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Impressions here

Castlevania: Order of Eccelsia - art, character, music

Thanks to Yesubaybee for the heads up!

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TOKYO -- I've been to my fair share of game music concerts, but never anything like "Extra."

Tokyo's annual "Hyper Game Music Event"drew well over a thousand fans to the Studio Coast concert venue here on Monday, promising a variety of live performances from game music composers and performers, interspersed with lengthy sessions from DJs spinning original creations built on classic chiptunes from games like Wrecking Crew.

Extra -- an excellent name for this five-hour marathon of a show -- illustrated quite ably just how much variety there is in the Japanese game music scene. While we Americans are lucky to have shows like Video Games Live, there's so much more that we're missing out on.

Photos of the show were not allowed, so you'll have to make do with my descriptions of some of the show's defining moments.

The event kicked off with a show-stealing moment. Nothing for the rest of the night could hold a candle to the opening act, in which "The DS-10 Trio," dressed in matching tuxedos, performed a medley of tunes using only the Korg DS-10 synthesizer software. The three men -- The Black Mages' Michio Okamiya, Ridge Racercomposer Nobuyoshi Sano, and Yasunori Mitsuda -- played a lengthy set that incorporated the Chocobo theme song as well as, to my delight, the opening number from Chrono Cross. They each had two DS systems in front of them, and what we were hearing was the combined might of six synthesizers. (Siliconera has a picture of the group.)

Having just heard one of my favorite pieces of game music performed by its composer, I was shocked a little bit later when lightning struck twice. Yuzo Koshiro was on stage with Norihiko Hibino, and the two composers played some songs from Etrian Odyssey. But then, as a surprise, Hibino just happened to mention that Koshiro had also composed the music for a game called Actraiser, and Koshiro joined the performers on stage for a fun up-tempo version of "Fillmore," the opening stage music. Awesome. And the night had only just begun.

"The Black Mages" isn't the only game music rock group in Japan. There were two other such groups on stage at Extra -- first, Motoaki Furukawa and his pals from Konami appeared to play a variety of tunes from their company's history, kicking off with "Vampire Killer" from Castlevania. Later, the group "H." played Sega songs -- the biggest applause was for a lengthy Fantasy Zonemedley.

The show had a few 15-minute intermissions, but by and large, nobody left the floor, which was standing room only. I was hanging out in the back, so I was able to escape every now and then for some air and drinks. I'd do this during a lot of the DJ sessions. There was a "DJ Stage" sitting off to the left of the main stage, and they'd alternate between them, setting up for the next act when the other stage was occupied.

I did make sure to catch all of Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka's act, though. Tanaka joined Nintendo in 1980 and has composed some of the company's quirkiest and most memorable retro chip tunes, from Super Mario Landto Dr. Mario. He incorporated many of these tunes into his DJ set, even throwing in what I am pretty sure was the Buckner and Garcia classic "Do the Donkey Kong." Like all the DJ shows, an impressive animated sequence was played on the screens during his set with images from the games.

I had to leave before the show was fully over. In part it was because I didn't know that it was going to run so long and I was terribly late for a get-together, and also because the girls from Idolmaster had taken the stage, and I was being subjected to chirpy pop music that made me want to shoot myself, even if it was set to the theme from Rally-X.

But even the saccharine inanity that is Idolmaster music (and the absolutely crazy way that the roomful of grown men reacted to the performers) drove home the point about just how vibrant and varied "videogame music" is here. I'd love to see a show with rock bands and DJs, Yuzo Koshiro on the keyboards and Mitsuda on the DS, come to America. We've long ago gotten past the preconception that game music is just about throwaway "bleeps and bloops" -- now we need to get past the idea that it's all about samey orchestral arrangements nipping at the heels of John Williams.

Oh, and one final message from the good people at Studio Coast:

Images: Wired.com

See also:

• Concert Report: 'Press Start Symphony of Games 2007'
• Today's Game Soundtrack: Yuzo Koshiro Best Collection Vol. 1
• Review: Distant Worlds, Final Fantasy Orchestral CD

Girls Mode - Japanese TV Spot

Let’s Tap - TGS 08: Trailer

I'm a sucker for all things handheld Castlevania, and the latest trailer for Castlevania: Order of Ecclesiais no exception.

It may be a lazy way to animate things, but with artwork as stunning as that seen in the first part of the clip, simply shifting elements around and zooming in and out creates a regal, dramatic effect that perfectly complements the subsequent gameplay -- especially for longtime fans of the series.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesiahits shelves on October 21 -- a little more than a week from now. Expect a full review of the game as soon as finished code arrives in the collective Game|Life mailbox.

Tags: Nintendo DS, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia