KICA-7817: Gradius Gaiden Original Game Soundtrack

[LuxKiller65]

Seriously, why is this soundtrack so expensive?

[Crash]

Because people are willing to pay so much for it?

There are a number of VGM CDs whose standard market price is higher than Gradius Gaiden (which tends to stay around 15,000 yen - the copy on YJA right now is being sold by someone who traditionally asks 50%-100% more for CDs than their market price). Among the more common ones:

Super Mario RPG OST (a recent auction for this ended over 17,000 yen, and most auctions don't start under 20,000 yen)
Terranigma (tends to go for 25,000 yen or more)
Tecmo Game Music (I don't think I've seen this offered under 30,000 yen)
Princess Crown OST and Full Arrange (granted, I've only seen the one copy on YJA, but the seller wanted a ton of money for it)
Kirby of the Stara ~ Story of the Fountain of Dreams (this usually sells in the 25,000 yen range as well)
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror Sound Plus (a recent auction for this ended at 52,000 yen)

Honestly, I haven't heard the music from Gradius Gaiden, apart from a doujin remix on Energy Force and one arrangement on MIDI Power Pro 7, so I don't know how good the music is. But there is precious little VGM that I'm looking for now, and this album is still on my list.

[vshwong]

Honestly, Gradius Gaiden is ok. Most of the tracks are moody, but never really catchy. I think nearly all the tracks from Gradius I are catchy, despite the arrangements are not as rich.

[dma]

You can expect Gradius collectors to search for it and be ready to pay high price, regardless of (even their actual appreciation for) the music itself.
After all VGM albums are at first items oriented to fans of the game itself.

[Jodo Kast]

Originally Posted by LuxKiller65

Seriously, why is this soundtrack so expensive?

It's still an expensive album, but these days there are a significant number of albums that regularly quadruple and quintuple its starting price. For the first time ever (just a moment ago), I found a Gradius Gaiden with a BIN below 15,000 yen, at 13,980. I realized that this slight reprieve in price, along with the generous exchange rate, is an opportunity. I've never, ever come close to owning this album in the past, so I went ahead and picked it up.

[Alcahest]

Gj Jodo, superb album, FOREST (st6 GREEN INFERNO) is priceless.

[Raizen1984]

Yeah, it's always been a favorite of mine as well. I really wish Norikazu Miura would have been allowed to compose in this style more often. I'm still hoping for a release of his old Synergy game scores at some point.

Miura needs to get out of Konami, by the way. They're imploding on themselves, with rumors stating they are trying to get out of the games business altogether. He's the only composer at the company I still care about, surely he could find more work as a freelancer, or perhaps as a part of a specialty audio studio like Procyon or Unique Note..