Takenobu Mitsuyoshi

Game Music

Hideki Sakamoto And Takenobu Mitsuyoshi Host On Niconico Live

February 12, 2010 | Chris Ling | 2 Comments Share this

Though most readers may know NicoNico Douga as the Japanese equivalent of YouTube, not everyone may know about the many streaming live events on the site. Of interest, Otoya Dai-ikkai ~Ai ga 100man Ton Tarinaize!~ (Music House First Round ~Love is 1 Million Tons Short!~) is an upcoming live event that focuses on the impact of videogame music.

The event boasts some top tier talent with Hideki Sakamoto (Noisycroak) and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (SEGA) as the hosts, Nobuyoshi “Sanodg” Sano (AQ Interactive) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Procyon Studio) as the commentators, and Michiko Naruke (Composer for the Wild ARMs series) as a guest. In addition to a talk, the site also mentions a live performance of some sort to come afterward.

Similar to the Noisycroak round-table, users can submit questions via the entrance page. If selected, the questions will be used to structure the theme of the event. The event is scheduled to start on Feb. 13 at 7:30 PM JST. Users may begin queuing up for the available slots at 7:20 PM JST. Also, as there is no cut off listed for sending questions to the composers, it is not too late to submit any burning questions you may have.

What questions would you ask the composers involved in this event?

[via NicoNico Douga]
Featured, Game Music

Soundtrack of the Month 12/2009: Shenmue chapter 1 -yokosuka- Original Sound Track

December 2, 2009 | Audun Sorlie | 5 Comments Share this

December is here, Christmas is approaching, and when I look outside the window of my little office space, I see snow falling signaling that winter has indeed arrived. I live in a small harbor town south of Oslo, with a small local community, ships docking into port daily just down the street, and friendly narrow neighborhoods where everyone knows everyone. You might be wondering what the significance of this is, but maybe some of you already know where I’m going with this: my town has some strong similarities to Yokosuka, the town in which Shenmue takes place.

Seeing that the snow has fallen and winter is showing its cold rear end, I found myself drawn to play and write about this game. And in doing so, I was once again reminded of the masterpiece that is Shenmue. Few games have offered such a sense of realism. Every character has a purpose, a reason of being who they are. Yokosuka feels like a place that is alive, not only because of polygons or special effects, but because of real emotions. All your feelings and senses are triggered in this game, and one of the main reasons behind this is the amazing score by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Yuzo Koshiro, Osamu Murata and Ryuji Iuchi.

So join us in getting chills to the sounds of Shenmue chapter 1 -yokosuka- (more…)
Game Music

Daytona USA Returns as Sega Racing Classic Without Mitsuyoshi

October 30, 2009 | Audun Sorlie | 2 Comments Share this

Daytona USA fans finally got their wish come true as SEGA announced they are remaking the classic arcade racer in HD for arcade. The game will run on the SEGA Ringwide hardware, and will be fully HD, and contain all the tracks and multiplayer options the original cabinets had, just without the Daytona USA name attached.

However, one question remained on the details of this game, will Takenobu Mitsuyoshi come back to rearrange and score the game that launched him into gaming history back in 1994? Sadly no, the man himself informed us that he is not expected to take part in the development of this title, and is busy with other projects. What are those projects? Well I’d tell you but they would have to kill me then. It is not known if any of the old material is going to be re-used, though that is highly possible.

So there you have it, are you disappointed Mitsuyoshi won’t have any direct involvement? Any other SEGA racers you would like to see come back in HD?
Game Music

MIRACULOUS RETURN: Alex Kidd Complete Album Review!

October 19, 2009 | Audun Sorlie | 180 Comments Share this

As a kid, I had a SEGA Master System, but I didn’t own any game cartridges of any kind for it. That was no problem, however! You see, back then, SEGA decided to release the console with a game built into the system. That’s right, if you turned the console on with no game in the cartridge slot, it would automatically boot up Alex Kidd in Miracle World, one of my favorite SEGA titles to this day.

In late August, Wave Master released the ALEX KIDD COMPLETE ALBUM exclusively at Comiket 76, and OSV was lucky enough to get a copy.

Get ready to step back in time and read about our thoughts on the album! (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Two Classics, One Package: Sword of Vermilion / Rent-a-Hero! (Review)

October 12, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 4 Comments Share this

I’ve always loved Sword of Vermilion. In one of OSV’s introductory posts, I used the game’s title screen as a play on Uematsu’s Lord of Vermilion score, but it’s a huge pleasure to finally be able to write about the music of Sword of Vermilion. SEGA has been spoiling fans recently with its Sound Shock Series, tackling franchises like Daytona USA, Fantasy Zone, and two standalone games with this album, Sword of Vermilion and Rent-a-Hero.

Interestingly, despite the difference in game genres, they sound strikingly alike thanks to similar sound sets and the same composer, hiro (Hiroshi Kawaguchi), working on both titles. But don’t think you’re just getting a dump of the music from these Genesis titles; there are also some added bonuses on the album.

Take a trip back in time to see what Nintendon’t after the jump! (more…)
Game Music

40 of Japan’s Top Game Composers Form Mega Alliance: Video Game Sound Creator’s Alliance

October 5, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 9 Comments Share this

Big news from Japan. It seems as though the majority of freelance game music composers from Japan have teamed up to form the Video Game Sound Creator’s Alliance. As to what that is exactly, I have no idea, but their membership list is quite impressive, including composers such as Hiroki Kikuta, Akari Kaida, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Yasunori Mitsuda, Michiru Yamane, and about 30 others. The group was founded by Yuji Takenouchi, and our good friend hally is actually listed as the group’s executive adviser.

Pretty awesome, but let’s see what they end up doing. It sounds like the GANG of Japan if you ask me. Wonder if we’re going to see Nobuo Uematsu pop on this list any time soon! While the official site is still under construction, I recommend heading over and checking it out. It’s set to launch on October 19, 2009.

Hit the jump for the fully translated list of members courtesy of Square Enix Music Online. (more…)
Game Music

Noisycroak’s First Game Composer Roundtable Discussion -Complete English Transcript-

August 15, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 8 Comments Share this

While many of you may have missed the news, the guys over at Noisycroak in Japan (who you may recall from our coverage of Castlevania Judgment) recently hosted a composer roundtable to answer fan-submitted questions and discuss a wide range of topics involving the game music industry in Japan. Composer and studio head Hideki Sakamoto hosted the unprecedented event, which our own Chris Ling attended along with a number of Famitsu staff, and the results were pretty amazing.

What we have here is Chris’s English translation of the massive transcript that Noisycroak posted in to their website (in Japanese) a few weeks ago. Yes, a complete English transcript of all 17,000+ words! I’m definitely grateful to Chris for doing this for us, as well as to Sakamoto-san at Noisycroak for putting this together, Mitsuyoshi-san for coordinating Chris’s attendance, and to all the participants for taking part in this event and for letting us post the English-language transcript here for your reading pleasure.

While it’s quite long, there’s a lot of great stuff here. Nobuyoshi Sano is particularly hilarious, and it’s funny reading how Sakamoto-san was constantly trying to keep everyone on track (with mixed results). I found some of the discussion towards the end about game music concerts and “young” heroes to be interesting, but let us know what you think!

Read the entire transcript of the event after the jump. (more…)