Mixed Music Genres Archives - Page 2 of 2

Secret of Mana Soundtrack – Review

Secret of Mana Soundtrack, Hiroki Kikuta, 1993

It’s no understatement to say that for many gamers, Secret of Mana remains one of the most fondly remembered experiences of the 16-bit era. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the innate quality of the product. Square’s experiment merging action adventure and RPG elements was a resounding success, charming millions of players with its vibrant fantasy world and accessible, yet deep gameplay. But timing played an important role as well. Remember that back in 1993, US releases of SNES RPGs were the exception, not the rule (and for the German market, Secret of Mana might well have been the first localised SNES RPG). As a result, many gamers encountered the engrossing storytelling and vivid worlds that the best RPGs deliver for the first time with Secret of Mana.

An even rarer sight were actual album releases of game music outside of Japan. Secret of Mana was one of the very, very few SNES game scores to see a US release (preceding Donkey Kong Country by a year). Again, for many this would have been the first time they encountered game music outside of a game.

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Shien’s Revenge Soundtrack – Review

Shien’s Revenge Soundtrack, Akihiko Mori, 1994

In retrospect, the Super Scope seems like one of the more bizarre peripherals designed for the SNES – particularly considering how hard Nintendo tried to cultivate a family-friendly image during the era of the 16-bit console wars. Exactly how many parents would have been pleased to see their offspring in front of the TV with a bazooka-like contraption is anyone’s guess. Arguably though, if there was a genre that benefited from the Super Scope’s controls, it was rail shooters, with their static field of view and necessity to quickly and precisely move the cursor around the screen.

One of the better received rail shooters on the SNES was Shien’s Revenge (despite what must rank as possibly the most boring cover art in the console’s history). Sending players through various locations and time zones, Shien’s Revenge’s colourful visuals managed to stave off some the monotony caused by the repetitive gameplay. For the game’s score, developer Almanic approached game sound company MINT. And this is where things become a bit confusing when we try to identify who composed the music for Shien’s Revenge.

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The Lost Angelic Chronicles of Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey Soundtrack – Review

The Lost Angelic Chronicles of Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey Soundtrack, Jordan Steven, 2011

With the rise of mobile gaming, one of the most popular genres of the 16-bit era made its triumphant return: 2d JRPGs. Given that these games often came with amazingly varied and ambitious soundtracks, the resurgence of these sorts of games heralded good news for game music fans. One of the best retro-styled JRPG scores of the new millennium turned out to be The Lost Angelic Chronicles of Frane: Dragons’ Odyssey.

Intriguingly enough, there’s not a huge amount of information on the game out there. Dragons’ Odyssey is the localised version of a Japanese mobile RPG called Lost Memory of Angel Story Frane 3. A PC version was released on Gamersgate (which is not available anymore at the time of writing in 2018) and a planned Steam release never materialised. The available screenshots suggest a fairly generic product but give no indication of whether Dragons’ Odyssey featured strong gameplay or not.

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Torchlight II Soundtrack – Review

Torchlight II Soundtrack, Matt Uelmen, 2012

To call one particular creation the culmination of an artist’s oeuvre can be a risky maneuvre. It suggests linear development across works and prescribes an easily identifiable trajectory. But it’s hard not to fete a work like the Torchlight II soundtrack as the realisation of a specific musical approach. On this album, Matt Uelmen combines all elements that have characterised his previous scores and perfects them.

As always, his music deals in textures rather than melodies, suggestions rather than definitive manifestations. At its best, this approach leads to wonders like Diablo’s “Tristram”. This game music classic was an instantly striking demonstration of how to score fantasy environments in new, idiosyncratic ways. However, taking the same approach, Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction ended up veering between scintillating and meandering.

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TowerFall Ascension Soundtrack – Review

TowerFall Ascension Soundtrack, Alec Holowka, 2014

Created by Alec Holowka’s friend Matt Thorson, multi-player brawler TowerFall proved to be a hit with gamers and critics. In 2014, Thorson ported TowerFall as TowerFall Ascension over to the PlayStation 4 and other systems. Essentially, Ascension is an upgraded version of TowerFall, and this time the music received a dedicated soundtrack release on Bandcamp.

What luck, because TowerFall Ascension delivers some of the most creative Western game music ever written. The game’s visual retro stylings and simple yet addictive gameplay would have suggested a chiptune soundtrack. On the other hand, Ascension’s fantasy trappings could have easily resulted in yet another late-romantic orchestral score. Holowka eschews both these options. What he comes up with instead is a head-spinning concoction that combines rock, orchestral and electronic elements with such virtuosity that the TowerFall Ascension soundtrack rivals the best works of Falcom, Gust and CAVE – or a classic fantasy-themed genre merger like Matt Uelmen’s Torchlight II.

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