Been a while ! Here’s a collection of songs from the vast Gold Box Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and co PC games. I chose to include Adlib versions only for coherency, except for Pool of Radiance which is Tandy (and was also used for Curse of the Azure Bonds).
Pretty atmospheric medieval tunes here, as often on this blog. I didn’t record any of this myself and compiled various recordings I gathered on the web along the years.
01. Pool of Radiance – Theme (Tandy)
02. Eye of the Beholder – Westwood Associates Logo
03. Eye of the Beholder – Introduction Part 1
04. Eye of the Beholder – Introduction Part 2
05. Eye of the Beholder – Character Generation
06. Eye of the Beholder – Ending Theme
07. Champions of Krynn – Title Screen
08. Secret of the Silver Blades – Title Screen
09. DragonStrike – Introduction
10. DragonStrike – Cut Scenes
11. DragonStrike – Missions 1
12. DragonStrike – Missions 2
13. DragonStrike – Missions 3
14. DragonStrike – Promotion
15. DragonStrike – Ending
16. DragonStrike – Game Over
17. Shadow Sorcerer – Title Screen
18. Gateway to the Savage Frontier – Title Screen
19. Treasures of the Savage Frontier – Title Screen
20. Death Knights of Krynn – Title Screen
21. Death Knights of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 1
22. Death Knights of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 2
23. Death Knights of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 3
24. Death Knights of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 4
25. Death Knights of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 5
26. Death Knights of Krynn – Ending Theme
27. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Introduction
28. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Character Generation
29. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Old Woman
30. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Nadia and Joril
31. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Ira
32. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Insal the Quick
33. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Khelben Blackstaff
34. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Apparition
35. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Tanglor Awake
36. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Trapped Cleric
37. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Dran Draggore Encounter 1
38. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Alain
39. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Dran Draggore Encounter 2
40. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – King of the Frost Giants
41. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Ojel
42. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Shrunken Frost Giant
43. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Finale Part 1
44. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Finale Part 2
45. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Finale Part 3
46. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Ending Theme
47. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Staff Roll
48. Eye of the Beholder II The Legend of Darkmoon – Unknown Song 2
49. Dark Queen of Krynn – Title Screen
50. Dark Queen of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 1
51. Dark Queen of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 2
52. Dark Queen of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 3
53. Dark Queen of Krynn – Cutscene Theme 4
54. Dark Queen of Krynn – A Battle Begins…
55. Dark Queen of Krynn – Celebration
56. Dark Queen of Krynn – Unknown Song 1
57. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Introduction
58. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Florin Falconhand
59. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Mausoleum
60. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Isharn Hammerfell
61. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Captain Fflar
62. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Forest Trail
63. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Delmair Rallyhorn
64. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Delmair Transforms
65. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Forest Ghost
66. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Myth Drannor
67. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Rex
68. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Mages’ Guild
69. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Bugenius
70. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Going Underwater
71. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Acwellan
72. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Betrayal
73. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Father Jon
74. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Temple of Lathander
75. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Lathander
76. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of Tabitha
77. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Dhauzimmer
78. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Heroes’ Feast
79. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Theme of the Dark God
80. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Ending Theme
81. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Unused Song 1
82. Eye of the Beholder III Assault on Myth Drannor – Unused Song 2
83. Dungeon Hack – Scene One
84. Dungeon Hack – Scene Two
85. Dungeon Hack – End
So after decades of searching, I finally acquired this 1995 book and gifted it to my brother for Christmas. He’s a piano/accordion player and we’ve both been passionate about this game and it’s soundtrack since playing it in the 90s.
We both decided to share the sheets with the world. Hopefully it will inspire many other musicians to share their takes on those amazing compositions. :)
After quite a while, here a new pc98 game recording.
Mahjong Bishōjo Den: Ripple is an RPG hentai mahjong game from Foresight. This developer is not the most famous on the PC98, but is probably best known for Mado Gakuin R.
Only a little information can be found about this game and I could not find the name of the composer. I played the beginning to tag some of the tracks, but since I suck at mahjong, I could
find a proper name for only half of the tracks…
Hope you’ll enjoy!
01. The Last Battle – Prologue
02. The Last Battle – Field on Day
03. The Last Battle – Battle with Guld Army
04. The Last Battle – The Last Battle
05. Aretha – Title
06. Aretha – Aretha Kingdom
07. Chaos Seed – Chaos Seed
08. Chaos Seed – Heroes’ Attack
09. Chaos Seed – Battle 1
10. Chaos Seed – General Raikan
11. Chaos Seed – Reiran
12. Chaos Seed – Sadness of the Heroine
13. Chaos Seed – The Beast of a Phantom 4
14. Chaos Seed – Battle 2
15. Chaos Seed – Battle 3
16. Chaos Seed – Betrayal
17. Chaos Seed – The Last Battle
18. Dokapon 3, 2, 1 – Mountain
19. Dokapon 3, 2, 1 – Satanic Castle
20. Dungeon Master – Screamers
21. Genjuu Ryodan – Stormbringer
22. Genjuu Ryodan – Do Monsters Dream
23. Genjuu Ryodan – Victory March
24. Genjuu Ryodan – Dispatch!
25. Genjuu Ryodan – Castle in the Sky
26. Genjuu Ryodan – Fortress Conquest
27. Genjuu Ryodan – Battle on the Sea
28. Gulliver Boy – A Beatiful Hall
29. Gunple ~ It’s Strange World ~ Gunman’s Proof – Leaving for Adventure
30. Jungle Wars 2 – Hero’s Village
31. Jungle Wars 2 – Village (Day)
32. Jungle Wars 2 – Battle with Ulczain
33. Jyutei Senki – The Legendary Warriors
34. Kishin Kourinden Oni – Oath of Flare
35. Kishin Kourinden Oni – Title Theme
36. Kishin Kourinden Oni – Powerful Enemy ~ Demon’s Feast
37. Kishin Kourinden Oni – Ending ~ Afterwards
38. Laplace no Ma – Reflection
39. Laplace no Ma – Horrible Ambition ~ Sacrifice
40. Laplace no Ma – The Demon of Laplace
41. Live A Live – Secret Mission
42. Live A Live – Sound of Shinobi
43. Live A Live – Killing Field!
44. Live A Live – WANDERER
45. Live A Live – WARM-A-LIVE
46. Live A Live – MEGALOMANIA
47. Live A Live – Live for Live
48. Neugier – A Dark Dimension
49. Shin Megami Tensei – Dream
50. Shin Megami Tensei – Battle
51. Shin Megami Tensei – Level Up
52. Shin Megami Tensei – Law
53. Shin Megami Tensei – Ginza
54. Shin Megami Tensei – Boss
55. Shin Megami Tensei – Ruins
56. Super Robot Taisen Gaiden – Chinese Battle Master of the Flames
57. Super Robot Taisen Gaiden – From the Land of Water and Marshes
58. Super Robot Taisen Gaiden – An Orthodox Tune ~ Jongara-bushi of Mio
59. Super Robot Taisen Gaiden – Flapper Girl
60. Super Robot Taisen Gaiden – Courage in the Heart
61. Super Robot Taisen Gaiden – Nameless Master
62. Super Robot Taisen Gaiden – Endless Battling
63. Sword World 1 – Title
64. Sword World 1 – Menu
65. Sword World 1 – Bars and Inns
66. Sword World 1 – Temples
67. Sword World 1 – Dungeon 5
68. Sword World 1 – A Red Gem
69. Sword World 2 – Main Theme 1
70. Sword World 2 – Life Cavern
71. Sword World 2 – Fighter
72. Sword World 2 – Big Enemy
73. Sword World 2 – Unknown Song 8
74. Tengai Makyo Zero – Overture
75. Tengai Makyo Zero – Theme of ZERO
76. Tengai Makyo Zero – Calm Village
77. Tengai Makyo Zero – Hell’s Army
78. Tengai Makyo Zero – Hisui’s Theme
79. Tengai Makyo Zero – Going on the Overworld
80. Tengai Makyo Zero – Farewell… to Subaru
81. Tengai Makyo Zero – Hitachi Village
82. Tengai Makyo Zero – Higan’s Sadness
83. Tengai Makyo Zero – Town of the Divine Beasts
84. Tengai Makyo Zero – Dark Road
85. Tengai Makyo Zero – Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword
86. Uncharted Waters – Opening Menu
87. Uncharted Waters SFC Game Recording – Mast in the Mist
88. Uncharted Waters SFC Game Recording – Theme of Otto
89. Uncharted Waters SFC Game Recording – Land of Luxury
90. Uncharted Waters SFC Game Recording – Supply Port
91. Wizap! – Wizap! BGM 06
92. Wizap! – Wizap! BGM 12
93. Wizap! – Wizap! BGM 18
94. Wizap! – Wizap! BGM 19
95. Wizap! – Wizap! BGM 31
01. GDleen – Flow Of Eternity – Opening
02. GDleen – Shrine Of The Moon And The Sun
03. Bakumatsu Kourinden Oni – Bakumatsu Kourinden Oni 15
04. Bakumatsu Kourinden Oni – Bakumatsu Kourinden Oni 16
05. Bakumatsu Kourinden Oni – Bakumatsu Kourinden Oni 20
06. Albert Odyssey – On Holy Ground
07. Albert Odyssey – The Road Walked by Heroes
08. Albert Odyssey – Fire Raid
09. Albert Odyssey – In a Strange New World
10. Albert Odyssey – To a New World
11. Albert Odyssey – Fantasia – Singing Voice of Distant Days
12. Albert Odyssey 2 – New Sunlight (Town Bgm – Bananteji, Etc.)
13. Albert Odyssey 2 – Hero’s Home Town (Town Bgm – Tiberis)
14. Albert Odyssey 2 – Goth Kingdom Song -Noble Spirit Of The Lion King- (Town Bgm – Goth)
15. Albert Odyssey 2 – The New Hero’s Anthem (Prologue)
16. Dark Half – Lamentation ~Moment of Beginning~ (Toki)
17. Dark Half – Illusions
18. Dark Half – The End of Battle
19. Der Langrisser – Knights Errant
20. Der Langrisser – Soldier
21. Der Langrisser – Ally Backup 1
22. Der Langrisser – Imelda
23. Der Langrisser – Dark Princess
24. Der Langrisser – Enemy Reinforcements 2
25. Der Langrisser – Shop
26. Der Langrisser – Ending 1
27. Der Langrisser – Opening 1
28. Der Langrisser – Opening 2
29. Down the World – Humanity
30. Down the World – Love Theme (Version 1)
31. Down the World – Demon Battle
32. Dragon Ball Z – Super Saiyan Densetsu – Opening Title
33. Dragon Ball Z – Super Saiyan Densetsu – Fight!
34. Dragon Ball Z – Super Saiyan Densetsu – Dangerous Situation
35. Dream Maze ~ Kigurumi Daibouken – Nightmare Attack!
36. Dual Orb 1 – Opening Title
37. Dual Orb 1 – Overworld
38. Dual Orb 1 – Battle
39. Dual Orb 1 – Voyage
40. Dual Orb 2 – Town
41. Dual Orb 2 – Battle Theme
42. Dual Orb 2 – Tragedy
43. Elfaria 1 – Elulu’s Song
44. Elfaria 1 – Opening
45. Elfaria 1 – Canana ~ Water Land
46. Elfaria 1 – Forestina ~ Earth Land
47. Elfaria 1 – Elfaria ~ Wind Land
48. Elfaria 1 – Battle
49. Elfaria 1 – Present Elfaria Again
50. Elfaria 1 – Battle with Zola
51. Elfaria 2 – Title
52. Elfaria 2 – Battle
53. Elfaria 2 – Thief Baja’s Theme
54. Elnard – Olvan Jaess
55. Elnard – A Long Awaited Rest
56. Gun Hazard – Promise ~ Engagement ~
57. Hi no Ouji ~ Yamato Takeru – Main Menu
58. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – Final Hour
59. Lord Monarch – Title
60. Lord Monarch – Close to Victory
61. Lord Monarch – Food Panic
62. Lord Monarch – Senran no Jin
63. Mega-lo-mania – Title Screen
64. Metal Max 2 – Town 1 (Wasure enu Hito)
65. Metal Max 2 – Battle
66. Metal Max 2 – Battle WANTED
67. Metal Max 2 – Field on Cars (Route 99)
68. Metal Max Returns – Battle Normal
69. Metal Max Returns – Dr Minchi ni Ai Mashou
70. Metal Slader Glory – Person in Charge at the Station
71. Metal Slader Glory – Sadness
72. Metal Slader Glory – Combat
73. Metal Slader Glory – Cease Hostility
74. Metal Slader Glory – The Ultimate Weapon
75. Metal Slader Glory – Family Memories
76. Milandra – Prologue
77. Monster Maker 3 – Monster Maker 3 BGM 01
78. Monster Maker 3 – Monster Maker 3 BGM 03
79. Monster Maker 3 – Monster Maker 3 BGM 05
80. Monster Maker 3 – Monster Maker 3 BGM 06
81. Monster Maker 3 – Monster Maker 3 BGM 17
82. Monster Maker 3 – Monster Maker 3 BGM 23
83. Monster Maker 3 – Monster Maker 3 BGM 25
84. Obitus – Title
85. Obitus – Dungeon
86. Obitus – Castle
87. RPG Maker 1 – The Hero Departs
88. RPG Maker 1 – Heated Battle
89. RPG Maker 1 – Port Marketplace
90. RPG Maker 1 – High in the Mountains
91. RPG Maker 1 – Undersea Venture
92. RPG Maker 1 – Warning From the Future
93. RPG Maker 1 – Deep Underground
94. RPG Maker 1 – Master of the Sky
95. The Legend of Heroes 2 – Game Over
96. Verne World – Battle
97. Verne World – Building 1
98. Verne World – Sadness
99. Verne World – Control Tower
01. Bounty Sword – Main Theme
02. Bounty Sword – Rebel Army
03. Brandish 1 – Opening
04. Brandish 1 – Cave
05. Dragon Ball Z – Super Goku Den 1 – Twinkle Dream
06. Dragon Ball Z – Super Goku Den 1 – Big Fight
07. Dragon Ball Z – Super Goku Den 1 – A Worthy Opponent
08. Dragon Ball Z – Super Goku Den 1 – Tranquil Scenery
09. Dragon’s Earth – Forest
10. Dragon’s Earth – Icebound
11. Dragon’s Earth – Final
12. Dragon’s Earth – Dragon
13. Dragon’s Earth – Game Over
14. EVO ~ The Search for Eden – Masters of Land, Sea, and Sky
15. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – Opening 2
16. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – The Adventure’s Beginning
17. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – That Child
18. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – Which Way’s the Station
19. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – The Forest
20. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – With Grandpa
21. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – A Raft
22. Famicom Bunko ~ Hajimari no Mori – Ending
23. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – Title
24. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – Downtown
25. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – In Front of the School Gate
26. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – Police Station
27. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – Revealed
28. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – Hitomi Chan
29. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – The Suicided Dean
30. Famicom Tantei Club 2 – Staff Roll
31. Farland Story 1 – Boss Battle
32. Farland Story 2 – You are welcome
33. Farland Story 2 – Escape from Valdes Empire
34. Farland Story 2 – Fight It Out
35. Farland Story 2 – Cool Blow
36. Farland Story 2 – Sad Song
37. Farland Story 2 – Volx d’interievr
38. First Queen – Opening 3
39. First Queen – Fort
40. First Queen – Valley of Sanlis
41. First Queen – Castle Ornic
42. First Queen – Battle with Galois
43. First Queen – Ending
44. Furai no Shiren – Tabigarasu Goes
45. Furai no Shiren – Relaxing Town
46. Furai no Shiren – Declining Tunnel ~ Abyss Ravine
47. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu – BGM 1
48. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu – BGM 6
49. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu – BGM 8
50. Kamaitachi no Yoru – Kamaitachi no Yoru
51. Kamaitachi no Yoru – A Strange Scene
52. Kamaitachi no Yoru – A Single Reason
53. Kamaitachi no Yoru – Requiem
54. Kamaitachi no Yoru – Resolution
55. Lennus 1 – Opening of Nasukuoto
56. Lennus 1 – Field Battle
57. Lennus 1 – Hosukira Battle
58. Lennus 2 – Title
59. Lennus 2 – Battle 1
60. Madara 2 – Dark Awakening
61. Madara 2 – Fiction of Meta Fiction
62. Madara 2 – Fascinating Plays with Incarnation
63. Madara 2 – Wild Dance of Fear
64. Madara 2 – Steel Skeleton
65. Madara 2 – Enfant Terrible Rabbit
66. Madara 2 – Elegy of the Golden Country
67. Madara 2 – A Short Ensemble~Sky’s Blueness, Tears and You
68. Magical Circle Guru Guru 1 – Saintly Tower
69. Magical Circle Guru Guru 1 – Tower of Fairies
70. Magical Circle Guru Guru 1 – Tower of Darkness
71. Magical Circle Guru Guru 1 – Dance of Swords
72. Magical Circle Guru Guru 1 – Michibikarechatta monotachi
73. Magical Circle Guru Guru 1 – Door To a Room of a Different Dimension
74. Magical Circle Guru Guru 1 – Final Fight – Charge
75. Magical Circle Guru Guru 2 – Magical Circle Guru Guru Part 2
76. Magical Circle Guru Guru 2 – I am Tsuyoize !
77. Magical Circle Guru Guru 2 – Hotsu Hotsu Hotsu
78. Maka Maka – Factory, Makamaka’s Base
79. Mega-lo-mania – Seventh Epoch ~ 1915 AD
80. Mega-lo-mania – Final Battle ~ Megalomania
81. Popful Mail – Marching Down Tomorrow Road
82. Shadowrun – Morgue
83. Shadowrun – Ending
84. Hanjuku Eiyuu – Faraway Hometown of the Egg
85. Taikou Rishinden – Church
86. Terranigma – Opening
87. Terranigma – Overworld
88. Terranigma – Call at a Port
89. Torneko’s Great Adventure – Volcanic Zone
90. Ultima 7 – The Black Gate
91. Wizardry 1, 2, 3 – The Story of Llylgamyn – Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
92. Yume Maboroshi no Gotoku – World Map
93. Yume Maboroshi no Gotoku – Boss Battle
It’s time to finally start releasing a long winded project that has now spanned several years. I undertook the task of collecting the music of every single RPG, ARPG and Tactical games ever released on the SNES a good 7/8 years ago. Collecting them took a while, and listening to them took even longer. I’m still short of a few but it’s close enough.
Obscure SNES RPGs is the result of those long listening hours over the years. Anything that stood out was rated along the way and compiled in ~100 tracks volumes. There will be 6 volumes total, each packing around 4 hours of music.
Hi guys! I would like to share with you some vgm compilations I’ve just made. It is basically the tracks I really loved while I was listening to vgm during the last 5 years or so. I hope you will enjoy these selections, and maybe discover some great soundtracks.
Here the second volume of the Amiga compilation. I have still lots of soundtracks to listen to, so you can expect more compilations in the following months.
I hope you’ll enjoy!
We’re back after almost 2 years. Sorry guys! But I didn’t waste my time and I’ve listened to tons of Amiga game music. Even if I really like the “Amiga sound”, not all music is worth listening. So I’ve made some selections I would like to share with you.
I haven’t played all those games, so when I don’t know where the music is from in the game, I just tagged “Ingame”.
More compilations will come (shortly I hope)!
Special thanks to Titan and Moonchild for their high-quality rips.
Hole Chaser is a PC88 game from 1990. The game is old and the gameplay looks like… chasing holes, but the music is great. This is one of the best uses of bass and drums I’ve heard. The compositor Masahiro Kajihara is best known for Valis 2 or Princess Maker 2.
This soundtrack includes both OPN and OPNA versions as there are only few tracks and they are almost completely different. The tracks are encoded to MP3 from Hoot. Thanks to the Hoot community for making the music available and to Kurohane for his HootFavoritter, which makes it much easier to compile the tracks.
Necronomicon is a Japanese horror adventure game, set in the fictional world of author H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos – a series of interconnected stories on the theme of unspeakable cosmic horrors.
So yes, expect dark, atmospheric music here. Teioh introduced me to the FM Towns redbook, and I was indeed really impressed with the quality of it’s organ and choirs driven melodies. I decided to give the HOOT set a listen and was there again impressed, this time by how dark and gloomy MUSE manages to make his FM music sound. There is only one fast track on there, and what a track. The Deep One is what finished to convince me to record the whole thing.
So there you are, an obscure PC98 soundtrack AND its’ (kinda) arrange album. :p
Credits to Teioh for finding it, and the tracklist <3
Enjoy ~
>>> Download <<<
In 1997, when everyone was about the PlayStation, Saturn and Nintendo 64, I bought a PC Engine. Take that, trendy retro kids ~
Unlike many of my purchases at the time, during that golden era where 8/16 bit stuff was so cheap because of the new generation systems, I paid quite a bit for that one. Because even back, then it was rare. Why did I buy it ? For many reasons, actually. The system had always fascinated me, with it’s pixel graphics, CDDA sounds and animated cut scenes. And because the word among the elite nerds of the time was that the King among Kings of Japanese RPGs was on it. Tengai Makyo II.
I was playing a lot of Japanese RPGs back then. In Japanese. Not speaking the language. While that may seem absurd nowadays, you have to put this back in context and realize that there were very few translated JRPGs back then. Sure, I didn’t always get what was going on, but guessing the story and making it advance despite the language barrier felt like an extra layer of adventure to me. Could I do it again ? Nope. Did I ever have as much pleasure playing games as I did back then ? Double nope.
To play a Japanese RPG during these days, you first had to even hear about it. Sure, there was a specialized press, but not every kids could afford a monthly subscription, and even if you did there was still a good chance some games wouldn’t get reviewed in the import sections which were pretty limited.
So you had the chance to read a 20 lines review about this new Squaresoft game called Bahamut Lagoon. Great. Now you had to actually find it. Yeah, even living in a big city like Paris, finding import games could prove quite a challenge, and would often cost you an harm if you wanted it early on. Thankfully, there was the second hand market. Import games, especially RPGs, would often be tossed in a corner to collect dust if they were ever resold in shops, ’cause really there wasn’t a lot of people who wanted to play those back then. And that’s when you had to pop in at the right time. I’ll always remember my first Chrono Trigger J copy I snagged for nothing in one of these shops. <3
So you had your game. Now you could pop it in your EU/JAP cartridge adapter, or into your Japanese or US SFC/SNES if you were fancy enough to have one. BTW, remember how the SNES of choice used to be the US one because you could saw the edges of the cartridge slot so both US and Jap games would fit in ? Hi5 if you had one of those. Anyways, yeah, playing Japanese RPGs in Japanese wasn't usually that hard. If you got stuck you could always go back and talk to every NPCs to unlock whatever was blocking the story. That was my usual line of action. And yes, it was fun. No really it was !
Back to Tengai Makyo II. I was warned before I bought it that this one was hardcore if you didn’t speak Japanese. And guess what ? It was. This game’s universe was huge for it’s time. I mean, look at the map. See how it represents Japan and how it’s separated into regions ? Well, I’ve played some RPGs whose entire worlds would fit in one of those regions. Each would contain a capital, several towns, dungeons, secret areas, and each of those places would have quests linked to them. Worse, as you would progress through the game, you would really often have to go back to a previous region to talk to one specific guy to unlock something, or even complete a whole new quest in a previously visited area. This is the standard for all Tengai Makyo games, but none ever felt as huge as Tengai II did, even Tengai IV on the Saturn. This is what earned the game the title of King of RPGs at the time in Japan. What kind of gaming experience was it for a non Japanese speaking teenager ? Well, it was awesome.
To give you an example, I didn’t feel as immersed in a cohesive game universe until I played Skyrim almost 20 years later. Even without speaking Japanese, you could feel the world live around you. The enormous amount of small towns and NPCs, the different cultures in each regions, their various wildlife and landscapes. Quite an accomplishment for a console which, all in all, was less technologically advanced than a simple SNES. It’s like the development team, Red, decided to see how big you could make a 16 bit RPG on a CD just for the art of it, ’cause there was really no need for RPGs to be that huge to be commercially successful back then. The story, or what I could grasp of the big lines, is a classic archetypal “chosen ones” with a few twists, with each of the main protagonists being super charismatic. Even a relatively “bland” character like Kinou turns out to be a complete surprise as you progress through the game.
Talking about progress, what about mine you ask ? Well, I got though 3/4 of the game, region wise at least. I couldn’t have done it without the help of Greg from French magazine Joypad, and André, lord of all obscure Japanese game things in the Jussieu game shop district in the 90s, which I both harassed on the phone for months whenever I got completely stuck in the game (and it happened a lot “oh yeah to enter that castle you have to unequip all your weapons” duh !). Many thanks to them. If you read this, drop me a line please. <3
As I played through the game, I kept a walkthrough diary of my progress. You can actually see a very abridged, incomplete version of it here, that the friend I lend it to back then posted on the web more than 10 years ago. PJP / Umaro, if you read this, do you still have this ? xD
And then … one fateful night, at 100+ hours gameplay, my PC Engine fried, and I never played the game again since then. Well, that’s a lie. I did. I attempted to replay it several times in the last 10 years, but hey, I’m no teenager anymore. That magic is gone. While I doubt anyone will ever go through the gigantic work of translating it, I would for sure be all over that, though.
What’s left ? Oh right, the music ! Well, the music is just great. You got CDDA orchestral tracks by Joe Hisaishi of Ghibli fame, here, and some even sound a bit like Totoro. The PSG chip sounds are great too, and the whole thing blends really well together. This release consists of the CDDA tracks mixed chronologically with encodings of the HES files. This is a bit more complete than the official CD, and also better sounding imho.
I was recently introduced to Amaranth through it’s one and only official album, which kinda blew me away. If you can find this album, get it, it’s that good.
What puzzled me is that despite the awesome rock arranges, the original music on it did not sound like PC98 music, but rather like X68K sounds. I painfully translated parts of the booklet to discover that, indeed, it was X68K music, even though the game was never released for it. Weird ? Kinda. Did I want to hear how it sounded on a PC98 ? Hell yeah !!!
So I fired HOOT, and after 2 songs I knew I needed to make a recording of that stuff. Izuru Aki is good. The way he handles the PC98 FM sound, his melodies, the complexity yet catchy-ness of his music places him, in my opinion, among the great composers of this golden era with this release alone. Just listen to it, the whole soundtrack is just packed with memorable themes. I guess none of the games he worked for were ever super popular, ’cause he honestly deserves to be more popular than he is. I’d definitely be ripping more of his stuff.
Anyways, about this archive, the whole thing was recorded from HOOT. The only version available was OPN which makes sense for 1990. The titles were taken from the aforementioned album, and I translated the extra tracks from the HOOT’s XML. The tracks were ordered after the album’s tracklist with the extra tracks scattered here and there.
I’ll grab the occasion to express all my gratitude and admiration to what the western VGM information scene is today. From the people at VGMDB, to people like Knurek who host and organize video game music emulated formats in a flawless way, ripping stuff has never been that comfortable. When I think back of how it was 10 years ago, the least you can say is that things progressed in a tremendous way. So yeah, thanks and congrats, everyone. <3
Anyway, enjoy !
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