On the independent games front, I made an awesome discovery this morning when browsing various forums. The discovery, much like the ones you’ll make in this game, seemed totally random yet here it is: Spelunky!
The basic idea behind this is crossing a platformer’s mechanics with the level generation behind Rogue-likes such as Shiren the Wanderer or the Mysterious Dungeon games. What results is a wholly different experience every time you play, making this a very fun excursion to come back to even after playing for a while.
There are basic tools, such as bombs and ropes, as well as found objects: rocks, arrows spewed from trapped carvings, girls-in-need-of-rescue (more on that in a sec). There are also many random set-piece type things to find, such as said girl. Once you rescue her, you can carry the girl around to help her to the exit. However, I also discovered that she served as a mighty projectile, defeating bats and setting off traps for me in her invulnerable state. Yet, upon encountering the second level, my curiosity got the better of me. A beautiful golden idol sat on a pedestal… and in true treasure-seeking tradition, upon its removal a giant rock squished me into a pile of pixelated gore.
In any case, if you have a spare few moments of boredom, be sure to check it out!
