A Story in Rediscovery

[Dragon God]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post something like this. If it isn't, feel free to move it to the appropriate sub-forum.

These are personal musings about returning (kinda) to a hobby I thought I was done with...

So for those who have no clue who I am, here's a brief overview.

During the early 2000s, I was a member of RPGClassics, a site specializing in RPGs, but not necessarily news coverage, but rather specific games were provided a full section which contained a full walkthrough, tips & tricks, miscellaneous info, etc... My RPG contribution was Final Fantasy Tactics. Other than that, I was also a reviewer of video game soundtracks.

If I think about it, Final Fantasy VI (released as III here initially) was what sparked my interest in the music. This was in 1995. A friend insisted I give it a shot. Before FFVI, I was not a fan of RPGs, as they seemed too complicated to be worth the trouble. Yeah, that notion was shot out the window by the time I reached the Whelk in the Narshe mines. "Decisive Battle" definitely struck a chord with me. I knew right then and there that I was going to enjoy this plunge into unknown territory. By the time I finished the game, I tried to find a similar experience, which I found in Final Fantasy IV (II). So this followed with Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. That was it, I became a major fan of Squaresoft by then.

At the time, I had no idea that game music soundtracks existed on CD, so I got my "fix" by downloading and listening to mp2s (not mp3s !!!) of those games' music at a wonderful site called "The Impressario's Sounds of Squaresoft Page". I even recorded these on cassette so I could hear them anywhere. Yeah... I was getting really into this.

Fast-forward to the summer of 1998, where I finally click on a link to a website called... "Game Music Online". I could not believe what I was seeing... So many CD albums with music, not only from Square's gems, but also a great selection from games I loved during my childhood and teenage years. At the forefront, Castlevania ! But, my first purchase from there was actually Final Fantasy V, because this was still the "mysterious" entry at the time. What little I had played on a partially translated rom was enough to convince me this would be a good buy.

Several weeks later, the album came in. For a 20 year old me then, this was like a gift from the Gods. I listened to this album a ton. Later that year, I decided to order Final Fantasy VI. Once again, I was in aural Heaven, being from the game that sparked my fascination with game music. But alas... upon browsing the Soundtrack Central site for the first time, I discover that my two albums are actually bootlegs from the Taiwanese company Son May.

From that point on, I began to pay attention to catalog numbers when I ordered. When I received the official Final Fantasy III (Famicom) OSV, I immediately noticed the quality in the packaging. I quickly replaced my bootlegs with legitimate versions.

At first, I just stuck to a couple of series, such as Final Fantasy, Castlevania and several other Square titles like Chrono Trigger or Parasite Eve. Of course, it didn't remain like this. It eventually snowballed into a true addiction. By the mid-2000s, I must have at least bought 250 albums, if not more. Many were bought at Game Music Online, a few at AnimeNation, a couple at The Place, some on the Soundtrack Central Marketplace, most on eBay.

2002-2004 is where it went... Ahem, I went crazy. Upon discovering the NTT Pub and DigiCube back catalog, I decided to attempt to acquire Every. Single. Squaresoft. OST. Yes, you read that right. Some of the most obscure, such as Treasure Hunter G, Front Mission 2, Front Mission Alternative, Another Mind, etc were near impossible to get on Ebay at the time, so I called on the services of middleman Jerold Llama (Longtimers, remember THAT guy ? ) to get them on Yahoo Japan Auctions, no matter the price. (See ? Crazy :P)

So by Summer 2004, I had reached my lofty goal. I don't even want to think the amount of money I spent during that venture. Too much that most people would bother with. But... the main thing was I enjoyed the music... for the most part.

I had the bad habit of listening to certain albums way too quickly before shelving them away and moving on to the newest ones. So in a way... I kind of took my collection for granted. Over the years, my interest in the majority slowly waned, until...

By the early 2010s, I began the new hobby of keeping tarantulas as pets and I wrongly convinced myself that I was done with gaming and VGM and sold off all my collection save FFVI. Fast-forward a decade later, I discover that VGM albums are occasionally available on Amazon. All of a sudden, I recalled the feeling of excitement whenever I listened to a brand new album, which seemed so long ago. 2 dozen album purchases later, many of which are repurchases in the form of reprints or lucky first prints, I finally realize that the majority of my early purchases were not all bangers from beginning to end. I'm happy that my brand new purchases (R-Type Special, Panzer Dragoon, Policenauts F/N, Phantasy Star Online, Black Mages II & III and Grandia II) were well chosen.

If you look at my current collection, yes, it's pretty bare-bones to the mammoth collection I had 20 years ago. But these are the ones that meant the most to me. What surprised me the most, is even after all these years and being exposed to so many artists since, Nobuo Uematsu is still my favorite of the lot, so no surprise he got the lion's share in the current collection. Original ? Not by a longshot, but that's fine with me. Any time I hear his works, it brings wonderful memories of not only my youth and young adult years, but also a period of my life where so much exposure to so many different music styles shaped my tastes that were to come. I tend to be extremely passionnate about everything (mostly) that I get into, be it VGM, keeping tarantulas as pets, classic horror movies from the '50s, '60s and '70s, classic film music (Star Wars, Jaws, Goonies, etc) and rock music such as Black Sabbath, Dio and Motorhead.

Whew, I didn't expect to write this much, but I needed to get this out. I've wanted to do this for quite a while. Hopefully, some of you will enjoy my insane story.

[Dragon God]

Now that I've covered my main history with VGM, I just feel like sharing what each of the albums I have means to me. There's a story in everyone of them, so here goes ! Remember, all of these were picked up on Amazon. Most new, some not.

Akumajo Dracula Best 2

For me, getting this album back was a no-brainer. Even if it was just 1 disc with either Super Castlevania IV or the two first Game Boy entries, it wouldn't matter, the nostalgic memories abound here. First playing SCV4 on the Snes, it definitely left a major impression on me as a young teen as it had atmosphere like no other game I had experienced at the time. Also, this was my first Castlevania ever, so first impressions mattered BIG TIME. I've played it countless times and despite always struggling at the last level, it was always a blast getting to that point.

Considering the Game Boy entries, they were amongst the first couple of games I bought for the system barring the obligatory Tetris and the Super Mario Land games. I eventually mastered The Adventure so I could beat it without dying once. Had a much easier time with Belmont's Revenge and the music was easily some of the best for the system.

This is the 1998 reprint, surprisingly found NEW.

Akumajo Dracula X Gekka no Nocturne

Having loved Super Metroid as much, there was no question I was going to enjoy a Castlevania entry that would use a similar progression and have so much depth on exploration. It didn't hurt that Alucard controlled like a dream too. And despite having played all other Metroidvanias up until Order of Ecclesia, none of them managed to capture the same feeling of wonder as SOTN did. Perhaps because it was such a breakthrough title at the time. Of course, the music stood out to me and I was surprised to learn that it was by Michiru Yamane, the same composer for Bloodlines on the Sega Genesis. A keeper as far as I'm concerned. Legit Konami print NEW.

Border Down

This one has a really interesting story : As some of the longtimers would remember, I absolutely worshipped Shinji Hosoe during the 2000s. He was my new favourite after Uematsu. At some point, I had discovered Metal Black -The First- arranged album on Slightly Dark. That opened me up to Yasuhisa Watanabe, another composer I would go crazy on. At one point following college, I had the fortunes of acquiring a used Sega Dreamcast with a series of burned games, all of them Shmups. There was Border Down, Psyvariar 2, Zero Gunner 2... and maybe one more I've since forgotten.

Anyways, Border Down was my jam and I played it a great deal, despite never getting really good at it. Loved the music enough to get the OST... My memory is hazy, but I'm pretty sure I got it from Chudah back in the day. Imagine my shock when I stumbled upon a used copy in late 2023. Yeah, Yack still rocks and I'm glad those arranges are there at the end, so Hosoe, Saso and Yasui didn't miss out on the party

Chrono Cross

If you asked me 25 years ago what was my favourite work by Mitsuda, I would have answered Chrono Trigger without a second thought. Now, I see that was mostly acting on nostalgia. There's no question that Chrono Trigger was a major work for Mitsuda, but with Cross, he basically turned everything up to 11. Back then, I honestly didn't care for it all that much. Now, I'm able to appreciate the instrumental and ethnic variation. I absolutely love the laid back feel for most of the music now, despite having hardly touched the game. Reprint brand new.

Dewprism

Ahh... Threads of Fate. Never played the game, you know. Despite that, I always enjoyed the music as standalone. It's one of those albums that aged surprisingly well for me. I remembered how much I appreciated it, so there were no issues in snagging the reprint last year. I remember saying that I preferred Another Mind to this as the definitive solo Junya Nakano work. I take that back as I've come to prefer the charming and quirky music here way more. Reprint brand new.

Final Fantasy IV

Hoo boy, here we go. Major nostalgia with this one too. As mentioned above, this was my 2nd FF and I loved every bit of it. I think this was probably my fourth purchase after FFIII Famicom. I had the PSCN print back then. Always had a soft spot for this one, despite the lack of looping for virtually every track. I honestly did not expect to come across a used 1st Print for like 40$. Love the fact that this is so old, it doesn't say Squaresoft on the back, but rather Square Brand. Wild !

Final Fantasy IX

This was the last numbered FF I actually played way back on the PS1, so memories are quite vague, but it's Uematsu's last solo work on the series barring FFXIV so I wanted this one too. It's so much better than I actually remember it being. Uematsu, whilst struggling a bit for originality (Who cares ?), gave his all and it shows. Reprint brand new.

Final Fantasy Tactics

My first exposure to Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, despite having heard countless further works, this one still ends up being my favourite of their storied carreer. Another game that I had a blast playing back in the day, so plenty of nostalgia with this one too. Reprint brand new.

Final Fantasy VI

Ah, the ultimate catalyst. There's no arguing that even after so many years and further works, this is still Uematsu's most solid work IMO. And this is the album I've had since its initial purchase in '99, so it's like a longtime companion that's been with me through all my highs and of lows so far PSCN print old-school, oh yeah !

Final Fantasy VII

This is a strange one. While I do have fond memories of the game and its music, it was through the Eidos PC version and not on the PS1 like so many others. So yes, the music wasn't quite as good as the original version. It's something that all PS1 numbered FF games have in common for me : I like the music way more than the games themselves. Reprint brand new.

Final Fantasy VIII

I really wanted to love the game itself, but I just couldn't get into the Draw and Junction mechanics. The soundtrack ? Probably Uematsu's best sounding, in part due to Keiji Kawamori's stellar synthesizer programming. Hearing any of the battle themes bring a big smile to my face. Used DigiCube original, woo hoo !

Front Mission 2

One of those albums provided by Jerold Llama back in the day. Had the regular DigiCube print. I have a special nostalgia with this one as I listened to it a lot while studying in college. Managed to come across a used Limited Edition of the DigiCube print, so it's a glossy gold hard cover, reminiscent of FF4's 1st Print. Also, between this and Bahamut Lagoon, I'll say outright that this is Noriko Matsueda's best solo work of the two, IMO. She is greatly missed. Darn you, FFX-2 ! (Shakes fist)

Gran Chaser

Ah, here's what Koji Hayama considered to be his masterpiece. Comparing with his loony Cho Aniki works, yes I would agree. I was given this back in the mid-2000s when I had offered to translate several interviews in French for Go ! Game Music ! (Rocketbaby's successor) to maximize exposure. I've always enjoyed this one, despite never playing the actual game. Used NACL print.

Grandia II

Ah, some Noriyuki Iwadare representation. Never did get this one back in the day, because then they were split in two seperate volumes, Deus and Povo. Despite having a Dreamcast at one point... It never crossed my mind to give this a try. Dunno why. Having seen a playthrough on YouTube, I would have loved this then. Basically, my decision to grab this one boils down to being exposed to a couple of battle themes (Ver. 1 and Ver. 4) waaaaaayyyy back... maybe it was Chudah that shared it on one of our many AIM conversations together, I honestly don't remember. New WAYO print.

Panzer Dragoon

Saturn's initial killer app. Did not see the game back in the day, as I knew nobody with a Saturn. I'm pretty sure I've read reviews in various gaming magazines, all praising the amazing music. I'm not actually sure how I came across it, but I first heard "Flight" from the Full Sound Version and was impressed back in the day. Over the years, I've often stumbled upon the normal version, the orchestral one used in-game on YouTube. I had little doubt the rest would be just as good. Back in the day, I had managed to get the Virus OST, also by late composer Yoshitaka Azuma. From what little I remember, it was nowhere as good as this. Used POCH print.

Phantasy Star Online

This is the first 1 CD only edition that only has most of the Dreamcast music for Episode 1. Another RPG that I missed the boat on back in the day. I'm pretty sure that it was Chudah that shared some of the themes over AIM back then. The one thing I remebered the most, aside the two fantastic Idola themes, was the amazing Title Screen music. Those 3 tracks were my main reasons to get the disc last year. It's no surprise that the rest of the album is just as good. Used UPCH print.

Policenauts F/N

Back in the day, I had managed to get my hands on Konami Shooting Battle on VGM World. While no Dracula Battle, I did enjoy the rockin' music a fair deal. I had heard about Policenauts F/N over the years, probably through Soundtrack Central. When I heard a piece on YouTube years later, my jaw dropped. This was always crazy expensive on eBay back in the day, so I forgot about it. Managed to find a copy for a bit less than 100$, so I decided to give it a shot. Once again, it's no Dracula Battle, but for what it is, it is good ! Real good. Furukawa and Namiki's playing on this album is nothing short of incredible. I actually like this fairly laid back take on Jazz Fusion. Used Konami original.

R-Type Special

This is the first VGM album I took a plunge on Amazon. I knew about it from Soundtrack Central and the fact that it was arranged by Satoshi Miyashita of T's Music was reason enough to invest in it. While not quite as hard rocking as Miyashita's work on Lords of Thunder on Turbo Duo CD, what's here is super enjoyable and I like the stylistic variety throughout the songs. Plenty of yummy guitar and keyboard solos, so it's a keeper for sure. Used VICL print.

Seiken Densetsu -Legend of Mana-

Here's another one that takes me back. When this came out, I was intrigued once I read that Yoko Shimomura had done the music. At the time, it's another album that I didn't spend enough time with. Back then, Pain The Universe, The Darkness Nova and Irwin on Reflection were the songs I gravitated to the most. Now, I've come to appreciate the dungeon and town themes too. Of all of Shimomura's classic works, it became my favourite. Reprint brand new.

Switched On Cyborg -Cyborg '80s-

Here's the lone "Not from a game but sounds game-y still" album. At the time this album was released, main composer Kazuhiro "Zunba" Kobayashi was not yet involved in video games, but his affiliation with Super Sweep changed that. I first got this album from VGM World in the mid-2000s. Having no samples to listen to, I found the cover art to be intriguing and took a chance. This turned out to be one of the best blind purchases I had made. A couple of years ago, I managed to find a NEW copy, but with a mislabeled cat #. Instead of SRIN-1005, it's SRIN-0005. Wild !

Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest III

During my venture in discovering game music, I eventually turned up to some Dragon Quest albums. Some of these were 1st Prints that included both Symphonic Suite and OST, such as the case with DQ IV, DQ VI and DQ VII. This one was chosen simply because it was the least expensive to choose from. Really, it's hard to go wrong with ANY Symphonic Suite of this series. So, this was a brand NEW KICC print, which is the NHK Symphony version without the Original Sound Story, which didn't bother me at all. Any Sugiyama is good Sugiyama, right ?

The Black Mages Trilogy

I'm tossing these three in a lot. I remember when we were teased of the Gilgamesh Battle Theme on Square's website back in late 2002. I has never been so excited for an album like that. Final Fantasy battle themes in a Dracula Battle style ? This was a dream come true ! I loved the 1st one when it was released, still do. The two others I've only really discovered them when I bought all 3 last year. The first two are NEW SQEX reprints and the 3rd is a used DERP print. All 3 are solid despite not all of them being full-on bangers. It is what it is.

Xexex

The last album and one outstanding example of Konami being at the height of their musical powers. Despite developed now for archaic hardware, the music is surprisingly catchy all the way. Plus 4 fantastic arrangements included, one penned by a young Kenichiro Fukui ?! What's NOT to love about this album ? Used Konami 1st print, woo !

Whew ! That's quite the write-up ! Well, it's easy to see that I'm still passionate about game music. Will I get more ? Probably not, because I'm already out of shelving space with all my other albums, books and movies, not counting my tarantulas :P

Before I end this post, I feel obligated to namedrop some people, whom influenced me, directly or otherwise in my growth as I slowly but surely crawled out of my Square shell when I was big on collecting game music. So thank you in no particular order : CHz, Carl, Ramza, Chudah, Zanasea, Kaleb. G, Secret Squirrel, my reviewing partners at RPGClassics Sinistral and Kero Hazel, GoldfishX, Longhairmike, Jodo Kast and so many more !

Long live Game Music ! Rock on, brothers and sisters !