Stolen Song

Reviews

Hardware: PlayStation
05/21/1998 (Japan)

Virtual Music Entertainment previously released a game on PlayStation and various home computer OS' called Quest for Fame, which featured music from the then extremely popular American rock band Aerosmith. Stolen Song uses the same engine as Quest for Fame did, but features legendary Japanese guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei. He may not be so known to western J-rock fans, but is probably best known for "Battle Without Honor or Humanity". This song was featured in Quentin Tarantino's movie Kill Bill: Volume 1, but has since been featured in many other films and commercials. And it really can't be understated just how much of a presence he's been in Japanese rock for the last few decades. Continue Reading

Hamster Applies For a Guinness World Record For an Unprecedented 131 Consecutive Weekly Releases

Hamster has released downloadable titles for 131 consecutive weeks, including the start of the Arcade Archives Neo Geo series when the Nintendo Switch released on 03/03/2017. As a result, they've applied for a Guinness World Record. Having released a total of 167 titles on the Nintendo Switch, this is an unprecedented number of releases. Series producer and president Satoshi Hamada gives us the whole story.

A Record Only Possible Due to Cooperation From Other Companies

What made you decide to develop for the Nintendo Switch, which is serving as the starting point for this record? (Hamada) We decided on it as soon as we heard about the Nintendo Switch. We'd already started releasing the Arcade Archives series on the PlayStation 4, but we were thinking of bringing it to the Switch as well. Continue Reading

Infiltrating A Store Making A Big Push For Game Music: TOWERanime Shinjuku

Shinjuku, where tons of people are constantly coming and going. And in Shinjuku lies a CD shop that puts its efforts into game music: TOWERanime Shinjuku. We bring you a glimpse into a department overflowing with enthusiasm from the game music loving staff.

Asking Someone That Sells Game Music: The Secret To Creating A Department

TOWERanime Shinuku, a department within Tower Records Shinjuku that was opened in 2014. It previously was centered mostly around anime, but after some recent changes it's now focusing heavily on game music. We've asked long time employee and game lover Ryuuji Kaneko about what it's like to sell game music CDs, and the advantages of doing so in an actual store. Continue Reading

Sound Creators That Pushed Hardware Limits: Yuzo Koshiro and Yasunori Mitsuda

In this interview, Yuzo Koshiro not only talks with us about music during the Super Famicom era, but also about working on the indispensable ActRaiser. Yasunori Mitsuda also talks about working on Chrono Trigger, a game that Koshiro said smashed his confidence to pieces. What have their journeys as creators been like, evolving along with the hardware? We've got the answers here. Yuzo Koshiro - The president of Ancient, and also a composer. He previously composed music for the Ys series with Nihon Falcom. Having gone freelance after that, he established Ancient in 1990 and got involved in games such as ActRaiser. In recent years he's composed music for the Etrian Odyssey series, and more. Yasunori Mitsuda - The president of Procyon Studio. After working at Wolf Team as a sound programmer, he joined Square (currently Square Enix), and made his debut as a composer with Chrono Trigger in 1995. He later went independent and formed his own company, Procyon Studio. In recent years he's worked on music for games such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Inazuma Eleven series, and more.

The Industry Shaking ActRaiser

Around when did the two of you first meet? (Koshiro) It was during the development of Kid Icarus: Uprising, which was released in 2012. Other composers were involved apart from me, but Mitsuda brought us all together. Procyon Studio even took care of all the recording. Continue Reading

A Top Composer, Beloved Worldwide – Nobuo Uematsu

Magazine Translations

Profile - The president of Dog Ear Records who has composed music for many games, including much of the Final Fantasy series from when he was with Square Enix. Recently he's also composed for games such as Granblue Fantasy and Terra Wars, and continues to receive attention worldwide for his talent as a composer and keyboardist. Composer Nobuo Uematsu is a pioneer in the world of game music, and an all around great person. The sudden extended time off that he took last year sent shock waves through the industry, but he's returned as of January 2019. He's shown the fans his energy as he went around to 11 venues in 8 cities, as a part of the "Bra*Bra Final Fantasy" series of brass band concerts. We talked to him about his current state, as well as what the future holds. Continue Reading