Game info: gameplay video
Music info: soundtrack album
Listening: soundtrack download (click the “ETC.” tab and then the “FairyAttackers オリジナルサウンドトラック” link in the soundtrack section)
Info
Back to actual soundtrack releases again! FairyAttackers is an exploration platformer described as a “fantasy action RPG” so I guess you can upgrade your stats and stuff. This seems like it’s a heftier game than the three previous ones, so the soundtrack is a whole forty minutes long this time, and there are two new composers in addition to the three we’ve seen already. Here we’ve got kenmo, who was properly part of Alpha Secret Base and developed some of their games as well, and Yosuke Kaneiwa (Wangzhi), who in a few games afterward would take over as the main composer for the developer.
This is another colorful platformer, so the music for this largely moves away from ProjectN’s more intense proggy stuff and back toward more cutesy pop tunes, though as a larger game with more diverse regions there’s also some orchestral, rock, bossa, and so on. Something that sets this soundtrack apart from the other ones we’ve listened to so far is that there’s some chiptune sounds instead of pure General MIDI instruments, primarily in the tracks written by Dong (whom I knew prior to this as a chiptune artist), but Kousuke Matsuoka slipped chippy noises into a couple of tracks too.
I don’t get to say “and then eki drops some random prog out of nowhere” for this one, because he didn’t write jarringly different prog for this game! (Well except for the final boss theme, but prog boss music isn’t unexpected.) For stage music he was responsible for a volcano theme and an ancient city theme, and his pieces are stylistically and instrumentally evocative of these areas without just being random prog out of nowhere. They definitely still sound like him compositionally though; you can hear weird melodies and odd time like you’ll find in other works. Which is pretty cool! It’s nice to hear him branching out yet still remaining true to the parts of his musical style I like the most. This game also has what the best tracks by the composers who aren’t eki that I’ve heard so far, so this is my favorite Alpha Secret Base soundtrack so far besides ProjectN.
The soundtrack album includes four bonus arrangements: two from FairyAttackers and two from earlier games by Alpha Secret Base, Grounstream and Ganbare Natsuki San.
Recommended tracks:
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“Sekisu Coast” (Kyu Sendou) has some nice little orchestral flourishes here and there
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“Zapan Underground Waterway” (Dong) is one of the chippiest of the chiptune tracks and has some of my favorite chord changes in the soundtrack in the 0:14-0:40 section
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“Horahora Volcano” (Kousuke Matsuoka) you can totally hear some shmup progginess in, though the slower tempo, big timpani booms, and mallet riffs firmly ground it in volcano theme territory
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“Main theme jazz arrange” (Matsuoka, orig. Sendou) is the one remix track by eki and arranges a melody you might have noticed in “Zapan Underground Waterway” if you’re observant; naturally, since this is by eki, it’s in odd time
(track titles are unofficial translations by me)
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