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I solely know a handful of Aretha followers. No, I don’t imply Aretha Franklin. I’m speaking in regards to the trio of Recreation Boy video games (and, later, a follow-up trilogy of Tremendous Famicom video games) from the tiny dev group Japan Artwork Media. For many years, I’d solely recognized about this collection due to an organized album for the SFC title Aretha The Shining Land. I wasn’t even conscious of the unique Recreation Boy trilogy. I solely realized of their existence in 2019 due to Daniel Todd’s glorious opinions for this collection over at Hardcore Gaming 101.
After studying the HG101 articles, I wished to be taught extra, to expertise extra. Why? As a result of Recreation Boy RPGs, when carried out effectively, are superb to expertise. Provided that Aretha‘s visuals appeared like a carbon copy of the Closing Fantasy Legend (SaGa) Recreation Boy titles, I used to be hooked. Then, my consideration turned elsewhere, life went on, COVID occurred, and I as soon as once more forgot about Aretha.
THEN! My curiosity was renewed in mid-2025 as a result of boutique recreation music writer Cassetron noticed match to publish the total Aretha Recreation Boy trilogy’s music. For the primary time, these chiptune OSTs can be accessible to the world. How thrilling! A breath of contemporary air!
Or, perhaps not.
A couple of weeks previous to getting my fingers on the Aretha thirty fifth Anniversary Soundtrack Field, I obtained to play the revitalized Recreation Boy Shade RPG Infinity and revel in its unbelievable 8-bit soundtrack. In my OST overview, I famous how great it was to listen to the machine used to its full capability, together with panning over stereo (one thing GB had as a bonus over NES {hardware}). Actually, that recreation’s soundtrack was spectacular, almost on par with the legendary works of Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito on the Closing Fantasy Legend and Closing Fantasy Journey video games (once more, SaGa and Mana, respectively). I additionally talked about in Infinity‘s overview that its soundtrack outclassed many a rival Recreation Boy soundtrack.
Rely all three Aretha soundtracks as being inferior to Infinity.
These are very, very primary scores. The presentation is rudimentary, hardly ever making effort to make the most of superior results to push the three-channel music to the restrict. Most of the time, it jogged my memory of the straightforward, generally lazy scores that licensed recreation publishers would do for NES titles. You recognize precisely what I imply: the wacky, orchestral melody of The Simpsons opening theme by Danny Elfman, pared down for NES or Recreation Boy. If somebody labored arduous to do it effectively, it may very well be actually cool. As a substitute, these chiptune “demakes” have been usually vanilla transcriptions of a melody and a bass line with nearly no work in voicing, oscillation, or intelligent counter-melodic traces within the center channel.
(And if we’re being actually sincere, there are occasions that the early Dragon Quest soundtracks suffered this manner in comparison with their Symphonic Suite varieties.)
One factor I can say in favor of the Aretha trilogy is that the soundtracks enhance with every entry. The primary recreation, solely composed by Tsuyoshi Tanaka, borders on forgettable. I recognize the merely acknowledged melodies of “JAM OPENING” and “PROLOGUE,” however any constructing enthusiasm is dashed after I hear the saccharine waltz that’s “LEISURE” (the music for the sport’s hub space, Halo-halo City). The battle theme “ASSAULT” and ultimate dungeon music “PANTHEON” assist to make up for issues, however I really feel the primary Aretha OST is extra miss than hit.
As an apart, “PANTHEON (Howard Fortress)” is value noting for that observe subtitle. The evil wizard and antagonist of the Aretha franchise is called “Howard.” Additionally, Aretha isn’t the identify of the protagonist, however the identify of the dominion/realm/world. Our protagonist is called “Materia.”
The ultimate observe on disc one is audio ripped from what I think about is an previous VHS tape. I might have most popular having the audio and video, as a result of it seems many cool and foolish issues have been occurring on this promotional video.
Aretha II gives a serious enchancment in total high quality. Kazuyasu Hiroe is credited as a co-composer with Tsuyoshi Tanaka for this title; sadly, the liner notes don’t supply track-by-track composer breakdowns. There are re-used key themes on this one, together with the title display, and that’s completely comprehensible. However there are many new themes that I believed lifted up the standard of Aretha II musically, notably with battle themes and the three “floor” themes (together with “CRADRE” which I’m guessing should be “CRADLE,” although I’m undecided). The energy of those themes are within the easy, catchy melodies and good syncopation within the bass traces.
Aretha III is the strongest of the bunch. We now have all 4 composers on this mission, and this many cooks didn’t spoil the broth. There are extra re-used tracks right here, some from the primary recreation and a few from the second, and so they all include minor enhancements from a sound programming standpoint in comparison with the originals. Even the up to date Halo-halo City theme, “ELATION,” is extra bearable than what’s on the primary Aretha. The brand new/authentic tracks for Aretha III are noteworthy for extra advanced use of the {hardware} than earlier titles, just like the oscillation adjustments all through the track “ORIGIN.”
Relating to the ultimate “thirty fifth Anniversary Megamix” observe: this isn’t an association. Relatively, it’s a six-minute montage stitching collectively numerous themes from the Aretha trilogy. Based on collection creator Mitsuru Takahashi, as written on this album’s liner notes, he’s the one chargeable for crafting the Megamix. It’s nothing too particular, however a enjoyable technique to keep in mind among the Aretha trilogy’s key themes. Maybe Takahashi put it collectively for promotional functions as effectively, as a result of it’s the one observe I discovered accessible for streaming from this complete album on YouTube.
Whereas I undoubtedly recognize the Aretha thirty fifth Anniversary Soundtrack Field as a fan of the chiptune period and as a believer in media preservation, I don’t rely it among the many greatest music the Recreation Boy has to supply. In some unspecified time in the future, I might like to see the JAM group make an analogous soundtrack field for the three Tremendous Famicom video games within the Aretha collection to see if that music fared any higher. For right now, although, I feel I’ll give Infinity and Closing Fantasy Journey some re-listens!
