Favorite Tunes #126: Critical Hit

We've got a trio of RPGs from the first PS era, a sweet tune from one of my favorite Mega Man X games and we cap things off with a theme from one of the world's most beloved dinosaurs.

Critical Hit! - Wild Arms (PS)

One of the first RPGs I played on the original PlayStation, Wild Arms wild west setting helped set it apart from the futuristic and mid evil setting of most titles in the genre. Sure it may not stack up to the Final Fantasies and other RPGs on the console but Wild Arms is still a pretty fun ride with plenty of memorable tracks  by Michiko Naruke.

Hunter's Chance - Final Fantasy IX (PS)

The last of the three PS Final Fantasy titles, Final Fantasy IX returned to the series swords and sorcery roots. It was also the return of four character party members and character classes were far more prominent. Nobou Uematsu has said that the music of Final Fantasy IX is his favorite of the series that he's worked on and while it isn't my personal favorite FF score, it is overflowing with great music. Pity Hunter's Chance is a theme you don't get to hear often.

FATES ~God of Destiny~ - Chrono Cross (PS)

Remember when Square made RPGs besides Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts? Good times, good times. Joking (mostly) aside, Chrono Cross, a game that is near and dear to many RPG fan's heart, just isn't my cup of tea. It has way too many characters, which isn't a bad thing but when they are devoid of personality in of all games, an RPG, it tends to be a problem. I also wasn't a fan of the combat system but Yasunori Matsuda delivered another stellar soundtrack, so I can't complain about that.

Web Spider Stage - Mega Man X4 (PS, SAT)

My second favorite Mega Man X game, X4 features some of the best 2D action platforming around. X and Zero with their respective long and close range fighting abilities are different enough that playing the game through as both characters is definitely warranted. I didn't think the soundtracks of Mega Man X2 and X3 were bad by any means but X4's music was a vast improvement. That 32-bit hardware was put to excellent use both visually and audio-ably.

Final Boss - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GEN)

Four games from the PS era. I think its time we switched things up, so let's return to the 16-bit era of gaming. When Robotnik jumps into his giant mecha cockpit and the machine rises from the ground, towering over Sonic, you know a serious throw down is about to begin. Provided you've got some patience, this final conflict actually isn't too difficult.

Ending Story - Yoshi's Story (N64)

So Yoshi's Story is on the easy side. And it doesn't take long to finish. And Kazumi Totaka's score isn't on the same level of Koji Kondo's from Yoshi's Island. These are all reasons Yoshi's Story is often viewed as an inferior follow up. Even so, Yoshi's Story isn't a bad game. Yes, the main theme can get repetitive but that ending theme is out of this world soothing.

Favorite Tunes Database

Favorite Tunes #38: RPG Edition

RPGS were a big part of my gaming life, especially when I was a teenager. While I still like RPGs today, I just don't play them like I used to. Maybe someday I'll really get back into the genre and rediscover my love for it. Until then, here's a selection of ten tunes from one of gaming's greatest genres.

Main Theme - Monster World IV (GEN)

Why this game initially never saw release in Europe and America is beyond me but at least Sega has fixed that this year. On the Wii's Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade (in the Sega Vintage Collection) and PlayStation Network, Monster World IV can be experienced in full English glory. You play as Asha, a rookie warrior that the Queen entrusts to save the world. Asha is armed with sword, shield and her trusty pet Pepe, who, despite his small stature, is incredibly useful. Monster World IV has fantastic visuals, topnotch dungeon designs and a grand main theme. After a few short listens it got stuck in my head. This theme can be heard in numerous songs throughout the game. I can honestly say I never get sick of it.

Battle 2 - Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)

If you ever pick up Luifa & the Fortress of Doom and Luifa II: Rise of the Sinistrals, here's a tip: play the second game first. The second game is actually a prequel to the first game with the first gaming picking up 99 years after the events of the second game. Confused? Anyway, Luifa II's second boss theme humbly titled Battle 2 is one sick theme. It makes each boss encounter feel like it should be an edge-of-your-seat struggle.

Cerulean City - Pokemon Red/Blue (GB)

*Sigh* Man, remember the days when there were only 151 Pokemon? Now how many of them are there? Way too many for me to keep track of. OK, so I'm not a huge Pokemon player, but even I got sucked into the hype back in the day and had his faced glued to his Game Boy the same as anyone else. Cerulean City was one of my favorite towns to hang out in, largely for it's calming theme.

Epoch - Chrono Trigger (SNES)

After using gates to navigate time, it was pretty sweet to get your own time travel machine. You could even name the thing, though I do thing the default name Epoch sounds pretty cool. You gotta hand it to Chrono and his buddies. With time travel so firmly in their grasp, they could do all kinds of things like depants Hilter in front of his troops, or invest stock in Barbie. Instead, they use it to save the world. What a bunch of goody-too-shoes.

Enemy Attack - Final Fantasy X (PS2)

I think I played around 20 hours of Final Fantasy X, long enough to see that awful laughing scene between Tidus and Yuna that everyone talks about. For all it's imperfections, I found myself enjoying this game. I love Nobuo Uematsu's music, but it was nice to give the man a break and have some other composers help bear the load. Junya Nakano and Masashi Hamauzu helped write the score for Final Fantasy X and they hammered out some incredible battle themes. Enemy Attack is X's standard boss theme, which was handled by Junya Nakano.

Chomp Attack - Paper Mario (N64)

Want instant fun? Just add Mario. Seriously, Mario's mere presence can make just about anything better. But really, credit must be given to Intelligent Systems for making Paper Mario such an enjoyable game. Mario flips and turns just as he would as if he were paper. And he does since, you know, he is. Um, anyway, this is unquestionably my favorite boss theme from the game.

Decision - Breath of Fire III (PS)

Breath of Fire III is quite the gut wrenching game. Without spoiling too much, as a young lad, main character Ryu is separated from the only family he's even known only meet back up with them as an adult where much has changed.

World of Loudening Screams - Wild Arms (PS)

After the sky opens up over the kingdom of Adlehyde, a ton of metal monsters start tearing everything up, setting the kingdom ablaze. Naturally panic ensues and there are quite a bit of causalities due to the creature's attacks. All of the music was redone for Wild Arms remake Alter Code F, but I find myself preferring the original score, especially when it comes to this track.

Barren Fields of Mist - Legend of Legaia (PS)

Nothing beats a good world map theme. Legend of Legaia's world map theme does not fill one with a sense of adventure and exploration as most world map themes do. Instead, it's a reflection of a land, shrouded in mist. You might want to leave your character idle so you can hear the song in it's entirety during gameplay. The random encounter rate is rather high in this one.

Sky Garden - Illusion of Gaia (SNES)

And we close out on an action/RPG. How's that for bookends? Will was quite the cool character. He was telekinetic and he could transform into two different beings to become even more powerful. But even in his original form, he was formidable. It takes guts to use your own flute as a weapon. In the Sky Garden dungeon, Will did the unthinkable, where he traversed the top and bottom half of this enormous complex. When traveling on the bottom half, he was walking upside down with the Earth thousands of feet below him.

Favorite Tunes #8: Town Themes

This installment of Favorite Tunes covers town themes. There's something special about entering a town or a city and be greeted with its theme music. The bulk of town themes tend to be on the calm and cheerful side. But every now and then you'll get a highly energetic melody or a melancholy song to reflect the downbeat nature of the happenings in the town. Whatever the case may be, there's just an undeniable awesomeness to these themes that make exploring towns in RPGs such a treat.

Concert Hall - Opoona (Wii)

Never played Opoona? Neither have I. However, I have had the pleasure of hear it's amazing soundtrack, which boasts contributors such as Manabu Namiki, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masahru Iwata to name a few. I would call Concert Hall a stunning piece of music, but that wouldn't even come close to doing it justice. Beautiful, heartfelt, moving, peaceful; there really aren't enough words to describe how much this particular track touches my soul. Make no mistake, the entire Opoona score is grand, but Concert Hall is video game music perfection.

Rogueport - Papere Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GCN)

As a huge fan of Mario, I've played nearly all of his games. I finished Paper Mario years ago and I bought Super Paper Mario late in 2011. This one I've never played because I do not own it. But after hearing this theme, I really want to check this game out and see what Rogueport is all about. What kinda town is it? Is it as lively as this track suggests? I must know!

Welcome to Station Square - Sonic Adventure (DC, GCN)

Sonic Adventure wasn't perfect but it was far from being a bad Sonic game. Generally viewed as the first of the 3D Sonic titles (Sonic Jam, a compilation Sonic title for the Saturn sported a 3D world that you could move Sonic in), this one still has some of my favorite music from a Sonic game. Since you begin the game in Station Square and make frequent trips here, this is a song that you'll quickly become familiar with. With all the people wandering around, the train that departs to the Mystic Ruins, and be located right on a coast, Station Square is a very hustle and bustle city.

South Cape - Illusion of Gaia (SNES)

1996 was a great year in gaming for me. Super Mario RPG, Super Mario 64, and a few games I missed playing upon original release like Illusion of Gaia. Developed by Enix, this action RPG was unique in that it let the hero, Will, who already gets awesome points for being telekinetic and using a flute to fight, take more powerful forms by transforming. Like a lot of SNES RPGs, the game had a memorable musical score, staring out in Will's hometown, South Cape. The seagulls in the background add a great deal to this calming piece of music.

Town - Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (SNES)

The SNES had some fantastic RPGs and not all of them were made by Square and Enix. Taito also got in on the act from time to time. The first in the Lufia series has one of the biggest bombshell reveals towards the game's climax. The soundtrack,  is an excellent reminder of why I love SNES music. Fans of this series argue that this game has superior music to it's sequel, which is actually a prequel to this game. Lufia's first town theme is very quaint and homey, which works just fine for me.

Village of the Elw - Wild Arms (PSX)

One of the first RPGs for the PSX, Wirld Arms wasn't a bad way to pass the time before a steady flow of the genre began to rain down on gamers. By the time you hear this tune, some pretty tragic events have occurred so it's fitting that this theme isn't so perky like the last few towns you've visited up to this point. Or course, it's not really sad either. It's more of a mysterious-sounding tune over anything.

Matrix - Parasite Eve (PSX)

Would you believe there was a time when Square released RPGs that weren't just Final Fantasy games? Parasite Eve combined RPG and Resident Evil elements to create a unique take on the genre. With it's intriguing story and magnificent score by famed composer Yoko Shimomura, it isn't hard to see why Parasite Eve attained the cult status that it did. Matrix is actually a theme that plays when you're going through Chinatown sounds like a sort of industrial, techno theme. Very cool.

Baccarat - SaGa Frontier (PSX)

A long running RPG series, the SaGa games were first introduced on American shores on the Game Boy in the form of the Final Fantasy Legend series. SaGa Frontier marked the first time the franchise was released outside of Japan under it's original SaGa name. Kenji Ito is to the Saga games what Nobuo Uematsu is to the Final Fantasy games. The man has struck gold since day and one and his work on the Saga titles (a series that can be quite difficult) has been masterful across all platforms. Baccarat makes you feel like you're in a huge city at night with bright lights all around. Or at a casino, rolling the dice hoping you'll get lucky. I've never been to Las Vegas but I firmly believe this tune should be that city's anthem.