Best Game Music of 2009 :: Don's Perspectives

Here Don continues the Best Game Music of 2009 article by detailing his favourite original scores, arranged albums, and original albums released in 2009. He also declares a favourite artist and gives an outlook for 2010.

Top Original Scores

7th Dragon Original Soundtrack: In recent years, Koshiro has had a bit of a revival. He's contributed a lot of my favorite pieces from recent years, particularly in the Etrian Odyssey (Sekaiju no Meikyuu) series. These games feature very retro-inspired soundtracks, given the gameplay is based off of games early in the life of video games. While I was always impressed with those, there were other scores that outshined it in past years. In 2009, rather than release Etrian Odyssey III, another retro-inspired game was released. Entitled 7th Dragon, it was an 'Etrian Odyssey meets Dragon Quest' sort of game, complete with overworld and town themes absent in the first person dungeon crawler series, Etrian Odyssey. Small additions like this help boost the 7th Dragon Original Soundtrack above the competition this year and of Koshiro's previous works. There is a plethora of styles found in the town themes that just aren't present in the Etrian Odyssey series' music. While most of the battle music retained the elements of the Etrian Odyssey series, they are some of Koshiro's best crafted and emotional efforts. Favorite track: "Labyrinth - Jungle Navigation".

Runners Up

Ninja Blade Original Soundtrack: The huge surprise on my list this year goes to GEM Impact. While I have definitely enjoyed their past works, the Ninja Blade Original Soundtrack took me by surprise, especially given the soundtrack for Ninja Blade was written way before the actual game itself. In essence, the music really helped influence the direction of the game design. It's a wonderful fusion of Eastern and Western elements, all neatly rolled into each individual track. The team at GEM Impact really knew how to create both an exhilarating and emotional album. Under the direction of Norihiko Hibino, Takahiro Izutani handled many of the action themes, Yoshitaka Suzuki was responsible for many of the event themes, and Takahide Ayuzawa provided additional support. They all helped contribute to a wonderful soundtrack that really captures the essence of an over-the-top ninja action game. I look forward to future works from GEM Impact, particularly if they handle Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Etrian Odyssey III's arranged album. One can only hope... Favorite Track: "Beanstalk" (all variations).

Street Fighter IV Original Soundtrack: This year, the fighting genre saw a revival. The releases of BlazBlue, King of Fighters XII, Tekken 6, and Street Fighter IV led the way in the world of fighting competitions. However, out of those with soundtrack releases this year (BlazBlue came out at the end of last year), the two top dogs were definitely Tekken 6 and Street Fighter IV, though I personally enjoyed the latter more. Featuring many of the classic compositions created by Yoko Shimomura and many new themes, Hideyuki Fukusawa created an energetic album hybridising electronic, orchestral, and ethnic influences. While some may feel that the treatment of the classic themes doesn't do them justice, I was quite enamored with them. The new themes, particularly the stage themes, are also quite fantastic and feature a lot of these small ethnic influences I just mentioned. In short, this is hands down my favorite fighting soundtrack in recent years and I know Fukusawa will be back to impress next year with Super Street Fighter IV. Sure, many of the themes will be reprises, but the new character and stage themes are what I'm most looking forward to. He's sure not to disappoint! Favorite Track: "Overpass Stage -Tokyo-".

Honourable Mentions

Shatter Original Soundtrack
Muramasa The Demon Blade Original Soundtrack
DoDonPachi Dai-Fukkatsu Original Soundtrack

Top Arranged Albums

Mushihimesama Double Arrange Album: Out of the CAVE arrange albums released in 2009, this was the most recent. Bundled together with the November release of the limited edition Xbox 360 game for Mushihimesama Futari, this arranged album features two discs of arrangements, one for the original Mushihimesama and one for Mushihimesama Futari. In addition, it is also the most diverse of the arrange albums, featuring electronic, rock, and more organic arrangements of the original. It also featured many of the contributors from previous arrange albums in 2009, as well as many newcomers, such as Yoko Shimomura, Kenichiro Fukui, and Satoru Kosaki. In the end, this 24 arrangement extravaganza easily earned my top honors for arrange albums this year. It was just announced via CAVE's blog that the Guwange Original Soundtrack will be sold at the next online maturi event and it will be bundled with an arranged album. I am looking forward to it immensely. Favorite Track: "The Black Shell Beast King (Stage 4)" (arranged by TECHNOuchi).

Runners Up

DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou Arrange Album: Prior to the Mushihimesama Double Arrange Album, an arrange album for DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou was released in August. It featured many returning arrangers from the Ketsui Arrange Album, but it also featured new arrangers. Although not as diverse as Mushihimesama Double Arrange Album, it still packed quite an interesting mix of arrangements, such as the Mana-inspired Kikuta arrangement, the orchestral Sakuraba arrangement, or the Asian-influenced Yamashita arrangement. Overall, it was quite an aural pleasure listening to this album. I still listen to it on a weekly basis and will continue to do so well into next year. Favorite Track: "Mixed Melody (Stage 4)" (arranged by Kinuyo Yamashita).

Ketsui Arrange Album: You guessed it! Prior to the DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou Arrange Album, the Ketsui Arrange Album was released in May. Unlike the previous arrange album for Death Smiles, many of the arrangers especially Basiscape, did not return for the album. This album was mainly electronica in nature, but there were a few deviations on this album, such as with Michiko Naruke and Jake Kaufman's arrangements. In the end, it's a very strong arrange album, with an electronic focus, and manages to throw in some absolutely amazing arrangements. Favorite Track: "Evac Industry (Stage 5)" (arranged by Akari Kaida).

Honourable Mentions

Death Smiles Premium Arrange Album
Technictix Remix Vol. 3
Chiptuned Rockman
Genso Suikoden Arrange Collection Vol. 1 - Piano & Vocal

Top Original Albums

Griotte no Nemuri Hime: I absolutely loved Tindharia no Tane, an original album that comprised primarily of Haruka Shimotsuki compositions arranged by Noriyuki Iwadare. When I heard a sequel was in order, I was ecstatic. However, that ecstasy would increase ten-fold when I found out who was behind it. Similar to Tindharia no Tane, Haruka Shimotsuki would be responsible for most of the compositions; however, in addition to the returning role for Noriyuki Iwadare, he was joined by Michiko Naruke, Yoshitaka Hirota, and MANYO, all of whom would also arrange and contribute original music to the album. In the end, this album easily outclasses its predecessor and features a multitude of styles. Of particular interest are Hirota's Celtic and Shadow Hearts-like contributions. I truly hope for a successor to this album, but if not, the upcoming Ar tonelico III vocal albums will have to suffice. Favorite Track: "Those Relying on Wings" (composed and arranged by Yoshitaka Hirota).

Runners Up

Calling All Dawns: This is easily the sleeper hit of the year for me. This is because I rarely pay attention to most soundtracks released by Western artists. I find most of their music doesn't speak directly to my soul, like most of the Eastern VGM artists that I frequent. However, that being said, Christopher Tin's original vocal album Calling All Dawns is a marvelous spectacle traversing 12 languages and a multitude of styles. It's a very heartfelt album full of touching moments and beautiful lyrics, some taken directly from religious sources. I may have once been a hater of the Civilization IV song "Baba Yetu," but it opens up the album beautifully and introduces the cycle concept of the album. Favorite Track: "Kia Hora Te Marino".

Neurovision: The successor to In My Own Backyard, Mitsuto Suzuki's original album Neurovision was a nice treat this year. It was an improvement over the first album and features many soft electronica themes. Although not without its duds, most of the album is quite relaxing and makes for a nice listen when doing work around the house or if you are just trying to wind down. I hope that Suzuki gets an opportunity to release another solo album via iTunes, the only place this one could be found. Given Square Enix's recent push for digital releases for less popular games and original works, I think this has a very strong possibility of happening. Favorite Track: "Neurovision".

Honourable Mentions

NanoSweep 7
NanoSweep 8
Music for Art

Artist of the Year

To me, the person this year to whom I was most proud belongs to Yuzo Koshiro. Although his only major release this year was the 7th Dragon Original Soundtrack, his music for the game was absolutely astounding. The game had the option of choosing between the DS sound, which covered half of the four disc release, and the chiptune versions, the other half. Because of this, 7th Dragon Original Soundtrack really exemplifies and emphasizes the evolution of game music.

In the end, Yuzo Koshiro is my artist of the year for helping to tie together an era of video game music on the brink of extinction with something of a more modern touch, and he does so wonderfully.

Overall Perspectives on 2009

The year 2009 was fairly slow compared to some years, but there was a lot of big announcements. For example, Nobuo Uematsu was revealed to be scoring Final Fantasy XIV, a VGM alliance headed by Yuki Takenouchi was revealed,CAVE started producing a ton of arrange albums, and Basiscape would start publishing soundtracks on their new record label. In addition, there were many satisfying original and arranged releases, as mentioned above.

Outlook for 2010

The projected 2010 releases are fairly hard to discern at the moment, but I'm looking forward to the year immensely. First of all, in January, it's no surprise that the biggest soundtrack is definitely the score for Final Fantasy XIII by Masashi Hamauzu. I'm not his biggest fan, but I've liked most of the music I've heard thus far, via the samples found on the official soundtrack website and what I've heard in the demo. Also in January, the soundtrack by the Gust Sound Team for Ar Tonelico III is set to be released, on the same day as the Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack no less. As much as I'm looking forward to new Ken Nakagawa and Daisuke Achiwa music, I'm more looking forward to the vocal albums that accompany it. I'm also looking forward to the music for Valkyria Chronicles II, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto. I'm wondering how the music will be different given the setting. I'm still hoping for a theme that can top "Beautiful Gallia" from the first one, but the whole score has me intrigued.

Moving down the road a bit, I'm looking forward to the eventual soundtrack releases for Etrian Odyssey III (aka Sekaiju no Meikyuu III), composed by Yuzo Koshiro. I can't wait to hear Koshiro continue his work for this series, as the first two games contain some of my favorite music in recent years. The few samples heard in videos and music sample pages on the official site for the game show a serious contender for both the former Etrian Odyssey games and 7th Dragon. I'm also quite interested in seeing how some of the themes have a drastically different stylistic approach, such as the boss themes. I'm sured that an arrange album of some sort will accompany this. Whether it will be another Super Arrange Version like those for the first two games, or another Live Strings and Piano album, remains to be seen. I'm looking forward to either option.

Aside from that, there are a few albums I'll be looking out for. There is the Luminous Arc 3 Eyes Original Soundtrack and the Arc Rise Fantasia Original Soundtrack, composed by members of Procyon Studio. It'll be interesting to see the takes on these themes. I'm also interested, of course, in the recently announced Guwange Original Soundtrack + Arrange Album double disc set, due to be released early this year. Looking a bit down the road, the music for Lime Odyssey, composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, will be a treat. In addition, this summer, Yasunori Mitsuda is aiming to release his long anticipated Chrono Cross Arrange Album, which he has begun more focused work on in December. In the end, I think that 2010 has the potential to be as interesting as 2009 was.