#Virtua Fighter Cyber Generation

[pitagain]

#365DaysOfVGM Day 187:

Tsukiyoi Castle/Tsukiyoi Castle Battle Theme (Virtua Fighter Cyber Generation: Ambition of the Judgement Six/Virtua Quest [2004])

Another ancient area theme, this one sounds like how I’d want my own desert stage themes to sound like; emotional yet catchy, and never focusing on a single melody for too long, as to communicate a clear focus, something I feel most desert tracks seem to struggle with. The overworld theme containing Drums (The Tabla, perhaps? Just a guess I made in the dark) contributes to the atmosphere, one that’s kinda on the tragic side of things too.

In my imagination, if this game was more popular (And better designed to earn said popularity; mainstream competition for this early 2000s multimedia cyber-world RPG trend included .Hack// and Mega Man Battle Network, and the 90’s still-running Digimon, so it needed something more to coexist in the public space), most people would be here for the battle theme variant, which takes everything a step further; an Electric Guitar and faster pace to indicate the tension of combat, with an expanded melody that surpasses the length of the original even with the higher speed!

The other Strings also get more spotlight inis battle theme, changing in pitch more often throughout. I’d say more, especially about some other instruments I didn’t mention, if I wasn’t so behind schedule. There, a lot to appreciate here, that much is clear

(Length before loop [Normal]: 1.5+ minutes, [Battle]: Nearly 2 minutes)

[boxartcomparisons]

Box art comparison (JP/US): Virtua Quest.

[retro-vgm-revival-hour]

The Sega Saturn is a 32-bit fifth-generation home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe. The successor to the successful Sega Genesis, the Saturn’s release was seen as one of the biggest blunders in gaming history.

The initial U.S release for the console was intended to be September 2nd 1995 but with the higher ups at sega , most notably its president hayao nakayama, fearing the upcoming other console releases in the form of the atari jaguar and sony’s first foray into the console market, the Sony playstation.

those working at sega were forced to move up the release date from the originally planned September 2nd, what would have been dubbed Saturn Day to may 11, the first day of E3 1995.

Although the Saturn had great success on its initial 1994 japanese release, performing very well and boasting a roster of strong titles with Virtua fighter in particular being the most popular arcade game in japan, the saturn’s announcement and release happening on the same day made it quite difficult for magazines and retailers to publicize the launch, making it hard to advertise.

This launch also limited the amount of retailers that would receive the console at first, mostly due to its limited stock on release, resulting in various other retailers becoming very upset to the point that some downright refused to stock the console in response.

Despite the launch of the Saturn, most of the games on it are actually pretty good, so good that even through this day there is still a very well devoted fanbase that appreciate and love the Sega Saturn, myself included.

So it is why this STAGE of the Retro VGM Revival Hour we honor the 25th anniversary of the sage Saturn with these selected tracks from various Sega Saturn Games.

                                         Full track listing: ===========Game – Composer – Title – Company========

1.) Guardian Heroes – Katsuhiko Suzuki & Norio Hanzawa – “FIGHTERS OF PAIN & ROUGH AND LADY” – January 25, 1996 – Treasure/Sega – Sega Saturn

2.) Mega Man X3 – Kinuyo Yamashita, Toshihiko Horiyama & Makoto Tomazawa – “OPENING STAGE, FROZEN BUFFALIO STAGE (Blizzard Buffalo) & GRAVITY BEETBOOD STAGE (Gravity Beetle)“ – April 26, 1996 (Japan & Europe Only) – Minakuchi Engineering & Capcom/Capcom – Sega Saturn

3.) Thunder Force V – Hyakutarou Tsukumo – “Steel Of Destiny, Guardian’s Knight, Legendary Wings & Duel Of Top“ – July 11, 1997 – Technosoft/Technosoft & Working Designs – Sega Saturn

4.) Policenauts – Tappi Iwase, Masahiro Ikariko & Motoaki Furukawa – “Living in the Real World, Icy Offense and Defense & End of the Dark” – September 13, 1996 (Japan Only) – Konami – Sega Saturn

5.) Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete – Noriyuki Iwadare – “Second Overworld, Toward the Horizon, & Battle Theme“ – October 25, 1996 (Japan Only for Saturn) – Game Arts & Japan Art Media/Kadokawa Shoten – Sega Saturn

6.) Blast Wind – Hyakutarou Tsukumo – “Strato Guard & Justice Ray“ – January 17, 1997 – TechnoSoft – Sega Saturn

7.) Astal – Tatsuyuki Maeda & Tatsuya Kousaki – “Sea of clouds & River of dreams” – April 28, 1995 – Sega – Sega Saturn

8.) Virtua Fighter 2 – Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Takayuki Nakamura & Akiko Hashimoto – “ Man of the Fist, BLACK CAT MOON & Ride the Tiger“ – December 1, 1995 – Sega AM2/Sega – Sega Saturn

9.) Earthworm Jim 2 – Tommy Tallarico – “Subterranean (Lorenzens Soil / ISO 9001), Continue to Rock & Anything But Tangerines“ – October 31, 1996 – Screaming Pink, Inc/Playmates Interactive Entertainment – Sega Saturn

10.) Shinobi Legions (Shinobi X) – Richard Jacques – “Miyako (Stage 1), Kazuma (Stage 9 Boss) & Kouryuu (Stage 7 Boss)“ – June 30, 1995 – Sega – Sega Saturn

11.) Sega Rally Championship – Takenobu Mitsuyoshi – “WELCOME TO SEGA RALLY, GETTING MUDDY & CONDITIONED REFLEX“ – December 19, 1995 – Sega Hitmaker/Sega – Sega Saturn

12.) Sonic 3D Blast – Richard Jacques – “ Boss Theme, Rusty Ruin Zone/Act 2 & Panic Puppet Zone/Act 1“ – November 1996 – Traveller’s Tales & Sonic Team/Sega – Sega Saturn

13.) Silhouette Mirage – Katsuhiko Suzuki & Masami Nakatsukasa – “Awaken Shyna (Opening), Night Flight & Are You the Boss? Or Just a +1” – September 10, 1997 – Treasure/Entertainment Software Publishing – Sega Saturn

14.) Virtual On: Cyber Troopers (Cyber Troopers Virtual-On) – Kentaro Koyama – “Get Ready (In the Blue Sky), She’s Lost Control (S.L.C.) & Fade to Black“ – November 29, 1996 – Sega AM3/Sega – Sega Saturn

15.) Panzer Dragoon II Zwei – Yayoi Wachi, Teruhiko Nakagawa, Junko Shiratsu & Tomonori Sawada – “The empire’s giant carrier, Hanuman & The unexpected enemy” – March 22, 1996 – Team Andromeda/Sega – Sega Saturn

16.) Radiant Silvergun – Hitoshi Sakimoto – “RETURN, REMINISCENCE & EVASION” – July 23, 1998 (Japan Only) – Treasure/ESP – Sega Saturn

17.) Deep Fear – Kenji Kawai – “Visitation (Opening), Confusion/Perplexity & Surfacing (Ending)” – June 30, 1998 (Japan & Europe Only) – Sega AM7, System Sacom, SIMS & ISCO/Sega – Sega Saturn

18.) Burning Rangers – Naofumi Hataya, Fumie Kumatani & Masaru Setsumaru – “Request For An Immediate Rescue, Rising Pressure, We Are Burning Rangers & Burning/Ship To Take Off“ – February 26, 1998 – Sonic Team/Sega – Sega Saturn

19.) Panzer Dragoon – Yoshitaka Azuma – “Opening Theme, Sudden Turn, Conclusion & The Empire” – March 10, 1995 – Sega – Sega Saturn

20.) Shining the Holy Ark – Motoi Sakuraba – “Over the Horizon of Wind/Dust, Festival of Evil (Part 2) & Endless Winter“ – December 20, 1996 – Sonic! Software Planning/Sega – Sega Saturn

21.) Sonic R – Richard Jacques (w/ Vocals by Teresa Jane Davis) – “Can You Feel the Sunshine? (Resort Island), Living In the City (Radical City), Diamond In the Sky (Radiant Emerald) & Super Sonic Racing”- November 18, 1997 – Traveller’s Tales & Sonic Team/Sega – Sega Saturn

Edgar Velasco: @MoonSpiderHugs www.patreon.com/nostalgiaroadtrip Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/NostalgiaRoadTripChannel Official Site: nostalgiaroadtrip.com/ FaceBook: www.facebook.com/groups/nostalgiaroadtrip/