This week was all about intro themes. We flipped dimensions in Chrono Cross. We retold a tale with Soul Blade. We traveled the wasteland with Wild ARMs 3. We schemed with Ishtar in Ninja Gaiden II. And finally, we got all our items with Metroid Prime Trilogy.

If you want to see the music as it goes up (and not wait every Saturday for these wrap-ups), remember to go to our Tumblr page and follow it. Music for Night-Time Listenings goes up every weekday at 10PM

Chrono Cross – Time’s Scar

Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda

 

To kick it off, here’s some Time’s Scar. Played during the intro of Chrono Cross, it aquatic, latin style arrangement and beautifully lush FMV sequence enthralled players during the Summer of Adventure in 2000. Mitsuda would make his return composing the music for this game, reprising his role from Chrono Trigger (before abruptly backing out due to stomach ulcers from overwork). It was clear that the increase in audio qualities definitely benefited Mitsuda and his vision of lush, almost Caribbean soundtrack. So, who was your go-to team for Chrono Cross?

Soul Blade/Edge – The Edge of Soul

Composed by Namco Sound Team

 

Playing Soul Calbur today, you almost forget how the older intries were like. Take for instance, Soul Blade/Soul Edge’s music. Today, we have grand orchestral scores. Back then, we had cheese. Awesome, awesome cheese. This was the credits theme  to the latest episode of The Wired Fish Podcast S3. Back then people probably heard this and thought, “what the hell were they smoking?” But now, we look back and realize how awesomely free things were in the creative department. A song like this would fly by today’s standards. Things were awesome back then, and it’s sad we probably won’t see intro themes like this again. So, who was your main in Soul Blade?

Wild ARMs 3 – Advanced Wind

Composed by Michiko Naruke, Performed by Samantha Newark

 

This was the first Wild ARMs game I played, right at the peak of my in Anime and games with anime styles. As per usual when I play a game with an intro, I let it play out if it’s the first time. But this actually played every time you loaded your save. It was like starting a new episode of an anime, under your terms. It was like your were the director of your own anime episode and you chose when to start and end your episode (it also came with an outro song when you saved and exited). Of course, I had like 4 hour episodes going on! The music itself is a great mix of Western, drama, and powerful vocals. Jem’s singing voice still got some kick in this one. So, how long were your “episodes” with Wild Arms 3?

Ninja Gaiden II – Intro

Composed by Shitamachi Kajiya and Mayuko Okamura

 

I was going to show use the music-only version. But it was missing one crucial thing: the lightning noise. Ninja Gaiden made strides in the NES market, using cutscenes to tell its story (as opposed to a big-ass wall of text in the beginning). Ninja Gaiden II continued this trend. While some equate the music to representing how badass Ryu was, this was actually representing Ishtar and the plot he was scheming. Once you heard those opening notes, you knew something much more sinister than Jaquio lurked in the shadows. There were no mere cronies plotting to stop Ryu. These were demons of hell out to kill him. The stage was set for the next entry of Ninja Gaiden. So, how many times did you die in this game?

Metroid Prime Trilogy – Menu Theme

Composed by Kenji Yamamoto et al.

 

Let’s wrap the week off with some Metroid. The Prime series set a new tone for the Metroid series’ music. Its other-wordly chants even made its way into some arrangements in Metroid Zero Mission. With Metroid Prime Trilogy, Retro Studios squeezed in one more song into the series before moving on to another franchise. While those who own this collection would be able to see the individual title screens (but can still hear their music in the music box), I say this is a good trade-off. And the menu design: the inner-workings of Samus’ arm cannon. It’s pretty damn cool. So, did you get the collection, or were you okay owning all three separately?