I was always under the impression that Japan got way better video game music concerts than the US did, but after seeing Famitsu's yearly production, Press Start Symphony of Games 2007, I'm not entirely sure. Certainly there are some things that Famitsu's show did better than Video Games Live, but there are also some areas in which they lag behind the US.
Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the background. The show itself took place in Yokohama, a thirty-minute train ride out of Tokyo and a place of magical wonder (a ferris wheel, a giant shopping plaza, and enough room to swing your arms without knocking over an entire family). It was hosted by a group of game industry luminaries, most notably Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai and Final Fantasy maestro Nobuo Uematsu.
With a lineup like that, you can imagine that the show began with the opening theme to Smash Bros. Brawl, composed by Uematsu. That was a pleasant surprise, performed quite well by the full orchestra, chorus, and two vocal soloists: soprano Oriko Takahashi and tenor Ken Nishikori. The Loco Roco theme followed, combined with a video presentation that showed the audience the words so they could follow along. Which of course they did not, because Japanese audiences only respond with restrained applause unless they are being specifically told to by Microsoft.
That said, I thought it was great to get to sit through a video game music concert where people were not making total jackasses of themselves the whole time. That said, I nearly lost my composure when I saw that the third piece was Actraiser. I was a little disappointed with it, though: it was a very brief medley of just three pieces (the opening, Kasandora, and the ending theme), and the video presentation they showed during it was... a still picture of the game's box.
The script writers then chose the wrong time to have Sakurai come out and say, "Wow, isn't it great that we have the video presentation?"
"Yes, it really brings back memories!" said chirpy hostess, singer Chisa Yokoyama. Memories of what? Looking at a box?
Things picked up from there. Highlights of the rest of the two-hour show included the Chrono Trigger theme, the Daytona USA band from Sega, and the finale, in which Uematsu's band The Black Mages teamed up with the orchestra to play One-Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII. I'd already seen this two years ago at E3, but this time there were no awful technical glitches, so that was nice.
They took my camera the second I entered the convention hall, but when I got it back at the end of the evening I sneaked in quick to grab pics of the vendors. The King of Games T-shirt guys were there, as were a group of guys selling vintage American Nintendo merchandise, of all things (check the little Mario mini-figures! I had those).
I ended up buying the Yuzo Koshiro Best Collection Vol. 1, which is a three-CD set of his early OSTs. I'll probably throw up some impressions in a seperate post.
For now, here's the track list from the show.
Set 1
1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl Main Theme
2. LocoRoco -- "LocoRoco no Uta"
3. Actraiser
4. Shooters Medley (17 different shooter themes)
5. Ace Combat Zero -- "Zero"
6. Shadow of the Colossus
7. Fire Emblem: "Fire Emblem Theme"
Set 2
1. Sega Sound Unit H - Daytona USA, etc
2. Chrono Trigger - main theme
3. The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion
4. Super Mario Bros -- main theme
5. Castlevania medley (CV, CV2, CV3, Rondo of Blood)
6. Sakura Taisen vocal theme
7. Kingdom Hearts instrumental medley
Encore
1. Legend of Zelda medley
2. Black Mages -- One Winged Angel
