E-7514~5: CRUISE CHASER BLASSTY

[dissident93]

Is this really Uematsu's first game project? I've read other places that say Genesis was his first project, released a year earlier in 1985. I think I saw an interview where Nobuo says it was his first, and SEMO says the same. But he also did the music to Genesis, where I've seen conflicting info on the release date (some say 1985, some say 1986/87)

Also, I wonder what Takashi Uno contributed here..

[Namorbia]

I interviewed him some years ago (link) and he said "There was Genesis, which was composed by someone else. I made some music for it at the later stages, but I’m not sure if it was used in the released version." If the man doesn't remember his Chrono Trigger tracks, I'm sure the 80s are a haze.

I've only seen 1987 as the release date for Genesis, where did you find 1985?

I've also love to know which tracks where Takashi Uno...

[dissident93]

Originally Posted by Namorbia

I've only seen 1987 as the release date for Genesis, where did you find 1985?

Turns out it was some random site Wikipedia was using as a source, but I corrected that some time ago.

[Namorbia]

On the SE's Nobuo Uematsu profile (link) it does say it was released in 1985. It's on sale on Project Egg (link) and there it says 1987, BUT the title screen says "Copyright by 1985, 1987 SQUARE". Maybe they developed some version in 1985, but didn't release it?

Well whatever, I'm sure your investigating skills are far above mine

[dissident93]

At any rate, I doubt Uematsu worked on this 1985 version. (if it even exists)

[rpbtz]

I have this set and added the price listed on the obi.

I've also replaced the tracklist as there's only 3 tracks on this (and not 6 as the previous track list said). The tracks are not listed on the release, but I've been sitting and comparing the tracks on the flexi to recordings from the PC-8801 version of the game in order to get the track titles right.

[rpbtz]

In this 2018 interview with Uematsu, he says he didn't compose music for Blassty, but was commissioned to make the synth arrangements for this flexi disc included with the game (and was paid 5000 yen per song): https://web.archive.org/web/20190507...on.jp/282232/3

I've changed the credits on this release accordingly.

[Zanasea]

Actually, I was able to interview Nobuo Uematsu at length for the writing of his biography some years ago (sorry, it's only available in French). About Blassty, Uematsu said that Takashi Uno had already left when he came in, and Square still needed a few more pieces for the game, so Uematsu composed them. Unfortunately I don't know which ones.

The music on the sonosheet was performed on synthesizers by Uematsu and a friend of his, the drummer Shizuo Aizawa. Together they formed a band called "Lego System", but Blassty was the first and only time they appeared under that name.

I also attended an interview with Uematsu and Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Sakaguchi stated that he is the composer of Blassty's main theme, namely the first piece in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeyS36zxwpI (he hummed the theme)

[rpbtz]

Interesting, thanks for sharing. I figured he may have been right since Uematsu isn't credited in the game, but I see now that he's credited as a composer in the game's manual. But Aizawa and Lego System are both in the game, so maybe him missing in the in-game credits is just an unfortunate mistake.

...also please, please, please release a translated version of his biography one day

[Zanasea]

Unfortunately this is not up to me!

I also can't rule out the possibility that Uematsu's memories from that time are blurry (he did admit he doesn't remember everything so clearly, especially for old stuff like this).

I think mistakes in the game credits are a possibility, considering they didn't mention Sakaguchi as a "guest" composer for the main theme, and I also remember him saying credits from their older games were not necessarily accurate. Also he did say that because they were quite versatile at the time, and handled a number of tasks outside their credited title.