Clearing up doubts on whether Image Epoch's bootytastic SRPG sequel, Luminous Arc 2: Will, would ever come stateside, Atlus has announced that it is localizing the game for this fall.
Why would you want to buy a lower budget Final Fantasy Tactics Advance knock-off, especially when you could just get Song Summoner for the iPod instead, you ask? We have an easy answer for that: online multiplayer battles. Also, big butts.
Luminous Arc 2 will retail for $39.99, significantly higher than most other DS titles, but each copy will come in an oversized box containing a CD with selected songs from the soundtrack. Presumably, it's the same CD that was released with the SRPG's preorders in Japan.
Enjoy three video clips from the English-translated game after the break! Interestingly, the voices are still in Japanese; we wonder if Atlus will leave the Japanese audio track intact?
Yasunori Mitsuda is probably just as excited about Chrono Trigger as you are. If that name doesn't ring a bell, those of you who've played the original SNES title might know his work -- he composed most of the soundtrack, after all.
Mitsuda's reaction when he heard about the remake ... er, we mean, port? "Finally!" That pretty much sums it up in one word. In an interview with 1UP, he told the gaming site, "I had the music for the Nintendo DS version stay as close as possible to the SNES original, so I think you'll like how it turns out. Whether you're playing for the first time or reflecting on the past as you go, I hope all of you enjoy it." It sounds to us like the music is almost as similar to its roots as the rest of the port, but that's one element that's completely timeless in our eyes to our ears. To find out more about Mitsuda and the Chrono Trigger soundtrack, though, we recommend checking out 1UP's interview with the composer.
Do those of you that played the game remember the music in it at all? Or was that one aspect that's evaporated from your brain over time?
Making the most of its multiple media production, Sega debuted two new commercials for its forthcoming World Destruction DS game during the Japanese premiere of its accompanying World Destruction anime series. The videos are blurry, and there's less than fifteen seconds of actual in-game footage between the two clips, but you can still see a preview of the JRPG's combat! Plus, one of the girls totally kicks a prison door off its hinges.
Sega has also announced that it will throw in a "premium soundtrack" for anyone who puts in a preorder for World Destruction's September 18th release in Japan. The CD will contain five tracks picked out by composer Yasunori Mitsuda, whose name you should recognize from his work on Chrono Trigger and the Xenosaga series. Jump past the break for the album cover and second commercial!
We already know that the It's A Wonderful World+The World Ends With You remix album will sound amazing -- one only needs to play the game or listen to samples of the compilation on Square Enix's dedicated site to appreciate that Takeharu Ishimoto's magical soundtrack is one of the best this year -- but the packaging of the album will also look totally classy.
Unlike the original soundtrack, this album contains tracks from both the Japanese and the North American and PAL editions of the game. It hits Japan (and the iTunes Store) on July 30th, when it will retail for ¥2,100 ($19).
Before we go into fits induced by the awesome fact that Super Dodgeball Brawlers is releasing in a mere two weeks, we figured that the least we could do is spread some love for an aspect of the original game that's often ignored -- its music.
Of course, the best thing to do with great video game music is remix it, and The Bad Dudes have done just that. Taking Kazuo Sawa's score from the original Super Dodge Ball (NES) and arranging it with some ethnic flavor (based on the different teams' countries of origin) makes for a great combination. Don't just take out word for it, though -- give it a listen or download the zip file over at No Balls, No Glory.
Aksys also plans to use this EP to promote the upcoming DS remake, which is set to hit American stores on May 27th.
The Ace Attorney series is dear to our hearts, so when any information crosses the intertubes regarding Capcom's lawyering games, we foam at the mouth like rabid raccoons. Today's tidings regard both the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra concert, which took place in Tokyo, and the upcoming spin-off title starring Miles Edgeworth.
As much as we love Gyakuten Saiban and its music, we obviously weren't able to able to drag ourselves to Japan for what we're sure was an awesome concert. From what we understand, though, the CDs that you see so deliciously stacked in the video above will be made available for purchase on July 16th. Do want.
Also in the video (around the 4:00 minute mark) is a trailer for Edgeworth's game, called Gyakuten Kenji in case you haven't been keeping up (for shame!). The trailer is mostly just moving versions of screens we've already seen, but it also features a new character that will be showing up
Check after the break to see some promotional photos for Gyakuten Kenji, some artwork from the event (want!), and some Gyakuten Saiban swag, including an orchestra-themed tumbler (want want!) and even Snackoos (want want want!).
This may be a little off the beaten path, but we here at DS Fanboy stumbled across the DIY-online-mixtape site, muxtape, recently, and we've had a lot of fun putting together and sharing our creations. So much fun, in fact, that we decided to try to bring everyone in on it. By everyone, we mean you, our beloved readers. Create (if you haven't already) your own muxtape and share it in the comments!
We've created two for you to enjoy:
DJFanboy: game and game-inspired music
DJFanboy2: a selection of blogger favorites -- get to know us better!
And you know there's some Ace Attorney music represented. Take your objections to that one elsewhere!
Let's face it -- the DS isn't loved for its aural qualities. Still, there are some games that really outdo themselves in terms of music. A few that immediately come to us as examples are the Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban) games and Professor Layton. Yet, everyone has different musical tastes, so we wanted to see if you thought any DS games had soundtracks worth noting. If so, list them here!
If you find yourself importing Flower, Sun, and Rain because you have no faith in localization, there will be at least one feature you won't have trouble understanding.
Some extra content in the game includes a jukebox feature, and luckily, music is an international language. At least you'll have something to listen to while you try to figure out how to read Japanese. We wonder if the soundtrack is even half as good as the one for Suda 51's Wii game, No More Heroes.
Which game series that is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year has the best music? Sorry, about half of our readers, it's not Final Fantasy. But, like, Final Fantasy, it is a near-infinite vortex of remakes and spinoffs: Mega Man. As part of the 20th anniversary festivities for the original Japanese release of Rockman, Capcom is releasing two CDs of new arrangements of classic Rockman music, done by] musicians from the Mega Man Battle Network series, as well as Konami's Beatmania IIDX series.
The Rockman 1-6 Rock Arrange Ver. 2007 came out on the 5th, and the Rockman 1-6 Techno Arrange Ver. 2007 CD is out today. Both focus on the 8-bit Mega Man games, which is fine with us. The discs retail for 3,150 yen each ($28), which is somewhat less fine.
The original soundtracks for Mega Mans (Mega Men?) 7 and 8 will be reissued as well. Samples of all four of these discs are available at the official site, including, yes, both Rock and Techno arrangements of "Dr. Wily's Castle 1" from Mega Man 2.
Lux-Pain is a fairly under-the-radar adventure game from new developer Killaware, in which you scratch at people with the stylus to psychically discover secret information. Or, at least, we thought it was under the radar. But publisher Marvelous is giving it a big push in Japan, bundling it with two preorder bonuses, both with cute names. Lux-Sound is, obviously, a soundtrack CD, and Lux-Paint is an artbook.
So now, because of a CD of music we wouldn't know if we like, and a book of art we find kind of generic, we want this game that we'd have to import. Of course, we wouldn't even get this preorder stuff if we bought the game. We shudder to think what glowing orbs of information would be hidden inside our minds if someone were to scrape a spirit-stylus over us.
We may have to wait a long time before Rune Factory 2 gets released outside of Japan, but that doesn't mean we can't be excited. Not only is Japan getting the game in January (those lucky bastards), but certain limited editions will come with this soundtrack disc and art book. We hope these goodies come our way when the game comes out here, although we highly doubt it.
Judging from the cover of the art book, the style of the game is very similar to the first Rune Factory. Pictured are the main character (whose name is Kyle) and some girl with crazy eyes. We also like the contemplative looking dragon in the background. The soundtrack, meanwhile, includes arranged versions of four songs from the game. Pretty neat bonus, we think. Anyone else as jealous as we are?
Having a jukebox feature is not unique to video games, but it's not often (or never) that we have this pleasure with a Final Fantasy title. Fortunately, though, the Final Fantasy IVremake for the DS will have a jukebox component, hosted by none other then everyone's favorite spoony bard.
Once you make Edward play your tune of choice, you can close up your DS, listen, and relax. If all of our DS games let us do this, we probably wouldn't have any need for our iPods anymore (okay, that's a lie).
It's important to note, however, that the soundtrack for the DS version is slightly different from that of the original game because of sound issues on the handheld. Regardless, we find this to be a nice little feature for the game.
Sonic Rush's soundtrack polarized the platformer's fans, many believing that Hideki Naganuma's funk/hip-hop direction didn't match the blue hedgehog's, others praising the Jet-Set-Radio-style tracks for their fresh approach. We made it a point to cruise down the strip every Saturday, "Wrapped in Black" thumping out of our car speakers at full volume. All the fly honeys would try to chase our car down, screaming wildly like children running after an ice cream truck. Maybe it was the music? Or maybe it was the twenty-dollar bills we were throwing out the window? Who knows?
Sega's official Sonic Rush Adventure page has two new songs from the upcoming sequel that you can stream and listen to, free of charge. If you click the islands drawn out on the treasure map, there's also information on the game's story, two online battle modes, and four new characters. There's even a link to Sega of America's Sonic forums in which you can participate in discussions like "Why are Sonic games so bad now?" and "What if YOU had all 7 chaos emeralds?"
Amazon.jp is taking preorders (in Japan, obviously) for the CD soundtrack to It's a Wonderful World, due out the 22nd. We remember liking the music from the E3 sampler, and we are totally drooling over the package for this thing. Well, not so much drooling as appreciating. 2100 yen ($18) is not that bad for a Japanese CD, either, even if it is steep for music we haven't heard from a game we haven't played.
You know, it's quite possible that the Square Enix online store will carry stuff like this. We'd love to see the availability of game soundtracks in the US increase, and Square Enix fans have very strong feelings about game music.
Clearing up doubts on whether Image Epoch's bootytastic SRPG sequel, Luminous Arc 2: Will, would ever come stateside, Atlus has announced that it is localizing the game for this fall.
Before we go into fits induced by the awesome fact that 
This may be a little off the beaten path, but we here at DS Fanboy stumbled across the DIY-online-mixtape site, muxtape, recently, and we've had a lot of fun putting together and sharing our creations. So much fun, in fact, that we decided to try to bring everyone in on it. By everyone, we mean you, our beloved readers. Create (if you haven't already) your own muxtape and share it in the comments!
Let's face it -- the DS isn't loved for its aural qualities. Still, there are some games that really outdo themselves in terms of music. A few that immediately come to us as examples are the 
If you find yourself importing 
Having a jukebox feature is not unique to video games, but it's not often (or never) that we have this pleasure with a Final Fantasy title. Fortunately, though, the 
