Project Cerberus is an arcade (and later PSP) versus fighting game as well as a Lost Child spinoff. It was released a few years after the Lost Child visual novel PC game (and the release of the PC game was more than two years after the release of the first Lost Child soundtrack mind you, but that's neither here nor there).
It made complete sense: the battle elements of the visual novel lends itself nicely to the traditional 1-on-1 combat of Street Fighter-style fighting games. But let's be honest, the final retail results were somewhat substandard, and that's putting it nicely. But what was up to standard was the music, fortunately.
The bulk of the music was composed/arranged by, of course, S.S.H. but this time accompanied by Taka (also known as Crow's Claw) who provides the live guitar (similar to the S.S.H./Toshinori Hiramatsu pairing from the Atelier Iris arrange albums). There are two Project Cerberus related albums. The first is PROJECT CERBERUS Phase 0.01 SSH with six tracks and the second is PROJECT CERBERUS SECRET CD-ROM with seven "tracks". In actuality, these albums are somewhat incomplete. A few S.S.H./Taka tunes are missing as well as some songs from kt2 (and maybe Soshi Hosoi, can't remember).
Like the PS2 Sega Ages Gain Ground game, fortunately the music files were able to be identified and extracted and the results are as shown below. Similar to my previous post, I present the hypothetical official (full) soundtrack release of Project Cerberus.
Project Cerberus Original Soundtrack
Catalog Number ULJM-05636
Release Date August 26, 2010
Publish Format Commercial
Release Price 3000 JPY
Media Format 1 CD
Classification Original Soundtrack, Arrangement
Published by MILESTONE/HOBIBOX
Composed by Saitama Saisyu Heiki
Arranged by Saitama Saisyu Heiki
Performed by Taka
01 Advertise （1:29）
02 Main Title （4:43）
03 Character Select （4:09）
04 Challenger （0:08）
05 Cerberus （5:07）
06 Fencer （5:02）
07 Sledge Hammer （4:44）
08 Rambling Feather （5:14）
09 Crafty Huntsman （4:58）
10 Nemesis （5:20）
11 Trickmaster （5:13）
12 Ortrus （5:40）
13 Kusanagi （5:26）
14 Valkyrie （5:27）
15 Cerberus Burst Mastering （5:35）
16 Fencer Burst Mastering （5:17）
17 Kusanagi Mastering （5:24）
18 Result （0:15）
19 Continue （1:11）
20 Game Over （0:13）
21 Menu （0:45）
22 Daily （2:18）
23 Sad （1:40）
24 Anxious （1:46）
25 Before Battle （1:22）
26 Rain （0:34）
27 Ending （8:10）
Disc length 97:09
Everything up to track 20 is by S.S.H./Taka. Track 21 to 27 is probably by kt2 (and/or maybe Soshi Hosoi). The track titles mainly reflect their original file names so that was easy. The main change was more logical track ordering (using the Koihime Musou/Enbu soundtracks as a guide). There are also some technical issues with a few of the track's lengths - some songs end well before the displayed end time (e.g. track 27 ending should only be 4 minutes or so long). Apparently there were some changes when it came to in-game use of the music or mistakes were made on the original track titles: the songs/tracks on the incomplete official soundtracks do not match the song/titles of the above so there are some inconsistencies. For more details on this issue, see below:
01 Advertise （1:29） ※is Projecet Cerberus ～メインテーマ～ from Project Cerberus Phase 0.01 SSH
02 Main Title （4:43） ※is Alert! ～アドバタイズ～ from Project Cerberus Phase 0.01 SSH
03 Character Select （4:09） ※is Rambling feather from Project Cerberus Secret CD-ROM
04 Challenger （0:08） ※New track
05 Cerberus （5:07） ※is Boosted Arm ～ケルベルスのテーマ～ from Project Cerberus Phase 0.01 SSH
06 Fencer （5:02） ※is Crimson Fire ～フェンサーのテーマ～ from Project Cerberus Phase 0.01 SSH
07 Sledge Hammer （4:44） ※is 'more than enough!!!' ～スレッジ・ハマーのテーマ～ from Project Cerberus Phase 0.01 SSH
08 Rambling Feather （5:14） ※is kusanagi from Project Cerberus Secret CD-ROM
09 Crafty Huntsman （4:58） ※is Amitto from Project Cerberus Secret CD-ROM
10 Nemesis （5:20） ※is Cyber Space 303 from Project Cerberus Secret CD-ROM
11 Trickmaster （5:13） ※New track
12 Ortrus （5:40） ※is Rapid Fire from Project Cerberus Secret CD-ROM
13 Kusanagi （5:26） ※is nemesis from Project Cerberus Secret CD-ROM
14 Valkyrie （5:27） ※New track
15 Cerberus Burst Mastering （5:35） ※New track
16 Fencer Burst Mastering （5:17） ※New track
17 Kusanagi Mastering （5:24） ※New track
18 Result （0:15） ※is result from Project Cerberus Secret CD-ROM
19 Continue （1:11） ※New track
20 Game Over （0:13） ※New track
21 Menu （0:45） ※New track
22 Daily （2:18） ※New track
23 Sad （1:40） ※New track
24 Anxious （1:46） ※New track
25 Before Battle （1:22） ※New track
26 Rain （0:34） ※New track
27 Ending （8:10） ※New track
A few more notes about this soundtrack:
02 Main Title is an arrange (or has references) of "L.L.". (Lost Child Side-A).
09 Crafty Huntsman is an arrange (or has references) of "Rapid Fire" (Lost Child Side-A).
13 Kusanagi is an arrange of "Wail of Soul" (Lost Child Side-B).
12 Ortrus is an arrange of "Heavy Edge" (Lost Child Side-A).
17 Kusanagi Mastering is an arrange (or has references) of "Wail of Soul" (Lost Child Side-B).
27 Ending - I am 90% sure this kt2 song is not new and can be found on one of his albums.
Here's a one minute sample of track
27 Ending by kt2 (it will be deleted once it is identified).
06 L.L. ～Infinite Beating.ver～ from the Project Cerberus Phase 0.01 SSH album is nowhere to be found and is the only thing missing from the game. Speaking of which, it can probably be considered a bonus track on that album because Taka's guitar doesn't seem to be in it.
I may be missing a few more song references.
So how about the actual music? To be perfectly honest, I feel that the music of Project Cerberus is somewhat "weaker" compared to his other albums. I don't really know how to put it into words, but weaker in the sense that it's a bit forgettable. I'm not saying it's subjectively or "objectively" bad, mind you. It's clearly an S.S.H. composed album and you will get what you expect from him. But somehow, overall, it didn't really click with me, at least not fully.
Having said all that, there were two tracks that did succeed in clicking: track 11 Trickmaster and track 14 Valkyrie. These tracks are the "Rebellion" (BlazBlue) of Project Cerberus: in other words, the tracks I always come back to. What do these tracks have in common? They're both new compositions for one. Secondly, and more interestingly, they are mainly electronic/techno tracks with minimal guitars (either only relegated to the bass or only brought in for a short guitar solo) in the sea of metal. I wonder if other listeners share my experiences.
Also, a few new additions to the main post:
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Originally Posted by layzee
-Website To Do List-
11. A decent S.S.H. banner for the website. I don't know what the design would be like but the main words in big font will be "プロジェクトさいさいへい －まるごと埼玉最終兵器－ All About S.S.H." and the words in smaller font will be "Project SaiSaiHei - The Saitama Saisyu Heiki Fan Site" or something.
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Now that the site has a reasonable amount of information, how about a nice banner to make it less boring to look at? But image design skills = non-existent.
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Originally Posted by layzee
-Future Goals-
5. If S.S.H. was to perform in a concert in Japan, I would probably seriously consider dropping everything I am doing (in real life) and boarding the next plane.
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Seriously.
Also, my e-mail has been added to the main site so those without forum accounts can contact me somehow.
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Originally Posted by layzee
Next time,...Less wall of text...
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Failed. *shrugs*