In case you haven’t been following their work over on YouTube, Sq. Enix has been championing the VGM group with their aptly named SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Channel (no, you don’t must shout that). There are two thousand-plus movies with every thing from temper playlists to orchestra concert events to “Video Soundtracks”—total traditional sport soundtracks paired with clips of their in-game contexts. One other staple of the channel is skilled preparations and covers by all kinds of worldwide musicians. Debuting at Tokyo Sport Present 2025, Guitar Cowl Assortment from SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Channel is… nicely, I feel the title explains it.
The fifteen tracks on Guitar Cowl Assortment span over 35 years of Sq. Enix historical past, highlighting in style songs from fan-favourite collection, essentially the most “area of interest” maybe being SaGa. Regardless of the breadth of composers, video games, and arrangers/musicians collected, the album maintains a tonal consistency, heat and comforting with greater than a touch of Spanish influences. The fingerstyle guitar performances are at occasions astounding, and so I’ll hyperlink every track mentioned to the unique YouTube video so you may see the magic at play.
The primary three tracks span Chrono Set off coated by Mitsuhiro Ohta, whose guitar-playing has appeared on titles like Shadow Hearts, Ultimate Fantasy XV, and the current Octopath Traveler 0. “Wind Scene” has a haunting, echoing opening that makes me consider a windswept plain. It strikes by way of escalating repetitions of the unforgettable overworld theme from early within the sport.
“Robo’s Theme” is a enjoyable selection contemplating the track is so typically written off as stealing from Rick Astley (unrelated level: PlayStation 8 reveal trailer right here!!!). Properly, I for one am glad Sq. Enix is rarely gonna give “Robo’s Theme” up. The quilt is energetic, shiny, and brings forth the, err, non-Astley melody within the center to essentially spotlight this observe’s lasting price.
“Peaceable Days” is an unsurprising favorite given the nostalgia of the unique and the way it opens Chrono Set off. Ohta’s enjoying wraps the gradual melody round you want a hug, with the fingerstyle variations altering the tempo and emotional heights of the track with every chorus.
Subsequent, “Bejeweled Metropolis in Ruins” (Legend of Mana) is a slower, extra sultry tackle the Yoko Shimomura authentic. I do really feel like among the authentic’s thriller is misplaced right here, although I just like the guitar changing the twinkling piano. Maybe arranger/performer Seiji Igusa was attempting to evoke a way of hopelessness.
“Collect Up the Night time Stars” (Xenogears) brings Ohta again with a really romantic, flamenco-inspired, mature tackle a relatively cutesy track. This is likely one of the strongest tracks on the album, each in how its association attracts new feelings from its supply materials and in its impassioned enjoying. For essentially the most half, Guitar Cowl Assortment allows you to intimately hear each scrape of the strings and each faucet on the guitar’s physique echoing within the recording sales space. That closeness works very nicely right here.
A string of Ultimate Fantasy favourites follows, beginning with “Everlasting Wind,” the enduring overworld theme from FFIII. Igusa’s solo guitar association right here balances the uptempo fore and background melodies with out feeling overwhelming or like all side is misplaced. “Melodies of Life ~ Ultimate Fantasy” (Ultimate Fantasy IX) is Igusa’s finest work right here, as the unique lends itself completely to a gradual, pensive guitar that culminates within the FF collection’ iconic important melody. Seiji Igusa performs splendidly, although his preparations stick a little bit too near the supply materials and thus really feel like consolation meals on the album.
Arranger/performer Toru Tabei takes the following two on Guitar Cowl Assortment: “Besaid” (Ultimate Fantasy X), which by nature veers from the watery, electro-ambient authentic, and “Blinded By Gentle” (Ultimate Fantasy XIII), a high-energy battle observe. It’s spectacular how Tabei maintains the driving chords in “Besaid” and manages to creatively dance round them with the track’s different parts. The beachy high quality of FFX is retained, however the recording feels so uncooked right here, much like the redone acoustic tracks within the FFX HD Remaster. “Blinded By Gentle” explores its melody from a wide range of tempos, tapping alongside, slowing down, stripping away the chords, muting the strings, and so forth.
The SaGa parade kicks off with Romancing SaGa 2’s “Encounter with the Seven Heroes,” buying and selling Kenji Ito’s operatic battle theme with a canopy that might make for a positive opening cinematic of recounting an outdated legend. It’s slower, extra pensive, and full of lingering expectation. Subsequent, “Battle #5” (SaGa Frontier) is certainly one of solely two tracks that includes two performers—arranger Sorao Mori joined by Zenya Sakata. It’s appropriately speedy, with stressed tremolo and fast chord strumming, and has buying and selling solos not discovered within the authentic.
“Mißgestalt” (SaGa Frontier 2) is propelled by its bass notes and the escalating, rhythmic tapping. Like the opposite Toru Tabei preparations on Guitar Cowl Assortment, this one feels starkly totally different from the unique, highlighting its underappreciated components.
Shifting on, LIVE A LIVE is represented with “Birds Fly, Fish Swim,” initially a conventional Chinese language myth-coded track, now interpreted as a dusty Western theme. That is the opposite observe with Mori and Sakata’s twin guitars, and once more, they permit themselves a really tasty solo within the track’s center part. The trotting pace of this one is enjoyable and would match completely in, say, a Wild ARMs sport.
Lastly, the NieR collection is represented by arranger/performer Takanori Goto, first with NieR (Replicant/Gestalt’s) “Track of the Ancients / Destiny.” This can be a gradual, light take that loses the unique’s pounding drums and feminine vocals. It builds in ardour and tempo into its repeated, blazing chorus, and actually stands out as a novel interpretation you may nonetheless think about showing in-game.
In fact, it wouldn’t be a Sq. Enix album if it didn’t embody NieR: Automata’s “Weight of the World.” The catchiness of this track’s melody is all the time simple, even when the absence of J’Nique Nicole’s vocals has let me down up to now. Nonetheless, this model sits near the unique’s high quality for me. This can be a quiet, tasteful cowl, gospel-like at occasions, that seeks to appease relatively than shock.
Guitar Cowl Assortment from SQUARE ENIX MUSIC Channel is an earful as a lot as its title is a mouthful. VGM diehards will go gaga for its well-curated setlist, and the gorgeous, tonally constant performances additionally make it a simple suggestion to any basic listener. With how accessible Sq. Enix is making their music, that is yet one more unimaginable gateway right into a world of RPG music, and an album that’s already been on heavy rotation whereas I’m cooking, writing, or wanting forlornly throughout a windswept plain.
My favorite tracks embody “Collect Up the Night time Stars,” “Melodies of Life ~ Ultimate Fantasy,” and “Birds Fly, Fish Swim.” You should purchase or stream Guitar Cowl Assortment digitally.
