Ninja Gaiden

Chip Music, Game Music

Brave Wave’s Ninja Gaiden Albums out April 13th

April 11, 2017 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Brave Wave’s Ninja Gaiden Albums out April 13th Share this

First announced last November, Brave Wave’s definitive soundtracks to the original Ninja Gaiden series are finally ready for release on Thursday, April 13th. The two-volume collection features the arcade original and its NES counterpart on Volume 1 and the NES sequels — The Dark Sword of Chaos and The Ancient Ship of Doom — on Volume 2. Both albums will be released on vinyl and CD and like past entries in their Generation Series the physical editions will feature archival artwork, composer photos and interviews. Digital versions will also be available on Bandcamp, iTunes and streaming services including Spotify.

The production of both albums is based on new digital recordings from original hardware with the supervision of Ninja Gaiden composer and Tecmo sound engineer, Keiji Yamagishi. It also marks the first time a commercial version of Ninja Gaiden III’s music has ever been available.

<a href="http://store.bravewave.net/album/ninja-gaiden-the-definitive-soundtrack-vol-1-2">Ninja Gaiden The Definitive Soundtrack Vol. 1 + 2 by Koei Tecmo Games Co., Ltd.</a>

To commemorate the launch of these albums Brave Wave is also offering 100 limited edition vinyl box sets. Including all 4 LPs, the $100 set comes with a numbered art card designed by Ninja Gaiden illustrator Masato Kato and signed by composers Keiji Yamagishi, Ryuichi Nitta and Kaori Nakabai. Take a look at more of the gorgeous packaging at Brave Wave’s official site and sample some of the 100+ tracks from both albums above.
Game Music

Brave Wave gives Ninja Gaiden the Deluxe Treatment on Upcoming Albums

November 22, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Brave Wave gives Ninja Gaiden the Deluxe Treatment on Upcoming Albums Share this

Brave Wave has announced the next entry under their Generation Series label and it hits the same nostalgic center of the brain as their previous offerings. Following their lavish treatments of Street Fighter II and Shovel Knight, the team at Brave Wave is now working closely with composers Keiji Yamagishi, Ryuichi Nitta and Kaori Nakabai on a double album release focused on vintage Ninja Gaiden.

Ninja Gaiden Vol. 1 features both the original arcade version of Ninja Gaiden and its NES counterpart. As you’d expect, Ninja Gaiden Vol. 2 continues the timeline with both Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos and Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom. Both albums will receive the same elaborate vinyl and CD treatments as previous releases with archival art and liner notes featuring interviews and essays by game historian Ray Barnholt.

The production will once again be based on new digital recordings from original hardware with supervision this time by NES lead composer, Keiji Yamagishi. Yamagishi also created the sound driver for the NES series and has brought in Ninja Gaiden II and III composers, Nitta and Nakabai respectively, to shoot for authenticity on these releases.

More details on price, tracklist and the inevitable lavish packaging will be revealed soon.
Game Music

BRAVE WAVE Continues to release awesome music: Retro-Active Pt. 2 by Keiji Yamagishi is here!

February 6, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | 10 Comments Share this

After a year of exhaustive work, Ninja Gaiden composer Keiji Yamagishi is back again with “Retro-Active Pt. 2”, the followup to his chart-topper debut Retro-Active Pt. 1. The new album finds him exploring various styles and genres, in addition to a special collaboration with Ninja Gaiden II composer Ryuichi Nitta. “When it comes to musical expression, I believe there’s a greater potential to be found within the chiptune genre”, says Yamagishi about his new work. “I expanded on the ideas found in Retro-Active Pt. 1, and I tried to fuse different genres in an effort to make a unique soundscape.”

Brave Wave

You can listen to the new album which spans a total of 7 tracks below. I have listened to the whole thing already and can say that its a wonderful follow up to the first album. Stemage provided the guitar work for tracks 2, and 4 to 6. The seventh track on the album is a sweet remix of the album’s sixth track “Eastern Sky” by Saori Kobayashi, who is currently working on her next Brave Wave release TERRA MAGICIA.

<a href="http://store.bravewave.net/album/retro-active-pt-2">Retro-Active Pt. 2 by Keiji Yamagishi</a>

Retro-Active Part 2 is available at Brave Wave’s online store as a digital download for $8 USD. What do you think of this latest release from Brave Wave Productions?
Game Music

Exile’s End Original Soundtrack Available Now from Brave Wave

September 2, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 89 Comments Share this

Brave Wave Productions just released the soundtrack to Exile’s End by composer Keiji Yamagishi known for Ninja Gaiden. The game was developed by Magnetic realms and published by Marvelous Inc.

Exile’s End is an homage to early 90’s action-adventure PC games like Flashback and Another World, but with a Japanese flair. The core of the game is from Australian game maker Magnetic Realms with art, cutscenes, and music provided by legends of the 8 and 16-bit eras from Japan. It draws its thematic influence from the science-fiction films and anime of the 80’s and its gameplay from classic Amiga and Commodore 64 action-adventures.

When tasked with composing the game, Keiji Yamagishi delved into uncharted territory by experimenting with moody, ambient electronica — a welcome departure from his signature style.

Brave Wave Productions

The album is available as a digital download from Brave Wave for $7.00, or as a bonus DLC if you buy the game on Steam during the first week for $9.34 (15% Off until September 7!) From what I’ve heard so far it is a fantastic release. Let us know what you think!
Game Music, Reviews

Back When Ninja Gaiden Was Good: Ninja Gaiden Steel Dragon / Beat Blade (Review)

February 16, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

Yeah, I said it. I’m not very fond of the Ninja Gaiden reboots that have hit the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, and am still in love with the original trilogy that was released on the NES. Not only did the originals have frustratingly difficult level designs that were a lot of fun to master (with the horrible camera issues plaguing the recent releases not being a factor), but the music was absolutely stellar.

As it turns out, Japanese doujin circle earth Japan SOFT feels the same way, as they’ve decided to pay homage to the first game in the series with a fantastically produced arrange album covering some of the game’s most memorable themes. I thought it was time we finally get around to reviewing the album after it’s nomination for best doujin album of 2010 in our OSVOSTOTY 2010 Awards, so if you had no idea what this was before, you’re about to find out!

Hit the jump for a return to the “good stuff” in our review of Ninja Gaiden Steel Dragon / Beat Blade. (more…)
Game Music

Hand me my Retro Goggles: Ninja Gaiden Love on YouTube

October 21, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Hand me my Retro Goggles: Ninja Gaiden Love on YouTube Share this

Our discussion of classic Castlevania soundtracks last week had me yearning for some other classic NES goodness, and what better series to jump into than Ninja Gaiden, which also experienced a drastic change in direction (and an incredibly negative one, in my opinion) a few years back. I absolutely adore the music from the first three Ninja Gaiden titles on the NES, and while there have been arrangements created over the years on big sites like OC Remix and VGMix, I never really connected with them.

After digging into YouTube, however, I found the above piano rendition of the ending theme from the first game. If you hit the jump, I also found a cool Mario Paint version of “The Masked Devil” from Ninja Gaiden 2, and while there are tons of guitar arrangements from every which game out there on YouTube, I actually enjoyed the Ninja Gaiden 2 intro that yakmaniac created, programming his own percussion and bass backing instead of relying on the Nintendo sound source.

Let us know what you think of these videos, the music of Ninja Gaiden, the series’s change in direction, and if you know where to find more quality arrangements!

Hit the jump for more. (more…)
Doujin, Game Music

A Classic From The Year 2008: We Are Error By Year 200X Sale

April 14, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | Comments Off on A Classic From The Year 2008: We Are Error By Year 200X Sale Share this

We Are Error was one of my favorite releases out of all music published in 2008. The high production values, great arrangements and metal mayhem of Year 200X has always stood out to me since I first heard them at MAGFest 5. The album features a plethora of great sources and fan favorites such as Mega Man 3, DuckTales, Ghosts ‘N Goblins, Journey To Silius, Castlevania 3 and Ninja Gaiden 2 to mention just a few. It also had guest appearances from chiptune artist Alex Atchley and housethegrate.

To celebrate the opening of their BandCamp store, and for the amount of fans and support over the years, Year 200X announced on their Facebook page they are offering a sale on this fine album. As always with this store setup, you can stream every track for free before purchasing.

Just go to Year 200X’s store and insert the promo code “facebookdisc200x” and enjoy!