Kohei Tanaka Archives - The Greatest Game Music

Bounty Sword First Soundtrack, Kohei Tanaka, 1997

Before Final Fantasy Tactics’ success, releases of turn-based strategy games in the West were far and few between – most of these titles were only ever released in Japan. One such game was 1995’s Bounty Sword for the SNES. Set in the year 4093, the game nonetheless featured a medieval-themed fantasy look beautifully realised through detailed 16-bit visuals. Bounty Sword’s gameplay was a bit of an oddity though. Gamers’ input into battles was minimal – they would set their units’ strategy before the fight began. After that, all they could do was command soldiers to use special moves. Even amidst the general interest for hidden late-era SNES treasures, Bounty Sword has remained obscure – and even less well-known was its PS1 remake Bounty Sword First. Ambitiously envisaged as the beginning of a trilogy, only one sequel (Bounty Sword: Double Edge) was released.

Looking at screenshots of Bounty Sword First, it’s hard to identify many visuals improvements over the SNES original. The game’s soundtrack however is a different story – and poses some interesting questions about its authorship. Kohei Tanaka is credited as the sole composer of the SNES game, with talented composer Akihiko Mori taking on sound design duties – as he had on previous collaborations with Tanaka. It seems they reprised these roles for the Bounty Sword First soundtrack, which quite faithfully reprises the SNES original’s musical material.

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Sakura Taisen GB Soundtrack, Kohei Tanaka, 2000

While seeing Sega franchises appear on Nintendo consoles has become common, back in 2000 – when Sega still had a stake in the console wars – the situation was very different. It was all the more surprising then that Sega decided to port one of its franchises – Sakura Taisen – to the Game Boy Colour (it’s worthwhile mentioning that less than one year earlier, the Neo Geo Pocket Colour had received a Sonic the Hedgehog port). Maybe not surprisingly, Sakura Taisen GB’s developers didn’t attempt to replicate the scale of previous franchise titles on the small handheld console. Instead, the game proceeds more along the lines of a dating-sim, with players controlling a character who spends a month training and living with the Hanagumi group of theatre actors/defenders of the planet.

Sakura Taisen GB also focuses a lot more on conversations and character interactions than on battle confrontations. Combine this with the game’s forgiving difficulty curve and excellent production values, and you have a title that makes a pronounced effort to welcome gamers and deliver a pleasant rather than challenging experience. Part of this mix is a soundtrack by series stalwart Kohei Tanaka, for whom the Sakura Taisen franchise would become his most successful work and musical calling card (until One Piece came along, that is).